LA Vikes Fan

That's a pretty good way to put things with ERod. He could be a real MLB asset if he ever gets there. I do wonder a little bit about his passive approach translating to the MLB level where pitchers have better control, though. I would have loved to see him up this year to see but it looks like another year of development for him will pass. He's still very young so there is time. All of this is why I would be dangling him as part of a package to get a Reid Detmers, Jose Soriano, George Kirby, CJ Abrams, Antony Volpe, Trevor Rogers type guy. We have a surplus of OFs with potential. Let's cash one in for a youngish long term asset, particularly if that asset is a pitcher or middle IF. I'd rather trade Roden or Fedko but they aren't going to get us much, maybe a decent but not great mid 30s relief pitcher (think Pierce Johnson or Kirby Yates, if that). I want more so I'm willing to trade ERod, GG, or Mendez to get a young, controllable #3 starter type or a controllable middle IF bat with upside.

I frankly wonder a little about ERod. He's shown flashes but no real consistency, in part because he is always injured. He could be a star, he could be a bust, he could be anywhere in between. I don't think we know a lot more about where he'll fall on that continuum now than we did a year or two ago. IF we're trying to make a trade for higher end MLB talent with remaining control, ERod is the guy I would be dangling as the centerpiece of a prospect trade.

Sorry, we're going to have just agree to disagree. I think you overstate how interested fans are in seeing minor league guys come up. You and I might be interested in that but I think most fans only care about seeing a wining team and guys they know. Bringing up minor leaguers doesn't get you a winning team most of the time, you usually get the opposite, and it certainly doesn't get you guys most fans know. Oh well, reasonable minds can differ and apparently do in this case.

Any chance of getting someone good higher than A+ ball? I'm sure these guys are good players and someday might even make good MLB players. That someday looks like a ways off for each of them. Maybe I'm just getting old and frustrated, but this looks like more playing for the future that never comes. Let's trade Jeffers for some guys that can come and help us in the bullpen this year or at least next year.

Really? Come on now, think it through. Tom's biggest business problem is trying to turn around a negative perception in the market about whether the Twins are willing to try to win or if this is all about just making as much money as possible. Pohlad went out of his way to go on record saying a few weeks ago that he wants to win and compete for championships. He got some national publicity for saying that and it was faithfully reprinted in the local press. If he then turns around a few weeks later and trades the team's best player for a bunch of prospects that no one other than us baseball nerds had ever heard of, the vast majority of fans will think that what he said before was just empty words. "He's just another Pohlad. All he cares about is making the most money. He doesn't care about the team, he doesn't care about us fans, he doesn't care about putting a winning product on the field. Why should I care about this team if it doesn't care about me. " Tom has created expectations that he needs to fulfill. He doesn't have to do it by trading for Sonny Gray at the deadline and paying him $25 million, but he can't kill the team's image by backtracking from what he said and trading away the best guy on the team. And by the way, yes there will be lost ticket sales for the rest of this year. Think bigger than just selling a few tickets and a few beers this season. The Twins biggest business problem is the rightfully formed image that ownership doesn't care about the team, it only cares about money. Tom is trying to turn that perception around. To do that, he needs to show that he is trying to put the best product on the field even if it costs him more money and even if it may make more baseball sense to trade good players right now for a future team. In other words, he needs to show that he is trying to WIN. People cut slack for an owner who shows he is trying to win. He can say, "hey, new Sherriff in town. Instead of trading good players away and playing for a future that may never come, we're trying to win NOW." Fans will cut some slack to a guy who is trying his hardest to put the best product he can on the field. Tom needs to show that he is that guy to have any chance of turning a crappy situation around. Fans will cut no slack for team owner who is trying to maximize profit or cut his financial losses. Now let's switch to a trade in the off-season. In the offseason the Twins can make Ryan an offer and play the PR game that they offered as good a deal as anyone or the biggest deal in Twins history and he decided to leave anyway. Nothing they could do. And who knows, maybe he'll actually take your offer. You also have Lopez next year so you a have a replacement. Huge business difference from trading him at the deadline for prospects this year. Look, if this was just a baseball decision I can see the argument for trading Ryan now although as you know, I'm not convinced we can't get as good a deal in the off-season as we can now. Neither one of us knows the answer to that question because we don't know what's being offered. I do agree trading Jeffers now is the only thing that makes any sense from a baseball perspective and that may be true for trading Ryan depending on the offers out there that you and I will never see. Still, from a business perspective it's much better to hold Ryan to the end of this year and hope the team actually at least sort of contends for a playoff spot. If they don't, it's not ownership's fault; we kept our best players and tried to get new ones but we just didn't have enough. If they trade Ryan, Jeffers, Larnach, Bell, etc. away and the team tanks, then it is ownership's fault. "The team was good enough to contend but the owners traded anybody making money to save themselves a few bucks in 2026 and get cheaper players." Pohlad can get away with trading Jeffers because he's a pending free agent. He can't get away with trading Ryan away now and still saying he's trying to win with a straight face. He has a better chance of pulling that off in the offseason. The baseball bona fides don't matter as much as the business strategy does at this point.

