whosafraidofluigirussolo

Age and injury history limit Stewart's value (with variation in different teams' valuations of course), but performance, low salary, and contractual control boost his value. I'd be very surprised if this was a trade for cash.

Very interested to see the return on this one. The other trades so far have tilted toward players farther from the majors—which is good for bringing back upside, assuming it's rare to add high upside and proximity in trades—but it seems like it would be smart to balance the overall return by getting some players (whether in this trade or another one to come) who could be in the majors in the next two months. The Dodgers aren't going to give up anyone they think is crucial to a playoff run, but they have depth, if nothing else.

Fangraphs on Abel: "Abel hasn’t developed as I hoped he would... He’s posted double-digit walk rates at each minor league stop and regressed on that score in 2024, when he labored through a 15% mark at Triple-A. There are still starter components here. The arm-side action of Abel’s curveball gives it utility against lefties, and his best sliders are 87-90 mph darts. Abel’s fastball velocity still peaks in the upper-90s, but it doesn’t sustain there, and his command and lack of explosive movement cause it to play down. He also has very little feel for locating his changeup, or really any of his offerings with any consistency. These have been Abel’s issues for several years now. "Now Abel’s option clock has started and he only has so much time to polish his strike-throwing before the Phillies will be forced to put him in the bullpen, or do something else, like trade him to a franchise that has the time and opportunity to keep developing him as a starter; the 'win now' Phils are less likely to have that luxury. If we can reasonably project Abel to have a velo spike with a shift to relief, then he should have the stuff to pitch toward the back of a bullpen even if he’s never able to start. That said, he probably still needs to develop another grade of command in order to be trusted in such a role." As always, I know nothing more about these minor leaguers than what I glean from the pros who write about them, but Abel is a name I'd heard of. It unfortunately gives a whiff of the Berríos-SWR-Martin deal, in that Martin had quite a bit of prospect name recognition, but from people who knew the Jays his stock was already down. Not that I think even the now-maligned Twins FO would trust reputation over current results—but is there a risk of trusting "pedigree" too much here?

The latest update to the MLBTR post says the Mariners are involved on Durán too. Harry Ford? Not rated as high as Painter but would be a great get as a talented catcher.

The Pirates acquire Taylor Rogers as part of the Ke'Bryan Hayes trade. The Mets acquire Tyler Rogers. The Mets getting Tyler clearly is a contender picking up bullpen help, but the Pirates getting Taylor seems like more of a salary offset between them and the Reds, and I wonder how interested Pittsburgh might be to flip him elsewhere.

It certainly makes sense to trade Coulombe, but seeing all this team’s other lefty relief pitching in comparison to how he’s pitched this year is jarring. Assuming they do trade him, hopefully one of the other trades made this month brings the next reliable LH reliever back in return.

Might be worth updating the bullpen chart to reflect that Thursday was an off day and last night’s game was Friday…

I expected this to be the toughest pitching matchup of the series. A lot of game left to play, of course, but I checked the box score a minute ago at the end of 3 innings, and it’s remarkable how closely Paddack’s line matched (or slightly bested) Glasnow’s.

Sounds like some see Irish as an OF (as mentioned above) but the Os also just took another catcher, Bodine

He’s 26th on the freshly updated FG board, but they had guys who went in the first round as low as 60th

I'm far from a habitual Baldelli (or Maki et al) basher, but one thing I don't get is how often a reliever will be done for the day after a short inning or a partial inning. Jax needed 9 pitches to get through the 8th. Obviously there's 20/20 hindsight knowing that Durán would be iffy today and give up a run, but they did know they were in a low-scoring tie game and there was a decent chance of going to extras. Can a reliever who probably threw more warming up in the pen than facing the Pirates not at least start another inning? Is the coaching staff so averse to handing off inherited runners between their two best relievers?

From the scouting report on MLB dot com for Matthews, he seems not a great deal more valuable than Lee. Faster (which, yes, the Twins could use) and probably higher offensive ceiling, but less established floor and defensive value a push at best. The three-player package feels like a lot. Why would the White Sox want two years of team control of Durán?

I generally don’t like bullpen games, for what you might call aesthetic reasons (you also could debate whether an opener/bulk pitcher plan is a distinct thing, but Adams has been throwing long relief in AAA, so call it a bullpen game.) But in any case, if they’re going to do it, the strategy so far today seems as good as any. Sands had a very short relief outing last night and probably (I assume without looking) didn’t face the same batters as today; Coulombe gets a lefty-heavy middle of the order. Adams presumably gets to start with the bottom of the order now that the preceding guys have faced the minimum through two.

Ryan indeed would bring back a haul, but man, that would be (to my perspective) about the most depressing move the Twins could make. I can’t help but think about the chances that they would have extended him by now, instead of it being even half realistic to trade him, were it not for the self-imposed budget restrictions and sale limbo. I’m less confident that Ober would have nearly as much value right now. The recent struggles would have to make teams wary. And the starting pitching situation has grown shaky enough that it really might be better just to keep Paddack as a reliable source of innings, if not consistently good ones…

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/06/rich-hill-has-june-15-opt-out-in-royals-deal.html June 15. Falvey and Zoll: circle the date!

…and possibly not even Bride, who seems like a decent bet to be the corresponding move if they need to add Fitzgerald.

This season (such as it is, at this early stage) is the first since 2022 where the Twins have been below league average in innings per start

I’m not usually one to pile on Baldelli and so I don’t often nitpick specific in-game decisions. But wowza, seeing the game end with the tying run at 3rd, the winning run at 1st, and Gasper at the plate… At the point when Bader pinch-ran, three things could have happened next: - the next batter (France) makes an out, ending the game with a loss - the next batter homers, ending the game with a win - the next batter drives in one or two runs, leaving the following batter’s spot (Gasper) next up to prolong the inning Bader’s speed only matters in the third scenario here. But in that scenario, if you need to play for the run that Julien represents, then having Bader’s bat available has to be more important than having his speed on base. Just a bad tactical decision in what could have been an exciting end to the game.

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.

[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.

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.

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.

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.

For some reason, Larnach decided to switch from number 24 to 13 ahead of the 2022 season. He yielded 24 to Gary Sánchez, no?

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?