TopGunn#22

Thank You Cody for a well written and thought out piece. I never thought the Twins would contend this year. Is the "Universe" possibly trying to make things as crystal clear to Tom Pohlad that 2026 is not going to be the year of a Twins resurgence? Losing Pablo for the season should be the proverbial tap on the shoulder for the organization that the full scale rebuild should commence...very soon. It's time to check in with these pitching needy teams to see what prospect capitol could be obtained for Joe Ryan. It's time to go with the Kids and find out what we have in the way of young SP. Bradley, SWR, Zebby, Abel, and behind them Prielipp, Rojas, and in a couple years Dasan Hill, Charley Soto etc... And if they'd go so far as to trade Joe Ryan, then include Buxton, Ryan Jeffers, Larnach and probably Baily Ober if he's pitching decently up to the deadline. There is no sugarcoating how bleak this coming season is going to be with the almost guaranteed stoppage in 2027. It's time to embrace a complete overall of the roster and undertake the rebuild needed to make the Twins contenders, at the earliest, 2028 but probably 2029/2030. Pablo's season ending injury before he could have been traded for some good prospect capital should be a wake up call to the Twins organization. Stop deluding yourself. The fans understand the franchise is a literal "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." Come to your senses and do what you know needs to be done.

This is just SO...TWINSY !!! I have believed the Twins should have accepted the obvious and sold high on some of their "stars" this off season, stockpile the young talent, introduce some of that talent in 2026, get more of that talent on the field in 2027, (whenever the players and owners decide it's time to play baseball), and then by 2028, be poised to compete with purpose in the A.L. Central. There should be some kind of new economic model for MLB in 2027-2028, and the Tigers will be without Tarik Skubal. Pablo was one of the better trade chips the Twins held. Now that has blown up in their faces. I would expect a bigger sell off than the self immolation of the bullpen this trade deadline. I feel bad for Pablo. He's such a likeable player, a good leader and ambassador of the game, and for the Twins. But his big hope was to be traded to a contender in 2026, and now he's hoping to be able to play sometime in 2027...depending on when MLB decides they want to play ball.

The only reason the Twins should sign Giolito is to trade him for something later in the season to a rotation needy team. That's not a good enough reason to use resources when there are bigger holes elsewhere. Kopech would be a better signing as he could actually be the Closer for a BP with a glimmer of hope. Plus, no one is estimating what it would cost to sign Giolito. $10 million? $12 Million? O.K. Maybe the Twins should sign Giolito if a Bailey Ober trade can bring them an actual Major League starting SS. That kind of move would make Brooks Lee the Utilityman able to play all around the IF. But the Twins shouldn't sign Giolito first. The trade of Ober (or some other SP) for a bona fide MLB SS should be done first. Then you could sign Giolito to hold down the #3 spot in the rotation while still giving Bradley, Matthews, SWR and Abel the opportunity to compete for spots #4 & #5. The goal was supposed to be getting better defensively in 2026. That's unlikely to happen as long as you have a below average SS and Larnach/Wallner in LF/RF. NONE of this has yet to be addressed.

Mauer also played some RF in his final season, 2018.

I'm kind of on the same page as rdehring... Once you get past Jenkins, the only guy with any kind of a vibe is Winokur, and he really needs to start playing CF exclusively and be done with the SS/3B experiment. The International guys are all over the place. Fedko is kind of intriguing, but I don't get the sense he's highly thought of. His age was probably why no one took a chance on him in the Rule 5.

chpettit19 makes an interesting point regarding a best case scenario of Jenkins and E-Rod staying in the corners in a future Twins OF alignment. We're STILL looking for a pure SS to step in for the Twins, and the top prospects in this year's amateur draft are SS's. Might the Twins use their 2nd or 3rd pick on a CF prospect who can run down a ball in the gap consistently but may not have the power profile of a high 1st round selection? I don't think there's really a "can't miss" CF prospect coming out of the college ranks who could make it to the Major Leagues faster than a high School prospect. But the Twins should really be planning on having something in place when Buxton either moves to a corner OF spot, or even leaves the team via a trade.

