LA Vikes Fan

Guys, Pham has a groin problem. Left a game on 7/20 because he couldn't run. Has only played in 3 games fully since then and pinch hit twice. 3-14 in those appearances. Let's not trade for another injured guy . . .

Take that group and add Polanco, Castro, and Vasquez and you actually have the look of a fun team. Everyone else is surplusage unless you believe in the latest Kepler hot streak. I so much want to believe but I just can't... Wouldn't it be fun if the Twins went with this lineup the rest of the season: OF - Lane Thomas or Dylan Carlson (acquired by trade), Larnach, Castro, Wallner, Buxton, with 1 of the last 2 as DH IF - Kirilloff, Julien, Correa, Polanco, Farmer, Lewis (Solano until Lewis comes back, then gone) C - Jeffers, Vasquez. That's right, no Kepler, Gallo, MAT, or Solano. If you keep Kepler, lose Castro or Larnach. Add Finnegan to the BP and lose Moran.

Take that group and add Polanco, Castro, and Vasquez and you actually have the look of a fun team. Everyone else is surplusage unless you believe in the latest Kepler hot streak. I so much want to believe but I just can't...

Only Thomas is really interesting, and only if the FO think this breakout season is real and not just a career year. Maybe a Larnach, Headrick or Culpepper and a fringe 30 prospect could be enough. Pham and Raley would be an OK get, but again only if we are getting rid of Gallo as part of a Larnach trade. Frankly, Thomas makes sense because he is a longer term asset. Raley is a 1.5 year guy assuming we exercise his option, and Pham is a pure rental. Hard to get excited about trading Larnach for that unless the FO has given up on him. I haven't; i think Larnach could be an average to above average regular if he could get consistent playing time.

Sadly, you're right.

I suspect that the FO has decided that this team isn't good enough to sacrifice prospects for short term vets. Maybe they move Larnach but I'd be surprised to see a trade of any of our better prospects to get a vet to fill a hole like a RH hitting OF or a BP piece. They might have been on the fence until last weekend but now I doubt that short term moves are coming. This team will ride with what we have. By the way, I agree. with that thought except for one thing - please move/DFA Gallo so Wallner and/or Larnach have a place to play.

Raley is interesting because of the option. A straight swap of Larnach for Raley or with the Twins adding a low level flyer type prospect makes some sense. Pham makes no sense. He's 35 and on an expiring contract. He's the type of "win now" move the Angels are making. This year's Twins are not a "win now" team. They're a group who is hopefully looking at a 3-4 year window. A guy like Pham isn't part of that. I'd be very disappointed if we gave up a potential player for a guy like that. Have you heard anything more about a Twins/Nats deal? I heard they were scouting the AAA group. Both Kyle Finnegan and Lane Johnson are appealing depending on price, and Jordon Weems could be a decent addition if one believes this year is real as compared to 2021 or 2022.

You may be right. My point is we need to find that out now, not next year or the year after. Open up space by trading/DFAing Gallo. Put Wallner and Larnach in the lineup 4-5 days a week, including against LH pitching, and see how they perform. With Kirilloff out, play Kepler and Larnach at RF and 1B or bring up Williams - don't waste those ABs on a combo of Gallo and a 35 year old Solano. If they blossom, great. If not, you know they aren't part of the future and you move on. Playing a guy like Gallo or Solano (or even Kepler) that we know isn't part of the future does us little good now and absolutely no good going forward. On the other hand if the FO is convinced that Larnach isn't part of the future he should be actively shopped now. Put him in a package with Gray or Maeda, or even Farmer, to improve the return. My basic point is that adding at the margins this year does nothing but leave us as a marginal maybe playoff team at best. I think the only path to improvement is in our younger guys; we won't be trading for a guy who really improves the current team and we don't spend that kind of money in free agency. I just don't like being in the slightly above mediocre middle and I don't see another way out.

