JADBP

I agree...why did we waste a bench seat for 5 weeks? That's just stupid. But then not trade him at the deadline? That's management malpractice. The Twins could have had a lottery ticket and now ...nothing. Zoll is clueless. I hope Pohlad is starting to take notice...Zoll is just not up to the job.

Almost, but not quite. The Twins have long had the oft-stated draft strategy of "taking the best athlete, regardless of need" in the early rounds. But, they are almost always taking a SS or CFer. There is an odd pitcher thrown in and Sabato (wasted pick) and Lackey (obvious pick). But the problem is that we draft a SS, like say Lewis, Lee, Culpepper, Cavaco, Nick Gordon, etc., the team becomes glued to the belief that this player is the next long term answer at SS. And, they are almost always wrong. We end up realizing that these players are really not good enough to hold down SS at an elite level either in front of or behind the plate. And, when they are eventually exposed at the MLB level, we start moving them around, hoping that they can find a position where they can be at least above average. Same list of names. We have not drafted a long term, elite fielding and hitting SS since....hmmmm.... Knoblach (who was moved to 2B)? Cuddyer (never played a single game at SS)? Drafting the best athlete is a fine strategy as long as we realize early on that they need to move off SS. BUT WE DON'T! We keep trying to force Lewis or Lee or which ever SS we drafted into the SS position, no matter how bad the fit. Consequently, we never end up training the the best athlete for the position where he really fits well and can excel. We draft Lewis, keep him at SS until he comes up to MLB, and we have been bouncing him around since. He could be a really good 1Bman but we stick him there, give him a couple of weeks of instruction and then we have a frustrated coach and player when he doesn't perform at an elite level. He likely would have if you had made that switch at A or AA ball. I can understand his frustration! Now, I have high hopes that we finally drafted a really slick fielding SS in Marek Houston, and I hope he hits at least average in the biggs. Until then, it will likely be musical chairs because of the ineptitude of the Twins coaching and management to develop players. This is one of he key reasons that the Twins continue to suck and why the roster is so F'ed up. Can Zoll figure this out? He hasn't shown anything to make me believe in him.

Bean....just what will it take for you to believe in Jenkins? Maybe that every org rates him as a top 10-20 prospect, and only he and Vaughn Lackey rank as 5 plus tool players in the Twins minors? Or maybe that is only carrying a .309 AVG or .913 OPS this year? We have just one five tool player on the team now (Buxton). Jenkins will be our next in a long line of outstanding CFer's all the way back from Puckett, through Torii, Buxton. Sure, he will come up and flounder as he adjusts and readjusts. [Almost] Every rookie does. He has legit tools and can hold down CF/RF for a long time. His floor is probably Torii Hunter, and ceiling could be Puckett (though I don't think he gets there) but certainly a Buxton career is possible. Just what do you believe in with Jenkins? Our best hitter is hitting .265, Jenkins is .309--we NEED hitters. Give him a break. Give him his shot. I doubt he misses that Keaschall cornball in the Field of Dreams....

Smartest thing said in the entire posting: "two starts are still just two starts..." Second smartest thing said in the entire posting" ",..and opposing teams will eventually adjust."

I grade the Varland trade as the the single worst trade of all time for the MN Twins. Worse than the Santana trade, worse than the Rod Carew trade, worst than the Delmon Young, Mahle, and Capps trades combined. The most frustrating aspect of this this trade is that it was unequivocally unnecessary. What in the world was Falvey thinking? The only good to come from this trade was that Falvey was fired. YAY!! This was stupidity at its highest level. This was a sucker-trade by Atkins (Toronto GM) on Falvey. He promoted Rojas from ROOKIE level (where he started the 2025 season, while recovering from an injury) to A-ball, then to high-A, to AA, and then (just TWO days before the trade deadline) to AAA in July. THIS after he missed almost THREE months to injury before the trade!! That way, Atkins could tell Falvey "This guy is a fantastic AAA starting pitcher that throws 96-98 mph!" Falvey fell for the bait. Rojas is, at best, an oft-injured, project. He has excellent velocity, some very good bendy stuff but has a problem with command, control and consistency. Will he ever figure it out? Maybe. Or...Maybe not. Meanwhile, Varland the second only to Mason Miller as a RP right now, with a 1.31 ERA, and 25 saves. Can Rojas ever live up to this trade? If he is a #3-4-5 SP, then no. So, that's a pretty big hill to climb and I doubt that he will ever be the #1-2 SP that Atkins promised. His ceiling might be a #2-3 SP, but his floor is a RP. He really needs another year or two in AA or AAA to figure out how to repeat his delivery and find the zone consistently. Rojas finished 2024 at high-A and Atkins rushed him through the ranks up to AAA in one year in 2025. Clearly his missed far too much instruction, training, and coaching on his time in the mid to high minors. Falvey just got massively duped. SHAME ON FALVEY for falling for the bait on this inane trade. Glad he got fired. Period.

