Otto von Ballpark

I think injured players can be traded without any such maneuvers. From The Cub Reporter - Restrictions on Trading Players: For example, Nick Madrigal was traded while on the 60-day IL last season:

I think the vast majority of PTBNL don't have any trade restrictions attached -- they're just marginal guys on a list, and the acquiring team just has some time to decide. I'd guess that's the case here too.

Jeremy, I believe you are mis-using the tool. You're looking at the surplus value estimates now, so you're double-counting the cash. Rogers at full salary was only valued at $7.2 mil; with the Twins cash, his surplus value to the Padres is now $13.8 mil ($7.2 mil plus the $6.6 mil cash). Baseball Trade Values actually posted about the trade and according to them, the Padres actually overpaid by $1.7 mil in surplus value: Given that, it seems doubtful that the PTBNL will be of any particular significance.

I don't think Morejon even technically fits Doogie's profile. Even if you twist "non-roster" to mean "actually on the roster but not currently counting against it" (a distinction I've never really seen apply to the term), Doogie's full quote said "non-roster minor leaguer." I don't think there's any way to classify Morejon into a "minor leaguer" at the moment, given that he is on the MLB IL, hasn't pitched in the minors since July 2019, and even has MLB postseason experience since then (2020).

Maybe they tried to trade prospects for Manaea, but Oakland turned them down? It's easy to say in hindsight that the Twins should have beat San Diego's offer, but: 1. That's not how trade negotiations work -- we don't have perfect information (probably only what Oakland chooses to share to get their desired outcome) 2. We don't know exactly how Oakland values our prospects either, as compared to San Diego's. Maybe we felt that we offered more but Oakland didn't agree.

By how much? At least one source (ZiPS at Fangraphs) appears to have projected Paddack for 1.7 WAR and Rogers for 1.0. https://www.fangraphs.com/projections.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&type=zips&team=0&lg=all&players=0&sort=19%2cd

I think “asset management” may only be a secondary or even tertiary justification for the Rogers trade. We wanted another starter with upside for 2022 too.

On the other hand, the Mariners are 2-0 with a team ERA of 2.00 and a team BA of .212. Among non-Twins opponents, the Royals are 2-0 too, with a team 0.47 ERA and .183 AVG.

I don’t think anyone is claiming that Duffey’s record is the equivalent of a closer with 67 saves in 76 chances. Just that his record is NOT the equivalent of a closer with only 4 saves in 13 chances. That’s just a normal record for a setup man, due to blown holds counting as blown saves, but converted holds not counting as save opportunities.

Thanks, that makes a lot more sense than how I read the question!

Even the Dodgers have traded away pieces of the major league roster, if they felt they could derive greater benefit from the player they are receiving in return. Pollock for Kimbrel is the most recent example; Maeda for Graterol is another.

It’s not like we traded him for prospects. Were the 1988 Twins not serious about contending when they exchanged Brunansky for Herr? The 2004 Red Sox when they traded Garciaparra at the deadline?

Yes, well put. Blown holds count as blown saves -- but successful holds aren't commonly included in "save opportunities" (just saves + blown saves). The better measurement would be saves + holds, divided by saves + holds + blown saves.

Don't know. Closest split I can find is first time facing an opponent in a game as a reliever... which is pretty much just his whole relief career, since he has rarely faced 10+ batters in relief. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=duffety01&year=Career&t=p#times

