LA Vikes Fan

Agreed. I just don't get the fascination here with this guy. He did get an admittedly very short shot. Not only was he very unproductive with 8 strikeouts and no hits with 2 walks in 18 PAs/16 ABs, those statistics accurately capture the way he looked at the plate. He was very overmatched. He never really had much of a chance of getting a hit. This kind of tracks his minor-league career; very mediocre until the last two seasons. His chances for MLB success with the Twins are somewhere between zero and 10%. Roden, on the other hand, has hardly been spectacular but at least he has a fighting chance at the plate to hit a line drive. Roden's chances for MLB success are probably less than 50/50 but at least you can see the possibility there. Fedko also has no trade value other than as a additional throw in as part of a bigger trade. I actually hope that happens because I'd love to see him get an opportunity with a bad organization like the Angels see if he can find something he wasn't finding in Minnesota. Frankly, I'd kind of like to see Roden traded as part of a package for pitching gave him the same opportunity elsewhere. A trade like that would help clear the decks so we can get Jenkins and Culpepper up to the Bigs for the stretch run. We need some hitting and it doesn't look like we are going to be able to trade for it.

For what it's worth, I put into Baseball Trade Values Simulator a trade of Greene for Culpeper, Erod, Diaw and Gallagher and it matched almost perfectly. When I took out Culpepper for GG, it became a moderate overpay by the Reds. Just food for thought.

I hear this and it's the only issue I have with the proposed trade package. The others are potentially good or even excellent players but we have others for those positions - Jenkins and Mendez for Erod, Lackey and Tait for Diaw, CJ Culpepper, et al. for Gallagher. So who could replace Culpepper in the trade package back? How about Gabriel Gonzalez, a RH power hitter that would potentially flourish in Great America Park. Yes, that means 2 OFs but I think Cincy needs OFs and it increases their chances of hitting the lottery. So my thought is: Twins get - Hunter Greene Reds get - ERod, GG, Diaw, their choice of Gallagher, CJ Culpepper or Sam Armstrong.

No, that’s not what I said. He said he’s going to reject the $23 million qualifying offer which avoids exactly what you’re afraid of, the team having an overpaid catcher. He’s right to reject it by the way if he can get a multi year deal at $15M to 20M, and I think he can. It’s a much better deal for him to have financial security at say, $17 million a year for three or four years, then one year of $23 million, followed by going back in the market when he is a year older and may have had another injury. I think rejecting a qualifying offer in favor of a three or four year deal at $15-$20 million a year is a no-brainer for him. I don’t think the Twins are going to be willing to do that, but they don’t want to keep him for the rest of the season and then just watch him walk, so the qualifying offer is perfect for the team and even more perfect if he doesn’t accept it. Now we can actually keep him for this year’s stretch run, make the qualifying offer, and at least get some draft choice compensation when he walks.

It’s great to see Keaschall hitting like he did last year. I would like to see them move him up to the number two spot in the batting order to put some speed on the bases before guys like Clemens, Jeffers, Bell, and Lewis. I actually think it’s likely he moves up to the lead off spot if Larnach is traded. Buxton can either lead off or hit 3 when he gets back.

I actually think it’s makes the decision on Jeffers easier, assuming the report is correct. We no longer have to worry about him accepting the qualifying offer and having a $23 million catcher. Now you can evaluate the trade package offered against the advantages of keeping him here through the rest of 2026 and getting the compensatory draft choice, probably after the end of the first round. in other words, we no longer run the risk of keeping him, being afraid to make the QO for fear of having an overpaid catcher, and then “losing him for nothing“. I think it’s going to take a very serious package to pry Jeffers from the Twins. It would have to include at least a middle of the rotation starting pitcher and probably a decent bat or relief pitcher for Jeffers and a prospect. In other words, two major league players I think that’s not real likely.

They are going to need another starter for sure because Prielipp is near his innings limit for the year and they just don’t have anyone else other than Rojas. They needed to pick up a starter in this guy must have been the only thing they could find for a price they were willing to pay. Too soon to get guys like Gausman or Ray. The teams that have them will hold onto them till Monday to see if they can get more competition involved as people get injured or ineffective.

I think it’s Kremer to AAA to work out some things and as starting depth, back up when Prielipp needs moved to the bullpen. Either that or they think they see a flaw in his delivery that they can fix.

