jmlease1

As a general rule, I prefer that the Twins not invest substantial resources in the bullpen, but the sell-off last season was so extreme that they literally had no choice unless they were planning on a full-on rebuild. Which would have been a waste IMHO (too many good prospects near MLB, would have driven Buxton out of town, would have driven the interest down even further, and frankly wouldn't have had any better odds of success in bringing a title here really. Would have saved the Pohlads a bunch of money. screw that). While it's a bummer to give up a prospect like Hill, who has big upside (and bust bust capacity as well), we neither added a rental or a marginal player. We've rebuild the bullpen enough in 1 season to no longer look at it as a disaster, but even a potential strength...and without committing too much in terms of dollars to it either. There's not going to be a single arm in there they're paying $10M+, and Hoffman will likely be the most expensive arm with his discounted salary. That's a good place to be in. I liked the fact that they were willing to strike early. I prefer to see flexibility from a front office in how they approach things like this. Don't wait too long and hope something falls in your lap...but don't overpay early either. I hated it when Terry Ryan would rush to finish out his wishlist early and we'd end up with a lesser player filling a role as much as it sucked watching every good player at a position of need came off the board under Falvey. You have to be able to read the market and take risks going both directions in order to get the best value and best fits. Hopefully Zoll, under Pom Tohlad can do that. I'm not ready to declare a big shift in attitude around payroll and taking on money. It's a lot easier for the Twins to take on $5-7M in salary after they've chopped off $40M from the payroll already. I doubt we take on any money if the payroll is sitting up at $150M, but YMMV. I think they had a pretty good trade deadline, and get a little credit for doing what they said they would do if in this position, and filling the needs they said they would try and fill. But it's a little credit. Not full faith and credit. And not necessarily a signal that they've made that significant a shift in philosophy.

YES! this is excellent news. Looking forward to seeing what he can do. Hope they plan to start him basically every day. Kreidler is best suited to be a utility guy (and his ability to play quality CF defense is great) It make take a little time; I'm trying to not get ahead of my skis on Culpepper, but I am excited to see what he can do. I think he could be a really good player.

Have you really never experienced it when your boss changes and the new guy wants to go in a different direction? The difference between being the head of the division vs still reporting to someone else? It's sports so fans love to declare the GM incompetent and expect instant gratification, but...whatever.

Desperately needed this win. Still concerned about the offense; I would expect to see more runs with 7 hit and 7 walks. But it does seem like when the Twins are being patient at the plate and taking those walks it ends up turning into wins. Love seeing Lewis blast one. The re-set in the minors really does seem to have gotten his confidence back at the plate and he's back to showing off his talent. I'm into the idea of him being the primary 1B going forward. Sure, he wobbled a bit in July, but that's going to happen. There will be streaks. But he's no longer looking lost up there. Morris is certainly solidifying his place in the bullpen going forward. Team is in a much better position there now and for '27 as well. (if Sands recovers well from surgery, they bring back Banda and maybe Minter, and now you have a good bullpen from the jump next season)

Sure would like to to see Jenkins in MLB I mean, let's goooo! Nice to see Bohorquez have a good day. The stuff is great, but he's another one of those guys that has to find the zone most consistently. But this is 2 good outings in a row and 4 out of the last 5, so many he's starting to get into a rhythm and finding something that works for him. He still needs to figure out how to neutralize LH hitters better, but he's absolute death to righties. Still real potential here. Winokur seems to be handling AA ok so far; he's not destroying the pitching or anything (yet) but he's holding his own quite well and I like seeing him at 3B. The bundle of tools is still very intriguing and he's the sort of prospect that could make a big leap at any time if things click.

And if Zoll had dumped Wallner just to open a spot he would have been pilloried for that too. I think Zoll deserves a little more time to reshape the 40-man than a short run-up to the season after a shakeup in senior leadership and a trade deadline window where his priority had to be addressing immediate needs. And guys will stagnate less in AAA if the team would just call up someone rather than running around with a Tristan Gray. I suspect the twins 40-man will get some more significant tailoring in the offseason.

Lackey also played some 3B last year in college, maybe that could be a spot where he gets some reps if they just want him getting more ABs and there isn't enough DH time. I'm not super worried about how they will divide it up, just think it'll be interesting. Would not be surprised to see Diaw in AAA to start next season, with Tait & Lackey in AA. But no matter how it shakes out, this is a really good problem to have...

