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Major League Ready

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Everything posted by Major League Ready

  1. Major League Ready
    Absolutely agree that if it's a typical full rebuild they should trade all three. I think this situation is unique because of the pending sale. They could trade one of the big three, get an impact prospect back plus a couple others, and remain competitive given their pitching depth. If you break it down by SP / RP / INF / OF they only gutted the BP. The only position player of note to get traded is Correa which is not that big a deal given his current level of play. We won't lose that much going with Lee and I see that as a net positive once Culpper is here. Correa is aging out a SS before our eyes. Culpepper was going to take over anyway. What were we going to do with Correa. Lewis looks like the better choice at 3B at the moment. I realize his rebound is recent but I would take Lewis and the extra money invested elsewhere over Correa. Keaschall takes over 2B. That's a net gain. Now, find a 1B and you have a better infield than we have seen lately with the risk of an albatross contract. How about the OF? Buxton has not slowed down a bit. We still have Larnach and Wallner but we have several upgrade options no more than a year off if they are really that good. I believe Buxton and Jenkins are two-thirds of the equation by this time next year. Between Rodriguez / Gonzalez / Outman / Roden and Martin our OF is upgraded considerably over the present over the course of the next year. It makes no sense to keep all three but I see them working hard to remain competitive while they remake this team. I think one or maybe two of Pablo / Ryan / Ober get traded this off-season. I could see one going in the off-season and another at the deadline next year as they reconfigure the starting rotation around Matthews / Bradley / Abel / Rojas / Festa / Prelipp. I am not sure about SWR. They also have higher end pitching prospects like Soto / Hill / Quick and a couple others who look to have high ceilings. Where does that leave us? I completely agree with you but think it plays out more slowly than trading all three of this winer.
  2. Major League Ready
    Complete rebuild. No, they need to rebuild their BP. The starting pitching is incredibly deep with Lopez / Ryan / Ober / Matthews / Bradley / Festa / Abel and SWR already at the ML level and Rojas / Morris / Prelipp / Culpepper and Raya not far off. The only change in the INF is Correa and his current level of production will not be hard to replace. He is already becoming suspect at SS. We will be far better off with Culpepper at SS and $66m to spend extending some of this young talent. Lewis is finally hitting and Keaschall takes over 2B. Add someone who can play 1B and the INF looks considerably better at this time next year. Where the OF is concerned we have the same OF as yesterday with several potential upgrades that should be ready next year in the form of Jenkins / GG / Rodriguez. Outman has produced at the ML level so it's realistic to believe he can again and Roden hit at every level. Martin looks like he could be a great utility guy. That's a lot of OF depth. They do have a lot of work to do in the BP but it'd not what I think of in terms of a total rebuild. It could become one if they trade a couple of their established starters this winter. My bet is they trade one of Pablo / Ryan/Ober given the number of starters they have now.
  3. Major League Ready
    I would bet your prediction is correct. I would not agree they should rush very good prospects at AAA when they just just acquired two OFers that already have Major league experience. Outman produced 3.9 WAR his first year then got hurt and lost his job which can happen pretty easily in LA. They would not have traded Stewart for him if they did not believe in Outman. You can disagree with them on Outman but now that they have invested in him, Outman will get a look. He is also the CF back-up. Roden has struggled in his first 100 ABs but he hit at every level including a 919 OPS at AAA this year. There is nothing left for him to prove at AAA so now is the time to see if he can make the jump. They have Martin as well. They are not going to rush the guys in AA when they have three guys that are ready and need a look right now. Lee plays SS for now. Culpepper likely gets promoted to AAA any day now and he takes over from Lee sometime next season. Same reason, no reason to rush him. They have a lot of players at AA / AAA that are ready or will be ready by this time next year. The rest of 2025 and 2026 will be devoted to sorting out all of these OFers and Pitchers.
