Search the Community

The Minnesota Twins finally got some revenge on the Yankees with a dramatic walkoff win. When Cruz was rounding the bases I thought "Well... what if?" and that is a dangerous path! Let's explore it! If you've been paying any attention at all to the Twins this season you know this team simply might not be good. That is extremely frustrating for Twins fans who were basically promised another successful regular season and another shot at the playoffs. As I write this on June 11th, the Twins have just a 3.0% chance to make the playoffs according to Fangraphs. Then you remember that Nelson Cruz walkoff and can't help but think about the 3% and what needs to happen to get there. The winning has to start immediately. The Twins will play 18 more games in June before July rolls around and trades must be made. These games will be against the Astros, Mariners, Rangers, Reds, Cleveland, and the White Sox. Not too easy, not too difficult. If the Twins realistically want to get back into striking distance of the playoffs then they'll have to win 12 of these 18 games minimum. Ideally they take anywhere from 13-18 of the games, but let's stay realistic. Going 12-6 shouldn't be out of the question and it's about time this team goes on a run. Winning 12 games would put them at 37-43 at the start of July. That's not pretty, but it's better than the current 12 games under .500 so it would work. For this experiment let's say the Twins go 12-6 and everyone ahead of them goes .500 until July. This would put the Twins about 10.0 games back of Chicago for the division and 7.0 games back of the second wild card spot. Is that enough to hold back the front office from selling everyone? Probably not. Will the Twins instead have to go 14-4 or so until July to be around 8.0 back for the division and roughly 5.0 back for the wild card? Probably. It's an uphill climb for the Twins but they've dug this hole for themselves and now they'll have to dig out of it themselves. For now, the team has to take it one game at a time. Sports are all about momentum and maybe that Nelson Cruz home run sparked something in the team that we are yet to see in 2021. Maybe this is some weird stage of grief that I'm going through where I'm writing about this bad team going 14-4 in their next 18. That seems like the likely scenario here. Either way, time for the Twins to win or say goodbye to some fan favorites. View full article

We are now just two days away from the 2019 MLB Trade Deadline. That means the rumor mill is off the charts right now with countless rumors of Team X being interested in Player Y. With the Minnesota Twins right in the tick of a postseason push, and a clear need to upgrade their pitching staff, they find themselves right in the thick of things as far as trade rumors go. It could make it quite difficult to keep up with everything, and everyone the Twins are interested in. Don't worry, we have you covered with all the latest up to date rumors surrounding the Twins.Sometimes these rumors can seem like they are just that, rumors. It is no surprise that the Twins are doing their due diligence and checking in on each and every player they are interested in potentially trading for. While most of the time these don't end up amounting to anything, it is still important to keep track of, because it can give you a good idea what the Twins are thinking, and who they might be about ready to trade for. Just take Sergio Romo for example. On Saturday morning it was reported that the Twins were interested in Romo, and by the end of the day he was the newest member of the Minnesota Twins. Things can happen that quickly. So, let's take a look at some of the rumors currently circulating around the Twins. Noah Syndergaard The New York Mets have done a fine job stirring the pot of late. They have been linked to being sellers, which would make players like Noah Syndergaard, Zach Wheeler and Edwin Diaz all available. However, on Sunday they then went out and acquired Marcus Stroman. Yet they are still saying they are interested in moving Syndergaard. This one is a real head scratch, and it is anyones guess on what the Mets will do before Wednesday, because quite frankly I don't think they know what they are going to do. LaVelle Neal of the Star Tribune reported that the Mets were interested in a package for Syndergaard that included both Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff. It is unlikely that the Twins would even consider moving both of them for Noah Syndergaard, but you can't really blame the Mets for starting the negotiations by asking high. Robbie Ray Jon Morosi of MLB Network posted this tweet on Saturday, siting that the Twins were among the list of teams who had inquired about Robbie Ray. There hasn't been much follow up to this over the past couple of days, so it could have very well just been the Twins asking about his price. If the Twins were to acquire Ray they would be getting a one of the top strikeout heavy starting pitchers in the game. However, what's different between Ray and other elite strikeout throwers like Max Scherzer or Justin Verlander, is Ray has a terrible time with control. Ray could be a real wildcard for the Twins if they could trade for him and the remaining year and a half left before he hits free agency. Mike Minor Much like Robbie Ray, the Twins were reported to be one of the teams looking to trade for Mike Minor. With Marcus Stroman off the table, and no real clarity on the Noah Syndergaard front, Minor might very well be the best starting pitcher available on the trade market. It wouldn't surprise me if the Twins are in on the Rangers lefty, especially given Thad Levine's ties to the Rangers organization. Ken Giles & Kirby Yates A few weeks back it was reported that the Twins had checked in on both Ken Giles and Kirby Yates, but there hasn't been much headway on those fronts in the time since. These could be two relievers to keep an eye on in the coming days if the Twins were to pull off a trade for a big name reliever. Jason Vargas Interesting development this afternoon. Still not clear who that the other team is, but could make sense as an acquisition for the Twins, so stay tuned. *Update* Vargas is reportedly heading to the Phillies, so cross his name off the list of potential Twins bullpen acquisitions. Click here to view the article

