DaveW

I dunno man, Hammel doesn't do a whole lot for me. He was pretty mediorce prior to last season and couple that with the injury thing I don't think he is worth targeting at this point. If he had a couple more years of team control, or if the Twins were looking for "one more piece" then I could see it happening, I just fail to see the upside here, especially if you are trading a guy who could have a lot of value in a trade later in the season (Morneau) I hear ya and I don't necessarily disagree. Sure, you would like a guy who's under team control longer, but Hammel might not be impossible to lock up for a few more years, either. I do tend to discount his stats with Colorado a bit, though, so there's part of me that think you may be underestimating his abilities. The thing is, with Morneau being owed $14 million, that presents a lot of opportunities. The Twins can agree to eat a significant part of that if they want something better than Hammel in return or the O's can take on most of the remaining money if Hammel is all they'd part with. Even that result would leave the Twins with a pretty big chunk of change that would be added to the $25 million or so that Ryan has to play with right now. Like I said, it just seems like there could be a deal to be made between these two teams since they do have pieces that the other could use. I'm just of the opinion that if you trade Morneau you need a youngster that can help the future back in return. IMO one year of Hammel isn't enough, even if he is willing to resign easier, I just think you can get any one of the 20 similar pitchers on the FA market that next year. I think the best play is to keep Morneau to start the season, if he comes out healthy/effective you can always trade him at the deadline to a team that needs a bat (where his contract wouldn't be as big of an issue) and ideally get a solid prospect back. Or if the Twins are competitive you still have him around. If someone offers you a good player in the meantime, take him. It's just I don't think Hammel is that "good player"

MLBtraderumors had a piece this off-season that said that another GM said Willingham would most likely only bring back a #4 in a trade.

Yes, 4/48 would be a steal for Sanchez, which is exactly why his agent called the Tigers 4/48 offer an "insult"

I dunno man, Hammel doesn't do a whole lot for me. He was pretty mediorce prior to last season and couple that with the injury thing I don't think he is worth targeting at this point. If he had a couple more years of team control, or if the Twins were looking for "one more piece" then I could see it happening, I just fail to see the upside here, especially if you are trading a guy who could have a lot of value in a trade later in the season (Morneau) Would the ante be upped if the Orioles would consider Willingham and Parmelee in the same package- ie, two birds killed with one stone? What about their willingness to part with Roberts as part of the deal (who could later be flipped by the Twins?) Roberts has been absolutely dreadful the last 2 seasons and is owed a lot of money for 2013. Who are you saying they should trade for by packaging Willingham and Parmelee together? Bundy? Machado? It ain't going to happen.

I don't get the Hannahan love. Other then him being from Minnesota I don't see any real reason to bring him to the club. The guy is a career .671 hitter (.234 avg .314 OBP) at what should be an offensive position. If you are signing him to just be a "depth" defensive replacement guy I guess you could toss him a minimum deal, but if you truly want "competition" for Plouffe at third base, Hannahan isn't the answer. Give me a guy like Jed Lowrie, Ty Wigginton, Eric Chavez or Keppinger over Hannahan.

I dunno man, Hammel doesn't do a whole lot for me. He was pretty mediorce prior to last season and couple that with the injury thing I don't think he is worth targeting at this point. If he had a couple more years of team control, or if the Twins were looking for "one more piece" then I could see it happening, I just fail to see the upside here, especially if you are trading a guy who could have a lot of value in a trade later in the season (Morneau)

That isn't nearly enough for the Twins to get Machado and Gausman. Morneau is nice player but still has plenty of questions, it's not hard to find power on the free agent market. Perkins is a good but not elite RP, Rosario is a nice prospect and Hermsenn has no value in a trade like this. Machado is a stud who made an impact in the majors at 19 years old, he is about as close to "untouchable" as it gets. Also Gausman was just the #4 pick in the draft, no way is Baltimore going to trade him at this point. If you were really serious about getting Machado you would need to package Sano along with Hicks and maybe a major leaguer to even get in the conversation. Guys like Machado, Bundy and Gausman will not be traded this off-season or anytime soon. As far as a trade partner goes, Baltimore doesn't have a ton that interests me that we could obtain. I wouldn't mind bringing Hardy back, but I can't see that happening. I would like to take a run at Tillman (actually I wanted to go after him last off-season when he was struggling) but I don't think Tillman comes cheaply, other then that I don't see a whole lot of targets that make sense for the Twins.

