Major League Ready

Milwaukee as well. It seemed to me to be about 50/50 in terms of TD posters favoring buying or selling but perhaps the majority wanted to "go for it". I was actually surprised there were many people that wanted to follow a strategy more focused on building a true contender. I guess I am a greedy fan. I don't care about constructing a team with a 25% chance of getting the last wildcard spot in a year when the AL is really weak. I want to follow an approach that can build a team that is really good for several years. We passed on an opportunity to get some impact prospects and we traded away a couple guys with the potential to be high impact players. Who knows, they all might turn out to never play at the major league level. We still gave up the potential to make the team a lot better for several years. We can't buy those players like some other teams. The opportunity we just passed up is how low revenue teams can create an opportunity.

They needed a pitcher like Berrios was the previous year (2021). The 2022 version that had an ERA of 5.23 would not necessarily have negated their need for a good SP although Berrios did give them 3 very good innings before being pulled in game 2.

They did not get anything back. This has been established but you can't look at it this simplistically. He had no value to the 2021 team given they were out of contention. He produced .9 WAR in 2022 which was his last season of control. That's as far as the trade comparison goes and he had no value. You can't lump in the rest of his career. If you want to look beyond the 1.5 seasons of control they gave up, you have to do that in the context of should they have extended him. His first year was good. (2.9 WAR) The last 3 seasons he has produced a total of 2.4 WAR. He could bounce back but right now I am very glad they did not extend him.

The theory that Cleveland drafted and developed was one of those assumptions people make without actually validating the theory. Cleveland traded for most of their pitching. Of course, they should be given credit for development but most of their pitching came via trade for prospects or guys that had made it to the majors but had not established themselves. I went back and looked at their 90-win teams after Falvey joined the organization. Here is a list of the pitchers that were the most productive and how they were acquired. Justin Masterson Trade - Had 200 IP in MLB but was unproven Ubaldo Jiménez Trade - Jiminez was well-established Corey Kluber Trade - Prospect Scott Kazmir Free Agent - 1 Year Deal Zach McAllister Trade - Prospect Carlos Carrasco Trade - Prospect Trevor Bauer Trade - Made it the majors but had negative WAR Andrew Miller Trade - Well-established Bryan Shaw Trade - made in to the majors but was unproven Danny Salazar Intl Draft Mike Clevinger Trade - Prospect Josh Tomlin Drafted Cody Allen Drafted Shane Bieber Draft Mike Clevinger Trade - Prospect Brad Hand Trade Triston McKenzie Drafted Emmanuel Clase Trade - Prospect Cal Quantrill Trade - Made it to the majors but was unproven Justin Masterson

They really whiffed on that trade. I will cut them a little slack because the national writers generally thought the Twins did very well in that trade. However, teams like the Twins just can't afford to whiff when trading an asset like Berrios. Cleveland has turned a lot of 1-1/2-year assets into 6-year assets and that's a big part of how they have put 90-win teams on the field far more often than most teams in the bottom half of revenue. It was a good move to trade him given we were out of that year and he was considerably below average the following year which was his last year of team control. He also has only had one good year since the extension so it certainly was not a mistake to let him go. However, the still had an opportunity to improve the club for 5-7 years and they whiffed.

I don't have to tell you that the lack of opportunity is part of the cost of a playoff push with a sub 500 team. They were going down a path of clearing spots for the young talent when Tom Pohlad decided to halt the rebuild they had started last year at the deadline. You are probably right that they will continue down this same path to mediocrity next year.

There have been a couple mental mistakes but that's to be expected when you drop a guy into to 1B having never played the position. He has actually fielded quite well.

I think we would all agree that this is a given. Success does not follow from drafting or trading poorly. Two teams could follow very similar practices and have very different outcomes. Therefore, we should be asking ourselves what Milwaukee / Cleveland / Tampa does differently from the Twins and other teams that have not been able to sustain much success. One of those things is they don't often let good players walk for nothing.

