Minnesota Twins Talk

Good. Keep it coming boys!

OK, I know you DFA players and not managers. But there has been so much trade talk and DFA talk lately, it seemed an appropriate title. There was a recent poll on the "Trib" that had voters overwhelmingly, about 2-1, saying Molitor should keep his job for 2018. There was an interesting and I think fair article on the Pioneer Press today regarding Molitor and his job. (Note: Don't know how to include the link) Molitor was a tremendous player and HOF time performer, despite injuries that robbed him at times. When he joined the Twins family as an instructor, there were many positive reports of his workings with young talent on the farm, and his evaluations. In 2015, his r…

Hearing of Don Baylor's passing brought back memories of his stint on the Minnesota Twins 1987 World Series team. On September 1st of 1987, Boston traded Don Baylor to the Twins for P Enrique Rios. Unfortunately, Twins Daily was not around at that time to weigh in if we overpaid for acquiring him. He played in 20 games the rest of the season batting .286 and interestingly enough getting Hit By Pitch (of which he was a master) 4 times. Baylor had 2 hits in 5 official plate appearances - to go along with another HBP against in the Detroit ALCS. In the World Series against St. Louis he batted .385 with another HBP and 3 RBI's. All 3 of those RBI's came in the cruc…

Good morning everyone, With the trades over the last few days the Twins currently are sitting at 23 players on the active roster. Has anyone heard what the call-ups will be? Since there were a few days off I would believe they won't call up a starter until its necessary, so my assumption would be a reliever will be called up, and Buxton to be activated? What do you think the moves will be?

There have been reports by beat writers and some Twins bloggers that the front office has stated that it is still trying to win this season. I for one was OK with the Twins flipping Garcia and trading Kintzler, but after doing so, don't insult my intelligence and say you're trying to win this season. You waved the white flag, which is exactly what you should have done, but I have no idea what you're doing at this point. Why in the world do we still have Colon, Gibson, Gee and maybe Santiago taking innings away I know Colon threw a CG last night, but he is not part of the future. Why in the world is Garver and/or Vargas at AAA and you are forced to play Adrianza at f…

Reusse touched on a few points on why he, and Falvine, did not think the Twins were contending material even though they had remained in the WC hunt until July. To his I would add this. You're not a contender if you have no idea who is going to pitch every fifth day until you check Delta's flight schedule out of upstate New York! I found Thad Levines radio comment on the winning streaks of Cleveland and KC interesting and pragmatic. http://www.startribune.com/some-people-thought-twins-were-playoff-contenders-imagine-my-surprise/438577703/

Pioneer Press' John Shipley sat down (or maybe he stood, I don't know) with the Twins' Derek Falvey to discuss the status of the team as well as the recent trade deadline moves. http://www.twincities.com/2017/08/04/twins-boss-derek-falvey-its-my-job-to-balance-the-present-and-the-future/ Like most baseball executives, Falvey has mastered the art of saying a lot without saying a lot but there are a few interesting responses. Agree? Disagree?

Man, I really really want to give Falvey and Levine the benefit of the doubt, but man, this deadline was a disaster. I am sick and tired of year in and year out of the Twins never fully committing to selling, buying or rebuilding. If the plan was to actually SELL, then Santana, Dozier, Kintzler, Garcia, Castro and more all should have been unloaded. If the plan wasn't to sell, then there was no reason to trade Garcia and Kintzler for a guy who may be a #4/#5 if all things break right, and a bullpen arm potentially. (Meanwhile we already did give up Yonan for Garcia to begin with) As a Twins fan this is especially frustrating, and if I were Dozier, I would be straight u…

Source: Yankees are pursuing Santana. Like that he is around for next year at a reasonable rate as well. Willing to give up "fair" value. Torress, Fraizer, Sheffield and Mateo all not in play. Adams likely not in play either, Twins would have to figure out a way to sweeten the pot quite a bit. Names being mentioned: Tate, Abreu, Acevedo. Yankees also seem interested in Escobar, but hearing the Twins have no desire to move him, unless they are "blown away"

