markos

Though you have hit the nail right on the head with how the Twins (particularly Gardenhire) have valued proven closers over the years, I would hope that they would be able to use the remainder of this season to settle on a closer for next year, probably with Burton getting the first shot, or in the case he is traded either Fien or Tonkin. Maybe they will find someone they are comfortable with instead of having to sign someone during the offseason.

Taillon is their best prospect, but Gregory Polanco (OF) is a consensus top-20 prospect in baseball right now, and Alen Hanson (SS) and Tyler Glasnow (SP) are both top-50 guys. I would be fine with any of those 4 headlining a Perkins trade. If it is someone other than Taillon, I'd hope for at least one other decent prospect to go with it.

Pure speculation: Has anyone else thought about a potential Perkins-to-Pittsburgh trade now that their closer, Jason Grilli, is on the DL with elbow/forearm pain? It seems like this could be win-win situation for both clubs. From the Twins perspective, the Pirates have 3 or 4 blue-chip prospects that could headline a deal for Perkins, as well as a deep farm system in general, particularly with pitching. The Pirates have had 20+ years of futility, including two recent late-season collapses. They may be desperate enough to break that streak and make the playoffs that they will be willing to overpay a little for bullpen help. From the Pirates perspective, they have a very deep farm system with multiple blue-chip prospects, so they wouldn't leave themselves barren after a trade. Adding Perkins would help offset Grilli's injury, prevent him from rushing back too soon, and once he is back provide an rock solid 8th and 9th inning combination for the playoffs and next season. And if Grilli is out for a lot longer, Perkins is valid replacement. Also, their window of competitiveness is starting right now, so having 3 additional years on Perkins's contract is a positive. Finally, it will send a message from the front office that they are doing whatever they can to avoid another late-season collapse.

This indicates to me that trading Burton/Fien/Duensing could be worthwhile for the Twins. Any similarly ranked prospect that could be acquired would be a good move.

Deduno's name can be penciled in at the same place where Diamond's name was last year at this time. I really hope he turns out better than Diamond has.

Alex Meyer is still shut down, so there haven't been any performance updates in the past few weeks. However, there was an blurb from Scott Boras (Meyer's agent) saying that he has no concerns about the injury or the Twins treatment program. Link here. He also expects Meyer to pitch again before the end of the year. All of the major mid-season Prospect rankings have now been released, and here is the roundup for Meyer: Baseball America: #32 Keith Law: #38 John Sickels: #51 Baseball Prospectus: #44 Fangraphs: #36 None of them expressed any major concern about his injury.

I was trying to guess this on draft night. After some discussions with some other people and looking back at some of the recent top high school pitchers, we guessed somewhere in the 40s. I think that is about where Fried was and slightly worse than Bradley.

I think it is really close between the Twins and Houston, with Boston and Pittsburgh right there as well. The prospects rankings seem very top heavy right now. It seems like those 4 teams have about half the top-prospects in baseball.

I can see how you misunderstood where I was coming from. Hopefully this will clear things up about where I stand about a potential Perkins trade. I only want to trade Perkins if the Twins can get A LOT in return. They don't have to trade him, and I'm perfectly content if they keep him for the rest of his contract, even with the risk that he may blow out his arm in a month. One thing I have been struggling with is trying to define in my own mind exactly what constitutes A LOT - basically, what kind of trades would I be overjoyed with, what kind of trades would I be just okay with, and what kind of trades would piss me off. So I’ve been looking at all the farm systems for all the team looking for bullpen help and trying to put together trade packages to see how I feel about them. Unfortunately, I’m not a prospect expert, which is why I’ve been posting some of my scenarios here and elsewhere to attempt to gain perspective from the wider Twins fandom. Now I would be super excited if the Twins got a blue-chip prospect back in return. And I define “blue-chip” as a consensus top-25 prospect - Buxton and Sano are blue-chips; Meyer, Hicks and Arcia are not. Unfortunately, of the four teams in desperate need of bullpen help (Det, Bos, Arz, LAD), there are not very many blue-chips availables. Basically just Bogaerts (Bos), Bradley (Arz), Skaggs (Arz), and maybe Castellanos (Det). It seems from reading this thread that almost everyone here would support a trade that involved any of those 4 players straight up for Perkins (though there is more split opinion about Castellanos). The real problem is trying to nail down exactly what kind of trade I would be just okay with - not super excited, but still support. Trades that fall under this category involve the next tier of prospects, which definitely widens the available pool, but it also makes me feel that there needs to be an extra player or two involved. The Dodger’s system is a great example. They have 3 players right now that fall into that second-tier of prospects: Zach Lee, Corey Saeger and Joc Peterson. Going through some options in my mind, I decided that any trade that netted the Twins two of those three I would strongly support, while trade for only one I would be pissed. A trade headlined by one of them but with one or two other C prospects thrown in may be okay with me. At this point my hypothetical trade scenarios are kind of going off into the weeds, as a lot depends on who exactly the other prospects are. However, I’ve come to my own conclusion that I would be okay - not excited, but okay - with Lee or Saeger and some decent supporting prospects, or with Peterson and slightly better prospects thrown in. I'm sure everyone else here has been doing similar exercises in their own heads, but that is where I'm falling right now with regard to trading Perkins.

