The Twins may not be done upgrading their roster, even after the surprise addition of Carlos Correa overnight. The Twins are talking with the A’s about the availability of Frankie Montas, per Marly Rivera of ESPN (via Twitter).
If there’s an area of the roster that still needs some help, it’s the rotation, even after last week’s acquisition of Sonny Gray. Montas would add significant stability to a rotation that mostly consists of question marks after Gray. Montas, who turns 29 on Monday, is coming off a career year in which he posted a 3.37 ERA/3.37 FIP over a career-high 187 innings while making 32 starts. It was the first time he eclipsed the 100-inning mark in a single season.
That Montas will be dealt is all but a foregone conclusion now that the Athletics have already sent Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, and Chris Bassitt packing. Now, it’s just a matter of finding the right offer. With the Twins shifting into full-go mode, they might be motivated to meet Oakland’s demands.
After Gray, the Twins are looking at a field of rotation candidates that includes veteran Dylan Bundy, and then a host of arms with little rotation experience, such as Bailey Ober, Joe Ryan, Randy Dobnak, Lewis Thorpe, Griffin Jax, Drew Strotman, Cole Sands, and Jhoan Duran. Ryan and Strotman were both acquired as part of last year’s sell-off, but both will need time to establish themselves as consistent big leaguers.
Balazovic and Wallner for Montas?
Probably be Austin Martin, Balazovic + for Montas and Manea.
If youre going to go for it go for it.
They need at least 2 starters to go along with Sonny Gray.
Twins have put themselves in weird no mans land where theyre clearly not committed to a rebuild but theyre not committed yet to going for it all.
But if youre going to sign correa and trade for gray might as well go for it. Might as well call up the mets about Jeff McNeil and JD Davis as well while youre at it for 3B and DH.
You had me until the Davis/Mcniel, neither of them are better than Gio/Arraez for 3B or Sano/Sanchez for DH
Really?
Sanchez hit .204/.307/.423 last year
Davis hit .285/.384/.436
Sano hit .223/.312/.466
I seriously hope the twins arent planning to put jesus montero 2.0 behind the plate a lot.
McNeil would supplant Urshela whos the projected 3B. Both had down years last year but McNeil offers higher upside based off previous production.
Davis has better numbers than I thought
That’s the Sanchise baby!
“A weird no mans land”= trying to win games.
“A weird no mans land” = not a playoff contender let alone a world series contender with the current offense and rotation . Not bad enough to tank.
You just described the last 30 years of Twins baseball.
not even close
Kepler over Balv the first pitcher on your list. He has to much promise
Who is playing for Oakland next year?
Oakland will be in the playoffs in 2024.
LOL
@A’sfaninUk- The A’s will definitely make the playoffs in 2044.
The Oakland AAA’s
With each trade I am one step closer to playing for the Oakland Athletics.
All of your jokes are too rich for the A’s
That depends; will you play for league minimum?
Any one want to bay clean up for our Rex league softball team? The A’s just picked up our best hitter to start at 3rd base.
Royce Lewis and Nick Gordon for Montas?
You gotta offer someone who’s had a good last couple years. Can’t just trade off the guys who don’t look promising anymore. Maybe arraez, kiriloff and sands/canterino
You’re joking, right?
@buffalonichols – just FYI, these comments bring zero to any convo, please just dont bother saying worthless stuff like this in future ok thanks bye.
Are you talking about your own comments? Because Royce Lewis and Nick Gordon would have the A’s laughing the Twins off the phone.
Actually go big, there is a match here:
Sean Murphy, Frankie Montas, Sean Manaea and Lou Trivino
for
Alex Kirilloff, Royce Lewis, Austin Martin, Nick Gordon, Jordan Balazovic, Brent Rooker and Simeon Woods Richardson – Luis Arraez to LF, Gary Sanchez to full time DH, where he belongs.
Twins fans you get maybe the best C in MLB here, and two frontline SPs with playoff experience, along with a proven closer. What you think?
There are four better catchers than Murphy easily
Realmuto only one close – you dont know ball, thanks for playing.
“Realmoto only one close” – haha. All of the below five are at least “close” and I would slot Murphy in fourth on that list.
Will Smith
Salvador Perez
J.T. Realmoto
Yasmani Grindahl
Willson Contreras
mlb.com/news/top-10-catchers-for-2022-discussion
Realmuto, W.Smith, S.Perez, Grandal, W.Contreras… and at least half a dozen prospect catchers who could be better long-term options — Rutschman, Moreno, Alvarez, Campusano, Davis, Melendez, Ruiz, and the A’s own Soderstrom.
