Jeff K

He's 10th on the team in WAR among hitters.  His performance is very similar to our last SS, Andrelton Simmons in 21, at 3x the cost.  Simmons' performance gets him run out of town; Correa, for some reason, gets praised.  Truly baffling.    

I disagree with the premise of your response.  Correa's hitting has been disappointing, but his play at shortstop over the course of the season has been very good and he appears to be a fine leader on the team.

You know what:  Castro has really impressed in CF.  I wouldn't want him as the everyday guy, but he is incredibly valuable to the Twins and his CF play has been really good.  If Buxton is a no go for the position, then I like the idea of phasing Royce Lewis into the position.

I disagree with the premise of your response.  Correa's hitting has been disappointing, but his play at shortstop over the course of the season has been very good and he appears to be a fine leader on the team.

You know what:  Castro has really impressed in CF.  I wouldn't want him as the everyday guy, but he is incredibly valuable to the Twins and his CF play has been really good.  If Buxton is a no go for the position, then I like the idea of phasing Royce Lewis into the position.

In all probablility Castro and Taylor will be back even if Buxton is in fairly decent shape.
How next spring does shape up though, should be quite intriguing

The season is not yet done, and the playoffs are not quite here yet. Still, there has been so much conversation about roster construction for said playoffs, along with speculation about guys coming back from injury...or maybe not coming back...that I often find myself already contemplating CF in 2024, and beyond, even if it would seem early.
FIRST, the Giant Elephant in the room: Buxton has been unable to play the position this season. And he had a recent shutdown in his AAA rehab when trying to make it happen for the remainder of the year. (Albeit, nothing has been ruled as of YET). Wishing something doesn't make it happen. Re-visiting something once again that hasn't happened is a fools errand. Even IF Buck is available to contribute to the playoff roster in any way as a DH/PH/PR on...much less play ANY CF...is yet to be determined. (It would be nice). I am focused on what is to come right now.
I'm sure Buxton will have some sort of additional cleanup procedure, at the least, followed by rest and rehab to try and get him ready for 2024, with fingers crossed. I would think that ANY availability to play CF on a part time basis would be welcome. But the Twins can't fill CF next year on hope. But it is hoped he might be part of the equation. 
SECOND, as of now, early reports are CF isn't going to be blessed with a lot of good options in the FA market.
THIRD, while I don't subscribe to the "cheap ownership" idea...though I wish at times they would stretch just a little more...while $ is coming off the books, there are decisions to be made concerning options for both Kepler and Polanco. And while the FO hasn't done anything to cut payroll the past few years...and have even increased payroll...the team just might end up losing $ from whatever new TV deal is made post the Balley Sports debacle.
So with the table being set, it would appear the Twins have FOUR distinct options to shore up CF for 2024, if not beyond. In no particular order, they are:
1] Look to a FA. Bellinger is probably the #1 option there after a rebound season. But one would have to assume there will be competition for his services. I believe he made about $17M in 2023. Could he be signed for that? More? And how much more and how many years? With other decisions to be yet made, some intriguing options rising within the system, would this make sense for the Twins?
Might they look at bringing back Taylor again? Granted he'll be 33yo opening day next year, and his AVG was below his career norms, but his OB% wasn't too far off his career norms and his SLG% went up with 14DBLS and a career high 20 HR, as of NOW. Despite battling some injuries during the season, he still played outstanding defense and is 13-1 in SB so far this year. Speed and range and overall defense seem to still be intact. At $5M this year, and on the wrong side of 30, I doubt he'd break the bank on another year.
2] The Twins might trade for a CF. Perhaps someone young, perhaps someone older on an expiring deal. They've shown a tendency to make moves like this previously across the roster. Young means more draft capital, older means cheaper prospect cost. But ASSUMING Gray will reject the QO for a bigger deal the Twins won't want to match, they might re-sign Maeda for additional rotation depth/options. And if not, would they be looking for a similar Lopez kind of trade addition? If so, they might be more reluctant to move additional prospects. But then again, the trade for Taylor cost them nothing in regard to TOP prospects.
