gunnarthor

What do you think southern pride is?

I disagree. I agree that Pohlad won't care if we make any trades where payroll doesn't go up and the FO itself will care a great deal about prospect cost for Stroman and maybe even explain that to Pohlad. But there is no way Pohlad won't let money be an issue for us to get a guy like DeGrom or Greinke or any other stud pitcher that isn't under a friendly team deal.

Was he hurt? He was moved to the pen, I guess. Is he able to start anymore?

Isn't that pretty much bottom third in a 30 team league? Cots has them slightly different. In any event, if ownership was going to spend money, Dallas Kuechel would have been the obvious get. They didn't even try.

It's PR. We've had 25+ years of Pohlad ownership. Jim isn't any different from his dad. He keeps moving the goalposts. He said he couldn't spend when we were rebuilding but doesn't spend when we're competitive. In 2015, we were almost a playoff team, doesn't spend money in the offseason compared to the rest of the league. We're constantly a bottom third payroll team. No one should expect the Pohlads to change their stripes until they actual do something for more than one season that shows they are committed to building a winning team. They've never done that.

Giants can probably do better.

Agreed. The GOP lacks a spine. Hope that kills them in the long run. Probably doesn't.

He keeps digging and his supporters don't care. It's mind boggling. The guys a nut job. Openly racist. Can't believe America lets this happen.

This is a bit strange for me, considering where I've been the last several years but I tend to think the Twins don't have great trading depth right now. Apparently Lewis, Kiriloff and Graterol are untouchable. After that, we have two more top 100 guys - Larnich,a 22 year old slugger in A+ ball, and Balazovic who looks like a stud but his upside is still probably a #3. After those two, the minors has been hit by injuries or disappointing play, or both. There's a lot of 45-50 FV depth but not a lot to really excite, say Toronto, to give us Stroman. For example, most of our OF depth looks to be future 4th OF types, not starting players. I think we'll probably be able to trade for some fungible relievers but nothing big. Does anyone know if we're getting a bonus pick this year based on our size?

That was a pretty impressive win. Listened on the radio and for a while it seemed we were going to beat ourselves.

Klaw is fine. He's not as good, IMHO, as the mlbpipline crew or Sickels (now at the Atlantic). BA is behind paywall but there are good. BP is crap. Fangraphs is really good, too. pipeline fangraphs Sickels Klaw BA See how those five look at player X and you have a good idea about the strengths and weaknesses of a prospect.

Don't forget the stupid moving to North Carolina saga

Why? An injury is pretty big deal. And to his shoulder? Cripes, that's a pretty big flag. If he only pitches 47 innings this year, which is likely, after throwing 60 last year, I'd think his status has taken a huge hit. He'd be a injury plagued bullpen guy with a big arm.

This feels like it was written by the Twins PR department. Until the Twins show that they'll make significant payroll additions, we should correctly assume they won't. This FO refused to add to a playoff caliber team two years, so, until they do, we should assume they won't. My guess is that the Twins do a few minor moves to bring in bullpen help - maybe even taking on a little salary - and losing some prospects in the 15-30 range but nothing bigger than that. I think we'll hear rumors that the Twins are interested/close to making a big move but it won't pan out.

Semantics. He's on pace for another 4-5ish WAR season, would be our best pitcher (although I'll listen on arguments on Berrios) and I'd trust him a lot more in the post-season than I'd trust Odorizzi. If you don't want to call him an ace, fine. Doesn't matter. He'd be a great fit.

Graterol is injured, out indefinitely. That's usually not good for trade value. And the point remains, last year we would have screamed if we had traded Gibby/Pressly for Houston's #5, 10, 15 prospects. It would have been a bad trade for us. It's unlikely that Toronto would trade the superior package of Stroman/Giles for the Twins 5, 10, 15 prospects now, as suggested above.

Except in salary dump situations, which this isn't, what trades would you think would be comparable? 1.5 years of an ace and 1.5 years of an elite closer. Both instantly become our best starting pitcher and best bullpen arm. And you think a backend top 100 guy and two throw-ins would be enough? I'd love it if that were true but I doubt it. Chris Archer brought back a ransom. Stroman is arguably a better pitcher than Archer was although not years of control favored Archer a bit. The Astros traded Ken Giles, David Paulino and a prospect for Roberto Osuna who was at the time suspended for DV. Last year, we traded Pressly for the Astros 10th and 15th best prospects. Do you think the Twins would have kicked in Gibson for someone like Cionel Perez, their #5 prospect? Gibby and Pressly had the same years of control as Giles/Stroman. That seems like a bad trade for the Twins and Storman/Giles are a lot better than Gibby/Pressly were.

I think Stroman and Giles together would require at least one of Lewis and Kiriloff and probably both. With Graterol out with an undiagnosed arm injury, I would assume he has zero trade value. A deal of Lewis/Larnich/Balovic/Duran might not be enough.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/07/twins-trade-rumors-ken-giles-blue-jays-kirby-yates-padres.html/comment-page-1#comment-1598657 Seems like the opposing teams are focusing on AAA so that would suggest Gordon as a piece?

Yep, I misspelled border. I'm actually quite embarrassed about that one. As to you, I ignore you because I can read the same stuff at a thousand right wing fake news websites if I wanted or see it on some facebook memes. It isn't worth my time to read your screeds or respond to your posts. I'm not challenged by you, I'm depressed by you.* I responded to that post simply because you provided a link to a website but presented the information out of context and I wanted to make sure others were not confused. * note to mods, I answered this as respectfully and truthfully as could possible be.

I've basically been ignoring Ewen for obvious reasons. For anyone who is interested, the numbers he cites in that link are taken out of context to push a narrative that isn't true. We had a spike in apprehension at the boarder b/c policy changed, not b/c we had too many people arriving. That policy change is also the reason for many of the problems facing people on the boarder - to call them manufactured problems would be accurate since the policies enacted created these problems. Incidentally, entries into the US have been declining at a great rate since 2012 or so. The rest of his post deals with straw men arguments that aren't really worth your time. The idea that family units are being faked is an old one - hell, Marisa Tomei's 1995 romantic comedy "The Perez Family" had that theme. While it's certainly possible that some individuals are claiming their nieces are their children, it wouldn't be in numbers big enough to matter. The idea of who should qualify for asylum and what should happen to them is an issue that Ewen is not informed enough to educate you on. How individuals seeking asylum are treated at the boarder is under furious litigation, with the ACLU constantly winning before the courts and pushing back on some of the evil policies this administration has pushed. Last week, for instance, they got an injunction against the AG's decision to prevent asylum applicants to receive bond. That policy change was created solely to keep asylum seekers in jail, in violation of our laws and immigrant rights. The courts have correctly stopped that. Generally, Ewen's posts seem like they have come off of VDARE or other website which don't tend to have the best reliability on this issue, while minimizing harm to immigrants and trying to focus on nonexistent problems/incidents to dehumanize people like Angie. That's why, when we see a dead child, we get responses blaming their parents and liberals or we get conspiracy theories about a migrant hoard and 'whataboutism' posts about gang members.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/07/twins-outright-andrew-vasquez-off-40-man-roster.html Not sure what the corresponding move would be though.

I think this is pretty spot on.

Polanco. Both Buxton and Kepler are having outstanding seasons as well but right now Polanco has been incredibly consistent and healthy.

International is so hard to follow. Some of us might remember big money guys like Amaurys Minier, Lewin Diaz (until this year, at least) not making it and small quantity signings doing pretty well. Every year around this time, I think we should keep a list of all the players the Twins sign so we can remember how different classes did v. expectations. But I'm too lazy to do it.