JW24

No reason to automatically pass on a guy who could figure to be the Twins second best reliever this season without knowing what the cost to acquire him would be. Iglesias's walk rate is elevated this year compared to prior seasons. If he can lower that to his career norm (about 3 BB/9), it is reasonable to expect his ERA to drop. The 34 innings he has thrown this season are a small sample size to consider yet. He is also pretty affordable through 2021. If he can be acquired for less than one of the Twins top prospects, I think the Twins would be smart to pull the trigger.

The Mets would be selling lower right now than what it would have cost to acquire him 2 years ago. The asking price is going to be steep, and I wasn't trying to imply the Mets will just give him away. With the amount of team control remaining, the Mets need a significant offer to even consider it. My comment was meant to imply the Twins would be trading for someone who has a higher ceiling than what we have seen from him yet, hence the "buying low".

There is an awful lot of concern that a 26-year-old, who was formerly one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, is too risky to take a chance on, which seems short-sighted to me. The Mets are not exactly a cutting-edge organization. They just hired an 82-year-old as their new pitching coach. I would be willing to see what the Twins organization is able to do with Syndergaard to help him return to his previous form. If anything, the Twins might be buying low on a guy who has yet to realize his full potential, and has team control remaining. Wes Johnson helped turn Martin Perez into a serviceable (above average?) starting pitcher this season. I have faith Syndergaard would see improvement with the Twins as well.

It doesn't really matter, but it was Yoan Moncada that homered off Thorpe, not Jimenez. Moncada is having himself a really nice season, and he put a really nice swing on a tough pitch from Thorpe. Moncada will be a guy who gives Twins pitching issues for a long time I think. I really like the way Rocco has set up the Twins rotation for the 6 games prior to the All-Star break. Getting Odorizzi 2 starts and Berrios and Pineda getting to pitch at Target Field should have the Twins heading into the break on a high note. With Odorizzi pitching the Sunday before the All-Star break, I would be shocked if he gets into the game on Tuesday. I am sure he is ok with how that is playing out, but it is always fun to see Twins actually playing in the game itself. I was beyond pumped when Dozier hit his homer off Melancon back in 2015. Hopefully Polanco has a great game.

I have been a big fan of Max since he made his debut. It has been a lot of fun to watch him progress the past couple years -- the signs of his breakout this year were apparent over the past couple years. He consistently hits the ball so hard that it was only a matter of time for the success he has seen this year to happen. Kepler is also an incredible athlete. I think, behind Buxton, he might be the Twins best pure athlete. I don't have anything to back this up with, but he is one of the best base runners the Twins have as well. Can't wait to see where he goes from here (should be to Cleveland for the ASG). The Twins got an incredible bargain with the contracts they worked out with both him and Polanco. Good foresight by the FO.

I wish, more than anything, this had been something I had available to me in high school and college. I struggled to throw anything that moved, either horizontally or vertically. Understanding the spin rate and axis and working on effective spin would have been so beneficial. This was a great article, I hope you continue to write about this technology and data!

There was an article posted last week on this site asking if Sano was a fading superstar and all the comments were critical of the writing and the question because he is only 26, only has 1,700 career plate appearances, OPS over 1.000 (at the time), and is going to strikeout a ton because that is who he is. The comments on this article are now mostly critical of Sano and his approach, and comparing him to guys like Adam Dunn and Mark Reynolds. Sano's ceiling depends entirely on his ability to reduce his K% and increase his BB%. As he gets more at bats over his career, he will hopefully see both of those ratios shift in his advantage. He will be a guy who is incredibly frustrating at times, and a guy who can carry an offense by himself at others. It is nice he has as much support up and down the lineup now so he does not have to carry the offense.

I agree they should go for it,100%. My thoughts on them potentially being sellers revolve entirely around what their organization would do should they have a couple bad weeks that drops them from contention. The division they play in has 4 teams at or above .500, and with how many divisional games each team plays, their schedule won't even out unless the Rockies and Padres both dip below .500. The Twins might not make a move until closer to the deadline, considering the large lead the Twins have in the central. At that point, the sellers on the market will be more clear. The Diamondbacks could be one and they might not. Just thinking of other possible options here.

