olivia11

Notable position players not in yesterday's minor league lineups. AAA: John Ryan Murphy, Edgar Corcino AA: Travis Harrison A+: Luis Arraez (DL) A: Amaurys Minier R: Kolton Kendrick, Akil Baddoo I think Baddoo was promoted yesterday so that could explain why he was out. But, overall, all the top position player prospects played yesterday. Maybe it's a pitcher? Or maybe it's not as common to not play a position player who might get traded? (injury risk lower?)

Palka (#13) could be a good guess too.

Any idea what level of prospect will have to get sent to Atlanta for García?

I'm all for moving Dozier, Santana, Kintzler for the right deal. But, is Dozier even tradable at this point? I'm qualifying "tradable" as where the projected value coming in would potentially exceed Dozier's value to the Twins over the next two years (and/or the chance that he has a crazy second half and can be moved over the off-season for a better package). So, serious question. If Dozier for De Leon straight up (or pretty much straight up) wasn't enough, is there a team out there that is a 2nd baseman away from the playoffs who will give up more than De Leon? I don't think I'd trade him for less than a top 100 prospect plus taking a flyer on at least one intriguing player (someone like a Lewin Diaz or a Jermaine Palacios in the Twins system). Is there a team out there who would offer that right now?

They can find an "injury", put him on the DL, and then basically not have to bring him up back up until September roster expansion. Might as well keep him on the roster this season and see if his velocity improves by Spring Training 2018.

I have a hard time buying into the idea that any trade the Twins would make to add would put them in a position to win a playoff series. Getting to the playoffs shouldn't be the goal. The goal should be getting to the playoffs and making a run. I have to think that trading away some assets now (Santana, Kintzler, Dozier) and getting another group of prospects to add to this current mix gives the Twins a better shot of accomplishing that goal in the next couple years.

Just curious as to what people are thinking Santana's market might be given the Quintana trade and the likelihood that Archer really isn't on the market... Using the Yankees as an example (just because someone brought them up), could any of these be about right Santana trade? (That is, a Santana trade that Falvey and Levine would actually accept with the Twins being borderline "in it"). Option 1: LHP Justus Sheffield (#66 mlb, #73 BA - currently in AA) RHP Chance Adams (#93 mlb, not ranked in BA top 100 - currently in AAA) Option 2: LHP Justus Sheffield (#66 mlb, #73 BA - currently in AA) RHP Albert Abreu (no top 100s, #10 Yankees prospect, potential frontline starter but likely reliever - currently in A+) OF Estevan Florial (no top 100s, #15 Yankees prospect - currently in A)

No. Can you imagine how bad the Twins pitching would be this season without Buxton in CF? Archer wouldn't fix that. Plus, Buxton will hit. He's 23. Patience.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2716815-bleacher-reports-complete-al-nl-all-star-teams-predictions Bleacher Report posted their predictions today. They have Sano and Santana for the Twins, but also mention that Santana could be "snubbed". Also, when you look at the position player reserves, it's hard to see Dozier having a real shot. I feel like the only other third player that might have a shot would be Berrios.

1. Lewis 2. Gordon 3. Romero 4. Gonsalves 5. Kiriloff 6. Enlow 7. Jay 8. Stewart 9. Blankenhorn 10. Jorge 11. Rooker 12. Diaz 13. Wade 14. Chargois 15. Leach

You'd gotta think that Enlow immediately cracks the Twins top 10 prospects. A 1-5 group of Lewis, Gordon, Romero, Gonsalves, Kiriloff (not necessarily in that order) followed by 6-10 of Enlow, Jay, Díaz, Mejía, and your favorite of of Stewart/Blankenhorn/Wade (again not in that order) really improves this top 10. I'd also think Rooker would fit in the 10-15 range (something like Palka's floor, more ceiling). De La Torre, Bechtold, and Barnes are probably in the 20-35 range, too. That sounds like a good strategy to me!

