Nate

He plays with an obvious love of the game that is refreshing and infectious. All-Star player? I'm not sure. All-Star dude? You bet. 

I hope so, but so far we have not seen Winder recover either.  My hope has been that Canterino or Balazovic might rise in the second half of the season.

Doesn’t the GM make that decision?

And if he must play, where does he bat in the lineup? Following the premise that he must play to get out of the slump, then bat him first so he will get more at bats and get out of the slump more quickly. Nope, that is just ridiculous. The best scenario may be an injury which requires a minor league rehab, where he can work on his timing and not cost the Twins games. Sano reminds me of the old definition of a man being in an average temperature when he has one leg in a 35 degree bucket of ice and the other leg in a 125 degree bucket of hot water. It averages out to be 80 degrees, but is very uncomfortable.

That infield with an outfield of Lewis, Buxton, and Martin would be a world class defensive team with plenty of offense in addition.

Actually, the potential of this being a one year deal is what I like about it.   The Twins are likely to fill the position with Martin or Lewis (or at worse they are scouring the free agent and trade markets).    Yet, consider that many players, once they are here, want to stay. The money is very good too.   Correa  could be here for 3 years or more. 

We'll see. Hitters don't usually go from bad to good at this stage in their careers, but they do sometimes go from good to bad to good again.
I'm antsy. You give us 3 trades in a day and a half and now nothing? Quit ghosting us, Front Office!

Oh boy......2-3 days later.......and we are already working the "change of scenery" angle?  Next week:  "He really worked on his pitch framing in the off season........"

I think the idea was to extend the Berrios experience until new pitching comes along.  They saw a chance to trade one year of Berrios (for us, one year), get good prospect value, give up much less prospect value, and get two years of Berrios.  It's actually pretty brilliant, and I do believe this was very foreseeable for them in July, and I'm someone who's not all that thrilled with them in general.

Fire Falvine

It shouldn’t be overlooked that each of these moves reduces payroll. This might be the most obvious rationale. I also want to point out that Falvine signed Donaldson to that moronic contract that put us in this position. 

"with a mid 4s ERA as he did in 2021 would slot in just fine"
 
Slot in just fine?  We have 3-4 "top pitching prospects" who could come close to doing mid 4's TODAY........why pay big money for mediocrity .......when we can have our own, home grown, medioc..........

Yet it's tough to imagine Greinke not being an excellent mentor for young pitchers like Ober and Ryan.
I can already see the conversation.  Slow down your fastball, stop throwing your slider, save your arm!  Strikeouts are overrated, induce weak contact, you'll breeze through 9 innings then!
WAIT.....A.....MINUTE.   This all seems vaguely familiar.  What's Rick Anderson up to?  Couldn't we just bring him in much cheaper to teach our youngsters this philosophy?
 
 

Any blowback would be determined by the bring back.

I'm all for this idea. I've said it on these boards too much already, but Story has been my #1 target all along. All Stars at SS, 2B, and CF is a real good place to start. I'd keep Kepler and put Bryant (or Conforto to balance the lefty righty situation a little more) in LF to start with Arraez keeping his "utility" man role as we know JD will need days off at 3B and I don't trust Sano to not have a month stretch where he's basically unplayable.
Bryant-Buxton-Kepler, JD-Story-Polanco-Kirilloff is a really good defense and would help the young arms acclimate. The idea of the Twins building a "real" major league pitching staff for 2022 at this point seems far too unrealistic to me. With Donaldson and Sano coming off the books soon I love the idea of locking in this sort of offense for the next 4+ years and not having future offseasons where it's SP AND SS AND LF that need to be addressed. Get 1 "side of the ball" squared away so really it's just building the pitching staff (hopefully the pipeline plays a huge role there) you have to worry about moving forward for the next handful of years.
I'm all in on this idea.

Buxton and Bryant in the outfield, and Donaldson, Story, Polanco, and Kirilloff in the infield should be an incentive for good pitchers to venture north.  Go for it.  Nothing much to lose, is there?

Although the price would be high I would go for Lopez. He is a proven ace type. A pitcher we can build a staff around as our youngsters develop (hopefully this season). Add in Pineda and focus on the pen and ss from there IMHO.