Joe Ryan just became the Twins' second rookie opening day starter, after Tom Hall in 1969. Who is Tom Hall, and how did he get that honor? After all, Tom Hall is hardly a household name among Twins fans, and that was a successful era for the franchise, behind a veteran starting staff. Patrick Reusse of the Star Tribune recently published a nice biographical sketch of Hall, but omitted key circumstances about his unusual 1969 assignment. Holdouts Before the advent of free agency and multi-year deals, players still negotiated contracts with their clubs every winter, and the players' only real leverage came from not reporting for work. In 1969, pitchers and catchers were due to report on February 21, but relatively few Twins were in Orlando on that date, instead waiting to satisfy their own contract demands and a wider dispute over player pensions. Among the holdouts were four veteran pitchers: Jim Kaat, Dean Chance, Dave Boswell, and Jim Perry. Minneapolis Tribune, February 22, 1969 The Twins wouldn't see all four of those pitchers in camp until March 14, and they wouldn't all pitch in a spring game until March 21, just two and a half weeks before opening day on April 8. This is strikingly similar to the lockout-delayed 2022 Twins spring schedule, and also illustrates the climate from which free agency and future labor strife was born. Expectations Today, a player reporting that late to camp would not be expected to pitch deep into games, but that was not the case in 1969. Rookie manager Billy Martin, who later gained a reputation for overworking his pitchers even by the standards of the time, expected his starting pitchers to go the distance, all nine innings, in a spring game before the season even started. None of the veteran hurlers met that expectation in 1969, both due to the tight timeline and due to injuries: groin issues for both Kaat and Chance, and a finger cut while cleaning fish for Boswell. Minneapolis Star, March 25, 1969 Roles One veteran pitcher, Jim Perry, stayed healthy that spring, and could have been a candidate for opening day despite reporting late -- but he spent most of spring training and the early part of the season coming out of the bullpen. His Twins career of 6 seasons thus far had been spent as a "swingman", split almost equally between starting and relief. It wasn't until late May 1969 that Perry cemented his status as a full-time starter, finishing the year with 20 wins, starting game one of the 1969 playoffs, and following that with a Cy Young Award in 1970. Tom Hall would ultimately become a swingman for the Twins too, perhaps limited by another factor not present in the modern game: military service for active players. With the backdrop of the Vietnam War, Hall was in the Marine Reserve. This meant he had to spend two weeks every summer in training, plus various weekends, which certainly limited his availability for regular rotation duty early in his career. Still, Hall got the starting nod for opening day 1969, which like Joe Ryan's start in 2022, proved to be a 1-run Twins loss. The next day, Jim Kaat pitched 11 innings, so despite his late spring and injury, perhaps Kaat could have started opening day after all. Hall's 1969 Twins would go on to win 97 games and the first American League West division title, before getting swept out of the playoffs by Baltimore. Can Ryan's 2022 Twins match that, or do even better? Minneapolis Star, April 7, 1969

Great points, and welcome to the site! I'd add that bear mascots tend to have a lot of trouble after they get their big-honey contract:

The Twins pushed back opening day. Was it due to weather, or to buy extra time so they could read the Twins Daily forums? We may never know. But one thing is for certain: the Twins Daily community anticipated the major news of the past week, from trades to awards to a money-saving promotion for fans. Before Chris Paddack was even a Twin-kle in Thad's eye, AlwaysinModeration forecast just such a deal: A trade possibility between the Twins and the Padres? Paddock for??? Grassroots organizing was also on display, with a successful campaign for the revival of a popular spring award. (Jhoan Duran will no doubt thank strumdatjag in his acceptance speech.) What? No Sire of Fort Myers Competition? No East Coast bias from aTwinsFanInMaryland as they highlighted the Twins in Fangraphs' latest league-wide rankings: Fangraphs positional power rankings: Twins ranked 2nd at CF In multigenerational former Twin news, Rosterman informed us that the sci-fi series "Backup Catcher: The Next Generation" won't be coming back for another season. (Related question: will the Twins ever field a deep space nine?) Drew Butera Retires Finally, why should only the Pohlads have pocket protectors? MMMordabito reminded fans about $140 in potential savings, this week only: T-Mobile to offer Free MLB.TV again in 2022 Join in the festivities in the forums with a comment, or with a new topic of your choosing. View full article

2020 is described as Taylor Rogers' first season as union rep. I found a cite for Brian Dozier as the Twins union representative in 2018. Glen Perkins was cited as a rep as early as 2012, and as late as 2017. Before that, Kevin Slowey, and way before that, Denny Hocking. Kyle Gibson was called an "alternate union representative" in a 2016 article. Edit to add: Gibson apparently served as union rep in 2019, between Dozier and Rogers.

It is surplus value, in millions. Rogers is making $7.3 mil and is a free agent at the end of the year, not a whole lot of opportunity for surplus value (although he can be useful at that price).

Sonny “The Tennessee Stud” Gray, to phrase it as a horse pun. (Gray is from Tennessee in fact; however B-Ref tells me his nickname is “Pickles”)

Newly signed MLB free agents (like Bundy) actually have no-trade power until June 15.

Padres beat writer mentions interest in Taylor Rogers, so who knows what may develop here (if anything):

Paddack would be a bit of a project for sure, but talent is there. And it wouldn't surprise me if the Padres failed to maximize that talent. Edit: actually Paddack's K rates haven't been that impressive. His K% has decline from 26.9 to 23.7 to 21.6 the last 3 years. League K% has gone 23.0 to 23.4 to 23.2 those same years.

Yeah, Godoy hasn’t cleared waivers yet, otherwise he would have been outrighted.