Major League Ready

The whole thing depends on another team interpreting the underlying numbers & results and believing he can contribute. Sometimes teams believe. Sometimes they are right and sometimes they are wrong but it does happen. Where I see as the bigger problem is a contender looking for help giving up a good major league player for Paddack. Any team investing in a current team will be looking to trade prospects. The question becomes if we have a suitable replacement such we would not be losing much and is the future value meaningful. Cleveland, Oakland, and Tampa have used these types of trades to sustain success but it's not a popular move with fans. No rule says they can't trade Paddack for prospects and buy a bat with prospects.

How about Holland? 983 OPS in AAA last year. 873 this year. 70 grade speed. Plays multiple positions quite well from what I have seen.

What would have been valuable in writing this article would have been an accounting of the actual impact on the sale. Corporate tax rate (fed + state) is 30.8 percent. How much do the twins have in terms of depreciable assets. I don't know the entirety of the tax code for sports teams but based on what I have read, the salaries of Correa, Buxton, and Lopez are the biggest contributors. The three contract are about $260M after this year which makes the tax break about $80M or 5% at $1.5B. The Pohlad's offers just went down by 5%.

You make a very important distinction. I was thinking in terms players that could stick and I failed to mention that here. This distinction really completely changes the conversation in my mind. Thanks for pointing this out. I have Julien very low and Miranda relatively low because right now I have no faith in them sticking. I have the catchers high because the bar is low being this is a back-up position and there will definitely be an opening. I have the utility guys higher because there will likely be a couple open roster spots for versatile bench guys.

There are several articles detailing the tax breaks given to sports teams if anyone wants a summary of the tax breaks, just google it. (see one example below) I can't imagine anyone here would feel bad about owners losing "bonus depreciation" which includes player contracts, goodwill, media contracts. Keep in mind these expenses are deducted from revenue to determine taxable income. Then, they get a bonus deduction. It's simply not fair. Tax Breaks for Sports Teams

Nobody is trading an impact bat right now unless they get waaaay overpaid. That's never smart. We just got Wallner and Buxton back and Keaschall will be back too. Let's see what they look like before we panic. Do we really have an excess? What about next year when Paddack is gone and what if SWR continues to be questionable as a starter? Matthews and either Festa or SWR fill out the rotation. That's not much depth.

Back-up catchers always seem to be available so I would agree it's the most likely scenario. I went about this wondering which position players have a shot. If they promote Cardenas and he continues to hit, I could see them giving him a shot because he has looked good defensively the few times I have seen him catch. Maybe he is not as good defensively as I think from a SSS.

Clemens is not a free agent until 2030. I just don't believe in Camargo at all. I was sitting pretty close to home plate for a game he started last year and he looked absolutely overwhelmed by major league pitching. I have not seen enough of Winkel behind the plate to have an opinion if he can stick. If they promote Cardenas in the next couple months, I can see him getting a shot. I suppose they can just sign a back-up free agent catcher.

You would not have to try real hard to convince me of that one. They are playing Eeles all over the diamond so he is a great candidate to replacement for Castro. Clemens is in the right place at the right time and for now he looks like he belongs. Of course, that could change quickly given the sudden success within a small sample size.

Keep in mind the premise here is by this date next year. One of the catchers seems like a high probability. Keaschall is the most sure thing IMO. One of the catchers seems very likely but who? Camargo looked lost at the plate in his short stint last year and he is not doing much offensively this year. His 577 OPS at AAA does not inspire confidence he can hit at the MLB level. Rodriguez fits a need but he is not really impressing at the moment. Julien and Miranda are also not impressing. One of the players that can handle multiple positions like Will Holland for example would seem to have a good chance to replace Castro . They like bench guys that can cover a few positions which is why Clemens might have a shot to stick.

I was only looking at position players.

Lately, when I am looking at the Milb recap, I am asking myself which prospects have the best chance to be on the MLB roster by this time next year. Guys like Julien and Miranda have fallen by the wayside. Castro will be gone next year. We may or may not resign Bader. When you look at the farm system, which position players do you think have the best chance of being here. I put together a list of 20 prospects (including Clemens). How would you rank them in terms of likelihood of making the roster by 6/1/26 when consider position and performance. 1 AAA Luke Keaschall U 2 AAA Austin Martin OF 3 MLB Kody Clemmens U 4 AA Noah Cardenas C 5 AAA Will Holland U 6 AAA Payton Eeles U 7 AAA Patrick Winkel C 8 AA Ricardo Olivar C 9 AAA Emmanuel Rodriguez OF 10 AAA Mickey Gasper IF 11 AAA Anthony Prato U 12 AA Walker Jenkins OF 13 AAA Jose Miranda 1B/3B 14 AAA Jefferson Morales U 15 AAA Carson McCusker OF 16 AA Dalton Shuffield U 17 AA Kyler Fedko OF 18 AAA Edouard Julien 2B/1B 19 AA Gabriel Gonzalez OF 20 AA Tanner Schobel IF

Why should players demoted on an off-day be the only players paid for an extra day beyond when the team needs them? If these guys are going to get paid for an extra day when they are not needed, shouldn't every player that's demoted get paid for an extra day? I wonder what happens in other businesses when a manager with spending authority routinely continues to pay for resources that are no longer needed?

