Archer rounds out the rotation

(New Twin Chris Archer has an exchange of ideas with former Twin Eddie Rosario: https://www.mlb.com/video/rays-twins-benches-clear-c2273059183) 
 

The Twins finally got their man! The Twins have been tied to former Ray and Pirate Chris Archer since 2018, when Archer as coming off of a couple of All Star appearances, and was a sought after target for all of Major League Baseball. The Rays wanted Max Kepler as part of a trade, and eventually dealt him to the Pirates for Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows and Shane Baz, all of whom are now important elements of the Rays roster. Now that the Twins have signed Archer for a mere $3.5m, it seems like Minnesota got a bargain!

Of course, Archer is coming off of a couple of years fraught with injury. He played only one season with the Pirates before sitting out in 2020 with thoracic outlet syndrome. His 2021 return to Tampa was bogged down thanks to forearm tightness that severely shortened his season. Archer is now 33, and clearly damaged goods. 

Fortunately for all parties, each of these injuries are not career enders, and assuming what, exactly "forearm tightness" entails, Archer could be a prime candidate to bounce back. Surely, this is behind the rationale of signing Archer as opposed to Johnny Cueto, the other big named veteran still on the market. Cueto has less tread on his tires at this point, and a longer recent resume suggests that there isn't much more to expect out of him than the nearly 5.00 ERA he has put together in each of the last 3 years. There is a potential to be better from Archer.

Earlier today, Derek Falvey suggested that the Twins would be done making significant changes to the roster, owing to the proximity of opening day. 

While Derek Falvey said they would stay open-minded to the possibility of a trade for a starting pitcher, it sounds as if a trade is unlikely.

Falvey on the rotation: "It’s just at this late stage as we approach Opening Day, it feels like the group is probably in this room."

— Betsy Helfand (@betsyhelfand) March 29, 2022

This could, of course, be subterfuge, and the Twins might yet be interested in making a trade for one of the big two starters out of Oakland, but it might not be, either.

The Twins front office was hired on the promise they would develop a strong pipeline of pitching. We are all left with a lot of question marks, thanks to two very unusual seasons, consecutively, thanks to a season off and one marred by an excess of injuries. The organization has a better read on the pitching development than game logs or scouting reports, primarily because neither really exist for Twins prospects in the past couple of seasons.

On the surface, the Twins look like they need another pitcher to fill out the rotation confidently, This front office has shown an ability to avoid getting taken advantage of on the trade market, and are certainly avoiding paying a premium for another pitcher right now. They also are likely to put added value on the prospects in the system, which are probably closer to ready than anyone else knows for sure. 

It sure seems like Archer will be the last notable name added to the starting pitching pool. The Twins will hope to get the most out of him while they can, confident that they have young arms to backstop Archer should he falter, and the rest of the rotation. Looking at the high minors set of pitchers the Twins have, it seems unlikely that the Twins will feel compelled to make a trade for another starter unless things start going wrong with a lot of different players. Something might come along, too good to pass up, but right now, it feels like we should take Falvey at his word. Chris Archer will complete the Twins' starting rotation.

The Twins return to Rhino and Compass with blazing intensity

I thought that I had a whole lot to talk about when I got back from my vacation last week, after the Twins had moved swiftly out of the lockout to trade for Sonny Gray and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and then kicked it up a notch on the intensity meter hours before my flight, dealing Kiner-Falefa, Josh Donaldson and Ben Rortvedt to the Yankees for Giovany Urshela and Gary Sanchez. Wow. 

And then they signed Carlos Correa. There is a lot to talk about, so let's try to talk about all of it. 

All the moves the Twins made definitely made a good bit of sense, especially as they happened. Initially, they made a move for a shortstop they needed. Despite some sentiment about Mitch Garver and his value, he also doesn't have a long, consistent track record, thanks to some durability issues, and he is already on the wrong side of thirty. Ryan Jeffers is younger, and had a good debut, and Ben Rortvedt is a solid defensive backstop, so the Twins dealt from strength to get a need. Because of his value, Garver netted the Twins a starting shortstop and a pitching prospect who is now in the top 20 in the Twins organization. It was a solid move, and an indication that the Twins were earnest in their expectation of contention this season. Now that the teams had expressed their confidence in Jeffers at catcher, and secured a shortstop in Kiner-Falefa, it was time to grab a pitcher. 