As the trade deadline draws near, the Minnesota Twins still haven’t made any substantial moves to support either the bullpen or the starting rotation. There has been a lot of speculation on a number of pitchers the Twins could acquire here at Twins Daily. One of those pitchers is Toronto Blue Jays starter Marcus Stroman. The Blue Jays are said to have a high asking price on Stroman, and would like a deal similar to the one the Tampa Bay Rays received in return for Chris Archer last season. Will the Blue Jays get their wish and bring in a gigantic haul for Stroman, or will they need to settle for a lesser offer?To figure out what it might take to acquire Marcus Stroman, let’s start by looking at what he brings to the table. Stroman is currently 28 years of age and is under team control through the 2020 season. Stroman currently possess a 3.06 ERA (3.62 FIP) in 117 and 2/3 innings for the Blue Jays so far in 2019. For his career, Stroman has a 3.78 ERA (3.62 FIP) through his first six MLB seasons. Stroman isn’t a heavy strikeout pitcher, as his career 19.3% strikeout rate is quite low for today’s standards. From a control perspective, Stroman is solid, as his career 6.7% walk rate is slightly above average for an MLB starting pitcher. What makes Stroman so effective is his extremely high groundball rate. In a era where hitters are trying to hit the ball in the air more than ever, Stroman does an excellent job of preventing them from doing so. Since his debut in 2014, Stroman has a 59.6% groundball rate and a 22.1% flyball rate. Among the 152 starting pitchers with at least 400 innings pitched over that span, those numbers rank as the second highest and third lowest respectively. The next step is to look at the deal the Blue Jays are reportedly asking for. The blockbuster trade of last summer was the deal that sent Chris Archer to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows and Shane Baz. At the time Archer was still a highly thought of starting pitcher, with three and a half years of team control remaining. More than double of what is left on Marcus Stroman’s contract. Glasnow and Meadows were both highly touted prospects in the Pirates system who were up with MLB team, but hadn’t shown much at the MLB level quite yet. Still they were prized possessions, who many believed were ready to break out sooner rather than later, which is exactly what happened. Meadows has gotten off to a great start to 2019 and was named to the American League All-Star team. Glasnow was on his way there too with a 1.86 ERA (2.32 FIP) in eight starts before getting shut down with forearm inflammation. In addition to those two, Baz was the Pirates first round pick in 2017, and was ranked as the 95th best prospect in baseball by MLB.com at the time of the trade. Baz currently sits as MLB.com’s 91st best prospect in baseball, right around where they have Trevor Larnach and Jordan Balazovic ranked, for context. If the Twins were to match that offer, they would be looking at giving up a package deal that includes Alex Kirilloff, Brusdar Graterol and Jordan Balazovic. It is probably safe to assume that the Blue Jays won’t be getting any offers for Marcus Stroman that are remotely in the range of that Chris Archer deal that a year later is already considered on of the worst deals in MLB history. Especially given the fact that Stroman has less trade value now than Archer did at this point last summer given the length of control each player has/had. If the Blue Jays don’t get a package that they like for Stroman, they could always hang onto him. However, they have little leverage to use that in a negotiation right now because MLB teams know the Blue Jays won’t be competitive again until after his contract is up, and from this point on, his trade value is only diminishing as the number of starts he can give the team that acquires him goes down. So, if the Blue Jays want to maximize their value for Stroman, they need to make a deal happen before the July 31st trade deadline. If we want to look at a more realistic trade to comparison for a Marcus Stroman deal, a better trade to look at might be the Sonny Gray trade in 2017. At the time of his trade, Gray still had two and 1/2 years of control left before free agency, and like Stroman, was considered a young arm that would slot right into the top of the rotation on a postseason contender. While this is more than Stroman has left on his deal, it is a lot closer comparison than the Chris Archer deal. In that trade the Yankees gave up Dustin Fowler, Jorge Mateo and James Kaprielian, who were their fourth, eighth and twelfth ranked prospects respectively according to MLB.com. However, both Fowler and Kaprielian’s trade values had been significantly diminished at the time of the trade due to injury. Kaprielian was only a few months removed from Tommy John surgery and Fowler had torn his right patellar tendon after crashing into the while during the first inning of his MLB debut. At the time of the deal, the Yankees were considered to have a top farm system, like the Twins do now. So, if the Twins were to offer up their fourth, eighth and twelfth ranked prospects, according to MLB.com, the deal would include Trevor Larnach, Jhoan Duran and Stephen Gonsalves. To me, this seems like a much more realistic trade proposal for the Blue Jays to receive than one that would match the Chris Archer deal. However, since Gray still had an entire extra year of control remaining, it still stands to question that a fair trade for Stroman would be a little less expensive than that. With all those factors laid out, we can start to make a more accurate prediction as to what it should cost to acquire Marcus