Mine too. I see him as more of a trade asset than a likely MLB Twin right now (I think the team is higher on Tait's potential?) but if he continues to hit with his athleticism he'll find a defensive home even if it's not at catcher long term. But I have no problem with continuing to give him time there right now, because he's still doing ok there. I'll be interested to see how he finishes the season, especially in terms of the pop in his bat. If can hit a few more doubles in Wichita through the end of the season it should be pretty fun. if he's getting 25-30 doubles along with the occasional dinger, that'll be a profile that works with his contact skills, speed, and understanding of the strike zone. It'll be interesting to see how they arrange their catchers in the organization next season. Really fun to see them have real organizational prospect depth at that spot, rather than hoping an Andrew Cossetti type might figure something out...

I don't think the Twins management sees it in such stark terms. I suspect they value making the playoffs and don't have a World Series or Bust mentality, and I can understand that. If you have to presume that you're a top 5 in the "power rankings" to have a legit shot at winning the WS, then that's going to be a tough hurdle for a team without the ability to buy itself out of any mistake or solve any problem by throwing cash at it. As I've discussed elsewhere, with the short series aspect to the playoffs, even with expanded rounds making it more advantageous to higher payroll teams, baseball post-season has a higher level of randomness than say the NBA. (no one seeded lower than 3 has won a title in the last decade; in MLB you've had 2 Wild Card teams take a WS as well as an Atlanta team which won a weak division and had the 5th best record in the NL) There's a fair argument that just getting into the playoffs gives you a shot. All you need is a chip, a chair, and a chance because who knows? Joe Ryan & Taj Bradley both getting on a roll in the playoffs could win you multiple series almost by themselves (seems unlikely now with Ryan's dead arm or whatever issues...but dude was a deserving all-star). So I think they wanted to show something to the fans. They wanted to show something to the players. And they simply want to make the playoffs if they can do it without wrecking their chances to stay competitive. I don't mind that; I'd rather my baseball team take as many reasonable shots to stay competitive as possible. They've disincentivized tanking anyways, and considering how easy it is for prospects to never be more than suspects, it not sure bet that stinking for several consecutive years to try and stockpile talent will work anyways. Now, I still think they need to actually play their rookies/prospect more and see what they have rather than give innings to the Tristan Grays of the world and shouldn't carry 3 catchers even if it means losing Jackson...but that's a different issue.

He was a nice acquisition at last year's deadline for half a season of Willi Castro, maybe he can become something. I think he probably ends up as a middle reliever, but you never know. Will probably be starting in AAA next season and won't need to be added to the 40-man yet, so they'll give him some time to develop. If he can find some consistency he'll get more interesting? Seems like he settled down a little in July after a pretty rough intro to AAA so he's worth keeping an eye on to see how his season finishes. I wouldn't rank him in the top 20 prospects or anything, but there could be something there. I would like the Twins to quit dinking around and call up Culpepper. Sure he was probably pressing a bit when he came back in July, but he seems to have put that behind him nicely. How many more games do we need him to get in AAA to show he's "ready"?

The math here confuses me: A + A +D = D? :P

There's more than one school of thought about how to contend. Some people believe that unless you can look at your team and see them as being one of the top 5 teams in baseball(others might push it a little further out for the range) then you're not a "contender" and should be looking to the next year at best and further out at worst. Another school of thought says that any year that you can make it into the playoffs in baseball, you should try and do it, because with the impact of a short series and all the additional randomness that brings you want to get as many bites at the playoff apple as you can find. If you buy into the first, then the twins should have sold off all their expiring vets this year and at least some of their highest value players who won't be here in 2028 and said goodnight to the season (absent a miracle run from maybe a bunch of prospects that could be called up to fill out the roster and audition for 2027). If you're in on the second, then this trade deadline was a reasonable move to try and make it into the playoffs this season without hamstringing 2027 and beyond. They shored up their biggest weaknesses, they didn't move any of their top prospects, and the guys they did send out were either very marginal or likely far away from making an impact. It sounds like to me your definition of "contending for WS title" is closer to a Bucket 1 approach...so yeah. This is a failure to you. Others will disagree? They're also trying to sell baseball as a product in MN. A "trust the process" approach where they sell off assets again for a team that is functionally in the playoff hunt (regardless of what you think their chances of winning it all this year are or not, they have a legit chance to be in the playoffs this year, presuming they don't sh!t the bed in August) wrecks things for the rest of the season and probably torpedoes all lot of fan enthusiasm (and ticket sales) for next year too. You're correct: none of these players will probably be with the Twins after '27, and it's unlikely Ryan and Jeffers will either. (Jeffers almost for sure, Ryan...getting a little more interesting with him tanking the second half AGAIN, but who knows) Of course, none of the players they sent out were all that likely to be with the Twins MLB club after 2027 either: Amick is a longshot, Klein is unimpressive and unlikely to improve much at this point, and all the others are far enough away that pretending they're on the twins by 2028 is just guessing. Clearly, you were just out on this team going into the trade deadline. If you're someone that wants the Twins to make the playoffs as many time as possible, you're probably ok with these moves that add to those odds and don't substantively harm the team for next year (and potentially improve them)

