Cris E

No one has suggested any of that.

This is a good post, which I largely agree with. But I don't think Lewis gets you Arreaz. SF needs a lot of stuff, but Matt Chapman is going nowhere at 3B until after 2030 and at 1B they have Devers' contract thru 2033 with young Eldridge wedged behind him. With all due respect for Lewis' breakout potential, SF is a bad trade partner for him.

I did say he might have grown into his role, because he has been less vocal about everything this year. But I stand behind the lower valuation and the challenge that he is who he is and he won't have much value until he figures out some way to avoid these flat spots every other month. If we had a real 1B option he'd be sitting right next to Wallner in St Paul.

They have the prospects and the roster holes to make moves. They have opportunity to reach the post-season at the major league level that makes it a good idea to make moves. They have an org-wide positional imbalance that makes it a good idea to make moves. None of this says anything about the nature of the moves, but Can We and Should We are both pretty obviously a Yes. I'd say Yes to anyone controllable, No to any expiring contracts, Yes to more middle infield prospect depth, Yes to arms, No to MLB corner OF, and so on, nothing fancy. In terms of names, that's Hancock or Detmers or some other starter (with years of control left), it could be a real 1B thumper, maybe a 2B that replaces what we thought we had in Keaschall, and obviously all the bullpen arms you can find.

Royce isn't valuable right now because he is scuffling at the plate again. You need him to get his hat on straight and return to hitting, but mostly it's on him, the 27 year old guy in his tenth year of professional baseball, to figure out some way of staying in the zone and not cycling up and down like this. He's got options and we can continue playing this tourist coaching game by shipping him to St Paul, but really he's got to own the dead spots in his season. Part of the problem is that Royce gets his feelings hurt a lot more than he should, when in reality he's a lot more like Josh Bell than anyone wants to admit. You look at the ten year vet Bell and you see two things: first he knows he's streaky but he just keeps hacking until the hits come, and second he doesn't complain when he keeps getting traded, never gets the huge deal, and knows that teams need more from him and the fans complain but all he can do is keep hacking and maybe be a good teammate. And that's the thing. I think Royce is coming to that realization. Who knows, maybe Bell has talked to him about it. But the fans sure haven't. They never got over the 16 grand slams in the World Series where he was awesome and the unicorns brought us all free beer and our spouses were all hot and liked us again. He's not that guy anymore, maybe never was. He can't move in the field, his legs aren't the platform they once were, he is streaky as heck, his arm is stronger but still erratic, and his effectiveness comes and goes. When he's on, sweet, but when he's not it can get tedious watching him reach for the slider away. If we can get some other team to see him like our fans do, get the overpay (eg ERod and Royce for Detmers?) But if other front offices just see a younger Josh Bell then we should keep him until we come up with a better offer at 1B (because Clemens is busy at 2B.)

Well no. He really was a hof catcher for a decade, and he really was a slightly above average 1b for another five years. In most contexts two thirds, 66%, is not a vast majority. Maybe in elections where 50% is a win, but in spaces like this where Johnny bench started over 1600 of 2000 games at catcher, or pudge Rodriguez played c 2427 of 2436 games 66% is not impressive. Mauer was legitimately one of the best catchers that ever played the game. No need to embellish or stretch his history.

A lot of the surprises are rooted in Shelton and his staff learning what's working (and what is not) and making real changes to improve things. There have been temporary demotions before, but only one or two a year. There have been minor position changes before, but nothing like the SS TO 3B, 3B TO 1B, 1B TO 2B, 2B TO OF parade we've seen so far. A lot of the disappointments are rooted in the front office not straying from its position of trash picking and looking a year downfield. While it has yielded a few gems (like Y Gomez) it's also cost a huge number of games as wildly unqualified relievers futilely tried to save leads while desperately saving every per diem dollar offered in the bigs. The following terrible pitchers finished 37 games for this team this year: Garcia, Lawrence, Lawyerson, Topa, Adams plus an injured Sands (and that doesn't even mention the awful Voth and Kent who couldn't reach the ninth.) Adams maybe gets some slack to learn, and Sands was possibly only bad because he was hurt, but the rest were on the wire for a reason. Your impressions are often driven by your expectations, and in this case the good impressions were made by those who made changes vs those who did not. Step it up Zell and Tom P.

Serious teams bail out when there's an open window to compete? I mean, the Twins have a good chance to make the playoffs without seriously affecting their development plans for 2027, so doesn't the competitive team throw down some cash and make a couple moves to see how things play out? Not to poke holes in your post or anything, but both the Rays and the Brewers do make adjustments and spend some prospect capital when they are within reach of the playoffs.

