4:05pm: Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets that the Twins are planning to wrap up talks one way or another out of respect for Dozier in the near future. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick notes that there’s agreement throughout the organization that it’s not fair to Dozier nor is it beneficial to the team to allow the uncertainty to drag out much longer. Both reporters note that there’s been no definitive deadline for a decision set by the team.
10:03am: Trade talks regarding star Twins second baseman Brian Dozier are expected to wrap up within the week, according to Jon Morosi of MLB Network (via Twitter). Whether and where he’ll be dealt remain to be seen, but it appears that Minnesota will make a final call well before the opening of Spring Training.
Last we heard, the Twins were said to asking interested organizations to place their final bids for the slugging second bagger. We haven’t heard any indication yet of how that effort is proceeding, but Morosi does note that the Dodgers (quite unsurprisingly) remain involved.
Indeed, it’s fair to wonder whether any other organizations are truly interested in making a competitive run at Dozier. If not, it may simply come down to a test of willpower (and baseball valuations) between the Minnesota and Los Angeles front offices.
So, what to make of this renewed indication that the clock is ticking on any move involving Dozier? Perhaps, it’s a negotiating tactic designed to drive the action and boost a possible return. But it could also legitimately suggest that the Twins’ front office is as torn on the subject as is the MLBTR readership; we may need to hold a recount of yesterday’s poll asking whether Dozier will end up changing hands over the offseason.
Of course, even if Dozier is still a Twin this time next week, it’s wise never to say never in the arena of player transactions. Spring Training injuries routinely open new avenues for trades, of course, or an organization can simply reevaluate its situation. As the stunning, Opening Day-eve Craig Kimbrel swap shows, deals can come together at just about any time.
The Twins keep egging this on? Didn’t one of their beat writers just report they told teams to send their final offer last week? Keep him if you don’t like the offers.
The Twins are starting to sound like used car salesmen when nobody is buying. “I had a couple looking at this car just this morning.”
Oh, this, this. So true.
Ha ha right on the money.
The Dodgers need him I don’t know why they haven’t knocked any other offers out the park already.
I see both sides. If no one else is really bidding why up your offer if you’re the Dodgers? Having said that if you’re the twins I wouldn’t do De Leon for Dozier straight up if that is really the offer.
the dodgers are offering more than that I think if it was de Leon stright up twins should say no in a heartbeat
If you (meaning the Dodgers) feel that the offer that you have on the table, isn’t going to get the deal done………..and you really covet that player…….then You DO up your own offer to make the acquisition.
Personally, I think they are Nuts to give up De Leon for a 2 yr rental.. The Dodgers have a couple 2B’s in the minors (Micah Johnson & Willie Calhoun). There are several guys who they could trade for…….for far less, who can play 2B for 2017……..Go get Dietrich from the Marlins…..or one of the Padres IF’s……..or Jace Peterson from Atlanta……or maybe Forsythe (if he comes cheap enough).
Maybe they know something about De Leon that we don’t???
2 year “rental”? No. There is no such thing.
What word would you like to use for a player that will be a FA after 2 more seasons??? Insert that in place of…..”rental”……
A lease.
At this point, the Twins are looking like the desperate ones, not the Dodgers.
Hardly. Twins can keep him and trade him later. No biggee. Same as White Sox with Quintana.
Yeah I guess when the best you can do is last place it really doesn’t matter, does it?
Yeah, I guess when the best you can do is ridicule a team (Twins) that has won a World Series more recently than your team has (Dodgers) it really doesn’t matter, does it?
Whenever it is the Twins get back to the postseason they’ll have to improve on their 3-19 record since their last postseason series win (02 ALDS) and break their standing 12-game postseason losing streak…. let’s not go there
But ! Next year the free agency market is gonna be packed with better names ? And I feel like the situation with Quintana is different to dozier because of the importance of having a solid lefty starter who eats 200 innings and has been in contentions for cy young. Mean while no one really wants to give up to much for a player like the eaton trade ? But the teams don’t want anything less for there star player if it’s not an eaton trade..
@seamaholic Quintana is controllable for 4 more seasons on a sub-market value contract. Dozier has 2 years left on his deal. It’ s a poor comp. The Twins do not have the luxury of time you seem to think they do if they intend to trade him.
