chpettit19

Must've missed that "hope" word hidden in there, didn't you? And I said Gold Glove. Current Buxton isn't winning any platinum gloves this year. Weird that you're on me for hoping on the 4 tool guy while you prefer the 2 tool guy. But to each their own.

This is where I'm at with things as well. I think he's the most unpredictable guy because he likely has the highest ceiling in the draft, but also the lowest floor in the top 7. If he's the one guy from the top 7 who falls I take him and hope his worst case is the Buxton we currently have, but with defense in CF everyday instead of every couple days. Gold Glove in CF, .215 BA, and 35+ bombs a year is a really useful player.

Dropping Snell's contract would be the cash considerations in this kind of deal. Snell isn't worth anything except payroll relief at this point.

I think signability stuff is going to be bigger this year than ever because of all the pitcher injuries. Is someone going to try to collect multiple top arms by taking one early for under slot? Will it be the Twins? Will be fun to watch.

I wonder what SD thinks of Cave. Would they be willing to take him in return for Snell or Clevinger? Cave and a low prospect? Lots of talk of them wanting to cut some salary midseason so I'd certainly call and see what they're looking for.

There's a need for bullpen arms in Minneapolis as well. Maybe he can catch, close, and DH? Shohei who?!

I'm thoroughly confused as to where this idea of just moving guys behind the plate came from. We don't have much for SS depth in the minors either, should we move Wallner there next if he isn't good at catcher? Matt Wallner is 6'5" tall. Grayson Greiner is the tallest catcher in MLB history at 6'6". Matt Weiters, Joe Mauer, and Larry McLean are the only other catchers I'm aware of that were 6'5" or taller. The average catcher is shorter than 6'1". The receiving techniques the Twins teach now are all based around getting as low as possible. I don't have any idea why people think a 6'5" Wallner could just pop behind the plate and catch. Why would he even be open to putting that extra wear and tear on his knees anyways?

For this season Sanchez and Jeffers are fine. They're not stars, but they're both decent enough hitters for catchers. For next year I'd be happy to see Omar Narvaez signed. I'd guess Milwaukee tries to bring him back, but if he hits the market I'd sign him and platoon him and Jeffers.

I agree in general, but at some point you have to do what's best for the team. I'm sure the idea was that he'd eventually be able to go more than 4 innings in starts. At some point he needs to do more than that. If he goes the entire season without ever stretching out beyond 4 innings I don't see anyone being willing to pay him 10 mil. To me the question is how long do they have to go along with the 4 inning starts to say they operated in good faith? If the answer is the whole season then the contract wasn't smart and all you did was handcuff yourself into a situation that hurt your team. At some point they have to be able to say "look, we gave it a shot, but you just can't give us enough as a starter and we need to make a change." And I also hope they're getting to the point in their pitching development that contracts like his aren't something they need to rely on so I'm not too concerned with guys signing them in the future. They've done their part and given him his chance to stretch out. It's been half the year. Not only has he not stretched out, but now he's on the IL. Not a serious injury from any reports I've seen, but it is just another data point showing he's likely not able to stretch out and be a 5+ inning guy. To me they've done their part and operated in all the good faith they needed to. Signing any deal is a good faith agreement that you'll let that player play that role until they show they can't. I'm saying he's shown he can't do enough to be a starter. Nobody says a team should operate in good faith when they DFA a guy under contract. Same thing here. I think it's more than reasonable at this point to discuss a role change. They operate in a risk reduction strategy with their pitching in every other sense and it's time to do it with him before that 3.08 moves its way towards his peripherals and then he's giving you 2 inning blowup starts and putting the pen in an even worse spot.

I think him continuing to fail to go more than 4 innings in his starts is hurting his contract negotiating power for next year if he's trying to get a starting pitcher deal. I'd argue moving to a closer role (allowing Duran to maintain his "heart of the order, high leverage situations" role) and being a shutdown closer for the rest of the year would fetch him a better deal than being a 4 inning starter.

Reminds me of the Maeda deal. LA used to put him in the pen in the second half of seasons and playoffs which stopped him from reaching some of his inning based incentives, if I'm remembering correctly. Not saying they were doing it to save a couple mil, just saying it's what they did.