3] Maybe they should trust in their prospects? Austin Martin finished 2022 strong, and had a breakout AFL, though AFL numbers can be skewed a bit due to a general lack of top arms. And he battles some nuisance injuries early this year. But once healthy, his 54 games at St Paul...266PA and 218AB...produced a quad slash line of .271/ .396/ .417/ .812. He was also 16-3 in SB. While less than half a season, those numbers are pretty impressive. And the Twins have previously stated they felt he was a natural OF. Hilights have backed that up, though I appreciate he's not by any means a finished product yet. But when you have a top prospect who seems to have figured it out, and just might be ready, do you give him the shot? Did the FO learn enough this season about trusting in their young talent? 
Additionally, despite having his entire season wrecked due to injury, Cellestino is healthy again and still quite young, I believe 24yo when next season starts. And he's out of options, IIRC. But there's talent there, albeit, talent that hasn't been allowed to develop on a natural curve due to injury and way too early promotion. And what if there's room to keep Gordon, also out of options I believe. Might he regain the resemblance of his 2nd half 2022 self? If so, he could be part of a temp solution, along with Celestino?
DaShawn Keirsey is a former high pick who was an older than normal draft selection due to a massive college injury. He struggled a bit early in his pro career, had a couple setbacks, and then found himself in 2022. He was promoted to AAA too late in the opinion of many of us...St Paul was doing just fine, but no excuse...and continued to perform well after said promotion. He did dip in his BA and overall OPS from .850 to a still good .762 number. The past 2yrs, he's suddenly delivered on some power, though he will never be a slugger. He's reported to be a natural and outstanding defensive CF with SB speed. (31-5 this year doing so). He might not be ready NOW, but might be a solid role player soon. And he might be a decent bench alternative to Martin in the future as well.
It's also possible the Twins might convince Stevenson to return, off the 40 man, as a depth option, for next season.
Is there enough "prospect depth" and available talent to run with what they have rather than spend $ and prospect capital for someone else?
4] Time to move Lewis to CF, or begin the transition to doing so at least part time. Polanco and Julien can handle 2B, Polanco can also play 3B. Lewis will split time at 3B A fully healthy Miranda in 2024 might just be ready to produce again. And Lee doesn't have to be pressured from DAY ONE to be ready. 
Lee might surprise and be ready from the start. I don't buy it. As good as he is, and will be, I'm not ready to rush him after ONE full season and a couple months in 2022. Meanwhile, Lewis has more than enough natural skill set to be an excellent CF. And he flashed it in the AFL previously. STOP with injury factors! His previous injury in the OF was a weird take off/landing and had nothing to do with hitting a wall. His knee is no more likely to be hurt again charging or diving and planting in the INF as it would be running down a fly ball in the OF!
MY OPINION? I would look at Taylor on a decent 1yr deal for $6-7M knowing we could move him to someone in need. It gives the prospects time to settle in at St Paul and not feel pressured.
WHAT I WANT? Trust in Martin and everyone else mentioned for depth and "turn to" options as needed and focus on the rotation and pen and maybe, finally, adding an above average RH bat. I understand CF is important.  But whether it's Taylor, or trusting in the prospects, I'd rather worry about the rest of the roster and not the probable #9 hitter.
I apologize for this being long, and early, but I believe this IS a very serious concern getting ready for 2024 that has, inadvertently, been brought up with recent roster construction. 

Counterpoint:  being a "gamer" hurt the team due to his very poor performance, and it sure looks like it will hurt the team's playoff chances because he didn't take the time during the season to allow his foot to heal in time for the games that really matter.  

Do not put Buxton on playoff roster.

Anybody but the Astros in round one would be fine with me.

I'll take the other side of that bet

If the Yankees get on a hot run, they actually have a good chance of making the playoffs as the last wild card.  They have 6 games against the Blue Jays, and the Rangers and Mariners play each other 7 times.  If the Yankees win 5 or 6 against the Blue Jays, they will be in the thick of it.  They only need to catch the Blue Jays, and either of the Rangers or Mariners, so being they play each other one has to lose.  
It is not likely, but they are hot right now and nothing would shock me less than the Yankees going on a hot streak to end the season, face us in the first round and sweep us. Of course if the Yankees lose even 2 against the Blue Jays that will make it very difficult to catch them, and even if they do win all 6 they still will need wins against Diamondbacks and Royals.  

