Riverbrian

I watched him with the Nats. I was disappointed but I wasn't aware of the injuries. Injury would explain it because he didn't look like the same guy. If he has worked through the injury. This will be a good pickup for us. At least good for anyone that doesn't expect all players to OPS plus .900. Or be worthless. I think he's tough and we need some tough. He could be a guy that doesn't look like he's helping but helps by improving others around him. I hope we get him. Roll them dice!

A's actually... I don't remember him with the Mariners. There was a time when I was impressed. He had occasional pop with the bat and he was a real active catcher behind the plate... Athletically skilled... He made some amazing blocks of wild pitches. Last year... I watched him catch a couple games and he didn't seem as active... He looked a little sedentary behind the dish and he looked a little lost at the plate. He needs to find that energy again... If he does... He'll be a decent support player... He calls a decent game so that will be good for the pitching staff. I remember watching this play below and thinking it was one of the finest defensive plays from catcher I'd ever seen. http://wapc.mlb.com/play/?content_id=7431547

I agree... I won't mind Pelfrey coming back. He was pitching much better as he moved along from his surgery. Maybe 2014 is better still as he moves further along. BUT... I continue to not understand what anyone has against Deduno. Before he got hurt... he was the only pitcher we had who was dominant at times. Unless his shoulder has killed him... I see no reason to set him adrift.

Not sure who we can count on after 2013... Bringing Kubel back home is bringing in competition for positions and that is a great thing. Kubel can hit... We don't know if last year is Kubel this year. Bring in some 3B competition and Bring in some speed please while your at it.

When I saw the thread Title... I thought we signed him? Whew! Cubs Broadcast... That makes more sense. Good for The Coom Dog... Congrats!!!

True.. I'm certainly not betting on it and I'm not endorsing Florimon long term until he snows he can. But a lot of SS's don't OPS that high because teams look glove first at the position. If they can hit and need work with the glove... They become 3B, 2B or OF. Tulo's are pretty rare. SS's who hit are expensive... It's why Peralta got paid and It's why Drew is going to cost a ton of money for pretty average stats and frequent health concerns. It's why... Even Defensive studs like Iglasias is worth Peavy... It's why youngsters who are not Top 20 prospects like Gregarious is worth Shin Soo Choo and Bauer... It's why Atlanta wouldn't part with Simmons for Upton or the Rangers wouldn't part with Andrus or Profar for Upton. When you look at the prices paid for a SS. It makes me pause pretty hard when you consider that Drew was given away. Something wasn't right at the time. Florimon's glove is pretty special. I'm fine with him for another year. He has 600 AB's... If the light bulb goes off and just a little hitting gets combined with that glove and arm. Just hitting .250 and .680 OPS would increase his value to scary territory. If the Twins sign Drew... I'll be ok with that as well. I more concerned with the offense that is coming back... Actually playing to expectation. If Drew can inspire the squad and the inspired squad improves as a unit... he will be worth every penny. If he goes into the tank with the rest of the team. It will be a bad 14 million a year contract.

I have a baseball theory that I stubbornly cling to. Basically... I believe that if you have the ability to hit a ball out of the park (Florimon does). And if you have the ability to catch up to 98 MPH Fastball (Florimon can). Then you have the ability to do almost anything with the bat... If you can homer... You can triple in the gap... You can double and of course you can single... You just got to stop chasing crap. It's all between the ears. These guys have refined their swings to easy muscle memory by now. They've hit off the tee thousands of times... They've hit in the cages... They have the finest swing coaches in the world working with them... They've faced batting practice.... They've faced live pitching. Its all up to them... Are they gonna chase the pitch the pitcher wants them to chase or are they gonna go up to the plate with a game plan and execute? The light bulb never turns on with some and the light bulb turns on after a while with others and some hit the big leagues fully lit. Florimon... Is hurting himself at the plate with poor discipline but some youngsters think they have to hit a 5 run homer to stay in the bigs or get to the bigs and they press. The walk isn't sexy and they are afraid of the two strike count. They can get better with age and often do.

We could of... No doubt... Although.. I would have considered trading those same guys for Capps. L'il Abner would be outlawed. Carter would have a chance of redemption for the last name Capps in Minnesota. Of course it went bad... The Capps name would be finished in Minnesota. I also like that Pryor kid in the Seattle pen. If Jack Z is gonna give away some of that talented youth... I'd like to get some of that for the Twins.

God... I hope so... He holds a big chunk of the Twins future in his hands.

I'm not so sure... Carter Capps is a strong arm out of the Pen... Could be the Marlins future closer.

I wanted to vote for 3 but it would only allow one. Willingham will bounce back... And Worley will bounce back. I also like Parmelee for a bounce back... If... He gets playing time. If he doesn't... Scratch Parmelee.

If Deduno is Healthy... The Twins better keep Deduno!!! I'd like to keep Worley as well... In case he actually turns it around. And he just might. Diamond... To the pen I guess.

LOL... Yeah but you get Ink on your hands and the spiral in spiral notebooks will dig into your skin when writing. Playstation controllers are built for righties... Using a can opener sucks for you and the Cup Holder in your car is on the right side so you have to reach across yourself to get a drink of your Starbucks coffee and this will cause you to drift toward the ditch every once in awhile.

