Rosterman

Time to elevate Sands and Balazovic to St. Paul.

The Twins were being, naturally, cheap. Looking for a massive hometown discount. Hunter walked, Cuddyer left. Nathan moved on. Yes, the Twins offered $80m, at first. Then went to $90. Then hinted at $100. During the process, I believe Santana's agent was also able to talk to the variety of interested clubs and get an idea if they could sign him longterm. That happened and the trade went forward with a $137 6-year contract that could push it to $150 million. Like Berrios, Santana saw dollar signs. Why not. He also wanted to go to one of the major markets for baseball, be it Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston or New York. A pitcher like Johan was also looking at the secondary dollars that come with name branding and commercial ventures. But, like so many, you can be a regular fish in a BIG marketplace, or stayed in Minnesota and be the Kemps or Subway King of Minnesota. The Twins probably could've pushed to $120 million for six years. And, quite frankly, they should've. Like Corey Koskie, you wonder if Santana's career would've continued strong if he had stayed and been a Minnesota icon rather than chasing the almigty dollar. And when a player is NOT returning to a club (remember the demanding Chuck Knoblauch), the paying club is somewhat in the driver's seat. The Twins got Humber. I believe they originally wanted Pelfrey at the time. The Yankees supposedly offered Cabrera, Hughes, Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy. The Twins didn't want Cabrera. The Red Sox offered Lester, Crisp, Bowen and Lowrie. The Twins wanted Ellsbury. The Red Sox countered with Buchholz rather than Lester.. But nothing could be put in stone and the Mets suddenly became the players in the game, only. The Twins got Humber, who had to be put on the roster. They got Gomez, who should've been sent to the minors for some seasoning. They got Mulkey, or eventually got us Jon Rauch. And Deois Guerra, who spent SEVEN YEARS in the Twins system leaving at the ripe age of 25 and ahs pitched in 100+ games since, okay. You have to hope that the Twins were running the board this round, that San Diego, Mets, Blue Jays and a couple of other teams were making offers you'd be a fool to refuse while scouting secondary options that may be more fruitful. Sometimes it is a tough call. You can't expect a hometown discount. You should actually be paying a hometown bonus because the guy ahs been toiling for your team for the past six/seven years (or in Buxton's case, working part-time for six of the past seven). Good luck to Berrios. He has the incentive to be the BEST pitcher he can be looking for a payday. So many things can happen between then and there. And then you have to always hope that the player will have the same "in play" as they beak the bank but still need to come to work and play every fifth day for the next half-a-decade.

I think Jax will be a solid back of the rotation starter, and hopefully find a career as a solid middle multi-inning relief guy. The Twins will let him start, I hope, to stretch him out and be a possibility in 2022. He ahs to be able to go thru an order three times to stay in the rotation long-term.

Berrios Time. The starting pitcher names I most remember are the oldtimers...Perry, Blyleven, Pascual, Kaat. We had shortimers like Grant and Chance. Then we get into Goltz, Radke, Tapani, Viola, Santana and shortimers Erickson and Lirano. Santana, Perry, Viola had better WHIPS. All the oldtimers had better ERAs. Everyone else started more games in their career for the Twins (except Chance and Grant). A homegrown talent who got away (hey, Matt Garza was another that left too soon). Goodbye, Jose! Will be interesting to see how well you pitch heading into free agency and how the money will flow in your direction.