I've been quiet (well, somewhat, anyway) in criticizing the performance of this Twins squad. However, the last 10 days results finally were straw(s) that broke the proverbial camel's back. This is a seriously flawed team that overperformd the first six weeks of the season, and got most of us excited about basically the same team that lost 100+ games in 2016. This is the reality, folks. The reason I've now decided to pontificate(wow)at this point in the season, is that I remember a promise by the owners to do whatever it takes to bring a championship team to Minnesota once we built this terrific stadium. BS!!!! The fans of this team are used to seeing what we have c…

I am not sure that selling now can help 2018? They can trade Kintzler. He will be a free agent. That can help 2018. If they trade Santana, can they get a return of someone who they can count on in the middle of the rotation next year? I am not so sure. There are only three first year starting pitchers in 2017 that have over 100 innings pitched. Freeland, Montgomery and Senzatela. It doesn't seem very likely that a return of starting pitching prospects will make up for the 2018 loss of Santana. I am not certain what they can get for Dozier. At one point his value was De Leon. Can the return improve the team enough to more than offset the drop off at 2B? I suppose t…

The trade deadline is officially over, and the Twins are officially not contenders. That isn't really a surprise out here, but I have to say that by trading away Kintzler, Murphy, Ynoa, and some cash, the Twins netted 3 SP prospects (2 in the high minors) an RP prospect, and an extra 500k in bonus money that they could purchase a few more 16 year old lotter tickets with. Now that their status is confirmed, I have to wonder how much new blood they inject into the system. My thoughts: DFA Bartolo Colon (or move to the pen if he's up for it) and promote Enns and Sleegers to MLB. Enns is already on the 40 man. I'm not expecting much in terms of results, but I have to say he…

Two other current topics have had posters mentioning "calling players up". I thought I would start a focused discussion on that here. Who should be called up and when? And will the Lookouts' playoffs affect any of these decisions?

I'm sure Molitor will go to Rogers first, but I think Hildy is the best guy for the job right now. Thoughts?

With the Twins trading Brandon Kintzler to Washington and only receiving Tyler Watson. Watson is only 20 years old and doesn't need to be placed on the 40 man roster. Anthony Recker is still listed on the 40 man, even though they outrighted him off the 40 man when they got him in the Garcia trade. So do the Twins just leave it be or will they be promoting some players to the majors that aren't on the 40 man roster?

Watson is a 20 yr old lefty with some size. Holds a 6-4 record on the season with a 4.35 ERA and 1.25 WHIP in 18 starts for the National's Low-A affiliate this year. Averages a bit more than a strikeout per inning. What does everything think of the return? Not an overwhelmingly exciting prospect IMO, but considering Kintzler is a FA in a few months, not bad return at all.

Let's pour our hearts out through music how we feel about the failed trade.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-jgiwvWLzg We can do better Atlanta! Give us another chance.... Oh you're moving on to another team?

I've been kicking this around for a few days. We have no idea, as I write this, whether Dozier will or won't be moved at this time. We also don't know if he may yet be moved in the off season. What we DO KNOW is that BD is still a quality baseball player, not that old, is performing well but down from last season's career numbers, and is not signed beyond next season. And while we really don't know his market value, the FO is at least, apparently, listening to various offers and looking to possibly add more young talent. With no disrespect to Dozier in the slightest, I, and others, have stated for some time that he is easily the most "replaceable " lineup regular. This …

It seems clear (to me at least) that F and L are a bit more decisive when it comes to key decision making. The trade of Garcia made that clear. More importantly, we saw the Twins do something that they have never previously done (essentially using money as a way to acquire prospects). So the real question is about who is still with this team on Tuesday. I'm guessing Kintzler will be traded. That one is easy as he's doing quite well and won't be around in 2018. Santana is a bit harder to figure. He could be useful next year, so keeping him around makes sense, but given the demand for pitching, the loser in the Gray sweepstakes might be willing to part with something n…

It would be foolish to trade Ervin Santana who is under contract for 2018 with an team option for 2019. $13.5M in 2018 & $14M in 2019 if they want to pick it up. Sure he has hit a rough patch now, but for that type of money what would you get this winter in FA market? Most likey a #3 or #4 starter practically.