It’s fine to be a homer, but are you sure you know ball?
So does Grandal and Smith no longer exist? Murph might be a better defender than both, but neither Grandal nor Smith are bad behind the dish and both, especially Smith, are better hitters.
the point is, murphy is a top five catcher and any team other than the phillies and dodgers would be lying if they said their catcher had more value. if we are finding the twins a catcher there is no better buy than murphy, even if he is “only” a top five catcher
3 of those catchers are top dollar catchers and Murphy is not even arbitration years reached. Of all 5 Murphy is the youngest so he has the most years left behind the plate still available. So of your list Murphy would rank #4 ahead of Smith and Grindahl and even with Conteras
Well first, Murphy isn’t the youngest. He’s 27 and Smith is 26. Two, there’s a difference between best player and player with the most value. Grandal and Smith are objectively better overall players. Three, both Murphy and Smith haven’t reached arbitration. Next year will be both their first year through the arb process.
Murphy’s is much better defensively than Smith or Grandal. When you are talking catching you want defense or offense. While Smith and Grandal are better right now offensively but Murphy is far above superior to their defense. .
Over Grandal, maybe. But I think you’re selling Smith short. Smith had +5 DRS and +1.8 framing runs. Considering the difference between Murphy and Smith offensively per wRC+ is about the same as Murphy and David Fletcher, I’m gonna take Smith. You get plus defense and a 130 wRC+ batter with 25 home run power.
A’sFaninUK. Please, he hit 219 last year and that’s down from 245, and 233. So his hitting is coming down. 81 career rbi, Grandal has gotten that many RBIs in 1 year. Sanchez has more RBIs too. In his MLB career he’s played 156 games and that includes DHing. He’s a 1 sided catcher, D only. Will Smith had 76 RBIs last year.
I’m not saying he’s the best catcher, but his hitting isn’t “coming down”. He’s 27, not 37. It’s 2022, we thankfully don’t only evaluate players on BA and RBI’s anymore.
Obviously, there’s more adjustment time needed for a catcher. This is an important year for his career.
Try all you want but Murphy is a much better defender than Smith. Smith has a average arm while Murphy has one of the best arms in baseball. Murphy is playing a defense first position. So you are choosing offense over defense.
Definitley isn’t a a one-dimensional player. Career 109 wRC+ and .752 OPS. He had a down year last season but was still roughly a league average hitter.
Yes, Murphy is a much better defender than Smith, but you’re still selling Smith short. +5 DRS and +1.3 framing runs is nothing to scoff at when he has a 130+ wRC+.
Look, admittedly, I’m a Twins fan and usually fans are guilty of overrating their own prospects, but that ask is excessive and a bit bonkers. That’s the top 4 prospects in the organization as well as Kiriloff who was recently a top 25 global prospect and has shown he can play. I think considering that Montas has 2 yrs of team control and Manaea will be a FA after this season, that price is too high. FO would be dumb to give in to those kind of demands.
They’d better get him..or they’ll be in the same place as the Phillies..lots of 9-7 losses
They will be 9-7 wins.
After last year, Twins fans are well accustomed to 9-7 losses
Twins are going the LA Rams route of all in for one season. Whether Correa leaves after one year or not, it won’t matter if they win a WS title.
Bold moves!!
The Braves need one more starter…
With all they gave up for Olson, another mid range prospect should’ve been enough to get Months or Manaea.
MLBTR readers request the A’s to trade Montas and Manaea immediately so there’s an end to these stories.
yep, I think every team has been reported going after montas at this point
Surely Larnach/Kiriloff would be a part of the return and be the A’s starting LF. Add in a prospect (SP Balazovic?) and Luis Arraez to plug in as their starting 2B and that seems like a fair deal for both sides. Keep in mind Minnesota needs to clear 40 man spots and Oakland has some available, so a 3-for-1 also makes sense.
Getting rid of established MLB players would make no sense. If they do trade for Montas, it would be prospects
Larnach and Kiriloff are essentially still prospects, along with Balazovic. Arraez is cheap filler that has become extraneous in Minnesota with their additions and currently Oakland has nobody to plug that gap, unless you count utility man Tony Kemp. The primary value is in the first two players.
I already know the A’s will ask for all of the Yankees best prospects but will probably get less from another team lol
NYY have never indicated they are willing to trade any of their top prospects. NYY have the prospects to get a trade done but are they willing to trade a top 100 prospect?
The only ones that know in the end are Beane and cashman
Tyler Soderstrom and Shea Langeliers are better prospects than anyone the Yankees have
The Yankees best prospects are a bag and any number of balls. None of them ever amount to much. Teams know that. So they pass.
What a hilariously sad and Yankee hated filled take this is
Joseph: what’s particularly funny is that they automatically hate their prospects too…simply because the Yankees draft or trade for them.
I look forward to A’sfan prospect list since he’s a high ranking scout apparently.
Definitley not over Volpe.
Yup lol happens all the time with the Dodgers too. Must be why they decided to just stop trading and sign the hell out of free agents
@Joesph Gonzalez- after the A’s rejected the Yankees prospects like Mike Sweeney, Austin Wells, and Alexander Vargas, I feel the Yankees should forget about Frankie Montas or Sean Manaea and concentrate on Luis Castillo. He probably would be cheaper.
Just wanna say congrats to the Twins and their Fans for landing Correa. Your GM has made some ballsy moves.
It was a good move but ballsy ? There is hardly any risk in it lol
There is certainly risk. If Correa plays well, he’s gone after 1 year. If he’s injured or underperforms, the Twins are saddled with a huge contract for the next two years. The best Minnesota can hope for is it being a 1 year deal.
Oh no their multi billionaire owner would have to pay Correa his remaining contract for only 2 more years if he falters. That will hurt him so much lol
Twins setting the hot stove ablaze right now, keep it coming. AL Central gonna be a fun division to watch this year.
We have seen Oakland take a quantity over quality approach (at least in terms of prospect rankings) in the past. This seems like something the White Sox should get in on.
The White Sox probably never trading with Beane again after the Shark disaster lol
I believe White Sox will sneak in and land Montas.
based on what?
Considering how there is no starting pitcher like Montas with 2 years of arbitration on the market you know they trade will have some quality young players going to Oakland. Somebody will end up over paying for his services.
I think Balazovic will see time this year as well.
When did the Twins become the Yankees and the Yankees the Twins. What is going on?!
You do know our team’s payroll is huge right ?
Payroll doesn’t mean they’re good at what they do though. Look at the profile too. Their payroll compared to profit/revenue proportion relative to the Twins is also much greater.
My main point though, we don’t have a true SS, and need one. We don’t have a starting C and need one. We could probably use another SP too, and when opportunities arise like this, and you’re in a championship window, you fill the need.
Yankees have missed out on literally everyone they’ve gone after in FA. Our big offseason after waiting years and getting under the CBT is……. Rizzo, our 3rd choice for 1B? A $16M expenditure? That’s laughable.
I don’t disagree with that but I just hate when some act like the Yankees are so cheap when they have one of the biggest payrolls in the game. Plus they are trying to extend judge
That being said around 85% of the current payroll will be off the books by the end of 2023 and I would not be surprised if they take aim at Soto hardcore. Plus things will be even better if guys like volpe become what the Yankees hope they can turn into
Cubs probably upped the price for Willson once Sanchez was sent packing. Eventually they will settle on a deal and you’ll have Contrer-zzo. Cubs will settle for four 18-19 year olds hoping one will pan out. Willson is a solid backstop if Boone keeps him rested.
I really don’t understand the issue with IKF at short, it’s automatically an upgrade. It’s ok to have at least a few contact hitters.
IFK is going to make a lot of fans here in Yankee land me thinks
Only 1 year of Manaea and 2 years of Montas, but Twins farm is pretty deep and Mr Beane knows it. Arraez is probably moving, with Correa/Polanco set in the middle infield, even though Oakland’s ask will be Miranda. Twins won’t move him, but they have enough to get a package done.
To all that were howling about the Correa signing and how lousy the Twins rotation was – didn’t it seem obvious they were not done shopping? A pitching move or two like this could even tempt Correa to stick around for awhile.
With Correa in the fold, has to be one of Lewis or Martin you’d think.
Correa’s contract does come with the opt outs after this season and next season. There is no guarentee that he stays after this year. I could see them dealing Lewis, but they’re definitley going to at least keep one in the event that Correa opts out.
The A’s would be foolish not to deal them now, especially manaea as he only has 1 year of control left
No foolish is trading Olsen, Chapman, Bassit, Montas, and manaea when you are a contender.
They didn’t win with those guys and we’re not going to extend them so there was no point in not cashing in on the trade chips they have
The comment that a career-high 187 innings “was the first time he eclipsed the 100-inning mark in a single season” makes it sound like there was a gigantic increase in innings and is actually wrong. Yes, a big increase from the abbreviated 2020 to 2021, but in fact, considering minor league innings Montas pitched 127 in 2015 and 136.2 in 2018.
Wow,136 whole innings? That’s a whopping 4 1/3 vs per start- on the off chance he lasts the entire season.
I Am Ironman!!
And why stop with Oakland? Miami needs CF help, and have some nice controllable pitchers. Could they make use of Lewis, or Celestino, or Kepler, or Martin…?
Not sure Celestino gets you anything and same with Lewis until he proves he’s healthy. Martin on the other hand…
I’d trade Both Montas and Manaea for Larnarch, Ryan and Balazovic.
Twins wont trade Ryan or at least I don’t see it for 1 yr of manea
The Twins need to ask the Angels how this thing works out when you combine a bunch of All-Star bats with a pitching rotation that is counting heavily on Dylan Bundy to produce with one of the rotation slots.
As an A’s man I’m offering Frankie Montas , and Lou Trevino for Royce Lewis , and Jordan Balazovic
It’s a solid offer , one the Twins would no doubt at least consider….
Whats ur View on Larnach and maybe Gordon instead of Lewis ?
Agree to take on the contract of OF Stephen Piscotty in addition to getting Montas. That $7 M savings off of Oakland’s 2022 payroll should help to grease the wheels in the Twins favor when it comes to reaching an agreement and should lower the return back to Oakland..
Interesting idea. I wonder if they did if they would just cut him and take on the dead money. In my mind, if that moves the needle on the prospect ask, it’s possibly worth it. But doing so, would limit what they could do for trades at the deadline if they are buyers (unless ownership is willing to take payroll to it’s highest level ever).
A trade idea that finally makes sense on here.
A’s know what they have with Montas. They also have the market cornered. SOMEONE will overpay. You’re not getting Montas AND Manaea without getting embarrassed. I wonder if the Twins had this Correa goal in mind when they traded for Gray…surely they made some decent proposal for Castillo. Why haven’t they the A’s : “this was almost enough to get Castillo. A 29 year old with multiple great seasons. It’s enough to get the 29 year old with 1.”
Go for it Twins. Your fans deserve to see a deep October run.
This just in, Japanese league teams interested in Montas and Manaea.
Somebody please make a trade already. I don’t even care who!
I guarantee no one expected Correa to be looking for the short term deal. This is reactionary, not planned. Early in the off season, NYY, PHI, HOU, STL may all have been trying to get him for a short deal. Now, money has been spent, other players acquired, and there has been more time to watch the prospects. Those teams were out. Minnesota gets him, but its too late to add the pitching they need.
If they get Montas, I think that is enough to make a go of it.
The Twins really don’t match up with the A’s for a trade. The Twins need pitching but several of their top prospects are pitchers who are due to make their debut this season. Martin and Lewis don’t make sense with the A’s acquiring Pache and having the best defensive SS in the minors with Nick Allen almost ready. I am sure the A’s could load up at SS, CF and 3B but why? A 3 team deal seems like the only way around this. With Carlos Correa signing the AL West just got very tepid. The A’s could hang on until the trade deadline and see where they are at – I disagree that the A’s making further trades is a forgone conclusion unless they are bowled over like the bundle they got for Olson.
Having athletic guys that are good up the middle is a valuable organizational asset. In cases like these get the best players you can and worry about the positional things later on.
How is that not a match? Twins deal some “almost ready” cheap controllable pitching to backfill Oakland’s contractually limited “ready to rock now” pitching. Seems both needs are met.
Lewis and Martin are not considered locks at SS, so neither would necessarily disrupt that positional flow from the A’s minors. Maybe one fits 2B. Speaking of which, hitting whiz L Arraez is also likely available.
Lastly, Minny has nice lefthanded corner OF bats that can be offered. They also could use a catcher. Oakland has loaded up there recently. Maybe a 3M deal to Twins with Montas, Manaea, Murphy?
Potential trades between these two teams match up fine.
I have this Trade pegged as
GILBERTO Celestino AAA, Nick Gordon Mlb , Cole Sands AAA, and Simeon Woods Richardson AA
For
Montas
If the As would trade Twins C Murphy and maybe 1 Reliever too
Could probably fetch Larnach and either Balazovic or Canterino
GUYS I’m telling you Canterino is one of the 5 MOST fun pitchers to watch in the Entire Sport atm…..