Twins33

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.

one of Cuddyer's duties is as as a resource for player acquisitions. It didn't specify if it was just via FA or trades, but seems like he may be involved in front office talks about FA. "Resource" is kind of vague though so can't be sure one way or another.

Which seems to be the Cubs route so far or close to it. Since 2012, every one of their first rounders was a position player (no 2016 1st rounder due to Lackey signing). They had supplemental picks in 2012 too and went pitchers there. Too early to call one way or another on Schwarber, but seems at least okay so far. Bryant has been all star level so far. Their 2012 pick hasn't seen much time, but has been on top 100 lists. 2015, was Happ who's been on the top 100 list too but that could just be because he's a shiny new toy to put on the list. And the Cubs might still just be doing the BPA route and every time their BPA was a hitter. It might make sense to lean towards hitters and then use them to get the number one or number two pitcher, but every draft is different so it has to be based on what's available in your draft slot. It's harder to draft an Ace or number two vs drafting a solid/all star type hitter. At least that's what being a Twins fan has shown me, though I don't think it's a Twins only problem. I wouldn't go hitter first in this upcoming draft because I think the pitchers are better than the hitters. At least that's my feeling at this exact moment.

C - Castro 1B - Mauer 2B - Dozier SS - Polanco 3B - Sano LF - Rosario CF - Buxton RF - Kepler DH - Vargas Bench: Escobar, Murphy, Grossman, Park Rotation: Santana Gibson May Berrios Santiago Bullpen: Hughes Haley Kintzler Pressly Boshers Rogers Chargois Perkins on the DL. I'd like Blanton signed as the closer, but doing this list without him.

They do some interviews at Twinsfest (a lot less than 1500), but they've never played them on the radio. I remember one year they put up a podcast after the fact, but that was just one year. Tried looking right now and couldn't find a podcast for anything, Twins related or not. Always seems like a giant waste having them be the official radio of the Twins. I know Pohlad owns it, but it's out of place there and sports/the Twins take a backseat on that channel.

I'll counter that with saying that the Twins were a surprise contender in July of 2015. On trade deadline day, July 31, they held a WC spot. They were only up by one game, but still they were a playoff contender at that point. Would you have given up a two top 10 Twins prospects for whatever their need was at the time? My answer is no, unless the return was a good MLB SP under contract for 3+ years. How much would that cost? Guessing a lot. You have to find the right surprise contender. One that is absolutely sure they are contending for the next few years, because if they don't think that they likely wouldn't want Dozier. Plus, the big trades are usually made for SP or RP and Dozier is neither. Seems like a needle in a hay stack. The Twins thought 2015 was the upswing. 2016 showed otherwise. I wouldn't have done a 1-1 with DeLeon, but I also don't think we'll get more at the deadline unless the perfect storm of luck happens. I could certainly be wrong.

im not sure if every list follows the same rule, but I know MLB dot com has pitchers losing eligibility at 45 days or 50 IP in the majors. Berrios is at 58.1 IP.

From who though? All contenders seem to have a 2B. We'd have to hope someone gets injured.

Revere:21 in rk league 44 in a ball 45 in a+ 36 in aa 14 in aaa (only counted aaa as a twin) 403 total games played in the minors as a twin Granite: 17 in rk 8 in a 21 in a+ 56 in aa 337 total games played so far

We also have to remember that Castro was also hitting against lefty starters in the past which he never should have been. I expect a better line from him this year because Molitor said he would platoon him.

They also give the DH a gold glove in Korea. It's not about defense, it's about best overall player at each position.

I'd use Grossman for that platoon.

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.

they only have $25M committed right now for that year. I'd say there's room..

Saw 5M with incentives this morning.

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.

Yes, the Twins have first priority until 30 days into the 2017 season.

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.

It's fine to not be convinced that his 2016 isn't a sign of what's to come. I think everyone in the world thinks that way. Comparing Dozier to other qualified 2B from 2013-2015 (so not including his insane year) 4th in games played 3rd in PA 1st in HR 2nd in runs 5th in RBI 5th in SB 3rd in BB% 1st in ISO 22nd in BA 16th in OBP 5th in SLG 6th in WAR That's a top 5-7 2B in all of baseball in my eyes. Add in the insane year and it likely gets even better. 2016 shouldn't be expected as "this is absolutely going to happen" but you also can't ignore what he's done the three years before that. He's underrated.

Yeah, I laughed at that. I know second half of 2015 all I kept hearing every single game is how he was playing through an injury...and he was. This year I heard nothing, so either he didn't say it and/or it didn't leak to the media or he was actually healthy and just bad.