LA Vikes Fan

I prefer a bigger trade of a better prospect for a guy 2.5 years of control like like Detmers or Soriano, but I also know that's going to be hard to pull off. This approach actually could kill two birds with one stone and allow us to trade a lesser prospect for a rental starter like Robbie Ray or Kevin Gausman. As always, the big question is the price. Ray has pitched extremely well this year, Gausman less, and Ray is getting better as the year goes on while Gausman is getting worse. Would a prospect in the 10 – 20 range like Henry Mendez, Brandon Winokur, Kyle DeBarge, or someone similar the enough to get Ray? Maybe one of those guys and an A+ guy like Henrique Jimenez or Yasser Mercedes? Gausman assumedly would be cheaper, maybe a prospect in the 20-30 range or even a non-top 30 guy. I would definitely explore getting Robbie Ray. Gausman doesn't excite me a lot but might be worth having the price is right. What I like about this is that it moves Zebby and possibly Prielipp the bullpen for the rest of the season. And before somebody complains about why are we making these guys relievers, we aren't making them relievers, were making them relievers for the rest of this season only. There is nothing that stops the Twins from bringing these guys back and stretching them out as starters for next year. This is just for now to strengthen the 2026 bullpen. Prielipp needs to go there or go home relatively soon anyway because he is on a justified innings limit as he is ramping up from major arm surgery. The bullpen may be Matthews' destiny but we don't know that. One thing we do know is he is not performing well as a starter this year, and seems to have the right kind of pitches be a lockdown, late inning guy. Another thing we know is the bullpen needs help, these guys could provide some help, and getting help from outside is going to be expensive like a decent prospect for a reliever in his mid-30s. Look, I would like to have a bigger, more headlining trade of one of our top 10 prospects as part of a package for Detmers or maybe a little less as part of a package for Soriano. I also think that's probably not going to happen. This is a good fallback option to help the 2026 team without giving away the farm. It's definitely worth exploring.

I feel like the article and the comments are missing some nuance. If the question is should we trade for rental starter or reliever, I think the list is good. The other hand, if the opportunity is there to trade for a frontline starter with plus years of control remaining debtors or Soriano (I'm sure there are others), then my mind the list changes. Culpepper or Houston than to become available. One, not both. Trading Riley Quick would you be very difficult would have to be outstanding package of say a controllable starter and a controllable younger reliever. Still, if that's available you have to consider that possibility. I do agree that Jenkins is never on the table I think we sometimes get bogged down in the paradigm of prospect for older, rental player. I agree that this team is not good enough to make that kind of a one year only move by trading nay of the good prospects . However, there are a lot of articles suggesting that younger, controllable players might be available from Angels, Giants, Rockies, or even the Royals. Now you're balancing proven upside with unproven, possibly higher upside and much higher chance of failure. Then, I would consider trading pretty much anybody except Jenkins in the right deal. I do think this team's competitive window is actually opening for the next 2 to 4 years. It doesn't really open until next season, although some minor moves so that this year's team has a chance to sneak in and get some playoff experience makes sense. Say, trading a 20 – 30 prospect for a guy like Robbie Ray or Kevin Gausman, or a 15 – 30 prospect for Luke Weaver who has a year left on his contract after this one. If we could trade for someone that has the next two seasons of control that might line up well with the timeline of some of our other players like Ryan, Buxton, Lewis, Keaschall, Lopez, Lee, etc., all of whom have at least one controllable good year left if not more.

I agree that we shouldn’t trade players because we think we’re gonna win the championship this year. But to me, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t consider a trade. I would be more interested in a pitcher that’s got a couple plus more years of control. This is why I keep coming back to Reid Detmers and Jose Soriano. I’m sure there are others. We should certainly explore the market. But I’m with you, let’s not trade a good prospect for some 32 year-old plus reliever or for some older rental starter. If we can get one of those guys for somebody not in our top 20-25 prospects, OK, but otherwise, no. I would look in on the price for a guy like Robbie, Ray or Kevin Gausman because who knows, maybe a guy at the way back end of the top thirty or beyond that might be enough. If not, not this year.