My eye test doesn't think Buxton has slipped that much. But my eyes will be 68 in May. I didn't think Willie Mays had slipped that much until I saw him play CF for the Mets in the 1973 World Series. And then I looked at the chart Cody provided. This is an inevitable progression for formerly great CF's. But as Cody pointed out, it doesn't have to end badly if the player can adapt to the shift quickly and rather than their peak skills being at 95-100% they are merely at 85-90%. This is probably not something that would happen to open the season though. Jenkins will probably not break camp with the team. Would E-Rod be better than Buxton? And will he break camp with the team? Maybe Alan Roden, if he found his hitting stroke? But while Roden might be a good corner OF who could fill in at CF occasionally, would Roden be better than Buxton in CF to open the season? Probably not. But I like the idea of taking a highly stressful defensive position away from Buxton to improve the odds of his staying healthy and hopefully benefitting from a repeat of his 2025 offensive numbers. The Twins have a starting rotation that can compete in the A.L. Central. They have a BP that while not necessarily complete, has started to take form and could be adequate. They are still not a good defensive team and their offense has a lot of question marks. Having Buxton healthy and producing for 130-140 games would sure be helpful.

Agree LA Vikes Fan. A relief pitcher, either on the Astros major league roster or at AAA would be the best addition to a Jeffers + Larnach for Paredes + Relief Pitcher deal. This makes a lot of sense for both teams. As many have pointed out in the past, it's kind of baffling sometimes to see some of the disparity in values that BBTV has for a player. Especially when you have some familiarity with their value over 3 to 4 revisions in a 3-6 month period.

Paredes has a BBTV of 12.8. He can play 3B as well as 1B. Larnach only has a value of 2.0, so he wouldn't be enough for Paredes. But Jeffers has a value of 12.8 and he's a perfect match for Parades. After we signed Yanier Diaz's primary backup at Catcher away (Victor Caratini) Jeffers has much more value to the Astros at 12.8 than Paredes. A deal of Jeffers and Larnach for Paredes and a minor league talent works for me. A RH power bat like Paredes at either 3B or 1B allows Josh Bell to be a full time, switch hitting DH. Caratini and Jackson take over the catching duties and the Twins get salary relief for 2026-Larnach. Paredes is owed $9 million in 2026 and has a club option for $13.35 million in 2027. That's pretty good value for a 25-30 HR bat. Possible Twins lineup with Paredes: (If you expect better years out of Lewis and Wallner) Keaschall-2B Buxton-CF Lewis-3B J. Bell-DH Parades-1B Wallner-RF Lee-SS Caratini-C A. Martin-LF That's a lineup that certainly has more potential than one with Larnach and Jeffers and your defense gets a little bit better. Eventually, Jenkins or E-Rod takes Martin's place in LF (or Culpepper moves in at SS for Lee) and the lineup and defense gets a notch better. Couple that with good SP and an average BP and the Twins look better in the A.L. Central in 2026.

My initial reaction was mixed. While Banda has some upside I was unsure I would have included International Bonus Pool Money as often times you get a pretty good return on your investment (the Twins shortcomings in recent years acknowledged). But now that others have explained it was money not yet spent for 2026 I'm firmly in the camp that this was a good move. I like the idea of approaching Kopech with a decent $5 million dollar offer to round out the early season BP. I know Doc Bauer is still banging the table for Nathaniel Lowe at 1B and at some point, that would have been a much better plan than Josh Bell because the Twins could have installed Matt Wallner as the full time DH. But that plan is out the window with the Bell, and to a lesser degree, the Wagaman moves. Larnach still needs to be traded and then your looking at Jenkins, E-Rod and Gonzalez as well as Culpepper and trying to determine who moves up when others fail. I'd love to have a better immediate option than Brooks Lee/Orlando Arcia at SS. The Tigers and Royals still look better than the Twins. Cleveland always seems to find a way, and the White Sox will be better. How much better remains to be seen. It's still very hard to determine where the Twins fit in the A.L. Central.

