Kirby_waved_at_me

Colon probably sells the most tickets out of the available options. I think Recker was added because the Braves wanted the Twins to take some payroll back and to free up a 40 man spot for Atlanta. It was probably a condition for including cash and the reason the Braves were willing to deal.

Based on the names I heard thrown out the other day... I think it would be at least Berrios and Kepler plus something to get Fernandez... Maybe worth it? I heard they wanted a couple MLB ready guys in addition to prospects. Berrios, Kepler, and their pick of any two current Twins 25 man players not named Sano or Buxton might work. Dozier and Hughes? Fine. Plouffe and Perkins? No problem. Rosario and Gibson? Sure why not. .... but they gotta agree to take Nolasco back too.

Gyorko is the younger man... However, the "poor man" is a bit of a stretch as Jedd has $33 Million left on his contract..

My guess is that Gyorko will be a poor-man's Ben Zobrist for St. Louis. Or failing that, a younger man's Nick Punto. Utility / bench bat.

Sure Nolasco could be traded if the Twins take on most of (not some of) his remaining salary and/or take a less desirable contract back in return. Would the return be worth it? Just like last year with Pelfrey (and to a lesser extent Nolasco himself), he's probably more valuable to the Twins pitching for MN than any player they could get in return for him. He's not going to get the Twins a prospect, and if they are swapping bad contracts, the guy coming back is likely not going to fill a need. I'm not sure he is a viable bounceback candidate, but I'd rather he bounceback here than somewhere else, with the Twins justifying playing time for a different bad contract in his place. I do really like the idea of May and/or Berrios in the rotation, though. That would be the best result the Twins can hope for in a Nolasco trade.

Japanese pitcher Kenta Maeda got a new agent and will be posted by his Nippon League team in a week or so... Competition for his services might get a little heated with Grienke, Iwakuma, and Samardzjia already off the table...

I think they overacheived a bit last year. Don't get me wrong, I hoped for a winning record, and I hope for the playoffs this season. If I am being realistic, though, I think they will have a tough time repeating May of last year, which ended up being a big chunk of the wins for the season. I think realistically they will finish just shy of the playoffs again this season. I think a realistic goal for the team would be to make the playoffs this season - if they make a couple more moves to strengthen the pitching, and a few things break in their favor, they could reasonably lay claim to a wild card spot.

Any chance that Josmil Pinto could rebound from a lost season? Anyone with a good bat capable of converting to catcher? Maybe one of the Outfielders? Wasn't Kepler catching at one point? (This is a terrible idea, nevermind, forget it.) Any international options? Is there a Catcher version of Jung ho Kang in Korea? Where are all the Cuban Catching prospects? Wieters is a long shot, not just because the Twins are gun-shy, but also because Wieters may have more interest in places like Atlanta (he went to Georgia Tech), or staying in the AL East (Tampa Bay?)

Liked the idea of trying to trade for AJ at the deadline to shore up a ragged and beaten up Suzuki, but I agree that AJ/Kurt is not a very good plan A. Wieters is too old / injury prone / overrated to sign long term, right? That's the consensus? Lucroy's catching days are possibly nearly over, trading for him could be a mistake... What is the likelihood of the Twins spending enough in prospects to trade for Gary Sanchez, Austin Hedges, Plawecki, etc.? I don't see that happening either. There are solutions out there, it just depends on which flaws the Twins are willing to absorb. Recently, they've been willing to have Doumit, Suzuki, Butera, Herrmann, and Fryer do it. It's a low bar, but they can do better.

Do the Blue Jays have a catching prospect? Maybe the Twins should look to trade Arcia this winter, for the same reason I wanted them to shop Pinto last winter. If the Twins aren't going to give the guy MLB at bats, trade him for someone they will use.

I think having the position be deep league wide works in the seller's favor - there will be fewer suitors, but those suitors have more incentive to upgrade to keep up with the league...

Oh Hi everyone! Yes, the prize of some amazing Twins Baseball Cards (monetary value equal to Twins Remaining 2015 Games) goes to: Thrylos, USAFChief, James, ChiTownTwinsFan, and RealTwinsFan357. These 5 correctly guessed: "never" If you want to collect, you can send me a message and I will mail them to you, or hand them off somewhere in the Twin Cities.

I think the Diamondbacks want to finish the season at .500 -at the very least game 1 of that series in AZ should be competitive. The Astros will be short a DH, and they stink on the road. I give the Diamondbacks a better chance than most teams in their position to help the Twins tonight.

Must win #2 of 4. Got the win last night, Twins need to strike early and often and run KC out of the ballpark tonight. Let's Go TWINS!

As far as I'm concerned, these next three are all postseason games. Win all three and the Twins could be in the Wild Card game. Lose one, and the Twins are probably eliminated, making the Sunday game an exhibition. The Royals are in the Twins' way to getting to the World Series anyway - a sweep would show how little the Twins fear the Royals. Perfect tune-up for the inevitable ALCS re-match. I'm pumped. Let's go Twins!