To me there are two evaluative facts that really help determine what the Twins should do. First, it's becoming more and more obvious that this team is not a WS contending team in 2023 and they are not one or two decent vets away from being a contender. Second, they have some interesting/exciting younger players that need MLB time and ABs to improve our chances of being a contender in 2024 and beyond. If you start there, the approach should be pretty obvious. Sell vets that don't factor in next year, both those that have value and those that are blocking guys you think really can help in 2024 and beyond. Do - Sell Gallo immediately. Trade Gray if you think the return is better than pick 35-40 in next years draft. Sell Maeda if you aren't planning on a new contract or don't think you can re-sign him. Trade for prospects preferably high minors pitching. Don't - trade prospects for vets on expiring contracts or trade prospects like Wallner, Larnach, etc. Don't give up much for a veteran middle reliever. Last weekend showed that this team just doesn't have the chops to be much of a contender. Live or die with the guys that will help you next year - Wallner, Kirilloff, Julien, Larnach, Williams, Castro, Balazovic, Varland (if you trade a starter). To me, that's how you get out of this .500ish cycle and create a potential winner, not by trading for another Floro, promoting Kuechel, giving Gallo and Solano time at 1B while Kirilloff is out, keeping Larnach in AAA so MAT can get ABs, etc.....

Can't play Buxton if you're showcasing Gallo for that full bag of baseballs you want in a trade . . .

Day off yesterday, day off Monday, three games with KC in between, . . . now's the time to make do with 7 in the bullpen. Got to make a deal by the deadline though or somebody you want up is going to have to go down or maybe to the waiver wire (Joey G).

This is the answer. In the right deal any of the LH Of bats should be available. Don't trade any of them just to make a trade, well except for Gallo, trade him if you can get anything, but none of them are untouchable. I would just want a controllable asset back if we trade Larnach, and a higher end controllable asset wif we trade Wallner. Trade Gallo for anything of value, Gordon can go for a solid rental, and Kepler is tradable for a solid controllable asset or a high end rental.

They've activated Floro and Polanco, Sands down. Going with one fewer bullpen pitcher. Interesting. I guess with a day off yesterday and a day off Monday, they're hoping the bullpen can get through 3 days in KC with 7 guys in the bullpen instead of 8. Lots of machinations 3 days before the deadline.

This is uninspiring but probably correct. Today shouldn't be a big day - it's easy to get Polanco on the roster by trading or DFA'ing and then trading Gallo. Laranch has to stay in St. PAul for 10 days barring injury any way since he was optioned. The harder moment comes when Lewis is ready to come back. Until then, there really is no crunch. I could see trading Larnach if we get something other than just a rental guy back. I've rad that the Nats are scouting AAA - maybe a move for Lane Thomas and/or Kyle Finnegan is in the works.? Both controllable for multiple years. Larnach plus a blocked lower level guy like Severino for one or the other? Larnach plus Winder or SWR for both? Probably not enough but maybe . . .

SImply put, No. Pagan is not an 8th inning guy or a 7th inning guy. He is at best a decent middle reliever who can go 2 plus innings and who will give you 3-4 good performances followed by a clunker that will cost you a game. That guy is in most team's bullpens so I'm not upset that we still have him, especially since we don't have anyone else better. Still, we need another late inning reliever in a trade and the return of Thielbar and Stewart. Then the acquisition, Duran and Jax can handle the 8th and 9th innings, Florio, Balazovic and Stewart the 6th and 7th, Thielbar can be the fireman/late inning fillin, and Pagan can be traded or the long man. Moran stays until both Thielbar and Stewart come back, if they both do, and then either beats out Pagan or he goes back to AAA and is the injury replacement guy. I vote we acquire Kyle Finnegan from the Nats or even Weems for that acquisition role. Wouldn't be adverse to Barlow, Bard, Stratton, or Cisneros (although I don't see KC or Det trading with us), or even our old friend Trevor May from Oakland as the guy we pick up. May was awful early but has been better lately.