You forgot Headrick.
Sands, Winder, Balazovich, and Headrick…..

I do like how our bullpen is shaping up. I still want to see 3 or 4 more appearances from Varland out of the pen which he should easily get before the playoffs.  
 
and I am rooting for Paddack and Brock to be ready for the playoffs bullpen too.  

I don't expect Varland to be as effective as Jax has been this season out of the bullpen. Jax has a full set of good pitches and great control...until lately. Varland has one plus pitch, plus one good pitch. If the cutter fails, his heater isn't enough to survive. 
For that reason I'm hoping Brock Stewart gets very healthy very quickly. I'd rather see Steward in the BP than a tired Jax or Paddack, who is a scary long-shot. If I'm the Twins, I don't pitch Paddack unless every other option is injured. 

I'm sorry, but do you actually believe this? That the Twins front office didn't want Arraez's influence over other hitters? Or that the players have simply all taken it upon themselves to now go their own way and ignore input from the coaching staff, scouts, etc? because that's just silliness.
The current FO is the same one that promoted him from A+ to AA, then to AAA, then to MLB. They moved him from AA to MLB in the same year, and then kept rolling with him. the idea that they traded him to keep his voice out of the room is ludicrous.
They dealt Arraez not because they didn't like him, but because he had a lot of value at a position they had a lot of depth at. In order to get what they really needed (and boy did we still need pitching) we had to give up someone that was established and had real value. That's Arraez. the other option was Polanco, but Polanco's value was likely lower at the time because of the injury he'd had last season, the time he had missed, the contract he had, and being older.
It was a good trade for the Twins, even if it meant giving up a player that everyone loved. That includes the front office: they loved him too. But Pablo Lopez has been very good for us and is lined up to lead the rotation for the next several year, which is something we didn't have: an established, all-star quality starter in his prime to lead the rotation.

I would do it again in a heartbeat.
We have guys that can replace Arraez, to an extent.  I like Julien at second long-term.  If he fizzles, we have guys like Lee, Martin, Schobel in the system.  The way Polanco has been playing, maybe he comes back.
It’s not hard to find a 1B that can hit a little bit.  We have a few guys in the organization, and they’re dime-a-dozen on the market.
It would be impossible for the Twins to replace Lopez.  He’s a workhorse with a sub 3.5 ERA and a million strikeouts, capable of silencing the premier lineups in the game.  He’s only 27 and locked up through 2027 at a fairly reasonable rate.
Additionally, I’m not convinced there’s going to be longevity for Arraez as the premier average hitter in the game.  He’s missed a lot of time in his career.  He doesn't hit for a ton of extra base power, and can’t play any premier defensive positions.  For some context, his career OPS is exactly .800.  Max Kepler is OPSing .803 this year.  He’s having a much better year than his career averages this year (.842 OPS, nearly 5 WAR), but is that sustainable?
Arraez is also going to have to get paid at some point, and it’s going to be significant.  I’d rather be locked in to Lopez than Arraez.
Finally, to date, Arraez’s WPA in the playoffs is -0.10.  His cWPA is -1.0%.  That’s only 5 games, but has provided negative value in the playoffs despite a pretty darn good first series against the Yankees.
Bottom line is, the drop off from Lopez to his potential replacement, is much greater than the drop off from Arraez to his replacement.

I agree with most of this.  This is the textbook win/win for both organizations at this time.  You know the saying: Better to trade them a year too early than a year too late.

That being said, I think the outlook is much higher for the Twins to "win" this trade.  Arraez's knees are still a ticking time-bomb.  The Twins were able to lock up a solid 1/2 pitcher for a very reasonable contract over his prime age years.  I would also take high-end starting pitching over high-end hitting every day of the week.

Lopez reminds me of Brad Radke.  Head down, not always dominating but gives his team a chance to win every day, quietly a very good pitcher that flies under the radar.

