Twins 2020

I’ve refreshed ESPN 134 times trying to see if it’s true and they haven’t reported anything more than a 2-team trade, yet….

tbro16 wrote:

Did the Twins just land Price?

That’s a no. They were involved in the 3 team deal. Twins sent Brusdar Graterol to Boston and received Kenta Maeda from the Dodgers.

Very interesting route.

ESPN is always late to the party, you need a Twitter Dan!

That escalated quickly! Not sure what to think of this one. I didn’t like where the Twins were going with Graterol but Maeda is another guy who’s best years are behind him.

That being said, the rotation is looking better.

tbro16 wrote:

ESPN is always late to the party

Well that and they’ll report on the Red Sox/Yankees/Dallas Cowboys/NY Knicks changing toothpick brands in their clubhouses before they report on anything of value from flyover country.

tbro16 wrote:

you need a Twitter Dan!

I actually do have it and I like it because you can customize the news that comes to you, I just only check it when I want to, so I don’t end up getting notifications. And about the only Twins guy I follow is Lavelle. And knowing Lavelle, as soon as he heard “the Twins have traded…” he probably already wrote an article about how he liked the move before he even knew who was involved.

Dan wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tbro16 wrote:</div>
ESPN is always late to the party

Well that and they’ll report on the Red Sox/Yankees/Dallas Cowboys/NY Knicks changing toothpick brands in their clubhouses before they report on anything of value from flyover country.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tbro16 wrote:</div>
you need a Twitter Dan!

I actually do have it and I like it because you can customize the news that comes to you, I just only check it when I want to, so I don’t end up getting notifications. And about the only Twins guy I follow is Lavelle. And knowing Lavelle, as soon as he heard “the Twins have traded…” he probably already wrote an article about how he liked the move before he even knew who was involved.

He’s about as quick as ESPN. Most likely because that’s who he’s monitoring from The Perfect Ash cigar lounge……

Don’t really understand this one, I’d rather roll Graterol out there in the 3 or 4 spot and see what happens then trade for a 31 year old pitch to contact guy with a 4 era in the NL…

BigWerm wrote:

Don’t really understand this one, I’d rather roll Graterol out there in the 3 or 4 spot and see what happens then trade for a 31 year old pitch to contact guy with a 4 era in the NL…

Graterol would’ve never have made it out of the bullpen in this organization.

For the record, I agree with you….

BigWerm wrote:

Don’t really understand this one, I’d rather roll Graterol out there in the 3 or 4 spot and see what happens then trade for a 31 year old pitch to contact guy with a 4 era in the NL…

Agree. Maybe the twins know something up about Graterol that we all don’t?

BigWerm wrote:

pitch to contact guy with a 4 era in the NL…

Pitch to contact guy with a 11.5 k/9 vs RHH?

I think I like this one. Maeda is extremely affordable, making virtually no money through 2023. Hes a solid middle of the rotation starter with playoff experience. ERA doesn’t look great on paper but his peripheral numbers are very impressive. Hes a junkball pitcher that doesn’t rely on the velocity of his fastball so he should age well. Brusdar is such a wildcard whos stock has dramatically dropped recently. Fine deal for Falvine and co.

tbro16 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>BigWerm wrote:</div>
pitch to contact guy with a 4 era in the NL…

Pitch to contact guy with a 11.5 k/9 vs RHH?

I think I like this one. Maeda is extremely affordable, making virtually no money through 2023. Hes a solid middle of the rotation starter with playoff experience. ERA doesn’t look great on paper but his peripheral numbers are very impressive. Hes a junkball pitcher that doesn’t rely on the velocity of his fastball so he should age well. Brusdar is such a wildcard whos stock has dramatically dropped recently. Fine deal for Falvine and co.

Tbro, I think you nailed the part I like about this trade. We get an immediate upgrade to our rotation. Is he an impact pitcher, no. Is he a top 3 pitcher in our rotation, yes. It also eliminates Dobnak or Smeltzer BOTH being in the rotation until Hill and Pineda come back. And as you said, Graterol’s potential with the Twins was tapped out. Hard throwing reliever, that’s it with this club.