I hope you're right about that; I've been reading conflicting reports. It would certainly be better for his career if he has an option next season and there isn't this level of pressure to perform at MLB immediately I would think? It certainly would be better for the Twins to be able to move him across town as needed. Until it's confirmed one way or another, I think it's still an issue?

Look, I love Greg Gagne but we're talking about a zero-time all-star and despite his fine defense there's little argument to say he was ever unfairly passed over. His career OPS+ was 83. A better-hitting Gagne is a borderline all-star; he'd need to be a massively better hitting Gagne to be a borderline Hall of Famer. Andrelton Simmons was a slightly better hitter and significantly better defender and he's not going to get any real consideration for the Hall nor should he despite his absolutely wonderful defense. Now, if Marek Houston is a better-hitting Greg Gagne and spends 8 seasons as the Twins starting SS providing quality to borderline GG defense along with solid offense and starting legit arguments about whether or not he should be an all-star? I'll be thrilled. Global Top 25 for Houston seems awfully high...for now. But maybe he really is Dansby Swanson or something, in which case the Twins will look very smart

I think we'd be very disappointed and it would be signs that the evaluators of Houston coming into the draft were right that he wouldn't be able to be a real MLB hitter, and that his improvements from this season are mostly a mirage (assuming that the rest of the slash line for Houston is similar to Miller). After this season, the ceiling on Houston definitely looks higher, and if he put up a 7.27 OPS in Saint Paul next season we'd all be thinking that he looks a lot more like a utility guy with a good enough glove to eat the poor offense. I think we'd want better for Houston than that. The article posits that Houston is underrated, but is that really true? He's now seen as a top 100 prospect who still hasn't actually played a full professional season and had some real and fair questions about his offense to prove. He's answered them very well in 2026, but it's still not even a full season's worth of data. If he finishes out 2026 like this, he'll likely move up the national rankings a bit more...is that unfair? Right now I feel like Houston is properly rated; if is underrated it ain't by that much and is almost certainly related to people wanting to see the 2026 version for a full season before they start pegging him as a future starting SS with all-star potential.

Roden not passing muster in CF is a) a bummer, and b) limits his utility, and with him not hitting (it's a small sample and it's not like he's getting consistent time but still) it's not great. Possible he's a Quad A player. Bold move to recall Wallner, but I think it's the right one no matter how much some people around here despise him and his game. Why not see if he's able to ride a hot streak through the end of the season? Might actually give him some trade value in the offseason and they could use his thump in the lineup, especially with Buxton out. Tougher call on Jenkins, I think? Much as we all want to see him, it's not like he's destroyed AAA and adding him to the 40-man has a cost as well. If Rodriguez is going to be ready in a week or two I think I'd rather see him up in MLB, especially with him out of options next season. It's highly unlikely (absent another injury and/or Buxton out for much much longer) that we'll get both this season...especially if you want to bring Wallner back, which does make sense no matter if some people at Twins Daily start heating the tar, buying the feathers, lighting the torches, and sharpening the pitchforks...

Rodriguez's diving catch made SportsCenter this morning; can't recall the last time they threw something from A-ball on there. Was a very nice catch, and I immediately thought: "oh, hell, please don't be hurt again!" Nice day at the plate for most of the prospects (except Houston, who had a rough one, but he's been playing great overall so not worrying about 1 bad day). Just hoping that they're feeling good enough about Culpepper to get him up here. The offense needs a jolt and maybe he can provide one. (and like many, I'm just into seeing him make his debut) Lackey seems to be passing the "Lemon Test" just fine: he looked quite good on that throw nailing the runner at 2B, and nice to see him clock a double as well. I have a feeling it's going to be hard to have any patience with him, even though he reasonably should need at least 1 full year in the minors. But he's a super-exciting prospect. No harm in dreaming.

