TopGunn#22

This kid's size, athleticism and power has always intrigued me. And while I'm very impressed that at 6:6 we played him at SS and CF most of the time, I think this season he should move around a little bit. I'd like to see him play all three OF positions and maybe 3B/1B in the infield. He just isn't going to be a SS or middle infielder. Why not get him comfortable at a position he will eventually end up at. And I would spend extra time working with him on pitch spin recognition. He's bright and physically gifted. He will start improving. It's only a matter of how rapidly or slowly he shows that improvement. I'm glad he's up to #7 for a ranking because that insures us that we will get regular reports how he's doing on TD. Yes! That 2023 draft could end up being one of the Twins best in the franchise's history.

I agree Blyleven2011, and I also agree with those who pointed out how difficult it would be for the Twins to actually sign Sasaki...endorsement money, front office who could be gone before the 2026 season, manager who could be gone etc... That said, I'd certainly want to check in. And if it's obvious he wouldn't come to Minnesota, I can make a deal with the Dodgers for Rushing or the Red Sox for Teel and I throw in $3 million or so of International Pool money to clinch the deal. That International Pool money could have a very large impact on getting a deal done. If the Dodgers could get Sasaki at the bargain price he would be, that would alleviate a lot of stress regarding their brittle, oft-injured starting rotation and allow them to be even MORE aggressive in signing Juan Soto. Let's say the Twins could make that deal without having to offer Jhoan Duran. SWR, Castro, Marco Raya and $3.5 million of International Pool money for Dalton Rushing and Dustin May. May missed the entire 2024 season after a couple injuries. He will pitch in 2025 but then has the right to be a free agent. Rather than have the Dodgers give up Vesia, a needed left hander in their bullpen, the Twins can take a flyer on May who has great stuff but can't seem to remain healthy. He's Matt Canterino with better control and 192 innings in the big leagues under his belt. The crown jewel of the deal is Rushing. May is a high reward lottery ticket. The Twins could talk a 2 year extension if they like the medical reports and someone goes to watch him throw. Maybe this wouldn't interest the Dodgers at all. But the chance to add Sasaki to their rotation with the infusion of the International Pool money as well as SWR and a young arm to replace May as well as an All Star Utility Player (someone Dave Roberts would LOVE to have) may just be enough. The Dodgers are set a catcher with Will Smith and have 2 other fine catching prospects in the system. I think they go for it. As most here on TD agree, the crucial deal to be made this year is to get a catching prospect like Rushing or Teel who is ready for the major leagues in 2025. That opens up the possibility to move a catcher and reshuffle the roster a bit. I don't do BBTV anymore, so I'd need someone to run this deal and see if it's viable. If not, what would be?

Excellent !!

Big Dog, that was my first impression as well when reading the Baseball Reference comps for Larry Hisle. I appreciate you "bringing the receipts" on those fallacious comps !! Hisle was a 4-tool player. He could hit, hit with power, run and catch the ball. He didn't throw very well, but that's why he spent most of his time in LF. By the time he moved to the Brewers, he split time between LF and DH. After that wonderful 1977 season, the onslaught of free agency really nailed the Twins losing both Lyman Bostock to the Angels and Hisle to the Brewers. Compounding that was Calvin Griffith's ill-advised comments in Waseca that forced him to trade Rod Carew to the Angels after the 1978 season. BAM! Just like that Carew, Bostock and Hisle were GONE ! Somehow, the Twins were respectable in 1979 but then came the lean years of 1980-1983. By 1984 they were putting things back together with a true youth movement, that eventually led to 2 World Series Championships after Calvin finally sold the Twins to the Pohlad family. And now, once again, we Twins fans stand vigil, waiting for another sale of the team, hoping that whoever the new owners are, that they would be able to keep the Larry Hisle's and Lyman Bostock's that will eventually emerge as the next wave of Twins stars.

While I'm just as anxious as everybody to clear as much salary as possible (Dobnak included) to be able to at least make a couple moves this off season, I think with $7.5 million in international signing money the Twins are in a strong position to actually sign Sasaki. The Twins FO really needs to determine from Sasaki if they have a realistic chance. If they do, they need to pursue this. When is there going to be a chance to add a 23 year old pitcher with his stuff and command at a price like this? If they are able to sign Sasaki he will be an incredible asset who either shines in the Twins rotation for years, or can be traded away for a king's ransom after a season or two. Either way, he would be an incredible asset. Now, if Sasaki's representation tells the Twins he has no intention of playing in Minnesota, then that's a different story and I would strongly consider a trade with the Padres, Dodgers or Cubs to clear some very bad salary decisions. But until the chance at Sasaki is determined hopeless, I'm going after this kid with a vengeance. One other team that that wasn't mentioned by Brandon that has had interest in Vasquez in the past and who has probably the worst catching situation in all of MLB is the Marlins. When your present catching situation is as bad as Miami's is, and if you can take back some salary so it's more of an equal salary dump (Alcantara, Luzardo), Miami could be an excellent trade partner. Especially if the Twins were willing to part with one top 10 prospect like Gabe Gonzalez or Marco Raya and maybe a player like Larnach, there's a chance the Marlins would part with an Alcantara or Luzardo and also take on all $10 million of Vasquez. But none of this is even a consideration until a trade is made to get a young catcher who is on the verge of making his big league debut. We've speculated on Rushing (Dodgers) Teel (Red Sox) and Quero (Brewers). Any of these guys would be a prize worth going after. And if Sasaki is clear that he has no interest in the Twins, some international Pool money could be used very strategically.

