Baseball Bat

I'm kind of confused here. The Twins traded cash for Haley. And they traded Diaz to the Padres for ????

I'm not interested in rule 5 rumors. They should focus on Dozier and Santana. The White Sox are our here committing highway robbery. Has to be a sellers Market developing. Peak Value for both Dozier and Santana, would be mistake not to sell

Probably don't want to trade Gibson now. Not at maximum value. Would have gotten a bigger return for him last offseason. However, if Gibson can keep his ERA in the 3's this year and has a good season, the Rockies would be worth watching on him at this years trade deadline. Could potentially get a big haul. Plus it appears the Rockies are gearing up for a run soon with the signing of Desmond. They have a freaking potent line up.

Odd question, but looking at the numbers and Soler's subpar defense. Why is someone like Jorge Soler valued so much more than an Eddie Rosario? Career Stat Lines: Jorge Soler: .258 / .328 / .762 - 765 PA, 87 Runs, 27 HR, 98 RBI, 211 SO, 35 2B, 2 3B, 4 SB, Career WAR of 1.1 Eddie Rosario: .268 / .298 / .735 - 828 PA, 112 Runs, 23 HR, 82 RBI, 209 SO, 35 2B, 17 3B, 16 SB, Career WAR of 3.3 Too me, it looks like there career offensive numbers are a wash AT WORST with Soler striking out even more than Rosario in less PA's. I would actually give the advantage to Rosario offensively. Plus his WAR is much higher When it comes to defense, Rosario has proven he is much better and has a gold glove ceiling. Am I missing something here?

On MLB Network they seem to have front office heads from just about every team stop by at some point during the week. Even Terry Ryan stopped by last year to talk about the Twins. Does anyone happen to know if / when either Falvey or Levine will be on?

Haha me too. Why the heck not? Seems to be no buzz on him anywhere

I also like the Yankees news too. They have four top 25 prospects in baseball, 6 top 100, and that doesn't even count guys like Sanchez and Severino. My god what a farm they've assembled there as of late. For whatever reason, I don't see the Yankees being willing to pony up some of these guys quite yet as they just stocked up last season and they might want to go the free agent route and supplement those guys with a solid young nucleus until the deadline where they could really make a splash with a big guy if they are in contention. But they certainly have a lot of prospects that would make sense for the Twins to target. Luis Severino, Justus Sheffield, Dillon Tate, and Domingo Acevedo are all pitchers and we obviously need that. Clint Frazier & Aaron Judge are absolute studs in the outfield and either could help form a potentially deadly outfield for the next 5 years with Kepler, Buxton, and Rosario. Torres & Mateo can both play shortstop which we will have a hole at. I'd like to see either one of Severino, Torres, Mateo, Frazier, Judge be the headline of the deal and I don't know if the Yankees will go for that. If for some reason they offer TWO of the previous Five guys I listed, you pull that trigger right away. This would only happen if a bidding war takes place. Even in that scenario I see the Yankees pulling out as Castro was actually decent last year

Lights out Chris Sale has a WAR of around 7, a more reasonable expectation is 4 to 6. A historically lights out season for a pitcher delivers a WAR of 10. Say you believe the Twins are a 70 win team next season without Sale, maybe he gets them to 75-77 wins. That doesn't even count taking out at minimum a Sano or Buxton. Not worth it. Where it becomes worth it is with a team that will likely win in the high 80's and then would have him for the playoffs. The Twins aren't cashing in on that over the next two seasons.

