clone52

Houston isn't trading Correa. That'd be like offering the Twins prospects for Buxton.

Questioning Hicks' character is pretty low. You can question his maturity, but to question his character is pathetic. It does seem like he is maturing, though. The fact that he is putting in the work and made a massive adjustment to his left handed batting approach tells me that he's trying to get better and not just go through the motions. If he has turned a corner, can you imagine the pitchers salivating at the thought of a Rosario, Buxton, Hicks outfield next year?

Philly might balk at that and maybe the Twins shouldn't look at it, but honestly, thats a pretty good deal from the Philies side of things. If you are convinced Hamels will be an ace for the next 3-4 years, I think you'd seriously have to consider Hamels for Nolasco, Sano and any pitching prospect other than Berrios. The Phillies would like to dump Ryan Howard as well, so maybe throw him in. Hamels, Howard and $30 million Nolasco, Sano, Kepler, Stewart

Lets say the Twins are in 1st place in July and looking the part of a playoff team. What is the one piece the team is definitely missing for the playoffs? A bonafide Ace SP. What if the Tigers made David Price available for a 1 year rental? What if the Red Sox were crumbling and made Buchholz available (a very team friendly contract)? How about Cueto for a 2015? What if the Pirates didn't think they could resign Gerrit Cole and made him available? What if the Rays made Chris Archer available? (Berrios and Rosario?)

Didn't work out for the A's, but still pending on how big of a loss Addison Russell is/was. The A's are a great example example of both sides of it. Last year they tried to make a big trade to win now and it didn't work out. For the last 15 years, they've been the "moneyball" team. Get rid of higher priced veterans, stockpile prospects with low cost and years of control. What has that gotten them? Not a single championship.

I would say SS is a position of strength and depth. You've got Santana there now. Escobar could easily be the everyday SS. If both of those guys got hurt/weren't there, Polanco could probably take over and be adequate as he built on the job. Personally, I would say Santana and Polanco should be available for the right trade (one of the other, not both of them). As amazing as it sounds, SP depth is a real strength right now. Gibson is locked into the rotation. Hughes is locked into the rotation. Neither of those guys is getting traded (Unless its Gibson as part of a deal for a real SP upgrade). Santana will get his shot at the rotation. Nolasco has been good enough to stay in the rotation (3.77 ERA, 7.8 K/9 since his injury). Pelfrey has been great. May has been okay (really only 2 bad starts skewing his numbers). Milone deserves a spot in a rotation. I think anyone would trade Nolasco for almost anything. If they could trade him and get someone to eat his salary, that would be wonderful. If I were the Twins, I'd rather keep him than may more than 50% of his salary in a trade. I would trade Pelfrey if you could get a piece that would help, even if it was just bullpen help. I don't think the Twins would resign him next year. I even think the Twins could use May/Milone/Meyer/Berrios as trade bait, for an impact trade.

You bring up 1 example of a team trading a prospect to try and contend and getting burned. What about all the times a team has made that trade and won the World Series, or the times the team traded that prospect and the prospect turned out to be a bust. In 2013, the Red Sox traded for Jake Peavy and won the World Series. They traded away Jose Iglesias (.811 OPS as a SS this year). Almost every World Series champion has made a trade or 2 to pick up the pieces they needed to win the World Series. You had to go back to 1987 to find an example where a team got burned. I think its too early to say Berrios is untouchable becuase he might turn out to be Hall of Famer John Smotlz.

Maybe this is just me, but I think the Twins minor league system has a plethora of mid-tier prospects and there is absolutely no way they should be looking to trade for more mid-tier depth. If anything, they should trade away some of that depth if they can contend this year. I wouldn't trade Plouffe unless he was part of a package that go you a guy that is going to help right now. For instance, if the Phillies wanted Plouffe and he could be the centerpiece of a trade for Hamels (keeping Sano and Buxton off the table), I'd jump at it. I wouldn't trade Escobar for anything, unless it was part of an All Star type trade. Escobar gives you so much flexibility. It allows them to trade Plouffe for the right deal and Escobar can fill in until Sano is ready. It allows them to trade Santana if he can be a piece of a key trade and Escobar can be the everyday SS until Polanco is ready. Fien is tradeable, but I'd only trade him if the Twins fall out of contention. Given the Twins minor league depth, I'd actually be more inclined to trade a mid-tier prospect for bullpen help if the Twins stay in contention. I wouldn't trade Gibson at all (unless it brought in a top-tier starting pitcher).

I think Hamels has a no trade clause, but maybe he'd waive it to play for a contender. This is just me, but I would trade Sano (not Buxton), for Hamels. I'd offer Sano, Kepler (a 1B replacement for Howard) and their choice of Milone/May/Meyer/Pelfrey for Hamels.

Hey, at least he lowered his season ERA. He's got that going for him, which is nice.

I wouldn't count on Rosario getting sent down when Arcia gets healthy. If Rosario does okay and Vargas continues to struggle, the might send Vargas down for awhile. Until Vargas turns things around, Rosario in Left and Arcia at DH may be better than Arcia in Left and Vargas at DH. You could also see Schafer sent packing if Rosario does well.

Did you really enjoy the first 4 years of the last Twins rebuild, 1993 through 1997? Those rosters were filled with aging veterens and you guys who never ended up amounting to much. The only guys on those rosters who were actually part of the turnaround were Brad Radke, Matt Lawton and Eddie Guardado. If you really want it to mimic the 90's rebuild, we've got 4 more years to make it feel as fun as the last time.