We have to keep 2024 and beyond in mind when we talk about Larnach. Next year's OFs are Buxton, Castro and . . . .? Gallo is likely gone. MAT can't hit and is 32 so he's not a long term solution. Castro is a nice UTL, but he is not a starter on a good team. Kepler is streaky and do we want him at $10m next year? Tough swallow. I'm ok with trading Larnach as part of a deadline where also get a young OF from somewhere like Dylan Carlson from the Cards or Lane Thomas from the Nats. I'm sure there are others. OR. . . . if the thinking is to play Lewis in LF next year with Polanco at 3B AND keep Kepler. If we not going to do one of those two things, we need to keep Wallner AND Larnach around. I say AND because we're at least one season away from knowing if either of them can cut it as a full time starter at the MLB level so I'd rather have both to increase the odds. Don't trade Larnach for a rental reliever, only trade him for something good and only as part of a deadline that brings back a young replacement.

That's a deal I think many of us would have made. Unfortunately, it would not have been enough to get Castillo. Seattle gave up a better return. They gave Cincy 3 of their top 5 prospects from a more highly rated system. From us that's a Lewis or Lee, Wallner, Winder, and Festa or Raya type package.

Agreed. Larnach alone won't even get you Finnegan from Washington or Barlow from KC, IMHO. Unfortunately, the bloom is off of that rose. To get value for Larnach we will need to package him with a pitcher like SWR at least. Is Finnegan worth that? Maybe. Barlow is not. Hader is off the market and we can't afford the prospects necessary to get him any way.

Cano has given Baltimore a lot more than we got from Lopez, but I'm not sure I'd love to have Cano back now. He is slowly regressing to his mean that we once saw. Just blew a save last night; 4.05 ERA in the last 7 games, 3.77 in the last 15. Strikeouts per nine falling, now down to 7.84. He is looking more and more like a half season wonder who is regressing back to a solid middle reliver/iffy late inning type guy. Still better than Jorge Lopez gave us, that's for sure, but Cano isn't looking like a long term all star type.

I live in LA. Local media is saying that this trade makes sense IF the Angels are planning to really make a run at re-signing Ohtani and think they can re-sign Giolito. Also increases the chances of a rise in franchise value if Moreno is willing to sell the team. Giolito is from LA and the Angels have a real chance of keeping him. The new GM actually has done a much better job of promoting younger players in key spots like Neto so they might have some money. Now if only someone would take Rendon's contract off their hands...

Lane Thomas could be a good get depending on who we have to trade and I would love to see them target Kyle Finnegan for the bullpen. To get a pcakage like that takes something like Larnach, Varland, and Winder according to BTV. Finnegan alone costs Larnach plus someone like SWR. Both a little rich for my blood. I would trade Larnach, SWR, and either Headrick or Winder for those two or maybe Thomas plus Jordon Weems. Willing to add in another lower level pitcher other than Festa or Raya to get Thomas and Finnegan. Don't forget, Gallo, MAT and maybe Kepler are all gone next year so we need OFs, although I suspect Kepler will be retained. Thomas makes a lot of sense and Finnegan or Weems could be the bridge we need to Duran this year. Both Finnegan and Weems have multiple years of control left as well. I just would want to hang on to Varland, Festa, and Raya.

This is the right way to look at things. Trading for Lopez didn't work out. Sunk cost. The worst thing you can do in any kind of business is chase your sunk costs; once they're gone, they're gone. Movning on was the right call and Florio might be an upgrade. We still need a BP upgrade unless we're convinced that Theilbar and Stewart are going to be effective coming back. The suspect part of the bullpen is breaking down. Ortega is just a back of the bullpen guy, Moran is inconsistent and Pagan is well, Pagan. I don't have a great deal of confidence in Winder as more than a mop up/long man. That leaves Jax and Balazovic in a lot of high pressure situations as the bridge to Duran. Florio probably doesn't help us a lot there. Still need somebody.

Sadly, I actually think this is a pretty even trade for 2023. Florio has a 2.78 FIP/4.54 ERA, Lopez is a 5.09/5.94. Lopez has another year of control left. Tells you the Twins don't think they can repair Lopez going forward.

MLB Trade Rumors is reporting that Jorge Lopez is being traded to the Marlins for Dylan Florio,. Report says that it is unknown if there are any other components to the deal. Stay tuned. View full rumor