Teams want Shoemaker/Skaggs, Brian Dozier a real possibility? (Ken Rosenthal)

[Angelsjunky]

No way I want Mauer on this team. The guy hits like a decent middle infielder, but can only play 1B - and for $46 million over the next two years. After the Wells debacle, the only way Arte signs off on Mauer is if the Twins cover a chunk of his salary--at least half--and that probably doesn't make sense for the Twins, at least as far as PR is concerned. Mauer was a truly great Twin, at least for a decade or so. Actually, I was curious so looked it up: Mauer has the fourth highest all-time WAR among Twin position players, behind Killebrew, Carew, and Sam Rice.

[Make Angels Great Again]

2 minutes ago, totdprods said:

We'd presumably be signing or acquiring another SP. I doubt Eppler makes a deal involving a SP without acquiring another one at some point. 

I'm sure he would, but I happen to think we need to add to the starting staff, not make lateral moves.

[Make Angels Great Again]

What the hell happened to Mauer in 2009? He hit like a monster and never came close to that again.

[Biergott]

F Kinsler.  Seriously, F that guy.  I hate his face almost as much as Hosmer's or Cat-Butt-Mouth Pabelsmear's.  And that batting stance!  The one that looks like he is a cat burying a turd in a catbox.  Man, he's just about as annoying as annoying can be.  And think about the last ex-Ranger douche we got in CJ.  Look how well he performed...

That said, if he makes the Angels win, bring it on.  I just won't like watching him hahahaha.  

[Angelsjunky]

2009 was a career year, but he was still really good for a few years after, with a big drop-off after 2013. It happens to catchers sometimes: they just blow their bodies out. They have the most erratic hitting careers of any position. Look at someone like Johnny Bench, who is generally considered one of the two or three greatest catchers of all time, if not the greatest: In 1970 he hit .293 with 45 HR, in 1971 .238 with 27 HR. Its a tough position to play.

[Chuck]

As far as Mauer, he'd give us a good OBP, tons of doubles, 10-13 HR and excellent defense (much better than Cron) at 1B until Thiass is ready. Plus it gives us a lefty bat in the lineup. 

[totdprods]

4 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

As far as Mauer, he'd give us a good OBP, tons of doubles, 10-13 HR and excellent defense (much better than Cron) at 1B until Thiass is ready. Plus it gives us a lefty bat in the lineup. 

I think he'd do well not being a key component either. Minnesota leaned on him heavily for a long time and he didn't meet those expectations, with a hometown crowd and a huge contract. Could be a good change of scenery for him.

[CanadianHalo]

Why on earth would we want Arte to sign off on 46 million for 2 years of Mauer?

If you're willing to go 23/year for someone sign someone like Cespedes who can you know? Actually help this team win.

We can flip flop pieces here and there all we want but at the end of the day unless Arte is willing to spend it's not going to make a huge difference imo. We trade for a Kinsler or Dozier we're short in the rotation. 

[totdprods]

6 minutes ago, CanadianHalo said:

Why on earth would we want Arte to sign off on 46 million for 2 years of Mauer?

If you're willing to go 23/year for someone sign someone like Cespedes who can you know? Actually help this team win.

We can flip flop pieces here and there all we want but at the end of the day unless Arte is willing to spend it's not going to make a huge difference imo. We trade for a Kinsler or Dozier we're short in the rotation. 

Big difference between two years at and five or six years. 

Mauer is only being brought up because Cron could be a trade piece too. You could take both of them straight out, and offer Skaggs and Bandy and aim for Dozier and Hughes or Santiago. No prospects. Replace Skaggs with an inning water in the pen and get a huge upgrade at 2B. Sign a catcher.  

Or you could bring Cron back in and talk Mauer or maybe bump up the SP coming back to Santana.

[Angel Oracle]

What TroutField said, maintain what we have in the field/at the plate with Cowart taking over at 2B, and build on the pitching.    Pitching (starting and pen) wins titles.

Assuming Cron continues to improve at 1B, that would only leave 3B as a weak spot defensively.

[Dave Saltzer]

5 minutes ago, CanadianHalo said:

Why on earth would we want Arte to sign off on 46 million for 2 years of Mauer?

If you're willing to go 23/year for someone sign someone like Cespedes who can you know? Actually help this team win.

We can flip flop pieces here and there all we want but at the end of the day unless Arte is willing to spend it's not going to make a huge difference imo. We trade for a Kinsler or Dozier we're short in the rotation. 

Because we aren't trading top-end talent to get Dozier. You have to give in order to get. The Twins want payroll relief and young solutions to build their team around for the future. We take 2 years of Mauer, who is a left bat, provides good OB (better than Cron), and solid to above average defense (better than Cron). Yeah, he's expensive, but Dozier is very inexpensive. So it balances out.