  4. Major League Ready
    That's a creative solution. They would likely still need to eat some salary, but I would like to see it happen. I look very forward to an outfield of Buxton / Jenkins and Rodriguez. It will be fun to watch athletes patrol the OF at Target Field. It would likely mean Lee plays SS until Culpepper arrives but that's OK. With the OFers mention above and Keaschall / Culpepper, this team will have very good athletes at every position outside of C and 1B remains to be seen.
  5. Major League Ready
    Twins are looking at JC Escarra from the Yankees. Vazquez is a replacement level player. By definition, he is not hard to replace. They could get an equivalent player in free agency for half of what they are paying Vazquez. Where winning a WS is concerned, they are nowhere near winning a WS with this collection of talent. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves how to get there. Free agency is not an option. The growing cost of our arbitration players will consume our budget. Option 2 is do we have superstar prospects joining the team next year and will they develop in time to win a WS by 2027 when Lopez / Ryan / Ober / Duran and Jax all become free agents. Highly unlikely. Option 3 - Can we trade prospects for 2-3 elite players and elevate this team to true contender? That option entails trading away Jenkins / Matthews / Keaschall and a few others. Ask yourself what small or mid-market team has elevated their team to contender with this strategy. Then ask, which teams elevated their status by trading away established players. Chicago won the WS in 2005 with a home grown team. Over the next 19 seasons, one small/mid market team has won the WS. The 2015 Royals who acquired their best player (Cain) and starting SS (Escobar) by trading Zach Greinke. The most successful small market team (Cleveland) has traded away more established players than any team I can think with the possible exception of the Rays. The other most successful small market team. If we chose option 3 and cash in most of our major assets, how does the future look? Bleak for several years is the likely answer.
  6. Major League Ready
    Fair enough. If we look at other writers that offered an opinion, what do we see. I found 3 articles grading the trade. The Twins got two Bs and an A-. Not stellar but a long way from the gloom and doom here. The point remains it's good to look around for opinions that are not from fans. MPLS Star Trubune The Athletic Clutch Points
  7. Major League Ready
    Thanks. It's nice to get an unbiased view.
  8. Major League Ready
    Sure, you are absolutely right, they could have gotten another prospect. It would have been someone with a miniscule chance of ever playing in the majors. I guess our difference lies in that I could care less about that kind of prospect. The other difference is that I accept it's a business and expect it will be run accordingly. In their shoes, I would take the savings over a prospect with a 100:1 shot every time as would anyone else that has ever been responsible for the P&L in a $300M business.
  9. Major League Ready
    So, it's not possible that Detroit was offering Jimenez and another team was offering a prospect that the Twins thought was equal or that they liked a little less? The Twins say "hey Detroit we like the other team's prospect but if you take Dobnak we will take your offer, Are you saying that kind of gamesmanship does not take place in Major League trades? The only possibility is that absolute equity is negotiated in every instance and no team is ever outmaneuvered by another team?
  10. Major League Ready
    I think your first sentence says it all. It's likely more than one thing is true in this trade. Maybe they were down to two prospects and Jimenez was the prospect they really wanted. Yet, they were able to convince Detroit to take Dobnak in the deal. It's quite possible they handled this masterfully. However, for those who are inclined to look for the negative, there is a logical reason to interpret this negatively. Given we are all uniformed, I tend to look at simplistically and ask was the return reasonable. I certainly didn't expect anything better so I am not going to complain they saved a little money this year and next.
  11. Major League Ready
    I agree but some of these deadline deals surprise me. The return for Tanner Scott last year was pretty shocking given he was a rental. Two top 50s still seems highly unlikely but a top 50 and a top 100 plus another decent piece seems attainable given the market. I am just guessing the potential of this particular deadline. If the circumstances provide unique opportunity, I would not feel bad about cashing in Duran for a major haul. We need to shake it up.