I also like the alternatives that JD-Twins proposed. There are certainly things the Twins COULD and SHOULD be considering. Some things (usning all our International Money to sign Sasaki) may be a long shot and would be up to the players preference. Others, like signing O'Neill or being aggressive on a trade for Alcantara or Luzardo is something the Twins FO could and probably should commit to.

I think it's a pretty good plan. Certainly within reason. But of course, I have a couple of things I would do differently. First, regarding the trade with the Dodgers. The Dodgers are my 2nd favorite team behind the Twins, so I think I'm qualified to share my thoughts on this trade. The Dodgers just won the World Series and they did it with their closer the last 3 years, Evan Phillips, left OFF the World Series roster. The Dodgers have a HUGE need for a closer and are probably very interested in getting a productive Utility Player like Castro to move on from the Chris Taylor types on their bench. That trade in my plan is a go!! I trade SWR and Jorge Alcala to to the Orioles for Jordan Westburg. I'm not sure what BBTV would have for a deal like that, but the Orioles rotation is in a shambles even if they bring Burnes back and even with their closer returning from TJ surgery they could use a depth arm like Alcala. The Orioles are over flowing with prospects and don't have enough open spots to play them all. If a top 10 prospect like #8 outfielder Gabe Gonzalez or Marco Raya needed to be included, I'd do it. They may even be interested in someone like Paddack at the price. I take ALL $7.5 million of my International Signing Budget and make a STRONG bid for Roki Sasaki. Here, the Twins are swapping out Paddack's $7.5 million to add a 23 year old fire baller who hits 100 mph and has the requisite breaking stuff to be a very good SP. Finally, I trade Vasquez, Larnach and Marco Raya/Gabe Gonzalez to the Marlins for either Sandy Alcantara ($10 million) or Jesus Luzardo ($6 million). By including Larnach and Raya, the Marlins make the trade by accepting all $10 million of Vasquez's salary. If the pitcher coming back is Alcantara, it's practically a wash salary wise. I sign Tyler O'Neill (30 y/o) as a FA for 2-years, $28 million. I sign Caleb Ferguson (28 y/o) for 1 yr. $1.50 million. I sign Jose Iglesias SS/2B/3B for 1 yr. 1.7 million. Here's my team and it's salary structure: LINEUP: $74.28 Million C Jeffers $4.7 1B Royce Lewis $2.3 2B B. Lee $0.76 3B Jordan Westburg $0.76 SS Correa $36 LF O'Neill $14 CF Buxton $15 RF M. Wallner $0.76 DH Miranda $0.76/Rushing BENCH: $3.98 Million Iglesias 2B/SS/3B $1.7 D. Keirsey $0.76 D. Rushing $0.76 A. Martin $0.76 STARTING ROTATION: $45.1 (averaging the difference of Alcantara/Luzardo at $8 million). P. Lopez $21.5 (Alcantara $10 or J. Luzardo $6) J. Ryan $3.8 B. Ober $4.3 R. Sasaki $7.5 (Festa $0.76) BULLPEN: $10.33 Jax $2.6 C. Ferguson $1.5 Vesia $1.9 Sands $0.76 Topa $1.25 Varland $0.76 Stewart $0.80 (Festa, Canterino, Moran, Funderburk, Prielipp, Henriquez all at $0.76) TOTAL PAYROLL: $133.69 ($121.49 if I subtract O'Neill for Adam Duval). A Couple of Notes: I'm a little over budget at nearly $134 million but I have to believe the Pohlad Family would understand that stretching the budget a little to have a team ready to contend in a competitive A.L. Central for 2025 and beyond will maximize their sale price. If this team is spinning its wheels in July and August in 4th place they are going to have a much harder time getting what they want. Spending $8-9 million more for their last season of ownership isn't and shouldn't be a deal breaker. To bring it more into line I could swap out O'Neill for Adam Duval 1 year, $1.80 million. The Lineup is power laden and the defense with O'Neill in LF and Iglesias rotating between SS/2B/3B helps the infield. We don't over spend for a 1B. With the acquisition of Westburg, we simply move Lewis over. Miranda can back up both 1B & 3B and without a full time DH, Rocco can rotate people through. Kiersey can get a little more of an opportunity to show what he can do before E-Rod arrives about mid-season. The starting rotation is LOADED with Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Sasaki and either Alcantara or Luzardo. Festa could be in the pen throwing long relief with spot starts to protect his innings and Matthews is gaining additional seasoning at St. Paul and also available for spot starts. The biggest worry is the BP with the trade of Duran. Jax takes over as closer but Ferguson and Vesia add two solid LH options. You also have Funderburk, Canterino, Moran, Prielipp, Henriquez and Headrick as depth. Maybe you make a bigger bullpen signing if you go with Duval over O'Neill. The lineup doesn't have a true leadoff guy, but with Lewis, Correa, O'Neill, Wallner and Westburg there is plenty of power. Maybe Buxton moves back to leadoff. And Rushing should get a look at DH'ing some games he doesn't catch. He's got a bat that will play. This would be MY plan. I stuck with certain things from Eric's and also think his plan is good as well. My biggest difference is 1B where I go with Lewis and the starting rotation where I go hard for Sasaki and make a deal with Miami for Alcantara or Luzardo.