Personally, i’m pretty glad to see this one put to bed. It’s been going on long enough. The trade market for Dozier obviously just isn’t there right now because the Dodgers are the only team that seems to be sticking around. And since they aren’t bidding against anyone they aren’t going to go any higher. Twins need to just announce they are keeping Dozier and forget about it.
I whole heartedly agree. Spring training just seems so far away.
When a team says submit your final offer it means there is a very good deal on the table and you need to beat this deal. My guess is that deal is off the table if they don’t take it now. Sounds like what happened to Trumbo and he thought he could get a better deal.
this is dumb. if the twins aren’t getting close to what they think is value close the door on this for now. LA may be the only one bidding right now but a good year from Dozier and a few teams with playoff needs means only more teams will get involved. Say the Giants lose an if or the Mets have an injury at 2nd you don’t think they look at dozier near the deadline this year if in a playoff push?
Right now the Dodgers need a 2b to compete, the twins don’t need to do anything so if LA doesn’t pony up now someone will later.
Doesn’t that have something to do with what happens with the player? As of now they are marketing him after a career season. If come July Dozier has simply regressed to his career line, then his trade value will have diminished. That’s the risk they take in this staring contest.
….and the Dodgers are probably banking that Dozier DOES start off slow again, and that he DOESN’T repeat his “Fabulous 2016″………
Absolutely right, look what happened to Joey Batts, the Twins need to get this deal done now and Deleon and another piece should do it.
I hear the Twins are being very picky with the “additional prospect”….asking for too much (I heard rumors that they wanted Bellinger too…….LMAO….)…..
If Dozier doesn’t continue his 2016 production from April – June, and replicates his 2016 Pre All Star (.246/.335/.450/.785………..14 HR’s)………..or worse….he repeats his 2015 Post All Star performance (.210/.280/.359/.639….9 HR’s)..
The Twins are screwed. They won’t be able to trade him for Alex Wood!!! ……LOL
really Joey bats is a horrible comparison.
Where is this Bellinger rumor?
Seriously? “I heard rumors about bellinger being in?” Pretty sure that’s a lie unless you hear voices.
Say Dozier does regress to his career line and LA is in a battle with SF (and others) for the West title. Nothing has changed for the Twins except now there could be another team who also needs him to make it over the top. Or there is a team who could use him but really wants to keep him from LA. Dodgers will have to pay up or lose him–again.
If he slumps……or even just “returns to his norm”, in the 1st half……..the price drops.
Except you’re under the assumption that 2b is the only place they can upgrade. I honestly believe they are better off keeping what they have and waiting until the deadline to asses their possible needs. Dozier is a very good player but Twins fans act like he is a shoe in to help the Dodgers win the WS. Except he’s not if the rotation is as injury riddled as it has been. The OF corners see as bad as production as they did last year. If Ethier can’t stay on the field. Simple fact is the Dodgers are going to be better against LH assuming health. Will the destroy LH pitchers probably not. But Dozier isn’t the only player now or at the deadline that can help the Dodgers. And the twins are trying to get a haul which they absolutely should do. So they are playing a poker game which right now is going to end in a push.
OR, if Puig and Turner start to hit lefties again, and the Dodger in-house options at second suffice, by the deadline, isn’t unreasonable to think the Dodgers won’t need Dozier, and they’d be better off retaining DeLeon. OR use DeLeon to address other issues that may arise.
Maybe. But if the Dodgers are only offering 50 cents on the dollar, it makes sense to wait and see if you can get 60 cents on the dollar for normal 4 WAR Dozier.
Met’s ownership is *way* too cheap to trade for Dozier in that scenario. They’d slot TJ in there who makes (or is close to) league minimum.
why do I think the Twins are gonna screw this up big time….?? They should get involved in a 3 way team trade which would involve a trade of 1B/DH K. Vargas to BOS to be the next Big Papi….
Time to put Dozier trade talks to bed and start up the Julio Tehran trade rumors. Hopefully the front office has set the hard deadline to protect both the player and their fan base. How do you have the face of your franchise on all your print adds for advertising on the trade block during the beginning of hot stove season?
