TwinsFan347

In August Bundy had 5 starts, all quality & he was limited to less than 70 pitches in 3 of the 5 starts & 71 in a 4th start - the Twins only went 2-2 in spite of him pitching well. In his 5th start he pitched well and was allowed to throw 86 pitches, the Twins won. In his 1st start in September he pitched 5 shutout innings and removed after 66 pitches. Now in his 2nd start the streak of good outings ends as he gives up 4 early runs, so you'd think he was be removed even earlier - Nope, Baldelli leaves him in to take a beating giving up 7 runs & throwing the 3rd highest number of pitches this season, 94. Twins lose 7-6, it's very challenging for a staff or a team to succeed when managed like this. It makes no sense to continually remove SP's early when they're having successful starts & then leave them in for one of their highest pitch counts when they're getting shelled. Rocco needs to go.

In Bundy's last start he had a 2 hit shutout in the 5th with only 65 pitches thrown & was removed. While our pitching staff isn't the most talented in the league the issue goes beyond who's out on the mound. Anyone Jose Berrios being removed in the playoffs in a similar situation. Poor management of the staff is just as big a problem, IMO.

The Astros have so many question marks this year, predictions are more difficult than ever. So my opinion on the topic of the article is primarily focused just on the Twins side of the equation. The Twins rotation is more than adequate for the regular season - Plenty of depth and more than enough quality with what appears to be a very good/deep BP. I will say this on the comparison there isn't a chance I would want to swap starting pitching staffs with the Astros. With that said a lot of that sentiment is based on factors beyond just production in 2020. One note on the comments - there multiple comments placing the Astros as an elite post-season rotation (if they make the post-season). These comments are primarily based on Verlander and Greinke as the other three projected members of their rotation have minimal playoff experience. Last fall Verlander and Greinke combined to produce the following stats - IP - 60 1/3, ERA - 4.48, HR's allowed - 14. Not terrible stats, but I would argue definitely not elite.

My initial reaction why would we trade Pitching for another OF to clog things up for our young players. You put some effort into your reasoning, but I can't be moved from that original thought. IMO it doesn't make sense to trade Pitching which we need to continue to develop, as you really can never have enough arms. In exchange we get an average OF that will clog the way not only for Cave and Wade, but for our cluster of OF prospects (Rooker, Celestino, Larnach or Kirilloff) to get experience. Now if the Cubs want to trade some pitching for an OF, that's more like it.

None of us know how many games he will start, but do you how many games G. Cole will start during his 9 year contract, No, no one does. Pitching is hard on the body and injuries happen all the time and not just to guys throwing 100+. Nolan Ryan was one of the most durable pitchers in recent history and he had 300+ IP in multiple years and was dominant into his 40's. The point is nobody knows. Then there's that obvious fact that relievers have much more value in today's game than they did years ago since SP's don't go nearly as deep into games and we have opener's. If Brusdar pitches the next 6 years in our BP is very effective that's way more valuable than what Maeda was likely to give us over the next 2,3 or 4 years depending on how long he held up. I'm so glad the Twins are out of this deal. Thank You Boston.

Yes! Can't wait to see Graterol pitching for the Twins this year.

If it's true that Boston is asking for an additional top 10 prospect the Twins need to run away from this mess. We are getting a 32 yr old solid SP, in no way is he worth more than Graterol. The Red Sox and Dodgers can figure this out and we'll have Graterol throwing fire out of the BP. Also, isn't it interesting that Boston is so concerned about Graterol's health, but yet they still want him in the deal.

Someone said this isn't on Boston because they hadn't seen his medical records. Whether or not that is true I'm not sure. What is true is Boston is saying they view him as a SP able to throw 150 - 170 IP and now after seeing the medical reports they think he is a RP. Set the medical reports aside and look at what is public information - Graterol has never thrown more than 102 IP in a season, next highest is 71 IP and the Twins had already announced he would be working out of the BP. This is a negotiating ploy by Boston. The Twins should back out of this deal we don't NEED Maeda, he's good, but we can easily find someone else. The Red Sox are desperate to shed payroll and the Dodgers want Betts for their all in push. The Twins can easily walk away from this deal which I don't really like in the first place, was really looking forward to seeing Graterol pitch this year.

Graterol's perceived value is of little concern to me. I want him pitching for the Twins whether it's out of the BP or as a SP. You can never have too many arms in the BP in today's game. The Red Sox created this mess let them work it out with LA.

Maeda is a good pitcher, but I'll be happy if we back out of this deal completely. Absolutely, in no way should we add anything to this deal.

The Rockies FO believes or at least is selling a bounce back year by Freeland. Becuase of this any chance of getting either Marquez or Gray would be more likely at the deadline. I think Marquez and Gray will both be expensive and if you look at their Home/Road splits I believe Marquez benefits more by getting away from Coors Field. With that said I like Gray as well. They both have the potential to be a top 3 SP on our staff and that's what we need.

I'm in agreement with you that the Rockies, should they fall out of contention by the trade deadline are an ideal trade partner for the Twins. However, the Rockies top 3 SP's - Marquez, Gray & their hoping for a bounce back from Freeland. If they get good years out of those three they may not fall out of contention even being in the competitive NL West. One other note - I like Gray, but if we're going trade the prospects it would require to get him, I'd rather have Marquez.