I'm giving them an "F." Here's why: I'm on board with the Caratini signing because it gives the Twins a clear off ramp to trading Jeffers so they can maximize his value rather than just letting him walk as a Scott Boras FA. The other move where they spent some money was Josh Bell. In the case of Bell and Caratini, $7 million or so for each of them represents a "massive" investment for the Twins. This is the foundation for an "F" grade. Bell fills a position that by all logic, (if improving OF defense was actually a goal), Wallner should be filling. Put Wallner at DH and spend that $7 million on Kopech and your roster construction already makes much more sense. But everywhere else they have added at the fringes. Taylor Rogers and Liam Hendricks in the BP could be a masterstroke at the money invested. But they don't appear to be needle movers. And both are clearly far out of their "prime." We have a Black Hole at SS. Lee is universally thought to be a 3B or 2B. NOT a SS. Culpepper "could" be a SS but the opinions on him sticking there are "mixed." That's not really a ringing endorsement. Marek Houston can certainly play the position, but can he hit a lick? For a defensive position that is crucial, that is thought to be the most important position for a major league defense, the fall back plan is Orlando Arcia ??? That's front office malpractice. So much for Tom Pohlad going BIG...he should just go home. In an off season where each A.L. Central team made solid moves to improve (yes, even the White Sox) not a single move made by the Twins is even close to comparing. Our "plan" was to essentially run things back, with a BP decimated at the trade deadline and no Carlos Correa at SS. In what world do the Twins show a chance of improving in 2026? Only in a world that has Byron Buxton healthy and duplicating his 2025 season. Where Royce Lewis and Matt Wallner each hit 30 HR's. Where Keaschall stays healthy, plays in 150 games, has an OPS approaching .780 and steals 35-45 bases. Lee reaches 20 HR's and plays "passable" defense and rookies like Walker Jenkins, E-Rod, Prielipp and Gonzalez all exceed expectations. (Not to mention that Ryan, Lopez and Ober ALL stay healthy and perform at peak ability). How likely are ALL of these things to coalesce and come to pass? We get an "F."

I would like to see the Twins sign Kopech. He would provide potential upside and closing ability. This would allow Festa to throw less leveraged innings early and if things go well, higher leveraged innings later. I'm O.K. with signing Liam Hendricks. He's a lottery ticket and a feel good story on top of that. I hope he's healthy and can show Twins fans he has something left early in spring training. As a couple others pointed out, this is a low risk/possible high reward signing. I prefer to live my live with positivity rather than negativity. Good Luck Liam Hendricks !!!

I think Doc Bauer makes many solid points about roster construction, which points to Falvey and whatever his "plan" for roster construction was. There is no way the Twins should have Larnach and Outman on their roster. Couple that with having Wallner AND Josh Bell and it gets even harder to find ANY logic in how the process of our 2026 roster construction, or the dismantling of our once elite BP factored into "The Plan." We've just seen a rather exhaustive analysis showing the Twins lack of having a truly Major League SS. Bringing Orlando Arcia or Gio Urshela is not the answer. Not admitting that Brooks Lee needs to be a 3B or 2B or Utility IF, and is no solution to the Black Hole at SS is disappointing. Larnach and something else should be offered to the D-Backs for Jordan Lawlar. Word is, the D-Backs are considering Lawlar in the OF for 2026 because they are set with an IF of Blaze Alexander at 3B, Perdomo at SS and Ketel Marte at 2B. Lourdes Gurriel is out to begin the season, and Jake McCarthy, while speedy as a LF has no pop. At least Lawlar, at 23 years old is still believed to have what it takes to be a SS. We've seen how atrocious the Twins OF defense is with Larnach and Wallner in the corners. Roden is a MUCH better OF than Larnach, but Roden needs to prove he can at least be somewhat equivalent to Larnach at the plate. There is at least a consistent level of mediocrity with Larnach as a hitter. Roden hasn't shown he can be close to that in the minors. There are a handful of guys who realistically could still be traded by the Twins either before spring training or during it. These are guys who "could" be traded and some who "should" be traded. Ryan, Larnach, Jeffers, Ober, Lopez, Wallner, and even Brooks Lee if the Twins are serious about trading for someone who could play SS at a Major League level right now. I have to think the Twins are not done making moves. But when I see them sign Gio Urshela, I wonder...what IS the PLAN ???

