Completely disagree What this team needs is young cheap controllable talent. Including salary dumps in deals with high value tradable stars to open payroll space to sign expensive players who fit Crane's model: guys willing to sign for 5 or fewer years i.e. older and/or mid level FAs is just a bandaid that will no longer stop the hemorrhaging in 1-2 years. If you are trading Tucker and or Framber - get the best talent possible. Don't dillute that by trying to shed salary.
I would guess Tucker returns some controllable talent. A core for the next 4-5 years of Diaz, Yordan, Arrighetti, Brown, Pena, Bregman, Framber and Altuve allows you to be average in the other positions without missing a beat if 2 or 3 prospects work out. 3 SPs and 5 good hitters is a hell of a core. No hemorrhaging needed. With Abreu and Hader in the back end, Dana just needs 2 of Dezenzo, Melton, the Tucker addition, Baez, or Matthews to work out.
Significantly lowering the odds for 2025 while also not really raising the odds for the subsequent years (but maybe avoiding the bottoming out) isn’t the strategy they’re looking for. have to optimize the prime years of Altuve/yordan. Both will decline (either performance or health or both) 2026 and beyond.
Digging deeper into Jorge Polanco, he’s had 4 of 9 seasons with xwOBA >.340 (Bregman projects for xwOBA of .342 next season). His EV 88, Max EV 111 for his career are higher than Bregman. For me, it’s not about whether he can be good. It’s about his price and whether he can actually play 3B. But he’s a low strikeout guy who hits the ball pretty hard.
They had that entire core this year plus an MVP-level hitter in Tucker and a Cy-Young level pitcher in Blanco (ie, better than what you'd expect from 2 prospects working out) and were kind of mediocre.
If he's healthy he can hit. The problem is his health, but it seems like the Twins have a lot of problems keeping their guys healthy. He's a worthy get if he's cheap enough. Also, there is this one... Altuve - 2B Polanco - 3B Alvarez - DH Diaz - C Bellinger - CF/1B FA - 1B/OF Dezenzo - LF/1B Pena - SS McCormick - OF It's not horrible.
I actually really like Polanco as the 9th-13th best position player on this team. The problem I have is if they sign him for 3b and then not bring much else in around him. He needs to be the 4th best position player they add. 3rd best would not be tragic, but maybe close.
The terrible start killed them. They were better than an 0-2 playoff team but the Tigers were the worst matchup in a short series. I think they were better than the runner up yankees but they messed around and didn't secure a bye.
Yes, the cubs have a really good top end of their farm system. IF Matt Shaw is an MLB Top 30 prospect and actually reminds me of Bregman in some ways, although he will probably strike out a bit more in the majors than Bregman does. He would be a great headliner for a Tucker trade. Cade Horton is an elite pitching prospect but I’d be really surprised if he was available. OF Owen Caissie, OF Kevin Alcantara, IF Cam Smith, and IF James Triantos are all a tier below Shaw but would be in the conversation for best prospect in Houston’s system. Chicago also has some really interesting pitching prospects further down on their list.