Gotta get that #1 stopper relief pitcher. I am excited about Moran, Cano and possibly Hamilton. The question is how gets cycled (or recycled) for the rest of the season. The sooner the Twins part ways with Colome the better. A top of the order starter. Yes, Noah would be fine by me. I have faith that the Twins will look at Balazovic and Winder still. Remember, we also have Dobnak! And Smeltzer and Thorpe are still in the mix, I guess. Catcher is fine with Garver also able to play first base or DH. DH is fine with Rooker, and Garver/Sano as relief. Maybe even a resting place for Donaldson. Arraez, Polanco, Gordon, Lewis should be able to hold down the infield. I might like a better backup body that Alstudillo for third base, but.... An outfield of Kepler, larnach and Buxton is fine. Kirillof needs to be a regular, and maybe bump Sano more to the bench or DH (or Miguel can stay in shape and be our third base backstop). I'm not seeing an issue with a backup in the outfield. I hope we maybe see more of Refsnyder. Maybe not too much more of Cave. Maybe time to see Contreras. But the Twins showed that for outfield depth you can troll AAA free agents: Garlick, Reysnyder, Broxton...shouldn't be a problem to find a fourth outfielder. Two questions: who are the Twins pending minor league free agents of note? Who are the names the Twins have to look at hard for the Rule 5 draft. Wander Javier back in the plans? If he Twins spend money, they need to do it on a front rotation arm, a proven starter, and maybe bring back Pi9neda. I'm not sure if Cruz really fits into the picture anymore. September will be the time to look at everyone really really hard who you think might play in 2022 and get them on an off-season program to come to spring training strong and hungry.

The toughest job is 40-man roster construction. Who to protect, who to jettison, who to forget, who to hide. Baddoo was hidden, waaaay back in the minors due to injuries. Taking him was taking a big chance. He was behind Celestino and Larnach and Kirilloff and Rooker....so he was waaaaaay out of the picture. You keep a Cave (or a LaMonte Wade) as off-season 40-man adds have to stay on the roster unless traded until spring training is way underway. So you need a player or three to jettison if you sign a free agent. Miranda was missed? Well, the Twins don't see fit to add and bring up the guy, so it was doubtful that any other team would also make that choice. The Twins, going into 2021, needed to sign a top of the rotation starter on the level or Berrios.2, Someone a year or two older that is deserving of a longterm multi tens of millions contract. They didn't. They went to the slush pile of Shoemaker, Happ and Pineda, with the hopes that Ballazovic and Duran would need innings and these guys could be happily flipped at the trading deadline for riches. The Twins needed a bonafide closer. Not a closer by committee,. No a diamond in the rough. Not someone who Wes Johnson could magically transform. They didn't. Sure, they lost Clippard and Romo and Wisler and whatever. They also lost May, who might've been closer material and really didn't go for an outrageous contract. But instead they have gone to the trash-heap. Look at all the names waiting in the wings: Shepherd, Leyer, Hamilton, Albers, Nunn, Barraclough, Gilmartin, Lau, Garcia, Vincent, Harvey, Williams not to mention time and money spent on Coulombe, Law, Farrell, Anderson, Minaya, Waddell...and don't get me talking Colome and Robles. Let's put all that cha-ting into one contract and get someone actually good. And on offense, it all revolves around Sano, where and how much he plays, when he wants to play. At some point, you make it a non-issue and someone else's problem. Plus, yes, you could've kept Wade (or Baddoo) and rode without Cave. The Twins showed there is plenty of outfielders of that status to be had putting Garlick, Refsnyder and almost Broxton into the mix. Okay, Baddoo wasn't on the cusp (like Lrnach and Kirilloff) so he was blocked, blocked, blocked folks. Agree with that. He was 10 spots away from the Twins in the minds of the front office, depending on what he would do in a full-season of play in AA ball, soemthing Celestino should be doing rather than running around in the majors. Is it hard to sign starting pitchers? Then the Twins needed to be the best friend Jose Berrios ever had and figure out a way to keep him. DO you like what you see rather than spin blindfolded and buy in the open market? Then you keep your Trevor May. You resign Byron Buxton because he is Mr. Twin right now. You show other players that the Twins can be your lifetime in the majors leagues, not just a losing steppingstone to bigger markets and contracts elsewhere where you are forgotten (Johan, are you listening...what did New York do for you - you would've been KING of Minnesota baseball). Us fans have to realize that running a team IS HARDER than sitting in our armchair and dreaming up trades that get rid of mediocre players for great ones, advancing prospects before they are ready, shuffling names on and off a roster not realizing that they do have to go somewhere. Right now, let's recognize the NEWE core the Twins have to build around, what that core will cost tomorrow and five years into the future, and what needs to be done to supplement it. Supposedly money isn't an issue. If the fan base returns, totally in 2022 then the Twins should be looking at $150m+ for payroll. There is absolutely no reason they can't be competitive in the top free agent market.