Thanks for the insight NYCTK !! I'm not sure THIS is the move the Twins will make but I just have a feeling they aren't done. Even with the limitations of Vientos, adding a RH bat with power like that would be interesting with a Travis Adams straight up swap. But the Josh Bell signing kind of messed this type of move up.

Either player would be a decent addition to the current Twins roster. I like the power potential of Vientos and if I could get him for Andrew Morris I'd do it. Vientos can play 3B in a pinch for a short period of time, but in an extended period his defensive short comings would emerge and be a detriment. But that RH power is a plus. But guys like Abel and Matthews I want to hang on to. Would Andrew Morris be sufficiently interesting to the Mets to give up Vientos? NYCTK is our Mets expert. I would need his input. He makes a great point that a deal like this would have made far more sense had the Twins not signed Bell.

There is a lot to like in the Twins farm system. Both hitting and pitching. I love that TD keeps us informed as to the progress of our young prospects throughout the year. It's also exciting to have the #3 overall pick in this year's draft with the opportunity to add some serious young talent to an already talented system. And, as is the case in baseball, there is always somebody that slips, or for whatever reason isn't thought too highly of, like a Mike Piazza, who suddenly transforms into something nobody thought he would be.

Did the Twins really show interest in these SP? Or was it just a perfunctory "yeah, we knocked on the door but then left?" The ONLY reason they would have looked at any SP is that they are still considering trading one or two of Ryan, Lopez or Ober. And even that is a bit of a stretch. Lopez is an extreme bargain at $21 million to 80% of the teams in baseball right now, much like Buxton at $15 million. At $6+ million Ryan is the biggest bargain out there for a SP. Why add a pitcher for $115 million when you have a couple equally talented at a fraction of the cost? The fact still remains that the Twins could get a King's ransom for Ryan who in all likelihood will NOT sign an extension with the us. Jeffers is certainly not signing an extension with free agency in 2027 and Scott Boras as his agent. The Twins should in all respects be in an earnest rebuild mode with an eye on being formidable in 2028. They should be capitalizing on the market for both Ryan and Jeffers. As "big dog" so eloquently said, test driving an $85,000 pickup with all the bells and whistles but going back the the Honda with nearly 200,000 miles is spot on what the Twins did with Peralta and Valdez. Maybe a big splash is still coming from the Twins, maybe not. Even with Falvey out the door, getting any kind of a handle on what the goals and strategy for the Twins are is awfully hard to discern.