Things to consider about Joe Ryan Scarcity Front of rotation guys like Ryan are scarce, and the only ways most teams acquire them is obtaining them before they are great (via draft or trade) or signing them as free agents. Once you get one you hang on as long as you can, and we should not be letting a #1 get away just as our young roster starts coming into its own. If you're trading him away in the hopes that you can get back Joe Ryan, it's much safer/easier/more likely to happen if you just keep Joe Ryan. We've got a trainer's room full of outstanding prospects that will testify to the difficulty of reaching the position he's already in. Market Rate Joe Ryan should get paid a lot of money because he's really good and only 30. The Twins are not paying anyone after next season ($22m in 2028?) so I'd rather it be an excellent player and a guy we like than something else. If you hate paying too much for old guys then taper the dollars (40 - 40 - 30 - 30 - 20 - 20) so he's tradable, maybe make the tail years options or opt-outs, add some bonus money like CY, MVP, innings pitched, defer some if you think it'll help, and then SPEND MORE ON THE REST OF THE ROSTER. I bet he'd take a little less money if he knew there was a chance more was going to payroll and thus there was a real chance of completing in MN. Teams like LAD can do this because players trust them to spend. CBA I believe there's too much money to be lost by a protracted labor war and thus few or no games will be lost. Great. However I do believe there will be a de facto floor put in to match the de facto luxury tax ceiling, so revenue sharing will be chopped to under-payors just as taxes are piled on over-payors. Between that and ruthlessly broadening revenue sharing it's the only way to both allow owners to do whatever they want and to coerce them into doing what's right for baseball as a whole. And since Pohlads are cheap they'll be wanting to pay just enough to keep the soma flowing. The only way to reach $140m (or whatever) with this many youngsters is not sending away your stars, and thus Ryan will be getting an extension.

Am I imagining things or did they draft a lot more pitchers in the 6'3"/220+ size than the earlier willowy 6'6"/180 kids? If you look at the broken guys they are whip-thin tall guys that were supposed to grow up, fill out and power up (eg Festa, Raya, Rojas. and even the uncoordinated Hill.) But many seem to be getting hurt prior to figuring things out, so are they drafting size now so they only have to wait for command? It sort of seems to be what other orgs have been doing for years, but maybe they're learning. (Don't laugh, could happen.)

These are not necessarily in conflict. They can get a couple pieces to help this year AND trade Larnach and Jeffers and maybe Martin and a prospect to do so. If they pick up some controllable arms that can help in the pen and the kids that come up can replace some of the lost production it could be a blast. No guarantees of course, but this team is already out-performing in some ways and under-performing in others, so all you can do is place your bets and play the games. EDIT: I guess I can drop this here as well as anywhere: - Trading Jeffers is not as obvious a slam-dunk as some think. If they keep him and then he leaves via free agency they'll get a Competitive Balance pick * after the first or second round (depending on how big his contract ends up being) which is a pretty darn good prospect. (* Subject to CBA renegotiations, of course.) - Grey will pass through waivers like something through a goose. There is nothing to worry about there, and even if he leaves I care not about the fate of a tiny bat utility guy vs the roster flexibility we'd gain at this point in the season. He's a nice-to-have in terms of platoon, but his SS defense is meh and we're past the point in the season where needing a long-term SS cover is required. If it isn't Kreidler then Culpepper is ready and if it isn't him the season is burned down and we're on to prospect play.

But Mauer was coming from high school and Lackey has been in the SEC. Huge difference in their readiness when drafted, so Lackey won't take nearly as much time in the minors as Mauer did. But man, Mauer was so, so, so young.

I would also mention that any discussion of trading Jeffers start with the Rays instead of the Yankees. They have more decent relief hands under the age of 30-whatever and their prospects are better than NYY.

Keeping Jeffers probably means getting a comp pick at the end of the first round, which is likely a point in favor of moving him, I guess. I could go either way, honestly. He'll be pricey, but there will likely be a de facto salary floor in 2028, plus Lackey won't be in Mpls for at least a couple years so we do need more than Caratini between now and 2029.