It was hard to see them tacking on a $20M+ ace in any scenario. This move just moves the chances of that happening from almost 0 to even closer to 0.

Those are crazy prices to get someone who had an OPS on par with Eduardo Nunez and Chris Colabello last year.

It might be. If Nolasco bounces back like I think he will. If May progresses in year 2 like Gibson did. If Meyer has a good rookie season, the Twins could be pretty darn good. Longer shots are if Buxton/Sano/Rosaria come up ready to go, they could be even better. Look at this opening day lineup: Santana Dozier Mauer Vargas Arcia Hunter Plouffe Suzuki Schafer/Hicks Offensively, that would be a heck of a lineup. If guys like Buxton/Sano/Rosario are ready, they have a lot of of trade chips. Arcia, Vargas, Dozier and Plouffe could all be used to bring back something valuable without hurting the offense too much. If the stars align and Buxton could come up and man CF somewhat early, trading Arcia or Vargas could get a very nice addition to the roster and improve the defense without overly hurting the offense.

My original proposals were on the high end, but why would you be unwilling to make Berrios or Meyer the centerpiece of a trade for a Ace pitcher. The Twins are hoping one of them becomes an Ace, so why not use one of them to go out and get an Ace?

Its an interesting debate. I can't blame anyone for wanting to keep prospects. However, Hamels is only guarenteed $90 million over 4 years. If he pitches 400 innings in the last 2 years, he gets $24 million in a 5 year. If he's pitching that much in years 3 and 4, he probably is doing pretty darn good. Shields is 2 years older than Hamels. If you sign him, you will be paying him until he is 36 years old. If you have Hamels, you are only paying him until he is 33 or 34 years old. Hamels is the better pitcher and less risky because of age. Hamels does cost the Twins prospects, but the Twins just can't hoard all these prospects. Eventually they have to use them. They can't use them all in the majors either. At some point they will probably trade some prospects for major league upgrades. This is one of those times I think it would be worth looking into.

You're probably right. The reason the Twins might make that move is that it would give them a bonafide Ace for 4 or 5 years. Maybe Meyer or Berrios becomes that Ace, but if not, the Twins aren't going to have one.

Cole Hamels, not Cliff Lee.

What I'm kind of saying is that the Twins can probably afford to overpay, prospect wise, without mortgaging their farm system. Vargas probably isn't a good fit for them, though. Also, I think Hamels has a big no trade clause and doesn't want to pitch in the American League, so it probably can't happen. For sake of argument, lets say the Phillies are able to unload Ryan Howard and move Chase Utley to first base. Could they turn down a deal of Dozier, May, Berrios and Kepler? Would that be devastating to the Twins?

I know there have been rumblings with the Phillies trading Cole Hamels. I was curious what people thought of the Twins going after him. Its a given that the Twins aren't going to go after Lester or Scherzer. The front office won't want to commit to 6 or 7 years of them, and the price tag is probably going to be around $25 million. However, Hamels is the same age as Scherzer and Lester. He's a left hander. His stats are nearly as good as Lester and Scherzer. From the Twins perspective, he would only be a 4 year commitment at $22.5 million/year. He has a 5th year option that vests for $24 million if he pitches 400 innings in year 3 and 4. The cost is high, but not as high as Lester and Scherzer. The time commitment is 2 years less (maybe 3). That right there is a difference of $50 million committed to one player. So lets say the Twins decide the deal is right. What would people be willing to give up for a deal? The Phillies want 2 premier young players, plus another piece or 2. Would the Twins be willing to deal Buxton or Sano? Probably not, but there really isn't much else that I wouldn't throw into a trade? For the 2 premier young players, I consider 2 of the following: Dozier, Arcia, Vargas, May, Meyer, Santana, Gibson. They have enough depth in the minors that they could throw in enough pieces to make it work. Who would make this deal: Dozier, Vargas, May, Thorpe? I think I would. To get the deal done, i'd probably swap Stewart for Thorpe if they wanted it. That trade doesn't even hurt the Twins much. Short term, you put Escobar at 2B until Polanco is ready or maybe Rosario can go back there. Vargas looks like he's going to be a great player, but getting rid of him free's up the DH spot for Arcia or Josmil Pinto. That would create more holes in the OF, but they could work with that.

Pitching is where they needed the change. Hitting has been pretty darn good, so retaining Brunansky and maybe even Vavra makes a lot of sense. They got a new pitching coach. They got a bullpen coach (who was a Twins player, but never a Twins coach). Gene Glynn is a fresh face too. He has never been with the Twins major league staff and has only been with the minor league staff a short time. Honestly, it might have been a dumb move to not retain Brunansky as hitting coach.

I've always said, the best part about Buehrle is that he would just be a temporary guy. If he pans out, great. If he gets old and terrible, they aren't stuck with him.

If they could get him on a 1 year deal, it wouldn't be so bad. The OF of the future hopefully isn't far away (Buxton, Rosario, Kepler, Arcia, Brett-Walker, Harrison). Do you really want to clog up the outfield with a guy on a 3 year contract? Maybe there is a better option for a guy on a 1 or maybe 2 year contract.

Buehrle and Lester are the same amount of money. Buehrle is 19 million. Lester is going to be 10 times that amount.