It's so hard. The Twins are looking at who will return to the roster in 2022. Who they need to see who they may/may not be keeping because of 40-man considerations, Rule 5, six year free agents. In some ways, we will see a cycle threw of some odd names. Hamilton will either get a looksee and will be jettisoned, or kept on the 40-man. The pain is for every name added, someone has to go. CASE IN POINT: We traded Cruz and Faucher for two pitchers. One takes the place of Cruz on the 40-man, but someone, ultimately we lost a position player. But in the end, we do have to add the other Ray acquire to the 40-man, which means a player has to go in his place. Okay: case-in-point that the Twins WILL have plenty of roster spots with free agent departures. But both Tampa players HAVE TO BE ADDED. Not sure if Moran or Cano needs to be added. Hamilton would have to be added to be kept. If they don't, he will surely walk. But he also needs to stay once added or he will also walk. Our current trouble is all the players on the IL, including our top two starting prospects in Duran and Balazovic. Throw in Smeltzer and Thorpe and Stashak. That's now five pitchers that the Twins would pretty much keep, but seeing little results. So, a couple may be gone just because.....

Well, Pineda increased his trade value. Donaldson is making himself look valuable.

The pain is that any team trading for Berrios might only be looking at him as a rental, too. Berrios seems intent on going for the biggest bucks possible following his 2022 season. What that means, though, is that anyone having him on the roster NEXT season should expect super numbers. But if you are trading for the guy now, in July 2021, you really can't negotiate with him or his agent unless you make the trade. Am I right on this? Unless you are totally going to blow him away with an offer the day after the trade (like $150m for five years, option to get out in Year 3, etc. etc.)

I feel so bad for Rooker. You have Garlick and Refsnyder both holding 40-man positions. You have Celestino rushed, but shows promise. Cave is back. Both Larnach and Kirilloff are here to stay. Until the Twins figure out if they are keeping Cruz and the eventual fate of Sano, there is no place for Rooker in the inn. Especially when the Twins are more than happy to play Arraez or Gordon in the outfield, too. Happily Rooker has increased his value as a possible trade chip, or for himself if the Twins choose to move on from him in the off-season. WHich brings he question - you are making additions/deletion decisions on the 40-man. Who do you keep of Rooker, Cave, Garlick, Refsnyder, Astudillo?

The pain with Berrios is that any team that trades for him will be in the same boat as the Twins, have to pony up an undecided dollar figure to resign the guy. Things like that can better happen in the off-season where a team can weigh-in with an agent the probability of what the player wants. Otherwise, Berrios is just a rental. The joy of trading either is that if the team they are traded to can't resign them, you can also enter the bidding war. Same with Buxton. He can play out his contract, hope for a suepr 2021, and the sky is the limit.

I see Gore has been moved to Wichita!

They Twins still had their closer Colome available! Tag-teamed with Thielbar, they might've pulled it off even with two runners on base and no outs!

Donaldson is seeing his name in the news more than he probably would've expected, signing the possible five-year Twins contact to end his career. You hear the good about how you can help others as well as the bad about how not doing well at all. The trading part of the calendar is something I'm sure most players would just like to avoid, but don't...because it IS there! The Twins are currently being either over-coached or under-coached, depending on the glasses you are wearing. Us fans in the stands ask "why aren't they doing certain things" and others just wonder "why everyone seems to be too careful out there."

It's a tough call. You don't want to advance, then send them down all next season (or beyond) as 40-man spots are precious. You will probably go with folks like Ian Hamilton and Andrew Vasquez, who if they bomb you can just let them walk before making the ahrd decisions in the fall. It would be nice of Smeltzer, Dobnak and Thorpe came back and actually pitched as starters. Then I would feel better about Pineda and Happ leaving and Ober being shutdown because of innings. Of course we all wanted to see Duran and Balazovic this season, but now seems unlikely. I had precious hopes for Griffin Jax. Hopefully he will get another start or two and a decision can be made. But I see them ONLY bringing up prospects at this time who would be protected come the 40-man revision in the Fall. Anyone NOT on that list would be a longshot.

