Jeremy Nygaard

Draft tandem Jeremy Nygaard and JD Cameron team up for a podcast to discuss prospects on their way to the big leagues and the MLB Draft, produced by Theo Tollefson. Image courtesy of Thieres Rabelo The heavy focus of this episode is how the draft and international free agency work. 0:00 Intro 2:40 MiLB Update 15:21 Draft Timelines 18:00 Day One 24:00 Bonus Pool and Pick Values 34:15 Teams Bonus Pools 49:35 IFA Bonus Pools 55:30 Draft Board Stuff You can support the show by downloading it from wherever you get your podcasts, including iTunes and Spotify. If you enjoy the content, consider leaving us a five-star rating and review in addition to sharing or retweeting DTS-related content. You can follow us on Twitter @DTS_POD1, @Jeremynygaard, @J_D_Cameron, and @TheodoreTollef1. You can also find full episodes and clips of our shows on our YouTube page @DestinationTheShow. View full article

The 2024 season begins on Friday for the Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels. Courtesy of John Vittas, the director of communications and play-by-play broadcast of the Might Mussels, Jamie and Jeremy react to Soto's press conference with the media on Wednesday and the excitement they have for his first start of his career on Saturday. View full video

Draft tandem Jeremy Nygaard and JD Cameron team up for a podcast to discuss prospects on their way to the big leagues and the MLB draft, produced by Theo Tollefson. 0:00 Intro 2:45 Consensus Board!!!! 8:06 Rookie Impact Players 9:45 Brewers Rookies 13:38 Cubs Rookies 17:20 Twins Rookies 26:00 NL Predictions 45:30 AL Predictions 10:05:38 Closing You can support the show by downloading it from wherever you get your podcasts, including iTunes and Spotify. If you enjoy the content, consider leaving us a five-star rating and review in addition to sharing or retweeting DTS-related content. You can follow us on Twitter @DTS_POD1, @Jeremynygaard, @J_D_Cameron, and @TheodoreTollef1. You can also find full episodes and clips of our shows on our YouTube page @DestinationTheShow. View full article

Draft tandem Jeremy Nygaard and JD Cameron team up for a podcast to discuss prospects on their way to the big leagues and the MLB draft, produced by Theo Tollefson. Image courtesy of Thieres Rabelo In episode 28 of Destination: The Show, Jeremy and JD take a closer look at the 2024 draft, the top potential picks and how the landscape could shift over the next four months. 0:00 Intro 2:30 Spring Breakout Rosters 20:00 How is the 2024 Draft class? 24:25 Are there clear-cut guys at the top? 28:37 Who are the movers? Up or down. 33:10 Who's moved up into the Top 3? 39:22 Anyone who can ascend to the top? 45:16 How about pitchers? 54:15 Who are you taking with the first pick? 1:01:48 Listener Question You can support the show by downloading it from wherever you get your podcasts, including iTunes and Spotify. If you enjoy the content, consider leaving us a five-star rating and review in addition to sharing or retweeting DTS-related content. You can follow us on Twitter @DTS_POD1, @Jeremynygaard, @J_D_Cameron, and @TheodoreTollef1. You can also find full episodes and clips of our shows on our YouTube page @DestinationTheShow. View full article

Walker Jenkins is entering the 2024 season as a consensus top-10 prospect in all of baseball. But how will his first full professional season play out and where do Jeremy, Jamie, and Theo think he'll rank going into 2025? View full video

Jamie and Jeremy review what the Dodgers are getting in return for Manuel Margot from the Twins as they land one of the best defensive shortstops in the Minor Leagues. But can the Dodgers fix his ability to hit? View full video

I plan to take periodic looks at this from now until an expansion plan is in place. But as an exercise, I do find it entertaining. I thought the Twins list was quite easy, with not a lot of wiggle room. That will change when Lee is promoted... and quite possibly every day from here on out. I've always found expansion drafts to be quite interesting. The strategy and wheeling-and-dealing. Travis Fryman getting traded from the Tigers to the Diamondbacks as a brand new team... and then turning him around with a couple others into Matt Williams. There's no way the Tigers were trading Fryman to the Guardians. And that was before it could be an event. The expansion draft would be a really fun event, because the players are all known (which is what hurts the MLB Draft).

