A lot of folks have high hopes and expectations for what the Twins should do this off season upgrading their roster. Spend money, trade good position players to acquire pitching wealth, and blah, blah, blah.

My prediction is there will be no big splashes and they will indeed trade Denard Span, getting okay, but not very good pitching prospects in return. When this happens fans will get pissed off, but this is what most have been clamoring for and every organization knows we have Outfield depth, thus creating a leverage scenario that works against the Twins. Those who think a “Span Trade” can net young pitchers like Alex Cobb, Matt Moore, Kris Medlen and others have stuck their heads deep into the gopher hole.

Obviously the Twins will not sign Greinke, Anibal Sanchez or Shaun Marcum. Marcum could be had, but I bet when all is said and done he ends up with a 3-4 year contract, earning 10M per annum and I do not think the Twins will go there. I cannot say I blame them as Twin’s fandom desperation seemingly over values the abilities of Marcum. Good pitching is not cheap, but when you are confidently looking down the barrel of a another mediocre season, why spend that kind of money on a guy who will have a +4.00 ERA and win you 10 games or so? I forgot to mention Edwin Jackson… the state of the Twins situation most definitely dictates he is not the right fit, I’d rather have Marcum. As we all know some team will over pay for these guys, and if they don’t, a contender will for one year at a pretty big salary. Our best bet is Erik Bedard… after that, it is Jason Marquis Types.

My perspective is that the Twins will be lack luster next year, Kyle Gibson will be called up by June and pitch fairly well, Aaron Hicks and Oswaldo Arcia will be called up to replace Morneau and Willingham who have been traded in July. The net returns from these trades will be okay, but not overly good. Hicks will struggle a bit, but Arcia will hit adequately. 2013 aside, they both have successful MLB careers ahead of them.

I am not down on the Twins, I am realistic, and it is going to take some time to develop the pitching we need to compete. These days, no one has the pieces to trade to acquire above average pitching, in turn you have to build from within – which takes a few or more years… hopefully.

There has never been a more honest assessment of the Twins organization. Kudos for speaking the truth as depressing as it is.

well in that case why not send out some non roster invites to say brandon webb scott kazmir?

just to name a couple ?sign jose veras,upside players for little or no money

well in that case why not send out some non roster invites to say brandon webb scott kazmir?

just to name a couple ?sign jose veras' date='upside players for little or no money[/quote']

 

Kazmir did very little in independent baseball, Webb has not pitched in years and would be in the minors for a long time to get back if healthy, Veras would make the population pine for Jeff Gray

A good but nor great outfielder should net you a good but not great pitching prospect. The Twins need a great pitching prospect. A low A prospect who is great is not what the Twins have a surplus of, nor do they have a surplus of near major league talent to trade to sweeten the pot.

I, like Bark, think that the Twins need to build for the future, rather than try to spend for now, especially if spending now impacts what the team can do 2+ years from now. I think the front office needs to spend to make the team better, get back to .500 and put a quality team on the field, but to compete for a division title with little to no hope for a post-season run seems silly.

-Paul

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I think this was a very good assessment. I think you're probably right about all of this. I'm hoping that the Twins will go against their old ways and sign some decent starting pitching, but it is really hard to believe that they will actually do this.

Good post.