tony&rodney is spot on when he mentions that the Twins cannot trade either jeffers or Vasquez until they have acquired another catcher. The steam on TD is that the Twins should be looking to make a deal to acquire Teel from Boston, Rushing from the Dodgers or Quero from the Brewers. Each are currently somewhat blocked by guys who had solid to great years in 2024--Connor Wong, Will Smith, and William Contreras. Each of the Red Sox, Dodgers and Brewers have a need for SP. This is where a SWR or a chunk of our international signing bonus money could come into play. But the fact remains, the Twins need to be bold with their catching situation and nobody in the farm system is going to make an impact. Go out and get that "catcher of the future" and overpay a bit if you have to. One team that wasn't listed in the possible trade partners was Miami. They have promising young pitchers, but probably the worst catching situation in MLB. Miami probably wouldn't want to pay all $10 million of Vasquez's salary, but they are desperate for a REAL catcher. And if you added some players/prospects to the deal (Larnach, Raya etc...) and took back Alcantara's $10 million dollar salary or Jesus Luzardo's you could probably make a deal. It should certainly be considered. Once the Twins make the first deal of the off season, which should involve the catching component, then they can decide who to trade between Vasquez or Jeffers. Then they can decide if they want to go all in on Roki Sasaki. Which will help them decide what role Griffin Jax has next year. Then they can decide how they plug their RH hitting outfield hole or their possible 1B hole if they don't think Miranda is the answer. They've got to make that trade for a Teel, Rushing or Quero FIRST.

I don't really care what we get back in trades of Vasquez and Paddack. To me, the primary benefit of moving them is the $17.5 million we would trim from the payroll. We have to admit to the reality that this is what is primarily motivating the Pohlad family. The benefit in saving that $17.5 million is in how the team could better invest it. If you dumped those 2 for nothing and realized the full $17.5 million in savings, you could conceivably sign Tyler O'Neill for two years at $14-$15 million per and Aroldis Chapman for 1 year at $3 million. You would have your starting LF who is Gold Glove caliber, a 30HR guy who could also play a little CF and a fire balling LH out of the pen with closing experience. If you could somehow attach a couple of prospects/players in a Vasquez deal to Miami for either Alcantara or Luzardo, so much the better. Some candidates to attach: Larnach, Austin Martin, and any number of prospects outside of our top 8. That would allow the Twins to consider trading SWR in a package to acquire Quero, Rushing or Teel. ANY of which would be exciting. And having $7.5 million in international money (Thank You, Blyleven2011 !!!) should really put the Twins squarely in the middle of the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes. If ever there was a time to blow the entire international signing budget on ONE player...Sasaki would be the guy. 23 years old. Throws 100 mph. Has a solid mix of breaking/off speed pitches. Would slot right into your rotation. He also allows the Twins to consider dealing another SP outside of SWR to plug some other gaping hole in the roster. I don't know where the $7.5 million ranks compared to the rest of MLB, but it certainly puts the Twins in the mix (should they CHOOSE to be in the mix). Half measures aren't going to put the Twins back in contention in the A.L. Central. Some bold moves moves need to be made. One trade or one FA signing isn't going to be effective, especially with current ownership's self imposed limitations. A series of moves needs to be planned, with contingencies for each move as well.

How much International Signing Money do the Twins have for 2025 when Roki Sasaki is posted? He would certainly be worthy of blowing it ALL on him to win the prize of a major league ready, 23 year old RHP who can 100 mph. The idea is that the Dodgers have the inside track to sign him because of Ohtani and Yamamoto. But there is also talk of him preferring a smaller market. The Japanese, being an island nation are famous for their love of fishing. Minnesota has over 15,000 lakes, many of them scattered around the Twin Cities. Could that be an incentive for Sasaki? I'd sure look into that. His cost could be anywhere from $4 to $8 million. Just assume the Twins signed him for a moment. That allows the Twins to easily trade SWR and bring back some real talent in the deal. SWR's value has never been higher. The Dodgers had a slew of injuries in the rotation and could have interest. The Red Sox have gaping holes in their rotation. They may only have 2 spots out of 5 at this point. Both the Dodgers and Red Sox have good, young, CATCHERS. The Dodgers have 3 or 4 !! Put a package together centered on SWR and fill the hole at catcher. Go into next season with Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Sasaki and Festa as your rotation. Leave Jax in the BP.