I know Gasper did not do much within the SSS we saw him at the big league level but damn, the man has been putting up phenomenal numbers. Gasper getting another shot would be another benefit of sending Lewis down.

Martin has not played in over 3 weeks but that does not change the viability of sending Lewis down. They can play Lee, Castro or Bride to 3rd. They have Castro, Clemens and Lee for 2nd. Castro is not needed in the OF when Wallner gets back.

I will take "Things with absolutely no chance of happening" for $1,000 Alex.

My first thought was until Keaschall gets back. However, if they get a decent offer I could see Castro getting traded and Bride staying. It would be nice to see Will Holland play really well and get a chance to replace Bride or Castro. I thought he was going to get a shot last year before he got hurt. It would be nice to see more athleticism and defense on the bench which he could provide.

Lee has never provided any offense and Castro had a wRC+ of 87 the second half of last season so it’s been awhile since he has been part of the solution. Lewis was also horrible the 2nd half. The three guys that carried the offense last year were Wallner, Buxton, and Correa. None of them are contributing right now and that’s why the offense is relatively unproductive. Wallner and Buxton were looking good prior to going out. It would seem they are the most likely players to boost the offense. Correa seems like the next most likely. He is simply better than he has been playing. I am not sure what to make of Lewis but this will be a different team if 2 or 3 of these four can perform consistent with their ability. Keaschall is the 2nd half wild card. He looked great but he was not around long enough to find out what happens when pitchers adjust.

Kiersey ranks 377th of 379 hitters with 50 PAs. It's not like he is below average. He is in the bottom 1%. This is not a last place (rebuilding) team. He is a detriment every day he is in the line-up. I can't wait for Wallner to get back! Promote Holland if we need a defensive role player later in the year. He has more speed and the ability to back-up several positions including CF and SS. Gett Wallner back on tomorrow. I don't want to see Kiersey in the batter's box.

Let’s think about your statement. How many starting spots are filled by players that broke into the majors as a Twin. RF – Wallner CF – Buxton LF – Larnach 3B – Lewis 2B – Lee C - Jeffers 6 of 8 position players and 3 of 5 starting pitchers and 4 of 5 by next year. The only one not developed was acquired in trade for a player we did develop. Of course, Ryan was not exactly developed and drafted but he was acquired for nothing before making his debut. Our top RPs (Duran / Jax / Sands) all developed here. They failed to develop players? They are playing as well as any team in the league with a team primarily developed from within. Their big free agent splash is not a big contributor, at least not yet. Not sure that spells failure.

That appears to be enough rehabbing for Wallner. Get him back in the Twins lineup very soon.

We have ignored any discussion of the options. Most would have chosen Christian Walker. His wRC+ is 68 vs 98 for France. We were not going to get Alonso from the Mets. That's where he wanted to be and Goldschmidt was not coming here over the Yankees. We could have gotten Santana and he has been slightly better than France. Bell was another option but he has been terrible.

Cardenas only has 74 Abs. It would make sense they want to see a bit more before promoting him given he did not perform offensively last year. I can see them waiting a month. They need to promote the right guy because the player they promote is going to be their best internal candidate to replace Vasquez. I would like to see Cossetti's ABs come at 1B until they decide who gets promoted. That would increase the ABs for Cardenas and give Cardenas and Olivar more reps behind the plate.

For as long as he remains hot or even measurably better than France, you look to Clemens and sit France.

He doesn't get more games behind the plate because they have 3 catching prospects all getting roughly equal time. Like you, I would like to see a scouting report on Twins catching prospects or better yet, one of the player development staff interviewed on a podcast. Twins catching prospects could be question #1. Of the AA catchers, Olivar and Cardenas seem to be better prospects than Cossetti. Hopefully, we will see one of those two moved up to AAA by mid season. That would at least give them a shot at earning the back-up role when Vazquez becomes a free agent. My limited knowledge of their defensive ability is that Cardenas is the better defender but that comes from a very SSS watching them in Milb TV. Perhaps someone who has seen them more can weigh in.