Very true. I hope it's something that's being discussed. If he can be a legit bullpen piece (multi-inning or shutdown backend guy) and they can get Alcala back by the end of the month they could see a nice improvement on the pen without having to make a bunch of trades. I'd still like to see a trade or 2, but those 2 arms could be a huge improvement for the pen. If I were the FO I'd be looking more to bring in Castillo for the rotation than a bunch of pen arms. Reshuffle the good arms they have and add a frontend starter. That'd be my ideal move.

He just seems like such the obvious piece to change roles, but that certainly doesn't mean the guys in the FO and coaching staff see it that way.

I've wondered to myself if they've had talks with Archer during his IL stint about coming back as a bullpen piece. If he were younger I could understand him pushing back and wanting to continue to reestablish himself as a starter to get a nice contract next year, but he's 33 and I think his stuff would play really nicely in the pen. Only going 4 innings a start isn't really helping his FA contract cause anyways. I'd approach him about moving to a high leverage pen role and tell him his chances are higher of getting a deal next year if he comes out and shows he can be a shutdown reliever at the backend of a pen.

My guess is that they'll want to keep Winder in the 120-130 inning range for the year. He's thrown 48.1 to this point. Let's hope for 5 more tonight. So after tonight (the Twins 89th game) Winder will be around 53 or 54 innings. The Twins have 14 full times through the rotation left after tonight. If each spot in the rotation averages 5 innings a start there's 73 innings left for each spot in the rotation. It'll be interesting to see how they manage his innings. He threw 125 back in 2019 so he's shown he can handle that kind of workload. If he were to take a turn in the rotation and average 5 innings a start for the rest of the season that'd be the range he'd be in. They let Ober throw 108 last year after no innings in 2020 and being an injury risk. I think 125 is doable for Winder. As for role, I think it all seems to work itself out with injuries. Won't be surprised to see him sent down at some point after a bad start, but also wouldn't be surprised to see him stay in the rotation if he keeps pitching well. He wouldn't be the one I'd move to the pen as he's far more important for the Twins moving forward than the other options for a role change and I'd try to build him up and keep him working as a starter to work on perfecting his routine as a starter. I'd expect them to send him down to start before they put him in a 1 or 2 inning bullpen role.

Would absolutely love the Twins to get Parada, but I see basically no chance of him falling to 8. Lots of talk about Washington being in love with him and him being the favorite to go #5 to them.

Dang. That was an in depth comment.

I agree with that. They have not made any "win now" trades at the deadline that have helped them "win now." At least none pop to mind quickly. Based on the trades they've made in general, though, I trust their ability to make good trades. I hope to see them make some quality "win now" trades over the next few weeks.

Kenta Maeda trade seems to have turned out alright. Sonny Gray has been pretty solid. Celestino came over in trade. As did Duran. Jorge Alcala also brought in via trade. Joe Ryan seems to be a decent little trade acquisition. Odo turned out pretty well, and they even have the prospect they gave up for him back in their system. They brought in Devin Smeltzer via trade. Sanchez and Urshela have been solid pieces to this team that they brought in with a trade. And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

I'd love Johnson to fall to the Twins. I love contact ability with zone control. Hitting is all about swinging at good pitches and getting your barrel on the ball. Those are Johnson's strengths. While I'd love him to be able to stay at SS, I'd be more than happy with him replacing Jorge in a few years at 2B and mashing. Khalil Watson fell to 16 last year, so maybe Johnson will fall to 8 this year? Although, the baseball, not Twins, fan side of me would like to see him go to Miami so they run out Watson at SS and Johnson at 2B. I want a picture of 6'7" Oneil Cruz on 2B after a double standing between 5'9" Watson and 5'8" Johnson.

Why? How would they spend his $15M a year better?

My hope is definitely that one of the top 7 falls. It feels like everyone has pretty much the same top 7 in some order and they're a step ahead of the next handful of prospects, which is a bummer for the Twins being at 8. But baseball draft is weird with bonus pools and all that so there's a chance one of the top 7 fall. But I also wouldn't be disappointed if it's Cross. He looks like a very solid pick.

Cross feels like his potential is the Kepler we all wish we had. Above average to elite defender in a corner with an above average bat. If that's the player I get at 8 I'd be pretty happy. Obviously, the hope is for an up the middle star, but a Kepler who actually deserves to hit in the top 6 in a playoff lineup is a really nice get from a first round pick.

What is up with Balazovic? Has anyone been watching the games? Is he hurt? Can he just not locate stuff? Why is he so bad now?

Byron Buxton has a full no trade clause until 2027.