With Rob Manfred and Jeff Passan making MLB expansion news hot right now. it's fun to ponder: If there were an expansion draft tomorrow, whom would the Minnesota Twins protect from it? Image courtesy of Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports The last time baseball expanded was in 1998, with the addition of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. This brought the number of Major League Baseball teams to 30. Similarly, the NBA expanded to 30 teams in 2004 after expanding to 29 in 1995. The NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002. The NHL reached 32 teams with expansions in 2000, 2017, and 2021. Since shrinking to 10 teams for the 2002-2004 seasons, Major League Soccer has expanded almost annually and will include 30 teams by 2025. It’s inevitable. Leagues with 30 teams will add two more franchises (and collect enormous buy-in fees) sometime soon. The reasons for expanding, where the franchises will end up, and if it’s necessary can and will be debated into the foreseeable future, but that’s not what this article is about. This is about what expansion means to your favorite team and the role they play in providing players to the new franchises. THE EXPANSION DRAFT While the rules could change from what was in place in 1997, they would likely be very similar. In the last edition of the expansion draft, each team was allowed to protect 15 players, while recently drafted players were exempt. If it followed the same rules, teams would essentially be allowed to protect 15 players from the 40-man rosters while all other players would be exempt from the draft. Players with 10-and-5 rights or no-trade clauses had to be included on the list of 15 players. It should also be noted that we’re looking at this when 40-man rosters are full, whereas an expansion draft would happen in the offseason where free agents and other fringe players wouldn’t be on the roster. (Players who project to be free agents after 2024 don’t need to be protected, with some exceptions.) Expansion teams will take 15 players each in round one (one player from each team) and then each existing team will be allowed to protect three more players. The same process will occur for a second round. At that point, each expansion team will have 30 players and each existing team will have lost two players and protected 21 players. In the 1997 draft, each of the two new teams got to select seven more players, giving them a total of 35. If this draft follows suit, the third round would consist of five American League and five National League teams each losing one more player. With that and without further ado, let’s look at an early projection of whom the Twins would protect and the best players it would leave unprotected. No-trade clauses: SS Carlos Correa (1), OF Byron Buxton (2) These two offensive cornerstones have no-trade clauses. On the whole, though, around the league, aging players with large contracts who don't have no-trade clauses or 10-and-5 rights may be exposed. No-brainers: RHP Pablo López (3), C Ryan Jeffers (4), 3B Royce Lewis (5), RHP Jhoan Durán (6), 2B Edouard Julien (7), RHP Bailey Ober (8), LF Matt Wallner (9), RHP Joe Ryan (10) This group (which isn't in any particular order) stands apart from the rest, in that they are all under multiple years of team control and, except for Lopez, are all relatively inexpensive. Of significance, too: With these 10 players, you have 60 percent of your starting rotation, a closer and all four of your up-the-middle positions covered. That seems important. Protected: RHP Chris Paddack (11), RHP Griffin Jax (12), 1B Alex Kirilloff (13), RHP Louie Varland (14) This is always going to be the group debated the most, regardless of team. Paddack's injury history has to be considered, but his age and contract tip the scale in his favor. Jax proved his worth as a back-of-the-bullpen type. Kirilloff has shown promise, when not injured, but could certainly be debated. Varland gets the nod for the last spot as a young, valuable arm whose role has yet to be defined. Prospects: OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (15) As a top-50 global prospect, Rodríguez also could fit in the no-brainer group. Exposed: RHP Jorge Alcalá (‘25 club option), RHP Brock Stewart, RHP Justin Topa, C Christian Vázquez, UTIL Willi Castro, LHP Steven Okert, RHP Josh Staumont, OF Trevor Larnach, IF José Miranda, RHP Josh Winder, RHP Cole Sands, RHP Matt Canterino, C Jair Camargo, LHP Kody Funderburk, LHP Brent Headrick, IF Yunior Severino, RHP Zack Weiss, RHP Simeon Woods Richardson, UTIL Austin Martin Free agents: RHP Anthony DeSclafani, RF Max Kepler, IF Kyle Farmer, 1B/DH Carlos Santana, LHP Caleb Thielbar, RHP Jay Jackson (‘25 club option) In this iteration, the Twins would risk exposing a few solid bullpen arms (Stewart, Topa, Okert and Staumont) who all figure to be on solid ground heading into the 2024 season but are all on the wrong side of 30 years of age. An expansion team could find interest in a younger arm like the 23-year-old Woods Richardson or take a shot on the big arm of Canterino. Multi-dimensional Willi Castro would be a perfect fit on an expansion team, but he only has one year of control beyond this season, whereas José Miranda would have four. Funderburk would be a more-than-serviceable left-handed bullpen arm. Prediction: The reality is that a healthy season from Canterino probably puts him on the protected list, but at this point, there's still enough upside for an expansion team to take him. In that event, Stewart, Castro, and Funderburk could be protected. In the second and/or third round, it would make a lot of sense for an expansion team to target Larnach or Miranda, either of whom could serve as a second-division plug-and-play while just entering arbitration years. Who would you protect? And who do you think you'd be most likely to lose? Join the fun and add your take on this exercise to the discussion. View full article