I'm not comparing them as prospects; Hill is obviously much more highly regarded. But it's important to understand when looking at his video game numbers that they aren't necessarily predictive. I think Hill has a ton of talent and a thunderbolt for a left arm, but he's going to struggle until he can find the zone consistently. One game before the trade deadline doesn't mean much; he was awesome on May 16th too, and then proceeded to walk 14 guys in his next 4 starts over 8 1/3 innings. Hill is still quite young, and maybe his new team will do better in fixing his control. But he's a long ways away, and it's better than even odds that he doesn't make AA next season.

Here's the thing though: guys with great stuff but no control put up numbers like this in A-ball. You get kids going up there looking to swing against him without looking to see if he can find the plate. (Twins saw some of this with Chris Vallimont, another guy with great stuff and no idea where it was going. He's now back with MN after getting a cup of coffee in MLB with Balto and then bouncing down to Indy ball before getting another chance in AA. He's 29 now and passed through 5 franchises) The top end of his outcomes is 6 years as a dominant starting LHP...but that's not the realistic outcome. That's the 1%. Most likely outcome is he can't find the plate often enough without taking something off his stuff, and they shift him to the bullpen where you can tolerate higher BB/9 if they're matched with tons of K's and he gets a chance or three in MLB because he's left-handed and alive. Because that's the most likely outcome with guys like this. If he cuts his BB/9 down under 4 next season and is sitting in AA at 21, then this is going to start looking shaky. But if he's still in A-ball with a BB/9 over 4 (or god help him 5) then the odds are pretty good we and everyone else will get another chance at him in a couple of years in the Rule 5. The ERA last season in Ft. Myers covered some sins. He's got a lot of work to do in High A because you simply can't walk that many guys.

I think there's a fair concern that the rotation and lineup might not hold up even as the Twins have made a substantial investment in the bullpen...but what did you want to happen? I guess some of it depends on whether or not you think the Twins can get Kremer back online; if they do he's a solid back of the rotation starter who can eat up innings...something they need pretty badly at this point. If he fails, he fails, but it's not like they did nothing to support the rotation. While improving the lineup would have been great, it was also the most challenging area to try and improve and realistically required them to 2-step this and sell as well as buy. Adding a bat would have almost certainly been at 1B, DH, or OF. We're either selling off Bell or Larnach at that point (and clearly they looked into moving Larnach to either open a spot for a prospect to actually play or to add a better bat) and Larnach has been one of the Twins best hitters all season and the streaky Bell was great in June and good in July. Clemens has certainly earned a spot, and since returning from the minors, it's hard to say Lewis hasn't either. Want to bench Keaschall? The lineup has several pretty good but not great hitters that would be great to upgrade from, but how available were upgrades to those spots? Catcher: kept Jeffers, not doing better offensively there 1B: maybe could have improved on Royce, but for what? 2B: maybe could have improved on Clemens, but for what? SS: could improve on Kreidler...but aren't we better off doing that via Culpepper? (but reportedly they were nosing around Neto. That would have been a big swing and certainly send Culpepper out) 3B: could improve on Lee...but who? didn't see a lot available at 3B OF: always bats available, but unless you're assuming Buxton is out for a long time/the season, you're either benching Keaschall, trading Larnach (who has a 134 OPS+!), or moving him to DH and dealing Bell. I think they were in a little bit of a tough spot on improving the lineup, especially without making it look like there was a sell-off going on or something. We will see if they can make it go. I do think there's opportunity for reinforcements for the lineup through the minors: Culpepper moving Kreidler to the bench and dumping Gray. One of the many OF stepping up and showing they belong.

I'm not going to hand Tom Pohlad an award for passing the bar minimum of not being a crap owner...but we've been well-trained to expect nothing from the Pohlads more than benign neglect at best and many poor business decisions at worst to go along with a low payroll. But they addressed the team's biggest needs at the deadline, didn't let cash be a barrier, didn't sell off the vets for parts, and gave the team a chance to compete for the rest of the season. Could be a lot worse? I don't know if this quite counts as aggressive or "go big" (it's not going home, though)...but I don't know how much bigger would have actually been smart? The biggest issue with Tom Pohlad's leadership so far is that he took over too late and pushed Falvey out too late to be more aggressive/engaged at the start of the season, and left them sitting with a pathetic budget for the roster to start the year. He has to take blame for that too. But the deadline moves are a solid B for me. They might not work out, but the trades all made sense, and they might be what the team needs to push into the post-season. And in baseball, all you need is a chip a chair and a chance, IMHO.

