Brock Beauchamp

Yep. Law was painfully accurate with that prediction.

Given Morneau's 2013 campaign, I'm not really sure that's a loss. He wasn't awful but he wasn't good, either.

If I was Friedman, I would not trade David Price for Alex Meyer. I'd want more than that. I bet he could get an Alex Meyer-level prospect if he keeps Price for a year and trades him next offseason. The receiving team gets David Price for a year with the possibility to extend him or, at the very least, receives a comp pick in the following draft. That's worth a 40-60 range prospect.

Yep. The article doesn't blame Smith for the mediocre farm he inherited. But giving up 50 wins and receiving less than 10 in return. Crikey. That's awful.

To me, it's because you don't know what you're going to need and there are a lot of question marks on this roster. 1. What happens if Meyer comes up and dominates but Dozier and Arcia fall on their face? At that point, you don't need a pitcher but probably gave up some quality prospects to get one. Sure, you might be able to flip that pitcher... But you might not. 2. Sano and Buxton cannot be expected to be Mike Trout in their rookie season. Most players take time to adjust to the Majors. Let the players show you who they are before you make a push to reach the playoffs by signing guys who might not be a great fit in 1-2 years. 3. Haven't we learned how not to rush things from Dayton Moore? For the billionth time, this doesn't have to happen overnight. That doesn't mean the Twins shouldn't sign players or that they shouldn't make an attempt to win more games. But hedging your future to make a run at 2014 is foolish. This is a 66 win team whose pythag record suggests they were even worse than that. Sure, the Twins might make a surprise push at the playoffs if the stars align... You can always make a mid-season move to compesnsate for such a thing but trading cheap, good talent like Gibson for injury-riddled or short-term vets is a good way to hamstring your 2016-2018 teams. I just can't wrap my head around why so many people are in such a damned hurry. Yeah, I want to see the Twins win again... But I want to see them win for a long time when they get back on track. They've made big moves toward that goal this offseason. I'm not against moving further in that direction by signing a guy like Arroyo, especially if you can get him for two years. But I have zero interest in trading away good, cheap prospects for a few wins in 2014 and maybe 2015. If this was an 85 win team right now, yeah, that makes sense. But not a 61 win pythagorean team. That's just absurd.

I was more suggesting that the Twins could move Diamond, Worley, or Deduno.

Yep, just check in Friday morning and we'll have tickets for sale. It should be plastered all over the site.

I agree that the Twins are going to improve this season and with another pickup, could even touch a .500 season. But one thing you're ignoring is that the 2013 Twins' pythagorean record suggested they were a 61 win team. Basically, they "lucked" their way to a 66 win season. I'd use those 61 wins as your baseline, as you can't repeat luck.

I'm not advocating an Arroyo signing (I'm pretty neutral on it, really) but no way does he hurt the team on a two year deal and he won't do much damage on a three year deal. After 2014, he takes Correia's spot. At that point, we have Gibson and Mystery Player X following Nolasco, Hughes, and Arroyo. Given that Meyer is the only guy who will be beating down the door from the farm during that time, we only have to worry about Deduno, Worley, and Diamond as possible contenders for a rotation spot. And really, that's not a problem. A trade can be made should the rotation become too filled with lower-tier starters.

It's a secret link. You have to know the password to see it. or Friday, 8am.

True. He does seem to be a very different animal this offseason.

Surprising. Sounds like a Brad Radke move. Still something left in the tank but has earned enough money and accolades where he decided it's time to quit because his body just doesn't want to go through another 162 game season. Bummer. I also liked watching Halladay pitch. Dude was a straight-up gamer.

Maybe it's just me but driving up player prices doesn't sound like JR's modus operandi. He has always struck me as a guy who goes after a player because he wants him, not because he's trying to drive up the price or keep him out of a division rival's hands. For good or bad, that's just the guy he seems to be. He doesn't come across as the slightest bit devious.