No doubt, it's easy to say they should have traded for the best-case scenario. It's not that easy. However, teams with a significant revenue disadvantage have to find a way to overcome the inability to buy talent. Milwaukee, Tampa, and especially the Guardians do not standout because they draft and develop a lot better than other modest revenue teams. They acquire a lot of prospects, some of them in the form of guys that have made it to the majors but not proven anything. It could be Trevor Megill for PTBNL or Freddy Peralta who they got for 1 year of Adam Lind. These teams don't let players go for nothing. There is an opportunity in down years to invest in the future. Trade away guys like Larnach and give Culpepper, Jenkins, Roden, Rodriguez, Martin, and even Fedko / Sabato a chance. It may not work but what were the odds this team was going to be a significant contender? You invest 1 year in prospects for the chance to build a team that can be good for several years. Instead, they traded away a couple high upside guys and could have acquired a couple other high upside guys. That potential may not be reached but executing that strategy separates the modest revenue teams that contend frequently form the many who do not.

You might be right but they would still have Lopez / Bradley / Kremer / Prielipp / Abel / Matthews / Rojas / Paredes and maybe Festa. Abel was very good before going down. Prielipp looks like he belongs and Rojas is finding his command. If Rojas improves his command, he has to be in the rotation. Even if they trade Ryan, they have 4 veterans if Ober stays. That normally would be good but not when 3 or of these young guys look to have considerably more upside than Ober.

Have you heard of a guy named Walker Jenkins?

Kendle with another good game. 2 hits and a walk. This guy has my attention.

I think you hit it on the head. However, this was not a Falvey/Zoll decision, IMO. I think this was an ownership decision based on Tom Pohlad's statements and that Falvey had started down a rebuild path. I think Falvey told him that changing direction in the middle of a rebuild was the dumbest thing they could possibly do and Pohlad showed him the door.

They are not going to fix the defensive woes overnight, but I can see a scenario where it improves a lot by this time next year. Lee is average at 3B and Lewis should be just fine at 1B with a little more time. We are weak up the middle which of course is a real problem. However, I saw quite a bit at Culpepper at AAA and the eye test says he is above average. We badly need Houston's offense to continue to improve. If he could be here by July next year, Culpepper slides to 2B and the INF defense is not stellar but it's above average and strong up the middle. Now, the OF. We all expect Jenkins is going to be here soon and that's going to be a significant upgrade. The other guy we really need is to make the leap to the majors is Rodriguez. He gives us a strong defensive corner OFer and a backup CFer that can hit same hand pitching and run the bases. If those two guys join Buxton our OF defense improve vastly. The speed these young guys will bring will also improve our base running. I pray these young guys make it because this team will be a lot more fun to watch.

This team was really well-positioned to rebuild quickly. They had 5 young starters that needed playing time (Matthews / Abel / Prielipp / Festa and Rojas. SS was a huge need and they had a guy near ready. The OF was in a similar state and they had multiple guys near ready. Culpepper and Rodriguez could have been on the big club by July 1. Ryan and Jeffers could have returned impact players. If the reports on Tolle / Arias are true, going for it probably made the team weaker for the next 7 years. They could have brought back a very good pitching prospect for Jeffers and of course, they also gave up a couple of high ceiling prospects in trade for Hoffman and Kremer. Milwaukee and Tampa do not make these mistakes. This was a very foolish / short-term focused decision by ownership even if the Twins do manage to get the last WC spot.

He was really good in Cedar Rapids but he has been a beast since arriving in Wichita. He looks pretty good in the OF too. His stock is going to shoot up if he finishes the season strong,

The Brewers would have never passed up the chance to get something good for Jeffers. They traded Burnes in a year that they were expected to contend. Their practices are just far more effective for building sustainable success. They also seem to find a way to get significant contributions from players that fail elsewhere like Vaughn for example or Megill who we gave up on..

I have seen quite a bit of ross. He is a good defender and very versatile. I have been rooting for this guy forever because his versatility and quality defense would be an asset. Ross has had some great streaks bit I just don't think the bat will play at the ML level.