With waiver claims, you most often NEED a 40-man spot to put the player, and you put a player on waivers because you want to advance to your 25-man roster someone from your system. Often a roster as placeholders for just that reason. Or you hope you can claim them, and them option them down to the minors, off the 40-man. But you always run the risk of losing the guy in the off-season (shades of Zack Littell). Go back and look at transactions and see how many guys the Twins have been signing of late in the minors, often to be potential replacements for waiver wire guys that they may need to replace if booted from the roster (Derek law and Danny Coulombe are two recents, not to mention what might transpire if the Twins decide to send out Garlick or Refsnyder). During the season you take a gamble claiming a guy on waivers. Often better to just let it past and the guy plays out the year somewhere else and eventually becomes a minor league free agent that you can choose to sign in the off-season.

Be a shame if Baddoo would win rookie of the year. But as said above, there was little that would make me 40-man him considering the pecking order of outfielders ahead of him, at the time, in the minors. Kudos to Larnach and Kirilloff for running with the opportunity and working their butts off, shades of Kepler in his beginning years!

And they must think he will sign!

If the Twins keep this up they will NOT have the Number One Draft Pick in 2022! This is a day Taylor Rogers might've remembered. Instead, the Twins did get the win in their own dramatic fashion. So many walks. I love ALL the delayed strike calls by the home plate umpire. Somedays you just wish you were one of the field umps.

Taylor, Byron and Jose are three guys that you listen to the offers. People will have to make their best. Then you decide. Can even put Cruz in this mix. Sadly, we will still see the stay behinds play and eat up innings and at bats.