So that they did, trading for Sonny Gray, a long time target, and now a former Cincinnati Red. They traded last year's first round pick Chase Petty for Gray and a prospect. Petty never really had the profile of a typical Falvey/Levine prospect, but he did have raw ability. It makes sense that the Twins designated him as a trade chip, as opposed to an arm for the future. They grabbed Gray, who has a similar profile to Jose Berrios, which leaves many to speculate as to why Berrios was given away in the first place. 

The move for Gray seems to illustrate what the front office said at the time Berrios was traded to Toronto. The Twins were blown away by the offer. Consider, the Twins received players who are now their #2 and #4 prospects, according to MLBPipeline. They traded away the player that became #5 for the Reds, and the Twins even pulled back a different prospect of their own. Berrios was traded because Toronto's offer was too good to refuse. The Twins replaced Berrios at a cost that was lower than what they received when he was traded away. The Twins had a pitcher and a shortstop, and they were in business

And then, like a thunderbolt, the Twins and Yankees matched up for an enormous trade, which sent away that new shortstop with the primary intent of also removing the cost commitment of Josh Donaldson. To make everything work, they also dealt Rortvedt, but received change of scenery candidate Gary Sanchez and glove forward third baseman Giovany Urshela. Sanchez is famous for his bat, and he will DH often because of that, but isn't much behind the plate. He's struggled in the last few years, but his first few seasons saw him hit over 30 home runs twice. He won't be the every day catcher in Minnesota, but at least 20 home runs should be anticipated. Sanchez is only on the books this season, but it should be noted that he is younger than Garver. 

Urshela will be here for a couple of years, barring a trade. He isn't the offensive force that a team hopes for from the hot corner, but he is competent enough to hit in the high .200s (he hit over .300 in 2019) with about a dozen home runs. He will  be good with the glove over at third as well, which is something the Twins valued about Donaldson. For the production the Twins received from Donaldson, this perhaps isn't going to end up being as big a step down as it appears at first. 

But still, Sanchez and Urshela have their obvious flaws, but the real win for the Twins was getting Donaldson's salary off the books. Everyone expected a big move was coming, and yes, it did.

Of course, everyone was thinking the Twins would add Trevor Story, but instead, they grabbed the top free agent on the board, signing Carlos Correa to a mutually beneficial three year deal with two opt out years. 

Correa was drafted one spot ahead of Byron Buxton, and has played in more playoff games than the entire Twins organization, ever. He is a highly skilled defender and a good offensive player, who, altogether, will amass about 5 wins above replacement this season. If he doesn't, then he might take another crack at it in a Twins uniform. If he does, then that is awesome. He might leave, but Royce Lewis and Austin Martin would be right there, ready to take over. 

The Twins might still want to add more pitching, but it is unlikely that there is a deal as nice as the Sonny Gray deal on the table for Minnesota for a starter. There might be some more relievers invited to camp. Even if nothing else happens, this has still been a whirlwind of roster building. 

Things are returning to normal

 These last few weeks have been incredible. The NCAA Tournament is starting, and we are all getting to enjoy the frantic nature of the opening of the NFL markets. Even baseball settled their grievances, and the offseason is resuming at a breakneck pace. In the greatest surprise, both teams favored by yours truly, the Colts and the Twins, have grabbed some of the biggest headlines of the era. The Colts traded their quarterback, Carson Wentz, to Washington, while the Twins... Wow.

Another thing that is bounding back to normal, or perhaps as a throwback, is that I am going to be an independent blogger once again. After bouncing from an association with Yardbarker, followed by time at The Sports Daily, I have discovered that I mostly just enjoy writing for myself, and for those closest to me. I'm not looking for a career in journalism, and I'm not relying on blogging to make money, so why not try to enjoy it? Anyways, here I am, back on Blogger.

You will probably see a few ads pop up here and there. I'm not relying on this to make money, but if I do every once in a while... Nice! 

I'm mostly going to be writing about the Twins, but there will certainly be the miscellaneous other stuff thrown in every once in a while. I'm pretty committed to going to at least one of my Following the Compass games (looking like UNC at Appalachian State in September), and the weird stuff like that isn't changing. I am going to stick with the Rhino and Compass name, because it fits my Twitter name, and made that cute logo on the top of the page.

Another thing that is bouncing back is vacations. I am currently writing this in Costa Rica. My wife is sleeping, and I don't know what to do with myself. More regular posting will return when I return to the US. I hope to see you then.