I've been pushing for this approach in most of my comments about possible trades this off season. If the Twins don't make a BIG off season trade to off load our most expensive contracts (Correa, Lopez, Buxton) then THIS is the approach that makes more sense to me. I like ALL of these potential guys. Pereira would be an excellent RH hitting OF with power potential and would be an excellent compliment to E-Rod and Walker Jenkins. Ceddane Rafaela is a solid SS as well as a solid CF. He would be tremendous "insurance" if Correa or Buxton missed extended time. He's a free swinger who doesn't walk nearly enough. But he's a potential 20 HR-20 SB guy. He's 24 years old and just signed an 8 year $50 million dollar contract last year. That's just $6 million per year. He would make Willi Castro "tradeable" with his IF/OF versatility and cost certainty. Westburg is VERY intriguing as a young corner IF with power and bat to ball skills. Curtis Mead is much the same profile. I think the Red Sox and Orioles are the most likely trade partners. Both have massive holes in their starting rotation and are in desperate need of reinforcements, especially the Orioles if Corbin Burnes signs elsewhere. If I could trade SWR straight up for either, I'd do it in a heartbeat. The Twins are not served well with THREE young SP's (SWR, Festa, Matthews) looking for rotation spots. Two would be my maximum. One would be best case scenario (Festa) with Matthews getting more time at St. Paul to refine and starts with the Twins as needed. SWR had the best season and his value should be at it's highest. Sell high, add a young position player that will immediately be a starter. My preference would be Rafaela or Westburg. How would SWR for either stack up in a BBTV trade? I'd add an outside our top 10 minor leaguer if need be to seal the deal. Guys like rafaela and Westurg are 2 outstanding targets. Baltimore already has too many prospect mouths to feed. They are going to HAVE to deal some of them to plug their own roster holes. The Red Sox would probably loath giving up Rafaela, but they probably loath their thin starting rotation possibilities more.

Thank You for the effort RCCola. Reading an article like this is always somewhat depressing due to the penurious ways of the hated Pohlad family. If they just gave a darn and were willing to bend a little to field a contender the easiest, no-brainer signing would be Christian Walker. A Gold Glove worthy defender with consistent power and production at a position with a gaping hole. He'd have an instant and positive impact on the lineup. And while Goldschmidt is the HOF worthy 1B and would be $5 million cheaper than Walker, Walker is clearly the better choice at this point with his power, health and glove. I would take the "in for a penny, in for a pound" strategy and just pay the extra $5 million for Walker rather than taking the bigger risk with Goldy just to save $5. This is why we've had an interesting time debating the series of "Should the Twins Trade...?" If you moved one or some of the bigger contracts this ostensibly would give you some money to play with. Using the example of a Lopez and Paddack trade to the Red Sox for young catcher Kyle Teel, that would save the Twins $29 million dollars. I'm not sure how realistic that trade would be, maybe an outside the top 10 minor league prospect would need to be included, maybe not. The red Sox get an Ace at the top of their rotation and a #5 SP or someone to move into their BP which is losing 4 or 5 heavy contributors from 2024. The Twins get a young LH hitting catcher to pair with Jeffers. This opens up a trade of Vasquez to a team for practically nothing coming back as long as the team getting Vasquez takes on all $10 million of his 2025 salary. You also trade Willi Castro and his $6 million dollar salary. Now the Twins have $45 million to play with with. If Christian Walker would cost $20 million and Tyler O'Neill $14 million that leaves you $11 million to sign Aroldis Chapman to the BP and Jose Iglesias as a cheap, infield stop gap depth piece. Boyd or Quintana as a LHP in the rotation. This is what's been missing in all the "Should the Twins Trade...?" pieces. What's the end game? How do you use that extra money if you dealt a major piece like Lopez. So here's a rough outline of a potential Twins roster: C Jeffers Teel 1B C. Walker Miranda 2B Lee 3B Lewis SS Correa Iglesias--SS/2B/3B (Eeles? etc...) OF Tyler O'Neill Buxton Wallner (Larnach/Kiersey) SP: Ryan, Ober, Boyd/Quintana, Jax, Festa, SWR, (Matthews, Lewis) BP: Duran, Chapman, Sands, Varland, Stewart, Topa, (Funderburk, Moran, Henriquez, Headrick, Prielipp etc...) and Jax if he's not in the rotation. If the Twins don't add a penny to the roster, or they go to $130 million instead of $125, this could be a realistic roster and I'd be quite happy with it. The rotation takes a hit without Pablo, but probably has the depth to sustain the loss. You've added 2 powerful RH bats to your lineup and they play GOOD defense at 1B and LF and O'Neill can play some CF if needed. You've added your catcher of the future in Kyle Teel and you're finally giving DaShawn Kiersey a chance to show what he can do as the 4th outfielder with the distinct possibility that Emmanuel Rodriguez is up before July 1st. That lineup could MASH.