 

As for those who say Mauer doesn't provide the prototypical offense from 1B, you can't look at offense as a static system. If that's the case, Dozier doesn't provide prototypical offense from 2B. We have to look at the offense overall. Dozier meets or exceeds Cron's offense, Mauer crushes what we've been putting out there at 2B and is left-handed. That makes the lineup better. Now, throw in the ability to run Marte out there to take advantage of better matchups at 1B, and our offense really becomes better. Imagine 115 games of Mauer at 1B and 47 games of Marte at 1B. Combined, that is a much more potent offense.

[totdprods]

And you never know, we may absorb so much salary we find a way to get a prospect back as well. 

[Troll Daddy]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

I would be fine with that.  I personally would prefer to trade Shoemaker over Skaggs, but if we could finally solve 2nd base for the next few years I would consider it for sure.  

No way ... Skaggs hasn't proved much yet

[CanadianHalo]

.

[AngelStew43]

I don't think the Twins would be looking to trade Mauer.  I think they would be very interested in finding a taker for Phil Hughes.  If we could get Dozier and Hughes for one of Shoemaker/Skaggs, and maybe a lower level prospect, I would be tempted.

[Troll Daddy]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

Sign Ivan Nova then make a trade to solidify 2nd base for a few years.  A trade I wouldn't like, but I could see happening is Shoe for KInsler.  Shoe is from Michigan and Detroit is trying to shed payroll.  We would get a 2nd baseman that is pretty darn good, but only signed through this coming year.  Also he is a dick.  

Kinsler is signed through 2018

[totdprods]

13 minutes ago, AngelStew43 said:

I don't think the Twins would be looking to trade Mauer.  I think they would be very interested in finding a taker for Phil Hughes.  If we could get Dozier and Hughes for one of Shoemaker/Skaggs, and maybe a lower level prospect, I would be tempted.

This is the likeliest scenario. Hughes was awful last two years and has quite a bit of money and time committed. But he should provide innings and may get benefit a la Nolasco. Is Hughes from the SoCal area? Seems like I remember that coming up a lot when he was a FA. That and his fly-ball tendencies playing well in Anaheim.

Is Hughes really that different from the Fister, Volquez, Weaver crop of FAs? There's more cost and length involved but not much difference in talent, risk, or upside.

[Stradling]

9 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

Kinsler is signed through 2018

My bad, thought I read on here it was only for this year. 

[Troll Daddy]

20 minutes ago, Stradling said:

My bad, thought I read on here it was only for this year. 

Club option in 2018 for $10MM w/$5MM buyout 

[TroutField]

2 hours ago, Stradling said:

That is certainly one way to look at it.  Another way to look at it is those pitchers were part of the "hot garbage" so what is the harm in trading one of them.  

Explain to me how Skaggs and Shoe didn't pitch well? They were two of the best starters we had all year. Weaver, a lack of depth, Chacin, and injuries were the main reasons we were terrible 

[Docwaukee]

Dozier is a nice player.  The Twins would be smart to sell high on him.  a 125 point jump in ops screams career year.  Two years left on his deal.  Timing isn't right for us to pursue him imo.  

If we trade Shoe or Skaggs or both for players with less than 4 years of control, we are stupid.  

[bloodbrother]

Don't like buying a player after a career year. Dozier's been a good player for a a few years now but the Twins are definitely looking to capitalize on this massive year he just had.

[Angel Oracle]

Dipeutered would have been all over it.     Thank goodness for Eppler

[Brent Maguire]

I'm not a big fan of depleting the rotation and farm system to upgrade at 2B. Even if you add another starter in FA, you're losing club control and adding salary all for short term moves. The Twins are probably asking for Shoe/Skaggs, Perez/Bandy and one of the top Angels prospects(Jones, Thaiss) in any deal. Is anyone comfortable doing that? Twins have every reason to ask for a ransom after the year Dozier just had and I don't think the Angels are in the position to consider this. 

[ettin]

2 hours ago, Dave Saltzer said:

If we are doing this, I'd prefer to do a more expansive trade of Cron, Shoemaker, and Ward for Dozier and Mauer. That would benefit both teams. Dozier replaces Cron's power and solves our hole at 2B. Mauer replaces Cron at 1B and provides a left-handed bat, something Eppler has said he wants. When Mauer needs some rest, or the matchups are better, Marte gets ABs at 1B and provides more power. They get a replacement for 1B and replace the power they lost in Dozier, and they get a long-term solution to C and a pitcher. When Mauer is done, we could move Thaiss into 1B. Mauer's contract runs through 2018.

 

Yes, we'd be losing a pitcher, but we'd be solving a lot of problems and can still sign someone like Nova. I think we'd still be under the luxury tax still, but am not 100% sure.

I suggested absorbing Mauer's contract last night but someone deleted my reply.... now Saltzer gets all the glory WTF? J/K