gunnarthor

So the President made a pretty ill-advised tweet this weekend. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1026084333315153924

Just out of curiosity, here are the picks if we took the highest ceiling high school arm 2012 - Max Fried over Buxton 2013 - still Stewart 2014 - Kodi Medeiros over Gordon 2015 - Kolby Allard over Jay 2016 - Forrest Whitley over Kiriloff 2017 - Hunter Greene over Lewis 2018 - Mason Denaburg over Larnach.

No harm, no foul.

I'm still very upset with how Meyer was misused in 2016

And now Callis has ranked the Twins system after the trade. In the video he has them as a top 5 or 6 system. https://www.mlb.com/news/twins-improved-farm-system-at-trade-deadline/c-288487900

Did Gibson?

Yep and I wrong to say he was in low A when he was in high A. That's a plus for him. He's thrown 100 innings since we drafted him. I think it's best to just let him pitch and worry about rankings and such later. I was certainly wrong when I suggested a few months ago that he was a non-prospect. But he has a long way to go. Hopefully he makes it to the majors.

He's 23 and put up a 2-1, 3.41 era, 60ip, 7 k/9, 0.9 bb/9 line in low A ball. There are some encouraging things going on for him but he's not remotely a better prospect than Zack Littell, our current #20 or his teammate Jordon Balzovic, our current #30. With Jax, we just have to be patient and let him throw some innings and see how it comes together.

I'm not sure we should expect anything, one way or another. I do think it's fair to look at it and see if the FO's moves were right. The FO threw in the towel on a playoff team last year to essentially get Littell, the only player we got that even made our top 30 prospects. And that move was questionable at the time and doesn't look much better a year out. I have no idea if the moves we've made in the last few days are good or if Palecios for Odorizzi works out. We'll eventually find out. But I do push back on the idea that they inherited few movable players of value. They inherited 10 former top 100 prospects under 25. They could have moved some of them, had they been inclined. I think they correctly didn't. They could have moved Dozier for some Dodgers pu-pu platter last year. I think it's good that they didn't do that either.

Agree that this is just another mark against Molitor.

Well, if Cohen is telling the truth about Trump prepping for that meeting, it's likely that several people could be indicted for lying about it, maybe including Don Jr.

Yep, my bad. Still, I think I'd rather have Moya.

So, Trump just tweeted that Sessions (who has recused himself) should fire Mueller.

I would assume the FO thinks that Austin will be at least a bench bat next year, right?

I don't think so. Maybe Turner? But I could be wrong.

Thought it might be interesting to see how the FO's trades from last year look. Apologize if someone else already posted this. I didn't see it if they had. They made 7 trades, although several were pretty small. 1) Miguel Diaz for Justin Haley. These were the two rule v trades. Haley pitched in 10 games for us last year and was returned to Boston. Diaz was knocked around a lot for SD but is only 23 and pitching in AAA for them. Neither is anything great but Diaz seems to be the better player. 2) Pat Light for cash. 3) Danny Santana for Kevin Chapman. Santana is still on Atlanta's ML roster, Chapman was released by the Twins a month after this trade. Both suck but Santana seems to be the better player on the basis that he's still in the majors. 4) Huascar Ynoa for Jaime Garcia and John Recker. Garcia made one start for us and was traded again, Recker was released after the year. Twins thought they needed a starter but turns out Garcia made all of one start for us before we traded him and relied on our in-house options to start the rest of the year. 5) Jaime Garcia for Dennis Enns and Zack Littell. One of the bigger trades from last year. These two trades basically moved Ynoa for Enns and Littell. Enns and Littell cost us two 40 man roster spots over the offseason which could have been used on Burdi and Chargois. Ynoa is 20 and putting up nice numbers in A ball and is Atlanta's #21 ranked prospect. Littellis our #20 ranked prospect with the upside of a backend starter whereas Ynoa has FOR upside, even if he's not likely to reach it. Enns was DFA'd earlier this year. Both Littell and Enns have been rocked in limited ML playing time. 6) John Ryan Murphy for Gabriel Moya. Murphy played some in Arizona but is in the minors. Moya has played a bit in the majors and not been good but it's a small sample size and his minor league numbers are solid. Hard to complain about this trade for the Twins. 7) Kintzler for Tyler Watson. This was the controversial trade. Kinztler pitched well for Washington after he was traded although he took a loss in a post-season game for them. Watson isn't on our top 30 prospect lists, is 21 and not putting up great numbers in low A ball. Hard to spin this as a good trade for us. Not sure the FO made any strong trades. The best seems to be Murphy for Moya. Obviously, Ynoa was the best prospect we gave up and how you feel about him in relation to Littell will form your opinion of those two trades. At the same time, these were mostly small trades. Watson's scouting reports suggested some upside but we haven't really seen it, at least not yet. I've been surprised on how bad Littell looked in his limited opportunities in the majors and his krate in AAA is actually slightly below league average while his walk rate is above league average. I think if the FO had simply done nothing, we could still have a system with Ynoa, Burdi and Chargois instead of Littell, Enns and Watson. I think I'd have preferred the first group.

https://www.mlb.com/news/farm-systems-improved-the-most-at-deadline/c-288229666?tid=151437456 Twins #2 on their list after these trades. Minnesota didn't pick up any elite-level players, but it did add five new members to its Top 30, to go along with a few non-ranked players. The Twins had a solid farm system heading into the Deadline period, with some serious high-end talent at the top of the list. Right-hander Jorge Alcala, who came over from the Astros in the Ryan Pressly deal, is the best player they acquired, slotting in at No. 11. The Twins are under .500, but they aren't floundering in last place, with young talent in the big leagues and the upper levels. They brought in some guys with some upside, even if they are a little farther away, and can be patient in allowing them to develop.

This season sucks

I don't think anymore trades happen today for the Twins but I think they'll sneak a few guys - Morrison and Santana, through waivers for later trades.

Cleveland just added a CFer. Not sure what that does for Dozier to Cleveland?

I don't expect all of them to pan out but I do expect some of them to pan out. It's not quite fair to compare these acquired prospects to "all prospects" in the sense that most prospects are just org filler. These guys clearly are not. But I do think that fans should expect the FO to make good trades. We've moved a lot of guys in the last year or so and we'll see what the returns are but if Garcia, Escobar, Kinztler, Lynn, Pressly and Duke (am I forgetting others?) are traded away for nothing in the long run, then it means our FO has some explaining to do. Doesn't mean they made a mistake necessarily but they have some explaining.

Disagree. The org wants Buxton to get as many at-bats as possible. He hasn't even had 190 at-bats combined yet this season. I can't imagine having him get pinch hit for helps his confidence at all, either. He got 40 at bats to start the season then out for 10 days for migraines. Then he got 4 at bats and then missed 19 days because of his foot. Then 50 at bats before another three weeks to the DL. Then 80 at at bats before missing another 19 days or so. Now he's had all of 8 plate appearances since his most recent comeback. He really needs to stay healthy but he needs at-bats. I don't think the org cares if Rochester wins or not. They need Buxton to get it going and benching him isn't going to do it.

I think Molitor is about the worst manager for this team so I think even Matheny would be a step up but not a very big step. I'd pass on him. Girardi would be a nice fit as would John Farrell. Both expect big payrolls but maybe the deep talent the Twins have would entice them. Most of our young guys loved playing for Dougie Baseball so maybe we go that route if for no other reason that to make Maija at TwinkieTown happy. Ideally, I think this team could use a Latino manager.

Yeah, not sure the org wants that to happen.

I really hope they push Kiriloff to AA soon.