Sabato = wasted pick...sorry, just not good enough to make it in MLB. Sure, go ahead and give him a try, but, its like betting on Gray to blossom into a Hrbek.

if it comes down to losing Larnach or Dasan Hill, it is Larnach every time! Dangit! Maybe they should have offered to throw in Wallner as sweetener to get the job done. Losing Hill hurts...even if we get Hoffman next year too. And, don't forget, this is all Falvey's fault. We had the best bullpen in all of MLB last year, and what we got in return is just not stacking up...I love Taj Bradley...but then.....after that? Hmmm, not as much. And, we still have a mess of a roster--no good SS, 1Bman, THREE catchers, and a bunch of lame ducks blocking the real talent in the outfield. Thanks, Falvey for a fine mess. All in all, I would give Zoll a C grade for this trade season. Yeah, he almost fixed the bull pen--still some holes, but much better after Falvey's disaster. But he addressed none of the other holes in the org and we still are holding Larnach, Jeffers and Bell, none of which are long for this team. Now he can almost fix this by bringing up Jenkins, Cullpepper and Emma. And, put Marek Houston on a fast track!

This is just nothing more than Toronto swooping in and making a sucker trade with the Twins and winning a great pitcher. Sounds like Varland. We will rue this deal in about 3 years....long after Hoffman is a faded memory, every time we have to face Hill in Toronto! Sucks.....but the Twins are just suckers to Toronto's trade offers. What is it about Toronto that the Twins just keep losing trades!

Yeah…they could have just hung on to Varland… now the best closer in MLB. As I said before, it will take years to clean up the F’in mess left behind by Falvey.

You are 100% right! Trading Varland was a disaster from the moment it happened and, worse yet, it was absolutely unnecessary! It was an catastrophic self-inflicted wound. There was just no reason to trade him. Other than that the BJ's pulled the wool over Falvey's eyes. He was so wrapped up in tearing down the pitching staff that he just couldn't stop himself. Every team was calling and banging on the desk with trade deals to pry some of the remaining excellent RPs from Falvey. It was just insanity to fall for this trade offer. FALVEY DESERVED TO GET FIRED. Maybe Falvey really thought he was smarter than all of these other GMs. But the last ten years have proven that he was wrong. I do NOT see any other teams jumping to offer him a job. He might find a role in A-ball. But I am pretty sure, after the last deadline nightmare, he will never again be a GM. And, yeah, there is absolutely no was that Lackey is linked to the Varland deal.

Lot said here, Doc. Yeah, at the end of the day, this is a swap of a lottery ticket for a project. Maybe the Twins pitching staff can eke out some magic for a couple of months? Maybe not. Maybe Reyes flames out? Maybe not. But the bigger point is that yeah, the Twins are at least doing something. That's a world of difference from last year's nightmare! That said, I am still waiting for the news on Larnach, Jeffers, and Wallner. I really just want Wallner out of the org. Not sure he will ever play in Target field again. And, I would hate to see Jeffers go, but it really is the only sensible path with him. Larnach is a maybe. Ryan, Lopez, Lewis and all of out top AAA guys should be untouchable. The better news here is that these moves can help to motivate the rest of the team. I hope it motivates them enough for some of them to sign extensions...like Ryan!

I’m really happy to see Randy doing well. OK maybe against another team. But good work, Randy!

7 at 30 is not a bad starting point. That’s a lot of years but I believe he’s the best SP the Twins have had since Johann. I think the Twins can start negotiating by buying out his last arb and 4-6 more. With the looming minimum payroll the Twins will need him to get the salary levels up! And to WIN games! He’s one of the top 10 SPs already and getting better every year.

Right. So trade him. But at least TRY to sign him first. Not even trying to sign him is irresponsible (to the org) and disrespectful (to Ryan). Show some stones and genuinely TRY.

While I agree that moving Duran for such light talent is egregious, nothing compares to the Varland Trade for absolute idiocy! Someone had a total brain collapse when they accept that trade! Imagine if we had Varland today.....instead of Roden and Rojas? No wonder Falvey got fired!