Agree Falvey was making the decisions. Most of the deal were good moves. There is one deal I would redo; the Varland. I actually think highly of Rojas and think he could be a great starter or late inning guy down the road. Still, I Would rather have Varland at the back of the Twins' bullpen for the next 3.5 years since he's not going to hit free agency until 2031. I think we basically "won" almost all of the other trades. We definitely won Jax for Bradley, Bader for Mendez and Villoria, Castro for Gallagher, and Coulombe for Horn. Duran for Abel and Tait is yet to be seen but the return looks strong. Frankly, if Mick Abel is a #3 starter or better next year, we win and still have Tait for later gravy. Stewart for Outman was a lose-lose since Stewart immediately got hurt and Outman well, he kind of stinks. I also approve of them dumping most of Correa's salary, especially since he's missed this entire season with an injury.

Thanks for that update. Wow, he has been hurt a lot.

That's easy. Jenkins and Buxton, absolutely not. Emma, absolutely available in the right deal. Guy can't stay healthy and his passive approach may not work in the Bigs. Besides, he is out of options although he probably will get 4th option because he's been injured most of this season. Buxton is the present, Jenkins is the future, Emma is a big question mark. He seems to have real talent but he may or may not ever be either good enough or healthy enough to start every day at the MLB level, much less be a star. To me, he is exactly the kind of guy we should be dangling as a headliner in a package to get a proven MLB starting pitcher with 2+ years of control left. For the right deal, Emma goes.

I understand the argument for trading Ryan but I do question one of your key assumptions. Everyone seems to assume we will get a "better" return at this year's trade deadline then in the coming off-season. I understand that there is a risk of injury and that's a real concern. Beyond that, I've never really seen any kind of real analysis about why the return will be "better" now other than the thought that well, a contending team gets two playoff runs rather than one. That makes some sense but hardly seems definitive. On the contrary side, by definition there is a smaller pool of teams willing to trade for right now as that will be limited to those who feel like they are truly in contention and need to pay a big price for starting pitching to contend in the playoffs. Also, it certainly seems like the return at the deadline is always prospects. That makes sense since any team will hold on to contributing major players so as not to create a roster hole by training to fill a different hole. It seems like in the off-season, one sees a lot more MLB player for MLB player kind of trades, probably because teams think they have minor leaguers that can backfill a hole they create or can trade at that seasons deadline to fill the hole if the prospect doesn't work out. It makes more sense to me to trade Ryan for proven talent than for prospects if you can do that, and it seems much more likely that you can do that in the off-season than at the deadline. Look, I think you gotta fish or cut bait on Ryan no later than this off-season. If you can't sign him before spring training ends next year, you have to go trade him. This team isn't close enough this year nor is it likely to be next year that you keep Ryan because this is going to be the "magical year" that we get to the World Series if only we keep Joe. Having said that, I just don't think that the evidence is very strong to support the argument that we will get "more" for him now other than basic logic that a team should be willing to give more to have the extra playoff run with him. I just haven't seen anything that convinces me that that's true, particularly when factoring in the facts that you can get proven MLB talent for a guy like Ryan in the off-season but not now, and that there are more teams that could be interested then as compared to now. Relief pitchers? Probably worth more now which is why we see more trades of relief pitchers now. A proven front line starter? I just don't think it's the same. Of course, all of this is completely academic because Tom Pohlad isn't going to trade Ryan at the deadline if he has any business acumen unless he has a complete change of heart. Everything he has said to date is the opposite and even he has to know trading Ryan would kill the team and kill the fan base. I think there's a very little chance Ryan gets traded at this year's deadline for business reasons, whether or not it makes sense for baseball reasons..

