Dansby Swanson to Cubs

Dodged a bullet there. He'll be an above average SS for about 4 years (though not a great one.) After that I think it might be diminishing returns. Plan on Royce and Brooks to lead the way in the future with both being in Minnesota by end of this year or next. Again, I say lock up the Starting Pitchers you think will provide a good Playoff Rotation for you and see what younger pitchers develop. Buxton, Lewis, Lee, are a good core tobuild around.

At this point I could see trading Kepler to NYY for IKF and some young arms. 

Sounds from the Front Office ? ? ? ?

No worries because Swanson never considered the Twins for a minute. I like Lewis and Lee. I'm willing to put Lee at SS this year. There isn't a single starting pitcher on the team to lock up. Gray won't sign unless he gets paid stupid money which won't happen. Maeda is beyond the time to lock up a pitcher. Mahle has a bum shoulder that had him throwing 85 in his last start. Shoulders are very problematic, although I do hope he can recover. Ryan is already locked up by the rules in place. That leaves Ober, Winder, Varland, Sands, Henriquez, and Woods Richardson. I hope they all compete for a Cy Young, but it is completely unlikely to sign any one of them to long term contracts. Randy Dobnak is the sole winner of a long term contract signed by a Twins pitcher, which is totally noteworthy.

Based on reliable (...ok made up...) information the Twins offered 150 million and were sooooo close... They plan to pivot by signing another LH corner outfielder or second baseman!

1 hour ago, Cris E said:

At this point I could see trading Kepler to NYY for IKF and some young arms. 

They aren't going to get anything off value back for Kepler unless they pick up the tab 

JDM to Dodgers 10M

what a joke we have Gallo 11M

2 hours ago, Cris E said:

At this point I could see trading Kepler to NYY for IKF and some young arms. 

I said we should trade Correa to the yankees for some arms before deadline

look how FO messed things up

horrible

Farmer...Vasquez...Gallo...??

3 hours ago, Cris E said:

At this point I could see trading Kepler to NYY for IKF and some young arms. 

Sounds like a big haul for a guy that basically you're trading cuz you don't want him.

Have you seen what the Yankees are planning on running out there next year? JUDGE! and Hicks when he's healthy and Stanton when he's healthy and Bader and some kids. And let's be honest, Judge has some injury history as well, missing 50 games in 2018 and 60 in 2019.  Kepler can field all the OF spots, might hit better with next year's rules, isn't expensive, is an adult so he won't be a distraction,  and MN Twins fans are the only ones spoiled enough to want to get rid of him.

Again, the whole league crashed last year, not just Kepler. He had his worst season, true, but it was a 93 OPS+.  Who else did you want? Pollack from CHW had a 91 OPS+, Cleveland's Franmil Reyes was 73, KC's Hunter Dozier had a 90. Heck, Detroit's whole starting lineup only had one person ahead of him, and Kepler would have tied Baez for second at 93. A lot of teams would have been thrilled to be running Max out there. 

Pivot......Pivot.....PIVOT!

No Correa...Well let's load up one-year veterans. If we can even due that. Crushing offseason so far..

On 12/17/2022 at 5:27 PM, Cris E said:

At this point I could see trading Kepler to NYY for IKF and some young arms. 

I wonder what extra it would take to get Gleyber Torres.  I know the Yankees have attempted to move him, but I suspect they would need a lot more than Max Kepler.  

On 12/17/2022 at 9:40 PM, Cris E said:

Have you seen what the Yankees are planning on running out there next year? JUDGE! and Hicks when he's healthy and Stanton when he's healthy and Bader and some kids. And let's be honest, Judge has some injury history as well, missing 50 games in 2018 and 60 in 2019.  Kepler can field all the OF spots, might hit better with next year's rules, isn't expensive, is an adult so he won't be a distraction,  and MN Twins fans are the only ones spoiled enough to want to get rid of him.

Again, the whole league crashed last year, not just Kepler. He had his worst season, true, but it was a 93 OPS+.  Who else did you want? Pollack from CHW had a 91 OPS+, Cleveland's Franmil Reyes was 73, KC's Hunter Dozier had a 90. Heck, Detroit's whole starting lineup only had one person ahead of him, and Kepler would have tied Baez for second at 93. A lot of teams would have been thrilled to be running Max out there. 

I agree with this, to a point.  I don't like selling low on Max Kepler and I think he'll benefit from the shift ban -- as others have written a lot about (a quick Google search should find it).  I don't think he'll ever rebound to 2019 levels, but I recall reading a piece -- maybe in Fangraphs?  that highlighted how he was a top 5 RF, despite his offensive struggles last year.  I'll see if I can find the article.

Anyway, while I don't see 2019 returning, I think he can be a valuable piece either for the Twins or in a trade.  I certainly wouldn't give him away and would much rather keep him or trade him in season.

EDIT:  Oh goodness, I was way off. It was our own PP, and they posited that he was the best RF:

https://www.twincities.com/2022/09/02/is-twins-max-kepler-baseballs-best-right-fielder/

While I wouldn't go that far, I do think he has value and if the Yankees, as rumored, are sniffing around, they know it also.  I'd like to see what else they would need to get Gleyber, who the Yankees were shopping last year (though for starting pitching, I believe). 

In light of the recent Correa circus, the Cubs officially announced the signing today.