RJA

IF Lopez, Ober and Festa come back fully healthy, and IF the front office doesn't trade any starters, and IF Bradley, Abel, Matthews and SWR pitch to their potential, the Twins could have a great rotation--Lopez, Ryan, Ober and two of Bradley, Abel, Matthews and SWR. IF they the front office wants to remain competitive, they could make a couple of adds to bullpen, maybe switch one of the aforementioned starters to bullpen (Matthews?), switch Prielipp and maybe Raya to the bullpen and find one or two long relievers from the bevy of so-so starters in the minors. They could then accept trade offers offers on any position players on the roster not named Buxton (and maybe Keaschall) in exchange for bullpen arms and position players with defensive chops, especially at first base and the infield. They could then rely on strong starting pitching, a decent bullpen and a tight defense until Rodriguez, Jenkins, Culpepper and Gonzalez arrive with some punch. LOTS of IFs.

The complication in all of this is the very real possibility of a strike, one which has the potential to cause the cancellation of the 27 season if the owners really do push for a salary cap. So, if the Twins keep Ryan next year with the hopes of a deadline deal, they may in effect only have one remaining year of Ryan. Yes, they could trade at the deadline next year, but I suspect returns will be more limited as well since teams may just look for players in the last year of their contracts and not overpay for an extra year that may not happen. I am not advocating for a trade as this train wreck of a sports franchise will mess it up whatever they do. Frankly, I am so frustrated with the Twins ownership and front office, I am not sure I care anymore. Has anyone noticed that Minnesota sports franchises like the Twins, Vikings and Wild have similar problems--they can't seem to draft and develop players worth a hoot.

Thanks for responding. I guess I am confused about the list. Frankly, I don't think there is any chance the Twins will trade either Lewis or Julien, or Duran for that matter, but if Lewis and Duran are on the list, I don't think you can say Julien shouldn't be as well. I don't think he is more untouchable than Lewis. Love your stuff.

Interesting list. Like Jocko87, I would put Julien on the list somewhere in the top 6 or 7 (I am curious why you left him out, Nick), and I think Jenkins would bring back more than Rodriguez. I think Jenkins is being viewed by a lot of baseball gurus as someone who could be a top 5 prospect in all of baseball by the end of the summer. Kepler is an interesting case. The question trade partners may have is whether he will be the player he was last summer, or more like the guy from the previous couple of years. Still, his defense would be a positive. Kirilloff simply has too many health issues to be on the list. Raya is interesting as he has pitched a total of only 127 innings in two years. I think he is one real strong minor league season with 90-100 innings away from being in top 10.

Thank you, Seth. Nobody does these interviews better than you--you have a knack for making the young players feel relaxed when you talk to them. Boy, I hope this kid can stay healthy. I really like his stuff, and he is a quality young man. I will be pulling for him. It will be interesting to see how the Twins handle him next summer. I suspect they will bring him along slowly, but he could be a candidate for the Twins in 25 if all goes well.

Prato kind of reminds me of Spencer Steer as he has not had a lot of hype and has flown under the radar, but my oh my, he has exploded at St Paul much like Steer. If he keeps this up, he will force himself into the picture for next year. And, he hits right handed and is killing southpaws this year.

You can never have enough bullpen arms, so my biggest complaint is that they did nothing in the off-season when players were available in free agency and would not cost anything in the way of prospect capital. Signing Gallo was a huge mistake—even if they thought he would bounce back some. He is left handed for gosh sakes. Why add him to Kirilloff, Kepler, Wallner, Gordon and Larnach? His salary alone could have netted 2 relievers. But, no worries, Luplow is going to solve our southpaw issue.

Good point. With Buxton, it may be the case that all of his injuries have taken a toll on his body. He is hurt so much that I question whether he will ever be the kind of player that we hoped, or have any year when he will be consistently available. With Correa, age affects players differently. Some like Nelson Cruz seem to be able to maintain bat speed into their 40’s. Others begin to lose bat speed in their late 20’s. For whatever reason, analytics show that he is missing fast balls at a pretty alarming rate.

Buxton and Correa both look like injuries and age have have caught up with them. Having 50 million a year tied up in them is going to a big problem if they don’t rebound.

Amen. Not catching up with fastballs is the first sign of an aging bat. He has looked “old” at the plate all year. Plus, I think his obsession with analytics may be messing with his mind. Hopefully, he will adjust his approach, clear his mind in the off-season and get better, even if he can’t be what he once was. Boy, if this situation turns into one of those albatross contracts, the Twins are in big trouble.

IF he is healthy, I would look at Bader. He is on an expiring contract, hits lefties well, and can play some CF. Yankees apparently open to a trade.

Am I mistaken, or are Raley's splits this year not good against lefties? Hand's splits are much better against lefties this year I think. Plus, his home and away splits are much better out of Coors Field, which is not surprising. I am not in favor of adding any reliever on anything other than an expiring contract as there is too much fluctuation between seasons. I agree totally with you on the bats. Let's not make long term, costly additions there until we see whether Buxton is every going to play CF again, and whether Lewis is an option. If not, make a trade in the offseason when the asking prices are more reasonable, and we know more about player availability.

I love this articles. Thanks, Ted. He loves to hunt and fish, so if he does develop in the Twins system and make the majors, he will love Minnesota. I think Kade is one of the most intriguing of this year's pick, He is a super high risk, high reward type of player, so it will be interesting to see how he does after some time in the system.

I'm "hooked" on Ty because he likes to fish, so he must be a good guy. But, he does look like a good candidate for some developmental work so he will be fun to keep an eye on to see how he progresses.

Does anyone have any information on what exactly is ailing Buxton, and whether it looks to be chronic and not repairable through surgery, and whether playing CF poses a risk of further or more serious injury? If surgery is required to make him "whole", I guess I would opt to have it done now as Julien, Wallner, Lewis and others in the DH spot will likely outperform Buxton. Let's get the guy fully healthy. On the other hand, if this is chronic and will never really improve, and it bothers Buxton at the plate, I think we may need to accept that he will not be the major contributor we hoped he would be going forward. He is SOOOO talented, it is a shame he has never been able to play injury and pain free for any period of time.