  12. Major League Ready
    My interpretation is that there are a lot of pitchers that are effective one or twice through the order. Can they develop specifically for that role and maximize effectiveness? Probably. They might also be thinking this approach would cover more innings. If they can get 2 IPs twice a week that's over 100 IPs. 180-200 IP from 2 BP arms would be great. That would be a good way to preserve the BP. Again, I will wait and see if this can be executed. In theory, I like the idea of a couple guys that can go 2-3 innings per outing twice a week. If they can make this an effective strategy, I will like it a lot. I give them props for thinking outside the box. It's a little Tampa Bayish.
  13. Major League Ready
    It's a lot easier to enter the game against the 4/5/6 or 5/6/7 hitters than it is to face the top of the order. It gives them the opportunity to pitch more innings without facing the top of the order 3 times.
  14. Major League Ready
    Joe Ryan is an anomaly. With the exception of top of the rotation starters and back of the BP relief pitchers, expiring contracts do not generally bring back high ceiling major league ready players. Would you give up Zebby Matthews for Coulombe, Bader or Castro? Teams don't give up players they expect to have an impact in the next season unless they are getting a combination of impact and years of control.
  15. Major League Ready
    That would be great but seems a little steep. I sure hope we get a nice surprise or two.
  16. Major League Ready
    The Dodgers have 7 RHP with a 45 FV. That would seem like as much as we are going to get for Bader. Seems like a good fit.
  17. Major League Ready
    I would be interested to hear why you believe 2B is so much more likely. I have only seen him in the OF a handful of times but he looked better that Larnach and Wallner. Where does Lee play because Lewis has improved significantly at 3B to the point where to me he looks like a better 3B defender than Lee. Clemmens has been good at 2B. It's Martin's best position and Julien has been raking in AAA. He is in the mix too. That's a lot of guys that can play 2B. With Bader gone, they have one good defense OFer on the current roster. Two if you count Clemmens. I think Larnach is a prime trade candidate this winter. In short, they need Keaschall in the OF more than they do 2B. If Larnach is gone, I see them as six deep in the OF. Buxton / Wallner / Rodriguez / Keaschall / Clemmens and Martin. However, within that group, Wallner is the weakest defensively and he ends up DHing a lot.
  18. Major League Ready
    Keaschall has not played a lot of games at any position because he has played several positions including CH. If he can handle CF, he can handle LF.
  19. Major League Ready
    What strikes me most is that they have rarely traded away players that would be expected to return players of any consequence. The return on good players has been very good. This year they have a number of good (not great) players expiring. What is the expectation for expiring players like Casto / Bader / Coulombe and Paddack? I saw a couple posts suggesting prospects that had a 50 FV which seems high. What should we expect?
  20. Major League Ready
    Stewart and Topa are under team control next year. Why not trade Coulombe, get value, and then sign them like the Tigers did with Flaherty.
  21. Major League Ready
    Just spit balling but they might see Winokur's greatest value in a Willi Castro role. His bat does not look like that of a starter at the moment. However, a guy that can back up SS and CF is valuable. He could end up providing the greatest value by competently backing up several positions. There are all kinds of options if the bat gets better.
  22. Major League Ready
    I think any team trading for Stewart is thinking more of winning in the post season than getting innings. I also doubt they see a 25 IP pitcher given he is on pace for 50 IP.
  23. Major League Ready
    I maybe like Stewart a little too much and don't believe the return will be worthwhile. However, if another team believes in his health and value over the next 2 1/2 years, cash in that chip. The return for that type of RP has been very high in recent years. It's going to be an interest next few days. Let's hope the future looks better 5 days from now.
  24. Major League Ready
    Castro has been good and I have been shouting his praises the last couple years. However, I would go with Nelson Cruz. Nelly raked in a Twins uniform, was a great leader and we got Joe Ryan for a 1/2 year of Cruz.
  25. Major League Ready
    Zebby for me. Better fastball although he did leave quite a few fastballs over the heart of the plate last night. He won't get away with that with good hitters. I think he has the potential to be every bit as good as Ryan and Festa looks like at least a 3 to me if he commands his pitches. No way in hell I would trade either of them. I would trade Ober before either one of them or perhaps Pablo if the money was spent wisely.
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