Look, the guy's not a great centerfielder at this point in his career. Frankly, he's barely competent in centerfield, if that. Still, it's more than a little early to make grand pronouncements about his ability to play in centerfield or the outfield at all. He's played all of what, 15-20 games in the outfield total and maybe 8-10 or so in centerfield? I know we all like to judge and then set our opinions in stone never to be reviewed, able to haughtily dismiss anyone who has the temerity to question those opinions formed oh so long ago. I get it, it beats actually having to think, but all of this seems like a little early. I think we need to take a deep breath and give him the rest of the season to get his feet wet as a full-time outfielder, and then give the team the chance to really work with him next year in spring training on things like his drop step, feeling where the wall is, knowing when to throw home or to third base and when to concede the run, all those things that come with real experience. Then we we can judge his defense in the outfield. You know, about next May, not now. Until then, this is what development looks like. For all of you that want to call up prospects from AAA, including me, get ready for some ugly moments at the plate or in the field. There will be some. With all of them. Oh, and by the way, over the last 100 plus PAs, Luke is hitting .303/.413/.419 (.832), with 16 SOs and 13 BBs (almost a 1:1 ratio). He has actually been better than that over his last roughly 50 plate appearances. That guy starts on my team and needs a place to play. Second base clearly wasn't it so let's find him one in the outfield. But you're right, he kind of sucks out there right now. Hope it gets better.

