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whosafraidofluigirussolo

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Everything posted by whosafraidofluigirussolo

  1. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    I'm curious, how does PECOTA rate Matthew Boyd and Alex Cobb?
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.)
  5. 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...
  6. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    Gotta say, this comment aged quite well.
  7. 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.
  8. 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?
  9. 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...)
  10. 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!
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    As usual, I don't really know anything about any of these guys, but: The Marlins drafted a guy named Fenwick Trimble
  15. 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."
  16. 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.
  17. 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!
  18. 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?
  19. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    Both these guys are on the 60-day IL. DeSclafani is out all year and a free agent after the year, so no one is taking on his salary (split between the Twins and Mariners already.) Since he doesn't take up a roster spot, his being in the org has no impact on team construction other than the sunk salary cost. Topa has team control left after this year. Guessing other teams won't consider him impactful enough to acquire when he's hurt, but when he's healthy enough to rehab and return to the majors, he's probably worth as much to the Twins going forward as to another team - unless clearing the remaining <$1M of this year's salary somehow allows them to acquire a better player at the deadline.
  20. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    Having SWR start on Wednesday or Thursday not only would split up the less "trusted" part of the rotation (although Paddack was good last night, even allowing for weak competition), but also would keep SWR from facing Detroit two starts in a row. Seems like that could help boost his confidence and performance. Edit: Nope. I didn't read the schedule and just assumed that since the Twins had a homestand against DET and CWS and road games coming up in Chicago, the road trip included Detroit as well. Friday is against the LAA of A. Never mind.
  21. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    Not sure whether Dodgers starter Bobby Miller's one-year career with 500-some batters faced in the majors is enough of a sample to be truly predictive, but so far, he does have a reverse platoon split: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=millebo06&year=Career&t=p It looks like he walks more lefties than righties and may have had some BABIP luck with lefties, but overall is an easier assignment for right-handed hitters.
  22. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    According to MLBTR, the Padres indeed have traded for Cease: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/03/padres-finalizing-deal-for-dylan-cease.html It was interesting to see that trade rumors picked up right after the Yankees lost Cole for two months, but other teams were at the center of the rumors. Of course the two could be unrelated - maybe the White Sox simply found new motivation to make a deal with opening day getting closer. But... interesting to speculate whether the Yankees suddenly looking like another motivated bidder got other clubs to raise their offers; or whether the Cole injury shifted Montgomery and Snell's markets in the last couple days, leading SD (or Texas) to look elsewhere.
  23. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    Fangraphs posted their top 101 prospects list today: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2024-top-100-prospects/ They rate: Walker Jenkins #26 Emmanuel Rodríguez #39 Brooks Lee #42 David Festa #97
  24. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    This morning I've had the issue where a page constantly shifts up and down as new ads (above the part I was reading) load at different sizes. I used to get this frequently on mobile (Safari/iOS) and rarely or never on desktop (Firefox or Chrome.) Then the issue went away, and today it's back. This time I'm seeing it on desktop.
  25. whosafraidofluigirussolo
    The MLBTR article noted that while Jackson still was well under 6 years of major-league service time, he had a clause in his contract making him a free agent after this season. So he wasn't waived. I'm guessing he had some leverage to get that provision in his contract because he was coming from a foreign league.
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