Sorry dude but as soon as you wrote that Jenkins, Rodriguez, Lee & Matthews should be in play you lost all credibility. You don't get better when your best players play for other teams. Or your best prospects. Some lines can't be crossed. End of story.
"Regional sports networks are disappearing" I would assume the revenue they previously generated is going to be gone as well. Not a good thing for a team like the Twins.
I like the kid. A lot. But if we trusted him to start Game 4 of a playoff series we would probably show that by being far less interested in trading for SP.
Old enough to remember this team adding Jaimie Garcia AND trading him away at the deadline. Little remembered fact is that he had more wins for us that year than he did for the Yankees after we traded him away. Another fun fact is that the guy they traded away to get Garcia has lost twice as many games as he has won at both the minor and major league levels.
If this front office / manager is to be commended for anything it would be for having assembled a team with multiple guys who can play multiple positions. Lee is a fully capable replacement for at least three positions. Miranda for two. Castro for at least 5. Kiriloff can play multiple. Too bad he can't hit big league pitching for extended periods of time or stay healthy when he does. Austin Martin might just be another Swiss Army Knife. Even Buxton can DH one or two days a week and seemingly not suffer offensively or defensively. Having multiple guys who can take a day or two off a week and play two or three (or more) positions gives you enough options that your offense (and hopefully defense) will seldom suffer from the loss of one (or more?) guys for short periods of time. Such a lineup can be somewhat slump proof as well. Also allows for sitting certain guys based on certain match-ups. (Rocco's heaven). Although as a fan it can be a little frustrating to have the number three team in the AL in runs scored and only have one (or two with injuries) All-Stars and probably only one of the top three dozen offensive players in the AL. Guess that's why they call it a TEAM.
even if it would, is a guy we had pegged as our 4th or 5th starter, a guy with a -.6 WAR the last two years combined, the "playoff caliber starter" we seek?
I should think that if we are seeking a playoff caliber starting pitcher we'd be focusing on one for THIS year. If not, we might as well be selling wholesale.