Twins Trade Targets: 4 Potential Starting Pitching Upgrades

I guess I'd be wondering if any of these really were upgrades. And I'm not taking a shot at them or dismissing their worth. But were the Twins to bring back Odorizzi and Pineda...as has been often speculated/proposed by many of us...I don't know that any of these options are equal to or better than Berrios.

Boyd might be if you got a full season out of him like his first half. Detroit needs young talent! The Twins have to spare. Johnson might do wonders for him. Would either team be interested in trading within the division?

Gray and Musgrove offer intrigue, though I confess to knowing little about Musgrove. Both fit age wise. What kind of upside might either have? Or rather, what kind of upside do the Twins see?

A trade makes a lot of sense. Not sure we have openings for all of our prospects. I am a Jon Gray fan. He has very good stuff and can get strikeouts. Get him out of Coors field and see what happens.

I guess I'd be wondering if any of these really were upgrades. And I'm not taking a shot at them or dismissing their worth. But were the Twins to bring back Odorizzi and Pineda...as has been often speculated/proposed by many of us...I don't know that any of these options are equal to or better than Berrios.

Boyd might be if you got a full season out of him like his first half. Detroit needs young talent! The Twins have to spare. Johnson might do wonders for him. Would either team be interested in trading within the division?

Gray and Musgrove offer intrigue, though I confess to knowing little about Musgrove. Both fit age wise. What kind of upside might either have? Or rather, what kind of upside do the Twins see?

Boyd would definitely be an upgrade and he's only going to continue to get better. Gray and Musgrove would certainly fit in the middle of the rotation as upgrades over Gibson/Perez/Dobnak etc. If Robbie Ray is your #5 starter then you have an excellent rotation.

Gray is the only intriguing one on this list for me. Maybe Ray, too, and we have some history of dealing with AZ.

I still want them to keep Jake and Mike, and make a run at MadBum, Ryu or Wheeler tho. I think Cole is out of our reasonable range.

If we wouldn't trade at the deadline when we could have gotten an extra 1/2 season and play offs we knew we were in position for, and almost no competition, can't imagine we will pull off a trade with more teams looking to add, fewer sellers, and every team tied.

We're in an awkward position of needing 4 starters. if we only get 1, we'd potentially be better off getting none and using 2020 to continue rebuilding. If we can get 3, we will likely have made a large investment and have raided the farm system such that we'd be pot committed and might as well push all in and get an ace.

Knowing the Twins strategy is more of a business model based on selling hope for the future, my guess is we will straddle and shoot for borderline contender. Good enough to keep fans interested and draw sellouts, cheap enough to maximize profits, young enough to sell hope that we're trending up.

If I remember correctly Jon Gray was chosen one spot ahead of Kohl Stewart in the 2013 draft!

Perez still under contract?? I can't imagine the Twins picking up his 2020 option.

I like Gray and Musgrove off that list. I wonder if the Dodgers will make anyone available. Ross Stripling is entering arbitration and Julio Urias is projected to be Super 2.

Twins need a top of rotation piece, rather than mid level pieces. Like Gray and Musgrove as fall back position, if we cannot resign oderizzi and Pineda. Given Kepler's back issue, would not want to trade Rosario until sure Kepler is healthy. Would rather open checkbook and sign either Cole or Strasburg.

I know three things about the coming offseason.

One, the Twins need to fill three or four spots in their rotation.

Two, none of us have a clue how they will go about doing that and who will fill out the rotation, come opening day.

Three, many of us will question whatever moves they make.

Personally, gonna sit back and enjoy watching what happens over the coming months.  

Like the original poster, I was really interested in Robbie Ray at the deadline this year. He finished 2nd in the NL to Scherzer in K/9, but only Jon Lester averaged more pitches per inning than Ray in the NL (among qualified starters). If the Twins can acquire Ray and figure out how he can reduce his walk rate, he seems like the type of guy who could really break out and challenge for a front-of-rotation spot.

I would be surprised if Colorado traded Gray for position players.  Colorado is not a park pitchers want to pitch in, so they have tried to develop pitchers.  They can always sign position players who want to play in Colorado.  If the Twins want Gray, they are going to have to give up pitching prospects.

I think Boyd is a more likely option.  During the race, nobody wanted to trade major league players, but the off-season is different.  If the Twins have confidence in their minor league system, they should be able to make some of the major league talent available. 

Musgrove is the only one I want from this list.  Boyd is the best of the worst on Detroit, but that does not make him a quality pitcher who can improve the staff.  I want more upside and more baseline quality in fastball and other pitches.  

I know this is just the first list so hopefully we will see more quality in the next essays.

