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If he can eat innings effectively as a #3-4 that would be great. Need these guys as well (especially cheap, team controlled ones).

Don't lump this one in with the Correia signing. A one year, make good deal with a potential mid-level starter is not all bad, especially if he wants to come here. I'll say it again: You are not going to have 4 #1 starters in your rotation, you need cheap, (hopefully) effective pitching as well. I have no problem with this. If it works, he may be here a while. If not, it only cost money (ie no prospects).

Since when did race become an issue in regards to the Twins performance?

Follow the money. Your current team can offer you more, now he and his family are set for life. I am a little torn on this. We bash our athletes when the speak in cliches and don't give any quotes of value. When one does speak his mind, we bash him for being selfish. Who cares if this is out in the public. If Love is saying it in private, it will leak anyway... it always does

Too many recent players. Rivera on the list is a joke. Bonds is too high. Aaron is too low (guy was a machine). No Puckett, but Edgar Martinez?

$5 million - no At that price - yes On the condition that if he reaches 350 PA, Gardy donates his entire salary to charity.

I am of the opinion that no pitchers are worthe the money and length. As good as they can be, there is just as much risk that they will burn out, blow a ligament, or just stop pitching well. 3 years max.

I was having this issue yesterday, but it seems to be ok this morning.

Brunansky and Smalley need to be ranked higher on the list. Brunansky was a tremendous defensive outfielder to go with his power (he was something like 11th in homers hit for the decade of the 80's). Smalley was a view of changes to come for the SS position, bigger, more power, decent defender. Mack, as good as he was, was only good for a short time for the Twins. He should be moved down the list. Tapani was also good for bad teams. Guardado was effective, though we still don't know why. I like how the Twins Hall of Fame is turning into the "Hall of Pretty Good". I realize that there are only so many players in the teams history, but it seems to me we are approaching the line of players that probably shouldn't be in at all. If Gladden does somehow make it in, there will be no credibility in the process whatsoever.

I don't believe the W/L record will be the primary factor in whether Gardy comes back. The last few years have seen the Twins go away from what was called the "Twins way". Things we have lost: good defense smart base running small ball execution (ie sacrifices, hit-and-run) The attention to the little things is what made the Twins way worked. They always played smart, efficient baseball. That has been lost over the last 2-3 years. If we don't see a marked improvement on those things, Gardy will be gone regardless of the record.

Dougie Baseball! All we need is Randy Bush in the Front Office and we are set.

He already does. Before the Buddinger injury and Love breaking his hand, ESPN picked them to finish 3rd in the West. I thought that was a little high, but if Rubio comes back playing well, nobody will want to play this team come spring.

Smooth as a baby's bottom...

Wow. How soon we forget. David West was a highly coveted (maybe the most coveted) prospect/young pitcher at the time. Aguilera was a solid #3/4 starter at the time. Tapani was an upper prospect. Drummond and Savage were throw ins. A solid starter, 2 high end prospects, and 2 low end prospects is a pretty good haul for a B+ pitcher (Slightly below the Clemens/Maddux level at the time) at the trade deadline. Aggie was not considered a solid starter. If he was, they would not have converted him to a reliever. He was going back and forth between the rotation and bullpen in New York after some early success . In the Times archives, West was cosidered the prize. Tapani and Savage had been filler in earlier trades. You are so wrong I don't even know where to start. Here is the transaction via BR: July 31, 1989: Traded by the Minnesota Twins to the New York Mets for a player to be named later, Rick Aguilera, Tim Drummond, Kevin Tapani and David West. The New York Mets sent Jack Savage (October 16, 1989) to the Minnesota Twins to complete the trade. Tapani and Savage were part of this trade. Tapani a big part. You are correct in that, at the time, West was considered the prize. 1985-87 Aguilera was a combined 31-17, with an ERA around 3.50. He was hurt in 1988, in 1989 he was partially in the pen out of necessity for the Mets, when he came to the Twins he was a FT starter. It wasn't until that offseason, when the Jeff Reardon left as a FA that Aguilera was asked to become the closer. At the time, he strongly resisted the move. He didn't want to do it. Lucky for us, he took to it pretty well. Next time get your facts straight.

[) Aging Wakefield and the Niekro brothers aged well, good for them. Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens aged well too. These anectdotes mean little with regards to how other pitchers will perform as they age. . I believe if you took knuckleball pitchers as a group, and non-knuckleball pitchers as a group, you would find that knuckleballers in general pitch more effectively after the age of 40 than non-knuckleballers. If you asked 30 GMs who they think would be pitching effectively at age 41, how many would say Dempster would and Dickey wouldn't? Zero. How many would say Dickey would still be effective at 41? Probably all. This is not anecdotes, this is just the way it is. This portion of your argument has no legs whatsoever.

