Major League Ready

Good point! The way I see it, the Twins were going to have to take back salary or eat some of Donaldson's salary. Getting Sanchez was a lot better option than eating salary. We should keep in mind that Donaldson had an option for 2024 at $16M or an $8M buyout. So, The Twins were very likely going to eat $8M down the road anyway and get nothing not to mention they have an extra $21M to spend next year.

I think most people were ready to dump Sano a long time ago and Rooker has not been high on anyone's list for even longer. Which Hick's are you talking about?

We had a crazy number of players with the opportunity to step up and lock down a roster spot for the next few years. Kirilloff / Larnach / Miranda / Celestino / Lewis and Jeffers as position players. Ryan / Winder / Smeltzer / Duran / Jax / Cano / Moran and Megill among pitchers. Several of them are looking very good and we have two-thirds of a season for Jeffers and others to step up.

Here is a list of the biggest contracts signed by the teams in the bottom half of revenue. Nine of the 15 teams have signed a $150M plus deal with the largest being Stanton for 13/325. The highest annual salary paid by Miami was $14.5M and they traded the year his salary was to increase to $25M. The Dbacks traded Greinke after 3 years and they had to sub 500 seasons while they had him. The Mariners were able to unload the horrible decision to sign Cano to a contract for 10/240. Thatb was fortunate because it would be an anchor for them now. Votto has been good but the Reds have been horrible with the exception of the first year of the extension. Yehlich has been mediocre since signing his deal. A couple were so disastrous (Davis / Cabrera) they could not be moved. None of these $150M+ deals resulting in success for the team, at least not for the teams that originally signed them. Orioles: Chris Davis – 7 years, $161MM. Signed 1-21-16. Athletics: Eric Chavez – 6 years, $66MM. Signed 3-18-04. Brewers: Christian Yelich – 7 years, $188.5MM. Signed 3-6-2020. Diamondbacks: Zack Greinke – 6 years, $206.5MM. Signed 12-8-15. Indians: Edwin Encarnacion – 3 years, $60MM. Signed 1-7-17. Mariners: Robinson Cano – 10 years, $240MM. Signed 12-12-13. Marlins: Giancarlo Stanton – 13 years, $325MM. Signed 11-18-14. Pirates: Jason Kendall – 6 years, $60MM. Signed 11-18-00. Rays: Evan Longoria – 6 years, $100MM ( plus three club options for another $30MM). Signed 11-26-12. Reds: Joey Votto – 10 years, $225MM. Signed 4-2-12. Rockies: Nolan Arenado – 7 years, $234MM. Signed 2-26-19. Royals: Alex Gordon – 4 years, $72MM. Signed 1-6-16. Tigers: Miguel Cabrera – 8 years, $248MM. Signed 3-31-14. Twins: Joe Mauer – 8 years, $184MM. Signed 3-21-10. White Sox: Yasmani Grandal – 4 years, $73MM. Signed 11-21-19.

They actually made two bets. The short-term bet (current year) was that they could find a replacement for Garver. I see it as they neither gained nor lost anything this year. It's really a long-term question at this point. They have the rest of the year and next off-season to improve the catcher position in 2023 and beyond. They could sign a free agent to be the primary catcher and use Jeffers as a back-up. Do we have a guy in the system? Is Hamilton's breakout sustainable? Alex Isola has a 900 OPS at AA. Could he get promoted to AAA for the 2nd half of the season and audition for the job on the big club. They also will be in a position to go sign a FA catcher next year. I see it as the most obvious opportunity to improve the team where position players are concerned.

Who would be the pick if you got to make it?

Miranda / CES & Steer all have roughly the same Milb OPS. Miranda's K rate was around 15% the other two around 25%. Steer is the best defender and more versatile defender. Of course, Miranda and Steer are proven at the AAA level and CES is earlier in the process and only reached high A.

Steer had 8 HRs in 156 ABs at AA and 8 HRs in 79 ABs at AAA. He was raking at AA and his OPS is 100 pts higher in AAA. I guess he was ready for the promotion.

Have to agree. Montas or Castillo will require a very good SP prospect. What do you think they would ask? Winder or Ryan plus Steer or SWR plus Lewis? Duran / Steer?

Very well put. I would hate to lose Arraez but Steer would make a great replacement IF the return was right. Steer is no Wander Franco but the Rays moving Adames is somewhat parallel. It's a great problem. By that I mean having Kirilloff / Polanco / Lewis and Miranda as our future infield with Steer waiting in the wings and Arraez and Gordon on the bench. Gordon might seem like the logical choice to be moved. However, that skillset fits well on this team and the others have trade value that could be impactful. The point being trading one of Miranda / Kirilloff / Ster or Arraez will have more value than keeping them all if the right trade presents itself. BTW ... The Rays got a SP and a RP that combined are definitely more valuable than Adames. They were both already at the MLB level and both have really stepped up this year.

