big dog

I think you are greatly overestimating his value at the time of the trade, but that is your right.

The first year after the trade he only played 2/3 of the season and had an OPS+ of 92. He also had the lowest WAR of any season in which he played over half the games. I was not very impressed by the return in terms of actual value, but I thought it was a good deal for what we gave up.

Dashawn Kiersey Jr made the Braves 1st round playoff roster!

Here are the season totals for ex-Twins I found who spent some time in the majors this year. 23 hitters, highlighted by Ty France (4.5 WAR) and Luis Arraez (2.9 WAR), both of whom are going to the playoffs. Not many game-changers on that list. 34 pitchers, plus Berrios/Henriquez/Graterol who missed the entire year but will hopefully return. Top pitchers were obviously Gray, Varland, and Duran who all had great years. However, I would like to highlight four relievers for whom the Twins got a total of one player who never advanced above AA: Brent Headrick, Steven Okert, Tyler Wells, and Trevor Megill. Each had a WAR between 1.8 and 2.6 and made at least 57 appearances. The Twins bullpen would have been a lot better with even one of those pitchers this year. And we gave them away. Oops. Some of these players will definitely be in the playoffs, like France and Arraez (and Gary Sanchez!). Some others might be (Gil? Wade Jr.?). Others (Farmer, Kiersey) seem unlikely, though their teams have qualified. Perez and Okert are on the IL, might be able to pitch later on. Ex-Twins Hitters 2026 Regular Season Name WAR AB OBP OPS+ Ty France 4.5 440 .363 139 SDP, playoffs Luis Arraez 2.9 596 .345 113 SFG, PHI, Phillies, playoffs Isiah Kiner-Falefa 1.6 161 .322 81 BOS, playoffs Carlos Correa 1.3 122 .369 123 HOU, out since May Mickey Gasper 1.2 191 .357 132 BOS, playoffs Willi Castro 1.0 427 .331 95 COL Gary Sanchez 0.6 225 .349 112 MIL, playoffs Mitch Garver 0.5 126 .302 73 SEA, released Christian Vazquez 0.4 242 .261 64 HOU, playoffs Spencer Steer 0.2 340 .319 104 CIN, out since July Harrison Bader 0.2 106 .198 54 SFG, hurt/restricted list Luke Raley 0.0 262 .284 105 SEA, out since August DaShawn Keirsey 0.0 5 .200 11 ATL Jonah Bride 0.0 5 .333 61 TEX Ben Rortvedt -0.1 27 .185 3 LAD Lamonte Wade Jr. -0.2 127 .308 86 HOU, playoffs? Kyle Farmer -0.2 18 .211 34 ATL, playoffs? James Outman -0.3 157 .235 54 DET, minors Jorge Polanco -1.4 135 .201 22 NYM, out most of year Brent Rooker -0.4 180 .281 82 A’s, out since June Carlos Santana -0.6 24 .154 -20 ARZ, out since April Rob Refsnyder -1.0 114 .211 34 SEA, retired August Edouard Julien -1.0 236 .322 64 COL, AAA in August Ex-Twins Pitchers 2026 Regular Season Name WAR W/L ERA G SV Sonny Gray 4.3 18-5 2.72 29 BOS, playoffs Louis Varland 3.6 5-6 1.27 71 35 TOR Jhoan Duran 3.4 2-6 1.82 61 33 PHI, playoffs Martin Perez 2.9 9-9 3.04 30 ATL, playoffs (on IL) Brent Headrick 2.6 7-4 2.18 81 NYY, playoffs Steven Okert 2.3 6-2 2.13 68 HOU, playoffs (on IL) Tyler Wells 2.3 5-2 2.38 57 6 BAL, TBR Trevor Megill 1.8 3-3 2.63 63 30 MIL, playoffs Tyler Mahle 1.6 7-10 3.99 27 SFG, ATL, playoffs Emilio Pagan 1.3 5-1 3.38 45 25 CIN Randy Dobnak 1.3 3-5 3.51 15 KAN Daniel Duarte 1.1 2-0 2.12 24 NYM Tyler Kinley 0.9 7-5 3.45 64 1 ATL, playoffs Trevor Richards 0.9 0-1 3.69 54 2 PHI, playoffs Jovani Moran 0.9 2-3 3.15 50 BOS, playoffs Yennier Cano 0.8 4-3 2.90 68 3 BAL Griffin Jax 0.7 8-10 3.53 34 TBR, playoffs Scott Blewett 0.6 2-2 3.13 26 STL, A’s Brock Stewart 0.5 1-2 2.70 28 1 LAD, playoffs Cade Povich 0.5 2-1 4.38 8 BAL Dietrich Enns 0.1 3-0 3.94 13 BAL Justin Lawrence 0.1 0-0 4.26 7 WAS (post-Twins) Brooks Kriske 0.1 0-0 0.00 2 A’s Justin Topa 0.1 0-0 0.00 2 NYY Richard Lovelady 0.0 3-4 4.11 38 4 NYM, WAS Luis Gil 0.0 1-2 4.61 9 NYY, playoffs Danny Coulombe -0.1 0-2 4.50 29 BOS. released in July Caleb Thielbar -0.4 3-4 4.86 58 3 CHC, playoffs Charlie Barnes -0.2 0-1 6.92 5 LAD, minors Shaun Anderson -0.6 2-0 7.65 12 LAA, minors Zack Littell -0.5 8-8 5.21 26 WAS, ARI, released in August Chris Paddack -0.8 0-7 6.79 14 MIA, CIN, TEX, released Taylor Rashi -0.2 1-0 7.94 4 ARI, A’s S. Woods-Richardson -1.2 2-7 6.68 20 TOR, SEA (minors IL) Jose Berrios out all year TOR Ronny Henriquez out all year MIA Brusdar Graterol out since beginning of 2025 season LAD