Starting Rotation when everyone is back:

Berrios
Odorizzi
Maeda
Pineda
Bailey/Hill

That’s a rotation I can get behind. Still no big impact arm but MUCH improved.

“That’s a rotation I can get behind. Still no big impact arm but MUCH improved.”

An improved rotation for sure, but I agree they still lack a playoff caliber stopper. Doesn’t convince the final outcome will be any different..

“Maybe the twins know something up about Graterol that we all don’t?”

This…

There’s a chance Graterol becomes a dominant arm in MLB at some point, but a much higher likelihood he gets to know Dr. Andrews really well in the years to come..

FryDog62 wrote:

“Maybe the twins know something up about Graterol that we all don’t?”

This…

There’s a chance Graterol becomes a dominant arm in MLB at some point, but a much higher likelihood he gets to know Dr. Andrews really well in the years to come..

But you still didn’t want to trade him to upgrade our rotation? Everybody is clamoring for a trade for a starting pitcher and the club does it and now everyone is up in arms. Was it a home run trade, probably not. Did it make the club better? Definitely.

I like it and makes our chances better to win the central. Also better chance to get through round one if we do not play the Yankees

Either way the Twins are showing that they are trying to improve. I would of liked to kept Graterol and traded Rosario pkg deal. I think he might be very good pitcher and hope he does work out. Looks like he threw so hard with so little effort.

Going to be a fun summer of ball to watch.

“But you still didn’t want to trade him to upgrade our rotation? Everybody is clamoring for a trade for a starting pitcher and the club does it and now everyone is up in arms. Was it a home run trade, probably not. Did it make the club better? Definitely.”

No real argument here, since by the time Graterol is relevant/dominant could very well be past the present window of the Twins being in their prime. I think Maeda puts the team in a better position to compete for the division title or wild card again. But this is largely the same movie we’ve seen over and over again to lose first round in the playoffs. Maybe he helps us get at least one win this time around then I guess it’s worth it.

If you think about the teams that make it to the divisional champ series and World Series – they almost always have at least one pitcher that is mentioned as a top Cy Young contender. And look at the Yankees last year, they didn’t have that kind of stopper and yet we were 0-3 against them. And then they lost in the next round proving again brawn loses to elite arms 90% of the time.

It’s possible to out-slug an opponent in the regular season, but with the playoff format and all the days off in between it favors teams with premium pitching – because they usually have hitters too when they make it that far into the playoffs.

My hope is that Berrios comes of age and elevates from a #3 to an ace. Not probable but possible. Then all my skepticism might go out the window.

Hope so…

Tough to see Graterol go, however, I suspect the FO knows more about Graterol than we know (obviously). If he truly is just a bullpen guy the rest of his career, this would be a win for the Twins. Get a solid starter for our current “Win Now” Twins. He is on a team friendly contract with a couple more years of control. FWIW, we have two better pitching prospects in the pipeline. Should be another fun summer listening to the Twins in the boat!

I like the deal, and watched Maeda in the playoffs last year and really liked him.

10.4 K/9 over his last two season is NOT a pitch to contact pitcher. That’s a higher strikeout rate than any of our other starters in the same timeframe. He also gave up very few hits last year.

Maybe there’s still a mid-season deal to be made for a true ace?

From a short term perspective, this was an excellent move. This clearly makes the team better in the short term and should boost confidence that this team should do well this year and possibly the next few.

Long term, it’s hard to say. We got to see a AA pitcher pitch in the majors last fall and while he had some decent stuff, he got hit pretty hard. But keeping in kind he was an AA pitcher, it’s impossible to know what he could’ve done for this club in 5 years.

With his friendly salary, I’m hopeful another move may be coming.

Rosario could still be dealt… and if for a starting pitcher – who would you boot out of the current rotation?

Just kinda sad that a team that was far more talented than us to begin with gained a former MVP and a former Cy Young winner and we end up with the scraps and we still had to give up a decent pitching prospect just to get him. Classic Twins going for that cheap contract though.

FryDog62 wrote:

There’s a chance Graterol becomes a dominant arm in MLB at some point

Twins send a talented unknown caliber player to the Red Sox. David Ortiz anyone???