Stroman. While this isn’t an exact science, because we don’t know exactly how the Twins and Blue Jays value the players in the Twins farm systems, and we don’t know exactly what other teams are willing to offer, we can probably get pretty close to a fair market value for Stroman. Personally, I think both Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff should not be on the table in trade discussions for Stroman, as each carries much more value to the organization than acquiring Stroman for one and a half years would. Additionally, I find it hard to believe that the Twins will look to move Brusdar Graterol right now with his value being diminished due to his shoulder injury. This leaves both Trevor Larnach and Jordan Balazovic to injclued as the headliner in the return package back to the Blue Jays. I think it will take at least one of these two, plus one or two other mid-level prospects to get the deal done. My Offer: Trevor Larnach, Lewis Thorpe and Nick Gordon What do you think? Is this package enticing enough to convince the Blue Jays to trade Marcus Stroman to the Twins, or is this offer too much to give up for him? What would you be willing to trade away to get Stroman? Let us know in the comment section down below. Click here to view the article

As we get closer to the Winter Meetings more rumors are starting to swirl, but it’s nearly impossible to find anything specifically related to the Twins. Maybe that’s because this is a tight-lipped front office, maybe it’s just because they haven’t made much progress on anything yet. Then again, dealin’ Jerry Dipoto hasn’t seemed to have any trouble making things happen for the Mariners.In two separate blockbuster trades, Seattle sent Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz to the Mets and Jean Segura to the Phillies. It seems like the Twins should have had some interest in all three of those players, but Cano and Segura both have no-trade authority, so it’s possible they were never an option. Still, the few whispers going around indicate that the Twins are more focused on the trade market at this time, but if you can’t work out a deal with Dipoto what chance do you have of bartering with anyone else? OK, there are 28 other fish in the GM sea, but I have to admit I’m getting a little restless. Luckily the Baseball Winter Meetings start this coming Sunday in Las Vegas. We should have a better idea of what’s to come based on next week’s activity. Single-game Twins spring training tickets went on sale this morning. Their first home game is Saturday, Feb. 23 and $12 gets you in the door. MLB Trade Rumors passed along updates around a couple of the top pitchers dominating the rumor mill of late: Noah Snydergaard and Patrick Corbin. Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen said that only under special circumstances would he even consider trading away Thor. It’s possible Corbin, a lifelong Yankees fan, would take a discount to don the pinstripes. Might as well just Photoshop the interlocking NY on his profile pic right now. UPDATE: Of course. Corbin went ahead and signed with the Nationals, per Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. Per Jon Morosi, the Brewers have touched base with the Yankees about Sonny Gray. He also reported that the Reds are open to trading for Corey Kluber or Trevor Bauer. One last trade note from Morosi: The Cardinals have worked on a potential Paul Goldschmidt deal with Arizona. It’s a little deflating to see similar teams/markets like Milwaukee, Cincinnati and St. Louis in on these players. I can accept the fact that certain teams can outspend the Twins, I can accept the fact that some guys with no-trade authority aren’t going to be interested in coming to Minnesota, but stuff like this is more difficult to swallow. The Reds lost 95 games last season, for Pete’s sake. The Twins haven’t made many changes to the roster so far this offseason, but there have been a ton of moves in terms of who will be covering the team. Rhett Bollinger is returning home to California to cover the Angels for MLB.com, replacing him will be Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark on Twitter). Also, the Pioneer Press finally has its replacement for Mike Berardino. Betsy Helfand (@betsyhelfand on Twitter) will step in as their beat writer. Both Park and Helfand start their new jobs this coming Sunday. Speaking of Rhett, he took a look at middle infielders on the free agent market who could make sense for the Twins. A lot of the names that have already been bandied about are listed, but he also included Jonathan Schoop and Tim Beckham, who were just non-tendered late last week. Mr. Bollinger also looked back at the 10 biggest trades in Twins history. It’s a fun list to go through, but an interesting takeaway is that there aren’t any deals included from the past decade. It kinda feels like the Twins are due to make a big swap. The MLB.com trio of Mike Rosenbaum, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo identified one prospect from each team who could be traded this winter. Kind of a weird exercise, but OK. They listed Luis Arraez for the Twins, who they have as the team’s No. 15 prospect. Strictly in terms of value, Arraez is pretty similar to where Jermaine Palacios was a year ago. He’s a prospect, there are certainly things to like about him, but at the same time he’s a guy you can afford to lose from your system if it means upgrading the big club. Palacios was sent to Tampa in the Jake Odorizzi deal last February. Not a big fan of the Pohlads? It could be worse. Over at the STrib, Michael Rand shared that Donald Watkins has been indicted on federal fraud charges. Watkins tried to buy the Twins back in 2001. Cliff Corcoran is ranking every MLB uniform over at The Athletic. He puts the Twins 27th in front of only the Astros, Padres and Diamondbacks. He’s got some very strong takes, saying the Twins sullied a classic design and that the gold drop shadow desecrated arguably the best cap in baseball. Click here to view the article