There is an old very true saying that before you can decide what to do now to impact the future, you have to know where you are now in space and time. I think that before the Twins can decide whether to buy or sell at the deadline, or to do both in some measure, you have to have a sober, clearheaded view of what talent we have now and how we think it will perform in 2027 and 2028. I think we have a pretty good consensus on the 2026 roster. The ceiling is roughly 85 wins, a Wild Car berth or Division title if everyone else falters, maybe win one playoff round, and then a pretty quick exit. The floor is we spiral downward either now or in August and wind up at 72 – 75 wins, with more questions than answers going forward. The most likely result is somewhere in between those two. So the big question is where are we likely to be in '27 and '28 if we do little or nothing at the Trade Deadline, or do just a couple low wattage trades for relief pitchers who aren't going to be with us past this year. I think that's where many of us disagree and why we have such divergent thoughts for this year's Trade Deadline. I thought I would try to get at that answer by dividing our current talent at the MLB and AAA level into 7 categories - (1) guys who are now stars and should continue to be stars through either '27 or '28, (2) average or above average MLB starters through '28, (3) guys who have a 50% chance or more of being at least above average MLB starters in 2027 or by 2028, (4) guys and could be contributing roster players in 2027 and/or 2028 but probably not as starters, rotation pieces, or in the top five of the bullpen, or who need to change position to be a contributing guy, (5) guys who are now ready to make MLB debuts, have small sample sizes at the MLB level, or will be ready by 2027 or 2028 and look like they deserve an extended run at the MLB level with a 50% or better chance of success, (6) guys on the AA or AAA level who are wildcards, could be anywhere from stars to failures but deserve a shot in the next 2.5 years, and (7) guys who are either really young or below AA and who look like future MLB starters likely more than two years away but could surprise. With categories (5) - (7), I think it's a safe assumption that none will be immediate stars but the guys I've tried to list are those I think have at least an outside shot at being average or better MLB starters in' 27 or' 28. In each case, I note the position for all players, which I think is important for the pitchers as well as the hitters. For example, I think Bailey Ober will be an average or better #4 starter, but he isn't an average or better #3 or higher MLB starter. I also eliminated older players who I think just won't be around next year or they year after or, if they are, would always be in imminent danger of being replaced like Taylor Rogers and Tommy Nance. I didn't go below the AA level because below that is a complete crapshoot although I did include Tait because I think he is more than a crapshoot. I did not include any of this year's draftees for that same reason. I think you have to start here before you can make the buy or sell decision. A sober reflection of what you currently have helps you decide whether you need to blow it up, trade the veterans for the best prospects you can get and play for 2029 later, whether there's a real chance to compete in 27 and 2028 if you get the right prospects or even just stand relatively pat, or whether you're somewhere in between. Here's my thinking: (1) Current Stars Likely to Remain Stars through 2027 and/or 2028 - Byron Buxton (CF, may be moving to LF by 2028) , Pablo Lopez (currently only 2027 before contract expires, #1/#2 Starter), Joe Ryan (same, #2 Starter). That's it. The shortness of this list may be a big part of the problem. (2) Average or Better MLB Starters - Luke Keaschall (RF/LF), Brooks Lee (3B), Kody Clemens (2B), Trevor Laranch (LHOF/DH, but only in a platoon), Victor Caratini ('27 only), Taj Bradley (#3 or maybe even #2 starter), Bailey Ober (#4/#5 starter), Yolendrys Gomez (late inning reliever), Andrew Morris (late inning reliever), Cole Sands (middle reliever). (3) Players With a 50% or Better Chance to be Average or Better MLB Starters, but no sure thing - Royce Lewis (1B), Mick Abel (#4/#5 starter), Connor Prielipp (#4 or better starter). (4) Contributing Roster Players but Not Starters - Ryan Kreidler (UTL IF), Austin Martin (4th OF), Zebby Martin (as a RP could move up a category, but not as a starting pitcher), Alex Jackson (2nd C but not a starter). (5) Players With Potential That Deserve a Shot at with 50% chance or Better of Success - Walker Jenkins (OF), Kaelen Culpepper (SS/3B/2B), Kendry Rojas (RP/SP), Mike Paredes (RP), Henry Mendez (OF, not until '28), Marek Houston (SS, not until '28). (6) Guys Who Deserve a Shot But Are Complete Wildcards - Emmanuel Rodriguez (OF, wildcard mostly due to age and injury concerns), Alan Roden (OF), Gabriel Gonzalez (OF, wildcard because of his age), CJ Culpepper (RP), Travis Adams (RP), Kody Funderburk (RP), Marco Raya (RP), John Klein (RP), Ryan Gallagher (RP), Woo Suk Go (RP), Ben Ross (SS/UTL), Ricardo Olivar (2nd C), Kalai'i Rosario (OF). (7) Players With Real Potential More Than 2 Years Away Who Could Surprise- Riley Quick (SP/RP), Kadim Diaw (C/OF, age), Brandon Winknour (OF), Eduardo Tate (C). So I look at that and it causes me to look at 2027 and 2028 with cautious but tempered optimism. I think this is a classic Twins situation; we have about two thirds of a competitive MLB team. We have one star in the field and two in the starting rotation. We have two more starting pitchers who are quality MLB starters lower in the rotation. We have average or better MLB starters at 2B, 3B, and the OF corners, plus at Catcher but only for one more season. We have two, maybe three good relief pitchers, and everybody else is a wildcard. We have a strong utility infielder but right now he has to be the starting SS, and it looks like we might have a quality fourth OF. It looks like we may have reinforcements at SS and in the OF on the way. We have some rotation depth but not a lot, and we don't have a C with a short timeline. The bullpen is wide open, and a complete crapshoot. If we have a surplus from which to trade prospects it is clearly in the OF and maybe at Shortstop. All of this leads me to think that we buy and sell at the deadline. We sell Jeffers, much as I would like to keep him, because his contract is going to be up and we should be able to get potentially quality, near MLB ready relief or starting pitching prospects for him. We trade Larnach but only if we can get a young, controllable relief pitcher that we think can be in the top five or six in the bullpen by 2027 at the latest. We hold onto Ryan unless we get a huge haul and we shop Bell but is unlikely we can get much for him so he probably stays. The one blockbuster move I would consider is trading some guys in categories 5 – 7 other than Jenkins in a package for a controllable established starting pitcher hopefully plus a relief pitcher, like Reid Demers or José Soriano plus Sam Bachman of the Angels. I'm sure there's others to target. I think there's more here than justifies a complete tear down and rebuild but I don't think we can just stand pat. Thanks if anybody waded through this overly long analysis. What do you guys think?