Pailofperch wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>FryDog62 wrote:</div>
There’s a chance Graterol becomes a dominant arm in MLB at some point

Twins send a talented unknown caliber player to the Red Sox. David Ortiz anyone???

Either that or the we trade KAT to the Celtics…

toothyfish wrote:

Just kinda sad that a team that was far more talented than us to begin with gained a former MVP and a former Cy Young winner and we end up with the scraps and we still had to give up a decent pitching prospect just to get him. Classic Twins going for that cheap contract though.

Former being the key word there.

Seriously? We got a good starting pitcher (which we desperately needed AND EVERY TWINS FAN WAS PISSED ABOUT NOT HAVING) who actually has a good playoff track record and you’re not happy about giving away a bullpen arm? The BONUS is that he is getting paid next to nothing over the next few years.

Typical Twins fans.

People need to realize Graterol does not stay at a No 3 prospect as a bullpen arm. We gave up a prospect who once had great potential for an immediate upgrade to our MAJOR LEAGUE rotation.

Man, some of you guys just LOVE to be miserable…pretty sure I already follow you on Twitter and didn’t know it

IMO the most promising part of this is the continued trend the FO is showing to recognize that the window is open and there’s urgency to win in the next 1-3 years. Even if you take away all of Graterol’s risks (which were significant) his ceiling with the Twins was as a developmental bullpen arm in the short term and a shutdown 2-pitch guy in the long term when there’s no guarantee that this club will still be competitive.

Is it a net positive in talent? Not necessarily. Is it a net positive in value to this club? Absolutely.

philtickelson wrote:

10.4 K/9 over his last two season is NOT a pitch to contact pitcher.

Upon further examination pitch to contact was a poor choice of words, I just looked at his stuff and assumed a low 90’s FB sounded all too familiar. Also, his contract is very incentive laden, so it’s doubtful he only costs $3m/year thru the duration (which is good imo, since it doesn’t add to the cheap Pohlad m.o.). Could be a good deal, could have given up an absolute stud, time will tell. On it’s face it looks bad when we’ve struggled to draft and develop OR sign any power arms ever, and once we finally have a good power arm prospect, we trade him for a guy on the back half of his career. I still maintain we are 1 or 2 top end starters from being a serious WS contender, and I don’t think this trade changes that.

BigWerm wrote:

I still maintain we are 1 or 2 top end starters from being a serious WS contender, and I don’t think this trade changes that.

I don’t think anyone is arguing with that. But with each improvement to the pitching staff it gives our offense a little more breathing room which can equate to wins even in the playoffs.

last year Graterol was untouchable according to the Twins when the Syndagaard rumors were swirling. Terrrrrrible move here if you ask me. You could have gotten more return than a 33 year old middle of the rotation starter. I would have called about Chris Sale and package a deal with Graterol, Suxton and another piece. the Donaldson signing was nice but sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t make. seems like a panic move to bolster the rotation until Pineda returns?

There’s a reason why you don’t see alot of pitchers who hit 100+ mph…because the human arm/elbow cannot take that kid of stress and last very long UNLESS you’re a human freak like the handful of hard throwers who had long careers, you can count them on one hand… Remember he was coming off a shoulder injury early last year that kept him out for months…

I’m ok with the trade as the starter they got is on a multi-year super cheap contract and his analytics look really good. Graterol has injury redflags all over him, I hope for his sake they are wrong but the human body is a fragile thing…

I really don’t care one way or the other. But remember it was Meadea who got sent too the bullpen when the Dodgers got to the play-offs. He wasn’t one of their top line starters. Also, no matter how cheap he was he was more expensive than Graterol who is on a minor league contract. The only reason for this trade is the Twinks know something about Graterol that the public doesn’t or at least they think they do.

Time will tell the story.

Dutchboy wrote:

I really don’t care one way or the other. But remember it was Meadea who got sent too the bullpen when the Dodgers got to the play-offs. He wasn’t one of their top line starters.

Their topline starters are arguably the tops in all of baseball…He wasn’t happy to be sent to the bullpen, but still dominated when he was there…This is how the Twins work, ownership won’t fork over the big bucks so the GM does what he can… i’m happy with the trade