This is the best take. You pay your money, you take your chances. Will this be a good trade? Ask again in 2028 and we should know. Its a good trade if Rojas is a #2 or #3 starter, even better if Roden is a contributing regular or part of a trade for one regardless of how well Louie pitches. If not and Louie continues this well, bad deal for us. let's talk about the trade then.

I like Keaschall hitting in the 2 hole. I think he should be there every day until Buck comes back, and even then I'd be in favor of Buck going back to lead off with Larnach in the 3 spot against RH starters, Jeffers against LH starters. Martin seems to be coming out of his slump so I'm fine with him leading off. my only quibble is moving Lewis back to 7 behind Lee. Both aren't really hitting but at least Lewis is providing some clutch ABs. His one hit a game always seems to be important. Overall, I like it and like the concept. We aren't hitting so a manor shake up like this makes sense.

Agree. We may have a good idea of who's on the bubble to go down by who pitches tonight. Unfortunately, this is a bad pitching matchup for us so there may be 3 plus innings of relief work available when we are behind. my guess is the choice is between Fundy and Anderson.

By the way, Baseball Trade Values rates Jeffers and Emma for Hancock and Ferrer as a very even swap. Also rates Emma for Hancock as an even swap. Just food for thought.

You can do both - get what we need longer term and get help for this year's big league club. Jeffers and a very good prospect plus a solid prospect (think Emma plus Ryan Gallagher types) to Seattle for Emerson Hancock and Jose Ferrer. They get a desperately needed RH bat and protection from Cal Raleigh's .167 average and .576 OPS for this year, plus one impact prospect that should be playing every day by 2027 and another than could provide value soon. We get a #3 or #4 type starter plus a LH 26 year old reliever with at 97-98 MPH FB and good secondary pitches. Everybody wins.

I think you're going to make a call on a Catcher this week. There's a very interesting article on this site by Greg Masterson about group interview he was involved in with Derek Falvey talking about how the trade deadline works. It helps me understand why most of the deals don't go down until Sunday even though I think or thought that it made more sense to do things sooner. I think they'll make a move Sunday regarding the catching but I less and less think it will involve trading Ryan Jeffers. I think they may keep him and either trade Caratini or try to slip Alex Jackson through waivers. I think they are considering just keeping all three by putting Jeffers behind the plate 60% of the time and at DH 20% of the time to get his bat in the lineup, playing Caratini at C 30% of the time and first base 30% of the time, with Alex Jackson paying maybe twice a week, once behind the plate and once at 1B. I think they're finding that arrangement just doesn't work when you have a full-time DH like Josh Bell but he's hard to trade because he doesn't have much value and because what you trade him, you just lost one of your middle of the order bats and you don't have a replacement. Lisa and I try to think it through, all the roads pint to either trading Caratini or trying to sneak Jackson to AAA somehow.

Come on guys, this isn't AYSO soccer where every player has to be treated the same and we all get participation medals. The organization sees Roden and Fedko entirely differently as players. They see Roden as a potential MLB regular so he is getting a long look. His Statcast page suggests that there may be something there. That look may be close to the end and will certainly be over by the end of the season. The organization sees Fedko as organizational filler, a guy with an undistinguished track record who blossomed into a good but not elite AAA player at age 25 or 26 for about season's worth of games, but not as a guy likely to develop into an MLB caliber player. He got a brief shot to see how he looked in case they were wrong. He looked awful even when he was playing more regularly, often simply overpowered by MLB pitching. His shot confirmed their initial evaluation so he got sent back. Hopefully they will trade him to another organization so he can get another chance, or he will become a minor-league FA and move to another organization and get another shot. This this isn't because of anything the manager did or didn't do. He got a shorter leash on his opportunity because he has less of a track record and the organization evaluated him less favorably. Guys, let's remember that the job of an MLB manager is to win games. He shouldn't be asked to give ABs to a guy who is regularly getting overpowered by MLB pitching in the hope that he will develop in the future unless the organization instructs him that that's his role because the team is in full on rebuild. We aren't. Fedko got his shot, was found wanting, and is now in AAA hoping he gets a second shot or a trade so he can get a shot on another team. That's the way baseball works in a competent organization, and that's the way it should work.