I see Dozier hitting .117 in April and Minnesota losing any value he may have held for them. I suggest they grab DeLeon and some other prospect and hope it works out because the alternative could be a .240 hitting 2nd baseman that yields at best a second tier prospect.
.117? Lol you predict him to be almost 100 points lower than any one month in his career, after improving the second half of last season… where’s the basis for this prediction?
Dozier is a streaky player, he goes on great and awful stretches. He hit .191 last April. The point is he’s coming off a good stretch and his value won’t increase, it can only drop, and it may drop drastically.
Like most players aren’t significantly affected by hot and cold streaks?
Dodgers need the player and the Twins him control. They pay the price, or no deal.
And everyone here should stop pretending we all know what is the asking price, cause outside of speculation we don’t.
As you can tell a 2nd baseman is the least valuable asset a team could possess. Very few have ever commanded that much in free agency or trades. There’s the occasional Morgan or Sandberg but most are fairly interchangeable. I think the better statement is, “the Dodgers would like him” but don’t really need him, as they’ve recently advanced to the NLCS with Utley. If they really want an updated they could offer Kinsler an extension and make that trade and that would be a major upgrade.
Tigers want Bellinger plus. Also, Kinsler is set to make $11m in ’17. Dodgers are paying 100% luxury tax. Is Kinsler worth $22m plus Cody Bellinger.
Remember, Kinsler is 34 and the Tigers are planning on contending. Good luck with that!
It’s 50% not 100%. Still a lot of wasted money
Stop no they’re not. Even if they go over threshold it’s a transition year mean major threshold hold taxes and penalties don’t go into effect until next year. I am pretty confident they will be no where close to that major tax next year.
Says “And everyone here should stop pretending we all know what is the asking price, cause outside of speculation we don’t.”
Then claims to know that the tigers want Bellinger plus. Gotta love MLBTR comments
Exactly, eventually even I get dragged into this stupidity.
Kinsler just isn’t a good fit. He’s very good, but wants an extension to wave his no-trade. No way the Dodgers want to do that, plus give up the prospects it’ll take. Feels like get the Dozier thing done or settle for a much lower impact player. I think the Dodgers should go for it — just no Bellinger, Alvarez or Buehler.
Kinsler is the perfect fit for both the position and the lineup. He’s a righty with an excellent career batting line and he bats leadoff. He is also an outstanding veteran defender, which provides another advantage given Seager is still climbing the learning curve at SS.
His specific contract demands don’t affect his fit, only the ability to the Dodgers to successfully make the deal.
Robinson Cano signed one of the biggest FA deals in the history of baseball. I believe he is a second baseman.
Time to pursue a new 2B. Not kinsler since the tigers are delusional and want bellinger
Agree — definitely not happening. They aren’t trading Bellinger for a second baseman.
Do we even know what the Twins demands are? Maybe the Dodgers are offering more than just DeLeon, but the Twins are holding out for DeLeon plus Bellinger. We just don’t know how much more than DeLeon the Dodgers are offering and how much more the Twins are expecting.
Yawn. If a significant offer had been made and/or a “final offer” bidding war was progressing, names would have been leaked by the Twins. My guess is the Twins will “revisit talks in the future” after reviewing the “final offers.” lol.
The Twins are gonna end up over-playing their hand.
I feel like Dozier is overhyped.
He had “One Great Season”……there’s no guarantee that he will do that again……..so both teams take a chance by not getting together on a deal.
If he regresses to previous levels…….the price drops…..maybe a lot. As he has less time left on his contract……he becomes less valuable as well.
If he continues to produce…..the price goes up, and the Dodgers wish they had given up more to get him.
*******2012 – 2015 he played in 544 games and hit 75 HR’s……..Ave OPS was .710……Ave WAR was 2.9……………DWAR in ’16 was just 0.8……………
THAT’s the stat sheet that teams are probably bidding on.
Teams have their own internal valuations for WAR. Dozier has put up 16 WAR over his four full seasons. For a second baseman that’s pretty great.
