Jon Rauch? Johann Santana?

[Owl in a Koa Tree]

Can anyone tell me why the Twins haven't signed Jon Rauch? I think I was off-island most of 2010, so I don't know if he was for real, clubhouse poison, a general pain-in-the-'okole or what. From the looks of things, the Twins had him close for 21 games, made a terrible trade for Matt Capps, and let Rauch just walk away. His contracts since have been $3.5 mil., his numbers haven't been either very good or very bad (eh, he pitched for the Mets last year and seems to have survived) and I've seen no indication of who the Twins think will be their closer in 2013. Yeah, he's 34, but he's relatively inexpensive and was, statistically at least, a good closer. It looks like a no-brainer, but then the Powers That Be haven't been exhibiting any brains. I don't get why the Padres let him walk either, so there may be more to this than I know about. What's the story here?

 

One further question. Johann Santana is someone the Mets seem to want off their payroll, although they'll probably wind up eating a substantial part of his salary. Duhhh?

 

Owl (Pueo)

[glunn]

I think that Santana is getting $25.5 million next year. I wonder what he would be worth on the open market?

[twinsfaninsaudi]

Perkins will be the closer.

[edavis0308]

...next new thread please.

[Higuys]

What impressed me most with Rauch this season was his 0.99 Whip but that can be mostly explained to the very low .222 BABIP that he had this year. His walk rate was at an all time low this year at 1.87 BB/9. His velocity hasn't decreased so there aren't any real concerns there. You know what? With the starting rotation that we have at this point, we could use all the bullpen help that we can get and he would probably be a good candidate for set-up man.