Jim Bowden: Twins will trade Justin Morneau

The Twins will be looking to trade Justin Morneau, perhaps in the near future, writes ESPN.com's resident former general manager Jim Bowden in his "10 bold predictions for 2012" post. And, Bowden says, the the Rangers will be the ones acquiring the big first baseman:

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The Twins will not be contenders, their payroll gives them little flexibility, and the front office is high on first baseman Chris Parmelee. The Rangers, who have a hole at first, may need another bat to keep pace with the other elite AL teams, and with Josh Hamilton a free agent at the season's end, they may decide to trade for Morneau at the deadline, as he appears to be healthy for the first time in a couple of years.

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Of course, for this plan to work, Morneau would need to (1) remain healthy and (2) produce at a high level.

Truthfully, I don't hate the idea of moving Morneau - even if it comes from Bowden.

Morneau, who will turn 31 in May, has battled plenty of injuries and once a player hits 30, the wear and tear does not exactly slow down. Combine that with the fact that he's scheduled to make an additional $14 million next year in his contract walk-year, if the Twins can gain some prospects from the embarrassingly rich Texas Rangers farm system and open up $14 million in salary, it may prove to be a prudent move despite being ripe for some fan backlash.

If that happens, thankfully it won't be Bill Smith doing the trading. He would trade Morneau for some scrub like Koji Uehara.

I think any trade conversation begins at a minimum with Profar and an arm (top 3-6 in org) for Morneau.

Speculation is crazy fun. I've been thinking all spring that trading an outfielder for a starting pitcher would be exciting, but even though I love Morneau and want to see him succeed again, a trade like this with T. Ryan at the helm could be really interesting. Maybe if we throw in Nishioka, the Rangers might toss in Andrus? LOLZ.

Bowden is always throwing this crap out. Morneau is un-tradeable at the moment. He'd need to play well and I think also eventually shift back to 1B for the Rangers to be interested.

Assuming all of this. If the Twins could get something useful for him, I'd say do it. I just think there are too many things in the way to make this a reality for awhile.

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Originally Posted by Parker Hageman

The Twins will be looking to trade Justin Morneau, perhaps in the near future, writes ESPN.com's resident former general manager Jim Bowden, and Bowden says the the Rangers will be the ones acquiring the big first baseman:

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Parker, you took this post completely out of context. The title was "10 bold predictions" and under the Morneau one, Bowden writes "This might be going out on a limb a little too far, but it’s my blog and I can do whatever I want here". There is no basis for this in the least, it is a failed GM throwing crap at the wall and hoping something sticks.

My perpetual GM blueprint would call for ALWAYS being a seller for prospects at the trade deadline, even when we are in contention. Frankly, I wouldn't care if it was Parmelee either, as long as the Rangers overpaid. I mean really really overpaid.

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Originally Posted by VodkaDave

I think any trade conversation begins at a minimum with Profar and an arm (top 3-6 in org) for Morneau.

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I feel so painfully sorry for you.

Even if Morneau has a good productive and healthy first half he's not going to get profar, yet alone profar and a top arm. They'll be lucky enough to find a team willing to take on Morneau's $14m salary next season(Not at all easy considering almost every team in MLB already has a legit 1B option)

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Originally Posted by alarp33

Parker, you took this post completely out of context. The title was "10 bold predictions" and under the Morneau one, Bowden writes "This might be going out on a limb a little too far, but it’s my blog and I can do whatever I want here". There is no basis for this in the least, it is a failed GM throwing crap at the wall and hoping something sticks.

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In fairness to Parker, bloggers don't have to held accountable for things like that. :-)

I agree, no one would be willing to take Morneau at this point. If he plays well for a month or two, then things will get interesting. This will be especially true if we have already fallen behind the Tigers and he has not played any games at 1b for us. There would be a lot of interest for a .300 hitting 30+ HR DH form someones playoff push.

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Parker, you took this post completely out of context.

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I don't think I took anything out of context. The link was provided for anyone who wanted to read the original (non-paywalled) quote. I believe most everyone here should understand that it was speculation, particularly when it comes from Jim Bowden.

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In fairness to Parker, bloggers don't have to held accountable for things like that. :-)

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Easy...

I agree. He will need to prove that he is healthy and hitting well.

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Originally Posted by birdwatcher

My perpetual GM blueprint would call for ALWAYS being a seller for prospects at the trade deadline, even when we are in contention. Frankly, I wouldn't care if it was Parmelee either, as long as the Rangers overpaid. I mean really really overpaid.

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A long long time ago, an ex-boss who was really really smart told me "Every thing I own is for sale".

I have to agree to some extent with the "out of context" thing. From this post, Bowden seems to be stating as fact that "The Twins will be looking to trade Justin Morneau, perhaps in the near future." Which he does, if you take the thing out of context. He also says "This might be going out on a limb a little too far, but it’s my blog and I can do whatever I want here," which is the functional equivalent of saying "This probably won't actually happen, but." So I think to ascribe the opinion to Bowden without making any mention of any of the qualifiers is a bit misleading.

And of course anyone could click over and see it in context for themselves, but come on, this is 2012! No one reads anything anymore! :)

Trading Morneau would be a great move, but it's hard to picture a situation where that could happen.

In order for anyone to want Morneau in a trade, he will have to be productive and prove healthy. If he is productive and healthy, there's a pretty good chance that the Twins will be within enough games of the Tigers to be in contention around the trade deadline and will want to keep him to make a run at the division.

A trade could only happen if either Morneau is the only good player on the Twins so we don't win games or if the Tigers are unbelievably good and have a huge lead in the Central at the deadline.

Let's say that Morneau does put together a great half-season, that the Twins are way out of the race, and that trading him becomes an option. We have heard repeatedly that Morneau is essentially 1 concussion away from retiring. Those words came from Morneau. I'm not suggesting that the Twins couldn't move his contract if he played really well, but I think it's unrealistic to believe that GMs from other teams are going to conveniently forget his serious and protracted injury history and "give up the farm" to get him for 1.5 years and $21 million.

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Originally Posted by Shaun in Chicago

If that happens, thankfully it won't be Bill Smith doing the trading. He would trade Morneau for some scrub like Koji Uehara.

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I would trade Justin Morneau for Koji Uehara! Save $24 million and get a reliever who has dominated like few others in baseball the last two years. Granted, I'd prefer to get a couple of prospects instead, but Uehara is a stud.

Isn't the fact that the article in on "Ten Bold Moves" enough to just know that he's just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing if anything sticks? Doesn't that all tie in together?

Yep, that's since been added, and that's really all it took. Now it's great. :)

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Originally Posted by Seth Stohs

I would trade Justin Morneau for Koji Uehara! Save $24 million and get a reliever who has dominated like few others in baseball the last two years. Granted, I'd prefer to get a couple of prospects instead, but Uehara is a stud.

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He's a reliever! Haven't we learned by now that you don't trade productive postition players for releivers...EVER! And yeah I took note of the money that would be saved.