I'm all for it. After seeing Lopez and Lugo succeed they way they did last year it's not an idea that has no merit. Jax would never be asked to throw more than 5 innings in a game. In a way, it would be a lot like having Sonny Gray (with Rocco as the manager). 30 starts, 5 innings per start, 150 innings. Maybe a few starts don't go 5 innings and he's skipped a couple times throughout the 162 game season and he's at 135-140 innings. There is no question he's a completely different pitcher now than in 2019. Nobody would know how Jax could train to adapt his body to a different role than Jax himself. And I'm pretty sure there isn't a player on the entire roster who works harder than Griffin Jax. Moving him weakens the BP temporarily but has the potential to improve the rotation and open up the possibility of trading one of the SP's for a player who could fill a big weakness. With the SP talent currently climbing up the minor league levels and having Festa, SWR and Matthews all gaining valuable experience last year this idea has a chance. Perhaps the Twins deal SWR when his value is at it's highest to plug a current hole in the roster? Signing a LH RP like Aroldis Chapman who is LH, could close, as well as hold down the 8th inning would help relieve the risk of moving Jax to the rotation. Having Varland, Prielipp and (dare I hope...) Matt Canterino available to shoulder some of the BP load would also help. This would be a move not made for just 2025, but also for 2026 and beyond. As Jax gets more expensive (aka VALUABLE) his trade value also increases. I just know that if I had to bet on a guy on the Twins roster working his tail off to get better and succeed in a new role, Griffin Jax would be one guy I wouldn't bet against.

I agree Mike, I think a segment of TD is completely missing the point of these "Should the Twins Trade "X" articles. The articles are not recommending we SHOULD trade these guys, they are pointing out what the ramifications would be if we did. What is missing in these articles and where I think the TD staff is not serving their readership as well as they could, is a BBTV proposed framework of 2 or 3 hypothetical deals for each of these player specific trades. This isn't to say that BBTV is the "be all, end all" of trade ideas. But it at least gives you a sense of the "value" of the Twins player/players stacked against the "value" of the players other teams have. It lets you see if you're at least in the ballpark for a proposed trade. In every one of these trade scenarios it all comes down to what is coming back and if the deal made provides the Twins with some payroll relief, what are some of the ideas the Twins could have in using that payroll relief in further trades or FA signings with that money. Who in their right mind would just jump on board and say, "Heck Yeah! We should should send Pablo Lopez packing!!" I would like to see TD revisit this concept in the near future with a sharper focus on specifics. Not just "should the Twins trade Duran??" But more like, if the Twins explored a trade for Duran, here are 3 teams with a huge need for a closer and what a potential deal could bring back to the Twins. For example, bean5302 has provided us with a BBTV numerical value of 31.0 for Jhoan Duran. He's also provided a value of 40.4 for Red Sox AAA catcher Kyle Teel who probably only has April, May and June left at AAA. The Red Sox are a good trade partner with the Twins because they need a closer in the worst way and are also desperate for starting pitching. Let's say the Twins offer Duran and Chris Paddack for Teel? This depends on what Paddack's BBTV actually is but is this a realistic deal?? The Red Sox have taken the risk on a SP like Paxton. How would they feel about Paddack? What other trade pieces could be cobbled together to make a deal? What if the Twins also had their eye on a SS/CF like Ceddane Rafaela? What is HIS value and how would the trade expand if OUR targets were Teel and Rafaela? If not Duran, what if a deal for Teel was centered around Baily Ober? Unless the readers of TD have some kind of framework to evaluate a trade of a good player like Correa, Buxton, Lopez, Ober, Ryan, Duran etc...why on earth should we be in favor of it. I think this series has the potential to spur some good comments, but the TD staff needs to do a better job on it.

I agree on all three. This is "hidden treasure" in the Twins farm system. Varland has used up all his chances to be a SP. It's BP from this point out. And I agree, as a 2-inning guy he has even more value. Canterino has been one of my favorite prospects but he just can't seem to stay healthy. The Twins struck gold when they moved Duran to the pen. I say, follow the same path and get 50 innings or so out of him for a couple seasons and see how it goes. With his raw stuff, any bullets he uses in the minors are wasted. Prielipp is slightly different in that he could still have a little runway to use as a SP. But getting him up to the big leagues and letting him get his feet wet in the BP doesn't automatically disqualify him as a possible SP in a couple of years. We've seen Reynaldo Lopez and Seth Lugo as 2 tremendous examples that guys can move from the pen into the rotation and be awfully. darn. GOOD. And with these three guys, this brings me to Griffin Jax. If you gave all three of these guys spots in the BP I think you'd be able to transition Jax to a #3 or #4 spot in the rotation. And I think it would go quite nicely. A plan like this would allow the Twins to dangle SWR or Matthews in a deal to fill a glaring need, like 1B or C. I think you could get more for SWR than Matthews at this point and I like Matthews as a prospect better. I'm leaving the #5 spot for Festa. I liked what I saw last year in spurts. I think he's got the highest ceiling.

