ScottyB

You can take as many as you want. Minor correction - you can continue to pick, round by round, until your 40-man roster is full.

Venditte would be fun

I wish I knew

Can anyone think of some potential selections for the Twins in this week's Draft? I'd like to see them select Danny Rosenbaum from the Nats. He's a lefty with 4 pitches. His fastball tops out at 92, plus a curve, slider and changeup. 25 years old after 2 years in AA, but could be an addition to the staff. The Nats also have 2B Jeff Kobernus available. He hit .282 without much power but stole 42 bases. Both are listed in the Nats top 20 prospects, but were not added to the 40-man. I'd wouldn't mind the Twins selecting a couple in the draft to get a look at them in ST. And obviously pitching and MI are the places to look. Are there other prospects the Twins should consider?

Blanton would't be one of my top choices. I'd rather they got after someone like Carlos Villanueva who has pitched both as starter and reliever. If we gave him a 3-year deal, he could eventually help in relief when our rotation of the future - Diamond, Gibson, Meyer, Berrios, and maybe Salcedo are in place.

I'll add a couple more logs to the fire (not endorsing them) - Rich Harden and Brandon Webb intend to pitch in 2013. Neither has pitched in quite some time, but had success in the past.

I'd try Ian Stewart

No way Wilson comes here. He made $8M last year and will only consider closing for a contender. The only way he comes to the Twins as a setup guy is if the Twins way overpay him (at least the $8M he made last year) - and what a waste that would be instead of paying for starters. They wouldn't pay Nathan - they sure won't give their largest FA contract ever to Wilson.

According to MLB and mlbtraderumors Butera HAS been tendered.

Yes

As does non-tender tracker on mlbtraderumors.

Oliveros then resigned to a minor league deal.

No official word as to whether Butera, Burton and Duensing were offered contracts, but they are all still on the 40-man roster. I guess we have to assume they were made offers. However, Lester Oliveros is now listed as having chosen free agency and is off the 40 man, so it is now down to 36 officially.

http://districtondeck.com/2012/11/30/the-john-lannan-decision-whats-5-million-worth/ Nats blogger predicts that Lannan signs with the Twins. Cheap option as a back-rotation guy. If he passes the physical, low-risk positive move. Then we can pretend that we traded Span for Meyer AND Lannan. That should make some people happier with the trade.

Add Mark Reynolds and John Lannan to the list of non-tenders

Ian Stewart just non-tendered by the Cubs. Another LH 3B to possibly platoon with Plouffe.

If you're TR are you on the phone to take a chance?

I hear we got a minor leaguer named Mike Meyers or something. I don't thnk there will be any controversy.

No, but I've thought about looking into it, if only for my own sanity. Double click on the icon (or name and choose view profile) of the person you want to ignore and choose the option "Add to ignore list".

Why do I get the feeling that the opening day roster is going to look like this: SP: Diamond, Pavano, Liriano, Hendricks, and Joe Saunders RP: Perkins, Burton, Fien, Burnett, Swarzak, Deunsing, Robertson, Roeneke Lineup: Span CF, Revere RF, Mauer C, Willingham LF, Morneau 1B, Doumit DH, Plouffe 3B, Dozier 2B, Floriman SS Bench: Caroll, Mastroianni, Herrmann, Parmelee

[quote name=ThePuck Does the fact that he can't play any position at even an average level factor in? Just because Gardy decides to move him all over the place' date=' doesn't mean he can actually play all those positions. And what teams are you talking about dying to make him their 3B if they had the chance. I mean, yeah, you can say that...but based on what? All those rumored traded offers for him? His great defense? His one month of great hitting? The fact he took forever to make the show and keeps getting bounced around cause he can't field well at any of them? I mean, what makes you think that?[/quote] The guy has played fewer than 100 games at 3B in the majors and fewer than 80 games at third in the minors. His fielding percentage at 3B in the minors is actually much better than Corey Koskie's was in the minors (although neither is great - .943 to .924). Obviously Koskie became a much better fielder with practice. Give the guy a chance, his injury also contributed to some of his errors as well as his batting after. He took a while to come up because he was drafted out of high school. I never said that any teams were 'dying to make him their 3B', but I'd wager that teams including the A's, Astros, Braves, Indians, Marlins, Cubs, Rockies, and Angels would all give Plouffe a try over their current options at 3B. Plouffe is not so horrendous at 3B that he shouldn't be given a legitimate trial of a full season - his bat alone says he deserves a shot. Remember in the minors we have Sano who just committed 42 errors at 3B. He's being given a shot because of his bat, the same case can be made for Plouffe. Wouldn't it be a wiser option to let Plouffe get acclimated at 3B for a full season, while the Twins stink, and spend money where we have glaring holes at shortstop and on four starting pitchers instead of wasting money on another starting 3B. They need to quit messing with his head.

Plouffe's value lies in his power and his ability to play multiple positions. I'm sure there are teams out there needing a third baseman who would jump at the chance to make him their third baseman. After one season, he can certainly field better than Miguel Cabrerra (don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing the two). But the point is that sometimes you sacrifice a little defense for a strong bat. Looking to the future, I could see Plouffe as our super utility guy, when our kiddie infielders finally make it. So by making him a platoon guy or a utility guy now, it keeps his cost down for the future. His versitility also allows TR to explore multiple trades for Span/Revere, Morneau/Parmelee or Willingham, or multiples thereof and move Plouffe around to fill in whereever. But at this point, 3B should be a very low priority. Starting pitchers and shortstops should be at the top of the list. By the by, saw that Valencia was just acquired by the Orioles from the Sox for cash.

Deolis Guerra is out of options. He either sticks or is off the 40-man.

I haven't given up on Dozier, by the way. In the minors Jeter had a year with over 50 errors, but they let him work through it. Jeter doesn't have great range, but his instincts are great because of his experience. If the Twins let him, that could be Dozier as well. They just have no patience, in this case it's on Gardy (and I'm a Gardy backer). Having no experienced infielders on the coaching staff doesn't help.

What may be the main problem for the Twins is that in this key position in the middle of the infield, the Twins don't realize that you can't get a decent SS for less than $5-$7M (not good or great, but decent). They have a knack for drafting decent to great CF'ers, so they've had a good pipeline of those since Puckett. They can't draft a SS to save their lives, and when they get a decent one like Hardy, they trade him because he's too expensive. As much as I hate the Yankees, they invested in Jeter and built around him, and because of that they have nearly constantly been in the playoffs during his tenure. The Twins need to make SS a cornerstone position - which they never have in over 50 years of existence.