jmlease1

Because the teams that might be trading for him are going for it this year. they're not going to give back anyone who is a significant MLB contributor. Dealing Gray nets you prospects. They might be very good prospects (YMMV on whether his injury history or poor stint with a contending NY team would reduce his perceived value on top of the fact that he's a two month rental; I don't think it matters nearly as much as his current performance, which has been all-star quality) but they're going to be prospects, not MLB players.

Which is why trading Gray is giving up on the season. the teams interested in acquiring him are going for it this season and sending back prospects. There might be some great ones in a package, even potentially one that steps in next season...but the odds of a deal doing anything to improve the MLB team this year are perishingly small.

By this argument, KC should have traded James Shields in 2014. He was a pending free agent, had a lot of value as a starting pitcher rental, and KC wasn't even leading their division at the trade deadline. Instead they hung on to him, made a run to the wild card, and ended up winning the World Series. I simply don't subscribe to the theory that in baseball if you don't have an obvious top 5 team you should throw away the season and go for assets. Baseball playoffs are weird, and in a short series anything can happen. Phillies finished 3rd in their division and made it all the way to the World Series last season; I doubt their fans would have traded that run for some value at the trade deadline. With Sonny Gray, the Twins have one of the best rotations in baseball. A great rotation is very dangerous in the playoffs, and the Twins also have an elite arm in the back of the 'pen in Duran. they've won season series against teams like NY and Houston that are a) competing for the playoffs, and b) have been in our heads. Trading Sonny Gray to avoid the risk of potentially "losing" him for nothing if he retires (which seems like a slim chance, considering the kind of money he's going to be offered) would be franchise malpractice. Dumping a season when the twins are competing for the division is an insult to the fans.

"I looooove winning, man! You know? Like, it beats losing?!?" Was hoping for a better/longer start from Ryan, but looks like the all-star break did him no favors either. All of our starters in this series looked a bit rusty. Got a bit wobbly at the end, but the bullpen got it done again. I'm thinking we don't see Duran for at least one game and probably two. Hopefully the starters get back to business and the offense makes it completely unneeded. Nice to see Kirilloff have a good game. I still think he's very talented and with as good a swing as anyone in the Twins organization, so it's good to see him carry the club today

Seem to be a lot of Twins hitters in Cedar Rapids with a good understanding of the strike zone these days. Like seeing Cossetti settling in on his promotion: only 6 hits in his first 10 games in high A; 11 in his last 10. 4 walks in his first 10, 6 walks in the last 10. Hopefully he starts to find that power stroke a little more, but he seems to be on track again, and it's good to see him playing plenty of catcher, even if he dropped in at 1B yesterday. I find him to be a really interesting prospect, the kind of guy who is unlikely to ever hit a national top prospect list, but one of those late round guys that if he can keep developing could be a real asset to the franchise. He's doing pretty much everything right so far!

Maeda is pitching himself out of the rotation with one bad start since coming off the IL? (the 3 previous were good) Is Lopez pitching himself out of the rotation too? Twins starters have been very good this season and starting pitching is going to be the most expensive thing at the trade deadline (see also, Mahle, Tyle). If you wanted to add Snell you'd have to give up big time assets, at least as much as we gave up for Mahle, frankly (Snell is pitching better and has a better track record, even as a 3 month rental). Seems like a bad investment. I'm surprised to see so much criticism of bullpen management after this game. Clearly, they're trying to keep for overdoing it on the guys who pitched back to back games, and with some injuries and lack of investment in the bullpen, they don't have have as many guys they trust in late and close situations right now. (4 relievers on the IL right now, and there's no question the Twins would have used Thielbar and Stewart in the last two games) But as a result, they got through it and pulled out 2 wins in 2 days, games they really needed to have. Feels like pretty good bullpen management to me. Now they need a good start from Ryan and a nice cushion of runs so Balazovic or someone can finish it off and give the rest of the 'pen the day off while we hopefully sweep the sorry, no-account A's and their dreadful owner (arguably the worst in sports).

You mean: leave it to the starters for not shutting down a bad team and going deeper into the games. I mean, come on: if you're blaming Rocco for using his entire bullpen to scape together back-to-back wins when neither starter was sharp then the dude isn't going to ever be able to do anything right. Correa is on a bit of a heater right now, and that's good to see. Hitting leadoff seems to be working for him (even if he's not fast). Hope this means he's locked in at the plate for a while and can super-charge this offense for a while. 11 hits and 7 walks certainly should be enough baserunners to pile up the runs. Bullpen has picked up the starters 2 games in a row; time for the starters to return the favor.