I agree. Boston and Arizona seem like the best fits right now. I'm kind of warming up to the idea of making a deal with the Dodgers. Zach Lee and Corey Seager have both played pretty well this year, and Lee is already at AA. A deal headlined with Lee and maybe one or two C prospect with upside wouldn't be too disappointing. I'd prefer to get a blue-chip prospect, but there aren't many prospect-team-need matches right now.

Regarding a potential Perkins trade with the Dodgers, I think it has to start with at least one of three prospects: Seager Zach Lee Joc Pederson Personally, I think Lee is the best. However, I'm not sure any of them on their own would be sufficient return. Anyone else feel differently?

I really feel like Arizona is the one team where the Twins could "win" a potential trade. 1) They could really use some bullpen help, particularly with Heath Bell struggling so badly. 2) As mentioned already, their GM seems to highly value grittiness, which may cause them to potentially undervalue certain prospects that may not fit their preferred player profile. 3) They have an elite prospect (Skaggs or Bradley) that would make a Perkins trade acceptable. 4) They have a reasonable number of decent starters and middle-infielders in the high minors that would be great return for Duensing or Burton.

It is a very sobering comparison, though I think Upton is an acceptable outcome for Buxton. Given all the hype of the last three months, it seems disappointing to think of Buxton as ONLY a borderline all-star who averages about 3 WAR per season, but back in March I would have been very satisfied with that outcome. Regarding the Young/Sano comparison, I think it is important to point out that Sano has walked roughly TWICE as often as Young in the minors in roughly the same number of plate appearances. Considering plate discipline was/is one of Young's biggest issues, Sano looks to fair much better in that area.

I agree. Unless the Reds are crazy, there is no way the Twins could get Stephenson. Maybe - MAYBE!!! - they would consider it for a 100% healthy and effective Willingham, but even that seems like a stretch.

I haven't heard any updates on Meyer's injury. However, he was ranked in Baseball America's Midseason top-50. [TABLE=class: table-striped, width: 610] 32 Alex Meyer rhp Twins [TD=bgcolor: #F9F9F9, colspan: 4]His acquisition helped fill Twins’ most desperate need–nearly big league ready power pitching.[/TD] [/TABLE] Hopefully he can get back on the mound soon and continue his development.

I agree. There is going to be 20-30 free agent pitchers available during the offseason as good or better than Correia. He should be easily replaced.

There have been some discussion about Meyer's status, though there doesn't seem to be anything concrete about his return. This is a good summation from a separate Twins Daily article: It sounds like he is currently in Florida and may begin a throwing program soon.

Colorado's firstbasemen (primarily Todd Helton and Jordan Pacheco) have managed an OPS of only .663 AT COOR'S FIELD. They are only 3 games back of the Diamondbacks for the division lead, so they may be interested in a 1B upgrade.

As far as I have heard, there is no updates on when Meyer will be reactivated after his shoulder soreness. In a piece of good (and old) news, his MRI came back clean: Alex Meyer's MRI clean; 'I don't think anybody thought it was serious' - Minnesota Twins news | 1500 ESPN Twin Cities ? Minnesota Sports News & Opinion (Twins, Vikings, Wolves, Wild, Gophers) | Sportswire: Minnesota Twins If anyone has heard any updates on Meyer's injury, please post them. In other news, many prospect following sites are going to be releasing updated top-100ish lists based on the first half of the season and the draft. The first updated version I've seen is from Baseball Prospectus: Baseball Prospectus | Prospects Will Break Your Heart: The Mid-Season Top 50 Prospects #44 RHP Alex Meyer (Twins) Placement on Pre-Season 101: #88 Current MiLB Level/Affiliate: Double-A New Britain Prospect Trajectory: Up; most likely still an underrated prospect; questions about ultimate role add risk to a higher ranking; has no. 2 starter upside and a floor of a late-innings bullpen arm; strong second half and improved command could lead to huge offseason jump up the list. Major League ETA: 2014 This is very interesting, as back in May another scout for this site released a report of Meyer that definitely seemed to suggest that Meyer was destined for the bullpen. This report seems to be much more bullish on Meyer staying in the rotation. Overall, the Twins were well represented, with 3 on the top-50 list and 2 more in the 'just missed' list.

Let's hope he doesn't convince Stewart to play football by the end of the flight.

I agree!

I think either Jeremy or Seth pointed out in their podcast that using those late picks on players who probably won't sign can be used as a kind of insurance in case there is an unexpected injury for a top player. Hypothetically, imagine Ryan Eades blows out his arm in the CWS and needs Tommy John surgery. Instead of signing for $1.2M, he agrees to sign for $200K. If the Twins wanted to, they could spend that extra $1M on one of their later picks like Shore.

Is there an RSS feed or something similar that I can use with my podcast player on my phone?

Bad news for Alex Meyer. According to Mike Berardino, Meyer has been put on the disabled list due to a sore shoulder. Hopefully it is nothing major and a few extra days of rest will be sufficient to get him back in good help. In addition, I'm sure the Twins are being extra cautious with one of their best pitching prospect. On the other hand, shoulder injuries are always scary, so there is plenty to worry about.

I apologize in advance if this is the wrong place to post this, but... I have two extra tickets for Sunday's (6/9) game at 1:35pm against the Nationals, Section 306, Row D, Seats 24 & 25. I'm selling them for $19 a piece. Send me a private message if you are interested, and we can arrange the transaction. If I can't find any takers by tomorrow morning, they will be put on StubHub.