Trading Lopez is not automatically turning the Twins into a pumpkin. It all depends on the moves they would make in addition to a Lopez trade. As I mentioned in an earlier post regarding all these "what if we traded" pieces TD is churning out, the Mariners moved on from Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson and Alex Rodriguez in back to back seasons and then went on to win an American League record 116 games. I'm not advocating for the Twins to trade Lopez. But it really does depend on what moves the team makes and who we get in the Lopez deal to begin with. Tony&rodney would probably rather have Boston include Teel rather than Mayer. Boston currently has Connor Wong doing a fine job behind the plate. Maybe Boston would rather deal Teel than Mayer. Trevor Story's health may lead Boston to treat Mayer as untouchable. But with the money saved from a Lopez deal what if the Twins went out and signed Roki Sasaki? His cost initially will be between $4-$8 million of international signing bonus depending on when he's actually posted. What if the Twins signed Kikuchi or a similar vet SP? And/or moved Jax to the rotation and signed a LHP RP like Chapman or Ferguson? Sasaki is VERY interesting. Everybody assumes he's going to the Dodgers. But with the cost for the 23 year old being so affordable and the rumor he may prefer a smaller market, it's more realistic than you'd think. Would a rotation of Ryan, Ober, Sasaki , Jax and Festa (with maybe Kikuchi and Jax still in the pen) make Twins fans happy. I could live with that. But a blockbuster deal like that would need to be followed up with a couple more trades. Moving Paddack and Vasquez is a priority. If Teel were substituted for Mayer it's a LOT easier to consider moving Vasquez and not caring what you get back. There is also talk that the Phillies are strongly considering moving 28 year old 3B/1B Alex Bohm. Bohm hit .280 last year with 15 HR's, a .779 OPS and 97 RBI. Royce Lewis and Alex Bohm on your corner IF spots would be pretty nice for the next 7-8 years. If Bohm could be had in a package for SWR I'd go for that in a heartbeat. Does trading Lopez make the Twins better for 2025 and beyond? It all depends on what the Twins get and what other moves are made. But discounting it out of hand without giving it some serious thought is not acceptable. The point of TD is to vigorously debate these scenarios. I'm happy they're putting them out there. Some might be wildly speculative, but to me, that's O.K. I love the debate.

Cory Englehardt asks a very good question. "If Jax were moved to the starting rotation, would that open up a trade possibility for another SP, like Ober or SWR?" I would would emphatically say "YES !!" I believe Jax could make the transition to the rotation and be a pretty good SP. Ober probably has more value, but the guy I would explore aggressively to see what I could get in return would be SWR. SWR did quite well last season, but I always felt like we were walking a tightrope with him. What would he actually bring back in a trade? I don't use BBTV's any more, but I'd be curious to see a couple of trades where SWR would be the centerpiece. SP is always at a premium. What is SWR's value?? Ober would certainly bring a LOT more. The idea of Boston giving up Teel for Ober or the Dodgers giving up Rushing for Ober may not be far fetched. Again, I'd like to see someone with BBTV's access throw out a couple deals involving Ober to see what the ceiling would be. I doubt I would trade Jax under any circumstance, but if the Twins moved him to the rotation and he had a solid year or two (thus raising his value considerably) and it was time to fully integrate Festa, Matthews, Morris etc...into the rotation, THEN I "might" be interested. If you pitch well, your team is ALWAYS in the game. It seems to me, that the best deals the Twins could be making would be spinning SP's off in a trade when they begin to become prohibitively expensive as long as they have plenty of promising SP's waiting in the wings like Festa, Matthews, Morris etc... You can't trade ALL your good and dependable SP's. Core guys like Lopez, Ryan and Ober. But if you need to patch a gaping hole, like catcher or 1B and get an infusion of good prospects, you can deal one of them occasionally.

"Lasorda" asked "what did St. Peter do for the Twins organization for the last 22 years?" Answer: Not a darn thing that amounted to anything GOOD. He was always part of the problem in my estimation. Never have been a fan of his. Falvey gets a chance to make his mark this season, but if there IS a sale, there is absolutely no guarantee that he's a part of the new ownership groups team. I would say a playoff appearance and one series win is the hurdle Falvey has to clear to have a chance to remain. And I agree with whoever commented that under the current circumstances with the Twins, you would never have gotten a top GM candidate to take a position. To me, the odds are that the new ownership group will clean house and start with their own people unless the Twins have a VERY successful 2025 season. That's going to be very difficult with a self-imposed $125 million dollar budget. Someone just posted what their off season plan would be with a $143 million dollar budget and it looked pretty good. But many people correctly pointed out that he was $18 million over budget. Something has got to give there. Falvey may or may not realize he is auditioning for a job with a new ownership group. It's up to him to convince the Pohlad's that to maximize their sale, spending $15-$25 million dollars more in 202 is a good investment.

I think Lewis is a core building block and depending on what we eventually see from Walker Jenkins and E-Rod, Lewis is probably the "key" building block. He was TERRIBLE in the 2nd half of the season but nagging injuries will do that to you. Yes, he's hurt waaay too much, but so was Paul Molitor early in his career. Trades always come down to what you could get back. After last season, Lewis's value is down. You sell high and you buy low. This would be a sell low situation and I'm not really inclined to give up on a cornerstone player.