No, I think that's reality if you do the "trade all the vets with talent and get ther teams' really good young guys" approach. There's is a middle ground but it's a fine line to walk. If you want to trade vets for prospects and re-load for 2027 or even 2028, you have to be very careful about who you trade for. You have to trade for guys that are MLB ready now AND be willing to live the almost inevitable under-performance when they first come up. Even highly rated prospects will need the rest of this year and all of 2027 and probably at least some of 2028 to hit their ceiling. Lee is a great example. He's in his 3rd "full time" year and now we can see what he will be long term. There may be a little more there but we probably now see 80-90% of the ceiling at least. So we're talking about trading now for guys who may contribute in 2027, make a secondary contribution in 2028, but won't really be ready to be a big contributor on a contending team until 2029. You then run into a major problem with the timeline of your core guys now. Using their age reached during the season, by 2028 Buxton is 34 and at least on the way down, Larnach 31, Clemens 32, Ryan 32, Ober 34, Bell 36 and gone, Caratini 35 and gone, Jeffers gone in FA, etc., and you have to trade some or all of those guys to get the prospects so they won't even all be here. Then you're relying on Lee, Keaschall, Lewis, Bradley, Abel, Morris, and Gomez to be your veteran core for the young guys to augment. . The middle of the batting order has to be completely replaced by 2028 as well as 2 of the 4 top rotation spots and that's assuming Lopez and Bradley are still on the team, not hurt, and pitching effectively. So you can't gut the existing core group and expect to compete in 2027, and probably not in 2028 or even 2029, you really have to replace everybody with prospects, give them time to develop, and hope against hope you pick the right guys. THEN maybe you're competitive in the second half of 2028 and 2029 forward IF you get lucky. I think the competitive re-load is what they were trying to do last year by getting guys they hoped were MLB ready for this year. They hit on exactly 1 - Bradley. The rest are either not yet quite ready (Rojas, Roden), look ready or close to it but got their timeline pushed back another year by injury (Abel), may never be ready or already flamed out (Roden, Outman), could possibly be ready in late 2027 or 2028 or may just flame out(Mendez, Gallagher), or are at least another 2-3 years out from a debut (Tait, Armstrong). That's actually pretty par for the course, even better than the odds would suggest normally happens. So I think when you look at it s closely the choices are pretty stark. Option 1 - Buy into this group, try to augment the rotation and/or bullpen at the deadline by trading Jeffers and/or prospects for guys either in MLB already or ready to come up and contribute some NOW and contribute more in 2027/2028, and really try hard to re-sign Ryan by meeting the offers made to him at least. You then hope the AAA team has 2-3 more guys who can contribute starting next year. That's trying to compete in 2027/2028 forward. Anything that happens in 2026 is gravy. Option 2 - Trade all the valuable vets to contending teams, get the most talent you can regardless of time line, use 2027 to develop that talent, and maybe get lucky in the second half of 2028 to compete for a WC, but the window really doesn't open until 2029 IF you trade for the right guys AND the farm yields some real talent. Both are reasonable options but the option of trading several key vets like Ryan, Jeffers, and Larnach all this year for prospects and competing next year to me is a false paradigm. You could buy and sell by trading Jeffers (and even Larnach for the right return) and trade prospects for guys with 2.5 or more years of control or prospects ready now but that's Option 1. I choose Option 1 but get the choice of Option 2, particularly if this core goes something like 5-11 out of the gate from the ASB.

Agree with this except I would wait until the offseason to deal with Ryan. I think the return will be pretty comparable to what it would be now with the added possibility of getting MLB or MLB ready talent rather than just prospects. I think the reasons are as much business and culture as they are talent acquisition. Trading Ryan now would send absolutely the wrong message to the clubhouse and the fans. That's waving the white flag on 2026 and maybe 2027. Can't do it and expect the team to perform or the fans to show up. I would go farther on Ryan. I would have Tom stand up at a press conference and say "Joe Ryan is not available for trade in the 20026 season. We hope to get a playoff spot this year and he is a big part of that. We hope to re-sign him to a long term extension in the off-season and plan to make a very competitive offer to Joe. He could be a big part of a consistently competitive team. It is our hope that Joe will spend the rest of his carrier in a Twins uniform."" That's a message the fans and the team hasn't heard in a long time and would go a long way with both to signal that there's a new sheriff in town, there's a reason to care about this team. My brother's not in charge anymore, I am. Come check us out. The organization needs to send that kind of signal. You do that, and fans can understand when Jeffers is traded ands will cut you some slack on trading other vets for the right return.

I vote that he was tipping his pitches, but I suspect he's got a minor injury and will have to go on Il. No basis for my suspicion, just a feeling.

