Trov

MLB draft is always about the best available. You would rather have 5 SS that are fighting for at-bats and move to other positions, or be valuable trade chips, than no SS. Teams are always looking for viable MLB SS that can defend, worst case one does not make it, best case, both make it and one plays a different position. Other option is one gets traded for other needs, because teams will always be willing to take on a MLB SS.

TJ surgery for position players is not a big deal. Now, being connected to the Youngs could be an issue based on their history as players. However, they also had big talent too.

He may stick down there for rest of season to try to get AA into post season. Organizations like to get players into the post-season to get those extra games, but get the players to play in them too.

Twins love taking the power arms that have injury history with these picks. Normally, if they did not have the injury history they would be higher. Hopefully this one works outs.

You cannot have too many SS. He is expected to be able to stay there, but if his bat is not great, worst case, he should be a guy that can backup and be a utility guy. Unless he just takes off with the bat, he will be like a 3 to 4 year minor league guy and will be on timeline to fill in when CC and Lewis are done here.

Nice to see the guys in AA pushing. Culpepper may be forcing a move to AAA by end of season and be a guy for early call up next year at this rate. Gonzalez if he can keep on this path will be a huge win in the Polanco trade.

I doubt they do it this year, unless they 1 are fully set on selling at deadline, and 2 the deal is just too good to pass up. Because he has 2 years of control we can still move him in off-season or next year sometime if we feel the right deal comes along, assuming he is not willing to sign with us. My guess he will not sign with us, because he will be 31 at FA, and he will want that 1 big deal like 5 years and we will not do that, but a big market team will.

For a few years E-Rod was considered one of the untouchable players in the system, that you only trade if you can get a major player back. However, he may be stepping out of the untouchable prospect and into the piece to tangle for a decent trade now. First, he has continued to do the what if he can just be healthy guy. When healthy he has lit up the offense, but as pointed out by some he may struggle some at MLB level if he does not adjust. Do you trade him before he gets tested at MLB level? He has not lit up AAA and in part may be due to injury, or now that he is facing better pitching his issues at the plate are cropping up, or just still needing to fully adjust to the league. The other reason I bring this up is he clearly still has trade value as a prospect but Walker Jenkins is ahead of him on the OF list. Wallner still has years of control and has shown he can be counted on, even with his recent slump. Buck has stayed healthy and still under contract for a few years. That leaves no clear starting place moving forward for E-Rod. In addition, Gabriel Gonzalez is having a great year and can clearly slot into a corner OF spot. To get Keaschall's bat into the line up he could go into LF, he has played some CF in past. I am one that says corner outfielders hold little value unless they are elite hitters or defenders and above average at other. Mainly because they can get filled in by many options. This is where E-Rod being a possible CF does help his value still. With Buck in front and Jenkins being most likely the future CF and other guys being able to fill in the other spots there is clearly a chance he could be traded to net something. I want to make clear I am not saying they should, but with him not making the huge step this year, and others below him in current rankings rising up that can take over for him it makes it a possible good time to put him in a better trade package. That is how quickly a player who looked like an 'untouchable' becomes very much tradeable.

It is great to see Jenkins healthy and doing his thing. I could see him break camp next year if healthy and the team is pushing for that extra draft pick, but more likely they will hold him back to keep that extra year of control. His combo of speed and plate discipline will be huge. The big question will be how does he handle left handed pitchers. His first year in minors he did just fine in SSS. Second year was not so good, still only 61 PA, but hist OBP and Slugging was much lower than against righties. Still he looks like he will be taking over CF for Buck in the future, but with way Buck is playing not sure when that will be.

If they do they are waiving the white flag on this season. It would take some good pieces to get it done. With no clear replacement in our system right now, or next year making us have to dive into the FA or trade market ourselves. If you can get some pitching options that are clear higher upsides than what we have great, but just not sure there is a ton out there.

It is not about controlling him it is about the fact they do not need to add him yet. Once you add him then you need to keep him or lose him if you remove him, but if you wait until next year then you can put someone else on 40 man to protect from rule 5. Not sure what decisions need to be made on that right now, sure FO does. I am a fan of the kid and hope he can make it to majors and contribute, but I would get if they waited until next year to add him to 40 man. That is why I do not get all the fans that want every possible prospect called up asap, "to see what they can do" because if they cannot do it right away then you have a wasted 40 man roster spot if you did not need to use it. Then they get exposed to waivers. If they are truly a top prospect they get claimed at minimum by a team like the A's who can afford to stash them on 40 man while they lose.

