LA Vikes Fan

I say we don't we trade Sano now for a variety of reasons including the likely low return given his performance this year, his potential, and his actually "reasonable" salary. The biggest reason to keep him is the lack of replacements once Cruz is either traded at the deadline or gone after this year. This team is going to go to a DH rotation of Sano, Donaldson, Kirilloff, Larnach (maybe), Arraez, and Kepler. It really helps make that work when Sano can play a decent 3B and we can keep Donaldson's bat in the lineup at the DH spot. Similarly, Kirilloff can play 1B, RF or LF to keep him in the lineup and give guys half days off. No reason to trade Sano now unless we got a very strong return, which seems unlikely, and he may be very valuable later.

Wait, did we just win?!

Running Kirilloff? I don't get that one at all. Maybe Garver missed a hit and run sign?

I am cautiously optimistic now.....

SO the Indians bring in Karanchik with a 0.44 ERA and who throws 95+. How we got again?

Hey, if we can get 6 innings out of Happ I for one will be thrilled. 4 runs is too many but we need length from our starters or we won't have a bullpen by July. Not that we have one now.

Fun inning. I note that Sano and Kepler are now playing a little better and their improvement seems to coincide with some competition for playing time from Kirilloff and Larnach. Hmmm, Coincidence? I think not.

I do think the time to test the pitching pipeline we have so far is fast approaching. We're losing (again) today. It's becoming more and more clear that there is a very low probability of even some modicum of playoff contention this season. I'm glad to see that we're giving Kirilloff and Larnach a real run in the bigs, although I would like to see Gordon get the same kind of opportunity (maybe after SImmons is traded). I'd like to see more opportunity given on the pitching side. I recognize that creating space probably requires some trades and it's a bit too early but I do think it's time to get things moving. I would definitely like to see Vasquez, Duran, Caterino, Ober, Cano and Winder get a shot this year and do it before September.

I agree with everything you wrote with one exception. I thought for a while the that Thorpe probably needs to be in the bullpen. Frankly, I think Shoemaker should go there with him. We have Dobnak and Ober showed enough to potentially fill a spot. I think there’s a much better chance of Thorpe being an effective, long-term pitcher in the Majors by putting him in relief. I disagree that they’ll heavily shop Rogers at the trade deadline. I think the team is past the day where you get rid of a guy just because of his salary. I think I’ll keep Rogers, try to re-sign him over the winter and, if Ithey can’t, trade him then..

Sorry, missed Danchat's post. Got it, Rotvedt and Ober down, Kirilloff and Dobnak up. Probably a net plus over all. By the way, put on a mask before you look at the Twins and Indians' lineups for tonight. The averages under .220 stench permeates the page.

Kirilloff is in the lineup hitting 3rd tonight and Dobanak is pitching. Anybody know the roster changes?

The logical trade candidates are, in order, Simmons, Happ, Cruz, Shoemaker. This is assuming that Happ gets back to competent pitching, which I think is likely, and Shoemaker is at least decent. Frankly, Shoemaker might actually be a quality reliever. I would love to see the Twins try him in that role 1st over the next month before looking to trade him since he won't get much in return. The other 3 are clearly one year guys, maybe 2 years in the case of Cruz but Father Time is going to get him eventually, so there definitely people to trade if you can get even a halfway decent return. Robles and Colome are also logical trade candidates but I wouldn't jump at trading either 1 of them. I would like him to re-sign Robles. He can actually be your 1B closer for the next year or 2. He's done it before. Trading Colome now would be a classic case of trading low so unless he really picks up the pace before the All-Star break, and there are some signs he might be, he won't bring much of a return. There is a mutual option for next year with him so he might be worth keeping around on a creative deal made to either keep him or exercise the option and then trade him to his preferred destination in the off-season. I think that's worth more than a couple A ball lottery tickets which is probably all we could get in trade. I see and hear a lot of other names being bandied about but I wouldn't trade any of those players. Sano won't fetch a lot right now given his performance, and the potential if the lightbulb goes on is worth the cost. Same with Kepler, although the potential is far less, and he actually is an affordable 3rd/4th Outfielder under his current deal. Polanco is a starting quality MLB 2nd baseman, and a below average starting SS in the field with an above average bat. Not that easy to find and not something to trade. Donaldson isn't going to get us much of a return unless we subsidize his salary with another team and then what's the point? He is what he is, probably overpaid for his production, but still the top 10 starting 3rd baseman in MLB. The salary is what it is; it's a sunk cost and it is almost always a mistake to chase after your sunk costs. We need to keep the guys that actually might have value on the trade market like Rogers unless we want to commit to a complete tear down and rebuild and I don't think we need to do that quite yet. The elephants in the room are Barrios and Buxton. It pains me to say this because I want to keep both of them until the last possible minute, but it does make logical sense to see by this July or at least this off-season whether you can sign them to a longer term contract before trading them and trade them if you can't. I think Barrios is going to command 15 – $20 million a year on a 4 year deal as a solid number 2 starter, and more if you think he's a true number 1 because that's what the market will pay him 18 months from now when he is a free agent. Any discount would solely be for the risk of injury in the next 18 months. Buxton is tougher because you just don't know what you're going to get when he plays and you don't know how much he is going to play. With that said, I think he is going to be worth $12-$15 million a year are 4 or 5 year deal at least, and may be more. I would sign both of those players at those prices if they would sign the contract. Don't wait for a "team friendly" deal from these guys, it's too late to get that. So that's what I would do, trade Simmons, Cruz, Happ and, if he can get anything for him, Shoemaker. This creates room for Dobnak. Thorpe, Duran, Balzovic and Ober to get some starts this year so you know who can fill your bottom 2 spots next year. Re-sign Pineda if you can or replace him with a free agent in the off-season. Again, don't trade Pineda or Robles unless you know for sure that you can't re-sign them AND you get offered something that actually is meaningful other than lottery tickets. Give Colome time to rebuild some value and get creative in the off-season if you want to move him. There is room in that bullpen to give Vasquez, Cano and even Chalmers, Sands or Winder a shot in the bullpen or maybe even the rotation this year. Make sure they get that shot. The goal here is to use this season to develop and evaluate, not to worry about where we finish on the 70-85 win continuum. Trading even the 4 veterans I mentioned gives us that roster flexibility, particularly with Cruz gone so we can run a different guy in the DH spot every day to get at bats. I hate to bail on the season on May 20 but let's face it, it's time.