Frankly, I'm interested in ALL of those Marlins pitchers.  Last I had checked these were the values for the following Marlins pitchers on Baseball Trade Values:
Sixto Sanchez  27.5    Max Meyer  22.2   Pablo Lopez  57.1   Jesus Luzardo  10.0   Cabrea 15.0   Hernandez  5.2.
They are probably not trading Trevor Rogers, Cabrera or Hernandez.   Lopez would be EXPENSIVE.  Probably Kepler, Arraez AND a little something extra.  One question is, would the Marlins still be interested in Jeffers despite having already acquired Stallings ??  (I like sticking with Garver and getting a Jason Castro type until Rortbedt is ready).  If they were, I'd go for a package of Sixto Sanchez 27.5 and Luzardo 10.0. (37.5 total).   Assets the Twins could consider moving would include:  Arraez  33.3  Larnach  18.9   Kepler  23.6  Jeffers  19.2  Rooker 1.7  Sabato  3.0.  The Twins could also consider a negative asset like Donaldson (minus 19.2) since the Marlins would be looking for offense (although I'm inclined to KEEP Donaldson) with the possibility of the DH coming to the N.L.  The Marlins have a surplus of young pitchers and plenty of holes to fill.  The Twins have a surplus at certain positions and a need for SP's.  We still should be heavily considering a trade with Miami.  

They traded Berríos for prospects and now they gotta trade prospects for a new Berríos?  Weird.  They coulda just signed someone the other week.

They traded Berríos for prospects and now they gotta trade prospects for a new Berríos?  Weird.  They coulda just signed someone the other week.

They traded Berríos for prospects and now they gotta trade prospects for a new Berríos?  Weird.  They coulda just signed someone the other week.

They traded Berríos for prospects and now they gotta trade prospects for a new Berríos?  Weird.  They coulda just signed someone the other week.

They traded Berríos for prospects and now they gotta trade prospects for a new Berríos?  Weird.  They coulda just signed someone the other week.

I will say again, that Ryan and Ober need to be considered ONE pitcher in a starting rotation.  I could see each of them pitching 100-110 innings.  That's 200-220 innings.  They need a COUPLE of arms.
I would:  Think very hard during this break what my #1 priority is NOW (now that Buxton is signed).  Is it a SS like Story or a SP like Rodon.  That's the BIG DECISION.  I might sign Pineda first (and quickly) because ONE SP won't be enough.  Big Mike is a known commodity.  He will pitch to an acceptable level.  Spend at least one stint on the I.L. but for the most part be "steady."  If I sign Rodon, I make a trade with Oakland for Frankie Montas.  It would be something along the lines of Arraez, Sabato and Sands.  Then my SP is:  Rodon, Montas, Bundy, Pineda, Ryan, Ober.  That's 6 guys and I can lean on minor league depth for spot starts and such.  I also would make a smaller trade for Mondesi or DeJong to get a SS.  Both should be available because there are players who have moved past them.  
If I decide to go with Story instead I expand the trade with Oakland by including Larnach and maybe another smaller sweetener to include Bassitt.  Then the SP staff looks like this:  Montas, Bassitt, Bundy, Pineda, Ryan and Ober.  I have Donaldson, Story, Polanco and Kiriloff in the IF.  Garver & Jeffers catching and Buxton & Kepler in the OF.  I need a LF'er.  Miranda, Celestino & Martin could compete for it.  I could sign a vet at a bargain price instead.
That team can compete with the White Sox, Tigers and anybody else.  I still have PLENTY of young minor league pitchers to evaluate and elevate as needed throughout the season and I still have Lewis, Martin and other highly thought of prospects to evaluate and elevate as needed during the season if their play in the minors dictates that and/or injuries force my hand.  
I will keep pounding the drum on this:  We were the two-time defending division champs.  We had a dumpster fire last season but we still have TALENT.  We CAN and SHOULD compete for the division crown in 2022 and beyond.  

I am not against trading Lewis IF the deal was right, but that is not going to be the case given his injury history and lack of great offensive numbers.  I wouldn't trade any top 5 prospect for one year of control over any pitcher, and probably not for two years of control unles he were of the Montas or Castillo level. Now the front office's reticence to sign a free agent pitcher has really put them behind the 8 ball.  I think they are trying to play the Rays' game but they have shown no evidence that they have the talent to do so.