Bob Sacamento

Hey Mike long time no see! As a Cubs' fan, these two weren't even on the teams' radar for anything more than bullpen depth or trade fodder. Thanks for Willi, he's great insurance for an injury, lefthanded pitching, or in case Shaw turns into a pumpkin again. A little info on Armstrong and Gallagher from BA: Armstrong, 24, ranked 30th in the Cubs system and is a rotation depth starter in the making. He’s an innings eater with below-average stuff. Armstrong throws six different pitch shapes. Armstrong has two fastball variations, a slider, a curveball, a sweeper, a cutter and a changeup. He sits just 92-94 mph without much defined movement on either of his fastballs but he’s shows good command of his pitch mix and the ability to locate his slider consistently. A native of Granite Bay, California, the 23-year-old Gallagher committed to UC Santa Barbara and played three seasons for the Gauchos. After winning Big West freshman pitcher of the year honors in 2022, he missed all of 2023 after having Tommy John surgery. He returned in 2024 to win Big West pitcher of the year before he was selected by the Cubs in the sixth round of the 2024 draft. Gallagher made his professional debut with High-A South Bend to begin the season and was recently promoted to Double-A. Gallagher is a tall strike-thrower with a four-pitch mix and below-average power on his pitches. His above-average changeup is his go-to secondary and gives him a pitch that can generate whiffs when needed. Gallagher has rotation depth upside with a changeup he could fill a No.5 starter role with added velocity.

Well its official the Twins pull out https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/02/twins-pull-out-of-mookie-betts-trade.html

It's arguable between the two, Verdugo's hit tool and stroke are better while Larnach has the advantage in power while they both have plus advanced approaches at the plate. The dividing point between the two is Verdugo runs better routes in the outfield, can play center, and has a better arm. The comps that Verdugo gets frequently are Andrew Benintendi and Nick Markakis.

The Dodgers can easily walk this back and be fine, they already are the favorites in the NL West. They are eating half of Price's contract for three years all to rent Betts for a year because they're likely not resigning him. This is looking like chicken between the Twins and Red Sox at this point, Maeda immediately makes the Twins viable and gives them a veteran arm with playoff experience who can swing easily as a SP or high leverage RP. My bet is the Twins throw a 10-20# prospect to get this done. Baseball America did a breakdown of Graterol and guys like him (young pitchers with questions either of health, relief or provenness #55-65) in the #60 overall top 100 spot from 2010-2017 and it was a pretty impressive list: Sonny Gray Marcus Stroman Drew Pomeranz Eduardo Rodriguez Zach Wheeler Raisel Igeliesas Zach Britton But then you also had Taylor Guerreri Brody Colvin AJ Cole Aaron Blair Braden Shipley Zach Lee

Yep won't be shocked to see Balazovic or Duran subbed in instead if this is the hang up.

Here's zips projections on Maeda and Graterol in the future: ZiPS Projection – Kenta Maeda Year W L ERA G GS IP H HR BB SO ERA+ WAR 2020 10 8 4.25 34 24 135.7 122 19 50 156 105 2.1 2021 9 7 4.29 31 22 121.7 110 18 45 140 104 1.8 2022 9 7 4.37 30 22 119.3 109 18 45 137 102 1.7 2023 8 7 4.38 28 20 111.0 101 17 42 127 102 1.6 [table] ZiPS Projection – Brusdar Graterol Year W L ERA G GS IP H HR BB SO ERA+ WAR 2020 3 2 3.77 51 0 45.3 41 4 20 46 121 0.5 2021 11 8 4.32 26 26 118.7 117 14 49 104 106 2.0 2022 10 8 4.28 26 26 115.7 113 13 47 103 107 2.0 2023 9 7 4.29 23 23 105.0 103 12 43 94 107 1.8 2024 9 7 4.24 22 22 102.0 99 12 41 93 108 1.8 2025 9 7 4.21 22 22 98.3 94 12 40 91 108 1.8 [/table] Basically Maeda for this year but Graterol for the future and those numbers are conservative

Twins paid a high price to get a mid rotation arm or possible swingman/multiinning reliever whom the Dodgers have limited his innings the last three seasons on purpose. The argument has been his effectiveness wains deeper in games or in season OR the other reason his contract is based off of appearances and usage: 16-23: $3M annually annual roster bonus: $150,000 for making Opening Day roster $6.5M annually in performance bonuses based on games started: $1M each 15, 20 GS. $1.5M each for 25, 30, 32 GS $3.5M annually in performance bonuses based on innings pitched: $250,000 each for 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 IP. $750,000 200 IP assignment bonus: $1M with each trade becomes a free agent at contract’s end perks: jersey No. 18. Four round-trip business-class airline tickets between Japan and LA annually. Interpreter. Travel expenses, accommodations, visa costs for a player support staff member Personally I worry more for Graterol as the Red Sox pitching development is less to be desired, and I think this more or less makes him a pen arm in the future. This is also what happens in Minnesota when you can't get a top free agent pitcher to sign with you.

Yeah I can't see the Twins getting Stroman without giving up the likes of Graterol AND a Rooker/Larnach type and then whatever it costs to get Giles. Stroman costs 6.3M this year and is arbitration eligible next year so he's still "cheap" in terms of his talent on the free agency market. Giles is now arguably the best relief option left.

Seemed appropriate for here, but MLB.com just posted "7 Trades that make perfect sense", here's what they say about the Twins Which seems about the right cost and return, although I'd prefer to keep Balazovic if I were the Twins

Not getting Kimbrel is understandable due to the length of the contract the Cubs gave him but to not get Keuchel now that has got to sting a little. But the Twins honestly don't need either of them to win the division, they're something like a 97-98% lock to win the AL Central at this point. So is it logical to spend so much money on player that's going to matter for one maybe two games in the playoffs? Apparently Falvey doesn't think so and I can't really fault him for it either as the playoffs are a crapshoot at best. At this point, in my opinion, if Falvey trades for any starter, I think he'll go after someone who has control or an option for the next year which will cost a couple of higher end prospects (think something like Graterol and Rooker for Stroman who's cheap next year in arbitration after earning 6.3M in 2019). I've got a hard time seeing him give up a Top 5-15ish prospect for a Will Smith/Tony Watson type player.

Baseball America on Casey Legumina

Well the Cubs are draft a pitcher philosophy of late (especially this draft so far), but very little to show for it in the system. So buying and trading for SP is vital, of course it doesn't help when you trade Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease for Quintana, and spend heavy on Chatwood and Darvish. If the Twins can keep drafting and finding those OF and SS it makes trading them so much easier.

As a Cubs fan, some offices are just better at finding and developing offensive players than pitchers. As far as drafting a college SS, it means little, often they'll transition to 2B/3B/CF

Baseball America on Anthony Prato

Baseball America on Sawyer Gipson: