The Twins are open to trading their pending free agents, MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi reports, as the team begins to look ahead to the 2019 season. Minnesota’s loss to the Brewers today drops them to 35-48 on the season, 11.5 games out of first place in the AL Central and 18 games out of a wild card slot. One NL executive believes the Twins would be willing to hold trade talks for just about every player on the roster, not just the free agents, though Morosi doubts the team’s younger players under long term control would be seriously discussed.
Looking only at the players signed through 2018, the list includes Brian Dozier, Eduardo Escobar, Lance Lynn, Zach Duke, and Joe Mauer, plus Fernando Rodney, Logan Morrison, and Ervin Santana could also be free agents depending on club options. There are several big names in that group, though only a few (Escobar, Duke, Rodney) are playing well enough to be considered prime trade chips. Dozier’s disappointing year, in particular, has both hurt the Twins’ hopes of contending and drastically lowered his value at the deadline. It isn’t known if Mauer would be willing to waive his no-trade clause to go elsewhere, as Mauer’s agent declined to provide any details about how the longtime face of the franchise would respond if a trade offer materialized.
Here’s the latest from around both the AL and NL Central divisions….
- A recent report from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (subscription required) stated that the Brewers had been working Travis Shaw out at second base, which created speculation about Milwaukee potentially targeting third basemen at the deadline. Brewers GM David Stearns, however, said in an e-mail to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy that Shaw’s pregame alignment is fairly routine procedure. “We have guys taking ground balls all over the field during early work and BP….Travis plays on that side of the bag a fair amount in our shift alignments so it makes sense for him to take ground balls over there. Adding to positional versatility is always helpful,” Stearns wrote. For his part, Shaw said that the team asked him both recently and earlier in the season “if I would be open to playing second if that situation presents itself,” and he said he’d be willing to do so. Shaw has never played second base during his eight-year professional career, so it would be a bold move if Milwaukee actually shifted him to the keystone midway through the season to accommodate a new acquisition at third base.
- Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomcyzk updated some of the team’s injury situations in a chat with reporters (including The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel and MLB.com’s Adam Berry) today. Francisco Cervelli could begin a rehab assignment this weekend, as the catcher has resumed full baseball activities after being cleared of concussion symptoms. Cervelli has been on the disabled list since June 22.
- The outlook is more ominous for right-hander Chad Kuhl, who was diagnosed with a strained right forearm after undergoing an MRI. “Doctors have recommended a conservative treatment at this time,” Tomcyzk said, so Kuhl won’t be facing a surgical procedure in the near future. Kuhl has a 4.37 ERA, 7.9 K/9 and 2.21 K/BB rate over 313 career innings and 61 starts for the Pirates.
- Since the White Sox heavily bolstered their prospect ranks in the Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, and Adam Eaton trades, the team now faces the potentially lengthy and sometimes-frustrating wait to see this young talent develop at the Major League level. The Sox haven’t shown much this season, and as executive VP Ken Williams tells Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, “We’re probably ahead of where we have a right to believe we’re supposed to be, but we’re right where we want to be, but not quite where we need to be yet.” Both Williams and Carlos Rodon stressed the importance of the young team learning how to win and not getting used to losing, though obviously the organization is in for more growing pains during the rebuild process.
The concerning thing about the White Sox is with the exception of Lopez no one is improving/developing.
have to remember that some of these players are in their early 20’s and need time to adjust to higher levels. they have the luxury of waiting right now. otherwise they can add them as trade bait for more established players.
Agreed. Moncada is really concerning. I know he’s young and there’s still plenty of time for him to right he ship (the same applies to many of their young guys) but as a Sox fan, you always have to wonder if their young talent is next in line to be ruined by the player development which has been subpar for years and years
not trying to be overly optimistic, but you have to remember that they overhauled their player development over the last few years. kids seem to be playing well in the minors, but the major league team is struggling. maybe a change is due in the hitting department on the southside.
The most disconcerting thing to me is that none of the young players does anything particularly well, consistently. An exception to that may be Engel’s defense in center field.
Avi’s been hurt, but he is someone I’m curious to watch over the next few months and see if he can duplicate some of his success from past year. Early returns are that he is doing so.
Unfortunately, Moncada has regressed in more areas than he has progressed in. His defense, in particular is unnerving. Anderson is proving to be a streaky hitter with sub par defensive skills, and Giolito has been a bitter disappointment. The pitching staff as a collective hasn’t been great, as their control is simply atrocious, walking more batters than nearly everyone in the league.
There have been some player improvements; Yolmer has shown he can be a valuable utility player. Adam Engel is hitting in the 220s, which for a guy hitting 160 for 3 months, is a solid improvement. Reynaldo Lopez looks excellent. Even Covey had a solid stretch, though may have come back down to earth a bit recently. But far too few success in general, and combine that with all the injuries to the future stars of this team, it has been a disappointing season, despite the rebuild.
As a Red Sox fan, I will never be able to read an article about Travis Shaw without my stomach cringing thinking about that trade
Yes as a Brewer supporter, I’d like to thank the Red Sox for the nice gift.
Just remember Heathcliff Slocumb.
You’ll feel better!
Just shows how Dozier is terrible in the clutch. Not only is he the worst on baseball for the last 5 seasons in close and late clutch hitting, he isn’t even clutch in his own impending free agency.
He’ll be lucky to get 3 million per year next year. Twins would be wise to just let him walk…DO NOT give him a qualifying offer….no, Derrick and Thad….no….bad…no….
The good thing for Brian is that being clutch isn’t really real
Hitting with risp is would be considered hitting in clutch situations. So kinda disagree with you.
There’s no compelling statistical evidence that “clutch” (or RISP) hitting exists.
with the exception of David Ortiz. I forget what the stats were and I’m sure it was overly scientific but I think it was that Sports Science show did something on this and it showed that Ortiz was the only player ever to have much better numbers in “clutch” spots compared to his baseline. This was also before he retired so that could have easily changed.
Not true. You can measure someones batting average in “close and late” situations, and win probability added measures a players value in important situations, i.e. close games, late in the game with runners on situations, etc. Dozier has a historically bad BA in close and late situations throughout his whole career and has the worst win probability added on the Twins team this year.
Not true. You can measure someones batting average in “close and late” situations, and win probability added measures a players value in important situations, i.e. close games, late in the game with runners on, etc. Dozier has a historically bad BA in close and late situations throughout his whole career and has the worst win probability added on the Twins team this year.
The Dodgers really wanted Dozier last year, and I thought it was a no-brainer that they’d sign him as a FA this winter. Not sure LAD will even pursue him now at a lesser cost in terms of prospects given his eroding production levels. Dozier isn’t enough of an improvement over Forsythe to justify that acquisition.
If Chad Kuhl gets his TJ surgery now, he would be able to pitch again in 2020 when they might actually need him.
Two weeks ago I would have been opposed to trading Cervelli, but the play of Elias Diaz would lead me to entertain offers, at least.
If the Pirates ARE good enough in 2020 to need a good pitcher, they will need someone better than Kuhl.
As for Cervelli, there are no reasons not to trade him. He’s making a ton of money for someone made of glass, and yes Diaz has looked good.
I think that that is one of the reasons that they have played Diaz so much and not given Stallings a chance.They want to see if he can handle it full time.He has made a lot of errors though.
In addition,Diaz has been their best hitter of late,which is damning with faint praise.
I still would not just give Cervelli away as he has been a good catcher when healthy for the Pirates.Hopefully there will be several teams bidding on his services but I am afraid that his injury history will tone down the attractiveness of acquiring him.
Eduardo Escobar could be a good trade target for the Brewers, it’s just too bad for them that he hasn’t played more 2B at the major-league level.
The Brewers literally are running a merry ground at 2nd and SS and need to stabilize both positions.
What is a “merry ground”?
I think he meqnt to say “miracle around”
merry-go-round?
Marry-Gogh-Wownd*
Escobar could play SS and move Miller over to 2B. I know neither are great defensive SS, but Escobar would be a slight improvement over Miller.
I keep saying……
The Twins front office came into 2018 knowing they were really in rebuilding mode.
They did the Mark Shapiro thing which their head baseball guy learned working for the Indians – sign a few free agents cheap that no one wants during the off-season, then tell the fans (through the media) that the team is a darkhorse to win the division or a wild card spot to sell some tickets. Meanwhile, scout the deadline buyers for prospects ASAP. Same thing Shapiro has done in Toronto this year.
Unfortunately, the Twins and Jays don’t have a Terry Francona baseball guy to save a front office obsessed with offensive stats, spin rates, average pitch speed, exit velocity, vertical batted ball (or something like that), and whatever new fad measurement comes out after the 2018 season. Shapiro and Antonetti went around in circles with the Indians until Tito came on board as manager and Mickey Callaway was brought in as pitching coach. Note how Paul Monitor and John Gibbons are uninvolved spec spectators in the dugout, pretty much there to argue umps calls, and have one of their coaches check with the front office replay crew to see if they should request a challenge. Expect the Twins and Jays to continue to go in circles for years.
“Unfortunately, the Twins and Jays don’t have a Terry Franconia baseball guy to save a front office obsessed with offensive state, spin rates, average pitch speed, exit velocity, . . . and whatever new fad measurement comes out after the 2018 season.
Wow, you sure managed to squeeze a lot of garbage into a small space. Does the new math give you trouble as well. Not sure why you are bragging about taking the anti-science position, but have at it.
Right……
1. The cutting edge / brilliant Indians front office could not produce wins until Tito showed up and told them that it was OK to steal, bunt, and hit-and-run at times – especially when the team didn’t have a payroll to stack the line-up with power hitters. He also had to work with the MBA’s throughout the organization on how to properly develop prospects.
2. The sociological history regarding the use of computers in business is that the first ones in get a leg up. But within 5-10 years it becomes a part of the industry, and all companies are using it…..pretty much the same way.
So while it might be fun to talk about your analytic front office vs. my analytic front office, the problem is that MLB is selling a sport, not “science”. This analytic approach has limited what players are allowed to do on the field. It has squeezed out the artistry of what used to be a sport, and turned it into a fast food restaurant assembly line. All teams now play the same style – i.e. pitchers throw as hard as they can for a set amount of pitches, batters work the count and swing as hard as they can as they can. The agents and front offices tell the players what stats to pad to get a bigger contract. The object is not to win games, it’s to pad stats.
One year I looked up the WAR’s that players had accumulated playing for the individual teams (most players spend only a fraction of a year with a team). I added up the teams WAR’s for the top 3 teams in each of the 6 divisions. Ah-HA…..only 2 of the 6 divisions aligned in order of WAR’s and wins. In one division the team with the top WAR finished 3rd, and the team with the 3rd best WAR won the division. Hence the value of a real baseball person like Francona. But the real ones are being driven out by the control freaks in the front offices and being replaced by middle-managers that follow orders. Fantasy League for real.
This was close to the dumbest thing I’ve read posted on an MLBTR article. Congratulations, I always thought Dionis would stand alone.
RIGHT!
You go back to playing baseball on your computer.
I’ve spoken with retired players, coaches, and managers. They have never seen the sport played so poorly; or players get injured and burned out so quickly.
Couple items:
1) I’ve very doubtful that Joe Mauer would waive his no-trade clause. He is a Twins legacy player who plays a quality first base and has one of the best BAs on the team (I know, that isn’t saying much these days).
2) No mention of RHP Gibson? Gibson is under control through next season and gives a contending team a solid middle-to-late rotation pitcher. His ERA fluctuates between. 3.50 to 3.75
3) Escobar is a terrific player who plays multiple IF positions and carries a solid .270 BA. He is also a chemistry guy who makes everyone else better. There are contending teams who need that type of spark.
4) As for Dosier, he’s streaky. In recent seasons he’s clubbed 30+ HRs — not bad for a 2B
Legacy or not, he might want to actually play on a winning team in the twilight of his career which doesn’t look likely if he stays on the twins.
6’4″ 235 lbs. 2nd baseman Travis Shaw. you know back in my day we reserved the middle infield for little guys like Alex Rodriguez and Cal Ripken.
Those guys were shortstops.I have never heard of a second baseman nearly that big.
It boggles my mind that most organizations think that you can throw someone into a brand new position in the ML and he can learn it in a few weeks.
Williams is a bonehead!!! Another Reinsdorf diaper changer
Did anyone actually read Kenny Williams’ quote? What the hell does that even mean?
I had an aneurysm reading it
Yeah, remember this is the same genius that, among his many horrendous trades, traded a young up and coming Eduardo Escobar for an over the hill Liriano back in 2012.
Im not surprised by anything coming out of this guys trap. Im just surprised he is still in the org at all.
Nice to see all the Moncada ‘love’ by supposed fans. He is 23 years old, people. I have had my doubts, but not ready to resign him to the scrapheap just yet. I’m not an Avi fan by any stretch but Avi is playing better defensively, is hitting welll, and it took him til he was 26-27 to do it.
As for their fielding, some of the errors by these guys (Anderson and Moncada) also are on balls that average players rarely get to. As for routine ones, they will learn to be better positioned to get the routine grounders. They have all season to learn this and it appears Anderson has been better at fielding as the season has gone on.
What concerns me is if the player does not learn from this, but it appears both Anderson and Moncada are developing.
It does not help when their development is at the MLB level instead of AA or AAA where those miscues are rarely seen..