Why did the trades happen. Well, if you remember, Escobar was entering his free agent year. No qualifying offer for the guy. There was contract discussion but nothing much was happening. Arizona called. The Twins saw an opportunity that after the season ends, depending on Escobar's final performance, they could bring him back on the cheap (always on the cheap here). Escobar had a wonderful time in Arizona, they made a very reasonable offer out-of-the-season-ending-gate and he just flatout accepted. No need to wait for a counter offer if the Twins weren't serious in the first place. Twins got two decent prospects. Shades of Zach Duke. Today we could be looking at similar trades for Law or Thielbar and, hopefully, Colome. Dozier was tanking and the Twins couldn't figure out if they wanted to keep him or not. He was going to be a free agent. Trade him and maybe resign him (on the cheap). The Twins were forced to take Logan Forsythe and his salary in return, which ate up a roster spot, but Forsythe was okay. Twins also saw some return for Rodney, who was not going to come back for Twins money. Sorta like Robles this year, and a good reason for the Twins to offer him for a prospect. The Twins cleaned house and got prospects. In 2017 Lynn was a salary dump to the Yanks who gave us Austin, behind in the pecking order and out-of-options who might fit into the Twins need for a 1B/DH, and a...prospect still in the system with promise (Rijo). Someone wanted Kintzler more than the Twins who were on he edge of the Wild Card race, and the Twins thought they could stay in the hunt with Belisle or others. Plus they didn't think he was worth paying more money (shades of Wisler, May or others). Was he coming off a string of bad appearances for a couple of weeks? Anything? Somehow Kintzler still keeps finding work for his special blend of slowness and ground ball outs. The Twins grabbed Garcia, thinking they were in contention, then decided to flip him when the Yankees came calling...so they traded Ynoa for Enns and Littell. Littell was lights out in the minors and seemed a probable starter. We know what happened here. Enns was one of those throw-ins, make him work or lose him because you don't want to 40-man him. In 2019, the Twins were going on a bullpen hunt, shades of Matt Capps. Dyson bombed and all three prospects are still in play. Romo did his job and came back (on the cheap, the magic words) for another year of Twins action. Villamont is still a prospect to watch. Davis and Davis were depth the Twins could part with and were somehow behind Weil and a horde of outfielders. A word on prospects. Organizations know where guys stand in their system. They hopefully know, like in Ynoa, that they will advance to this level or that level, who is ahead of them in the 40-man protection spread, how much have we invested, what can we get in return. Teams like to trade impending free agents for prospects: if I can get a guy another team paid a couple of million to sign two years ago, well, I didn't have to pay that. And hopefully your scouting sees potential to fit into the mix of players growing on the farm. You also see prospects change hands that another team may/may not want to protect for 40-man considerations, or guys who will be impending minor league free agents or guys out of options as throw-ins. But if you look at the 100 names right now that the Twins have at Cedar Rapids and Ft. Myers, how many will make it to the big leagues. Hell, how many will play three years in the minors before being replaced. You look at your dollar investment, the age of the guys, and any improvement. And you have scouts keeping tab of the same in ALL other organizations. Trade deadline actions happen for a reason. You can dangle all the players you want, but it is the contending teams that are sitting in the conference room looking at the board at their present needs (due to incompetence or injury) and looking at their own pecking order of players in the system, and then making a call a proposing a deal. If I am going to take-on your Donaldson, you may have to take on a similar return to deal with in your own future. I'm dealing with from system depth or players on the cusp of not having a place in my organization as part of any equation. Of course, Berrios is a key who, like Santana before him is running his own show as long as he produces. But teams also know they have to payout money on their end or lose him, or just wait another season and he will be a free agent. Robles, Rogers, Duffey, maybe even Colome could be had. Pineda and Happ are looking for takers. Cruz is an exceptional piece and only necessary for half-a-season. Can you trust that he will be there for the second half? Who would you want Simmons? Better fielding than most. Are you facing an injury dilemma? Donaldson is just too expensive. .250, not 10 home runs, missed a bunch of games? Try and put a spin on him! All the players the Twins traded away at deadline were as good-as-gone anyway, which is why they were traded (okay, maybe NOT Pressly, and a couple could've been resigned for double of their current salaries). And with no waiver wire trades in August...you put the guy out there and can't pull them back to work a trade...gotta let them go...I sadly don't se the Twins doing that and eating any of he salaries of Colome, Happ, Simmons - which raises hell with the roster (since they won't be coming back) as they will take away playing time from the future.

Yeah, thank goodness Twins didn't have to pay Jake the total $19 million last season. They just couldn't reach a deal for this season, for some odd reason. Twins felt better off with Happ and Shoemaker. Lance Lynn was a headcase. Kinda straightened out with the Yankees. Twins passed on him (and him on the Twins) when a free agent. Twins could've traded like the Sox did, but didn't/ I would've gone harder after Rich Hill. Tampa got a full season of Rich for less than the Twins for weeks in 2020. Go figure. But, hey, we got Happ who is younger. Twins didn't feel Kyle was worth whatever in arbitration, so they passed. They also didn't see the worth in a long-term contract, Texas struck gold, only paying partial for 2020 and getting a deal for this season (and maybe the next). Who would have figured. If you can't reward a player for what they have done growing up in the organization, then you might have trouble keeping players beyond arbitration. Just saying..... Astros needed a pitcher and the Twins had little invested in this Rule 5 pickup of yore. Didn't see him as a closer, and someone getting expensive for "just" being in the pen. Got a decent return...and Ryan got to pitch in Texas where you wear lots of suntan lotion. Littell dominated as a starter in the minors. Went ker-plink. Then showed greatness as a bullpen arm. Then ker-plunk again. Thought he might appear bad enough that no one would care that they had to 40-man him. I felt the Twins gave up on this future (possible) Liam Hendriks. I was a Trevor May booster. He is over 30 and the Twins didn't want to pay him $8 or so million or wrangle a multi-year deal with the guy. That they couldn't trade him was a loss for the front office. He would be our closer now instead of Colombe or whatever.

