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NYCTK

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Everything posted by NYCTK

  1. NYCTK
    They AREN'T lottery tickets. They're legit prospects/players. Varland isn't going to be become the best closer of all time, so I'm truly not concerned about him leaving. Bullpen arm huggers are the new prospect huggers apparently.
  2. NYCTK
    You all are way underestimating the return for Varland. Kendry Rojas had really good numbers in A+ and only has a handful of appearances in high minors as a 22 year old. "He looks like a backend starter right now and has a chance to develop into more of a true no. 4 type if he can find a more enticing breaking ball." And Roden isn't a bad piece either. I'd trade Larnach for him, straight up. "Roden’s on-base skill and underrated baserunning give him a high floor as a corner outfielder." "he’s a good, big league-ready hitter with plus contact and plate skills."
  3. NYCTK
    Because his upside is RP and they got a legit pitching prospect and potential starting LF. It was a pretty good trade.
  4. NYCTK
    I see a payroll of about $90 Million right now for '27, but that's including all 3 of the expensive starting pitchers and only includes 10 players total. So approximately another $25 million to fill out the roster with league mins, and cheap bullpen arms brings the payroll to $115 Million. This roster has a lot of shaking up to do yet. Matt Wallner and Trevor Larnach will not both be contributors in '27. The likes of Austin Martin and Kody Clemens, not going to be a part of the '27 roster. In the event the young crop of talent in Wichita looks like they're ready to compete, they can fill in holes with that $40 Million, and maybe add another $20 M to that pool if Lopez/Ryan are traded away. It's going to be a challenge. But this organization is not in a terrible spot.
  5. NYCTK
    And he's not due real money until 2028. With no team able to fully commit to Buxton as their CF, it's not the dumbest idea to just have the perennial 4th OF on the roster. It's a bit weird, but I get the reasoning.
  6. NYCTK
    100% agree. I understand how sad it is to see 5 players that you thought would be part of the team for many years depart. But 4 of those 5 are bullpen arms. Like you said, the starting pitch depth is now actually really deep with 8 Major League ready, and a few bubbling under. A handful of pitchers like Morris and Raya that have some intrigue but probably more suited to a future in the bullpen. Let's say they do continue the selloff, punt '26 and sell Ryan and Jeffers. That's going to bring in some great return as well. So, just assuming they're able to patch together a competent bullpen, and the SP remains strong, they have a roster: IF: Royce, Lee, Culpepper, Schobel, Eeles, Keaschall OF: Buxton, Jenkins, Roden, Rodriguez, Mendez, Gonzalez Not the best batch of prospects, will leave some holes, but enticing for sure. Get to spend a season and a half seeing who works and who doesn't. Bring in some athleticism. And can fill holes with the Ryan return, Jeffers swap, or even free agency given the $50+ million in savings come 2027 by moving those five players. I'm really, really not concerned about the long term health of the Twins bullpen. It'd actually be pretty sweet if the Twins could make this part of their identity, do this every 3 years. Creating reliable bullpen arms and then shipping them off if they're not showing themselves as a contender come the end of July.
  7. NYCTK
    This drastically overstates MLB rebuilds. As long as you have a middle tier farm system and a clear vision, you can turnover a roster and compete pretty quickly. It just takes bold management. Don't think Falvey is the guy that is going to be able to do that, happy to see him fired, but there's at least now a path. Is 2027 overly ambitious? A bit, but that's about the end of Buxton's shelf-life so I see them really trying to build towards that.
  8. NYCTK
    Well, France was the player that didn't need to be a part of that deal. Blue Jays just probably asked for him as a little treat. This was Varland in return for a very good pitching prospect and a pretty interesting LF (that I instantly like more than Larnach).
  9. NYCTK
    The motivation is pretty obvious though. This team is bad. And this team would continue to be bad in 2026. So they decided to mix things up. Trading from the talented yet volatile and underperforming bullpen to try to build up the team elsewhere. And getting rid of a bad contract of an aging former star. The Varland move itself is also easy to understand even if you disagree with it. They got a great pitching prospect and a major league ready LF that's younger (and more encouraging) than Larnach. For a failed starter that has had a pretty good season as a RP but whose upside we know is limited.
  10. NYCTK
    Yeah, France actually has a little bit of value to the Blue Jays. Their roster is really thin offensively and a veteran bat, albeit a weak one, provides SOME value to them.
  11. NYCTK
    The way I see it, this team wasn't competing in 2026 regardless. This team was so poorly constructed that any idea that they could be a contender this year was always delusional. They started the season with Mickey Gasper and DaShawn Keirsey on the 26 man roster. Now, they at least recognize their short comings and are actually trying to build towards something as opposed to just standing pat and crossing their fingers. Will they succeed? Probably not. Anything short of a pennant is a failure in my mind. Long-term speaking. Seasons like the Twins 2023 are great, fun seasons. But that's not the end goal.
  12. NYCTK
    Well there was zero chance they were winning in 2026 either way, and I think they stand a much better chance of winning in 2027 now. And how much worse do you expect the bullpen to be than the approximate 20-25th best bullpen they've been over the last couple seasons? With all those great arms, why weren't they any good?