The point all along is they don’t “need” to trade him. He means quite a lot to the club so they are right to hang on until/unless they are overwhelmed. I’ve felt all along that they wouldn’t trade him unless they were blown away. The team needs pitching and they see Dozier as the best, quickest way to upgrade in that department. From an offensive standpoint keeping Dozier in the mix in MN is pretty important as they actually have a pretty good young offensive core. Albeit one that needs developing. I think one arm at the top could make a huge difference for that team. (And a new bullpen) I don’t however think they are going to get that piece for just Brian Dozier.
I’m ok keeping him. I’ve been pretty wary of De Leon’s shoulder and durability. Keep Dozier, see how the kids do and make moves as appropriate.
dodgers fans really value there prospects dont they? its like they think 80% of them hit there potential
Maybe because the Dodgers have the deepest farm system in baseball and why would u dump your prospects….holding onto Seager and Urias worked out well didn’t it…
Still too early to call for both since anything can happen, but yes so far it was great to keep those two. Seager has proven himself way more than Urias.
Also DeLeon or any other prospect the Dodgers have and may trade are not as good as Seager/Urias so it’s really hard to compare right now. Who knows what the future holds but I have a hard time believing any of the Dodgers top 10 becomes better than those two.
Urias >> any SP Dodger prospect.
Seager >>>> Bellinger.
Thats two out of how many? Nothing against either one but one good season from Seager and a promising yet no where near 30 start 200 ip for Urias isnt exactly setting the world on fire.
For the millions upon millions Dodgers dumped into international market. Still not a huge % return.
Urias wasn’t supposed to pitch half that many innings this season. They were trying to protect his development, but the rotation was a train wreck of injuries and he was called up for extra duty. Nothing not to like in what we saw from him at age 19-20.
Every fan values their teams prospects. What do you expect?
a year and a half eduardo nunez brings back a top 100 prospect that has the potential to be a 4 or 5 starter but 2 years of dozier is only worth a top 50 prospect with 3 or 4 starter potential? hmmm
Nunez was and all star and hitting over ,300 at the time of the trade, the Twins won’t get a better deal that’s why they haven’t traded him yet! How much control did Nunez have at that time.
As the other poster said, he had 1.5 years left on his deal. Was absolute robbery to get a top 100 player for a guy who’s average at best. Glad he had “career years” in MN.
so your saying nunez is better then dozier? if so you probably dont know what a baseball is
I want to emphasize that we never know what the GMs will do. But, I’m making a guess that Brian Dozier ends up with LAD or TOR by the beginning of spring training.
The market supply is stronger than the demand.
There are 15 teams in MLB who will not trade for Brian Dozier because they have a 2B already: (NYY, BOS, BAL, TBR, CLE, TEX, SEA, HOU, LAA, MIA, CHC, MIL, COL, ARI, SDP). In addition, there are 5 other teams that have a 2B on the market and won’t except Dozier as a return: (DET, CIN, CHI, OAK, PIT).
That leaves only 6 teams that might consider an upgrade (STL, ATL, PHI, NYN, TOR, SFG); 1 team that could make an infield alignment shift (WSN) and 2 teams with a clear need at 2B (LAD, KCR). Of these, KCR, ATL and PHI are not likely to trade for Dozier.
DET seems like a better trade partner for STL, SFG, NYN
CIN seems like a better trade partner for WSN
The most likely market for Dozier is LAD, TOR and to a lesser degree NYN, SFG, STL, WSN.
I like the idea of your post, but the NYM just spent $17.6m/QO on Walker. He is it.
I spent more time trying to determine if NYN would consider Neil Walker as a permanent solution for 2017, if he could be moved to another position or if if the Mets would look to upgrade the position and trade him and contribute to his salary. In the end, I put him in the less likely to be traded list.
In retrospect, I agree with you. The Mets won’t trade him; the Tigers and the Twins won’t take him in a trade.
Fair consideration. Walker is on record (last year) that he’d be willing to play 3B if asked. Lord knows if D. Wright can come back. Reyes at 3B was okay, though I’d rather Jose be a super-sub to give other guys a breather throughout the year.
If the Dodgers can get Dozier and Braun this off season they will have put themselves in position to win a world series , This will take care of their right handed hitting problem.
The walls are closing in on the Twins, and they are going to have to play their hand soon. While Dozier is unlikely to see his value crater by mid-season, it’s not going to be any higher than it is now. And there’s no guarantee that his market is going to get any better. For every team that could need a 2B mid-season, there is likely to be another team willing to trade theirs. I just don’t think it’s logical to wait it out and watch his value diminish further, while playing a guessing game as to the state of the market.