You just outlined a major portion of how these teams continue to put a very high quality product on the field despite a huge revenue deficit! I was thinking the exact same thing about Ryan as I wrote the previous post. IDK if it's true that they were offered Tolle and Arias but let's use that decision to forego that trade to compare and contrast. Instead of extending Joe Ryan, it's quite possible Tolle will be better for more years at far less money. Of course, we don't know that this will happen, but this type of exchange is what teams like Milwaukee or Minnesota have to do to combat the revenue disadvantage. Of course, Arias is one of the top 10 prospects in the game and he is a middle infielder which the Twins are short on. That alone would be a big swing in the potential to build a contender but let's take this a step further. The really interesting part is that this type of trade and this practice makes it feasible to spend on free agents. You might even be able to afford a Joe Ryan "type" player by making such a trade. In other words, they could have had both. That might be a stretch but the concept is reasonable. The Twins changed direction in the middle of a rebuild. It's also quite possible they could have gotten Eyanson or Lagrange for Jeffers. Instead, they gave up a couple pretty darn good prospects for a sub 500 team twice as likely to not make the playoffs than to make the playoffs. Tampa and Milwaukee do occasionally trade away prospects but as you point out they are able to because they maximize their assets by selling high and continually developing assets.

I am going to throw in a little support for your point. The charts below show the acquisition method for the 2026 Rays who are on a 100 win pace and the Brewers who have the best record in MLB. AaP stands for acquired as prospect. This covers any form of acquisition where the player has not produced More than 1.5 WAR in a given season. These teams don't draft better than the Twins. The develop better than us and yhey do a lot better job acquiring prospects. 2026 Rays (100 Win Pace) Acquired WAR 2026 Brewers Acquired WAR Junior Caminero AaP 4.2 Brice Turang Drafted 4.2 Jonathan Aranda Intl 2.5 Jake Bauers AaP 2.3 Yandy Díaz AaP 2.4 Garrett Mitchell Drafted 2.3 Chandler Simpson Drafted 2 Jackson Chourio Intl 2.3 Jonny DeLuca AaP 1.5 Joey Ortiz AaP 1.6 Victor Mesa Jr. AaP 1.2 William Contreras Trade 1.5 Gary Sánchez FA 1.2 Pitchers Cooper Pratt Drafted Drafted Drew Rasmussen AaP 3.7 Andrew Vaughn AaP 1.2 Nick Martinez FA 2.3 Jacob Misiorowski Drafted 5.1 Shane McClanahan Drafted 2.2 Trevor Megill AaP 2.2 Ian Seymour Drafted 1.4 Kyle Harrison AaP 2.1 Bryan Baker AaP 1.2 Shane Drohan AaP 2 Aaron Ashby Drafted 1.5 Logan Henderson Drafted 1.4 # Acquired by: WAR % of WAR Brandon Woodruff Drafted 3 Drafted 5.6 23% Chad Patrick AaP AaP 1 International Draft 2.5 10% Acquired by: 6 Acquired as Prospect 14.2 58% 6 Drafted 15.7 47% 0 Trade for Proven 0 0% 1 International Draft 2.3 7% 1 Free Agent 2.3 9% 7 Acquired as Prospect 12.6 38% TOTALS 24.6 100% 1 Trade for Proven 1.5 5% 1 Free Agent 1.2 4%

He fits fine as a 4th OFer, starter against LHP, and late inning replacement / pinch runner. If there is a problem, it's not Martin, it's the construction of other parts of the roster.

Several of us have been saying Lee looks like an average player since he was hyped in the minors. What do you know ... His wRC+ is exactly average and so are his defensive metrics. He is an average player which is just fine if he is hitting 7th or 8th.

I used to complain about them drafting unathletic marginal defenders pretty much every year. They have had more defensive emphasis the last few years but it takes a while for those changes to impact the ML team. Look at the position players drafted in the early rounds over the past 3 years. Lackey this year. Houston last year and Culpepper and DeBarge in 2024. They also took Young and Amick in early rounds and they were not drafted for defense. I guess it's possibly Young could become a decent 3B with that arm. Jenkins, Keashall, and Winokur in 2023. The defensive competence should steadily rise over the next couple years.

It's definitely WAR adjacent. wRC+ is of course weighted runs created as compared to league average. DRS is defensive Runs Saved. Combine them and you have something close to what @Tony&Rodney was describing. This requires more scrutiny than I am inclined to invest.

The Twins will likely need to come in at least 2nd in the division because it is likely 3 teams will come out of the East. Over the past 50 games the Twins win % is .540, the White Sox .560 and the Tigers .580. The Twins are going to need to keep pace with the Sox and Tigers during this stretch or dominate both teams head to head.