I agree with the sentiment that I'm not really sure Rajai brings much to the Twins roster and that 2014 should be used to answer some 40 man questions with the goal of jettisoning a bunch of these guys for 2015. But outside of Hendriks, what players have the Twins given away?

Mauer won't hit 25 homers unless he's traded to the Red Sox. He only hit 28 dingers playing in the Dome and a large percentage of those homers were opposite field, barely-cleared-the-fence home runs.

If Bailey won't sign an extension with Cincinnati, what makes anyone think he'd sign an extension with Minnesota? And if Bailey is going to require 5/$100m, go sign Garza. Garza+Arcia>>>>>>>>Bailey

Correia might regress but if he does, it probably won't be much (provided he's healthy). His FiP and xFiP weren't statistical anomalies last season. He pitched himself to a league average-ish season and his stats reflect that. As for Dozier, he could certainly regress power-wise but if his adapted stance is legit (and it appears it is, he played well for 3+ consecutive months), any power losses could be offset by an uptick in BABIP (.278 last season). His BB% was solid, which is a good sign that he wasn't just getting lucky at the plate in 2013... He made legitimate progress. Given his awful start to 2013 and how much it dragged down his season numbers, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if his overall 2014 stat line is similar or even a slight improvement.

Yep, which is why K% is a better metric than K/9.

The result certainly didn't pan out for the Mariners but given just how god-awful Silva had been in the previous two seasons, I still think it was a decent roll of the dice. Sometimes you get burned by even a good bet. I don't fault the Mariners for swapping out useless contracts in hope something good would come of it.

It's not terribly complex for the teams to actually accomplish a trade-and-sign, it's complex for fans to speculate finite details of a hypothetical trade-and-sign when they have no idea what the trading team wants, what the other wants in return, and whether the player is interested in an extension in the first place. That's my point. We don't even know if the Twins and Rays could reach an agreement because we don't know what one will demand and what the other is willing to give up. Adding a hypothetical extension into that equation just muddies an already increasingly-unrealistic scenario.

There are strict tampering rules in that the Twins (or any other team) may not contact the agent or player without expressed consent from that player's current team. The Rays would probably waive that request but not until they had a deal solidified, methinks.

Only after you've negotiated a trade with the Rays and have been given permission to speak to David Price by their front office. Then you can start negotiating with Price and find out how he feels about an extension. Negotiating the trade is hard enough, especially when you know that the Rays' opening offer is going to be Byron Buxton in a straight swap. But that's not really my point... My point is that, as fans, it's entirely pointless to speculate about something so complex. We don't know if the Rays would be willing to back off wanting Buxton for Price. We don't know if Price wants an extension. We don't know if Price wants an extension in Minnesota. Under the best of circumstances, speculating about a specific player-for-player swap is folly... Add in a hypothetical extension only makes the proposed trade less likely.

There's a good chance he'll be great for four years. But the Twins will only have him under contract for two years. Does anyone here have any information that leads one to believe that David Price wants an extension in the next 12 months?

I'm focusing on the short-term implications because anything beyond that involves a lot of speculation. Sure, an extension is possible. It's also possible Price might hate Minnesota and want to leave immediately. He might want to be in a warmer climate. He might want to be closer to his family (wherever they may be, I don't know). Or he may want to stay here. But to assume that an extension is possible is starting to create a chain of "what-ifs" that become increasingly difficult to rationalize.

Right now, I wouldn't trade Meyer for Price. Not because I think it's an unfair deal (it certainly isn't) but because it's likely the Twins still miss the playoffs with Price on the roster, at least in 2014. And I'm not going to speculate trade+extension. Those rarely happen, require many moving parts to agree to terms, and I haven't heard anything about Price wanting an extension. Say it's 2015. The Twins are an 87 win team and need an ace. Stewart is lighting up the minor leagues. At that point, trading for an ace like Price (the 2015 version of an ace with arb years) makes sense. The immediate win value offsets the six years of Stewart. But right now? No, not so much.