I agree that we don't want any retreads. There may be a younger controllable guy out there to be had. The Angels just traded away Chase Silseth and O'Hoppe for an A ball guy with upside. Silseth may have been able to slide into that Tier 2 group. I would definitely be speaking with them about Sam Bachman and Ryan Zeferjahn, two more guys who have Tier 2 potential. Frankly, I think Bachman would slot right in as an eighth-inning guy. I know there's others out there on other teams. That's who we should be targeting and I'm willing to give up as many Class A or Class AA guys with upside as it takes to get them. Conversely, I am not particularly interested in trading for Kirby Yates of the Angels, a classic 39-year-old reliever on the downside with the track record. That's where I would draw the line. I hope we can pull it off.

I think this is a fair take, which is what makes this deadline so interesting particularly now that Buxton is out probably for at least two or three weeks. We need Jeffers' bat much worse now and frankly Shelton has got a figure out a way to get him in the lineup every day even if that means more time as the DH and/more time with Caratini playing 1B. Keeping Jeffers definitely makes it more likely that this team makes the playoffs this year, although winning more than one series (if that) seems pretty unlikely to me. Still, I see the advantages of keeping him around and making the Q0 and taking the draft choice compensation if he declines and can't be re-signed, especially given the dreck we would receive in return if the reported rumors are accurate. I do think though we disagree on two fundamental points. I see Hancock is more than just a back end rotation piece. I think he has a real chance to be a mid rotation or better starter for the next four years. That has a lot of value to this team, especially with at least one of Lopez and Ryan likely gone after 2027 and perhaps both. Our other point of disagreement is that I am done worrying about keeping Emma around because of his vast potential. The guy can't stay healthy enough to play more than 75 games in a season and his performance has been good but not outstanding at the AAA level. He will at most have one option year left after this season, and that's only if MLB towards him that fourth year due to injury which I admit seems pretty likely. He's got the classic "three true outcomes" approach at the plate which makes me really wonder if he will be as successful as we all hope you will at the MLB level. I am fine with trading him now while his value is pretty close to its peak as a guy with great potential whose flaws have not yet been exposed at the MLB level. I would only trade him for controllable, established pitching with upside but I would trade him if that was part of the return. I would be really pissed if we trade him for a rental.

I think this was the wrong move. I agree with the FO that the Twins needed an infielder, not an outfielder. We need another infielder badly because Kriedelr can't play every day and still hit (he may not be able to hit even if he plays four – five days a week) and we can not put Lee back at SS and expect to win the low-scoring, defensive games that are going to dominate the rest of this season. We also need to find out if the 23-year-old Luke Keaschall can play a competent CF either as the backup going forward or as the starter when Buxton hangs it up. Still, they should have called up Culpepper or Ross to be that infielder. You have to wonder how he trade deadline is playing into this. We have no idea who is being talked about in a trade and it may be that some of the guys people want to call up are being bandied about in trade discussions where it might be to our advantage to keep them in AAA until we know if they're going to be traded, or if there is a strong likelihood they're going to be traded so we would create difficulties for the MLB club if they came up and were traded two days later. I think we need to look at the current roster as a work in progress and this week as one of the times when there is a chance of significant change. We should probably all just keep our powder dry and chill out until next Monday

While I agree that a prospect would be better, it's not one of the OFs. We have been playing without a UTL that can play SS since Jeffers came back. That is the most immediate need to be filled. The way the team is currently roster to either Kriedler has to play every day without any sort of break or Lee has to play some SS. Neither of those are good results. The Twins made the right call on the position that needed to be filled. Having said that, Gray is definitely the WRONG guy. Kaelen Culpepper would have been a much better choice and, if he isn't ready since he just came off the IL, Ben Ross is much more deserving. Frankly, Tristan Gray was a shot we took this year on a guy who topped out as a AAAA player with Boston to see if we could unlock something that would make him an MLB regular. We took the same shot with Kriedler. Kriedler has worked out to an extent, Gray has not. Why double down on something that didn't work? To me, the better strategy would be to bring up either Culpepper or Ross and see if you've got something better. It's riskier because these guys could make a "rookie mistake" that costs the team a game or two in what we hope is a competitive August and September. Still, that kind of move has much better long-term effects and roster management and a much higher chance of success IMHO. Almost makes you wonder if Shelton is just more comfortable with a veteran in that UTL role and just isn't ready for another young player. Alternatively, it's been pointed out here that there are some real advantages to waiting until August 14 to bring somebody up so they maintain rookie status for 2027 so maybe that's part of the analysis. That strikes me as too much thinking and too cute by half. Overall, a curious move and in my view the wrong move.

