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whosafraidofluigirussolo

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Everything posted by whosafraidofluigirussolo

  1. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    I basically agree that a guy like Blewett either is or isn't good enough to be the 8th pitcher in an MLB bullpen (or the 9th, depending on injury carousel etc.) A player on the edge of the roster might as well get a chance to play and prove himself, instead of the team being too precious about keeping him under org control. It seems like the logic is that the team is more invested in some non-roster, minor-league-deal types than others. Of course it doesn't totally square with the fact that those guys didn't get a 40-man spot to begin with. But if they're going to cycle a few lower-leverage relievers on and off the 40 like every year, and they really think based on the injury picture that this is a short-term need in the bullpen... I get why they'd opt for a more fungible player, too. No real opinion on whether Blewett or any of the other current NRI guys are above that threshold. There has to be someone already in the org who fits the bill. Then again, the roster crunch before opening day is probably the best time to be scouring the waiver wire.
  2. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    [Narrator voice] We hit a ground ball right to the spot where both the 5'11" first baseman playing second base and the 6'6" outfielder playing shortstop could get to it. Let's see what happens.
  3. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    With that lineup for a home game, I'm surprised it's not a split-squad day. I assume there's some logic to taking more of the regular starters to an "away" game yesterday (do the Red Sox train close to the Twins, a shorter bus ride?) and then giving them a day off today.
  4. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    Regarding Lee, this report tells me that the Twins must not like the prospect of him playing shortstop. A lot of speculation and forecasting about the 2025 Twins (here and elsewhere) seems to presume that Lee has a spot on the roster from opening day. It's not that he won't be a good and useful player, but he wasn't great in his first MLB experience last year, and he hasn't spent so long in the high minors to cause serious concern about him stagnating there. Maybe the org is considering more time at AAA for Lee as much as they're doubting his ability at SS.
  5. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    I like this signing, but it says something about the Twins' offseason and about our eagerness for action, that there are 3 front-pages news stories about Coulombe within a few hours of the signing being announced.
  6. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    For some reason, Larnach decided to switch from number 24 to 13 ahead of the 2022 season. He yielded 24 to Gary Sánchez, no?
  7. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    I don't hate the Dodgers, but to me it's clear that Sasaki going there would be the least fun or interesting outcome. They have a lot of good players, they usually figure out how to maximize their already plentiful resources, ho hum. Of the 3 reported finalists I kind of think Toronto would be the most fun. Or...the mystery team?
  8. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    I'm curious, how does PECOTA rate Matthew Boyd and Alex Cobb?
  9. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    Came here for this. Here's the MLBTR report on Cartaya DFA: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/01/dodgers-designate-diego-cartaya-for-assignment.html If they believe in the defense and think there's something to work with offensively, then a team like the Twins without great long-term prospects at catcher absolutely should try to get Cartaya. Maybe even worth a minor trade to skip the waiver line, but at least put in a claim.
  10. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    Looking at another way to balance some of the overabundance of pitching without dealing from its top end, while accomplishing another one of the Twins' goals: Is there a pitcher outside of the centerpieces of the rotation and bullpen (López, Ober, Ryan, Jax, Durán) who could be paired with Vázquez or Paddack to get another team to bite at a (more favorable) trade? Does including Pitcher X in a trade get a team to take Vázquez' full salary in a trade? Or does adding a reliever to Paddack get player(s) in return who are more interesting or closer to the majors? If that framework is possible, who would player X have to be? I think any of the current MLB or MLB-ready starters are too much, plus it depletes the depth too much to attach another starter to Paddack. Henríquez or Varland are still more potential than track record, but maybe some team loves the potential. Does a team take the volatility of Stewart's health to get the upside of his performance? Maybe this doesn't work—maybe all their second-tier arms are either too valuable for this kind of trade or not valuable enough—but if the FO needs "to get creative" this winter, this seems like an intriguing way to do it.
  11. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    As a non-caretaker I'm responding in ignorance of the meat of this article - but there is a rundown of Rule 5 candidates at the MLB site that could be interesting to cross-reference here. It seems like logical places for the Twins to focus are roles where their depth is limited - catcher and left-handed relief pitching. Right-handed corner OF or 1B could fit that criterion too, but it's a little harder to imagine a good enough hitter to have a MLB-level impact at those positions being available in the Rule 5. There are 3 LH relievers on that list and they all seem worth a look. The comment above mentions Bryan Magdaleno, who is also on MLB's list and, at first look, seems the most intriguing of those 3 guys. And the one catcher, Brandon Valenzuela from the Padres, is intriguing too - switch-hitter, good reviews for his defense, not a great hitter overall but posted some good OBPs in the low minors. Maybe he's a stretch for the major-league portion of the Rule 5, but he could make sense for the Twins if they were confident they would trade Vázquez. (Side note: the Padres prospect list, where Valenzuela ranks 12th, has some eye-catching names. Cobb Hightower? Kale Fountain?! The mind reels.)
  12. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    Top of the 4th and I just listened to the radio call of the Vientos HR. Still a climb with the Mets behind by three, but a lot of game left...
