Trevor0333

I mentioned this in another thread & it requires the Rangers still liking James Shields but a 3 way deal. Twins send Nolasco & Jorge Polanco to the Padres Rangers send Shawn Tolleson to the Twins & Jurickson Profar to Padres Padres send James Shields to Rangers. Twins free up a SP spot, $ and acquire a legit 7/8/9 guy.

Honestly a 3 team deal with the Padres, Rangers, & Twins makes more sense than a straight Shields/Nolasco & prospect swap. The Rangers are shopping RP for SP. Padres need a middle infield and are retooling after their failed splash last offseason. Twins have too many SP and need RP help. Twins send Nolasco & Jorge Polanco to Padres Padres send Shields to Rangers Rangers send Shawn Tolleson to Twins & Jurickson Profar to Padres. Rangers get the SP they are looking for, forming a Darvish, Hamels, Shields top 3. Padres remake their middle infield with Profar/Polanco pairing & hopefully make a rejuvenated Nolasco an asset to trade next year. Twins free up roster & salary space moving Nolasco & a solid prospect blocked by a star level player in Dozier.

What if you could get the Angels to take on Nolasco in a trade for Plouffe. Plouffe & Nolasco for Trevor Gott & Cam Bedrosian?

With David Freese as the only available FA 3B, Plouffe is at the top of the market and under 2 years control. If Ryan can get JR Murphy, & Palko for Hicks & Hermann I'd be shocked not to get a solid prospect at a position of need roster wise. Its not as easy as just combining players/prospects with Plouffe to get more value than some think.

I would want a higher end type RP than Bedrosian for Plouffe, I don't see that in the Angels system really. Bedrosian & 3B Kyle Kubitza makes more sense value wise. Kyle is AAA insurance if Sano at 3B goes terrible bad & is not a bad prospect on his own.

I think it's a fair trade at face value, if Hicks can ever figure out how to be average vs RHP he will be a very good player overall. Murphy is a nice bridge to Turner/Garver/Navaretto if he doesn't improve any further. When you can't hit RHP it really diminishes your value, I think some fans are forgetting this about Hicks. Balances the roster nicely, I still hope Plouffe is moved to keep Sano out of the OF. Love the thought of Rosario/Buxton/Kepler.

For Mauers flaws, this is exactly why he was soo valuable. Legit 2 way catchers are so rare. Maybe the QO will depress his value contract wise some. I really don't like the idea of giving up a 1st & 16 mill for 4-5 years for a 30 year old catcher. The Twins trio of prospects at C are optimistically 2 years away & they are on the outer edge of competing now. Leaving a black hole in at C would be a big mistake. If the Brewers are selling & you can get Lucroy for a C prospect, K. Stewart, & Arcia. That's as high as I go. Otherwise hope for Norris/Pena types & if that falls through AJ/Suzuki isn't terrible for 1 year.

You have to roll with a Rosario/Buxton/Hicks with 4thOF as Arcia next year. Hicks & Buxton in for every LHSP while mixing and matching them vs RHSP with Rosario & Arcia. If they can get value for some of the out of options guys clustering OF & 1B/DH spots its hard to see them not making a move or 2 to clear space.

I don't mind Jepsen, would be nice to see Benoit type as well. I just hope they can upgrade at catcher. Be a little bold Terry, go get Lucroy!

The logjam at SP is much less than it is at the corner OF/1B/DH spot. You do have to give up pitching to get sig nificant talent. There is no question on that. I wouldnt trade a SP besides Milone or Pelfrey. Next years rotation should be Hughes/Santana/Gibson/May/Berrios. One or two of Kepler, Rosario, Arcia, Vargas, & Hicks needs to be moved out of pure numbers & roster spot crunch. Kepler & Vargas could spend another year at AAA. Decisons need to be made on Arcia & Hicks though. If they keep Plouffe then you need to move a 3rd player from that group. That means Sano is moving to RF/1B/DH with Hunter likely be back as a 4th OF. I love having guys like Dozier & Plouffe on the roster thhat have grinded their way to success and to help the youngster learn from their journey.

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They absolutely can not move Plouffe off 3B at this point. I see if you can pry Chris Archer away from the Rays. Their injuries are really hurting their chances to compete this year. See if they will bite on a Arcia/Rosario/Meyer with Milone for depth. Send Sano out to RF with that arm. Let Buxton & Hicks patrol the rest.

Really wish we could have Hughes going in this series also.

I bet they play it safe with Hughes & 14 day him to call up Nolasco & Tonkin replaces Fien.

Well according to this post Nebraska_Omaha will have a Taco launcher at their games. http://wildxtra.com/topic/1768-nebraska-omaha-will-have-a-taco-cannon-at-new-arena/ Can the Twins use this to help Arcia improve his range shagging Taco's in the OF?

I never understood the Arcia in LF while Hutner takes RF for 1 year unless they are planning down the road for Arcia/Buxton/Hicks OF combo. I mentioned this earlier as well but if the 40 man roster wasn't contructed so poorly they could easily minimize the poor defense with platoons and resting players at the right times.

