specialiststeve

Cody's comment is an embarrassment. It's not as much about the amount of spending but about where money is spent and how it is spent. Per Cody Tampa Bay is a complete embarrassment in reality they are a model the Twins look to and "SHOULD" look to. As a business which big time sports are it is about how the money is spent and how you develop the players in your system. Throwing money at problem area's is not the answer in baseball or life... it is where and how you spend it. Twins fans should be proud that the team is responsible in its spending while putting out a very good product year in and year out.

I would be STUNNED if it were a major league deal.. Would make sense for a minor league deal but not like he was a high end reliever... Rather have Duarte..

Paddock should be the 4 but Varland with his dominance in the Bullpen should stay in the bullpen. His stuff plays WAY better there. As a starter he was ... well not great... actually to be real.. he was really not good as a starter. . We have some options in our minors for the 5th spot... if not a spring training trade to shore that up would make sense. Sears or Gomber would meet that need and would be inexpensive.

Belly would be a nice addition as he would look great in center but with our roster crunch and financial frugality it is a very slim.. like 1% chance of this happening.

Only thing I think of is one of there starters. Their numbers are terrible of course but going from Coors to Target would be - could be a huge difference. I would be willing to add a lotto ticket for German Marquez who has 2 years at for 10 mil ave salary ... Coming back from TJ but would be a "Good" gamble.

Sorry, Old school guy here and fWAR or effen'War means very little to me or to the eye. Suarez hits for power and is a pretty good glove but everything else is crap... Polanco when healthy does everything fairly well. Hit, hit for power, good glove. So as I would tell Rocco... lose the Metrics and actually look at the game and how it is played. Old crotchety dude.. ;)

Suarez? He was terrible the past few years... See Sano. Not a good comp. Sorry.

Hard pass!

Easy answer is neither should be dealt unless an ace is involved. Polanco is the logical choice and has been identified by most baseball insiders as one of the best trade options out there. With 2 years of reasonable cost, he should be very valuable to teams looking to improve at 2B. The timetable on this has been interesting as the majority of MLB sits on their hands. Other part of this is there is a VERY good chance that they hold onto Polanco until the trade deadline where teams are always looking for bats. Dangerous part of this is Polanco's injury history... trading at the height of his value before he gets hurt would be the best choice. Julian and Lee... Should be staying home. Juliian is clearly a GREAT leadoff guy and improved a ton on defense over the year. Lee has possible all-star potential...

Pray that the hitting coaches don't try to make him a dead pull hitter. They have had issues with trying to "unlock" power by giving up overall hitting skills i.e. going the other way. Is a MAJOR flaw of this coaching staff. They have players that have had a quality of hitting to all fields and coached it out of them... argh.

Always "sounds great" but as stated selling out and overswinging also caused this team to obliterate the strike out record... REALLY BAD. Getting back to quality baseball and learning "old school" fundamental baseball will take this team to a higher level.... otherwise we are stuck where we are in mediocre baseball and ugly baseball to watch. Learning to cut down with 2 strikes for the team has been a fundamental of good baseball for 100 years and throwing it out the window so once in 50 AB's you hit one to the moon is just bad baseball. Baldelli and the hitting coaches "should" know this by now.

Funny how our world is so impatient and has to happen now... Twins like the rest of baseball are waiting for the dominoes to start falling down (Big name signees') before other teams including the Twins make moves. Patient Grasshoppers... for you youngin' ... a reference to David Carradine and Kung Fu! LOL For those old enough to know that ... am guessing you are not sweating this. ;)

We are not a "one year rental" type team ... nor should we be. Unless they would do a Polanco and Kepler type thing which they won't ... pass.

Slow down a bit... ERod just finished A ball... that is a LONG way from the show. Folks need to understand there are a few guys that can just make that huge jump but VERY few. Let him take the AA road next year and if killing it to AAA to see if he can hit there before considering him being all world. He is a VERY nice prospect but about 1 in 10 actually make it and are good... I would take Miller if it was ERod and Kep or Polanco that it took. Would likely want a lotto pick back with it but ...