  13. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    Gotta say, this comment aged quite well.
  14. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    Would another team trade for Durán and a $3.7M (or so) salary? If the answer is a relatively clear yes (and I think it is), then he's not a tough arbitration decision. They'll pay him, and if they really think they can't afford either the "luxury" of a closer at that price or the risk of decline, then they'll look to trade him, and I expect some team would offer real value if Durán were available.
  15. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/08/yankees-release-chasen-shreve.html Not even a DFA because he wasn't on the major-league roster. The fact that the Yankees didn't see fit even to keep him around in the minors is...telling. But as the article notes, "he made 50 MLB appearances between Detroit and Cincinnati a year ago, turning in a 4.63 earned run average with slightly better than average strikeout and walk rates over 44 2/3 frames." Worth another minor-league deal to see if he looks better than Okert or Thielbar?
  16. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    MLBTR reports that they're trying to make a Cortes deal contingent on acquiring Jack Flaherty. (Although that's a recent report, so watch it change significantly in the next few hours...!?) Seems like the possibility of a deal like this may depend on the Yankees' plans for Jazz Chisholm, no? I.e., Kepler is more useful to them if they want to use Chisholm in the infield. Julien is more useful to them if they want to use Chisholm in CF and push Judge to RF (though maybe they'd look at him more for their plans next year...)
  17. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    They're my second rooting interest. I don't follow them all that closely, but they're now 6 games over .500, half a game behind Atlanta for second place. They just beat the Yankees in both games they played in the Bronx, and they're getting their likely best starter (Senga) back from the IL. The vibes seem good!
  18. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    The truism is that teams tend to run player payroll at about half of revenue, right? So the cut of $27M they made to payroll already would be right in line if the revenue loss was $40-60M.
  19. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    From a Fangraphs article this morning proposing deadline trades (purely speculative ones, nothing actually rumored): "Technically, [Eovaldi] has a vesting player option for 2025 at $20 million, but I’m not sure that’s really a factor here; Eovaldi’s on target to meet the 300 innings requirement should things go well this summer, and if they do, he’ll be in a position to do a lot better than a single year at $20 million." For whatever that's worth. Player options or opt-outs make it tricky to set trade value, but there's some reasonable chance that Eovaldi is a rental, which has an impact on both trade cost and planning for next year's payroll.
  20. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    He'd be an interesting option to fill the Paddack spot, and likely cheap in acquisition cost as well as salary. On the other hand, I kind of expect (and hope) the Twins are aiming a little higher for pitching on the trade market in the coming days. I wonder if there tends to be a gentlemen's agreement for a veteran like Paxton (who's not quite at the Keuchel late-career reclamation stage) that a team wouldn't pick him up if they expected to send him back to the waiver wire a few starts later.
  21. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    As usual, I don't really know anything about any of these guys, but: The Marlins drafted a guy named Fenwick Trimble
  22. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    This morning I've been catching up on Fangraphs' coverage of the draft on day 1. They (or their main prospect writer Eric Longenhagen) liked Dasan Hill a lot - on their board, he was something like the 4th or 5th ranked high-school pitcher and the highest-ranked of the 4 players the Twins picked yesterday. "I have mixed-positive feeling about the Twins first day because I’m lukewarm on Kaelen Culpepper due to his chase tendencies and am mostly out on Billy Amick, who I don’t think will hit. But I think Culpepper (the Twins now have two Culpeppers in their system, C.J. is the other) has such thunder in his hands and is such a grindy athlete that he’s going to find a way to be something, and I like Kyle DeBarge and Dasan Hill quite a bit. DeBarge is tiny, but he’s a great athlete who makes a lot of contact. Hill is one of the lankier, more projectable arms in the class."
  23. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    "Expecting a deadline addition for the rotation seems almost too optimistic, but Minnesota needs one." "The [bullpen] is solid, but an addition or two should be the focal point at the trade deadline." Agreed with these summaries of the pitching situation. Given the cautious tendencies of this front office, especially in the last year, we should be prepared for less in the rotation—a lower-impact addition or no addition at all. But a late-inning reliever seems like the minimum to expect at the deadline, and adding a second arm would not be unreasonable—an additional reliever, a starter, or maybe a swingman who could slot into either role as roster needs evolve? Parallel with this, my other takeaway is that the position-player group is likely set for the postseason. Sure, there is some risk of the young guys or guys with less track record (Castro) falling off, and I'm sure the FO will listen on possible moves around the margins—maybe they cycle Margot or Farmer off the roster and improve those spots, for instance. But it certainly seems right now like there's enough depth and upside there to carry the team on the offensive side, leaving more of whatever trade capital they have for moves on the pitching side.
  24. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    Hard to say Staumont was "perfect" when he allowed both his inherited runners to score, one when he threw a wild pitch on his first pitch of the game. Nice win, though!
  25. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    Just a side note, but interesting - less than 24 hours than Hayes' tweet mentions Festa is ranked #100 on MLB.com's global list, he's now ranked #99. Some player ahead of him must have graduated out of rookie/prospect eligibility yesterday?
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