  13. NYCTK
    I wouldn't break the bank either. Just think he's somewhat stable and not bad to have around. But not married to him. Fine with trading him in the off-season too.
  14. NYCTK
    Is he really that bad? I thought I looked recently and he graded out as bang on average, if slightly below.
  15. NYCTK
    I mostly agree. I think Rocco is a bad manager and think Falvey is a bad baseball ops guy. But there's very little chance a new owner isn't in place by 2027 with an entirely new leadership in place. Or at least I'm optimistic of that.
  16. NYCTK
    Buxton and Royce. The starting pitching improved yesterday (though undoubtedly will be traded from in future trade windows). And then the Twins do have a lot of good position player talent in the high majors. Lee, Keaschall, Jenkins, Rodriguez, Culpepper, Gonzalez, Mendez, Roden, Eeles, et al. These players are all under 26 and will all be given a chance to prove themselves. There's a lot to like in that group. And there will be complete busts as well. But with 26 a chance to develop them, and early 27 a chance to really set the future up, this team can compete in 2027. Anyone concerned about holes in the bullpen, bullpen arms are made every day. Even top end bullpen arms are available quite frequently, as we saw the last couple days from multiple teams. Not just the Twins. If 2027 comes around and there's some holes in the bullpen there can be moves made.
  17. NYCTK
    I am surprised Larnach or Topa wouldn't have any interest on the trade market. But maybe they just ran out of time on the phones. 9 total trades is a lot of communication back and forth with the league and the teams involved.
  18. NYCTK
    They should absolutely entertain trading Lopez or Ryan, and try to extend Jeffers but if he's a Boras client like I think someone said he's not going to take it. So he should probably be traded too. Full commitment to 2026 as transition year.
  19. NYCTK
    This was the right decision. I was a bit underwhelmed by some individual moves - thought they should have gotten a bit more for Coulombe and Duran - but in the aggregate it is about what I expected. Outman is curious but he can be attached to Buxton and no longer worry about the Taylor, Margot, Bader 4th OF role, I guess. Correa, was exactly the deal I expected, having to pay a third of the salary and getting nothing in return, but is the right decision for this organization. As for missing his leadership...this club was a mess so I ask what leadership. And the other four bullpen arms, especially Varland? They are all bullpen arms for a reason. Bullpens aren't fungible but they're unpredictable and finicky. There was a lot of talent in the bullpen these last couple seasons and they still were bottom half of the league in actual results. They were 3rd in FIP but 22nd in ERA, 27th in LOB%, 25th in WPA. Unlike Cleveland's talented bullpen, the Twins bullpen didn't actually help them win games. They undeniably have talent, but for whatever reason they didn't actually make a good bullpen. Is it luck? Maybe. But that's exactly why a bad team, wanting to shake things up shouldn't really invest heavily in the bullpen and those arms were going to become expensive. I think the decision making is sound. Even if you think the execution was lacking. Minnesota Twins, 2027 AL Central Champions
  20. NYCTK
    Fair. I'm being presumptive yet optimistic. Just the fact that they're doing something. I really hated this roster and didn't see them competing in '26 and I'm glad they seemingly came to the same conclusion. I just refuse to be disappointed by losing relief pitchers in two years from now. I'm underwhelmed by the Duran return and think there's plenty of argument that he played that hand poorly but otherwise I'm really quite satisfied with the returns. Maybe he should have just held onto Duran and tried again in the offseason. Maybe something else would have budged with a different team. But they clearly got impatient and had a lot of irons in the fire so wanted to keep the calls moving.
  21. NYCTK
    I think your explanation of the reasoning is spot on and I can get on board with it. Best case scenario, Varland is a really quality reliever, but also decent chance he's just a mediocre reliever in two years time. Might as well double or nothing on it. This organization was in really rough shape. They spent two years doing nothing and now there's finally some sort of vision. Was it perfect? Nah. But they lost five players, four of them failed starters, and one of them an aging vet with a terrible contract and $30M and were able to get 8 significant players/prospects that they can start to play around with and build a competitor around the still existent good rotation, one of the best CF, and Royce Lewis, the enigma. And as we saw today, the price of adding individual bullpen arms for short stints is never too high. So they can add back to the bullpen if they find a shortcoming in future seasons when they think they're ready to compete again. Who of Luke Keaschall (23 MLB), Brooks Lee (24 MLB), Walker Jenkins (20 AA), Emmanuel Rodriguez (22 AAA), Culpepper (22 AA) will step up and become a quality major leaguer? Who from Lopez , Ryan, Ober, Abel, Festa, Woods Richardson, Matthews, Preilipp will comprise the rotation in two seasons and who might they later trade off for help to fill other holes? This is an exciting time, and I actually look forward to watching the team the rest of the season.
  22. NYCTK
    Rocco is a bad manager, treated his players weirdly yesterday and Jax was visibly upset when he was removed for a position player.
  23. NYCTK
    How quickly Paddack is forgotten.
  24. NYCTK
    Happy for Jax. If he still wants the Rays will give him another chance to start. And he was clearly done with Rocco (like us all).
  25. NYCTK
    Not even I had the Twins trading Varland and I was gungho for the fire sale. Interesting workings.
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