The Berríos return - Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson

[Tim]

SWR + Martin for Berrios is a massive haul. Love this deal as both players are relatively close to the majors.
 

Also of note, Austin Martin has had a wrist injury this year and might be contributing to the lack of power.

SWR was shoving at the beginning of the year too and was getting a lot of love for being a top 30 prospect. Came back down to earth but the flashes were there. 

[insagt1]

I'm kinda surprised guys like Simmons, Cave and Colome are still with us.

We won't know if this trade will bear fruit until next year. Berrios was good, but not good enough. Too many one inning meltdowns which cost him and the team several wins. Since he wanted out, hard to complain about this trade.

[KirbyHawk75]

First of all, love the trade.  Second what do they project from Martin?  .300 hitter with 15-20 home runs?  

[chpettit19]

26 minutes ago, KirbyHawk75 said:

First of all, love the trade.  Second what do they project from Martin?  .300 hitter with 15-20 home runs?  

He's projected to be a leadoff type hitter with great OBP and BA, but power is a question. Maybe he's a 10-15 HR guy, maybe he's 20-25. Obviously a big swing there. Think most scouts right now would say he's closer to 10-15 HR guy, but can dream on 20-25 with a swing tweak here and there.

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, insagt1 said:

I'm kinda surprised guys like Simmons, Cave and Colome are still with us.

They can be gone anytime the team feels it is time for a roster slot to be made available. Their trade value is bupkis.

[bean5302]

Going down the list for average fastballs for some of the greatest pitchers in the past decade sure does show an interesting trend. Cole and deGrom have both increased their velocity the past couple years and when you look at the "best" today, they're just throwing harder and harder. That said, guys like Verlander, Scherzer, Kershaw, Greinke, Darvish and Sale have all continued to dominate with stuff at or below 95mph. Both Kershaw and Greinke are highly successful at 90mph.

Having movement, deception and location is still dominant. I'd be more focused on getting Woods-Richardson to focus on command more than adding 2mph or something like that. He's got 4 pitches. Use them. Also, love that the Twins now have several 4+ pitch guys in the system. Canterino, Enlow and Winder are all 4 pitch guys as well.

• 99mph - deGrom
• 98mph - Cole
• 98mph - Syndergaard
• 96mph - Wheeler
• 96mph - Price (peak)
• 96mph - Strasburg
• 95mph - Verlander
• 95mph - F. Hernandez (peak)
• 95mph - Sale (peak)
• 94mph - Scherzer
• 94mph - Darvish
• 93mph - Hamels (peak)
• 93mph - Halladay (peak)
• 93mph - Lincecum (peak)
• 92mph - Lee (peak)
• 92mph - Bumgarner (peak)
• 92mph - Johan Santana (peak)
• 91mph - Kershaw
• 90mph - Greinke

[Brock Beauchamp]

19 hours ago, ashbury said:

They can be gone anytime the team feels it is time for a roster slot to be made available. Their trade value is bupkis.

I was mildly surprised Simmons couldn't be moved as a backup MI option to a contender for salary relief.

But the position player market was rough yesterday. Players like Schoop and Merrifield didn't move, either.

[Fritzderkat]

Interesting to find in the record of the Falvey-Levine leadership, they managed to tack together a powerful hitting team with sub-standard pitching. After scratching their way to division titles over two seasons, much optimism about this one, they crash (not in the least because of sub-standard pitching), and now here they are, back at the bottom but left with what we are told are all kinds of good prospects, none of them proven, btw,  or with the strength and status of Jose Barrios. 

I'm trying to find in this a measure of progress.

 

[h2oface]

Falvey has accomplished destroying a 101 win team with his pitching decisions since. That is the reason this team was torn down. Pitching. Starters. Bullpen. His pitching. Trading Berrios (not one of his pitchers, and the best we had) only magnifies the destruction. But they won the day. Just ask Falvey.

https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-2021-trade-deadline-summary

[HrbieFan]

On 7/30/2021 at 3:45 PM, bean5302 said:

I'd be awfully surprised if Woods-Richardson didn't stay a starting pitcher. He's got good stuff and 4 pitches.

Why hasn't he been able to put results up? For a 'top' arm he allows way too much contact and walks. Is it simply a control issue with his other pitches? 

[bean5302]

14 hours ago, HrbieFan said:

Why hasn't he been able to put results up? For a 'top' arm he allows way too much contact and walks. Is it simply a control issue with his other pitches? 

Woods-Richardson has had a rough month, not a rough year and at only age 20 in AA after missing a year because of the COVID-19 canceled season. The general thought is missing a year of playing time is much harder on younger prospects because they have less experience/muscle memory and their bodies are still filling out. He could be tiring out or he could just be working on a pitch or pitches instead of focusing on results themselves.

Woods-Richardson was owning high A pitching at age 18. That's extraordinary. Besides that, he was certainly getting results, pitching excellent through June 20th. 7 GS, 30.0 IP, 2.70 ERA, 6.3 H/9, 3.3 BB/ 9, 14.4 K/9 in AA. Oh, and apart from 3 games this year, Woods-Richardson has a 2.7 BB/9 walk rate. He's just not consistent yet.

It's not like Woods-Richardson is guaranteed to turn into an ace pitcher that makes Twins fans celebrate the Berrios trade, but the potential is there.

[HrbieFan]

19 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Woods-Richardson has had a rough month, not a rough year and at only age 20 in AA after missing a year because of the COVID-19 canceled season. The general thought is missing a year of playing time is much harder on younger prospects because they have less experience/muscle memory and their bodies are still filling out. He could be tiring out or he could just be working on a pitch or pitches instead of focusing on results themselves.

Woods-Richardson was owning high A pitching at age 18. That's extraordinary. Besides that, he was certainly getting results, pitching excellent through June 20th. 7 GS, 30.0 IP, 2.70 ERA, 6.3 H/9, 3.3 BB/ 9, 14.4 K/9 in AA. Oh, and apart from 3 games this year, Woods-Richardson has a 2.7 BB/9 walk rate. He's just not consistent yet.

It's not like Woods-Richardson is guaranteed to turn into an ace pitcher that makes Twins fans celebrate the Berrios trade, but the potential is there.

Thanks for reply, didn't realize he was so young until reading up on him last night. He looks like he has a bulldog attitude too. 

[bean5302]

3 hours ago, HrbieFan said:

Thanks for reply, didn't realize he was so young until reading up on him last night. He looks like he has a bulldog attitude too. 

Yep, he's a young'in. It's why so many people are so bullish on him. You're forgiven for expecting the Twins traded for a 28 year old re-tread with poor control, though, hahaha