Any chances of Mauer being moved were traded to the Nationals a few years back. The only way Mauer gets moved is if he requests it. Otherwise you are are looking at a life long Twin. I believe as the years go on, you will see Mauer spend less time behind the plate. His offense alone has tremendous value. Keeping him healthy will help keep his value closer to the actual contract. The Red Sox were/are looking for Mauer to play 1B full time. Can't see that happening right now.

ok who then plays 1st and who plays right field? Umm... 1B and RF would be manned by Parmalee, Doumit, Mauer, Mastroianni, and probably Hicks in some combination.

Wow. How soon we forget. David West was a highly coveted (maybe the most coveted) prospect/young pitcher at the time. Aguilera was a solid #3/4 starter at the time. Tapani was an upper prospect. Drummond and Savage were throw ins. A solid starter, 2 high end prospects, and 2 low end prospects is a pretty good haul for a B+ pitcher (Slightly below the Clemens/Maddux level at the time) at the trade deadline.

I would be ok with a Santana and cash (to make salaries match) for Morneau swap. Santana is just too much of a risk to invest any time or money at this point. Trading for Morneau gives you a pitcher that could be great for a player you are not going to resign.

I agree with you. I am decidedly against bringing in a slew of washed up, overpriced pitchers on multi-year contracts. Can you imagine the uproar on this site if the Twins did not sign anybody and went with a boatload of minor league invites? The negativity would be incredible.

Brunansky or Smalley would seem to be good candidates here. Heaven help me if Gladden is elected...

I am not yet convinced they will be horrible next year. Also, I think "waiting" until 2015 (or 16 or whatever) puts an awful lot of pressure on the young kids being up and successful soon and the moment they show up. They odds are more likely only 1-2 of them will pan out. Cuddyer was a top 5 prospect in baseball at one time, he turned out to be average at best. Kubel blew a knee. Gibson an elbow. For every Mauer or Griffey, how many Brien Taylors are out there? Too much risk for me. In your opinion, what realistic FA signings could they make that would fit both of your criteria?

There is one aspect of this off season that I don't think anybody has touched on, so I will give it a shot: What if the Twins stand pat with pitching this off season? An argument could be made for standing pat. The reasons for spending money have been discussed ad nauseum, lets look at some reasons not to spend: - The Twins are expected to be at or near the bottom in the AL Central this year. If the Twins brass believe this, then spending any money on any pitcher not expected to be with the team 2-3 years from now makes no sense. Wait until the vaunted minor league group is ready and start spending then. - While the market for mid-tier starting pitching is deep this year, the recent signings of Haren, Feldman, and Baker may make the remaining SP overpriced and not worth the financial value for the Twins - Spending big money on a #1 pitcher (Grienke, Sanchez) would not push them enough next year. Why spend that money now? Again, push it off a year or two until it will have a stronger impact.. - The Twins do have some potentially intriguing minor league pitchers that could be starting for them this year: Liam Hendricks, Kyle Gibson, Cole DeVries (maybe even Meyer later in the year). With Scott Diamond and Blackburn/Swarzak/Deduno rounding out the rotation, a mid-tier starter would only take away starts from these guys. I mean we need to see what they can do, right? - Moving Morneau or Mauer right now would not generate an equal return. That money is already spent. Mauer was great last year. Morneau showed flickers of comeback. Without a "win" trade, there is no reason to move them now. I personally don't believe this would be the best course of action for the team, but I could at least understand it if the Twins chose to go this route. (I would be interested in others thoughts on this, but please keep the responses civil. Many of you think taking this route would be a fireable offense, but I am looking for an intelligent discussion on this matter. Thanks.)

There is one aspect of this off season that I don't think anybody has touched on, so I will give it a shot: What if the Twins stand pat with pitching this off season? An argument could be made for standing pat. The reasons for spending money have been discussed ad nauseum, lets look at some reasons not to spend: - The Twins are expected to be at or near the bottom in the AL Central this year. If the Twins brass believe this, then spending any money on any pitcher not expected to be with the team 2-3 years from now makes no sense. Wait until the vaunted minor league group is ready and start spending then. - While the market for mid-tier starting pitching is deep this year, the recent signings of Haren, Feldman, and Baker may make the remaining SP overpriced and not worth the financial value for the Twins - Spending big money on a #1 pitcher (Grienke, Sanchez) would not push them enough next year. Why spend that money now? Again, push it off a year or two until it will have a stronger impact.. - The Twins do have some potentially intriguing minor league pitchers that could be starting for them this year: Liam Hendricks, Kyle Gibson, Cole DeVries (maybe even Meyer later in the year). With Scott Diamond and Blackburn/Swarzak/Deduno rounding out the rotation, a mid-tier starter would only take away starts from these guys. I mean we need to see what they can do, right? - Moving Morneau or Mauer right now would not generate an equal return. That money is already spent. Mauer was great last year. Morneau showed flickers of comeback. Without a "win" trade, there is no reason to move them now. I personally don't believe this would be the best course of action for the team, but I could at least understand it if the Twins chose to go this route. (I would be interested in others thoughts on this, but please keep the responses civil. Many of you think taking this route would be a fireable offense, but I am looking for an intelligent discussion on this matter. Thanks.)