It's been suggested that after the hauls the Nats got for Gore and the Brewers for Peralta that the Twins are sitting on a Gold Mine if they ever decide to trade Joe Ryan. It's hard to argue that the return for Ryan would be tremendous. I can also agree that I don't really expect the Twins to compete for a playoff position in 2027. ZIPS may have them within 5 games of Detroit or Cleveland but I just don't see it. Or better put, the only way I see it is if Buxton remains healthy and duplicates his 2025 stats and a whole bunch of guys have career years. But that's pretty unlikely. So I like the premise of Nick's article, because it would be what a sensible team would do staring at probable non-contention in 2027 and a lockout/strike highly likely in 2027. IF...and this is a big IF...the Twins were to trade Joe Ryan, here are 2 trades I could get behind were they to come to pass. Red Sox Get: Joe Ryan 29 y/o 51.7 value and Ryan Jeffers 29 y/o 12.8 value. Total Value: 64.5. Twins Get: Jarren Duran 29 y/o 41.9 value and Connelly Early 23 y/o 24.1. Total Value 66.0 The Twins won't have Jeffers any longer than July 1st of this season and now have 2 other Catchers to fill the position. Duran is a solid OF who can play an excellent LF and also CF should Buxton need a day off or gets injured. He brings an element of extra base hit power, somewhat magnified by Fenway Park but absolutely legit and SPEED. A lineup with Keaschall, Duran and Buxton at the top would be exciting. The Twins also add a solid 23 y/o LH SP in Early with some very intriguing stuff. He's currently set to be Boston's #4 or #5 SP so Ryan moving into the #2 spot makes him available. The 2nd trade would be a minor deal with some high upside. D-Backs Get: Trevor Larnach 28 y/o 2.0 value and Travis Adams 1.6 value. Total Value 3.6 Twins Get: Jordan Lawler 23 y/o SS/2B/3B 3.6 value. The D-Backs, as was previously pointed out need an OF with a little bit of pop with Lourdes Gurriel out to begin the season. Adams is a BP piece that may or may not work out for Arizona, but you can never have too many arms. Lawler is a former top rated prospect for the D-Backs who has been surpassed by multiple guys and now owns a BBTV of just 3.6. Yet he's only 23 years old and would be an excellent gamble by the Twins. At worst, Lawler becomes the Twins primary IF Utilityman. At best, he beats out Brooks Lee as a clearly better defender, making Brooks Lee the Utility IF. Acquiring Lawler allows the Twins a little more time for Culpepper at St. Paul. Best case scenario for the Twins, Lawler shines and Culpepper cannot be ignored at St. Paul and they are the Twins middle IF with Keaschall primarily playing LF with a little 2B/1B. Our OF and IF defense takes a big step up. After the salary savings of moving off Larnach, Ryan and Jeffers for the Twins, a power relief arm like Kopech could be signed for 2 years between $7-$8 million annually. The Twins have an actual closer in Kopech with Taylor Rogers able to close when needed and David Festa is groomed to eventually be the guy. What are the Twins realistic chances of retaining Ryan by signing him to an extension with a 2027 work stoppage looming? What will the financial landscape be after the MLBPA v Owners battle royal? The Twins are currently brimming with young arms that need innings. Connor Prielipp is on the verge, Dasan Hill, Charlie Soto and others could move quickly. You could argue that if Connelly Early is part of the Red Sox package for Ryan, that Baily Ober could also be traded. I could envision a rotation led by Pablo Lopez with Early, Bradley, Matthews, Prielipp, Abel, Dasan Hill and Charlie Soto and others. The mistake Falvey made and the reason I believe the parting of ways was so sudden, is that this is CLEARLY not a season of high expectations for the Twins. Development of young pitching and young hitters should be the goal. And that's why Nick's article about some moves possibly still to come makes a lot of sense.

Well, this was certainly not the "answer" to finishing our quest to stock our BP. But with a fastball like that it's the quintessential lottery ticket. Monitor him in spring training and see how he does. Baseball is full of stories like this, where a guy suddenly turns a corner. It's not common, but it happens. Best case scenario: He looks OK, makes it thru waivers. Goes to St. Paul and pitches well, and later gets an opportunity with the Twins. I still think some bigger moves are percolating for the Twins.

As you pointed out Cody, "pipelines" rarely have a linear progression, making them easy to evaluate. Are there more talented pitchers in the Twins organization NOW than before Derek Falvey arrived. Absolutely. But there has been little to hang your hat on from a "development" standpoint in the rotation. Ryan, Lopez, Gray...all traded for. Guys like Bradley, Mick Abel, Rojas...all traded for and still developing. Matthews, SWR, Festa, Prielipp, Dasan Hill, Charley Soto...all still developing. What the Falvey era WAS able to do quite effectively, was identify SP prospects who, for whatever reason, health, limited pitch repertoire, stamina, were deemed not going to cut it as a SP and who became excellent bullpen arms, led by Duran and Jax and most recently, Varland. So the Falvey era has to be given an incomplete just due to the nature of "pipelines." Ryan and Ober get some credit as being primarily developed by the Twins. But until Matthews, SWR, Festa or guys like Prielipp, Dasan Hill and Charlie Soto rocket their way into the rotation as purely homegrown pitchers it will remain "incomplete" even if polishing up Bradley, Abel and Rojas works out. A pitching pipeline is ultimately judged on the pitchers that crack a starting rotation and produce. Having success with bullpen transformations is nice, but the rotation is where success or failure is defined.