It's called poor 40 man roster construction for the 3rd year in a row. So much so that it makes the actual production level of the team much lower than the talent it holds.

The pitching staff shook out is so disappointing. Milone should be in the pen with Pelfrey & Meyer taking Boyers place & May in the 5 spot behind Gibson.

I'd still like them to sign Anderson to a Hughes like contract. Santana or Nolasco could easily be moved in the final years if their deals as long as their healthy.

Great article! The Twins lack of payroll given their revenue combined with their roster building methods have completely crippled the team from success. Spending 20% of the payroll on the Corriea, Pelfrey & Duensing's of the world doesn't lead to success on the field.

I'm indifferent to the Torii signing, he's definitely a below average fielder but I'm not sure it's as bad as the numbers suggest. It's been stated many times by others as well. My issue is the 15-25 mill wasted on payroll on below replacement level players. Let the kids play!

I don't think it'd be the worst idea to start Meyer in a relief role. That shoulder is worrisome. Anderson is the guy I'd go hard after & try to get on a 3 year from 25-30. LA wont just take Nolasco alone with Friedman at the helm without tossing a bone in with him like Escobar. I'd love to see a Hughes/Anderson/Gibson/May/Meyer with Berrios pushing for next in line.

Nice article. good read. It had to be known when the OF was going to consist of Willinham/Hicks/Arcia & Kubel it was going to be much harder on the pitchers. That defense is terrible. Hicks has all the tools but is a very average CF at best right now. Thats a brutal defense and not even considering the parade of AAAA middle infielders manning so much OF time. It really makes you have to look at some of these stats that don't account for the atrocious "Twins baseball" defense.

Its the new rage, everyone has an opinion, why not all blueprint it. Besides I enjoy reading everyones thoughts and debates following. Im going to go with a bit of a 2 part as I see some big changes being made midway through the season. Offseason: The Twins have holes at 1B, DH, & glaringly at starting pitching. I would love to see them move Dozier to bring back an Alex Meyer type but don't see it happening. Given they have Rosario back in OF in the AFL & Kepler playing a lot more 1B it's obvious they intend to keep Dozier atleast in the short term. Other than Homer Bailey who the Reds are probably open to moving but it will be steep price for 1 year rental. Brett Anderson is really the only other attractive SP option. The A's obviously don't intend to resign him & want to get some value in return. The 4 pitchers I would target looking to acquire 2 or 3 of the 4. Bret Anderson, Josh Johnson, Tim Hudson, & Ricky Nolasco. Corriea gave the team some much needed consistency albeit average consistency. Its still something thats needed at the back of the rotation. Especially with a young staff overall. I'd hope to add 1 consistent arm & take a flyer on a high risk high reward guy. Sign either Ricky Nolasco to a (4Y/$55M) deal with a 5M buyout on the 4th or Tim Hudson to a (3Y/25M) deal with 2.5M buyout. Trade Pat Dean or Tim Atherton & Levi Micheal to the A's for Bret Anderson or sign Josh Johnson to a (1Y/7M) deal with up to 5M in IP incentives. Trade Kenny Vargas & Danny Ortiz to the Mets for 1B Ike Davis. 2014 opening day roster Starters Nolasco/Hudson Anderson/Johnson Corriea Deduno Albers/Gibson/Diamond Bullpen Perkins Fien Burton Swarzak Theilbar Duensing Welker Lineup C Mauer/Pinto DH Pinto/Mauer 1B Ike Davis 2B Dozier SS Florimon 3B Plouffe LF Willingham CF Pressly RF Arcia Bench Mastrioanni Escobar Doumit Hermann I want to see Sano, Rosario, Hicks, & Meyer as much as the next guy opening day but they are so young that I really want them to start the year in AAA and build some confidence & get in a nice groove. Also Willinghammer needs to rebuild some trade value. I would look to move Willingham, Doumit, Corriea, Burton, Fien, & Duensing mid season. There is an abundance of bullpen arms ready to be the next wave. Opening up spots on the roster for likes of Sano, Rosario, Hicks, Meyer, & May while also delaying their service time closck by a year. 2014 mid season roster Starters Nolasco/Hudson Anderson/Johnson Deduno Meyer Gibson Bullpen Perkins Swarzak Theilbar Albers Welker Tonkin/Pressley May Lineup C Mauer/Pinto DH Pinto/Mauer 1B Ike Davis 2B Dozier SS Florimon 3B Sano LF Rosario CF Hicks RF Arcia Bench Pressley/Mastrioanni Escobar Hermann Plouffe September callups: Byron Buxton time!!! Zach Jones, Danny Santana, Angel Morales...

I agree that they do need to aim high, they have the money to spend. Garza & Lincecum are the best FA to be pitchers available by far. Garza was alienated by the coaching staff and I doubt he could be convinced to come back. Lincecum is a west coast guy and the Twins have also shied away from giving multi year deals to pitchers like Lincecum with such a violent delivery. Josh Johnson used to be elite but has not been the same since TJ surgery a few years ago. Basically, they would need to dip into the trade market to find someone of that quality.