The Dodgers have remained patient to this point, gotta give credit to the Front Office for not panicking.
Again that is sound logic when a team NEEDS to trade a player. Dozier has provided substantial value over contract every year and is very likely to again with his $6 million salary this year. So there is no reason whatsoever for the twins to ship him off for one prospect that is by no means a guaranteed thing. While it’s very true that the dodgers don’t have many other teams competing to land Dozier, they ARE competing with having to impress the twins enough to win him. And while it’s true his trade value SHOULD be at its highest, if Deleon is all they’ll get, they’re better off holding on and that’s what’ll happen
I feel like the Twins need to trade him is a bit more pressing than at first glance. I am in no way advocating that they take De Leon in a 1 to 1 deal, that’s short of what Dozier is worth. However, they have an asset that is of very little value to them as a team – his production will not contribute to anything significant for the Twins as they aren’t competing. And his value is only going to go south.
It’s a different story for someone like Quintana who has 4 years of control – 2 years of Dozier is a much shorter timeframe, which makes another half a season of waiting it out become so much more magnified. Half a season is 25% of his control gone, that’s not a small amount.
The Twins have every right to stand firm for more – they should get more than De Leon. However, I feel that the depreciation of their asset is being looked over.
nicely said
LA baseball teams are all the same. we value our prospects so we can compete in the future when your best player is in his prime now. and in the case of the Dodgers your ace already has a back issue. and your
That was clear as mud.
L.A. only had one baseball team…. in MLB at least
They need to keep him. His hitting has only improved the past 4 seasons. Good guy to build around .
How about this for an idea. Dodgers get Dozier to Dodgers. Twins get De Leon, Stewart, and Cleveland gets involved to give up Eric Gonzalez. What could Cleveland use for Egon?
I wouldn’t put any three trade potential deals past this FO really.
Having bad flashbacks to another pitcher for 2nd baseman trade… Pedro Martinez for Delino Deshields. I hope they hold off, see what Kiki or Micah can do.
Ouch……….
Believe me, if there’s a team looking for a 2b at the trade deadline, odds are Dozier will be nowhere near their radar. He’s only hit above .250 once in his career, a team making a playoff push in need of a 2b would probably go after Kinsler to try and persuade him to leave Detroit without an extension for a shot at a ring. Solarte and Forsythe are other options being talked about. Dozier sounds great at the moment coming off a career year, unfortunately he’ll probably go back to hitting .240 next year and his trade value will plummet. JDL averaged 10 k/9 in the minors and barely had any walks. They say he profiles as a 3rd or 4th starter but I see him as a 2 or ace on cellar dwelling teams. He got knocked around his first few games but that’s expected. At first I thought a 1 for 1 deal was absurd but the more I think about it the more sense it makes. I almost think JDL is too much too give, how many #3 starters averaged 12k/9 in the minors? Since turning 21 he’s only had an ERA above 3 twice- his 76.6 innings at Tulsa and his 17 MLB innings. I know the minors are one thing and MLB is another, but I firmly believe 6yrs of JDL>2yrs of a 2nd baseman almost as good as Dan Uggla (Dozier)
Meant to put that he averaged 10 k/9 in the minors, looked it up during posting and saw that he actually averaged 12
almost as good as dan uggla? uggla was all power thats it
.uggla 241/336/447/783
.dozier 246/320/442/762
so they are around the same hitter. dozier far better in the field then uggla was and uggle makes dozier look like usain bolt on the bases.
10 season of uggla 17.6 war
4 season of dozier 18.4 war
(baseball-reference)
de leon has never topped 120 innings so you dont even know he will be a able to handle a full work load..
Yes I was referring to hitting, as for De Leon all they have to do is build up his stamina over the next couple years, and with the depth the Dodgers have I’m sure it would be fairly easy to build/regulate his innings if they kept him. I’m sure there have been more than a handful of great pitchers who started out with low innings counts early in their careers. Look at Pedro Martinez, he was short and skinny, he built up arm strength and stamina and became a hall of famer.