MGX

I'm not going to say Lee is the answer at SS, because has a lot left to prove, but lets give the guy a chance. I agree with what you said about his lack of athleticism & yet when you watch him at SS he looks solid. The Lee - Keaschall double play combo has looked surprisingly good in there limited time playing together. That being said the bat hasn't produced to this point & that needs to get better. For now there really isn't another option so lets see what he does with this opportunity. If the offense isn't better by the end of the season then SS is a question mark for next year. Either way many may be surprised that the post deadline Twins are more entertaining than the pre-deadline Twins.

I can agree with you on the Stewart trade, just doesn't fit. The Varland trade looks like a good trade & the Jax trade could be a very good trade. A 24 yr old SP whose held his own in MLB since he was 22 for 30 yr old reliever who first found success as a 27 yr old after not cutting as a starter sounds like a deal I'd take every day.

The only trade that was questionable was the Stewart trade since Outman (I follow the Dodgers & I liked him when he debuted) seems to be a poor fit. I don't think we should have expected a big return for Stewart, but we should have found a better fit in that deal. The other deals all look good to me. I've seen a lot of complaints on some of the deals like the Varland deal, but that looks like a good trade for the Twins & the Jax deal seems to be a very good trade for the Twins & yet you see many complaints about that as well. I think many on this site were unrealistic about what relief pitchers were going to return. In the Duran trade Falvey could have held out for Painter & he gave in when he should have had the leverage, but I like our return in that deal. Painter could end up being great, but he's already had an arm injury & his comeback hasn't gone to plan for the Phillies. In the spring Dombrowski said he expected him to be up by July & he is still in AAA struggling with a 4.88 ERA. Meanwhile, Mick Abel seemed to be out of the Phillies plans after tough '24 & wasn't going to be given anything. He went out & dominated at AAA got a promotion to the show & had a few good outings before getting hit a bit & needed to back down to work on some things. Since then he has been pitching great at AAA. We also received a legit prospect in Tait who we wouldn't have gotten if Painter was in the deal. In the end all that matters is do we like the trades & for me that is a Yes, with the exception of the Stewart trade.

There were some trades that didn't seem to fit. With that said one of the trades that people seemingly dislike is the the Jax for Bradley trade. IMO that is a win for the Twins. If you can trade a 30 yr old reliever (don't get me wrong I liked Jax) for a 24 yr old SP who has already in his young career has 100+ IP in each of the last 3 seasons for a total of 354 IP & has been a solid SP at the MLB level, that is a win. There is still every reason to believe he can be even better, but even the results he's produced to this point is more than fair value for Jax IMO.

It's a reasonable return for a rental player like Bader. As someone mentioned above Mendez is 21 & hitting at AA so that's a positive. A lottery ticket pitcher along with him seems about right for Bader.

When evaluating the Dodgers trade it's a big assumption to think Rushing is a solution at C. He's more likely to end up being a corner OF, so we'd really be betting on his bat.

Sell the expiring contracts.

Trade Joe Ryan arguably our best pitcher for an OF where we have capable players already. Hard pass.

I'm not sure if Gasper is the answer, but can agree that Keirsey doesn't belong on a ML roster at this point in his career.

The answer is NO... Kody Clemens 2022 - 127 PA's - 39 WRC+ 2023 - 148 PA's - 73 WRC+ 2024 - 120 PA's - 92 WRC+ 2025 - 106 PA's - 137 WRC+ Looks to me more like consistent improvement. Is he likely to maintain a 137 WRC+, of course not. He has however shown enough improvement to continue getting PA's. His underlying numbers show he is hitting the ball harder & with more frequency. Combine that with a career low K rate & a career high BB rate. I'd say he deserves continued playing time for now.

I agree that is likely what will happen, but there is good reason to keep him up for an extended look & send Keirsey down. All the speculation & predictive stats can't tell us whether or not he has the ability to hit MLB pitching. The only way to know that is to let him face MLB pitching.