Nice exercise going through this cjm. This is always fun to speculate and agree/disagree on certain ideas. Here are a couple of things I agree with: Jo Adell would be an excellent "value" for 4th OF. He's a plus glove and would be an adequate backup plan for Buxton as a RH hitter. I think Keirsey should be on your bench somewhere or if not, he's the call up when Buxton goes on I.L. I think your idea of Yandy Diaz at 1B is very good. He's somewhat affordable at $10 but your $143 million budget is way out of line. In order to have a chance to make a deal for Diaz, we need to clear Vasquez and Paddack and probably Castro as well. There is no circumstance where the Twins will pay a bullpen guy $7.5 million. Not even if he was the closer. You need to trim the fat before you can make a deal for Yandy Diaz. Castro has value. Vasquez, while vastly overpriced has value, especially to a catching starved team like Miami. Paddack has value to the right team in the right role. But with the exception of Castro, the primary objective with Vasquez and Paddack is to shed the $17.5 million in salary to free funds up to repurpose elsewhere. Anything of value gotten in deals for those two is a bonus. Caleb Ferguson is a decent LH RP. He had some good years with the Dodgers. But I would sign Chapman. I'm not sure what his price tag would be, but I'm guessing $3-$4 million. He has closing experience. I like the ideas JDTwins added. Travis d'Arnaud is a great target for catcher if the Braves refused his $8 million dollar option. If you traded Jeffers and Duran to the Red Sox for Tristin Cases that fills the Red Sox hole at closer and gives them a catcher to pair with Connor Wong. The Twins get their 1B for the next 10 years. Would the Red Sox do this?!? They might. There has been talk of moving Rafael Devers to 1B. Playing 3B has been kind of hard on his body and above all else, the Red Sox want Devers healthy and mashing. Adding Casas saves the $10 million needed to trade for Yandy Diaz. There would be a need to come up with another catcher if both Jeffers and Vasquez were moved. d'Arnaud could be the everyday catcher for the Twins probably getting 2/3 of the starts. And d'Arnaud can play 1B and DH as well. But somebody else would need to catch about 60 games. Maybe Yoan Moncada IS TRASH. Or maybe he just needs to get out of the hell hole that is the Chicago White Sox. He only played in about 10 games last year and is always hurt. How cheap would he need to be to be a decent gamble. Considering him is moot if Casas or Diaz were acquired. Looking at your $143 million dollar budget it's clear you need to cut it. Vasquez & Paddack are easy. Castro would be difficult to replace. Would the Twins gamble that Helman or Eeles could be the utilityman? Would they look for a veteran infielder who wouldn't cost much like Jose Iglesias? If Castro was moved, they'd almost have to. Some publication just rated the Twins as the 4th most talented roster in the American League. That really drives home the point how badly the Pohlad family has lost this fanbase, bringing on the sudden announcement of the team being up for sale. And what does that assessment say about Rocco as a manager??? He has the 4th most talented roster in the A.L. and he leads the team to a 4th place finish in his DIVISION? The Twins should contend next year. They can try to run it back or make some blockbuster moves and re-tool/redistribute how that talent is spread out on the major league roster. It's going to be fun discussing this ALL WINTER LONG !! :)

The value of pitching year to year just seems to accelerate. Each year, pitchers in various tiers are projected to make "X" on the free agent market and they almost always exceed the projection. MLB radio this morning was speculating if the Mariners would trade Luis Castillo to the Orioles for young talent to open up a bigger pot of gold to offer Juan Soto. Teams don't generally trade away solid SP's like Luis Castillo. Because of the need for pitching for every team in MLB, Paddack probably has a little more value than we think. Not a LOT more, but a bit. For the Twins, under the "right size my budget" Pohlad regime there is no way the Twins can pay $7.5 million to a bullpen arm who is NOT the closer. Heck, if the Twins had to pay $7.5 million to Duran or Jax they would probably get traded. But there are teams who could look at Paddack as a worthy $7.5 million back of the rotation SP, long reliever or a swing pitcher of sorts. The primary objective in trading Paddack is not necessarily to bring back a good prospect, it's to dump his salary, freeing up $7.5 million that could be better used somewhere else. But the time to trade Paddack is NOW, not at the deadline, hoping he somehow increases his value. The Twins need that salary relief NOW. Not in July or August. Take what you can get for him and off load the $7.5 million. There are bigger spending teams that won't look at that as an astronomical salary.

I will agree that it's debatable how much value Paddack has. Yet teams are ALWAYS looking at pitching and catching lightening in a bottle. To me, a win would just be getting a team to take Paddack and clear the $7.5 million. But if a marginal prospect or a player with some talent came back, even better. The Mets are an interesting fit. They may be looking for a small $7.5 million arm to fill out the back end if they plan on offering mega-bucks to Juan Soto. Maybe even the Dodgers for the same reason. Baltimore is an interesting fit. Either Ryan O'Hearn or Ryan Mountcastle fits the 1B need for the Twins. O'Hearn could platoon with Miranda. Mountcastle would replace Miranda. Mountcastle was nominated for a Gold Glove at 1B this season so he would provide the defense we'd need. If we had to attach a prospect to Paddack to get either Mountcastle or O'Hearn I'd do it in a heartbeat. We have a gaping hole at 1B. Even a lateral move salary-wise that fills that hole with a productive major league hitter is acceptable to me. The Orioles have a TON of young prospects breaking through and that makes Mountcastle and O'Hearn expendable as they try to find spots for guys like Westburg, Cowser, Jackson Holiday. Ramon Urias and Heston Kjerstad.

