Crasnick: Joe Blanton a "prime target" for Twins

[ashbury]

In all honesty though, there are things to like about Lannan, but he's awfully similar to what they already have in Diamond.

 

And since the Twins are in the unenviable position of lacking depth to even that degree, Lannan is worth pursuing, again if at a price that a Blanton would come at plus half of the Span Savings.

[DaveW]

Blanton sucks, but I would rather have him at 1 year 2 mil then Dempster at 3 years. We still need to target a top tier guy though.

 

I don't want either of these, nor Correia. They all are about on a par with Deduno, but because they are "proven" starters they command a significant premium in price. I'd rather see them take what they would pay for Blanton, add half of what they are saving by trading away Span for a prospect, and apply it to getting Saunders - as mediocre as Saunders is, he has a chance to provide positive value versus some AAA nobody, and I'm not sure Blanton is capable of that.

 

Is Saunders even better then Blanton? a quick check of career numbers has them about the same, and Blanton had an xFIP and FIP quite a bit lower then Saunders last year as well.

 

At the end of the day, its not like there is a right answer, both Blanton and Saunders are #4/#5 types anyways.

[ashbury]

Blanton isn't pretty but if Jr can get him for the right price I would be hardpressed to argue about it.

 

If the right price is $1M, sure, but it won't be. He's a Proven Commodity and will command $5M, won't he?

 

I guess for this discussion to work, we need to reach some consensus on what each of the pitchers on the market will go for. I'm sure that my guesses are shaky.

[Mike Sixel]

I want one really good pitcher, one average pitcher and 2 reclamation projects. I do not want all dumpster dives.....still hoping.

[Twins Twerp]

Blanton would be an upgrade and maybe teach the young guys coming up how to pitch. We will def suck with him as our ace but hes better than de vries

[Willihammer]

What are we up to in terms of the likely amount of cash Jr can blow this offseason. $30m after moving Span? I think if Blanton takes less than a third of that next year, and isn't locked up more than 4 years, we are doing okay. Something like 4/36. He is a half-calibre better than your Jeremy Guthries and Kevin Correia's, in my opinion. I feel like he will get a lot of cheap 3 year deals and the team who offers a 4th will take him.

[luke829]

If this hasn't been mentioned already, ESPN's Jerry Crasnick had some notes from the winter meetings today that are relevant to the Twins:

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/31214/twins-seeking-to-add-more-pitching

 

His article mentions that Joe Blanton is a prime target for the Twins, which, I suppose shouldn't be surprising. He also mentions pitchers such as Kevin Correia, Brett Myers, John Lannan, Mike Pelfrey, and Vincente Padilla (???) as possible targets.

 

I would expect the Twins to sign at least one of these types and think that Blanton, Myers, or Pelfrey could be decent additions and provide some depth/insurance for the development of Kyle Gibson and Liam Hendricks. Hopefully the price will be right if adding any of these.

 

I can see yearly revenues shooting through the roof

[DaveW]

What are we up to in terms of the likely amount of cash Jr can blow this offseason. $30m after moving Span? I think if Blanton takes less than a third of that next year, and isn't locked up more than 4 years, we are doing okay. Something like 4/36. He is a half-calibre better than your Jeremy Guthries and Kevin Correia's, in my opinion. I feel like he will get a lot of cheap 3 year deals and the team who offers a 4th will take him.

I could be pretty shocked if a team gives Blanton 3 years. I have him pegged at 1 year (maybe two, but that is a stretch) at 4-6 mil per year. He is coming off of two pretty bad years (ERA wise)

[Twins GFP]

I would like to remind everybody that we are not going to sign 4 aces this winter. Regardless of whether we land an ace or not, we need to upgrade at virtually every rotation spot. Blanton would be an upgrade, however minor it may end up being.

[ashbury]

Blanton would be an upgrade, however minor it may end up being.

 

Based on his results the past year or two (or three...) in the DH-less NL, I just don't see how he is anymore.