Keep Plundering the Pirate Ship

[Cody Pirkl]

The Twins offseason is coming together as little room on the payroll likely remains. They’ve admirably compiled most of their team without parting with a single prospect this winter. As the numbers add up, perhaps it’s time that changes.The Twins still may benefit from another starting pitcher and reliever following the Cruz and Colomé signings. Things like former Twin Kohl Stewart getting a Major League deal and Chris Archer signing for $6.5m have muddied the waters on price points. Paired with the depth of their farm system and the fact that they haven’t parted with any of it, the real value pick ups could lie on the trade market where payroll hits are already determined. This would be especially valuable for a team with a seemingly small window to fit in.

 

 

The Pirates have parted with tons of talent this winter including Josh Bell, Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon as they continue to sink into irrelevancy. Despite all of this, they’re still reportedly open to discussing what players are left. At first glance it doesn’t look like a whole lot, but there’s some definite help that the Twins could acquire. There’s one pairing in particular that the Twins could explore to possibly make a big improvement in the rotation and bullpen.

 

Chad Kuhl

Kuhl has a history that makes you wonder why the Twins would be interested with his 4.36 ERA and 4.45 FIP. At 28 years old, Kuhl has a 5 pitch mix including a sinker he uses over 42% of the time. The issue is that in 2020 the pitch was clubbed for a .667 slugging % and has had similar results his entire career. Some pitchers have no choice but to continue trying to induce groundballs, but Kuhl has two other pitches in a slider and curve that have multiple seasons of much higher overall success and >30% whiff rates. He may not be the second coming of Kenta Maeda, but a change of scenery and pitch mix change could make him a valuable piece of a team’s rotation.

 

Kuhl has two seasons of arbitration left and is due a bit over $2m in 2021.Furthermore, he’s been reported as one of their top candidates to still be traded. With all of that in mind, he’s a cheap option both payroll and prospect wise to come in and compete for the 5th rotation spot with a few indicators saying his ceiling could be higher.

 

Richard Rodriguez

Tom Froemming turned me onto Richard Rodriguez a few weeks ago as a possible bullpen target. Rodriguez uses a high spin fastball and slider combo to dominate hitters. In fact, he fell in the 96th percentile in K% and 92nd in Whiff% in 2020. His slider posted a hilarious 63.6% whiff rate. It’s likely Rodriguez would be able to come in and play a big role in a Twins bullpen that has lost so much this winter after posting a very believable 2.70 ERA last season. It’s a role the Twins may not have confidently filled yet after last season’s departures from the bullpen.

 

 

While Rodriguez may be the closer in Pittsburgh, he’s already 30 years old. Even with his 3 remaining years of control, he likely won’t be playing a big role the next time the Pirates are ready to compete. If they can cash in on him by getting a younger player that better fits their timeline, they would certainly be willing to move the right hander.

 

What Would It Cost?

Controllable pitchers are never cheap. The Twins however are in a great situation to make an acquisition. As previously mentioned, they haven’t parted with a single prospect this winter and would likely be willing to do so for the right return. Second, the Twins have some cheap controllable players on their roster who may be best utilized in a trade. Lewis Thorpe may not be perceived as a valuable piece by Twins fans, but he still has plenty of cheap control attached. Pittsburgh would be a perfect place to plug him into the rotation and see if he can capture that former prospect pedigree. Brent Rooker also has a roster crunch on the horizon with Kirilloff and Larnach on their way. The Pirates could give him the everyday opportunity he deserves and likely won’t get in Minnesota. Maybe Jake Cave would even interest them. In any case, it would likely take some prospects attached to one of these current big leaguers to get a deal done, but the Twins need to offset the 40 man roster impact anyways after the flurry of pickups they’ve made in the last week.

 

I’ve expected the Twins to dabble in the trade market all winter and I continue to believe they should do so as the payroll adds up. It’s not Sonny Gray or Luis Castillo but a Chad Kuhl/Richard Rodriguez combo would address the rotation and bullpen in a big way for $4m. The Pirate ship is sinking. The Twins should take advantage and rescue some crew members.

 

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[Alex Schieferdecker]

Certainly seems like Kuhl could be a lot better if goes someplace where the pitching coach will tell him to never throw another sinker again.

[bobs]

Holy Cow I like this idea.  At the very least, could possibly turn Kuhl into a solid reliever if he fails as a starter.  And I even like the idea of floating Rooker, Thorpe, Smeltzer, etc., to get it done. 

I loved how Rooker looked last year, but he's at the age where he needs to be in the majors and I just don't see a spot for him here.  In 2022, we could very easily see Sano as a DH, Kiriloff at 1B and Larnach in LF.

