laloesch

It would set them back that's for sure. The problem is who replaces him. We would literally have one solid starter (Berrios) whose still very very green followed by Mejia who may or may not develop into a solid starter and then a whole lot of garbage behind him (Gibson, Santiago, Colon...yuck). That's a tough pill to swallow considering how little there is down the pipeline on the farm besides Jorge, Romero and Gonsalves. And besides Romero most of the options are back of rotation types at best. I guess you can cross your fingers and hope May comes back successfully mid next season, but he will be on an innings limit and not likely himself for much of it. Maybe if Thorpe continues to progress and they move him up to AA by years end he could be an option by early 2019, but that's a lot of ifs. As I've been saying since the draft. The Twins should have gone after college starters with the #1 pick and #35 supplementary pick. I'm tired of listening to the no-it-alls who scream "you never ever draft pitchers with high draft picks because they ALWAYS FAIL" or the ones that say you only "draft the best player available" blah blah blah. This organization can not continue to ignore it's biggest glaring deficiency. To not have drafted and developed an ACE in 35 years (Frank Viola was the last) is atrocious. Enough with the excuses address the problem NOW!

I would be thrilled if the team could get Gray for a reasonable price. If they could pull that off, get rid of Santiago and Gibson right off the bat.

Well they had the #1:1 pick and a supplemental pick (#35) and could have drafted several college pitchers who could fast track to the majors instead of a "toolsey infielder" and Outfielder / future DH both of which they have an overabundance in compared to quality pitching. At some point you have to start addressing the key deficiency in the system instead of wishing for something to appear out of thin air.

I don't mean to be negative but quality defense in CF doesn't make up for the fact that he hasn't hit diddly squat so far in almost 700 at-bats and 221 games at the major league level. At what point does he cross over from promising young prospect to major disappointment and finally bust? 4 or 5 years? A decade? He's only 23 right? If some team came knocking offering up a promising young starter like Archer and asked for Buxton as a major key piece in a trade i'd sure as hell listen that's for sure.

Yep at this point.

Yeah. Derek Falvey sure look excited when discussing the signing with the media. He was smiles ear to ear. My impression is that he seems to think he's one tweak away with his delivery from being a solid effective starter again and even wants to pitch beyond this season, hooray! Honestly i think the FO is going to roll him out there the rest of the season. Yikes!

Yep. And never draft a pitcher in the first round, just "TOOLSEY INFIELDERS" and Outfielders / soon to be DH's because pitching prospects are "JUST TO RISKY AND NEVER TURN OUT".

He does strikeout 7- 9 per 9 innings. That's nothing to scoff at. 2016 was a tough season for him, but the prior two full seasons (keep in mind he was first called up in 2013) were great. I think he's still on the upward trend and hasn't reached his peak potential yet. Could be a good acquisition for the right price. Solid #2 / #3 starter IMO. If the A's asked for Buxton and Granite + one other lower level prospect, i'd probably do it.

The thought of Colon starting for the Twins through the end of the season just makes me cringe.

A's are looking for outfielders and pitching prospects. As an organization they are loaded with IF's. I'd dangle either Buxton, Granite + another prospect or Rosario, Granite + another prospect.

Really? Slegers is decent. Guy is huge too at 6-10. 9-4, 3.75 era through 16 starts. His k/9 is nothing special at 6.8 but it's heading the right direction from previous levels. Make no mistake he's probably destined to be a RP, but he does throw three pitches (FB, Slider, Changeup) with consistency, something Alex Meyer has never been able to master.

Good stuff. 24 years old, has decent offerings and certainly downward plane on his pitches due to his size. Realize he's only thrown 96 innings at AAA level, but could he be a post all-star break audition callup? Maybe he could due what Alex Meyer could not and just pitch versus throwing as hard as possible with little control.

