NewClearHarley

this was a great deal for them, plus they can flip him at the deadline to another team in need of a catcher

I'm not sure that the Twins would want a ton, even within the division. His loss would save the team nearly 8 million and open up regular atbats for Garver and Astudillo, and their is seriously zero chance the team will keep him beyond this year anyways. That said, KC could sign someone like Martin Maldonado for around 5-6 million and solve same situation, but either way the Twins will trade Castro at some point this year so if there is a match now might as well make it.

no not really, but I bet they would like a veteran catcher to help Gallagher and the young pitching staff, the only other catcher currently with a shot to make the team is a hit tool kid who has only High-A experience.

anyone have any thoughts on what KC might give us for the one year Castro rental? Not expecting much but it would save us some cash and open a roster spot.I know they said they are comfy with Cam Gallagher, but as a Royals fan I cannot fathom that.

I'm holding out hope for the team to figure out how to keep Austin as a bench bat. The threat that the Twins could use him as a PH late in games would be nice. He is a legit power threat in that spot. Right now Garver and Gonzalez are guaranteed bench slots. I'd be fine with the other two slots going to Austin and either Astudillo or Cave. Hopefully once we get into the season, we can deal Castro to another team (could they send him within the division to KC???) and use Garver as the primary catcher and Astudillo as the backup allowing the team to bring Cave back up. Worse case Cave gets regular atbats at AAA and is called up when the ineveitable OF injury occurs. Looking at our defensive depth charts: C: Castro, Garver, Astudillo 1B: Cron, Gonzalez, Sano, Austin, Garver 2B: Schoop, Gonzalez, Polanco 3B: Sano, Gonzalez, Astudillo SS: Polanco, Gonzalez RF: Kepler, Gonzalez, Cruz (emergency) CF: Buxton, Kepler, Gonzalez LF: Rosario, Gonzalez DH: Cruz, Sano, Austin SP: Berrios, Gibson, (Praying for Keuchel), Pineda, Odorizzi, Perez BP: Parker, Hildenberger, May, Rogers, Reed, Mejia, Romero (i'm cool with him starting the year in minors too)

From Rotoworld: Raley, 23, has seen his stock rise after a strong 2018 season with Double-A Tulsa where he's hit 17 homers and posted an .822 OPS over 83 games. A seventh-round pick out of Lake Erie College, Raley has above-average power from the left side, and he makes enough hard contact to project a solid hit tool despite having some swing-and-miss in his game. He could be an everyday outfielder, and could help the Twins by the end of 2019. Me: Lots of extra base hits and he has fared well at each level so far. I like this.

right now Dozier projects out to 90-24-80-12 if he finishes the season getting regular AB for the Twins. That should be an ok output for our 2B next year even at QO pricetag. I've heard the number 16 million for him next year on QO. If that is correct please list for me every other second baseman that we can sign this offseason that will post that same line above.

At this point I almost think if we don't get someone stupidly overpaying for Dozier, we might as well keep him, give him the QO, and if he signs elsewhere we get the bonus pick, otherwise we pay him a little more than necessary and then dump him at next trade deadline. He may never hit above .250 again, but I'd be happy with him if he can deliver 75-20-75-15 ( we could do a lot worse than that for the 16 or so the QO would require) next year while allowing Gordon at least a half if not a full season at AAA.

Here is why this trade is phenomenal: 1) We open up a slot in our starting rotation for one of Romero, Gonsalves, or Mejia 2) We add a much needed RH power bat that was not playing regularly with the Yankees because he was blocked and that can play more positions than Kennys Vargas 3) We dump half of Lynn's salary 4) We get a teenage flier pitcher 5) We get to watch Lynn get LIT up at Yankees' stadium.

and yet many on the twittersverse were begging the yanks to keep playing him and dump Bird

that is good because someone who can crush southpaws is something our offense has been sorely lacking

if we trade gibby who by all accounts has been a top 20 AL SP this year, who will be use next year that projects as a top 20 AL starting pitcher to replace him? If MIL wants to give us Peralta ++ I'm down, but that aint gonna happen.