I would think we would consider trades #1 or #2 but not 3 to me. I think we have the depth to absorb the assets leaving in 1 or 2 but not in 3. I like Gilbert a lot but not at that cost. More likely would be finding a 1 year rehab pitcher that we can pay little and hope while the young guys get ready. I myself would like that 5th spot to be an open audition for our system to see if Lewis can jump in. Not sexy but might be pretty effective and VERY cost effective.

If they would do that .... get it dones ASAP.. Manoah has the upside of a top of the rotation guy if can get him right...

Agree that Hinch is a better manager than Baldelli and Tito was also. I believe that his players really like him, and his strength is his relationship with his players... a big deal in the MLB. Long season and being together more than you are with your spouse. Unfortunately, his on the field managing is pretty poor. He mismanages his bullpen so bad it makes it hard to watch sometimes. Trying to get to cute and too far into the "metrics" vs playing traditional baseball has cost this team many a game. As stated hopefully he uses the metrics of as a tool more going forward and less as a robo-manager that he follows.

Overpaying for someone like Williams with the quality arms we have not would not be very smart. We would need to give up an A list type prospect at a minimum... no thanks. Cantarino has great stuff but like others doesn't seem to have the stuff physically to be a starter so I would expect he be on the relief staff.. There are a ton of relief arms to pick up.

Knowing when to trade guys is a challenging thing especially when fans get attached as the writer seems to be. Reality is he has been a very good defensive player but wildly inconsistent at the plate. His inhouse replacements are a plenty and not getting anything for the future for a player that we could clearly replace with a young player and get 90% of the production from is pretty short sighted. He has been a quality person and a decent player, but it is time to move on... Get some value for the future and look big picture....

This Front office has shown patience and prudence in their moves. That is a GOOD thing. As a small/medium market we are never going to be in on the big dogs but finding good trade partners and guys that fit are there specialty. Look at the moves the past few years. quality additions... Correa, Farmer, Castro, Taylor, Lopez, Paddock, Stewart are the ones that come to mind but am sure there are more... These done while not "giving away the farm". I fully expect movement this winter for a starter so Varland can stay in the bullpen. Also expect a reclamation project he can stash at the minor league level for depth ..... I know some think that this if fantasy baseball and just trade this for that on a whim but there ' are a ton of things at play in doing there job... which they do well. Just my opinion

There are so many inaccuracies in this story I have a hard time in replying... Get some therapy...

Here is one I came up with... Cabrera has some high end stuff.. Mesa Jr. could be a CF option if nothing else works. We give up two established guys and a very nice pitching prospect... win/win? Twins 00 NAME AGE LEVEL P1 P2 AVAILABILITY YEARS AFV SALARY SURPLUS LOW MEDIAN HIGH Edward Cabrera 26 Majors SP Medium 5 31.6 15.7 15.8 12.7 15.8 19 Victor Mesa Jr. 20 Minors OF 0 0 0 7.1 5.7 7.1 8.6 Total Value: 22.9 Marlins 00 NAME AGE LEVEL P1 P2 AVAILABILITY YEARS AFV SALARY SURPLUS LOW MEDIAN HIGH Max Kepler 31 Majors OF Low 1 18.3 10 8.3 6.7 8.3 10 Jorge Polanco 30 Majors 2B Low 2 31.9 22.5 9.4 7.6 9.4 11.3 Marco Raya 21 Minors SP 0 0 0 6.9 5.5 6.9 8.3 Total Value: 24.6

Hindsight answer.... nope... was a bit surprised that no one did pick him up as a 4th OF type but... should be back and ready for duty at AAA and an injury away.. from the show.

Funny how people forget how HORRIBLE he was the 1st half and "cost" us games with his terrible bat... I have always liked Max and he is a good defensive OF but his replacements have at least his ability and if we could get a couple of good prospects for him ... do it. Folks act like his is Juan Soto.. he is "just a guy"... and we have many of those waiting...

Wow... can't get that 2 minutes back... Bad.