Thread: Article: Twins Must Decide When, Not If, Glen Perkins & Jared Burton Are Available

Originally Posted by SwainZag

With all the money coming off the books I would say it is very reasonable the Twins would go after 1 or 2 of the bigger name starters who will hit FA this offseason.

What Twins are you watching? Their pen is right in the middle of stats in MLB and the bats while 10th of 15 in the AL in runs have been much better as of late, 2nd in the AL in runs in June.

I really think a lot of people do not know much about the team outside being last in the AL Central. Record by month:

April 6th-May 9th - 8-22
May 10th - June 18th 18-17

Outside of their atrocious start they have been a .500 team. The bats have been much better, the pen has been overly solid, even the starting pitching has turned around somewhat. This team isn't as bad as so many people wanna make them out to be.

What Twins am I watching? I'm watching the ones that are still tied for dead last in MLB in run differential. I'm watching the ones whose above-average June offense has been predicated almost entirely on getting nearly a bomb per game from Trevor freakin' Plouffe (1 HR/6 AB in June). I'm watching the ones who rank dead last in MLB in bullpen K's per 9 (sustainable success, anyone?).

And since you asked, starting May 10th I began watching a Twins team that's played .500 ball against a group of opponents who are a collective 40 games under .500.

Look, they're obviously not the historically awful goon squad we saw in April, and they clearly will have money coming off the books as you pointed out. But the idea that the Pohlads will start, rather than finish, building a contender with high-priced FA starters seems terribly optimistic. There's the modest spending history of the Twins in free agency, and then there's the high probability that the recent surge to respectability has a pretty substantial mirage content to it.

Or maybe we're thinking more alike than we know, and it's just that you're much more excited than I am about what the Twins can do next year with a rotation headlined by a show-stopper like Joe Blanton, Jeremy Guthrie, or Derek Lowe.

Originally Posted by CK

So you're saying there's a chance?!

That's the spirit, Lloyd!

Originally Posted by clutterheart

I hope like hell the team has a plan for 2013 to get a top line starting pitcher that doesn't involve trading their "core"guys. If they had a competent rotation Twins would be in the hunt for a play-off spot.
The Offense is good
The Bullpen is above replacement level
The defense is not bad
The Starting pitching has been horrible.
Add 1 or 2 decent Starters and this team is .500 and just 4-5 games out from first.

I would be disappointed if they blew it all up for some prospects unless they could get guys who could be Top-Line pitchers or All stars. And nobody on the MLB Team is going to give them that kind of return. So I would be against these moves because the type of return probably won't be there.

If there is one thing I hope they learned from the Bill Smith Era is the only way to get better is to Fleece the other team (See Baltimore and Tampa Bay) and they don't have the assets to be the Fleecer.

I couldn't agree with you more Clutterheart. I would trade Capps, Liriano, or Mornea partly to dump salary and possibly get a return. keep the younger guys here.

Originally Posted by John Bonnes

Nick, his overall stats have been fine, but he's had a few hiccups that have, through last week at least, left him with a neutral (maybe even negative) WPA. I think he would probably agree.

http://www.fangraphs.com/statsd.aspx...pe=5&gds=&gde=

WPA? Seriously??

Originally Posted by USAFChief

Trading away all your good players is what KC tried for two decades.

That seems like a very valuable observation here. People are frustrated for good reason, but the Twins need to be building/preserving a core of good players.

The Twins are in last place in the American League and on track for a 100 loss season. The bullpen has been good. The lineup has been better than expected but there are a ton of holes. Biggest one is pitching--are the Pohldads going to shell out the bucks to get somebody who is a number 1 (CC, Verlander, etc.) NO. Therefore, Ryan has to trade to get a starter to build around--that means getting rid of assets where you have a replacement (Span, Willingham--where you have Benson and Revere to play) or those who may be at their peak right now (Plouffe). If we trade people who are basically spare parts (Doumit, Carroll, etc.) or who have health history (Morneau) we will get more pitchers in the tradition of Sir Sidney, Marquis, R. Ortiz...