Not as a fallback move, but as the secondary acquisition after a FA signing of, say, Wheeler, MadBum, or Ryu. Bring back both Odorizzi and Pineda too. This gives you a full rotation likely to give you #2/3 type of performance. Mostly #3, admittedly.

Pull Gray out of Coors or Musgrove out of Pittsburgh and see what you can do with them. Trade from excess (Rooker, Gordon, Javier, Baddoo, Miranda, Severino, Celestino, even Rosario perhaps?). Keep your stud prospects, Lewis, Kirilloff, Graterol, Larnach, Duran, Balazovic.

I'm always a little leery of starting pitchers going from the NL to the AL these days, especially for a guy that's not a dominating player. 

That said, Musgrove might be the guy that interests me most: That FIP suggests he was a little unlucky last year, and maybe with Wes Johnson adding a tick or two to the fastball the K/9 jumps up a notch as well. He's going to need some kind of adjustment to really be a quality starter, but there are some things that make him an interesting option. In this homer-happy environment his ability to keep the ball in the park is intriguing. But you would have to think Wes could make some adjustments to improve performance, because he's also never had a positive ERA+

Gray...probably contingent on how much you think getting out of Coors Field for half the season will help him. His career splits suggest it won't necessarily matter that much: he's basically been the same pitcher home or away, so you're relying on an assumption that the secondary impacts of pitching way up there consistently impact performance everywhere. He's had some good seasons, but control is a bit of a problem.

Ray gets a ton of Ks and is tough to hit, but man that's a lot of walks! 2017 feels a bit like a fluke year, and I dunno how much I want to give up for 216 or 2019 Robbie Ray?

Boyd feels like a waste of time, because I just don't see Detroit dealing him within the division without a substantial premium that I just don't have any interest in paying.

There is a pitcher with a large 3 year commitment remaining on a team that wants to cut payroll. If Boston would pay down Price's contact a little we probably wouldn't have to give up too much talent to get him. Have us responsible for 4 years 60-75 million of the 96 million and Boston gets to lower their payroll.

Trade for good players, without dealing good prospects? That's not how it works. That's not what Houston, or the Yankees, or the red Sox, or any of the winners do it.

I don't know that I would consider these four pitchers on the same level as any of the pitchers for Houston or the Red Sox when they traded for them.

Trade for good players, without dealing good prospects? That's not how it works. That's not what Houston, or the Yankees, or the red Sox, or any of the winners do it.

I believe you're describing Houston's trade history inaccurately, Mike. They traded smartly, from prospect surplus, but they did not trade anyone like Royce Lewis, Alex Kirilloff, and Brusdar Graterol. To their credit, they HAVE made a handful of trades maybe even more brilliant than the Palacios for Odorizzi trade.

You mention the Yankees. Why not mention the Cubs? They dealt a good prospect to the Yankees for a good player. Gleyber Torrez might end up being a league MVP and an absolute stud for a decade. 

Why not mention the White Sox? We might hate facing their lineup as early as next year when good prospects surface: Kopech, Moncada, Giolito, Jiminez...

Y'all. Imagine Matthew Boyd going from Rick Anderson to Wes Johnson. With his stuff, and a legit pitching coach, he's going to be great. 

Especially if MLB goes back to a normal baseball, which would help with his biggest weakness. Not that we can count on that. 

A kind of quandary is that its hard to improve upon a regular season record of 101 games won. Any tinkering with a lineup that did that will have unknown results. There is always some shuffling of players so that will happen anyway. Assuming Pineda comes back I hope the Twins don't take the playoffs for granted and mess too much with a team to get to October games that may never come. Fact is and always will be that everyone needs more pitching all the time if not starters its bull pen. I'm sure they will find a couple of arms somewhere. No question Gibson should be replaced in the initial plan but maybe Sano can help out in the DR this year and Gibson can stay home and put on some weight.

The Cubs win the world series, and until this year made the playoffs....

Sometimes trades work, and sometimes not. But suggesting never trading top prospects.... That seems unrealistic to me, if you want great players in return. I could be wrong, maybe they can get great players back without every dealing actual good or great prospects....

Who has suggested never trading top prospects, Mike? 

The facts are there for you to see with respect to the trades. I've made an effort to help you examine those facts. When you use vague terms like "great players" and "actual good or great prospects" instead of doing a deeper dive, you're suggesting that you may be more interested in your point of view than you are in much else.

The Cubs? I don't know, Mike. Maybe you're right, and the singular reason they win the world series is because they trade actual good or great prospects for great players in return. 

Like others here, I think these names probably would work...they go in the middle of the rotation. But, we also need help at the top.