My initial thought on this would be "why sign a veteran SP pitcher when the largest collection of talent our team currently has resides in our starting rotation?" On top of that, I don't like that it blocks some young arms that I think NEED to pitch in the rotation this year. The 2nd thought that springs to mind is this would be brilliant if there are impactful trades to follow. It's the ONLY way this makes any sense. Valdez has a lot to like when considering our rotation: He's a horse...he consistently eats innings and he's won double digits in FIVE consecutive seasons. He's eminently durable. He would be a glue guy for a rotation. There is the whole "Catcher Cross Up" incident last year. Well, the Twins are uniquely qualified to get a first hand perspective. Who was the Catcher that was "crossed up?" Was it Diaz or Caratini? Ask Caratini about what went down. Signing Valdez, followed by trades of Ober (21.0) BBTV, Jeffers (15.3), Larnach (3.8) and possibly Wallner (20.5) puts the Twins in the position to leverage 40.1 of total value (60.6 if you include Wallner). There is also the possibly of cashing in Ryan's immense 52.8 value after seeing what Peralta and Gore just cost, although I'd hang onto him to have a Ryan, Lopez, Valdez top 3 with SWR, Bradley, Matthews and Abel in competition for spots #4 & #5. Festa is already in the pen. Possibly Prilelipp. And maybe one of Bradley, Matthews or Abel rounds out the pen. So what could the Twins get for 40.1 points of value (or 60.6 if you include Wallner). They could try to pry a bat from Boston: Gold Glove OF Wilyer Abreu and Tristan Casas for power. Or Jarren Duran (also a very good OF). They add pop to the lineup and superior OF defense, while Duran adds a speed element that would go with Buxton and Keaschall. I like tony&rodney's idea of Jordan Lawler as someone to challenge Brooks Lee. Justin Martinez is an elite closer but would be more of a 2027 impact due to Tommy John surgery last season. At first blush, the idea seems counterintuitive. But if you allow for a strategy to leverage a deep rotation in a world where SP is always costly, the Twins could bring in some difference making bats. Tom Pohlad said he likes to go big. O.K. Tom...put some money behind that mouth of yours and get to work.

I don't want to get too excited about what Trevor Plouffe has said about working with Wallner, but what the heck. Why Not ?? We keep waiting for a Bob Allison (left handed version) type of season from Wallner and maybe it's in there somewhere. I'd feel better about our OF defense if Wallner was our full time DH, but we signed Josh Bell. This really is kind of a make or break season for Wallner, with Walker Jenkins, E-Rod and Gabriel Gonzalez knocking on the door. Having that kind of young talent poised to make an impact leaves me in the tony&rodney camp of wanting to trade him to the Pirates for young RH-SP Jared Jones, or a similar high ceiling return. I hope Wallner does well and doesn't tank his current value. But I also think we WILL see at least one of those young OF this season, and maybe even all 3. With Gabriel Gonzalez being more of a DH type that doesn't leave any room at all for Matt Wallner in the Twins near future. But the talent potential is certainly there for Wallner to command a nice return whenever the 3 youngsters crack MLB.

Thanks for the interesting article Cory. There is so much "change" with new prospects coming in, and those that struggle moving on, that it's hard to keep track without informative articles like this giving us the status at this point in time. When I look at Young, at 6:6 and having been a SS, to me, that demonstrates at least a certain degree of athleticism that other players don't have. Doc Bauer also pointed out Winokur. These are guys that in my opinion, should be moved off SS SOONER and get them to zero in on a position like corner IF or corner OF. They have the athleticism to develop into an above average fielder at a less stressful position. They aren't going to be SS's at their size. Cal Ripken was a Unicorn and he was 6:4. Young is 6:6 and Winokur is close to 6:7. Amick was a darn good college hitter. I look for his power to emerge this season. Schobel is the closest and his versatility could very well be his ticket. He might be a longshot, but I'm kind of intrigued by Thomason. I like his early hitting profile.