Thanks for the research on the available FA's. Maybe offering a minor league deal to one of these if you believe they still have upside would work. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I'm happy with our current SP's to start the season. Unless a great opportunity presents itself to add a SP who's at least better than Pineda through a trade, no moves need to made. Once we get to the trade deadline that could, and likely will change. Going into the season we're set to have a young SP in the 5th spot and for about 7 starts a second young SP in Pineda's spot. There seems to be a lot of sentiment that this is an issue - I see it as an opportunity to get more data on our young pitchers at the ML level. Let's be honest the division will not be decided because a young pitcher starts those 7 games in place of Pineda. Getting additional data on those young players prior to the time we need to make a decision is far more important IMO. Last year with all of the injuries in the OF we went and got LaMarre. He's a decent player, but it sure would be nice to have some ML data on one or two of our young OF's as they get closer to the point where we are going have to make some decisions.

Only having about 300 PA's at the ML level (hitting .297 in those PA's) seems a bit premature to write someone off as a gimmick.

Couldn't agree more - they certainly don't need to add another SP at this point. Also, agree that Gray or Marquez (I like both, prefer Marquez) are the type of SP we need to be looking at. We can start the season by providing some opportunities to internal options. When we get to the trade deadline if this team is performing as expected there should more teams willing to trade and it may be easier to put together a deal for a SP. Either way this team is going to be a lot of fun to watch again this year.

If you want to call the off-season a failure because the FO said they would pursue "impact pitching" and to this point we haven't seen it, that's fine. For me that's of little importance for a couple of reasons... 1. The roster as it stands currently is better than last year, at least on paper. We lost Castro (.7 WAR) replaced by Avila (1.4 WAR), Cron (1.4) replaced by M Gonzalez(1.6 WAR) unless we add someone, Schoop (1.6 WAR) replaced by Arraez (1.8 WAR-in only 366 PA's), Kyle Gibson (.3 WAR) replaced by H Bailey (1.8 WAR), M Perez (.2 WAR) replaced by R Hill (1.3 WAR in only 58 IP), B Parker (.3 WAR) replaced by T Clippard (1.4 WAR) 2. Fortunately, the Twins aren't limited to the off-season. As someone pointed out it could prove difficult to trade for any impact players at this point as most organizations want to see how the season starts prior to moving players like this. By the time the trade deadline comes around this won't be the case as more teams will be looking to move quality veteran players for prospects. If the Twins are having the kind of year we expect at that time I would expect the FO to aggressively pursue those options based on our needs at that time. Lastly, here is my take on the offseason. The FO was thinking that outside of Cole & Strasburg this offseason would be more like last year and you could land Wheeler or Ryu on a team friendly deal. Obviously, that didn't happen so they made their best offer to Wheeler and were outbid and backed off Ryu because of the length of contract. All of this talk about "impact pitching makes me curious how much better would you feel about our chances in the playoffs (assuming we make it) with Wheeler or Ryu? Is that worth damaging our ability to extend our young core?

However the Twins decide to do it, I hope Hill is lightly used during the regular season. His value to this team IMO is using him in the post season if he can get back to form. Relying on him as a consistent Starter in the regular season from the point he comes back to the end of the season increases the risk associated with him. Overall he's still a low risk high ceiling player who could provide a boost next October,

Interesting take. I am all for "open" competition in an organization. In Spring training and throughout the season. Younger players should be given a chance for promotion at each level and when they've shown their ability at AA or above try to get them there opportunity at the ML level ASAP. The FO has to manage the roster appropriately so that has to be considered, but getting the information on each prospects ability at the ML level is very valuable. With that said once they arrive they need to earn PT and outperform whomever is ahead of them. No one should be given PT without earning - Rookie or Veteran. Players like Acuna and Soto got their opportunity and ran with it. We have a crowded OF right now, but there are opportunities for PT there as was proven last season, why trade for fill in players instead of giving young players an opportunity. Ryan Lamarre is a good example we could have brought up a young guy or two to help in the OF when we had to play Arraez out of position and go get Lamarre. This year we'd have ML data on a couple of our OF prospects. When the opportunity is there get those prospects experience so we can start to see what they can become.

To me this is good news, investing 25+ million AAV on a 4 year deal that takes him through age 37 was a bad idea from the start considering the other options that are available. Now the question is will they delve into the trade market where there the better options lie. Even if it will rake some prospect capital or maybe a ML player. The Twins have a lot of OF options in the organization at this point and there is only room for 3 so parting with some of that talent to improve the overall team would make sense.

Interesting article. Maybe the Archer deal, don't like the other options very much. I believe Colorado is the best trade partner for the Twins. There top prospect is SS Brendan Rodgers so it maybe possible to put together a deal for Trevor Story. We play him at SS, play Polanco and Arraez at 2B & 3B, giving us a much improved infield. The Rockies also have two interesting Pitchers in Jon Gray and German Marquez. If we're going to package top prospects I'd prefer a deal for Story and one of those two pitchers. A deal like this would improve three areas of our team (infield defense, offense & pitching. My preference of the two pitchers would be Marquez even though I've seen a lot of comments around Gray and like him as well. Marquez looks like a pitcher who could make a big jump forward and getting him out of Coors would help.