100% agree - if we get him back and get some prospects for him - then this is a win win - I just really wished we would have gotten someone closer to playing at a higher level

I hope you are right - I'll check into the FG reports right now I am going on other internet reports and write ups I have scoured on each of them. ie: fourth OF at best who will never hit MLB pitching, possible mid-rotation starter but likely back of bullpen power arm, and decent bat - but years away. I seriously thought that the Twins saw themselves targeting 2019 to compete for the division, this deal screams we don't think we have a chance next year either. The bigger question is wil the team punt on Gibby. If they do we know that we are heading down the complete rebuild rabbit hole.

Maybe a Mejia type that was at least going to be MLB bound before 2022

which would rank them 20th or so on any other MiLB league system

I'm not saying not to target him, but Sheffield is just as likely to succeed at the MLB level as Sano or Buxton were a few years back. Just because a player projects as a star doesn't mean they will be one. A bird in the hand is always worth two in the bush. Now if the Yanks want to offer us Bird in a deal than that would truly be a Bird in the hand.

for the deal to include all three of them it would have to start with Freddy PEralta and I doubt that is happening

With Ryu returning soon, and Hill Wood and Kershaw all back starting (and pitching well) and Stripling and Buehler each pitching lights out at times LA doesn't need any more starting pitcher types. They do need another BP piece though making Duke or Pressley an option for them

I generally agree with this statement but coming out of the ASB the only reason Motter was called up was to offer another bench body for the couple days till the Twins activate Santana to start. Sano needs at least a couple games at AAA to confirm his ability to deal with off-speed pitches. If he fares well this weekend, I expect him to be called up early next week. By then, Motter will likely be sent down or DFA'ed.

remember a couple years back when our rotation was Scott Diamond Sam Deduno and X, Y, Z off the street - this rotation is bonkers comparatively.

Gibson as our #5 = nice - this team got Odorizzi, Lynn, and Morrison for just a little more this year than Darvish - I consider this a win.

I love this acquisition because it means Grossman is not starting regularly. He is a very good OBP guy and he will make a decent bat off the bench. Most days Mauer and Morrison will both be in the lineup between 1B/DH. If Sano plays at DH or 1B some game days, then Escobar plays third, Mauer or Morrison takes the other slot, and LoMo could also potentially spell Rosario or Kepler.

so i was slightly off - the Twins were 30/104 on quality starts by pitchers not named Santana and Berrios. So our 3-5 starters only had 71% failure at achieving Quality start status. Over the last four years Odorizzi has 59 QS in 120 Starts. That works out to basically 50% quality starts.

non-quality starts (as you define above) describes roughly 80% of Minnesota's starts last year by pitchers not named Berrios and Santana. So on this team last season (arguably his worst ever), Odorizzi would have been our third best starting pitcher. If he is out there every fifth day as our #3, I will feel more confident in our chances than watching Bartolo Colon or Implosion Gibson or Adalberto 4-2/3 IP Mejia. Now I'm not saying I wouldn't love to acquire a true #1 or ace, but Santana was pretty close to that over the last couple years pitching multiple shutouts and complete games (he led the entire AL last year in both categories). In addition, over the last five years pretty much everyone has been saying that Berrios is projected to be our next superstar starter. He was pretty darn good last year and if he improves on that he very well might be our ace that we are looking for. The fact of the matter is that MLB teams don't trade young cost-controlled #1 starters frequently and when they do they want a Kings' Ransom. Even high-end young cost-controlled non-aces (Jose Quintana) cost ridiculous amounts via trade. If we do not acquire another starter, I feel fine expecting our rotation to be Santana, Berrios, Odorizzi, Gibson, ?. With a dramatically improved bullpen, this team should compete with CLE for the division all season. Whether or not we can get past NY or HOU in the post season remains to be seen, but nothing is ever guaranteed. Maybe we get lucky and a team goes into sell mode at the trade deadline and the Twins do a Royals-like move and acquire a Cueto-level starter to carry us through the playoffs.