Aerodeliria

I don't mean to throw a wet blanket on all of this, but the 'chatter' gives the impression that Colas is tearing up Japanese baseball. I've never seen him play and I watch Japanese games whenever I can. Colas is still primarily a minor leaguer here. He did come up to big leagues in 2018 and in 158 PAs, he slashed .212, .259, .432...Last season he had only 21 appearances and slashed.278, .381, .444, certainly better but it's hard to take much stock in 21 PAs. I'm not saying he's not a prospect but he's still light years away from being mentioned in the same breath as Ohtani.

I don't think you can count on getting much 'bang' from trading Buxton to be honest. What can you say? He has potential? Everyone knows that, but until you've put together a year of tremendous play, I doubt teams are going to consider him to be very valuable as trade bait. You'd get a lot more interest in Rosario IMHO.

On 2nd thought, Smoak had a precipitous and unexpected drop off a cliff with his BA. One has to wonder if he was dinged up or he just felt uncomfortable in Toronto. Maybe we should throw some cash his direction.

I'll pass on all three as well, but if we don't move Sano, I'd take a flyer on Smoak.

...not only the first name but he'll take a meat cleaver to the family name. The 'tsu' sound is tough on American tongues anyway, but double 'tsu-tsu' will cause pandemonium in the booth. (It will at least be amusing fodder for Twins Daily, though.)

LOL...it's the "s" word if anyone was curious...

My point was simply to mention Dobnak because he was being ignored as a potential "5th" starter in every discussion. At the top of the post I said let's get one of the remaining starters that are out there. That's the baseline.

I just saw on NHK News here in Japan that posted player Yo****omo Tsutsugo of the DeNa Baystars is interested in four teams: the Blue Jay's, the Pale Hose, the Tigers and the Twins. They usually get this info directly from the player, so I'm sure this is correct. (He's a left-handed power hitter, who hits to all fields. He hit .272 last year. He strikes out but also takes his share of BBs. He's quite strong and a better fielder than Cron.

If the Twins can land one of the remaining 'little guns,' I could say that we at least made an effort to reel someone in. The pitching staff is not as bad off as we thought just a week prior IMHO. Dobnak looked like he could pitch effectively in his playoff debut. He wasn't exactly getting hammered. He just was missing the strike zone. He was also getting squeezed by the HPU, which didn't help. Let's see what he can do this next season

I would sign him and give Perez yet another shot. Perez was basically a stud for two months. There must have been a reason for his success. Something changed somewhere along the line. I don't think it was a burning out and I don't think it was related to the law of averages catching up. Something was definitely different at a specific point in time. He throws 95-97 mph, doesn't he?

I'm all for extending the netting. It definitely fills some holes that became evident as the season wore on. Especially with the new rules coming into effect next year, having the extended netting will be a big plus. You sometimes need to spend a little money if you want the netting to remain competitive. Look at Houston, they extended the netting in mid-season this last year and they had a wonderful playoff run. I couldn't find any stats on netting extension in fangraphs, but I'm sure Houston as a team benefited immensely from extending the netting. This NY Post article sums it up nicely: https://nypost.com/2019/08/08/astros-become-latest-mlb-team-to-extend-stadium-netting/ It's good to see that the Twins are thinking of following in the Astros' footsteps. The Twins may be a step behind the Astros when it comes to netting, but the extension would be welcome news indicating how serious the FO is about closing the gap. Let's hope they are really serious about this extension! I don't want to be going into next season scouring other ballparks' junkyards trying to find decent netting. I'm tired of not having the world-class netting this club needs to compete, so I don't really care what it costs. If the netting turns out to be not as good as we imagined, at least we can say we tried to improve. One caveat though, let's get the netting under team control for at least four years. If we're going to spend that kind of money, I don't want it to be for a one-year rental.

I love this idea. I know a lot of people think Polanco is fine at SS but it seems like late in games (i.e., critical spots) is when he throws the ball away. His glove is fine as is his range, but that arm is a big ??? IMHO. 2nd base seems to be the best fit for his skill set.

At the very least...and I am not sure they want Buxton at all.

Yeah, unfortunately, I don't see this scenario playing out. The A's would scoff at getting Buxton for Chapman. Buxton cannot stay healthy long enough to complete the trade. He'd probably jam his finger while trying to sign the contract. There is no upside for the A's in such a trade. Four years of control would cost the Twins plenty. I would say two prospects of high quality and Rosario, or they would hang up the phone.

On second thought, I wouldn't take Kevin Pillar. His OBP is awful and apparently his defense fell off a cliff last year.

I agree with this mostly because of Cron's inability to scoop throws in the dirt or throws that aren't perfect. That missed catch on Arraez's throw to first against the Yankees, cost the Twins the game IMHO.

Yes, that was at 2nd base. Interestingly, in the 17 games he played at 3rd, although the sample was relatively small, he was the second best 3rd baseman by a wide margin over (Gonzales was exceptional at 3rd and just about everywhere else except 1B). Just something else to chew on.

Very nicely explained. Thanks!

I'd have to say that I agree with every statement on this board. I don't get to see Arraez often as I am in Japan, but from the times that I've seen him, it appears that his plate discipline is as good as Rod Carew's or Wade Bogg's (I'm not being hyperbolic!!). I couldn't care less if he hits zero home runs next year. If he boasts a .400 OBP who cares? I also agree that he should be in the one or two hole. I think he'll be a very fun player to watch.

I watched some of the global games going on here in Japan. On Team USA, it was Rooker who looked like the most accomplished hitter on the team. I'm not sure what his average was after all was said and done, but he was hitting .500 for the tournament when they played Team Japan (including two jacks). Also of note is that Yamaguchi from the Yomiuri Giants will be posted for MLB next year. He was overused by the Giants--sometimes throwing north of 130 pitches in one outing. He specializes in throwing junk. I think he has 5-6 pitches he uses regularly. He might be a nice player for long relief. I keep thinking that Sakamoto will post from the Giants as well. I know he's a SS, but I'd go all in to get him. He's a tremendous fielder and a natural hitter with surprising power. We could move Polanco over to 2nd and put Arraez at third and move Sano to first (which is inevitable IMHO).

That's a very nice synopsis!

I agree on every point, except the Gray play. I'd rather offer two prospects with potential who are not named Duran. BTW, I got the chance to see Rooker play when Team USA took on Japan. He seemed to the only guy on Team USA raking. (He was hitting .500 as of yesterday with two blasts; granted, it was a tiny sample.) He looked very poised at the plate and got two singles against Japan. He also didn't botch any plays in the OF, which could not be said for the other OFs. Japan has put a very formidable team on the field, including pitching, so it was good to see Rooker hitting and fielding. I can't see why he wouldn't stick at the MLB level after watching him play two days ago. Cave, Wade, Rooker, Kepler, Buxton (for a few games), Gonzales in the OF. If we could get solid pitching by offering Rosario, I would do it. (Please note the lack of the word 'hate' in my post.)

No talk of Rooker? I just watched him here in Japan. He's one of the few players who is hitting on team USA. He also didn't butcher any plays in the outfield which could not be said for the other outfielders who botched two fly balls. (BTW, Team USA did beat Japan 4-3 despite their sloppy play.)