It was a very short while ago that many were calling for Lewis and/or Larnach to be traded. I don't see the point in selling low. He is not bringing any form of impact player now or in the near future. That would require Duran / Lewis / Ryan / Larnach / Miranda / Kirilloff type assets. Maybe we could throw in Brian Duensing. ?

I wonder if having the draft so late is going to hold up some promotions.

Cotton is not on the 40 man. He was here on a Covid exception and we will have several players coming off the IL and Covid lists. They are going to have some 40 man challenges when Ryan / Gray / Correa / Kirilloff and Alcala come back. Part of this is also you don't just dump a guy that has been part of the team for 6 years without giving them a chance to redeem themselves. It's not good for morale. There are also MANY examples of players who struggle for a while and then do great. Buxton really sucks right now too. I am betting he we get back to playing great.

I just don't know how they put Sano back on the active roster unless he crushes it during his rehab. They should eat the salary and use the roster spot for someone that will here next year. Trade him for $250K of International draft money. I would take $100K but ask $250K.

Gordon's skill set has to have value. A guy that can play that many positions and hit reasonably well has to be a tradeable asset. The problem is pulling off a trade this time of year. Sending down Miranda when the bat has come alive this way is a really tough pill to swallow but I don't see an alternative that does not require they cut Gordon or send Miranda down.

We couldn't get anything better than what we already have for those players. Plus, a team willing to trade good pitching is not likely to be interested in Kepler. Good pitching is traded for elite prospects.

Me too. I was looking at it the other day trying to get a feel for how it will shake out. There are a bunch of new guys that will be added and some guys like Steer that are going to jump up quite a bit. I think we will see a lot of prospects where an argument could be made to rank them from 15-30. It will be interesting.

You need to post of your confidence in Steer more often. 3 HRs and a walk today. OPS is 985. He must be reading TD and gaining confidence.

Palacios has not had many tough plays but you can still see the great footwork and arm. He is definitely a SS.

He has closed games. That was not the most important situation yesterday. He was put in yesterday because the top of Detroit's line-up has been doing damage and 1-3 were due up yesterday when he came in. *** Sorry, didn't see the other posts before I made this one and repeated what was already said..

Should we let Buxton and Polanco go too. They have been horrible lately. Correa has not been on the field. Let him go too. Even Arraez did not hit during this series. Blaming Rocco because the team is not hitting is just comical.

Replacing a guy with a 4.19 ERA with a 7.88 ERA guy does not seem like a good move. How about we get Ryan / Gray and Winder back in the next couple weeks and go with Gray / Ryan / Ober / Winder / Smeltzer and Bundy if one of them are out?

Spencer Steer is this year's Jose Miranda. He is going to give Miranda a run for the 3B job next year. Steer and Gordon would also be a very flexible / valuable pair off the bench.

I would like to see Parada drop to the Twins but that seems unlikely, so I am with those who would go with Susac. However, I could see this FO going with Berry if Parada and Susac are gone. He might be the best college bat and he is a switch hitter. He likely ends up a 1B so that bat better be really good. I hated the Sabato pick but this guy could be a middle of the order beast for a long-time.

I definitely agree on favoring the more athletic player but I don’t see much problem with the 40-man next year. All of these players will be coming of it. Miguel Sanó / Chris Archer / Joe Smith / Carlos Correa / Dylan Bundy / Tyler Duffey / Gary Sanchez. There are a few relief pitchers that will be proven worthy or not by the end of this year. (Strotman / Romero / Cano / Minaya / Moran / Megill) even Henriguez is questionable the way he has been getting hit. I could definitely see them trading Kenta Maeda and Gio Urshela. That’s a total of 16 so cutting a dozen next year would not be a problem. All of the transactions since the Berrios trade indicate this FO is dedicated to two things, sustained success and building a pitching staff from within. Of course, the latter facilitates the former. The A’s are going to want Winder / Larnach maybe even Lewis type assets for Montas. Trading away those players does not promote sustained success. I don’t see it happening unless the Twin’s bats absolutely catch fire. If Steer is a reasonable back-up for SS, a bench of Steer / Arraez / Celestino and Garlick would be very strong. There are many potential directions. They could even trade Polanco this off-season. Of course, they could also sell high on Arraez. These are things the A’s or Ray’s would do.