nicksaviking

I'm with you here, and probably in the minority, but I also like the idea of another controllable arm for the rotation to make sure it's still a force in the coming years. I'd like to know what the Yankees plan is. They're the Yankees and are a better team than the Twins, but I wonder if Clark Schmidt would be had if the Twins offered up Varland and one of their MLB ready corner players.

No, I'd start by booting the veteran outfielders first. Truly, I don't dislike Castro, just the situation the Twins have put themselves in. But I don't care about the division title. My goal is to build a sustainable World Series contender, and I don't think this organization has had an honest to goodness contender since 2006. Obviously Castro here and now is the safer choice for the division title though and I don't fault anyone else for prioritizing that at the moment. Going with the youth is my own preference.

Throughout the entire history of this game, AAA players coming up and being ready-made studs has been the exception, not the rule. Most players need to come up and take their lumps before they show if they're going to be any good.

Any of them could and we won't know until they start giving them a shot.

Yeah, I'm used to having a utility player on the team, but for the foreseeable future, I want to see them giving as many MLB ABs as possible to these guys, Sure, some could use time in AAA, but others could audition right now. They have enough players with flexibility to make that happen even without a traditional utility player. It's not ideal, but the clock is ticking. If Brian Dozier or Luis Arraez had been coming up as non-elite prospects right now, would we have ever known what they could have become? There just seems like too many mouths to feed at the moment and most aren't getting fed. I'd also be more than happy to compromise on the matter and wait to do anything until Lewis comes back. Then with Correa's backup on the roster, Castro could be optioned and the search for the future could commence in force.

I'd start by looking at every St. Paul Saint with an OPS over .800.

WAR isn't the omnipotent data point you think it is. It values defense way too highly. I most certainly can say that offense is more important than defense. It's also harder to find, so we should be looking for that first.

Sure, I'll give you a list. This team needs to give as many ABs as possible to the following to see which one's sink or swim: Julien, Lewis, Miranda, Prato, Williams, Martin, Helman, Lee, Severino, Gray, Soularie and Isola. All of those guys have higher upside than Castro and play infield. The way this team is running things, they'll never have a chance to give half of them a legit audition. Clear the deck, start doing it now.

How's my argument null and void when I said elite defense is a luxury and basically all of his WAR is tied up in the defense side? This team desperately needs offense and their only hope for fixing that is in AAA and AA.

Normally I wouldn't mind him as a utility player, but with Correa glued to one infield position long term and literally a dozen infield-capable young players between the majors, AAA and AA who should currently be in consideration for the roles, I'd like to clear the stage for open auditions ASAP.

Those things are bonuses, not essential. Offense is essential and until the Twins can figure out how to put a lineup of quality hitters together, elite defense and stealing bases should take a back seat.

This organization is not letting guys "earn" their way up. They continue to defer to veteran players with limited offensive upside, and this team needs to find multiple players with significant offensive upside. They just can't do that by continuing to roster these kinds of players.

I hope not. Even as a bench player, the Twins have more than enough guys in AA and AAA who can do what he does, but with significantly higher ceilings.

I know he's nowhere near anyone's prospect radar, but Prato's strong BB% and K% might be exactly what this club needs.

My order would be Gallo, Kepler, Taylor and whatever the heck is going on at 3B. But I wouldn't wait until the deadline to do it, and I wouldn't do it with trade targets either. If we're only talking trades, I actually would be most inclined to replace Maeda with another starter. Double down on the one thing the team has done well.

Walker JenkinsBrooks LeeMarco RayaCharlee SotoMatt WallnerYunior SeverinoEmmanuel RodriguezSimeon Woods RichardsonChris WilliamsAustin MartinConnor PrielippTanner SchobelBlayne EnlowLuke KeaschallBrandon WinokurDavid FestaAndrew CossettiKala'i RosarioBrent HeadrickCory Lewis

I'd guess folks would be interested in Grichuk to play CF, but I don't trust players with a half season of success after several years of average at best production. Unlike most years, I think I just want the team to stand pat. For one, I don't want to give this front office another shot at whiffing on trades. For another, they continue to play the vets instead of the higher ceiling young players. I don't need the underperforming vets replaced with other vets when they have almost completely disregarded the already bought and paid for internal options.