I gotta say no way to this. If he wants to be employed in baseball for another organization. It's a small community... He won't get a job if he lobs hand grenades while walking out the door. Nobody wants that type of guy. No money would be needed for that but just in case... The contracts signed do come with confidentiality agreements. This makes the current Seattle situation so bizarre. Seriously... If a guy is a great car salesmen and gets promoted to sales manager based on his car sales skills. If the guy then fails at the management position... Does it make sense to just throw the baby out with the bath water. He was a great car salesmen before... If he's willing to return to that role. Why bounce him? Sounds like you lose a great car salesmen because he was a bad sales manager.

It kinda does... In between the lines... It tells me that he has skills that somebody important likes. Disclaimer: I have no idea what Bill Smith is good at or bad at. I've never met him personally... I don't know anyone inside the Twins FO walls... I'm just making assumptions based upon actions made publicly by the Twins and relating them to work environments that I'm familiar with. My guess is that he is Terry Ryan's guy and still is. Continuing to guess... Terry Ryan wants to step down. He recommends his guy for his replacement. If he doesn't recommend his guy as his replacement. Someone from the outside could be brought in and that guy could bring in his own guys. Recommending someone he trusts like Bill Smith makes sense in that regard for not only Bill Smith but everyone else. If he doesn't recommend Bill Smith or someone from his staff... His staff could end up on the street... Now his retirement has become an employment issue for the people he left behind... And... It doesn't look good for those working for you. I liked you enough to keep you around all these years but I don't like you enough to replace me. Your staff should be able to replace you or you gotta get new staff. Still guessing... There is very little turnover in the Twins front office. This tells me that Terry Ryan is supportive of his people. Still guessing... When he left he protected his people with Bill Smith and when Bill didn't work out... he came back and protecting his people may be why he came back... Just a guess... But Terry Ryan did want to retire and he did...He's back for a reason. Terry could you come back? Bill isn't working out! If Terry doesn't come back. They bring in someone else and everybody is exposed to the new guy bringing in new guys. It can be argued weather this is a healthy way to run an organization but personally... I like it... If my guesses are right... Terry Ryan is exactly the type of guy I'd like to work for. A guy who takes responsibility for the team and the people who work for him. Bill Smith I assume he was good at something that suggested promotion. Once promoted... He may not have been as good at the new role... No need to throw that away... Just put him back to what he was good at before. I also don't believe Bill Smith was a puppet. I don't think Terry Ryan was lurking in the shadows making the decisions while retired. What's the sense in being retired if that's the case. Bill Smith was handed the reins... He was the GM... He made the final calls. Just guesses but they make sense to me.

Alcedes Escobar was ready to be promoted to Milwaukee. They didn't need or want Hardy. JJ had just hit .229 and was sent down during a horrible 2009 and then... The Twins gave up 4 years of control of Carlos Gomez to acquire him. Only to ship him off Hardy a year later. I still shake my head... I hated the trade of Gomez then and I hate it more now.

Jose Iglesias is a light hitting defensive superstar. He may have hit .300 last year but that wasn't anything expected by the scouts. He is still considered to be a light hitting defensive superstar. To acquire him from the Red Sox... He cost the Tigers Avisail Garcia... And the White Sox Jake Peavy. Pedro Florimon is 4 years older but they both have similar service time and will be arbitration eligible around the same time. Pedro Florimon is also a defensive superstar. Now Big If... But... If... Florimon has a year at the plate in the majors like he did in 2011 at AA (Which isn't out of the question). Pedro is Arb-eligible in 2016... His trade value will skyrocket. On the other hand Stephen Drew's trade value at 14 million a year is a big ? It should also be noted that Stephen Drew at 7 million per was traded to Oakland for a 17th Round Infielder out of Canisius. So to answer your question... I'm going with Pedro Florimon.

I just like the way Birdwatcher said "who hasn't, Mike" After that details didn't matter... I liked the post.

I remember watching Drew pitch a long while back and I remember thinking he had a horrible delivery. Herky Jerky... He looked like a windmill out of the wind-up. I saw him pitch again in September and he had stopped using the wind-up all together. He was throwing from the stretch exclusively... Real quiet body and he was fairly dominant out of the pen in that game. He may have fixed something. Beane at the very least... Has a lefty for his pen and he might have a decent replacement starter. And he shaved some cash from the books and I think that was the most important accomplishment for Oakland.

I'd make that trade. But the 2nd round pick would have to throw in about 7 million.

The Twins Organization very rarely removes or fires anyone. They are seemingly loyal to a fault. Bill Smith was removed from the position. I have no inside knowledge but the fact that Bill Smith was removed when people rarely are... Tells me that... It was determined by the Twins that Bill Smith should not continue in the GM position for some reason. I don't know about anyone else but that speaks pretty loudly to me.

I agree He's just a lost soul who could find his way.

Actually... Baserunning is something I like about Drew. The guy is a triples machine.

Obviously... We see things differently. I will give you this. Boston extended a qualifying offer to him for 14.1 Million. That tells me that Boston liked him in the clubhouse. Even with Bogaarts knocking on the door. Boston liking him in the clubhouse is different than other reports I've read on him... so... I'm not as solid a no as I was a year ago.

I don't like giving up a high draft pick. I don't like what is rumored for dollars. I don't like what is rumored for contract length. I don't like Drew's Injury History. I don't like his hitting stats post Age 27. I don't like that Arizona ran him out of town. I don't like that he turned down a fairly large qualifying offer from a World Championship team. I don't like this Nomad like bouncing around he's been doing. I do like his D a little I like Florimon's D much better.