By the way, if tonight's starter is standing at the top of the stairs with former slugger Adam at the bottom is he Ober Dunn? If Ober stays and Oscar's Madison's photographer roommate Felix goes to the bottom is he Ober Unger? I'll see myself out now.

Why not? We've had everything else. It gives us to chance to see if someone new could help. I figure Happ is as good as traded if he can have a couple of decent starts, Shoemaker is a bust and Pineda is only 50/50 to make it through the year depending on whether they think he can be re-signed for next year. We're going to need 2 or 3 new starters this year without injuries. Let's find out if Ober can be one of them!

Hey now, Twins Fever.... Catch It!

Wow, just leaving work and turned this on. We are dead already? Life and this team just isn't getting any better, is it ...

The As should move to San Jose. The Silicon Valley people can finance a new stadium and the team will still be close enough for Oakland fans. The problem is that the SF Giants claim territorial rights in San Jose and won't let the obvious move happen. If Oakland winds up moving to a new area like Portland, Vegas or Montreal, blame the Giants.

Hey, let’s just enjoy this. Maybe it will be the win that gets this team going. At least we can dream of that for a day.

The best part of watching the highlights was watching how much joy there was in Sano’s Face as he went around the bases after his home run. I know I and I think many of us sometimes forget these are human beings trying their best every day. He has had a very tough time but by all reports is working hard on his craft. I hope this gets him started because we need help and he could be that help. I’m just glad for him. That must’ve been a huge rock on his shoulders. My post earlier today wondering why we have not DFA’d him and why he was in the starting lineup when anybody else would have been better? Yeah, forget that one. I will take credit for saying two weeks ago the Robles should be the closer though. I think he’s the best we got for that job.

Ok. Sorry to hear about Cave’s injury. Maybe it explains why he can’t hit and then when he heals up, he could go back to the player he was in 2018 and 2019. That player actually has some value on a major-league roster as compared to what we’ve seen from him in 2020 and 2021. Hope it heals up well. Back problems are no fun. I keep coming here waiting for the news that Sano has been sent down or DFA’d. Disappointed again.

While I don’t think you’re wrong about getting from Shoemaker what we should have expected, I think that misses the point. He was brought in to be an adequate fifth starter on a contending team, with the hope he must be better than that. He probably has fit the “adequate fifth starter” role. The problem, of course is, is that the Twins are not a contending team and do not appear likely to be one this season. That means the whole reason to have a Matt Shoemaker no longer applies. The calls to move on from Shoemaker really involve switching to a development/reloading year as a team. Absent huge uptick in performance which appears unlikely, Schumaker is not on this team next year. On the other hand, Thorpe and Dobnak probably are and at least one of them will be in the rotation. We need to use this year to give them some development time, particularly in Thorpe’s case, to be sure they can handle that role. Conversely, the one way Shoemaker could be on this team next year is if we move into the bullpen and he thrives in a high leverage relief role. So overall, I would not say Shoemaker’s been a disappointment. He’s been kind of what we all expected, a mediocre fifth starter. Our needs have changed. This team doesn’t need a mediocre fifth starter. This year should be used for the development of someone who can start next year and beyond. The change doesn’t have to start with the next turn in the rotation but it needs to start soon. I think the team does right by Schumaker by making him a reliever because if he’s going to stay in the majors long-term, that’s where he is going to be. Keeping him as the fifth starter accomplishes nothing and is, in my mind, exactly the wrong thing for this team to do going forward.

I disagree. Shoemaker did not pitch well. He gave up five earned runs in six innings. Not good. Put him in the bullpen and bring up Dobnak or Thorpe.

Well, I guess I shouldn’t have asked for that...

Is it wrong of me to hope that Shoemaker blows up so we won’t get another start? We feel hopelessly behind down 3-0. I’d hate to see Shoemaker pitch just well enough to get yet another turn in the rotation.

Couldn't agree more. Move Thorpe into the rotation (or Dobnak) and move Shoemaker to the bullpen. On the reliever side, how about Andrew Vasquez? He was good in the minors until 2019 and now seems to gotten back to his previous self. He's 27. It's time to see if he can throw at the MLB level. He would need to be added to the 40 man but my sense is we have some AAAA guys on that roster that we can take a chance with, or we can DFA Cave.