When he's good, he's very very good and when he's bad he's rotten. You tell me how to predict which Pagan will show up? I certainly don't want to PAY him real money to guess whether or not he's going to stink.

Heh. I'm enjoying this thread. Twins fans: "Cheap Pohlads need to improve this team at the deadline!" Same Twins fans: "Not like that! God, I hate the Pohlads, they're so much stupider than me!" The Hoffman acquisition is an interesting one. I'll be curious to see how much $$$ Toronto is picking up for next season; I'm guessing it'll be in the $3-4M range, which makes him very keepable for the team, but we'll see. He's a very good fit for the bullpen this year and next, with excellent stuff and experience late in games. Toronto fans certainly turned on him after giving up a key homer in the WS, but dude was nails before that throughout the playoffs. With him wobbling to start the season, they clearly fitted him to be the scapegoat but despite that he found his form again. A change of scenery will still probably be good for him. The Twins gave up a fair amount here, but TINSTAAPP principle does apply here with Hill. He's definitely a boom or bust kind of guy with eye-popping K numbers and unsustainable walk numbers. The stuff is amazing but he has no idea where it's going. Sure, he's young and should have time to figure it out...but a lot of these guys never figure it out. It may be that the only way he can throw enough strikes is to take something off his pitches...and will he be K-ing everyone in sight if he does? There's risk in sending him out, but that's the way it goes. Despite Toronto fans shouting loudly right now that they would have given up Hoffman for basically nothing, no actual professional in baseball would have, so ignore that kind of stupid fan garbage. Hill's a real prospect, but the shine came off him this season after he probably shot up the lists a little too high. Klein is 24 and despite a bullpen badly needing help was not seen as much of an internal option. Notably, he hasn't been good at AAA in 2 stints there and I would not say he impressed when he did get a shot in MLB. There's some velocity there but he's pretty hittable. Maybe he can make it as a middle reliever, but lot guys like this out there. He was not a top 30 prospect internally at this point. Pena is a lottery ticket. Maybe someone has him at the end of the top 30, maybe not. Maybe he turns into someone, maybe in 3 years we're saying "who?". If you hold on to all of these kinds of guys because you're afraid of what they could possibly become if they max out their skills, you'll never trade anyone. We needed help now. It's a fair trade. I'd say the Twins addressed their 2 biggest needs, getting 2 quality arms for the bullpen that should be expected to pitch in the 7th inning or later in high leverage situations. They added a rotation arm to eat up some innings for a rotation that's short on arms and has no margin for error left. They didn't give up any of their best prospects, the guys who look as sure of a thing as anyone in the organization. The one real prospect they gave up with Hill, who probably drops out of the top 10 after this season where his control issues got worse, not better. You have to give up something to get something, but the Twins didn't surrender the crown jewels. The big issue is the bullpen issues could have been mitigated in the offseason, and wouldn't have cost them any prospects. And probably could have been done with similar money that they're taking on, and would have added some wins int he first half of the season. That's the disappointing part.

He might play some 1B as well. But he's not a defensive stalwart at any position.

Pagan is the object lesson for why you don't give most relievers significant contracts. He's not a bad reliever, even if he gives most twins fans hives at the thought of him closing games. But he's not a consistent reliable guy. If he's the 4th or 5th guy in your bullpen, it's probably fine. veteran middle reliever who can take some set-up innings when he's rolling...sure. But you don't pay that guy $10M, even with today's MLB, unless you're the Dodgers or the Yankees or something. It would be hilarious if he ended up back with the twins again, but I wouldn't give up much of anything for him, especially if you're eating the salary. Because Pagan is...fine. If he has a great year, you let someone else overpay, because odds are high he won't repeat it. He's exactly the kind of reliever that can and will bounce around with a WHIP that can be great at .917...or meh at 1.342. He can thrown down an ERA+ of 98 and then follow it up with one of 155. These are the guys that you develop in-house and move on from once they start getting expensive. You avoid in the free agent market until everyone take a pass and they need a contract, and settle at $3M instead $8M. Pagan has had several excellent seasons in relief in his career. He's never had two in a row.