I think the Twins should be focused on trying to cultivate and develop the next Chris Sale over the next 3 to 5 years, not mortgage the future on a Team that has no chance to win in all in 2017. Plus if I'm the white sox I laugh at that package and counter with something involving probably both Sano and Buxton

From a fan standpoint, I think it is fair to show a strong eagerness to want to move Dozier. He is coming off a career year that will likely never be repeated, and he is entering his age 30 season with 2 years remaining on a team friendly deal in his prime. He almost certainly does not fit into the Twins long-term plans after 2018, so he really should be moved when his value is at his peak (this offseason). Personally, I think it would be a big mistake to not move him this offseason, unless the market for him is abnormally weak. However, from a team and front office standpoint I think Falvey and Levine are playing this exactly right. They cannot show a strong urgency to move Dozier because that alone diminishes his value. Players have higher values if the team they are currently on is fielding calls instead of vice versa. If the front office shows a strong urgency then that turns into desperation and other teams are smart enough to sense that. That is why I take articles like LaVelle's with a grain of salt because what else is the front office supposed to be saying? I am sure Falvey and Levine would absolutely love to move Dozier for a pair of top prospects as they seem much more keen on capturing maximum return while it is there than Terry Ryan ever was. That type of deal takes time as the market has to take shape before they can get a couple of teams in a bidding war. Bidding wars are key to someone eventually overpaying for a player. Players like Dozier are historically where teams end up overpaying. Players in their prime, coming off career years, and on team friendly deals. It might just take time and I am excited to see how this week takes shape. It is definitely a positive that Jon Heyman is reporting 4 to 5 teams being in on Dozier to maybe drive up the asking price a bit.

Might be reading too much into this, but based on that small conversation I would say that Falvey might even be thinking that more likely than not Dozier will be traded. Anyone else agree?

If this is true then the Twins should be able to get a nice package for him, assuming at least 2 teams decide to make offers

Give me Puig, De Leon, and Bellinger

My Twins Daily Blueprint had the Twins singing Castro for 3 years $25 million so naturally I like the move. I'm not trying to brag (yes I am). Derek Falvey I'm available so give me a call, looks like we are on the same page here (before none of my other predictions come true please).

I think this thread is a good example of overvaluing our own players. James Shields coming to the Twins instantaneously makes him the best strikeout pitcher we have. He struckout almost 10 per 9 innings last season during a down year and has a great track record in the American league. If I'm the Padres I don't do this trade straight up but if I am the Twins I do it no questions asked. Shields will be an asset to the Twins as he consistently has a mid 3's ERA and pitches over 200 innings. Ricky Nolasco is not a good pitcher, at least not in the American League. I take the 34, 35, and 36 year old season of James Shields it costs me Ricky Nolasco and the last three years of Shields deal. I mean have you seen what some of these pitchers are getting now in free agency? Why is that even a question right now? According to Mike Berardino, an annonymous GM said it will be nearly impossible to move Nolasco, at least until he shows something in the spring. Ricky Nolasco has absolutely no value to clubs. The only reason he would have value to the Padres is they will save an extra year and $40 million as they are clearly going in a different direction than the Twins. This trade would give us a rotation of Santana, Shields, Gibson, Duffey, Hughes, and free up opportunities make starting pitching a position of strength that the Twins could trade from. For example, say Berrios comes up in May and is a stud. The Twins could trade a guy like Gibson who has a highish value and not skip a beat. The Twins would never trade Gibson to make way for Nolasco. So I ask everyone this: Do you take a guy that will at best be in the bullpen and pitch not awful and at worst never throw again for the Twins and pay him $12.5 in 2016 or James Shields (Fangraph's projection) of 203 IP, a 3.68 ERA, and 9 K's per 9 innings. Those numbers for Shields would hands down be the best on the 2015 Twins staff and it is not even close. I'm paying the extra $9 million for Shields if the Padres would actually be dumb enough to take Nolasco. And for those of you saying the Twins should spend there money elsewhere, there is a better chance that Terry Ryan goes on a dumpster diving mission once again and spends that $9 million next season on Fernando Rodney and another washed up reliever and then does the same thing over again rather than making a significant upgrade. This is a significant upgrade. To get a reward you have to take some risks every once in a while. So again, Ricky Nolasco, Fernando Rodney, and washed up reliever / utility player or 200 innings 9 K's per 9 James Shields. Take your pick