I enjoyed the insight of seeing this Miami perspective. Thanks for the article.
I don't think we'd have seen the offensive total system failure of the 1/2 half of the season if the FO had kept Arraez and let his successful approach influence the rest of the lineup. Clearly, the organizations offensive gameplan was for 1-9 to swing for the fences without regard for anything else, so they didn't want an Arraez influence.
Thankfully, the hitters (especially the young reinforcements) seem to have taken it upon themselves to reject plan A and start approaching hitting in a more sensible way. 
Also thankfully, Lopez is an asset. Heckuva pitcher. From all accounts, a good clubhouse presence.
Might work out well for the club. Still hurts the fan in me that the FO took away my chance to root for a perennial batting champ.
Might honestly make the Twins a more winning team, but that trade made me much less a Twins fan. 

Huge fan of Arraez since he was in the lower minors.  Loved the kid and was hopeful he would remain a Twin for his entire career.  So I am saddened that Arraez is no longer leading off for the Twins.
With that said, understand the reasons the Twins made the trade and even agree with them.  Am elated that the trade has worked out so well for both teams.  The Twins will enter the playoffs this year with a real chance of winning a round or two because of the strength of their starting pitching with Lopez as their #1 guy.  Aren't those the best trades, where both teams win?  
 
 

It was completely understandable why so many people were upset when Luis Arraez was traded. A fan favorite and entertaining player plus the AL Batting Champion seems like a guy to keep.
The Twins sorely needed pitching however, and despite the high risk inherent in all pitchers something needed to occur or the Twins were doomed to repeats of using guys like Archer and Bundy. Actually Bundy and Archer were better than one could have expected as shown by their current standing.  Pitching is critical to team success and starters are the most valuable of all baseball players.
I was all in with the Lopez-Arrez trade immediately. While I loved Arraez, it was obvious the Twins needed a quality starter to be a .500 team or better. It is looking like this trade was excellent for both teams which is a good thing. I'm actually hoping the Twins can pull off a similar trade during this coming offseason. Pitching is the main factor in a winning team.

Did I like trading Arraez? No. Do I like having Lopez? Yes. What I like just as much was the vacancy trading Arraez created as that gave Julian a shot at the Bigs. Otherwise the FO would probably still have him wallowing in the minors. Now if the FO can wangle a way to trade an unproductive Correa we can clear up the current infield logjam and give a couple other promising youngsters a chance to prove themselves at the major league level... and improve the lineup's batting average. Not to mention freeing up a lot of salary money for signing pitching talent.

I was moaning about this trade (although interestingly somehow found comfort in the inclusion of a couple of low-level minor league prospects) the entire month of April.  April in Minnesota may just never be Lopez's "sweet spot", but his performance heated up with the weather month by month and he has clearly shown that he is exactly what the Twins needed after last season's starting pitching instabiity.
What is even more impressive is to hear him be interviewed.  He is incredibly intelligent not only about baseball but health as a pre-med student in college and the son of two doctors.  He projects an attitude of quiet confidence that makes you believe that he is every day eager to continue learning new things.  It would not surprise me to see him evolve into a front office capacity if he would wish to do so post-playing career.
Fantastic writing technique, by the way, of getting an expert opinion of the Marlins to share their perspective.  Don't know if you have ever used it before but I actually find this quite refreshing and uniquely brilliant.

I really like this Marlins POV article. Nice work. Very interesting to see how the other side feels about a deal that has no clear winner (yet). 
Have you done this before? I know not every trade would be as interesting but I this is great.

No one in Minnesota liked losing Arraez and his bat was sorely missed the beginning of this season, but the team had a glut of players to plug into his position and had a great need for top of the rotation starters.  The Twins needed a Pablo type pitcher even more than keeping around one of the best hitters in the game which sounds crazy as I write this, but given Julien's OPS is currently .842 and Arraez is at .842 it sounds less crazy.  They get there in different ways but the production is close enough to cover for the lose of Arraez at least in IMO.  Don't like OPS then Julien's WRc+ is 135 and Arreaz 128.  Like War better Julien is at 2.3 and Arraez is at 3.1.  Pretty much anyway you slice it they are close enough and we didn't have anyone close to the level that Lopez is at.
Did I want the Twins to trade Arraez, No.  Do I think they made the right move Yes I do.