We’ll call me a dumb fan I guess. I’ve long said this about Ryan: Try to sign him to a 3-4 year deal. If he won’t sign, then trade him. Tom Pohlad can put his money where his mouth is by signing him. That’s a great PR move. If Ryan refuses (which I sadly believe is likely) then Tom can say so publicly (also unlikely, because it’s rude, so he might just have to leak it) and thus can avert the PR nightmare after the trade.

Sure. Now do you trust Zoll to make good decisions this trade season? Based on his track record this season, I DO NOT. Maybe Tom has to look over his shoulders a bit. If he left everything up to Zoll…Zoll could crush this team. As we saw last year, almost any good team is ready to jump on bad decisions by the Twins!

Yeah…hmmmm…didn’t they just do that last year? No, anyone is NOT available. Some are. Would you trade away Jenkins, Emma and Buxton?

YAWN....when will this lame, unoriginal BS end? Is this really the best that Zollie can do? If so, then we need to rethink the GM position. Because this is pretty embarrassing..... I am thinking that a lot is resting on how Zoll performs in this trade deadline. Not so much for the team but definitely for Zoll. He could have a short leash if he messes up this trade season. I realize that he faces an extremely narrow path to improvement. He doesn't really have a lot of star power to trade away (Larnach, Jeffers, Bell) but has some tremendous holes and every trader is going to want to raid our young, controllable assets (just like last year). The chances of doing significant harm to the team is very high. What will he do?

Uhhhh....I think we are missing the boat here if we don't sign Ryan to a new contract first! Lock him up for another 3-5 years. Right now, he is one of the best pitchers in MLB (top ten, maybe even top 5). Lock him up if at all possible. After you clear up Ryan, then you can talk about Taj.

I am personally high on Young. If he continues to refine his hit tool and power (which he is doing in earnest), he could become the next Nelson Cruz. He has a long way to go and may not get there, but it is up to the Twins to develop his hitting skills. He has enormous power for a 19 year old. He might lead the next wave in 3-4 years.

I really hope they sign him but I believe it is 50/50. Sounds like he has a strong commitment. He could be top of first round in 3 years if he really blossoms at Wake. Or he could be another Wake flameout with an overused arm. Either way, he is 5-6 years before he starts in The Biggs and maybe 8-9 before he has a chance to make money like this again. Tough call.

Good points, LA, but the CBA ends at the end of the World Series, so you CAN'T negotiate in the offseason as soon as the team strikes, which I assume is as soon as they can. So, everyone gets locked out of negotiating with players. Then, we wait. I agree, I don't expect a strike to go into the regular season, as the teams and the players will lose too much money. But, it will make for one of those Silly Season trade windows. All hell will break loose. I still say the best plan is to do everything possible to extend Ryan NOW, before the end of the trade window. If he is adamant, and it is clear that nothing will move him now or off-season, to sign a long term contract, then yeah, trade him. But maybe Joe needs to step in here and talk with Ryan. There is a new sheriff in town. Pay him. Overpay him. Give him a bonus. Git er done. And, if all of that fails, then yeah, trade him. He's a grown up and if he adamantly wants to change teams, the do it.

I would do everything in my power to extend Ryan, asap. Not because I want to decide if I trade him. Rather because I REALLY WANT him pitching for the Twins for the next 4-5 years. Same for Pablo. But, not for Jeffers, Bell, etc. I think the real problem here is that the Twins WILL be facing a minimum payroll and it might be in the $170 mill range. Maybe the league helps out small market teams but the Twins still have to fill that payroll. They are a really young team and they WILL need 3-4 big salaries to reach that minimum. So, that who? Buxton, Pablo and Ryan next year. Then what? They really don't have anyone else to draw over $20 million (maybe Lewis gets there). So, they might end up trading or signing OVERPAID players just to hit the minimum! So, best to own up to the coming reality. The league has already proposed a minimum to balance a cap (I like this). Now, who do they sign now to extend into those minimum years? Our best option is easy and his name is Joe Ryan The risk, as I have mentioned many times, is what to do if Ryan doesn't want to sign. That means you have to trade him at the deadline or this offseason as the very latest. If you keep him next year, you are betting that there still is a QO so you get that one more year out of him and even then, he might be underpaid with the QO. So, like I said, the best plan is to do everything you can to sign him, even if you have to overpay a bit or have to give him a nice signing bonus. He is going to be an outstanding SP for years to come...wouldn't you love him to be starting for the Twins instead of NYY or BOS or ATL? The final reason to sign him is that it will prove that Tom is a man of his word! Nothing says he putting your money where your mouth is better than signing Ryan to a long term contract. JUST GIT ER DONE! Then all this speculation ends....