1) Who do you expect the Dodgers to consider untouchable? Urias 2) How do you rank the following pitching prospects (feel free to include other names): Yadier Alvarez, Walker Buehler, Jose De Leon, Jordan Sheffield, Brock Stewart, Ross Stripling? Alvarez/De Leon, Buehler, Stewart, Sheffield, Stripling 3) How do you rank the following hitting prospects (feel free to include other names): Cody Bellinger, Willie Calhoun, Yusniel Diaz, Gavin Lux, Alex Verdugo? Bellinger, Verdugo, Diaz, Calhoun, Lux 4) Which of these role players (if any) would you be okay with as a 3rd or 4th piece (add other names if you want): Austin Barnes, Chris Taylor, Trace Thompson, Andrew Toles, Scott Van Slyke? Thompson and Toles 5) Who are some interesting sleepers in the Dodgers system that you like? Mitch White and Jacob Rhame 6) Who are on your 'I don't want this player in a trade no matter what' list? Calhoun, Puig 7) What is your minimum acceptable trade? De Leon and one of Buehler, Stewart, Sheffield, Stirpling 8) What is your dream trade (that does not include anyone you considered untouchable)? De Leon, Bellinger, one of Buehler or Stewart 9) Would you consider it a failure if Dozier is in a Twins uniform on Opening Day? Yes, absolutely. His value will never be higher and Twins need to get De Leon while he's still available. 10) What do expect Dozier's WAR to be in 2017 & 2018? 4.5, 3.5 11) If Dozier is traded to the Dodgers, what is your over/under for his home runs in 2017? 19

Is it possible that the money they got in the Justin Haley trade will go toward the International Spending Cap?

I think getting De Leon and Alvarez is almost as good as getting Urias and it means the Twins don't have to give up any other prospects. De Leon is like a slightly better Jose Berrios and can help the rotation now. Alvarez has as much upside as any top pitching prospect and could very well turn into a Julio Urias. Plus, having both Alvarez and Romero coming up at the same time in the system could make for an impressive 1-2 in a couple years. Getting both prospects also provides a little insurance in case one or both don't quite reach their ceiling. Based on his insane signing bonus, Alvarez was also someone that was basically priced out of the Twins' market when he signed with the Dodgers. So, in that sense, acquiring him would be similar to what you're saying above: the Twins need to use Dozier to get a high-upside pitcher who they would otherwise not have a chance at.

1. Trade Dozier (my hope would be for De Leon, Alvarez + two other low/organizational filler pieces). Then, that allows the Twins to do the following: -Trade a starting pitcher. Either E. Santana or Santiago. I personally think a Santana trade makes more sense at the trade deadline. Teams will be more desperate then and it also means Santana's around for the first half to mentor, in particular, Berrios and De Leon. A Santiago trade makes more sense, even if it's a relatively buy-low moment. The added value of the Santiago trade is it opens up a few more possibilities in the rotation. I'd like to see Santana, Gibson, May, Berrios, De Leon with Hughes being the question mark. By mid-season, Mejia, Gonsalves and Slegers could all be knocking on the door. -Sign a utility infielder who can play above-average defense at shortstop. I am a big Eduardo Escobar fan and think he deserves another shot. He's a better defender than he was in 2016. But Twins should also get some insurance on the defensive side. -Sign a LHRP if the contract is right. I don't think it makes sense to sign anyone, anyone mediocre-enough to want to come to the Twins right now, to more than a 2-year contract. -Sign a few bounce-back reliever candidates to minor league contracts. -Decide if the Twins believe in Danny Santana, Robbie Grossman and Michael Tonkin. Keep one...or two, not all three. Then, commit to signing a 4th outfielder.

I was not considering Danny Santana in that group. Totally agree that Santana shouldn't be on the Twins' 25 man roster. The 5 MLB-ready guys I was referring to are Buxton, Kepler, Rosario, Palka and Granite. Palka and Granite are totally not MLB-ready yet - I agree - but they will (hopefully) be by mid-season so I'd rather not have the Twins spend, say $8M on Rajai Davis, for example.

While the Twins should always be trying to improve every position, I think it's WAY too early to write off Rosario. And I don't think we should sign a FA outfielder to anything more than a minor league contract. There are 5 young guys on the 40-man that are all pretty much MLB ready - let them fight it out and prove themselves. That being said, I like the idea of acquiring someone like Andrew Toles in the Dodgers trade to offer a little more flexibility. It makes sense to have Grossman on the roster as a platoon outfielder and bench bat... but wow is it hard to watch him play left field.