There are all sorts of examples that when a team traded away star players team not only didn't tank, they improved and contended. I'll give you a couple of examples. The first is the Brewers. They have traded away Josh Hader (who was the best closer in baseball while with the Brewers) and Corbin Burns, who was a top SP. They even let their "All World" manager Craig Counsel go to the Cubs and yet, the Brewers continue to confound the "experts" by winning division titles and qualifying for the playoffs. How about the 2001 Seattle Mariners. In 1999 they traded away both Ken Griffey Jr. and Randy Johnson and in 2000 they still went 91-71 and qualified for the Wild Card. (they lost the division to Oakland by half a game). They then completed the "Fire Sale" by letting Alex Rodriguez walk in FA to the Rangers at seasons end. Coming into the 2001 season, without Griffey Jr. The Big Unit and A-Rod they won an American League record 116 games!! The thing that terrifies most Twins fans is NOT trading Correa and Buxton which would open up a $52 million dollar checkbook to address specific areas with the team. What terrifies us is that with the exception of trading Nelson Cruz for Joe Ryan and Luis Arraez for Pablo Lopez the Twins FO has botched more trades than won them. By a wide margin. If the Twins were to trade those two pieces away, they would need to go after Willie Adames with a vengeance in FA. They would need to go after Tyler O'Neill. Correa and Buxton out. Adames and O'Neill in. Swapping out RH hitters for guys with more power and who play more consistently. That would be a net benefit. Not sure what the total cost to bring in those two guys would be, but it wouldn't be $52 million. Maybe you sign Anthony Santander instead of O'Neill. Would you be able to sign someone like Danny Jansen as a catcher once you've moved Vasquez? Probably. You'd probably have enough left to sign Aroldis Chapman as the LH bullpen piece as well. You might even have enough cash left to sign one more SP if you didn't acquire one through a trade. Kikuchi is 34 years old and Manaea is 33. BOTH have been mentioned as a fit with the Twins (as have the Brewers, Rangers, Nats and Orioles). We can compete with those teams for FA's. Both, remarkably are LH !! Other somewhat affordable potential SP's in FA include Walker Buehler, Luis Severino, Shane Bieber (coming off Tommy John but believed to be ready for the start of the season) and maybe even bargain basement Matthew Boyd (also LH). Or how about really being aggressive and bidding for Roki Sasaki, a 23 year old fireballer from Japan who will be posted. He will not command the huge signing bonus due to his international FA status and even though the Dodgers and the New York teams are favored to sign him, it's rumored he might prefer a smaller market. How about the Twins?!? It would depend on how much international signing money we currently have but to add a 23 year old pitcher of his talent? That would open up a trade of SWR to a pitching needy team. Or Ryan or Ober for that matter. Trading Correa and Buxton away is NOT throwing up a White Flag. But it will take an astute, creative and aggressive front office to move the chess pieces of roster construction to make it work. Is Falvey capable of this? Tying up such a high percentage of your team payroll in those two guys is not a recipe for success. Baseball is a game where massive roster shifts can happen and a team can function smoothly. It's not like trying to get an offensive line to work together or integrating Donte DiVincenzo and Julius Randle into the Timberwolves lineup.

One of the interesting things I noted in Matthew's article that I thought about when the Gold Glove nominees were released was "where was Byron Buxton in the announcement?" He finally played 100 games, and I was sure that would be enough to qualify him, but he was nowhere to be found. This doesn't mean Buxton isn't still a "good" CF. It just means he more Vada Pinson than Willie Mays or Curt Flood. But Yeah Matthew, you just don't trade All Star caliber pitchers for 5th OF types. I also thought of Paddack right away but dismissed that unless we were paying $7 million of his salary. The Brewers don't take on salary. It's true that the Brewers need SP but I also agree that giving Keirsey a chance makes much more sense. He profiles as a potentially much better hitter and his glove is also solid. The advantage Perkins has is that he's a RH hitter. But if I'm looking for a RH hitting OF for next year, I'm trying to clear some payroll (Paddack, Vasquez, Kepler, Farmer, Santana) and seeing if I could scrape enough cash together to sign Tyler O'Neil who had a good year for the Red Sox but is a FA. Where Perkins sits in the Brewer pecking order (5th OF at best) a trade of a minor leaguer should be enough to get him. But in the end, I'd rather give Keirsey a chance. The kid has done well at AAA two years in a row. He deserves a shot.

If he has only gotten to AA at this point I think it would be a shock if someone picked him up in the Rule 5 draft. The Twins HAVE created some room on their 40-man roster so there could be room for him. Where does Noah Cardenas fit in future catcher status?