They seem to be playing for a WC spot at best (2.5 games back, currently). If they hit a slump and fall further out of the playoff picture, do they change their tune? Moving Goldschmidt last off-season for Luke Weaver (MLB), Carson Kelly (MLB) and Andy Young (AA) would say they want guys either MLB ready or close. Being in the same division as the Dodgers, I don't see them as serious contenders for a couple years at best. It might be in their best interest to trade a couple of guys for a big package of prospects that will debut over the next couple years. But this is purely speculation for the sake of discussion.

I agree that they aren't in a full-on sell mode, but depending on how the next few weeks play out, they will figure out if they are contenders or not, and that changes things for their front office. If they play well leading up to the All-Star break, I doubt they would be sellers, but if they struggle, maybe they look to make a deal? Much like our discussion on the Mets last week, it is a lower probability of a deal happening between these two teams than the other possibilities discussed on this site, but it is something different to consider.

A couple of names not mentioned yet: Arizona has been pretty streaky this year, and based on their off-season, are rebuilding. Robbie Ray (27 years old, 1 year of arbitration remaining) and Archie Bradley (26 years old, 2 years of arbitration remaining) would help fill the need at both SP and RP. Both are somewhat flawed, but offer high ceiling. Oakland has Blake Treinen and Lou Trivino (has struggled as of late) as a couple of guys who might be available for less than what some of the others in the original article might go for.

One of the things Odorizzi has done so well this year is pitch effectively up in the zone with his fastball. Elevating his fastball makes his curveball more effective because of the hump a curveball has prior to breaking; the fastball up helps disguise the curveball a little better. Watching Duffey pitch, and the shape of his curveball, I actually think he should look to elevate his fastball more to help his curveball look more similar to his fastball. At 96+ MPH, it is tough to catch up to an elevated fastball.

If the Twins could add another starting pitcher, I would like to see them move Perez to the bullpen with the intention of Perez and Pineda splitting a game (Pineda for 5 innings, Perez for 4 or whatever is needed). Pineda has been a nice surprise and seems to be effective for 15 outs or so. I haven't looked into it, but I feel like a majority his earned runs come after the 5th inning. Perez has struggled, and his pitch count gets elevated early in games. Bringing him in after Pineda might allow for him to cut his fastball loose a little bit more, and would give the Twins a righty/lefty combo, for whatever that is worth. The other reason I would like to see the Twins go this route is it would give the bullpen a day off once every 5 games, while not taxing Perez or Pineda too significantly. An injury to Berrios/Gibby/Odo would mean these guys would be asked to get more outs/Perez would slot back into the rotation. Time to get creative with the pitching staff if we don't make a move soon to bolster either the rotation or the pen. Edit: From baseball reference - Pineda ERA by inning 1 - 2.25 (12 innings) 2 - 3.75 (12 IP) 3 - 6.00 (12 IP) 4 - 7.71 (11.2 IP) 5 - 7.20 (10 IP) 6 - 6.75 (5.1 IP) 7 - 0.00 (1 IP)

Well, if the Twins ask and the Mets say no chance, the Twins are not out anything. I have seen a lot of posts on various threads about the Twins working out a deal with SF (Bumgarner and Smith) and Toronto (Stroman and Giles). I am just throwing out some other ideas here. I have also mentioned on other threads that I think the Twins should look at Oakland (Trienen) for a deal. There are plenty of potential trade partners for the right price. Many of the posts regarding the Twins' need to address the bullpen come with the caveat of "not for our top prospects" so my interest in the Mets is in asking what price the Twins might have to pay and if it would be worth it. I would also be interested to see what Wes Johnson and Syndergaard could do together. I think it could be impressive.

