Twins Cutting Payroll

[nate82]

None of the players mentioned would even be desirable but now I think the Twins would really be interested in Peralta if they are looking at cutting payroll and won't be bringing back Gray it sounds like.  I would still do this trade with the Twins: Peralta to the Twins for Brooks Lee, Soto (SP) and Festa (SP).

The one veteran that might interest the Brewers is 2B Jorge Polanco. He has two options remaining on the contract he signed in 2019; a $10.5 million option in 2024 and a $12 million option in 2025. Polanco posted a 115 OPS+ in 2023.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-rumors-yankees-eye-jordan-montgomery-reunion-plus-cody-bellinger-and-juan-soto-twins-could-cut-payroll/

Quote

Twins looking to cut payroll

The reigning AL Central champs are looking to shed some salary obligations for 2024, Robert Murray reports. As Murray notes, that could lead to the Twins' deciding to shop veteran catcher Christan Vazquez, who's coming off a disappointing season and is owed $10 million for each of the next two years. Outfielder Max Kepler is another potential trade candidate for Minnesota. Right now the Twins have less than $100 million committed in salary for 2024, and ace Sonny Gray is a free agent and may be headed elsewhere.

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[Brock Beauchamp]

I think that deal for Peralta is pretty close to what it will take to move him, though I'm not sure the Brewers are interested in dealing Freddy.

From both sides' perspective, the deal makes quite a bit of sense, though.

[edfunderburk]

4 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I think that deal for Peralta is pretty close to what it will take to move him, though I'm not sure the Brewers are interested in dealing Freddy.

From both sides' perspective, the deal makes quite a bit of sense, though.

Twins fan response 🤢

[Brock Beauchamp]

16 minutes ago, edfunderburk said:

Twins fan response 🤢

No, that's a fair deal for Peralta. Brooks Lee is a top-50 global prospect that's likely to make his debut in 2024. Soto and Raya are pretty good prospects with upside.

And the trade was suggested by someone else, not me.

How do I know it's a pretty fair deal? I proposed a very similar Lee+ deal at Twins Daily and Twins fans were gnashing their teeth over how lop-sided it was because Freddy Peralta "isn't that good".

[SF70]

13 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

No, that's a fair deal for Peralta. Brooks Lee is a top-50 global prospect that's likely to make his debut in 2024. Soto and Raya are pretty good prospects with upside.

And the trade was suggested by someone else, not me.

How do I know it's a pretty fair deal? I proposed a very similar Lee+ deal at Twins Daily and Twins fans were gnashing their teeth over how lop-sided it was because Freddy Peralta "isn't that good".

The Brewers would never move Peralta for the return you are proposing. Lee is a great prospect, but the pitchers are either kinda meh (Raya) or way too far away from the bigs (Soto).

The combination of stuff, contract and control (3 years) make Peralta incredibly valuable and if the team did indeed decide to offer him around the league he would return a lot more than Lee-Soto-Raya.

 

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 hour ago, SF70 said:

The Brewers would never move Peralta for the return you are proposing. Lee is a great prospect, but the pitchers are either kinda meh (Raya) or way too far away from the bigs (Soto).

The combination of stuff, contract and control (3 years) make Peralta incredibly valuable and if the team did indeed decide to offer him around the league he would return a lot more than Lee-Soto-Raya.

 

Maybe? But MLB players just don’t bring back the prospect hauls they used to. Personally, and as I said earlier in this thread, I think Peralta has the same value 12 months from now that he has today. Length of contract seems to bring diminishing returns past a certain point. If the Brewers want to compete in 2024, they should consider keeping Peralta for one more season and reevaluate next winter.

As for Raya and Soto, they’re in the ballpark of return value in an abstract sense. The actual nuts and bolts come down to how the Twins and Brewers view each. Either team could be high or low on each of them, what we think doesn’t really matter much when it comes to specific names. Change Raya to a different name, maybe the Brewers like that better but looks worse on paper. 

[Brewcrew82]

Honestly, the Brewers wouldn't be off base to ask for Walker Jenkins from the Twins. Jenkins and Festa and I'd do it. 

[MNBrew]

Yes, the Twins are interested in a lower 2024 payroll.  But they were a playoff team with every intent of contending again, and as such are not just looking to sluff off their better players, meaning they like Polanco for the same reasons we do.  That's why the names of Vazquez & Kepler are mentioned.

[Brock Beauchamp]

7 hours ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Honestly, the Brewers wouldn't be off base to ask for Walker Jenkins from the Twins. Jenkins and Festa and I'd do it. 

Jenkins has the upside but he’s still a ways from the majors. But it’s a fair ask. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

6 hours ago, MNBrew said:

Yes, the Twins are interested in a lower 2024 payroll.  But they were a playoff team with every intent of contending again, and as such are not just looking to sluff off their better players, meaning they like Polanco for the same reasons we do.  That's why the names of Vazquez & Kepler are mentioned.

Polanco is somewhat expendable. The Twins also have Julien at second and Lewis at third while Lee looks to make his debut some time in 2024. They have more viable infielders than infield positions to play. 

[Playing Catch]

Vazquez, Polanco, Varland and Lee for Burnes and Ethan Small.

[Fear The Chorizo]

If they really wanted to shed payroll, the Twins should've not given Correa a full NTC to go along with the $30+M annual salary they're giving him the next handful of seasons to miss at least a month of each year and gradually decline offensively with the contract they just signed him to last offseason.

 

 

 

[Devinep]

Polanco makes sense to upgrade 2B and give turang the chance to learn how to hit in AAA/be depth. The twins also make some sense as a trade target with Polanco being somewhat expendable due  to their infield surplus. 
 

Plus, maybe Weimer would Interest them in a trade as a Michael A Taylor replacement with their lefty-heavy OF