I think where we disagree is I’m actually fine with Kreidler starting at shortstop for the rest of the season and into next year. Gray can and should go, but we can pick up a veteran utility guy who can play shortstop in free agency or even promote Ben Ross. I would only trade Culpepper for a controllable front line starting pitcher like Reid Detmers. I wouldn’t put him in a package for a reliever or a rental starter by any stretch, or even for an older starter with another year left but if there is an available frontline starting pitcher with 2+ years of control left I would consider trading Culpepper, and someone towards the back end of the top 30. Alternatively, I wouldn’t mind putting Houston in that kind of trade as part of a package. My general feeling is that pretty much anyone except Jenkins should be available but only in the right trade. We have a well stocked farm system at the moment on the hitting side, not so much on the pitching side after the injuries. We particularly have a lot of outfielders, especially left-handed hitting outfielders, and we actually have two shortstops who look like future major league players. I would love to keep them, but I would be open to trading one from either of those positions if, and only if, the return is a controllable established Frontline starter.

I agree that everybody in the farm system should be available this year for trade except Jenkins. I frankly be OK with trading Culpepper now that Houston is showing so much promise. Still, the cost for Miller is probably too high and taking on Bogaerts deal is a non-starter hard no. I would love to get Miller if he was available for even a top five prospect like Culpepper or Emma plus someone else in the top 20 towards the back half without taking on the Bogarts millstone of a contract. I think that’s not enough so I don’t think he’s a realistic target.

Well said. I’d like to see controlled aggression. Keep who we have, and make two trades of prospects for pitching, one starter and one reliever. Everyone’s on the table except Jenkins. Houston makes Culpepper available, but only in a trade for a controllable frontline starter like Detmers. I want either him, Soriano, or a lesser mid top 30 prospect traded for Robbie Ray. Then trade 2 15-30 prospects for Luke Weaver. The let’s see what happens.

I like the idea here but like many wonder about the cost. I’ll throw out three scenarios and wait for the raft of sh&! I get in return. Before I do that,, I’m going to put anyone on the table in the right trade except Jenkins. With the emergence of Houston, Culpepper could be traded. Same for Tait with the draft of Lackey.. So here are the scenarios. 1- Trade for front line starter with 2 plus years of control. I’m willing to give up two top 15 prospects and another at the top 30. My trade is Emma, Kendry Rojas, and Ben Ross for Reid Detmers. If they will throw in Sam Bachman or Kirby Yates, I will add another prospect in the 20–30 rage like Diaw or Amick. Best way to go. 2- Trade two mid top 30 prospects for a rental starter. Here, two of Ryan Gallagher, Sam Armstrong, Amick, or Diaw, for Robbie Ray. Kevin Gausman only gets one of the two, plus a guy not in the top 30 in A or A+ ball. 3- Trade one good prospect in the top 15 plus one near the back end of the top 30 for a solid, middle of the rotation guy or erratic, but younger starter each with multi year control. Here, I trade Henry Mendez or Gallagher and Amick, Armstrong, or Ross for Jose Soriano. By the way, I would also be willing to trade a top 10-30 prospect for Luke Weaver for the bullpen. Two if they’re 18-30. Attack away.

Like the concept, not sure I want Hoffman. By the way, chances are pretty good that Emma will be granted a 4th year of options if he plays less than 90 days hits year. Here's betting that his injury takes long enough to heal that he plays less than 90 days. I'd like to use Emma to headline a package to the Angels for Detmers and either Bachman or Yates. We'll have to include more, say someone at the Mendez or Young level, and probably a Ben Ross or Sam Armstrong level guy. I would do it.

We need Buxton back pretty badly to handle a LH starter.

Maybe they have a trade in the works that will get them a starter for Tuesday? Hey, a guy can dream . . .

Nope, my bad again. Prielipp isn't eligible to come off the IL by Tuesday.

My bad, forgot Ober is back. Its Ryan, Prielipp, Ober, Bradley against Cleveland and Matthews, Ryan and Prileipp against the As.

I know Paredes' analytics aren't great but everything I see him I thank "this guy can really pitch". He absolutely stays over Adams when Sands comes back. By the way, if Paredes is pitching today, who's starting on Tuesday in Cleveland?

I d could definitely see Roden as apart of a package traded for a pitcher or one for one traded for an older reliever or starter on an expiring contract from a non-contender. I think that kind of trade is going to happen before the deadline. I expect Roden, Emma, Mendez, or GG to be going out. Emma gets us the best return on his own, but Roden still might have value as part of a package to a team like the Angels, Rockies, or Giants who could put him in the OF for the rest of the season and let him develop.