The Twins haven't made improvements to their rotation, but have one of the best bullpens in the league on paper. Did they stack the bullpen to cover up their rotational issues? View full video

Draft tandem Jeremy Nygaard and JD Cameron team up for a podcast to discuss prospects on their way to the big leagues and the MLB draft, produced by Theo Tollefson. Image courtesy of Thieres Rabelo In episode 24 of Destination: The Show, Jeremy and JD recap the offseasons of the Brewers, Cubs, and Twins before answering listener questions. 0:00 Intro 1:40 Fanzine winners 3:10 Big Podcast Rankings News 7:09 Brewers Offseason Recap 8:58 Burnes Trade 19:36 Cubs Offseason Recap 20:18 Busch for Ferris Trade 23:30 or so - Are the Cubs going to make a move? 30:55 Twins Offseason Recap 31:55 Polanco Trade 35:00 Weaker rotation vs stronger bullpen 46:19 Listener Question You can support the show by downloading it from wherever you get your podcasts, including iTunes and Spotify. If you enjoy the content, consider leaving us a five-star rating and review in addition to sharing or retweeting DTS-related content. You can follow us on Twitter @DTS_POD1, @Jeremynygaard, @J_D_Cameron, and @TheodoreTollef1. You can also find full episodes and clips of our shows on our YouTube page @DestinationTheShow. View full article

Jeremy and J.D. examine the lanky righty Darren Bowen whom the Twins just acquired in the trade for Jorge Polanco. View full video

Well, it only took until late January for the Twins to make a deal that moved the needle... and Monday evening's trade sending Jorge Polanco to the Mariners for four players certainly did just that. JD, Jeremy and Theo jumped on discuss the players involved and the next steps. Image courtesy of Thieres Rabelo There was plenty to talk about. From the feeling that Polanco's plate appearances will be split among many of the current infield options, to also how the money saved will now be reallocated. And how the Twins will use the current major leagues plus how the minor leaguers fit into the system. It was certainly a fun chat to have! 0:00 Intro 2:00 Full Trade Recap 9:14 Anthony DeSclafani, RHP 19:52 Justin Topa, RHRP 25:02 Gabriel Gonzalez, OF Prospect - Top 100??? 39:55 Darren Bowen, P Prospect We closed by talking about what's next for the Twins. Give it a listen... and let us know what you think! You can support the show by downloading it from wherever you get your podcasts, leaving us a positive review and five star rating at I-Tunes or Spotify, retweeting show related content on Twitter, and subscribing to our YouTube page. You can follow us @DTS_POD1, @J_D_Cameron, @Jeremynygaard, and @TheodoreTollef1 on Twitter. Send us your prospect and draft-related questions for our next episode. View full article