[Hollywood42]

Opining on the specific trades a little bit - it's still very much a two truths type situation. There is absolutely no way around the symbolism at minimum and harsh reality at maximum that this trade deadline killed this team's chance at ever competing in whatever remaining time there is in the Pohlad regime. And that was still all so completely avoidable. So there is simply no reality in which myself or anyone else should be a fan of these trades or how any of this played out.

At the same time, honestly, a lot of these trades I don't hate. Excluding the pending free agents that give us no value to hang onto beyond enjoying watching Bader and Castro, we only traded bullpen arms, albeit a few very good ones. But there is no point in holding onto a great bullpen when you never have a lead to hold on to anyways, and I do think we have plenty of guys that can rebuild a competent bullpen in fairly short order. You can't really replace a guy like Duran, and a new Jax will be hard to come by as well, but again, until the rest of this team is actually halfway decent, it just doesn't really matter much. But not looking forward to watching some inevitable bullpen breakdowns over the foreseeable future

So with all that said, here's where I've wound up on the trades that happened, putting aside the larger picture frustrations and the fact that it didn't have to be this way, and just working with the reality that these things did happen

First on a large scale - I like that the team is finally being shaken up. I like that this was largely limited to the bullpen - although it is very possible, if not likely, that we were very close to trading Ryan, and perhaps would have moved Pablo and Ober if they were healthy. And maybe that happens this offseason anyways, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But, again ignoring the reasons why this came to be, it's clear this team needs a rebuild/refresh/retool, choose your own adjective. And it's probably going to take a few years at this point. So I'm at least glad that we're done sitting in this perpetual standby mode just waiting for something that isn't going to happen

As for the individual trades - my thoughts on each one, in order of which they happened:

Paddack and Dobnak for Enrique Jimenez - "Great trade, what'd we get". Honestly a little surprised we got anything more than a PTBNL for Paddack, especially with a Dobnak salary dump as well. I do feel for Dobby, he's easy to root for and he might just never be the same after his hand injury, but the fact of the matter is the dude has been bad at every level for years now and wasn't going to be a factor for us

Jhoan Duran for Eduardo Tait and Mick Abel - I was originally hoping to get Justin Crawford in this deal. Some orange flags in his profile for sure, but the hyper athletic, speedy, high on base profile is something I think would have fit so well here. But putting aside this being the most painful deal to process as Duran is in my book the nastiest reliever the Twins have ever had all time, this return is good. Two of the highest rated prospects moved at this deadline. I am by nature skeptical of any 18 year old prospect, skeptical of any catching prospect, and doubly skeptical of any 18 year old catching prospect, but he has a pedigree for a reason. Hopefully he pans out. I am more excited about Abel, who seems like he is a few adjustments away from being a really solid starter, and at minimum another guy that could be a legit piece in the bullpen if needed. I'm sure we'll give him every opportunity to stick in the rotation and looking forward to seeing him in the majors at some point this year. Overall the return for Duran felt a little light to start, I've warmed on it more since, but more or less feels fair both ways

Willi Castro for Ryan Gallagher and Sam Armstrong - Not all that exciting of a return, but I didn't think Willi was ever going to bring in a ton. He's been an absolute blast to watch and a major success story for us, but at the end of the day, he's evened out at a couple win player for us and a slightly above league average hitter. Hope he helps the Cubs make a deep run this year

Carlos Correa for Matt Mikulski - F you, Pohlads. Sorry, said I was going to put the emotions aside in this section, but that's just not possible here. What a joke

Harrison Bader for Hendry Mendez and Geremy Villoria - Getting Mendez who slots in around our 20th best organizational prospect feels like a strong return for a few months of Bader. Mendez has steadily improved each of the past few seasons as he works his way up the minors, so will be fun to see how far he can take it. Expectations are still pretty minimal, but as far as pure rental returns for non-premium players go, this feels great. I will definitely miss Bader, behind Buck and Ryan, Bader was my favorite guy to watch this year. Just wish he had some better images on the Twins cards he got

