Baseball Bat

De Leon, Bellinger, Stewart, Barnes would be White Sox level highway robbery

Is anyone else baffled by the fact that Ervin Santana's name never came up once this week in trade rumors? Lets look at the reasons why Santana should have a lot of value in the trade market: Very weak Free Agent Starting Pitcher market: Would you rather have Rich Hill (The top FA starting pitcher) at age 37, for 3 years, $48 million or Ervin Santana at age 34 for 3 years, $41 million (Last year is a team option. Santana would be off the books at the latest by age 36. I would choose Santana, and AT WORST it would be a coinflip. A contract that looks better and better: Santana is very affordable at 2 years, $27 million over the next two seasons with a $14 million team option for 2019. Based on some of the contracts that are being signed now and his resurgence in 2016 makes this value look very fair.Has a very consistent track record and health: Santana has started 30 games or more in all of the past 7 seasons besides 2015 when he was suspended for the first half. Even that season he never missed a start after his suspension was up. He has also had an ERA of 4.00 or lower in 6 of those 7 seasons and pitched 200+ innings 4 times. Great Numbers last season in the AMERICAN LEAGUE: (3.38 ERA, 4 WAR, 181 innings pitched). For a reference, Chris Sale had a 3.34 ERA and a WAR of 5. Santana ranked 10th in the AL in ERA and 15th in WAR for a Starting Pitcher. It was also a better ERA than the following players: Danny Duffy, Marco Estrada, CC Sabathia, David Price, Chris Archer, Yordano Ventura, and Dallas Keuchel. Not saying he is better than these guys, but you could certainly argue he had a better 2016 than a majority of themContending Teams always need starting pitching. You can never have too much pitching. With a weak FA market, you would think teams would get desperate and overpay for a guy like Santana. I know the first argument will be, "Why would we trade our best starting pitcher when we need starting pitching?". I get that argument. But my argument is if you can trade Santana a peak value for a couple of top 100 prospects and young controllable pitching, shouldn't you entertain that? By the time the Twins will be ready to contend for a strong playoff run, Santana will likely be gone or 36 years old. So wouldn't it make sense to get top return for him at his peak? I'm not saying that the Twins could get a Chris Sale like package for Santana, nor am I trying to say his valuable is comparable to the elite level guys like Sale, but I expected them to explore the trade market for him a bit more and for other teams to make some offers on him. Let me know what you guys think.

Sure why not

I'm not a critic. I actually believe DaveW. Seems like he wouldn't just make this up for the heck of it. Just think its cool that we can ask for an update and he will actually give one unlike most.

I would say there is actually a decent chance of this being the case. Mike Berardino referenced Stewart in multiple tweets an in the past hour saying how he is on the Twins radar. I would assume they want him to be the third piece and some haggling is going on about that. Seems like Dozier is Dodgers top priority at 2nd base after they traded Kendrick. If he wasn't, they would have just resigned Utley for cheap by now

DaveW what are the sources saying?

#InDaveWWeTrust

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

Gray area, we'll talk about it then

DaveW, if this happens by 3:19 PM today you will be my guy for life.

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'd say yes to De Leon and Bellinger in a heartbeat, I think Falvey and Levine would too. Doubt the Dodgers would ever offer this though

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

Not interested. I'd Call Joey Bats though

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).