I was unaware that wins against KC and Oakland count for less than other wins in the standings. Interesting. 🤣 Maeda's velocity and movement were fine last night, but he just couldn't locate consistently and finish off hitters. Maybe he's one of those guys who gets rusty when they get extra time off? Nice work by the bullpen...with the exception of Duran, which has usually gone the other way. I'm not worried about him per se, but it would be nice to get a good stretch of clean innings again. I'm exhausted with the inconsistent strike zone this year, it just seems to be a constant refrain where you get these games where it sticks out like a sore thumb. Everyone had something to complain about last night so I guess it was "fair", but this is another game where it is objectively reasonable to talking about the strike zone and I'd much rather not be talking about the umpires at all.

Seems really doubtful that Julien is a solution to any of our production questions in the OF. Part of Julien's problem in the infield is his arm is terrible (poor strength and poor accuracy on throws) and that would be a problem for him in the OF too (he might become an average-ish defender in terms of range and catching flies, but people would run on him all day) I do think this FO struggles with sunk costs when it comes to under-performing veterans, especially in-season. They usually seem to want to give a player more time to turn it around and recoup some value. (there are exceptions, of course) And after last seasons collapse where they ran out of credible MLB players, especially in the OF because of injuries, I get the hedging (it's not like we have a clean sheet on injuries this season either). but at a certain point you end up hurting the team more and it's hard to keep acting like a player is going to turn things around or change. (I don't think the Twins are the only front office that struggles with this, especially smaller markets) I wasn't wild about signing Gallo, but a lot of it was about signing Gallo when we were keeping Kepler. Having both is increasingly problematic, because neither is hitting enough. Gallo's really fallen off after a hot start and his defense has been disappointing (though his versatility has been appreciated). Kepler's offense continues to be below par, and while his defensive value is greater than Gallo's right now, he's not a superior player out there any longer either. Gallo is probably the easier one to simply cut: he hasn't had a good month since the start of the season, he's adding less defensive value, he's in a deep slump, there's no obligation after this season, and he's got no track record with the team. (the other side of the ledger is he seems like a good clubhouse guy, he's shown willingness to play wherever asked, he had a couple of minor injuries which may have hampered his defense, and we'd be eating more money on his contract) But it seems hard to keep going to the Gallo well, unfortunately. Kepler shouldn't be safe, though. There's little to suggest that he'll improve; these 2 week bursts where he looks good have always been followed up with stretches of total ineptitude at the plate. He not bad defensively and still capable of making plays, but he's not looking like an elite player out in the field any longer, and he seems restricted to RF. But he's not going to be any real help on offense. He'll be lucky to finish the season with an OPS+ of 95, and it seems highly unlikely he'll reach 100, which is league average. 2019 was a fluke year. I think I would release Gallo now and give either Wallner or Larnach a real shot. I would hold Kepler to see if they could trade him for anything (even if it meant eating some salary, or getting nothing but an A-ball reliever), and try and keep him away from any lefty until the trade deadline. Maybe he's a throw-in on another deal from a team that wants a lefty bat who can play good D. but I have no expectations we'll get much for him (I do think he has at least some trade value or at least less negative trade value than Gallo at this point), and if he can't be dealt, then I'd think long and hard about cutting him too unless Waller/Larnach immediately flopped on recall. We need more offense, and Gallo and Kepler aren't getting it done.

That's probably a little bit of a challenge for some of these elite HS hitters: they could expand the zone and swing more and rack up more hits and HRs against that level of competition, but they also are trying to develop good habits and take walks, show they know the strike zone, etc. Winokur is an interesting player. Should be fun to watch him develop. With a bunch of HS kids entering the system I think it's going to be very interesting to see where the Twins place them in the minors and how fast they adjust and advance. (also how fast the franchise pushes them too; I don't think there's any clear pattern for them on how aggressive they are with younger players. Plenty of examples of them going slow on a guy as well as aggressive moves, so with a guy like Winokur he could be playing complex ball this year and be in low A next season...or he could do an extra season in the "rookie" leagues)

I'm always enthusiastic about pitching prospects with a deadly changeup. It's such a fun pitch. Interesting that the twins drafted him once and are returning there after college for him. I hope that means they know more about him than other clubs and are getting a steal!

That's more value to the franchise and its bottom line, not more value on the field.