Danny Coulombe for Garrett Horn - Another one where you can't expect much of a return, so not going to fret over this. Horn does have a nearly 12.5 K/9 early on in his pro career, so that's something

Griffin Jax for Taj Bradley - I think this is going to be the deal that ends up playing the largest role in determining how this deadline looks in the long run. I am not sure if I would have gone for a Taj type if I were moving Jax, but I can definitely still see a quality #2-3 ceiling here. Some tweaks are needed, no doubt, but if it works out, this could be a less extreme mirror of the Nelson Cruz for Joe Ryan swap. But if we can't help Taj make the adjustments he needs to, this one could look pretty silly for going after a starter who is not really a prospect anymore, instead of a more traditional prospect type. I do think Taj is another guy that could be moved to the bullpen and be an impact guy there if starting doesn't work out, but he'll get plenty of opportunity in the rotation I'm sure. I see a wide range of outcomes here, anywhere from Taj being a good middle of the rotation guy for us for the next 5 years, or just an AAAA type. Fingers crossed

Brock Stewart for James Outman - This is the trade I like the least, honestly. Not that I'm mad we moved Stewart or think we could have gotten more - he's filthy when he's on the field, but he's almost thrown more major league innings this year than he has in the past 5 years combined. I am just not sure why we are bothering with Outman. I'm down to give him a shot as a change of scenery guy, he's continued to be a monster in AAA for the Dodgers while it just hasn't worked for him in the majors. And if nothing else he's cheap Buxton insurance that I feel a better about than Martin or Keirsey, despite Outman's struggles. But I just rather would have had a prospect with more upside than Outman has, even if it came along with higher risk too

Louie Varland and Ty France for Alan Roden and Kendry Rojas - I keep going back and forth on this one. I am with everyone else in not understanding the rush to move Louie who is still in pre-arb. But I also don't think you can plan on pretty much any reliever in the league being good for more than 2-3 years in the future so I don't hate cashing in on him. And while I don't think he's going back to this, we do forget that he's just a year removed from putting up an ERA over 7.00. And there's also the fan side of it that was fun to watch and root for the hometown kid alongside Wallner, and it sucks hearing that Varland was devastated being traded away. But on the other hand, from purely a baseball perspective, I do think Louie is replaceable, and I like the pieces we got for him. Roden has been getting crapped on by fans in social media, which isn't his fault, but am I crazy for thinking he has real upside? The guy has basically slashed 3/4/5 in AAA for two straight seasons. I get the argument that we have a lot of corner outfielders already, but let's be real, outside of Buxton, there isn't a single outfielder in the entire organization that we *know* is going to be a quality major leaguer for us. I certainly think we have a few, Jenkins the most obvious but also E-Rod if he can stay heathy, but at the end of the day, there just isn't really a single outfielder other than Buxton that we can count on. So I'm not really mad about bringing in another guy with good upside to see if he can help change that. Rojas is a little farther away and I don't have much of an opinion on him yet, but I actually like Roden, and if he turns out to even have a Larnach type next few years for the Twins, that's enough value that we probably win the trade. But, I definitely still feel the "but why?" aspect of this one to some extent. And if neither Roden or Rojas turn out to be anything, this one is an L on both the baseball side as well as the fandom side

So overall, there's a bit of a mixed bag here. I don't think we had any trades that feel like a no doubt home run, but I don't think there were any that we got fleeced in either. There's definitely a few I would have done differently, but as a collective whole, I don't hate it. Couldn't give us an A grade on the overall returns (again putting aside the decisions to trade all these guys in the first place), but a B feels reasonable, and if Tait, Abel, and Taj in particular perform for us, it could go up to a B+ / A-. The inverse is definitely true as well and would bring us down into the Cs, but I guess that's how trades work

Still very frustrated and upset with the ownership train wreck that led us here, and have to keep saying that. But soon once I'm able to start watching the games again, there's going to be some solace in officially having zero expectations and just watching the kids play. Keashall has continued to be just fantastic since coming back, and that alone is turning into something worth watching