Sadly, you are probably right. The lineup and pretty good starting pitching got us back to .500. If the starting pitching is going to completely tank like it has the last three games, we have no prayer. We just played 4 games where you would expect us to win the two games started by Bradley and Ryan, lose the game started by Matthews, and that the game started by Ober would be a toss up. Instead, we got blown out in the Ryan and Bradley starts, crushed as expected when Matthews started, and only won the Ober toss up game. The other three games were simply not competitive from our end, which kills a teams' spirit. Absent a trade, our only hopes of getting even 5 games over .500 requires us to win most of the games that Ryan or Bradley start, more than half the games that Ober starts, and at least 40% of the games started from the last two spots currently occupied by Matthews and for the time being Prielipp (whose innings limits will his rotation time short relatively soon). Any even 10-15 game period like that from here out and we are toast. It is starting to look like we are entering one of those periods.

When do you see that future realized? Next year, 2028, 2029 or later? That's the evaluative decision you have to make first. If you think that the current group augmented by 3–5 players could be a championship contender, keep most of what you have and try to find those 3-5 players by promoting from the farm or trades of expiring contracts for controllable talent. On the other hand, if you think the talent level of the current roster plus those in AAA leave us at least 4-5 years out, you trade away pretty much everything we have that has value. The phrase "trade veterans and build for the future and create young core" suggests that you think we are at least 3 and probably 4-5 years out from a championship contender, probably more. I reach that conclusion because any prospect we trade for is at least two years away from making a meaningful contribution on a championship team, probably three or more because they have to get their feet wet for a year, can make strides their second year, and then become real contributors in year three at whatever level their talent allows them to reach. Brooks Lee now in year 3 is a classic example. If you think we are that far out, then I would agree – be willing to trade everyone on the roster except Lee, Prielipp, Morris, Gomez, Matthews, and Keaschall, as they are the only current players who will still be real contributors three plus or more years from now. If we do that, then basically call up AAA roster and weed through those players as you add in any prospects acquired in trade this year and over the 2027 – 2029 seasons. Endure the losing and low attendance for the future hoped for gain. It's a viable strategy if you think were that far away, blow it up and start over. I just don't agree because I think we are closer than that. We aren't a championship contender this year. The right moves, though, and we could be division championship contenders next year, and overall championship contenders by 2028. If you start there, which is where I start, I don't like your idea at all. All that does is push out possible contention even farther with no guarantee of success and eliminates the possibility of success from this core if properly augmented, something I see as possible. That's where we disagree I guess.

You take risk. If you wait to do anything until you know the exactly what the rules are, you may lose this and other opportunities or those opportunities may become more expensive. You have to be willing to take risk to reap any reward. My view is that the potential upside here of a long term extension has more value than the downside risk of the rules changing in a way that would make a long term contract less expensive (highly unlikely) or an injury (very possible but not likely). Here, the value of the upside outweighs the downside risk of loss.

Good explanation. MLB hitters can hit strikes so you have to be able to hit at least the correct quadrant, if not on a finer level to be effective. Mathews throws strikes, he just throws too many strikes in hittable zones.

Thanks for this these, much more fun talk about real possible trades rather than generalities. I like scenarios 2 and 3. I would strongly consider doing them if they were possible. Scenario 1 seems like paying too much for 1/2 season from Freddy Peralta unless there is some concept that we would have an inside track to re-signing him. I like Weaver, but would rather talk about a straight trade just for him, may be for an 8-12 prospect like Henry Mendez or Kendry Rojas.

Good catch on the rules. This does complicate things a little. I was advocating to get him up by August 1 or so. I was thinking promoting Jenkins right after the Twins do whatever it is they're going to do at the trade deadline basically. I guess waiting another 10 days to two weeks is not that big a deal so I get your point. Still, I'd like to have him up sooner rather than later.