Or trade him as the headliner in a package for a younger controllable starting pitcher like Soriano or Detmers and let the Angels find that out.

You may be right. I am starting to come around to the idea of trading a prospect for Robbie Ray of the Giants or Kevin Gausman of the Blue Jays. Both are expensive, but they’re on expiring contracts so it’s only for this year. Helps the rotation, moves Paredes, and eventually Prielipp to the bullpen so it helps the bullpen too.

I have to be honest, I don't really get this article. A paraphrase of the title of this post is "the hitters that got the Twins here are paradoxically, the ones now getting the way." In the way of what, or who, exactly? The only people hitting in AAA well enough to get a MLB tryout this season are Kyler Fedko, who failed and looked overmatched while doing so, Alan Roden, who is getting a shot now, and Kaelene Culpepper, who pulled a butt muscle and is injured. Culpepper deserves a shot this year and should get one as soon as he is healthy and back in the swing of things, most likely at the expense of Tristan Gray. If Roden hits his playing time will go up and Martin will be reduced to the back end of the bench. That's it. There is nobody else that our current roster is standing in the way of a player who has performed such at AAA that they have earned a shot. There is absolutely no reason or need to trade Larnach, Bell, or for that matter anyone else just to give some highly deserving candidate that is unfairly blocked a chance at MLB success. We don't have those guys, at least not yet. All of our candidates other than those three are next season or the season after type prospects. Evaluating any trade should be about value back and forth given we don't have anybody knocking at the door being unfairly denied entry. Jeffers is the obvious trade candidate because his contract expires at the end of year but beyond that, there isn't any reason to trade the veterans we have. Conversely, we have a few pretty good prospects who could be knocking at the door in a year or two for whom another organization might be willing to give us a decent reliever or rental starting pitcher. And we have a surplus of those prospects in the OF. Seems to me what we should be looking at is trying to trade from our surplus for a player that will help us this year and next while we wait for the year or two away guys to get here, not trading veterans or somebody else's prospects who are a year or two away.

Also, the Padres gave up Leo De Vries or Miller, plus some pitching prospects. I wonder if they would have any interest in trading Miller to the Twins for Culpeper and thus get something close to the young shortstop they traded away back in the organization. Before I get a bunch of snarky replies, Mason Miller is in his first year of arbitration and has a $4 million salary. He has three more arbitration years left and isn't a free agent until 2030. That's 3.5 years of one of best closers in the game at an affordable price. Seems like that's worth Culpeper plus, especially since we have Marek Houston coming up behind him. Maybe we do some kind of package deal where they get needed immediate hitting help like Larnach plus Culpeper and maybe a AA guy, and we get Miller plus a lower level yet intriguing prospect. Just something to think about . . .

The guys I really like are the Angels pitchers Soriano, Detmers, Bachman, and even Yates, Luke Weaver of the Mets, or either Gausman of Toronto or Robbie Ray of the Giants if we want a rental for a lesser prospect. I think we should get who we can on a trade that makes sense, starter or reliever. if we want to add a starter we can then improve the bullpen by moving Prielipp and Paredes from the rotation to the bullpen. Obviously nothing prevents us from doing both. I also like the idea of picking up Littell. I have read that Hunter Greene may be available, particularly with the Reds making a strong financial commitment to Chase Burns. You never know about these things though. "National insiders" tell you lots of guys are available that the teams have no intention of trading and then later stated they were traded because they couldn't even get a strong enough offer. I think they just have to get some headlines and some eyeballs on the articles. If Greene was available, however, I would certainly consider trading any prospect other than Jenkins for him and would consider trading two or three prospects, including one in the top 10 or even top five, and one in the 10 – 20 range. I know there's injury risk but He's worth it.

Thanks for the information on the BABIP for both Kreidler and Gray. That comports with the eye test that I get from watching the games; Kriedler seems like he’s hitting the ball well but a lot of well hit ground balls are finding gloves, and he isn’t elevating the ball the way he did earlier, while Gray is striking out a lot, hitting with a lot of soft contact, but is elevating the ball more when he does make hard contact. Just looking at the way they look at the plate lately, one has a lot more confidence that Kreidler might get a hit, and you definitely want him up over Gray with men on base. It will be interesting to see how those two are used coming out of the break. I could see them giving Gray the start tonight against a right handed pitcher, with Kreidler starting the next two games against the left-handers. The Cleveland series should give us a clear review of who Shelton wants to play more. I would hope Kreidler would start three of those four games.