No way should you look to move Lewis right now, unless a team blows you away with an offer, but with his value about as low as can be no way. No player is untouchable but bad moves trading guys at their low point in value. In terms of the corner OF they have little value. Wallner right now not hitting, so he has little value and Larnach has been fine, but not elite. Neither will net anything other than a middle pen guy that is just above a DFA pickup, or a low level lottery ticket prospect. Unless you are an elite hitter at corner OF, they are a dime a dozen. Even elite fielding corner guys are easy to replace. Yes, Wallner has shown elite power when he is on, so a team may take a flier on him, but knowing he will not net much, unless a team really thinks they can get him right again and willing to over pay for him. I get we have plenty of guys that can fill in, but that is my point, so do many other teams. Jax or Duran would be selling moves, not reshuffling moves. If the team thinks they can make the playoffs you do not trade elite pen guys because in the playoffs you need them more than any other time. You need to make sure you can lock down as many innings as you can. It is not just about the 9th, it is about knowing that if your starter can go 5 or 6 solid, you got guys that will lock down the end. If either get traded the team is saying, we are selling, unless you can get a guy in return that is close and can replace and add some prospects. However, why would a team have a guy that is nearly as good as what we are giving up in a trade?

Well he has been terrible down in AAA since he got sent down. Yeah, Wallner has been as bad at the plate, but Wallner is better on defense, which is not saying a ton but his arm is extra elite, plus Wallner has shown he can hit at MLB level. So beyond him who would you put him in line up for? Bader glove is too good to take out for a hope the guy can hit, despite his terrible few at bats. Larnach is doing just fine, no need to pull him. Buck I think not.

Many fans here wanted the Twins to go after Goldschmidt, and the Twins did not at all. It may have been budget or it may have been ability. Twins signed France and he has been average overall. Not going to compare contracts at all, but Goldschmidt signed a bigger deal to play for the Yankees. When Yankees were crushing the first 2 months he looked the the Goldschmidt of years past, not the one St. Louis dumped. Looking like the former MVP guy fans were upset we did not try to make a bid for him. However, June hit and Goldschmidt became a huge negative. He slashed .143/.226/.238 for OPS of .464 and OPS+ of 31. It is possible he evens out and does the rest of the year similar to what he did last year, or he just continues to be an almost automatic out for Yankees and gets the DFA. He is still putting up big numbers against lefties, so a platoon may be in order for him, and for some reason he cannot hit at Yankee stadium compared to all road games. I am glad to see the Yankees do terrible in June, just like they did last year. I hope they continue to do terrible. I do not wish Goldschmidt any ill will, but it looks like he may be finally cooked as a MLB player, or just a terrible run. My guess he gets platooned the rest of the year.

This is the same reason you see so many SS or CF drafted. Many will not stay at those positions, but if they can defend them they have so much more value, even better when they have a bat. However, if you take a guy that is limited on defense, he better hit a ton to have value. Many times people look at the bat as the only reason a guy should stay in a line up, but having an ability to play defense and have a passable bat is better than a guy with a good bat but terrible defense. Which is why when you have an elite defender and hitter they are worth a ton of money.

So the article said the list was the most "significant" which is a loaded word and can be read several ways. Like at catcher Posey was very significant, because he changed the rules of the game as we know them. When he broke his leg blocking the plate getting run over the rules changed, that alone makes him significant. The fact that he was a MVP candidate is what made the rule change too. If it was back catcher it may not have happened, and people would have said tough break. Molina was a guy that no one would steal on, and he would throw behind the runners. I think Joe could have been ahead of him, but Molina and Posey also spent full career at catcher. Santana I fully agree should have been mentioned, and if we could have won a playoff series with him maybe he would have. He was a dominate pitcher but never went beyond round 1, and even lost a few of his starts in the playoffs. That is what people will remember too if you even think of the Twins. Nathan, I loved the guy and he got the job done in the regular season, but he was not great in the playoffs. Again, he did not have those moments in the playoffs you remember for shutting a team down. Not fully his fault, and maybe could have bounced Wagner, Jansen, or Kimbrel on the list.

It continues to be stories like Klein that tell you the FO and the minor development coaches are a strong team for developing pitching. How many late round, or undrafted out of no where guys do they need to develop to have that cemented? I know some fans want the high end 'Ace' drafted and developed, but they have tried to draft some of them, only to have tons of injuries pile up for them. The fact that they can get guys that may give quality MLB innings not from top draft picks helps so much.