The Twins have struggled to start the year & yet we're 4 games better than the O's in the standings. If these two teams match up on a trade it should be the Twins sending a prospect for someone who can help at the MLB level. Trading Joe Ryan for a prospect(s) makes no sense.

Considering Bride's platoon OPS splits in his career (.529 vs LHP & .714 vs RHP) you'd think an analytical manager would play him vs RHP. Especially after 2024 which was his best season & his splits were even more one sided (.645 / .915).

This is the issue with this FO - there is a clear opportunity to see what we have in McCusker & they go sign Clemens. Bride & Clemens could work out well, but the odds are against it & if they happen to do really well they'll be playing somewhere else next year. If McCusker was up & produced he'll be here going forward & if he doesn't at least we have a better idea of what we have.

I still don't like the France (95 OPS+ at 1B) signing - what difference would it really make if someone else was playing 1B, even if it was Miranda (he's had 2 seasons with 400+ PA's both above average offensive seasons). It's the same thing over & over again - sign washed up veterans & hope to catch lightning in the bottle. Every once in awhile it will work, Santana worked out fine last year, but how many haven't? How many of these veterans have kept us from finding out what we really have with younger players. I'd much rather play & discover a Brent Rooker than hoping to get lucky for one season with a veteran. This approach isn't working & something needs to change.

As long as Flavey & Rocco are here it will look the same. Rocco inherited a great team in 2019 & they went 101-61. From 2020 forward he has a slightly under .500 record as our manager. Every year when listening to them & seeing the moves they make/don't make you get the feeling that things are going great. It's just not going to change until at least one or both of them are gone.

I'm not saying Saves are everything, but after 15 games our bullpen is 0-3 in Save situations & that is last in MLB. The only other team without a Save are the White Sox - 0-2. Like Nick mentioned the hitting has been terrible & deserves plenty of blame for the 4-11 start, but the bullpen hasn't helped at all.

1. Both teams say No - Boston inquired about Luis Castillo & when the M's asked for Casas in return they backed off. I like Casas a lot & he'd be a big upgrade at 1B, but IMO the Twins can't trade Lopez to make that upgrade happen. 2. The Marlins say no - if they were going to trade Alcantara for prospects they could have already done it while he was rehabbing. He should be ready in the Spring why trade him now unless it's an offer they can't refuse. The offer above isn't that. 3. Both say no - Verlander & Scherzer aren't likely to go to a team that finished 4th in their division & have owners that are unwilling to invest in the team. The Twins won't spend on FA starters, not that they should in this case.

Hard pass on this - the last thing we need is another pitcher who can't stay healthy.

Casas was injured for a good portion of the season last year. I like Miranda, but if we offered the Red Sox Miranda for Casas they'd laugh & hang up the phone.

LOL, the Twins wish this was true.

I agree with you on Rojas & would say Austin Hays is another player who could help.

If Correa & Arraez are over rated the Twins need a few more over rated (guys who can hit) players on our roster.

Bellinger would be an amazing fit for the Twins. If they could get him on a contract structured similar to Correa's original contract that would be perfect. All this talk about RH OF is missing the point - Our position player group already looks good, adding another quality bat (either LH or RH) could give us one of the best groups in the league. If you added Bellinger to our current position player group with the depth in our bullpen & a solid starting staff that would be a team that has a chance to do some damage. Of course actually signing him is another thing entirely, but they should absolutely be trying to sign him. Our projected lineup VS LHP has 8 of 9 players batting RH. Kepler is the only LH bat projected to play vs LHP. Why is there such concern with adding a RH bat?

There are many different ways to win ballgames. We don't need to replace Gray's production from '23 IMO because we will be better offensively & have a better bullpen. Sonny had a great year & it would tough to find any available pitcher to replace that production, but it isn't needed to win ballgames. With that said if we add a SP who improves the team that would be great.