The FO has other wins though, so we need to be a good ump and call balls and strikes as we see them. It’s their job to know - especially when it’s so evident right out of the gate. Sorry, I do not give a pass to our FO on this one for the “who could’ve known” argument. It has been a bad trade - right from the start - in every respect thus far. For example, could they have been used to package with another player, say a Kepler, for a different pitching asset, say even a Pablo Lopez?

And no mistake, they were valuable assets. The “assets” given up in the Mahle trade could have been deployed elsewhere. Let's rest some more and see what happens? Seems like something is wrong in there. I was worried about reoccurrence as we never really got any indication of what the problem was. Unfortunate result so far but I'd do something similar again this year. If you knew he was going to have arm troubles kudos to you. Those guys were going somewhere else regardless, they were a tier below Lewis, Lee, Martin and Julien. If you are calling it a bad trade it's for the injury, not the prospects sent. Now, who is going to be upset if the Twins trade Brooks Lee, Marco Raya, and Noah Miller in July? Sometimes trades work and other times not, but it remains a solid way to fill holes on a roster. The trade of Arraez for Pablo Lopez was another big gamble, especially if suddenly an elbow goes ouch. The Twins gave up quite a bit to get Jorge Lopez from Baltimore. Gray for Petty was a risky but good trade. Sometimes a team needs to part with good players to get guys they believe will help them more. Where does he play though? Do we bench Buxton? We cannot trade him due to the no trade clause in his contract. I say that and early last season I was very enamored with CES and his bat. I'm not sure either player would fit on the 40 person roster.

What is difficult to understand is how fans are suggesting that Steer or CES are the missing piece for the Twins. I would have offered a ton more for Luis Castillo, which is a gamble too. So, yes, I was a fan of the trade for pitching, even if it was Mahle. Pitching is tough to get and no team has enough it seems (ok, maybe the Atros). I have never been a fan of Mahle but was pleased the Twins traded for him. Best platoon player got hit by pitch in the face. On pace for 95 wins after April & our offense has been anemic at times (2B & 1B began year at AAA) & two starting pitchers have had mediocre to bad starts to the season. We can see that after Pablo signed his extension he’s not really Superman, just another 2-3 starter like Gray & Ryan. Always risk but 2 years at $42M seems to make sense. Surely doesn’t feel like a guy we want to try & extend.Įxtend Gray while he’ll still talk to us. 12-18 quality starts helps us keep pace, not the end of the world. He can help us even if he sits a couple times this year for 3 weeks. He’s thrown well enough for a 4/5 starter this year. This new issue seems to be elbow & not shoulder……have to just wait & see. Mahle wouldn’t have helped enough last year - no foul. Live & learn - I like our FO & we did what we thought would work out. Now we’re hoping we can replace Arraez’ offense with a guy (prospect) we could have traded to Cinti.

They are completely different guys……….if that happens, we re-signed Castillo - don’t have López & still have Arraez. Live in Cincinnati - last summer I was hoping we’d trade whoever needed to get Castillo instead of Mahle. Not Great American Ballpark’s fault - he gave up 3 HR in his Target Field debut last year…….leading Twin’s starter this year with 5 HR. Too many pitches per inning (no guts) & too many HR. They knew he was just average going forward.

Bust a move 4 computer trade in