Agreed. Boras has a job to do. That job includes maximizing his clients' salaries and income security through guaranteed years, and putting his clients on teams they would like to play for. He does that job very well and that includes getting his clients deals with teams they are already on so they can have security and stay where they want to stay. The guy is kind of a egomaniac with a thirst for the limelight so it's easy to dislike him. Still, you have to admit that he does his job well for his clients. By the way, just because Jeffers is represented by Boras doesn't mean Jeffers has to leave the Twins. The team just needs to pay something close to the going rate to keep him. Some Boras clients have taken less than the absolutely last dollar because they want to be at a particular place, so if Jeffers really wants to stay with Twins maybe we can get him for a little less than say the Yankees or Mets would have to pay. The issue is not Boras. It's how much the Twins are willing to pay to get Jeffers, how long they're willing to guarantee that money, and what it would take to get him to stay whether that's top of the market or a little less because he wants to be with the Twins. I think he's gone because I don't get the sense that being in Minnesota matters a lot to him one way or the other and I don't think ownership is going to be willing to pay the four or more years at $15 million or more dollars a year necessary to sign him. That's on Jeffers and ownership, not on his agent.

I agree that moving Jenkins up makes sense in the context of what the Twins should be trying to accomplish the season, although I don't think now as compared to two or three weeks from now makes any sort of significant difference. This year should be about determining who can help us next year and thereafter, and whether or not the team has enough talent to be a "contender" next year or in 2028. I know we all have different different definitions of "contender". I'm talking about being in the hunt to win 85 or more games, win the Central Division, get at least one home playoff series, and have a chance to make a run in the playoffs, but I'm not talking about being a World Series favorite or something like that. All of our decision should be filtered through that lens. I think there is enough talent here if augmented by two or three players to be a contender as I just defined it in 2027 and 2028. One of the players we need is one more quality bat. I've seen enough to think that Martin may be a nice complementary player but is not that bat, and I have my doubts about Roden although he hasn't had much of an opportunity yet. Jenkins may be ready to be that guy. I'd like to see if that's true this year. We also need at least one more quality late inning reliever, and one more starting pitcher plus a healthy season from Lopez. I think our moves at the deadline should reflect those needs for next year after, not just this year, and should include providing opportunity for people we think can fill those roles. So what should we do? I think we should strongly consider trading higher end prospects or players with more than 1.5 years of control like Detmers, Soriano, Bachman, Sentzatela, Heliot Ramos, and Jake McCarthy. I'm sure there's many more names who might be available in the right deal. I could even get behind trading a mid-level prospect for a rental starter so that we can try Matthews the bullpen to see if he could be that late inning piece. I'm leaving Prielipp in the rotation next year, although he may need to go to the bullpen this year because of the innings limits required from his previous injuries. We should use this year to figure out what we're going to be doing 2027 and 2028, which then impacts upcoming decisions on guys like Joe Ryan, Josh Bell, and Trevor Larnach. To me, getting Jenkins up to the Bigs fits right in with this plan. Whether the opening is caused by an injury, a demotion or trade of Alan Roden, or an upcoming trade, I would like to see him up with the big club by August 1 and given some real playing time like at least three or four games a week. Let's see if he can help the middle of the order, or if he's still a year or two away. Same for Culpepper. I actually like Ryan Kreidler at short. Unfortunately, his glove says starter but his bat says utility infielder. Can Culpepper be the starting SS next year and the year after? Is Marek Houston a better choice? I think getting Culpepper up and in the lineup to really the best and perhaps only way to find that out. Find a spot for him and a spot for Jenkins. Culpepper is probably easy if/when he's healthy because we need another infielder and losing a catcher will get us that opening. Jenkins probably requires another move regarding the outfielders we have the let's do that in the next couple of weeks and provide that opportunity.

Good to see Buxton back in the lineup and I applaud them sending down Gray rather than the Roden. This will really help against the three left-handed starters I think we face this week.

I don't think they are obsessed with moving Prielipp to the bullpen permanently, at least I'm not, but is going to have to go to the bullpen this year if you want him pitching past August 1. He has not pitched enough innings in the past to build himself up for even 120 innings this year without breaking down. He is already at 85 innings. I say give them about four more starts, about 20 to 25 innings, and use his remaining 20 after that in the bullpen. Otherwise, is a pretty good chance that he will break down again before the season is out. I agree that Prielipp should stay a starter as long as possible in his career and I would love to see him have 30 starts next year. Not going to get 30 starts this year, and won't get even to 25 without very high injury risk. Moving him to the bullpen is a temporary measure. We can stretch them back out as a starter next year. The Dodgers do this all the time and do it very successfully

Interesting idea. It would probably would cost us a guy in the top 15 to the Mets, and a guy back half of the top 30 to the Blue Jays, but it would add a lot. It depends on the cost.