What a week of Twins Cities sports!! I've been down in Tampa, Florida, playing in a Senior 65's softball tournament and just got back (We Won the Tournament) !! On the one hand this is shocking and on the other hand, even with the timing, this makes sense. Falvey (and Thad Levine) were brought in to bring a different vision and higher level of competency than the Dave St. Peter/Terry Ryan regime, (much like Rocco was) and at first that more modern, analytic driven system seemed to be successful. Heck, just subtracting Dave St. Peter from the equation brought the Twins a substantial benefit. But even though the payroll peaked in 2023 at $160M and Carlos Correa was solid, the foundation was still shaky. Tom Pohlad claims Twins ownership has always tried "hard." As evidenced by getting themselves $500 million in debt. That's more an indictment of poor fiscal policy and boneheaded decisions in my opinion. Trying "hard" to the tune of negative $500M is not a medal you want to earn. To me, the Falvey regime was marked by an inability to be PROACTIVE and a propensity to be REACTIVE. The Twins never seemed to identify problems and go out and get their guy. Even ending up with Nelson Cruz, probably the best move Falvey/Levine ever made, kind of fell in their laps. We signed him late and he was fantastic. Trading him a couple years later after it appeared he was slipping and getting Joe Ryan was also master stroke. But the big money moves always seemed risky. Josh Donaldson, Carlos Correa, were big moves, but for guys with a questionable health history that nagged the Twins the entire time those guys played for us. Having Kiriloff, Wallner and Larnach and needing a RH hitting corner OF/1B type, the Falvey regime sat around and watched other teams scoop up all kinds of players, until the Twins were left with signing Joey Gallo...a LH hitting corner OF/1B. It just made NO SENSE. Year after year under Falvey I wondered what the "plan" was. I could never see a true strategy other than hanging back and looking for "bargains," and "value" players late in the process. I think the Pohlad's expected Falvey to be an idea person, who could aggressively make moves within a framework (albeit somewhat restrictive framework) to build a competitive roster. I think Falvey just ran out of ideas. There were opportunities for Falvey to do things with Twins rosters despite whatever limitations he was operating under. But the moves he made just didn't click. Last season's gutting of the Twins BP raised a lot of eyebrows in MLB. It could be argued that the Twins received positive value in each trade. But decimating one aspect of a successful team just to add perceived value is not effective roster construction. The Twins currently have young pitchers like Matthews, Bradley, Abel and SWR. You could add Festa and Prielipp to that group as SP that might spend time time in the BP before moving back into a rotation spot (or remain in the BP). But if you also have Ryan, Lopez and Ober there are too may arms and not enough slots. One of Ryan, Lopez or Ober should have been traded by now. I like to quote Baseball Trade Values because it gives you a somewhat logical formula to imagine possible trades. I've suggested an Ober trade to the D-backs for Jordan Lawler several times. Ober has a 21.0 value. Lawler has gone from 19.4 to 20.1 to now 3.6. I checked and he hasn't been signed to a rich 5 year deal. What precipitated that drop in value?? I have advocated an Ober (21.0) trade to the CWS for Kyle Teel (18.9) or Edgar Quero (17.8) to get a young catcher (younger than Jeffers and Caratini). Moving Ober to improve the roster construction for a young MLB catcher, a SS/2B or a speedy RH hitting OF or solid veteran BP piece would open up a rotation spot for a young SP and improve the overall major league roster, possibly leading to other trades that could improve the roster. It just seemed like Falvey either ran out of ideas, or was just incapable of closing the deal. While surprising, this move was not shocking, even with the timing.

Thank You for this article Peter. It's not "baseball" and all the geeky things we love about it. But it's the muscle that moves baseball and any other sport we love. It's very interesting to see this type of perspective written about in a "sports" blog. Thanks Again !!