Eh. Jeffers is a rental, true. But he's also been one of the top offensive catchers for several years now and the ones ahead of him just won't be available. Teams don't let guys like that get away. Caratini (and to a much lesser extent Jackson) are playing well and might make more today than they're signed for. VC's recent step up while Jeffers was away (plus the scarcity of hitting catchers) would probably get him several offers for more than what the Twins signed him for. Jackson has proven that he's not a complete zero at the plate and a half step above the usual freely available waiver wire suspects. He doesn't need to be better than the others to be valuable or coveted by other teams. I guess the TL;DR summary is that all are worth more now than they were in March.

I think Tom P would be thrilled to call Not Selling! a "go for it" move. Others may disagree, but in the face of so many calling another fire sale the obvious move it would be a solid vote of confidence for his roster and something to sell the public. You may think that a playoff run does not have value, or that a further sell-off is the only way to advance the franchise, but he's trying to sell seats, engage his fanbase and pump up his players' confidence and experience. No, I really don't expect to see a lot of buying. But moving parts like Wallner, Larnach and even Jeffers or Martin plus a single decent body like ERod could advance team fortunes beyond this season. All it takes is one over-confident team...

This has been the hard reality for many prospects, most even, for generations. Why does Fedko rate some soft and nurturing path to a job? He came out of no where, wasn't impressive outside his walks, and bubbled up thru the system until he started hitting the ball hard last year. There are better players surrounding him in St Paul, but he was able to get a look because his one advantage over them was being healthy when the opportunity came knocking. Alas he didn't perform, but his pattern all along has been to scuffle a bit in his first year at a level. The first time in his career he managed a decent showing in a debut was his 2025 AAA work last year, so if he hangs around he'll get another chance in Mpls and maybe he'll be better. MLB is a tough way to make a living so I'm not going to worry too much about fairness here. He got a shot many kids would give their eye teeth for and it didn't work out. Keep working and better luck next time.

He was still in A ball, barely a catcher and behind Carantini, Tait, Diaw and now Lackey. His best value to the team was as a trade chip, so congrats on paying off, and good luck in your new organization.

I dunno, who's this Jeffery guy that's getting his spot? I don't think he can play CF.

Well a college guy hitting the heck out of the ball in A while learning to catch may appear better than he is, but it seems that's worth a thirty-five year old with three years of team control remaining, which may look worse than it is. Alas our bullpen is still in a state where guys like Nance can start a career and be very useful, so I won't complain at all. At least we're picking up average players for the MLB team.

Editing is for the weak. Stay the course! Actually I have it on good advice that Trevor Lawrence threw seven innings in junior college (7 K, 4 BB, 8 hits) and that he threw out a first pitch before the home opener for the AAA Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in 2023. So that's Yes he's probably available to pitch this week but No the Twins shouldn't try to pry him away from football.

Consider the notion that there are three types of trade candidates: top shelf, prospects, and everyone else. How you view the current roster and season will dictate how you manage those three groups. I think the AL Central is a dumpster fire that could be won by just about anyone, I think we have more middling vets than we need, we have more kids to evaluate than spots, and I think some of those vets are not crucial to winning. I think a little development among the youth could make huge gains in the bullpen by displacing the worst of the innings being thrown out there, and i think we've finally started taking strides towards improving our defense. So right now, as in before bedtime tonight, I start calling to move some middling vets. Larnach is useful to many teams. Clemens has been good for us but could also be for someone else. Any of our utility guys should be marked down. Ober, Rogers, most of our second shelf pitchers in fact, should be on the block. In return we need pitching for the short term and talent for the longer term. Then promote kids and see how things shake out in the next three weeks. If we are still in it we listen to offers or even fill a hole or two. If we continue to sit in the mud we sell more. Leave it in the players' hands. Ownership screwed them last year, but a judicious trimming with several weeks to make their case could be good motivation.

(dup - not loving my new work laptop so far)

Well here's the thing about dumpster diving: anyone who isn't old, without velo and without control is going to be expensive. That's not a dumpster pitcher. Seriously, name another pitcher that's been on the waiver wire you think they should have been on but passed over. The budget hasn't changed, so the choices are trades or promoting kids or this recycling lottery. You only need to hit it occasionally for the strategy to work out (Hello Brock Stewart) but it's usually only good for the last couple spots (Yoendrys Gómez notwithstanding) and the Twins need a bunch of higher seats filled first. They dumped more than they had on hand in 2025 and they made little effort to replace anyone. This is last year's plan, not a Zoll 2026 problem.

There are potential replacements for him in the org. Get them in a position to take over and he can gently move to a corner. It's not a real problem because they need those guys to move up anyway. Also of note, Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." The clickbait is stupid.