Getting back SP Zack Littell anda lower level spec. Edit: Looks like the other piece is 26 year old lefty Dietrich Enns

Just looked at the Twins 40 man roster and noticed they have 2 open spots at the moment. I heard Glen Perkins has made a couple of minor league appearances and thought 1 might be for him in the possible near future. My question is who is the other spot for? I highly doubt it would filled from a trade. I say that because the Twins should be selling. Maybe someone get added to the 40 man and gets called up to help the pitching staff.

The timing of this topic may be odd since there is a reasoned plea for Falvine to go outside the system for relief help at the moment. I'm not of the opinion that this is a bad idea, depending on if it's enough of a move and if the price is not outrageous. I'm also not at all sure, one way or another, that they can piece together a pen that would allow them to almost miraculously eke there way in to a wild card slot. Frankly, my view has remained the same all season, and that view is that it would have to be the young core of position players that got us there, and that they wouldn't quite be up to it this season because their inexperience would limit them. Even with a le…

It was a fun few months, time to sell the few sellable assets we have. Falvey has failed us in his first season, this rotation and bullpen are embarrassing. Hopefully can get some arms for the future.

All season, my response thought has been – ride the success as long as it rides, but don’t lose out on 2018 as the focus. So now, while it’s too early for the Off-Season Blueprint, how about a Late-Season Back of the Napkin? I’d love to see someone take a shot at inventorying what we’ve got on hand. Could someone give an itemized list of what we would spend (with arbitration estimates) on this list? C: Castro and Garver Corner: Mauer, Sano and Vargas. Middle: Dozier, and two of three of Polanco, Adrianza, and Escobar. OF: Buxton, Kepler, Rosario, Grossman, Granite. SP: Santana, Berrios, Mejia, May and somebody else in the system. RP: Hughes and a logical seven…

God, I wish the Twins hadn't wasted (one, two?) option year(s). He looks over-matched, just lost at the plate. And his defense doesn't make up for bat (though he's a serviceable SS). That OPS is south of .600. Not to stir the pot too much, but this is the risk teams take when promoting prospects aggressively. Polanco could use a reset in AAA, but those options are now gone, even though he's still relatively young, and perfectly in-line with AAA aged competition. I worry he'll be a casualty of roster crunch at some point this season or next, and then find his way with another team. With Escobar and Andrianza on the roster, and Garver and Vargas in AAA, the te…

Well, it appears that Bartolo Colon will continue to pitch after his five inning, three-run outing on Monday night in LA. The club announced that Kyle Gibson was being optioned to Rochester to make room for Jaime Garcia. Gibson threw 7 shutout innings against the Tigers on Saturday night.

All along The FO has been saying "Contollable" and yet we did not get that in this week moves. I say yet... Here's what I'm seeing: Gibson has never met his potential and some team is going to think they can fix him. I'm shopping that We have 5 catchers on the 40 and someone will want one of them. I'm shopping Murphy, Gimenez, Recker as backups. We have two utility infielders and with Polanco, the 3 are splitting the short stop position Gordon is wanting to claim. I'm talking to teams about all 3 and Dozier. Someone needs to leave and make room for the future. I'm willing to listen to anyone interested in Rosario, Granite, or Grossman. Ok, so most of that is going too…

White Sox started selling before the season started. Tigers traded JD and are rumored to sell more. Royals could potentially lose the entire core to free agency after the season. Can the Twins time this and take advantage?