I really like your blueprint. I would also have May in the rotation because it looks like relieving is worsening his back problems and, after listening to an interview with him, it sounds like if he doesn't get a real chance to start with the Twins, he'd ask for a trade. I would also like to see the Twins try and trade Santiago. And Vargas as long as the offer is pretty good (if not, totally hold on to him). Same with Kintzler, if there's a good offer definitely trade him... if not, potential trade deadline candidate. But that would allow the rotation to be: 1) Santana 2) Gibson 3) May 4) Berrios 5) De Leon There are no lefties here but two are close (Mejia and Gonsalves) so that's okay. There's also room for Hughes to potentially start opening day and have De Leon start in AAA. If the young guys do well, then we could look to trade Santana or Gibson at the deadline. Mejia and Gonsalves should be ready sometime this year, potentially even Stewart and Slegers. Baxendale and Wheeler provide some depth too. Would be great if the Twins could sign a solid veteran relieve to no more than a 2 year contract. But I'm not sure I see them doing that quite yet. I think they want to see what they've got and, I actually think this group could be pretty good this year. A couple minor league signings for bounce-back candidates (like Abad and Kintzler last year) would be smart. That leaves us with a bullpen of: 1) Ryan Pressly 2) Brandon Kintzler 3) JT Chargois 4) Taylor Rogers (L) 5) Tyler Duffey 6) Justin Haley 7) Tonkin/Boshers/O'Rourke or Light/Reed/Hildenberger/Melotakis or ML signing All the bullpen spots are essentially open for competition, but we could use the last spot to either give Tonkin a few more opportunities to prove himself before giving up on him. Or, with a bullpen of all lefties, Twins could go with one of Boshers, O'Rourke or Melotakis. I think they also give the prospects a shot to prove themselves. And maybe a solid ML signing emerges. If they trade Kintzler, then they have two spots to play with. Everything - on both the pitching side and the position players side - really does depend on if/when Dozier is traded.

Interesting. How do you figure out what the equates to in prospects? So at $20-30M, would you say that equals one top 50-100 prospect, one B prospect, one C prospect? If that's the case, I'm not sure if it's worth it to trade him quite yet. Could try to trade Santiago instead (for a B and a C?) to free up space in the rotation.

I'm wondering if we can use the Sale trade to gage what the market for Santana might be right now. Sale to Boston: 2B Yoan Moncada (#2 overall), RHP Michael Kopech (#30 overall), OF Luis Alexander Basabe (B level prospect), RHP Victor Diaz (C level prospect). Rumored trade to Nationals: RHP Lucas Giolito (#3 overall), OF Victor Robles (#10 overall), and we can probably assume there was both a B and C level prospect included. So maybe Santana could bring back one of the following? 1) one top 50 prospect, a B prospect, a C prospect 2) two prospects in the top 50-150 range, a B prospect

Berardino reports Twins are trading Diaz for RHP Justin Haley (Angels selection).

Twins select RHP Miguel Diaz but rumor of a trade to Padres. Padres selected SS Alan Cordova. Swap? Also C Stuart Turner claimed by the Reds (who selected two catchers - seems unlikely both stick).

I would be happy with these trades (minus the Puig one, I'd rather get De Leon and one of Wood, Díaz, Buhler, Sheffield instead). I don't think it's necessary to acquire near-MLB-ready position players in a Dozier trade because I think that's who we'd be able to acquire in a Santana trade, if and when it happens. I don't see a team willing to surrender a near-MLB-ready top pitching prospect for Santana, because the difference between having him or Santana in their rotation is probably not too significant and then when you factor in that the prospect likely has a higher ceiling... SO, I think we need to take advantage of the Dozier trade for at least two arms with a combination of near-MLB-ready and high upside. Dozier to Dodgers for De Leon RHP, Buhler RHP, and Lux SS OR Dozier to Dodgers for Alvarez RHP and Wood LHP Then, that sets us up for Santana trade in July where we'd bring back 2-3 prospects, of that 1-2 top 100 prospects (maybe a position player and a pitcher who's far away) which includes a position player who can help the club relatively immediately. For example maybe we could get something like the following: Santana to Yankees for Clint Frazier OF, Domingo Acevedo RHP, Luis Torrens C OR Santana to Red Sox for Rafael Devers 3B, Luis Alexander Basabe OF, Chandler Shephard RHRP This would re-vamp the Twins top prospect depth: (Using the list from MLB, know isn't perfect): 1) Frazier, 2) De Leon, 3) Jay, 4) Gordon, 5) Gonsavles, 6) Kirilloff, 7) Stewart, 8) Acevedo, 9) Romero, 10) Buhler, 11) Chargois, 12) Lux, 13) Rortvedt, 14) Mejia, 15) Torrens And hey if they don't trade Santana in July it means the team's looking halfway-decent so that's a win in itself!

Tweet from MLB Trade Rumors: "I haven't had any dialogue with the Twins about Dozier. That's a false report." - Yankees GM Brian Cashman on Yanks/Dozier rumors

Good point. The basic thought behind my idea is that in addition to getting 2 pitchers (one who can help now, and one who can help later and who has perhaps a higher ceiling than the first), we should try and get a position player to start to rebuild our position player prospect depth. I'm wondering if De Leon, Alvarez + Diaz could be had for Dozier plus a prospect other than Gordon, Jay, Gonsalves, Romero, Kiriloff.