Rod Carews Birthday

Luis Arraez is one of my absolute favorite Twins ever. I hate the fact that he won't be playing for the Twins anymore. That being said, I think this is a fantastic trade. Aside from the generic "you can't ever have too much pitching", which is true of course, the Twins are a better hitting team than pitching -- and may still be so after this trade. Lopez is a pitcher in the same class as Gray and Mahle and whether he slots in as #1, #2, or #3 is irrelevant. He makes the team better and that's what any trade is really all about. We are trading two years of Arraez for two years of Lopez, which I think is a good trade -- pitching is usually harder to get than hitting. The final year of controllable Arraez is being traded for one excellent prospect (top 100ish) and one good looking prospect who is miles away from the majors, which is also reasonable. Untalked about here and elsewhere is that if Arraez had collected four less hits this season, Aaron Judge would have won the triple crown and Luis Arraez would have just been a "good hitter Luis Arraez" and not "American League Batting Champion Luis Arraez." Perception matters a lot and it probably contributes greatly to the value it brought back in this trade. I think there is a good chance that Arraez wins another batting title, but I still think this was a good trade.

Taking a flier on a guy like Adell could be OK and trading a pitcher like Sands doesn't really hurt much either, since I'm pretty sure he has been long passed up in the pecking order -- if he was ever really in it in the first place. If that's all it takes, I say go for it. It's definitely (washout) low floor and high ceiling for some future year. Signing Sano to a minor league deal is actually pretty similar, but Sano is a guy the Twins have already failed to "fix" so it doesn't seem like doing that is going to work. As has been mentioned earlier, skill sets and problems are similar, but maybe Adell just needs the right person saying it to him in the right way. I don't put much weight into him having Mike Trout whispering to him in previous years. Mike Trout is an amazing ballplayer. I wish he was on my team, but how many actual baseball problems do you think he has ever had to work through in his life? Not many, so figuring things out and expressing them is probably not his strength. He definitely has a "relatability" problem as an instructor, and so far, Adell has had a "teachability" problem.

If we don't see a substantial trade of an outfielder (likely Kepler) and an infielder (Arraez? Gordon? Kiriloff? Polanco??) it would seem that we will start the season with a bench of Catcher, Farmer, Gordon, and one of the Kiriloff/Larnach/Celestino group. Otherwise, all of the latter group of guys wind up starting the season in St. Paul, which is not a terrible outcome either. They could probably all use it for either some seasoning (Celestino), or to gain some confidence/rehab (Larnach/Kiriloff). I do really like Gordon as he fits in so many places. He may not be a great defender (but he's young, athletic, and still learning), but he is a decent hitter and versatility gives them a guy to use in many situations. It gets messier when Lewis or Martin force their way to the majors later this summer, but that will be a nice problem to have and to solve at the trade deadline.

I think that difficulty here is that Luis Arraez has come to be a fan favorite, including for me. That unfortunately means that we no longer look at him objectively when it comes to either how much the team depends on his particular skill set or how much he would/should be worth in a trade. The downside is that he doesn't really have a natural position in the field, has balky knees, and doesn't hit for power the way an ideal DH would. However, if we think that this year's batting championship is just the beginning of a long run of Tony Gwynn-like or Rod Carew-like hitting prowess then it really doesn't matter. The upside to trading him now is that he may be at his peak value and could actually be used as a major part of a package for an ace caliber starting pitcher. If he hits .260 next year, that value is minimal. As much as it hurts, I think we need to trade him for the right pitcher.

I really like your take on things. A little reasonable optimism isn't unwarranted. Right now everyone's sky is falling and the Twins will be terrible, maybe the worst ever. . . and the front office is the worst ever. . . and the manager is lousy. . . etc. There are plenty of younger players and pitchers to be excited about this year, plus we almost always score runs somehow. I don't think they are going to win 100 games (although who thought that in 2019?), but I think they'll be competitive and play compelling baseball this year. Correa would have been nice to have, but we have a few other players who are nice to have as well. Injuries may indeed come into play. Or not. Or maybe they will for our competition. That isn't predictable for the most part. I've lived in the Chicago area for about 25 years. White Sox fans are mostly pretty realistic. They got really excited back when they won the World Series, but since then have continued to be happy with some good teams and good baseball, even without being amazingly good. Their glass always has something in it. Cubs fans (Bears fans even more so, but that's a conversation for another day), on the other hand, think that every year the Cubs are amazing, until they are not. . . and then they want to fire the management and trade/cut all of the players. Their glass is either overflowing or shattered. I fear that Twins fans are becoming more like Cubs fans. Sadly that is not a good look.

As has been said before by others, health is probably the key to the equation. However, something no one is talking about much is the lack of innings that the starting pitching has in the tank. Some of the young (and old actually) only pitched a few innings last year and ramping them up to 160-200 innings isn't going to be possible, at least not if we want them around for future years. So, in the short term, for this year, we probably STILL need starting pitching more than anything else.

I am very pleased with this trade. Gray is without a doubt a solid MLB pitcher -- likely won't win the CYA but also likely about as good as Berrios was last year. We gave up a guy who was several years and several stages of development away from the big leagues -- IF he actually gets there. I am pleased that they traded a player when his value was (likely artificially) high instead of waiting until the shine came off and he had no value. We have a large number of young pitchers with potential and we just used some of that future potential to help us now. I'm hoping that they aren't done making deals. Let's re-tool and make a good run in 2022! Go Twins!

Good move. You have to give up something to get something. The Twins need pitching for this year and Gray provides that. Keep on going!

So, in real terms for real people (not baseball owners) — You own a $20,000 car. It needs a $400 brake job. Instead of fixing it so it is usable, you park it because it’s not worth fixing. Sorry owners, you are an entirely new brand of stupid.

If Eddie Rosario were the only player in the league (or even on the Twins team) that doesn't hustle every step of the way, then I think that something (likely short of benching) would be warranted. However, as stated above, that behavior is more the rule than the exception around baseball, so the short answer to the question is "no." I would also consider that the "publicity" on this comes out of the mouths of the White Sox announcers. These guys are not exactly the "A" team in the broadcast world -- I live by Chicago -- and will frequently demagogue the opposing teams' players to make themselves look smart. They also had a couple of their young players sounding like future hall of famers during the game last night, so take any of their comments with an entire barrel of salt. Finally, to all of those folks out there who are down on Eddie Rosario, this is the guy who might be the catalyst for this team in many ways -- I am reminded of Gary Gaetti and when he left the Twins. Does he swing at some bad pitches. . . yes. Does he hit some of those same pitches out of the park. . . also yes. Does he make some boneheaded plays in the field. . . yes. Did he make perhaps the throw of the season a few days back. . . also yes. He makes clutch plays. He is a serious run producer. You take a little bit of not very good (or very smart) with the good. I very much hope that he is one of the guys they manage to sign long term. Rosario is a winner and makes things happen on the field.

I think the best second half is going to come from Berrios. I would really like to see him keep having success and keep making the adjustments that will enable him to be the Twins ace for years to come. On the batting side, I think the safe money is on Rosario, but I wouldn't bet against one of the young underachievers (Buxton or Sano) to come back with a vengeance if they don't spend too much time in the minors.