Yeah, I saw the same thing. I disagreed with him then and now, but he's blocked my number so I can't keep saving his butt.

I hope we play the young guys. That gives us the most hope, along with the best chance to win.

Well, you did say he was laughing all the way to the bank. Maybe he heard a good joke or something. I feel sorry for these guys, though people like my friend drafted in the 25th round had pretty low expectations that were quickly met. I doubt if many first rounders can just shrug it off when they fail. End of a more realistic dream.

His BA with Philly is 50 points lower than with SD, and is OPS is 120 points lower. Doesn't seem to have been a great trade even before this bad luck.

I think this might be one of the strangest roster stories in the history of the team. It's practically like having a mannequin in a uniform at the end of the bench.

I can't imagine he's laughing about his career. That's a ridiculous take.

Yup. Thanks, I gotta go get some band-aids now.

It was shocking, agreed, how many of these players have failed to become ML regulars. Sometimes it was injury, sometimes it was probably a failure to adjust to ML pitching, sometimes...who knows. The award is for being a really good hitter in the minors, that's all. I and all the scouts everywhere would like to know more about Palka. He had 27 homers as a rookie and 29 in his career. No major injuries, no idea what happened to his ability to hit.

That might be a commentary on development, but it is at least partly a function of how the winner is chosen. And when your criterion is "were they an All-Star", it is also a function of how many other good players were at the same position.

Interesting to note that after the big success last year, Toronto currently has the worst team batting stats they've had since the early 1980s. Runs per game, OPS, SLG all at historic lows. Losing Bichette can't account for all of that. How much do coaches matter? I don't know.

There is at least potential for that, nice to see. Hope it happens.

Interesting. If we are just thinking about the minor league award, Headrick is the huge miss there since Varland won it twice. Jax is the only other one who was in the minors with the Twins, I think.

Or gee, maybe they are going to look around and try to hire someone better rather than just grab the next person in line. Not mentioning a likely successor doesn’t make me assume they won’t hire anyone.

Thanks for ripping the Cavaco and Levi Michael scabs off. I sure needed those memories back.

This is not a commentary on Deron Johnson, more a commentary on how tough it is to predict players. Kohl Stewart was the 4th player taken in 2013, ending up with a WAR of 0.2. Nick Gordon (5th player chosen) has been out of baseball since May 2025, with a career WAR of -0.5. I never thought he'd be a great player but I thought he'd be at least replacement level. Tyler Jay (6th player chosen) has not played anywhere this season, with a career WAR of 0.00 based on 7 games in the majors. I think the Twins took at least Gordon and Jay well ahead of where they were expected to be drafted, but I doubt if the consensus was that neither had any chance of contributing in significant ways. Here's an interesting fact: the player drafted next after Nick Gordon was...Alex Jackson!!! Yup, same guy. Keith Law described him as one of the best hitters in the draft class, and another ESPN writer called him the best hitter. He's had a better career than Gordon, but still.

Well, we can talk about Chase Petty, our 2021 first round pick who was traded for Sonny Gray. He was up and down between AAA and the majors this year. His AAA stats are: Games 22 (10 started) 58.1 IP 6.17 ERA 1.59 WHIP 57 K, 25 BB 16 games in the majors, 13 in relief. ERA 4.83, 31.2 IP, 15 K, 9 BB. I don't think he shows all that much promise at this point, though he's still just 23 .

Mysterious and spooky... and altogether ooky! (snap twice)

Any reason why Trevor Larnach should not be on this list as well? I know most had him on the list last year and were wrong, but the same reasons seem even stronger now.

To be fair, this team used some pitchers who were even worse than Rogers. They needed him early in the year. It does some like he was kept past his sell-by date as the year went on, though.

and speed, You can say that Boggs and Gwyn were at least "not fast", but they both had about 40 points more slugging percentage and long runs as good fielders. No thank you to Luis. He's been on 5 teams in 5 years. He plays a limited role really well, but teams need someone with more skills.

Yeah, and watching Hosken, Bombo, Lenny, and... Nevermind.