Pirates will not trade Cutch unless he asks them too. If they did they would get every fan to hate them even more. He never wanted to leave, but they traded him away early in his career. He only returned under the expectation that he would not get traded. Fans loved that he came back, only thing to really love about that team over last couple years.

Brent Rooker still just 30 was a late bloomer, still only in his 3rd full season of MLB ball but has been above average hitter, even getting MVP votes last year. Cruz retired, but was a late bloomer not having his first run at MLB level until 26, which was not good, but a limited age 27 season showed he could be something, but really it was not until his early 30's that the made a sustained run of good hitting years, mainly as a DH. These are not the common way guys careers go. Normally by age 30 they are on the down swing of careers, with peak years being 26 to 29. Sabato is surging this year, unlike Rooker and Cruz he has not had a track record of great minor league numbers, until now. Can he build off what he is doing this year and even have a Rooker or Cruz type surge over next few years? I am sure Twins would love that if he could, being 1B has been a rotating 1 year signings for guys over last several years. I am not ready to say Sabato will be our 1B for years to come, but despite being 26 now and just reaching AAA does not mean he has no chance. Rooker is a recent example of late bloomer at least getting a few good years in, and could still keep going. Cruz was an example of late bloomer getting over a decade of good to great years. Can Sabato be another outlier the Twins will be very happy. I want to make clear, I am not expecting this from Sabato, but he is making noise. Even if he does a peak age 27 to 29 this could be good for the Twins. He could just be having an outlier season for himself and will regress back to the non MLB level guy and draft bust he was looking like. I am just saying do not write him off because of his age completely.

Sabato now has OPS over 1.000 at AAA and McCusker is down to .920 because of his terrible return to AAA after his couple of at bats at MLB level. Can we now compare how Sabato is doing to McCusker? It is a very SSS for Sabato but I think my point from a month ago still holds, Sabato is doing good things at age 26 in the minors, same as McCusker when fans were excited for him. The main difference between the two is one was drafted first round one was not drafted at all. I do not expect big things out of either, but Sabato actually may have a chance to help out at 1B later this year if we dump France, or next year at least.

First, I was never a fan of the pick either, because as pointed out, hit or you are done as a player. Unless you are super elite defender at 1st, you will always need to hit to warrant being there, and even super elite you still need some offense. It is not like SS or catcher were elite defenders can live with not great offense. That being said, He really could do a Brent Rooker like emergence. Rooker although made the MLB call at 25 for a cup of coffee but really 26, same age as Sabato, did not do much until age 28 when Oakland was pulling the major league tact of trying to lose so they could skip town. Then he had a huge year at age 29 last year. Doing just fine this year too, not as good as last year but still fine. Point is, he may not be a full bust like we thought and we still have a huge hole at 1st base next year. If he can fill it for a 3 to 5 years you get kind of a good outcome. You get a guy that will give you his prime years, and you will never have to worry about losing him in FA after that because he will be over the hill baseball years and not warrant a big payday. I do not expect much from him, but he is doing well and should be noticed. Fans were clamoring for McCusker to make the jump, and now Sabato is giving numbers to warrant it.

I am not going to say I know any more than the FO or the people that actually scout these guys, but I would hope they are not drafting a guy just based on one game in the college world series. The kid was a closer his first 2 years, then was injured this year. He put up nice K numbers at 16.5 per 9 innings. I think 2 questions will be if his arm will be able to adjust to long outings or will he be a pen guy. If he can be anywhere close to that k-rate then he will make it. I would like to know how players did the 2nd or 3rd time through in his few starts he did make though.

Watching the kid's catches he reminds me of Hunter. If the kid can learn to hit a little better he will get plenty of run as a player just from that defense, however, he seems to hit more like Hamilton. His K-rate is over 50% at MLB that is crazy. He has 1 walk too. At AAA he was closer to even k to walk rate this year, and K rate closer to 25%. Maybe he adjusts, because watching his catches for years could be fun to watch.

Cost for Duran would be huge. He may not be crushing this year, like last, but he still had great year last year. He still has years of control. They are going to demand big for him, or hold onto him and hope he regains form. I personally would not look to bring him in because I think price would be way high. Last year may have been a blip. He is still above average player though, but he may not be down ballot MVP guy like last year, but Sox will be demanding that kind of return.

Most contracts have insurance for injuries like that. If a player has a major injury that costs long playing time the team normally will recoup that in insurance. The FO clearly has never worried about a guy having a major injury in trades before. Something like a torn Achilles is not likely to happen in any situation. I guess if team is scared he will get an injury like that then they should never sign anyone long term and just do year to year contracts.