On 7/23/2022 at 8:16 AM, Nashvilletwin said:

Wow, how things have changed in a mere 4 months. Although we still have some developing talent just getting an extended look in the bigs for the first time this year, the sad fact remains: organizationally, we are weak on the mound. Very weak - both currently and prospectively.

We tried to retool last year and the possibility of a modicum of success remains. It’s not enough though; so, unfortunately, we have to keep at it.  This franchise is unlikely to win a playoff series, let alone the World Series, without significant additions on the bump.

So how do we accomplish that. Given our prospect situation, two obvious options exist? Trades and free agency. The more cash we have, the more viable the second option becomes. So the solution is clear: trade anyone who is expensive and is not going to be part of the core between ‘23-‘26 for whatever pitching we can get. The list includes Kepler, Sano, Correa (assuming he doesn’t reup by the deadline), Sanchez and Urshela. Even if we received only a couple of decent prospects in return, the cost savings alone would free up approximately $40MM or more to be used on the mound.  

 

I’m not sure we can say we are weak when we have Ryan Ober and Winder that have been succeeding at the major league level, smeltzer which has been a nice depth arm this year and 10 other pitchers with a legitimate shot at making the big leagues in the next couple years. Honestly what the young pitchers have done at the MLB level is amazing and wasn’t expected when the year started.  For as barren as the cupboard was 5 years ago this is a night and day improvement. 

Many baseball fans use baseballtradevalues.com when looking to find a way to improve their team via trades. The site has low values for most Twins prospects. While I don't place much regard towards the numbers attached to the players it is very possible that more than a few teams across baseball have a similar dim view of the Twins prospects which means it might be difficult for the MN team to complete any meaningful trades. For those who value the Twins prospects quite highly and are generally opposed to the trading of the team's prospects this is good news, because perhaps nobody wants any of the minor leaguers from the Twins system.