I feel bad for Rockies fans. Pittsburgh is more dysfunctional, but that's due to the worst and greediest owner in the league. These guys seem to be trying, but are just really bad at it and have no grasp of building something sustainable.

One season with a losing record this century, along with 16 playoff appearances and two World Series Championships will do that to a club I suppose. Did I sound jealous? I totally wasn't. Couldn't be further from jealous.

That's their MO, the big name players leave or retire only when their contract is up. Then they sign or trade for more of course. In a vacuum I could care less about speculating about players who surely won't move, but we've seen this game before. We discuss what it would take to trade for a big name player, then when that player doesn't get traded, a certain segment of the fanbase gets out the pitchforks and starts calling ownership and the front office a failure for not getting it done and the other posters 'apologists' when they point out it was never going to happen.

They could certainly trade for pitching too, but it would likely be in the offseason, and they'd be trading their own prospects.

The Cardinals freely spend in free agency and this year's crop of usable free agents is almost entirely starting pitchers. They'll be in on most of the big names. The Cardinals have had dozens of HOF/elite type players in the last two decades and haven't traded a single one since 2003.

Yeah, too often the reading stops there. Today - The part of the interview omitted from the above post: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/st-louis-cardinals Of course, there are no bigger names the Cardinals could put on the trade market than their star corner infield tandem of Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. Mozeliak declined to declare either player categorically untouchable but strongly downplayed the possibility of moving either. “I don’t have any intentions of trading anybody like them,” he said. “If you’re willing to listen on anything, you have to understand (anything’s possible), but I doubt that would happen.” As he subsequently noted, both players have full no-trade rights, and it seems very unlikely a St. Louis team gearing back up for 2024 would want to part with either of its top two position players regardless. Friday From St Louis beat writer Louis Gould https://www.stltoday.com/sports/professional/mlb/cardinals/cardinals-at-the-break-what-lessons-from-disastrous-first-half-can-fix-flaws-for-2024/article_b1727806-219c-11ee-9012-070d5964bb94.html They do not wish to divest themselves of their core, and already at least two teams have been told the Cardinals are not interested in trading outfielder Lars Nootbaar or Jordan Walker. The Cardinals are also not looking to shed salaries or jettison their high-cost stars, preferring to add pieces around cornerstones Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt for the coming season. Both have no-trade clauses, and Arenado said he’s not been approached. Two weeks ago Katie Woo of The Athletic https://www.si.com/mlb/cardinals/news/could-cardinals-actually-trade-star-paul-goldschmidt-st-louis-insider-gives-update-pat3 "The concept has been floated around plenty: Goldschmidt, last year's National League MVP, a respected leader throughout the sport and a likely Hall of Famer, could be a potential trade candidate this summer. In theory, the idea makes sense. Goldschmidt's final year of his five-year, $130 million contract is next season. He will turn 36 this summer. The haul for Goldschmidt would be massive. The Cardinals could jump-start whatever degree of restructuring they feel necessary. "The reality? Not happening, and that's even without taking into consideration Goldschmidt's no-trade clause. As (John Mozeliak) stated, the Cardinals are avoiding a rebuild. They aim to contend next season. If that's the organization's goal, the last thing it needs is young, unproven talent. The Cardinals need experienced, established names to complement the young talent already rostered."

I think everyone is missing the part where they say Goldschmidt and Arenado aren't being traded. They need pitching, and there's plenty available in free agency next year and they're trying to get some by trading rental players right now. They aren't tearing this down, they're just gearing up for next year.

They also already said they won't trade Goldschmidt or Arenado, so this is strictly a sale of rental players. Most of whom I'd have no interest in. Jordan Montgomery being the exception.