WOW! That's a bold prediction if i may say so. Not saying right or wrong, just bold. Getting back to the buyers vs. sellers, I don't think the Twins are either at this point. Falvey has hinted they aren't going to mortgage the teams future on rentals to try and sneak into the post season. They might add a couple of minuscule bullpen pieces but nothing major IMO. That said, I still think they should explore moving Dozier and Santana, for the right price that is. However, Dozier is certainly not helping matters and is having a DOWN season ( surprise surprise), and his trade value has shrunk considerably from last season. While i hate to give up Santana he is probably the most valuable trade chip right now and the AStros need pitching help right now after some starting staff injuries. Could be a good fit there and they have a deep farm system right now. Explore that for sure. The only other thing i can think of is see what Oakland wants for Sonny Gray. His is having a decent 2017 season so far averaging 9.1 strikeouts per K9 which would push him ahead of Berrios K/9. A's are looking for outfielders which we have in abundance. Two options Rosario, Granite or Buxton, Granite + Wade or pitching prospect not Romero or Gonsalves. Anyhow, two things I look forward too this offseason. Santiago let go (thank god) along with Scaredy Cat Meow Mix Nibbler Gibson. Both guys have mental fortitude issues and they can cut bait with them with no strings attached. Beyond that i have no idea what happens. Hughes is still with us till 2020 and Joe through next season. After that plenty of cash to go after free agents. In the meantime they should be auditioning Jorge, Romero and Gonsalves now, not next season. If any of these options hit the ground running, give em a mile long leash and let em RUN!

Yeah, would like to see another good start from Jorge to hopefully force his way into the rotation. No reason to continue to put up with mediocrity in the rotation.

I agree 100%. Apparently though the Twins decided to give up on him after three partial seasons 2013-2016 and several other teams have tried working with him as well and have given up.

The important thing is progression and a willingness to learn. Sano has learned / is learning, and is progressing. You can't fault someone for being young and green. We've all been there one way or another in some aspect of life. Too me Arcia was stuck both mentally and physically and just wasn't progressing the way the Twins hoped and that ultimately led to them giving up on him after three seasons. Sometimes a change in scenery was needed.

Still think we should have taken one of the four pitchers with the first pick and possibly another with the supplemental, but hey it's not my team to run. Have warmed up a bit on the Lewis and Rooker picks. Maybe Lewis turns out to be a great great shortstop. Now we have an abundance of potential SS and trade bait in Lewis, Gordon, Vielma, Javier and Marte. That said, I'm concerned that a consensus has developed that its simply too risky to use high 1st round draft picks on college level starters or high school prep pitchers with ace potential even when a team is so devoid of pitching talent.

Oh okay. i was just looking at the post above and the initial one "His FB was 88-91 mph sitting 88-89 with good movement" and "Since returning his fastball has been sitting around 89-93 averaging 91 mph" and saw a slight increase and thought that promising. So he has picked up his FB velocity a bit?

Best statement i've read summing up his tenure with the Twins major league squad. Boneheaded plays in the outfield and swinging like a madman in the box in every at-bat. I honestly had forgotten about him until this topic popped up. Bit of a head case too if i remember correctly. Good riddance in my opinion.

Any updates on his progress? Is his fastball still sitting 89-91 mph?

Nice to see Thorpe pitching again.

Hopefully he keeps it going, but more importantly becomes more consistent and slowly raises the bar. That said, we've seen him do this before where he comes to life for a couple of games and then falls asleep again for weeks on end.

Really? Are we talking about the same thing here? Per Webster dictionary. Crapshoot -something (such as a business venture, insert team drafting baseball players) that has an unpredictable outcome. Again this is Webster dictionary. So you are saying that scouting is 100% predictable (keep in mind i never said % anything originally). And that lower round picks are not a crapshoot?

Again.... I'm not saying there is no skill involved. Just because you improve the odds through skill based scouting does not make it not a crapshoot. There is still the matter of luck and other factors which makes EVERY prospect a roll of the dice, hence a crapshoot.

I disagree. Spending millions on scouting improves the odds but it's still a crapshoot. Not every player turns out they way the scouts and GM hope. ie. Kohl Stewart, Tyler Jay, Alex Wimmers, Shooter Hunt, Kyle Gibson, etc.