wsnydes

Not super surprised by this. He probably has more value at the trade deadline. I imagine that if a reasonable offer came around between now and Spring Training, or at any point in the offseason, it was/would be seriously considered.

Well, with the injury history of the rotation they've built, I can't say that I blame them on the last part! I suppose that it's just as plausible that they don't want to have to make a decision on such a thing before they have to and prefer to see how things pan out in Spring Training and making a decision at that point. I'm completely fine with that approach. No reason to create a firestorm (from either side of the coin) if one doesn't need to be made.

Have they ruled this out? I don't recall seeing anything one way or the other.

Agreed. Ober's stuff seems like it would play better as a rotation guy. Winder is basically the opposite.

I'm surprised and not at all surprised by this all at the same time. Given the fact that they have multiple rotation guys coming back from injury, it stands to reason that they could move at least one of those to the pen. Same with a couple of the prospects. I'd still rather they bring in at least one more solid reliever. All that said, you can never have enough pitching.

I think Ryan's struggles against good teams is his youth showing. Good teams will make you work much harder than a lesser lineup. Also, having not looked up the timing of the outings against better teams, what effect did his covid stint play into those numbers? I agree completely with the remainder of the list. Though, I think Kirilloff and Larnach are pretty important. Maybe more important that Alcala even. That might be splitting hairs though.

No, that's fair. I haven't either, frankly. We weren't going to get that in this article though.

I'm not a huge stathead, but I do reference B-Ref quite a bit if I'm looking something up. I do think I need to use Fangraphs more than I do though.

I love a good Hollywood story and I'm rooting for the guy, but I think his days as a starter are done. I need to see a lot before putting him on the active roster in any capacity.

The article was about the youth of the organization. Buxton is 29, so not really in that conversation anymore. That said, no mention of Lewis either. I still think he's extremely important to the organization's future, either on the roster and healthy or by being trade bait for a key upgrade.

I think Larnach and Kirilloff are pretty important to the long term potential of this club. Seeing them both have a full and at least mostly healthy season would be huge for them and the club.

I think the Correa saga energized the FO more than many appreciate. I didn't think they were done before the signing, but I think they were pretty rudderless at that point. Once Correa was signed, that gave them more of a compass in which to direct the remaining offseason. I don't think they're done yet either. They do appear to see that the division is still very weak and ripe for the taking and they are making moves accordingly. If the roster can stay healthier, that will go a long way towards being competitive in the division. I don't think they're much of a threat outside of it one way or another though. Sports front offices have a lot more patience than fans, as they should. It often comes across as not wanting to let go and admit a mistake (though there are definitely times when it's exactly that), but they're usually going to be patient enough to let a guy try to work through things. That's hard to sell to fans.

Does the training staff accumulate WAR for keeping guys on the field and productive? Cause if so, they're my choice! Otherwise, I'll go Buxton, Correa, Miranda, AK.

When I cut the cord and went to Hulu a few years ago, the lack of MLB Network hit me a lot harder than I thought it would. It was always my weekend morning coffee programming. If they're going to start pulling back on its distribution too, that doesn't bode well for getting wider game distribution.

Also concur!

I'm not convinced that acquiring Taylor guarantees a Kepler deal. I see Taylor as insurance for Buxton, so Taylor and Kepler could coexist on the same team. DH is still open. LF is kinda up for grabs yet. With Buxton's injury history, having someone available to fill those shoes on the roster is a pretty good idea. They almost need to carry 5 outfielders in order to do that. And if they do trade Kepler, I think the Taylor deal allows them to worry less about bringing back a major league player. It can be a borderline ready player that can come up to fill an injury spot and/or be more of a long term solution for something going forward.

I like this. And they didn't give up all that much for him either.

Agreed. If the FO didn't think they'd be able to cover the loss, it wouldn't have made the deal. They have options to fill the void. They dealt from a position of depth to acquire a position of weakness.

Not a demonstrably large enough difference that would tell me that he's incapable of simply slapping the ball through a hole on the left side created by the shift. He's not a power threat, so he's going to find the hole. That's his skill set. And his line drive hits look to favor the left side. Why would you make his life easier by creating holes for him to ground it through instead of forcing him to line it to LF?

You expect a real impact of the shift ban on a guy that was shifted a whole 2% of his PAs? That means he was shifted on in 12 PAs. There's no meaningful impact to be had there. And I don't know why you'd think he'd get shifted more based on that spray chart. That's the definition of using all fields.

I'm going to preface this by saying that I like Arraez and really enjoy watching him hit. I still value a guy that is a great on base guy. But let's be real. He's not an elite player. He's not a great defensive player and he doesn't have a position. His power is limited. The lack of a shift won't impact him at all since, as @chpettit19mentioned, he wasn't getting shifted on in the first place. This is 2023, the three true outcomes rules the game for better or worse. The Twins turned that type of player around and acquired a reliable #2/3 rotation guy capable of 180 innings a year, as @se7799points out, plus a borderline top 100 SS prospect and a lottery ticket. A team can't have too many SS's. They're always valuable as a player or trade bait. To say that the Twins got fleeced in this deal is missing the big picture. As much as it might suck as a fan, it was a very good baseball move. Luis turning down a contract offer seems like par for the course of a guy that is after a long term deal. That's what happens in a negotiation. Good for him.

Last time we had a thread like this, the dude got traded... Just sayin...

Or a healthy Buxton.

True, but that pushes Maeda and/or Ober down the rotation one more slot so they're an upgrade over whatever pitcher du jour occupied that spot. The impact is a trickle down thing.