I understand there is no cap, I was referring to flexibility to spend moving forward below the luxury tax threshold. Additionally, the Mets need to decide if they are in rebuild mode vs contending mode (I personally think they are in rebuild). They already have $130M committed to next season, so if they commit to a rebuild, this is an area they need to address. I have never said anything about the Twins not having the money for Kimbrel. They could have offered more than the Cubs did. They didn't. Do the Twins have the space to accommodate Cespedes? Absolutely. The Twins only have $38.5M committed to next season, and Cespedes would come off the books at the end of 2020, so it would be a 1-year issue. Finally, if the Mets made Syndergaard and Diaz available, I think every prospect is on the table from the Twins. Lewis, Kirilloff, Graterol, Balazovic, Gordon. I would trade all of these guys for proven, elite MLB talent. As I am not in either front office, I don't know if this is too much or not enough. The purpose of including Cespedes in the deal is to lower the Mets asking price by taking that contract off their hands.

I think the way the front office handled the draft this week shows signs of them gearing up to unload some prospects soon for pitching help. The FO seems to be heading toward drafting bats and trading for pitching, which I think is a decent strategy. I would not be surprised if the Twins are able to land a guy or two who outperforms Kimbrel, and maybe Pressly, through the end of the season. I wonder what the asking price from the Mets would be for a package of guys including Syndergaard and Edwin Diaz. Both have multiple years of team control yet, and while the Mets are only 5 games back in their division, they don't have a team that will compete with the Braves or Phillies in the next few years. The Twins have the elite prospects to make a legitimate offer, and should it come to this, they have the cap flexibility (thanks to not overpaying for guys like Kimbrel and Darvish) to take on Yoenis Cespedes' albatross of a contract to provide further cap relief for the Mets.

Last night was just a weird game. Cleveland had to piece together a bullpen game after Carrasco's news. A long rain delay midway through the game. A really slow pace of play leading up to the delay. No need to look at this game and think it is an indication of either team, really. As many others have noted, Perez was bad again. Starting a game with a 4 pitch walk set the tone for him to struggle through his outing. Sano made an error and Castro had a passed ball that resulted in the Twins defense standing on the field for an extra half hour or so while Perez worked incredibly slowly. The bullpen concerns are very valid, but I am more concerned with the fact Baldelli is reluctant to bring Rodgers in too early in a game. Bring Rodgers into the game after the rain delay instead of Parker, let him try to get 6 outs and kill any hope Cleveland has in a comeback. All too often it feels like Baldelli wants to get to the 9th with a lead for Rodgers to protect when Rodgers might best be used earlier to help lock the game down. As it pertains to Kimbrel, the Twins front office has done an incredible job of keeping their payroll flexibility open for future years. A Buxton extension and a Rosario extension are more important. Neither extension prevents the Twins from signing Kimbrel, of course, but there is always some trickle down impact on future signings. I am optimistic the Twins will look to SF or Oakland for more affordable (and possibly more productive) bullpen help.

I haven't seen anyone discussing this possibility yet, but is there any news coming out of Oakland regarding the availability of Blake Treinen? He is arbitration eligible next year and then a FA in 2021. Lou Trivino is another possibility as I look at Oakland's bullpen. With Oakland sitting at .500 and no real chance of winning their division, I would guess they will be sellers at deadline time again.

Berrios hasn't been sharp for a few starts now, by his standards. He is struggling to consistently locate his curveball. When he throws it for a strike, it catches too much plate. When he tries to throw it just off the plate, he is missing by way too much and it isn't drawing the swings and misses he was getting to start the season. I think hitters are sitting on his fastball a little bit right now. This is not meant to be a criticism, just an observation. Berrios has obviously been really good this season. Throwing his curve more effectively will elevate his performance even higher.

I don't know how much release point matters when you are working from 2-0 and 3-1 counts all the time. I am hoping when Berrios is called up, he is able to pound the strike zone. Working ahead in counts will hopefully reduce the number of line drives.

I would like to see the Twins move on from Kyle Gibson once his arbitration years run out. At this point, at 29 years old, he should be hitting the prime of his career. He is essentially the same pitcher that broke into the big leagues in 2013. Watching Gibson pitch, for a guy without overwhelming stuff, he misses spots by huge amounts. He looked defeated on the mound after Danny Santana dropped the fly ball in his last start. Just no toughness, no competitiveness in him. Having a guy like Gibson, who is competent, blocks the way for someone else who might be good from coming in and helping the team. Let him leave.