[Brandon]

nice points good idea.  I am surprised the Twins haven't made a trade.  I do think the Twins are concerned about a potential work stoppage after next season as they are not signing anyone beyond next season at this point.  

 

[Doctor Gast]

I've been advocating for awhile to plunder the Pirates. I like Rodriguez but as the main trade it doesn't make a lot of sense because for me the 2nd motive to trade is trim away some unnecessary baggage from our 40 man roster. For Rodriguez it could take a lower prospect even up, which is alright but I'd rather traded for Musgrove or Taillon & tack on Rodriguez, which would include a few more prospects from the 40 man.  I`d rather do this than sign Happ. It would've been cheaper & more realistic since our division is dominately RH hitters

Now my hopes are on a trade w/ the Reds or LAD before the deadline for a high starter

[by jiminy]

Those Rodriguez highlights look amazing. I wonder if we could have gotten him for Wade, or Wade and somebody else; Shaun Anderson seems like a pretty big wild card, pun intended. But Rodriguez does look like someone who could really help. Very impressive velocity and movement in those clips.

 

I would be much less confident that Kuhl's breaking balls would be as effective without the possibility of a fastball coming. I don't think it's that simple to just drop your fastball and live on only curves and sliders. It can happen, obviously, as Wisler and Romo were successful doing that. But that doesn't mean the element of surprise, and changing speeds, are not important. I'd certainly trust the Twins to know whether or not he was someone they thought they could improve, based on their track record. But I don't think just dropping your fastball works for most people.

[Shaitan]

I wonder is Wisler would have been cheaper and just as good. 

 

Rodriguez is intriguing though, especially if it's a fire sale.

[Cody Pirkl]

Those Rodriguez highlights look amazing. I wonder if we could have gotten him for Wade, or Wade and somebody else; Shaun Anderson seems like a pretty big wild card, pun intended. But Rodriguez does look like someone who could really help. Very impressive velocity and movement in those clips.

 

I would be much less confident that Kuhl's breaking balls would be as effective without the possibility of a fastball coming. I don't think it's that simple to just drop your fastball and live on only curves and sliders. It can happen, obviously, as Wisler and Romo were successful doing that. But that doesn't mean the element of surprise, and changing speeds, are not important. I'd certainly trust the Twins to know whether or not he was someone they thought they could improve, based on their track record. But I don't think just dropping your fastball works for most people.

 

Wade could have been a piece although I don't think he's thought of as even a possible everyday starter for the future. We've still got plenty of MLB depth to deal from.

 

For Kuhl, its not a matter of eliminating the fastball completely, its reducing the usage and sequencing it better. Maeda had the same issue when he was brought over. They had him cut down on the usage and he picked his spots to use it while also throwing his best pitches more often.

[mikelink45]

Is this column just designed to send our old bench coach a few good players?   Let's move on from the Pirates - has anyone noticed how successful they have been?

[se7799]

I wish we had been able to acquire Musgrove.

[Cody Pirkl]

Is this column just designed to send our old bench coach a few good players?   Let's move on from the Pirates - has anyone noticed how successful they have been?

Bad teams have good players too and are more open to getting rid of them unlike teams in contention. The Twins could get two players to help them now for a few minor leaguers who very well could never even make the MLB.

[beckmt]

I could see Rooker + for Rodrequiz, we need another big arm in the pen and Rooker at this point will only be here at most this year before roster crunch gets him.  (this is if you believe in Sano).

[rv78]

I'd be interested in Rodriguez but not Kuhl. Twins already have Smeltzer, Thorpe, and Dobnak that are pretty much just like him. Cave and Thorpe for Rodriguez works for me. I'd keep Rooker to replace Cave on the bench.

[Cody Pirkl]

I'd be interested in Rodriguez but not Kuhl. Twins already have Smeltzer, Thorpe, and Dobnak that are pretty much just like him. Cave and Thorpe for Rodriguez works for me. I'd keep Rooker to replace Cave on the bench.

The thing about Kuhl is he has more of an MLB career to draw projections from than Smeltzer or Thorpe and has more swing and miss than Dobnak. I love Randy and think he'll be around for awhile but I think its about rotation depth at this point. Smeltzer has looked like a AAAA guy so far who makes spot starts for 3 innings/mops up in relief and Thorpe could be cut loose in just a few weeks here since he's out of options.

 

I don't think Kuhl is for sure the answer in the rotation, but he'd be cheap in trade and payroll and controlled for 2 years. I'm not saying pay up for him, I just think he's a nice cheap pickup that can add depth to a rotation that needs it and has signs of more in the tank than he's shown so far.