Twins33

think he's been moved to 3B so he wouldn't fall under this category anymore.

No, waivers go by team record only in the offseason.

Unless he's changed his mind, Molitor has already said he'd platoon Castro. He was interviewed not long after Castro signed.

it could have changed, but this is a quote from one week ago: Levine: “I would expect in between now and opening day we’ll have added at least one or two pitchers to our mix to enhance both the depth and the quality within our 12-man staff.” That was from 1500's site.

I am definitely most interested in the pitching development. I remember multiple tweets and articles saying Falvey had his fingerprints all over the Indians MLB staff and minors. The Indians were bottom 10 in MLB pitching from 2009-2012. Top 15 in 2013 and top 10 the last three years. I hope it doesn't take that long for the Twins pitching to turn around due to the young offensive core mostly already being in place. Either way, we all know things need to change. Hopefully we see the benefits ASAP.

That makes sense. If I were the Dodgers (or the Twins in your hypothetical) I'd want Kinsler over Dozier, but that extension thing scares me away.

i don't really consider that an overpay. Berrios and DeLeon are equivalent (though personally I'd take DeLeon over Berrios, if we ignore the injury) and Jay we don't know enough about yet to say "too much." If we had a Urias, Alvarez, Stewart and Buehler in the system I wouldn't be extremely upset to do that deal. It would hurt a little maybe but I'd still have about three guys I value way more.

id do Berrios and Jay and a throw in. Berrios was #20 and Jay was 43 at midseason rankings for BA. That's with pretending that our pitching in the majors and minors is as strong as theirs, of course. And pretending that Polanco doesn't exist.

i agree the infield is better with Dozier than without it. That is because we do not know how Polanco will turn out. I doubt he'll be as good as Dozier but I don't think he'll bust either. I believe giving up DeLeon+ is giving up something, but it depends on what the plus is. If it's not good, then you obviously don't do the deal. I don't even know why you and I are having this conversation as we both seem to agree on that though you think DeLeon is bad, so I'm guessing you'd be fine with a lesser value trade which I actually wouldn't be. If DeLeon isn't your centerpiece then who is? It won't be Bellinger or Urias, which means you'd rather have a lesser prospect than DeLeon and one who is also further away. I'm not okay with taking a trade with even less value. I'm guessing the pitcher you mean is either Stewart or Wood. Probably Stewart. I wouldn't want Stewart to be the centerpiece but as a second or third piece I'd definitely like him. I'd do DeLeon, Stewart and a throw in. Not sure the Dodgers would though. I'd actually prefer more than that but I'm trying to be more realistic. The Twins lost 90+ games five out of the last six years. I don't know why you don't think it won't happen again especially with one of the worst rotations in baseball. It's fine to be optimistic but history is pointing to it happening again until they actually try to fix it. I do agree they are better than they showed last season, but right now I see this as an easy 90 loss team because pitching is part of the game. It's not impossible that they win more, but they've done it once in the last six years. That's an absolutely horrible percentage. And a deadline deal for Dozier where you get more than you're being offered now is pretty unrealistic. Position players do get traded, but the prizes of the deadline are SP and RP which Dozier is not. There's too many things that can go wrong between now and then and to me they outweigh Dozier's value going up, which I see a slim chance at happening. Again, nothing is impossible but you have to play the odds. If they wait until the next offseason then Dozier will just be a rental and will automatically lose value even if he has a good year. Again, you and I are arguing the same thing except you don't like DeLeon as a centerpiece and I do. Otherwise we're both saying "don't give away Dozier for junk." What I don't want to happen is the Twins keep him, never trade him because they can't, and he walks for nothing or a 3rd round pick (and whatever the other pick was) by giving him a QO. Would I rather that happen then a bad trade, yeah because at least we benefit from having Dozier vs having junk but I still don't see this team going anywhere until they get 2-3 more SP's. And if the Twins don't get 2-3 more good SP's prior to Ervin being gone than they are going to need 3-4 more instead. The Twins will be bad until the pitching gets fixed. Plain and simple. And I'm frankly tired of hoping the in-house guys start getting the job done. Gibson has contributed but he's a 4/5 starter and then there was Garza drafted over 10 years ago. That's how far you have to go back to find a contributing pitcher and he didn't even contribute to us. Berrios may become something but we have no idea. Hughes health is in question as his surgery is fairly rare and which Hughes will even show up even if he is healthy? Duffey? May? Mejia? Santiago? All I'm seeing is Ervin plus four question marks. Not sure how that equals greater than a 90 loss team. And a Dozier trade still does not guarantee anything but it's the best chip they have. It must be a good deal on paper though, which is what every fan who sees this as an opportunity is saying though it feels like you think we're all saying "trade him for anything!" Which we definitely are not. Very far from that actually.