I checked and you're closer to right. I thought it was much more Kriedler but its been more of a 60/40 or even 55/45 Kriedler over Gray platoon over the last 6-7 weeks. I think that's a mistake. Gray can't field the position and now isn't hitting. Kriedler's bat has cooled off (a lot), but he really can field the position. He should be the everyday SS unless his bat completely craters for an extended period.

The Dodgers have faced this issue many times with guys coming back from injury or just coming up. Their practice has been to keep the pitcher in the rotation for about 100-110 innings and then move him to the bullpen for his last 20-30 innings, usually in a high leverage 1 inning at a time role. They did it with Ohtani, Sasaki, Sheehan, Maeda, Urias, Stripling, Wood, Buhler, all guys just coming up or coming off of injuries. Its worked pretty well and helped fill out the bullpen in the stretch run and playoffs. I think the move is to give Prielipp 2-4 more starts and then move him to the bullpen in a high leverage role. That does hinge on Ryan, Bradley, Ober, Matthews, and Paredes still being available as starters or, even better, trading prospects for a starter. That's something we should consider any way to help shore up the bullpen, get more starters and move some we have to the pen. I'd like to see either a trade of a good prospect or two for a younger starter like Soriano or Detmers, or a trade of a decent but more marginal prospect for a rental like Robbie Ray or Kevin Gausman. Move Prielipp and Paredes to the bullpen in place of Adams and either Go or Funderburk and you've helped the bullpen without damaging and maybe even improving the rotation. Even a trade for say a Robbie Ray type leaves a rotation of Ryan, Bradley, Ober, Ray and Matthews, and a bullpen of Gomez, Morris, Rogers, Nance, Sands, Prielipp, Parades, and either Go or Funderburk. Still not a top 10 bullpen but probably in the top half and a major improvement from where we were. All it takes is a pitching injury or two and this wouldn't work too well but it's a promising path and it does help solve the Prielipp conundrum. Besides, a pitching injury or two is going to torpedo any pitching plan. Something to think about if things come together right.

This. Sitting Lewis for Caratini really doesn’t make a lot of sense. Caratini can get a couple days a week behind the plate and a day or two at first base. That’s plenty of playing time for him. The lineup is better with Lewis in it. I frankly think the Twins success in the second half scoring runs in dependent really on about three guys and Lewis is one of them. The other two suggestions though were right on. Paredes absolutely should stay in the bullpen. I would trade out Adams rather than Go. Use Paredes as a Long man when you can to keep him a little stretched out in case he needs to make a spot start or two. That’s his best and highest use anyway, three or four innings at a time. Kriedler has to be the everyday shortstop until either Culpepper or Houston is ready, or his bat completely falls off the table. He’s the starting shortstop if he can hit over .200. Shortstop is the one position where defense trumps offense. I think it is no coincidence that the team has played substantially better baseball since he became the everyday shortstop because the defense is so much better.

Is this from baseball trade values? If you look at that site, they say that while Tolle has extra surplus value, this Is not a trade that would ever happen in real life because of the realities of trading an established Frontline starter for a guy who essentially still a prospect. Boston would have to add pieces, potentially top 100 prospect pieces to make this an even trade in their view. I’m curious because everything I read says that Boston would have to add significant pieces to Tolle to get Ryan. Maybe I’m looking in the wrong place. What is your source?

Hard Pass. That trade substantially favors the Red Sox. Tolle might someday be what Ryan is now but he isn't that yet and nothing is guaranteed. To even that out, Boston would either have to include a proven MLB hitter like Abreu or Rafaela, or a young rising pitcher like Early, plus a prospect. A package deal both ways like Tolle, Abreu and Joshtnyxson Garcia or Gabriel Arias for Ryan and a Twins prospect in the 15-30 range could work. Substitute Raffaela for Abreu and remove the Twins prospect going back to Boston might also work. But Tolle alone for Ryan, not something the Twins should even consider.