I love the fact that he puts Target Field on for HitTrax. That's just kinda neat. I love Target Field and it's cool to hear a high school kid who has never been here throw a little love on it. He seems like another prospect who wants to work, wants to be coached, and has the drive to succeed. here's hoping for good health and success!

Really interesting prospect. Always a fair amount of risk with high school pitchers, but there's a lot to like about Soto and things that might mitigate the risk. Having a big fastball that isn't flat at his age is impressive. It seems really likely that he'll add weight and strength in the next couple of years that can hopefully help keep him strong and healthy (maybe even add velocity to an already impressive fastball?). It'll be really interesting to see how his command and control develops in the minors and what his pitch mix starts to look like as the Twins work with him. heavy fastball, circle change, and slider is a nice base to work from. I do think it's cool that he's already been coached by LaTroy Hawkins and has connections to players already in the system. Lot of potential with this kid, and he sounds like he has his head on straight.

For a college player, he's still on the the younger side, which might increase the upside potential here. Definitely some hitting talent here and he should be fun to watch.

Tough break for him. But you have to take some chances in the draft. And he could still work out, but this is a significant setback for him. Hopefully he can get his arm right and come back next season.

nice run on college pitchers right now for the Twins. No objections to them digging around in the college ranks to see who they can find that might take another step up with their coaching and program; they've had some nice results mining smaller programs too.

Yeah, I think the twins have a bunch of guys in the organization right now at the position, just not anyone that is a breakout guy or projects comfortably as a big-league starter. But there are several guys that might be able to hit their way up clustered in A/AA now. They're missing higher ceiling projection guys right now, which they're not finding late in the draft.

There were a couple of college pitchers left from KLaw's list that i liked, but we're getting in the territory where I've never heard of a lot of these guys, so gotta trust the scouting.

That would be unbelievable. (especially if he's healthier) Larry Walker was a ridiculously great player and a worthy Hall of Famer. I get that comps like this are projecting out to a maximum ceiling, but it sure is fun to think about our own version of Larry freakin' Walker out there. (seriously, that guy was crazy, crazy good)

So far last year's draft is coming along nicely! Now, they did focus on college players in that draft (first 13 picks were all college guys) and I would expect those to have a greater chance of initial success in pro ball, due to their greater experience and development than a HS kid...but it's still an impressive hit rate so far.

That's an interesting statement; they seem to be saying that they don't like Soto that much because his stuff doesn't work up in the zone which is where modern analytics are telling pitchers to go...but one of the things a progressive team is also thinking about is not needing to have every pitcher be the same guy. On Keaschall that kinda reads like they don't have a great reason to downgrade him but want to anyways, so they're picking "competition". By that measure, every HS player should probably get a ding? I'm not really sure why they were surprised by these picks: none of them are a reach, all of them have some standout abilities on them...did they just expect the twins to take a chunky college slugger in all their mocks?

there are 4 college pitchers on KLaw's top 10 "best available" list, and it would be great if one of them slipped to the Twins today. (I'm personally less enthusiastic about the HS shortstops sitting out there on that same list, but YMMV) I think we'll see the Twins take some college pitchers from smaller college programs again, and I'm fine with that.

Blew it? Feels a little harsh. And if Carrigg doesn't stick at catcher (and notably, his primary position this spring was CF) then what is he? KLaw had him all the way down at 70 on his big board because he doesn't make hard contact and expands the zone too much (and as a result doesn't get on base enough). If he's the 2nd best college catcher, why didn't he play there for SDSU this spring? Keaschall has the speed for CF, so if he doesn't stick on the dirt he's got another position when he can add value on defense. I just don't think you can try and draft for need and be successful in the MLB draft, unless the players are pretty close in terms of overall evaluation; then it makes sense as a tie-breaker, but right now it doesn't look like Carrigg is seen by many evaluators as a serious catching prospect and there's some real questions about his hit tool in comparison to other guys who were drafted ahead of him.

Looks like a good pick. The velocity is impressive, and it sounds like he has 2 off-speed pitches to refine already; I'll admit I'm always a little biased toward pitchers that have a change-up. Lot of HS pitchers don't really have all that much in that area: they can overwhelm kids with the velocity and then any kind of off-speed pitch, even if it's not really all that great still looks like it's falling off a table. So it's good to hear that he's got two in the arsenal that are already developing and he won't have to create one from scratch. It'll be interesting to see what the team can do with him to refine his command and control early? he's likely to get stronger working as a professional, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the velocity tick up a bit more, so if he can find the zone consistently he could do very well.