Interesting idea. What else would you have to include? Probably at least one or two of the three potentially available premium outfield prospects, either Emma, GG, or Mendez. I’m assuming Jenkins is untouchable in trade. I went on BBTV and a package of Gonzales, Matthews, Emma, and Culpepper for Detmers and Neto is a “moderate overpay” by the Angels. I had to add Riley Quick to get to a fair trade. I removed Quick and added in Austin Martin to get to a minor overpay by the Angels. You stay at fair trade if you subtract Detmers and put in Soriano for the five twins. I didn’t like that soI went with a minor overpay by the Angels and here’s the deal: Twins get- Reid Detmers or Jose Soriano and Zach Neto. Angels get- Culpepper, Emma, GG, Zebby Matthews, plus Martin and Yasser Mercedes if we get Detmers, without Martin if we get Soriano. I don’t know about this one. It would be hard to pull the trigger on this.

I’ve been pushing a trade for Hancock on other threads here, but I don’t think giving up Lewis or Keaschall should be necessary or is a good idea. They need a right handed hitting catcher in the worst way with Raleigh still suffering from the strained oblique and hitting .167. How about trading them Jeffers and a high-end hitter from our system like Emma, Gonzales or Mendez? Maybe they throwing a reliever like Ferrer or Speier and we throw in a middle ranked prospect to even have the deal. I think something like that would make sense for both sides. They get that right handed bat they need plus some real future upside that could help them as early as next year, we get a controllable number three or number four starter and some help in the bullpen.

Very well put. One of the things that's always struck me at the deadline is the chorus of " Trade (expiring contract guy) for the best you can get rather than risk losing him for nothing". Life just ain't that simple. On Jeffers, there's at least 3 paths, (1) keep him to help you this year and actually win the off season FA lottery, (2) keep him to help you this year, give him the QO and take the high draft pick, or (3) trade him for what is offered. Number 3 has to be better than numbers 1 and 2 or you don't do it. A lot of the packages I've seen rumored are not as good as numbers 1 and 2 IMHO, especially the packages from the Yankees. We don't have to trade anybody; only do it if it makes sense.

Great metaphor. This team may not be that good, but they are fun to follow.

Thanks for the explanation.

You missed an easy one - THE MARINERS NEEED A RH BAT AND NEED A CATCHER! Cal Raleigh has a strained oblique. He went on the IL and came back June 16. He's trying to play through it and is hitting .165/.269/.300 (.569) on the year, .167/.301/.264 (.565) since he came back. Ryan Jeffers makes perfect sense for Seattle. He gives them a RH bat they need, they can move Raleigh to DH or back to the Il, and Jeffers is gone after 2026. Raleigh can heal up and take back over behind the plate in 2027 and beyond.. Even better, the Mariners have what we need - a controllable starting pitcher that they are willing to trade, Emerson Hancock. He's having a great year this year with a 3.16 ERA, but he's been in the low to mid 4s the two previous years without a lot of innings so that reduces his value a little. He has 4 controllable years left and is making under $800,000 this year. He's not a rotation ace by any stretch, more realistically like a 3.75 – 4.25 ERA guy throwing 150 innings a year. He could capably fill a #4 role in a competitive team's rotation. He's probably worth a little more than Jeffers, and it's hard to get an established MLB player for a rental, but we can send them a hitting prospect and maybe get a relief pitcher back along with Hancock. BBTV says something like Jeffers and Emma equals Hancock and Jose Ferrer, Jeffers and Mendez equals Hancock and Gabe Speier. Jeffers and GG equals Hancock by himself. I would do either of those first two deals, and see if I can get Seattle to throw in a 40 rated minor-league are like Robinson Ortiz or Michael Morales. I trust the FO is talking to Seattle about Hancock and I hope they're using Jeffers as bait. This all makes a lot of sense to me.