Twinfan603

Just spitballing as we near the deadline, but the Padres are very motivated to move off Hosmer's salary after the Soto deal. He's still a decent bat and $40 mil over 3 seasons isn't THAT much. I'd call them up and offer them a Hosmer for Sano swap (to get his salary off the books), along with a 10-18 range prospect like Ryan Bergert, Brandon Valenzuela, or Victor Acosta. Am I crazy or might this be a decent move? Would the Padres agree to this given their need to cut significant salary?

The board really has opened up for them. Need to draft Parada, Lee, or Collier.

Shoot Pagan into the sun.

If they aren't going to put Duffey on the 10-day IL with a phantom injury to give him one last shot, they need to cut bait now. His stuff looked like garbage yesterday and it just isn't worth it anymore, no matter how much the guys in the locker room like him.

I'm not saying the position is easy itself, but I don't see how anyone can argue it's a tougher play than any of the other infield spots. If a guy can't play SS, 3B, or 2B, they simply won't ever be able to. And yet many (though not all) can learn to at least manage 1B. Again, this isn't to diminish the role, but the barriers to entry are much lower than the other positions. Sano learned it just fine. So has Arraez this year. Can you imagine trying to recast someone as a 3B on-the-fly?

Seeing as this approach hasn't worked out before, it'd be a shame to see them do it again. Winning a bad AL Central and then getting smacked in the playoffs because you refused to even try to match up with the big boys is not a fruitful approach. With Martin having a seriously worrying year and a lot of the pitching prospects carrying legit injury concerns, in addition to positional overlap between a lot of the position player sides, the team needs to cash in at least a few prospects or be left holding the bag. Also, if they get down to 32 spots in the offseason, that may not be enough to protect everyone worthwhile and still have spots to bring in FAs. The FO has to be proactive about this.

I included Camargo since he is the youngest of the Twins notable catching prospects and showed real growth this year, so I wanted to account for more improvement. Teams tend to take fliers on catchers, so I agree at least 1 of him or Isola will need o be protected. The 2019 draft class is a strong one and others could be considered, but these were the names that jumped out to me. The team can't protect 10 guys, so keeping an eye on eligible ones in the next couple months will be intriguing. If the FO is smart, they'll use some of them as trade-package enhancers to kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

The 40-man roster is already crowded and there will be a lot of tough decisions in the offseason to trim it down. With that being said, I count as many as 8 potential prospects who'll need to be added or exposed to the Rule 5 Draft in December (following this resource: https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/depth-charts/twins) -Spencer Steer (AAA) -Matt Wallner (AA) -Eduoard Julien (AA) -Jair Camargo (AA) -Matt Canterino (AA) -Simeon Woods-Richardson (AA) -Louie Varland (AA) -Sawyer Gibson-Long (A+) Now, Camargo, SGL, & even Varland might be seen as stretches, people who would probably not immediately get poached if left unprotected, but the other 5 most definitely need to be added. The question then, with trade season starting soon, is which of these guys can be cashed in trade-wise to land someone good and proactively trim the very crowded 40-man. Is Kirilloff/Martin, Steer, Canterino, and Varland enough for Montas or someone similar?

I'm not saying to ship him out regardless, only if his inclusion can help land a high-quality SP with control beyond 2022, which the team desperately needs. Agree his ability to play 1B well does mean there is room for everyone, but 1B is also one of the easiest positions to fill given the availability of mashers who can't play defense out there.

A good problem to have, for once. People may disagree with me strongly here, but I'd be all for using Kirilloff as major trade bait. Ain't gonna get Frankie or Castillo or any other big fish without some value, and with a crowded outfield with surplus value, a trade should start there. Let's just hope he keeps mashing AAA to get his stock up further, but long-term I prefer Larnach to AK, and even Celestino's emergence makes it easier to ship him out if the return is a good SP. I certainly wouldn't rush Royce back either, bone bruises can be nasty.

Are the Twins cursed? Don't have any problems with Stashak, but he's going to be 29 at the start of next season and doesn't really have an established track record. Will be very surprised if he is not DFA'd in the offseason, just with the sheer number of people who'll need to go/stay on the 40-man.

Wonder when CES will move up to AA. There's certainly a log jam ahead of him, but he clearly has nothing left to prove at A+. Think Steer should get the bump to AAA & CES to AA within the next couple weeks. On a downer note, I think we can finally close the book on Sabato and Javier. It's not gonna happen for either of them (and I don't have hope for Cavaco either, but he's young, so I'll give him more time). I just don't get how Sabato, who played well in the ACC, could come in and have a terrible year and a half playing A & A+ ball. Feels like every game he goes 0-4 with 2 Ks. Please no more lumbering "power" types in the first few rounds.

It was definitely tough to give away Rodgers, and with Paddack out for the year and Pagan intent on pushing everyone's blood pressure through the roof, for 2022 this trade is a lose. I won't close the book on 2023 though, especially since it was unlikely the team was going to re-sign Rodgers. One more thing to note: the Mets had a somewhat similar deal in place, and axed it after seeing Paddack's medicals. That fact cannot be ignored, because Falvine knew his arm was sketchy and took a massive risk anyway. I don't honestly believe they fully intended 2022 to be a balls-to-the-wall year to compete, but didn't want to admit only pushing a few chips into the middle of the table because of the backlash.

Vallimont should be the first to be taken off since he's a level below, doubt anyone would claim him. With the roster crunch they have, that might come within the next week or so. What strikes me overall is how many of the top 15 are already with the Twins. Most of those guys are going to lose their prospect status soon, so the midseason prospect rankings are going to look much, much different.

Duran's got immense promise, but he won't be a starter long-term. Instead of running him in the bullpen this year though, the Twins should dangle him as one of the main pieces in a Montas/Manaea trade.