With or without Dozier, this team doesn't really have a SS. You can plug Escobar or Polanco there, sure, but you're never completely comfortable calling either "the SS of the future." My assumption is that if Dozier is gone then it goes to Escobar or Vielma who's glove is major league ready. The infield is nowhere near as big of a problem as the SP problem. You can only count on Ervin. Don't trade Dozier for just anything obviously but trading Dozier potentially helps the rotation. No guarantees it does, but we already know doing nothing or signing old vets doesn't work. And I don't get the "why are the Dodgers so eager to give up DeLeon" point. You have to give up something to get something and the Dodgers know that. You may think of DeLeon as not much of anything but he's a better version of Berrios and thought highly of. The shoulder problems are a concern though. But you can put the "why would team such and such trade this guy" argument on literally any prospect in all of baseball. So that doesn't really make sense to me. If they were willing to give up Bellinger or Urias you would think the same thing. Again, you have to give to get. In my eyes and likely the Dodgers eyes, I'd be way more willing to give up DeLeon than Urias or Bellinger. Urias is way better and Bellinger is their future 1B. DeLeon is a step below both. Frankly I don't think the Twins could pull either Urias or Bellinger in a straight up trade, so DeLeon makes perfect sense for the Twins needs and for a value piece that the Dodgers would have to give up. I want Dozier traded because this team likely loses 90 games next year and 2018 is unknown. This team will not get better until the rotation does. But again, no one is saying "just give Dozier away." It has to be more than DeLeon which is what the Twins and Dodgers are fighting over.

i don't have enough confidence in the staff to improve as drastically as it needs to (by doing nothing). They've been a bottom five staff for five out of the last six years. It's just not working. They need 2-3 more SP's to right this ship. Those SP's may already be in our system, but I wouldn't bank on it.

upward trend, sure but do you actually expect that to continue? I expect 28-30 next year. He could get more, but that's what's realistic. I don't think anyone should expect 45-50 HRs. It feels like you expect that because you keep mentioning upward trend. Again, not impossible but unlikely. These are numbers since 2013 (what he typically does each year): 80 singles 35 doubles 4 triples 15-20 SB His walk percentage is usually around 8 His K percentage is around 19-20 Those numbers are very consistent since 2013. The only upward trend is HRs: 18, 23, 28, 42. It may still go up next year but I wouldn't bet money on it. And it's the only upward trend Dozier has had.

You never base a "to trade or not to trade" on one great season. Even only comparing one season of Killer vs one season of Dozier....it's completely unfair to Dozier. Dozier was awesome for a good chunk of 2016, but he's only done that for one season. No one can expect him to do it again like it's a guarantee. It's not impossible, but shouldn't be expected. I expect 2013-2015 level Dozier for the next two years, which is an all star level player, but not as good as he was in 2016.

Right. Falvey and Levine shouldn't be judge for things that Ryan or Smith did. They should be judge for what they do. We have no idea how good or bad they are at trading. They haven't made one yet.

speaking for myself, I don't want Dozier to re-sign so for our team I don't think money is the issue. It's Dozier's age and the fact that we have almost no pitching. I think other fans who want Dozier traded feel the same, but I can't say for sure.

the 2nd rounder isn't protected, but we didn't lose it because Castro didn't receive and reject a qualifying offer (would have been insane for him to get one and also insane for him to turn it down).

think it was a PTBNL or cash and I think most of the reports said they believe it will be cash.

He re-upped with the Indians. Sounded like Falvey will be bringing no one from the Indians according to reports made a few weeks ago (there may have been an article, but I do remember tweets). And it sounded like Levine also had a verbal agreement to not take anyone from TX.

I feel like someone asked a reporter about this in a tweet, but now I can't find the tweet. My gut says he'd have to be on the 40 man again and then waived again to get off the 40 man and hope to not be claimed. O's have already claimed him and put him on the 40 man...for now.

Butch Davis, but yes, those are the only known guys that have been removed by Falvey/Levine. There may have been more and they just haven't leaked, but I'm guessing that's not the case. And I do believe that they plan on adding vs subtracting (your last paragraph). I think they've said that in few different interviews. That might change, but I'm guessing they don't know a ton about a lot of these guys so I'm assuming the plan is to see who's willing to get on board with their plan and who is also good at executing it. They can then cut the people who don't work out. Also it sounded like both the Rangers and Indians did not want to let either guy take anyone from their previous organization. I know Levine had that agreement to not take anyone and it was thought that Falvey would take one guy, but instead that one guy re-upped with the Indians.

There are many articles out there, most of them about winning the MVP, saying that his work ethic was poor and he admitted that. His focus wasn't on the field. He was a known party boy and tried to get Mauer to do it too, which obviously did not work. I don't agree with Hunter swinging at Morneau, but it's well known that many people, including his manager, believed that Morneau wasn't as focused on his job as he should have been. Morneau said a benching and a talk with Gardy is what turned it all around that year. He started to take his job more seriously...do early BP etc.

Baseball America always creates a list prior to the draft. Not sure if they have already or not.

Don't think Urias is coming here unless they get Sano and even then I'm not exactly sure the Dodgers do that. Urias is a guy you trade when you get Chris Sale in return, not a 30 year old 2B. Sure, he's a top 5 MLB 2B, but he's still a 2B.

Media also keeps suggesting that they are waiting to announce because of the Ryder Cup and Monday Vikings game. Saying the big news would get buried below those two in importance. I'm not a golf fan at all but that doesn't surprise me as the Ryder Cup seems to be all everyone is talking about. Would assume that would have continued even if the Twins had announced it. Sounds like announcement will come sometime next week.

Don't get too caught up in the Korean "gold glove" award. It's not necessarily given to the best defensive player, same thing happens in the US. In Korea, even a DH can win a gold glove. This is from baseball reference: That being said, it seems like reports say that he's not a bad defensive 1B. Better than Mauer? I don't know. We'd have to see Park at 1B to judge that. I don't think Mauer is more than average.