I could see Pineda being a good pickup for Cleveland. They only need a rental. Thielbar and Robles may be tradable. Cruz would be a dynamite pickup for anyone needed a DH. I would take a deal for Kepler. Now, about Donaldson..... Could you package him with someone like Kepler, and also a prospect? Sadly, the trading deadline ahs also become a time that some teams can just wait to see if a player is released, this a minimal committment and no players lost.

The Trade Deadline reality is that a team is going to TRADE for SOMEONE who will help them get to the post-season, period. Otherwise, it just becomes a salary dump, and baseball eliminated the ability to pull players back during the August waiver-wire blues. Now, when a player is put on waivers, they are gone, gone, gone. Can SImmons improve any team with his defense. Same with Donaldson. The bats may not seem worth the investment, unless a team figures (for Donaldson) that he will rebound in a spectacvular fashion and become a tradechip. Or injury means you have a need. But can you find better than what the Twins have to offer. Pineda, if he can pitch well his next two outings, may be a gem for the Twins. Robles also needs to shine. The evils of trading for Berrios is that the team DOES need to be in a position to offer a contract to resign the guy, or they are renting the player, albeit for this AND next season. A pitcher of the caliber of the current Berrios will always entice a contender down to the wire. The only advantage the Twins have trading in the off-season is that a team can get a better idea of what it may take to sign Jose. But the Twins may be desperate and it may be Johan Santana 2.0. Rogers is valuable. Might be able to get a return like the Twins did from the Astros. Duran and Celestino were a good vibe. Maybe both will work out and make us forget that we traded a Rule 5 pickup. I'm not sure Happ would fit in anywhere. Especially on a contending club. So, again, the hard reality is that teams don't want players someone wants to throwout there. They want players that will actually help them. And the Twins, sadly, have a few players that they can just outright say "goodbye" to and other teams MAY be happy to pick them up for a pro-rated part of their salary, after they become free agents, rather than pick up ALL the remaining salary. But I sadly see Happ, Simmons, Colombe going the way of Shoemaker, without pitching for the Saints (which works for Shoemaker at the moment...he ahs housing in town, needs a team to showcase himself...so why not.)

Donaldson WAS a Grade-A player, but the Twins got played, more by the fan base than anything. To prove that they weren't on the cheap, the opened the pocketbooks after being rejected by almost every free agent in the marketplace. As a Twins fan, we always want the pocket book to open BIG and expect that throwing money at players willo egt them to come here. But as the past has shown, we either get mid-range free agents, guys looking to make a bigger comeback, or we are just overlooked. No amount of money will entice the top of the free agent tiers to come to town. Sadly, the truth. So the Twins need to do what Target Field was supposedly built to do. Jeep our own free agents. In the past we allowed Cuddyer, Hunter, Nathan to walk. Are we going to do the same with Buxton and Berrios? Always a gamble, but signing any free agent is a gamble, and even the low-end successes of the Twins have had been short-term and not that gracious when looking at the big picture of year-after-year performance (see Odorizzi, Pineda, Gonzalez, Cron, Schoop...plus the one-year wonders of Homer Bailey, Shoemaker, We keep thinking we are better situated than teams like, say, the Royals, or even the on-the-cheap A's who pull off miracles with low-end signings and trades. Donaldson was a good solid signing for a team in contention who was looking for stability at a position of weakness (at the time), leadership skills on the field, and everyday play. I'll let you decide what the free agent signing has brought us. Maybe as fans we have to stop dreaming that the BIG CONTRACT will happen with the Twins getting the outside superstar to anchor the home-grown talent stage. Or maybe we do have to realize that we need to line-up behind front office choices on drafting, trading, making a team, and supplementing the team with short-term needs (i.e. trade deadline acquisitions/rentals when needed). It has been so long since we had a World Series. We dream that management will make choices that will take us beyond a division win, or entry into the championship tier. Tired of not being on the World Stage after a long season of brilliant ballplay that is fliushed down the toilet in a five or seven game series. If there is a taker for Donaldson, the two questions remain: how much salary do the Twins have to eat, and what is the best prospect/s they can get in return.