ScottyB

Next year the Twins obviously need to blow up the starting rotation. Pavano, Liriano are good as gone. Any trade is unlikely to return a starter for next season. At this point Diamond is a lock, Hendricks is a probability, Gibson is unlikely until May or June, Blackburn has shown nothing this season (with luck maybe we can trade him this winter), and even if they bring back Baker on a new contract with incentives, it will be at earliest July before he's recovered to a point of being an okay pitcher. The Twins will need to be active in the free agent market this winter as they don't have any trade chips that can return a good starter for next season (unless they use someone like Sano - but then what's the point). I think they will need 3 starters. Using the list from MLB Trade Rumors who should the Twins go after - remember this is the Twins. They won't spend $100M+ on Grenke or Hamels. The 3 at the top of my list are Colby Lewis, Brandon McCarthy and Anibal Sanchez. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/04/2013-mlb-free-agents.html

Yeah - since he's not taking any salary.

It might have been possible to get a package of 3 of those guys for Capps and Liriano, but with Capps on the DL it throws a wrench in the deal.

Anyone hear who replaces Capps?

What I meant is that Capps' value as trade bait is not as a 3-month rental. I agree that he is unneeded on the current team. But he is a 28 year old with closing experience and therefore would have more value to a contending team than a nothing body in return. MLB Trade Rumors says that the Angels are interested in Liriano and Capps - I think a nice package could come back in return if they package the two together. We might be able to get a few high upside potential starters from the low minors in return.

People seem to forget that Matt Capps actually has an option for 2013 of $6M (with a 250K buyout), so his tradability is more than a 3 month buy. If he is used as a closer or an 8th inning setup guy, $6M is a very reasonable salary for 2013.

If Span or Revere are traded, Parmelee will be back and in right field.

I beieve that Florimon is on the International League All Stars - not Independent League

Twin are promoting Tyler Robertson from Rochester in anticipation of placing Matt Capps on the DL. Robertson is LH and will supplement Perkins as a lefty in the pen with Duensing in the rotation for a while.

In the 60's and 70's your average pitching staff was 9 or 10 pitchers (always a 4-man starting rotation), so you always had at least 7 players on your bench. I was looking back at some old Sporting Newses and found an article about Tony LaRussa's Chicago White Sox in about '79 or '80. At that time he was contemplating an 8-man pitching staff - that's right 5 fewer pitchers than the Twins are currently carrying. All 8 pitchers had the ability to start if needed. In that case, he would have had a bench of 9 players. In those days, platooning players was a regular occurance. You could pinch hit more, have defensive specialists - and always 3 catchers. When the owners and players were beginning negotiations for the new CBA, I put together a proposal which included a salary cap (which I placed at $225 MM initially.) I proposed expanding to 32 teams with four 4-team divisions in each league. Playoffs would not include wild cards, but the 4 division winners in each league. The other option in my proposal would be expanding the rosters to 28 and 45. Thereby adding additional players to the major leagues. (I know that talent is already watered down and this would cause more players who aren't ready to be in the majors.) My twist to the 28 man roster would be that 3 players each game would be designated as an emergency squad. Before each game the manager would designate which 3 players could be used under emergencies (i.e multiple injuries in the game) and only after the 8th inning. The stipulations would include that starting pitchers could not be designated to the emergency squad. I would include five categories to chose from; infielders, outfielders, catchers, utility players, and relief pitchers. You could only designate one player from each category, but always 3 players. In this day and age, with 12 to 13 pitchers and a designated hitter, it can leave a mighty thin bench on a regular basis. For the Twins, who regularly it seems are playing even shorter because of Mauer injuries or overworked relief pitchers, it would allow for some players to rest a day or two a week without losing the full 25-man roster.

Unfortunately any power pitchers the Twins either have already in the system or the ones they drafted this year really are relief pitchers. They don't even have enough starters (of any kind) to make a full rotation for 2013.

You have to wait 1 year after signing date

Next year's trade - Span for Giolito

If Giolito falls to 32, he'll go to UCLA for a couple of years.

I totally agree - unless the Twins are going with a 5-man outfield and Butera on the mound, we don't need another 'toolsy' OF'er. We've already got Hicks, Benson, Morales, Kepler, Arcia, not to mention Revere, Plouffe, Parmelee and Span in the system. As proven by this year's pathetic rotation, the Twins desperately need pitchers. Giolito does have the highest upside and I'm hoping he's still a possibility, but I'd settle for Zimmer or Appel. If we can't have Verlander, I'll take anyone else who could win a Cy Young (or at least get a few votes).

Let's face facts - this is the real world. The Twins will not go after Greinke, they have never gone after a free-agent starting pitcher of significance who wasn't their own (i.e. Pavano - who was acquired in a trade originally) except in the case of Morris, and then they were 1 pitcher away from a title, and he was a hometown lad. Looking at next year's available starting pitchers (by MLB Trade Rumors list), potential $4-$6 million guys who might be decent include Eric Bedard ($4.5M), Joe Saunders ($6M), Brandon McCarthy ($4.275M), Kevin Correia ($4M), or Colby Lewis ($4M). Forget about any guys in the $10M-$12M range and it's pipe dreams to think about Grienke, who would hamstring them even more to go with Mauer's $23M contract.

Who the hell is this guy - our catcher with the highest batting average - .316????

Actually, Doumit wouldn't be a bad choice. 22 RBI's & 5 HR and his average is climbing - he'd be a better choice at catcher than Mauer.

It should be Cuddy! or maybe Plouffe

Totally agree - Revere, Hicks, Benson, Morales, Arcia, Kepler - the Twins have a ton of 'toolsy' OF'ers. Pitching, pitching and more pitching is what's needed, and not #3's. Pitch to contact guys are over. Strong arms with mid 90's fastballs and control are what's needed on this team! Stockpile with all of the #1 or #2 draft choices we're going to have the next few years. Then maybe we can contend in 2015.

In the long run, this would be the smart move - because Migy Sano @ 3B is like Migy Cabrerra @ 3B - kinda scary. If Sano doesn't improve his fielding he'll either be at 1B or DH. This clearly isn't the final structure of this year's roster.

Oh and as Bert's replacement in the press box - Michael Cuddyer.

I'm guessing the next manager will be Jake Mauer - they're grooming him, and he's very popular with the players he has managed. Bruno will be the next hitting coach. Molitor has no interest except as a roving instructor. Redmond will be back, probably taking over as bullpen coach for Stelly when he retires. Everyday Eddie is itching to get back into baseball, down the line maybe pitching coach? When Torii retires he might be willing to come in as a base coach. And for a bit of experience as bench coach Don Baylor.

This is true - so maybe Mauer should be learning 3B to go along with C. Sano isn't a great fielder - but we need his bat.

I don't particularly want him to come in when no one's on base either.