I'm not sure why you are getting so sensitive to me disagree with you, I never said anything about your baseball knowledge or anything like that. If I made you think that then I apologize. You say I am trashing Ben Revere or whatever or being mean and I disagree. The fact is, I see him as a 4th OF moving forward (a very good 4th OF for what its worth) who should be able to stick in the league a long time, Juan Pierre has plenty of value as well, he's just better suited to not be in your lineup every day like Revere. We can disagree all day on how important Revere's arm is, but from what I have seen, read etc he has the weakest arm of any OF in baseball. I don't see how he suddenly is going to improve at this point, I always thought in the minors they should have tried to switch him to 2B because of this (and the lack of 'pop'). Also I am not saying arm is an end all be all for OF's. But it does matter, teams were running all over Revere in RF because he literally has to hit the cutoff man who is further out in the OF then I have ever seen. Now with that said, he does have elite range and excellent speed, moving him to CF actually helps his range/speed outshine/hide his arm even more. Do I think he is a perfectly fine stop gap for a year or two on a rebuilding team? Sure. I just don't see him ever becoming a legit major league starter because as I mentioned before, he will need to hit for a .330 average in order to get to that .725 OPS range. If you think that is me "trashing him" or you are worried that he might read this and get hurt feelings or whatever I think you need to be slightly less sensitive. I'm sure Ben Revere is well aware of his arm deficiencies and his inability to hit for power. I have no problem with "the kid" and hope he proves me wrong, I think he is looking at a long career ahead of him in the majors at this point anyways. I have never said he doesn't belong on the team, nor have said he doesn't belong in the league. He will have a Juan Pierre type career IMO and that isn't a bad thing. At this point however I think it would be a mistake to count on him long term as a starter on this team, especially with so many potentially superior options in our system: Hicks, Arcia, Rosario (if he moves back to CF), Buxton, Keppler. Benson? I also think if they get an offer for a pitcher that can help moving forward they need to trade him because of two things: 1. I don't think he is able to match last years numbers offensively, he struggled quite a bit down the stretch as teams began to make adjustments to him. If you aren't a risk to even hit doubles, teams are going to move the OF in and you will see zero walks. 2. They have a ton of depth for OF, and absurd amount of depth in the minors for CF. If you can use Revere to fill other holes, you gotta pull the trigger. One of the Twins in house guys can match his production by the end of the year no doubt. Just stop taking it so personally...

I would be thrilled, but it isn't going to happen. Since he has zero power and thus no one will pitch around him, Revere would most likely need to hit around .330 on a regular basis in order to get even a 725 OPS, I just don't see it, unless he miraculously learns how to hit for even mediocre power/pop or someone learns to inciro the hell out of the ball for INF hits. Outlook: Unlikely

Dude yes the other teams were having a "field party" or whatever sending guys from 1st to third. His arm is terrible as far as baseball is concerned, it's actually borderline embarrassing watching at times how bad it is. That doesn't take away the fact that he has elite range and the ability to play a really strong CF, but to claim his arm isn't one of the worst of any OF in baseball is just flat out wrong. Luckily it will be masked a bit in CF, but still the weakness still remains.

Give me a break, low .600's? He posted a .742 in the minors, just because he had a bad half year this year doesn't mean he will hit for a low .600s OPS, also range etc wise he is fine, he had a really, really terrible stretch this year where he basically got steve bass disease, other then that there is no reason not to think he cant be a solid contributor defensively. Offer a C prospect for him, worst case scenario is he is a better option as a bench guy/UTIL guy then an Escobar or Florimon, best case is he can become a cheap league average SS overall (including his speed).

I didn't hype him up, I said he would be a good buy low candidate to go after due to his upside, however he isn't worth a top 100 prospect at this point. I don't think those things have to be mutually exclusive?

or maybe draft them? R.I.P Shooter Hunt

Yeah, the cost isn't worth it in this case, if he was the "missing piece" sure, but the Twins don't need to be trading any of there 2014+ assets for short time help now.

Sounds like Revere with less defensive ability. Do we need more table-setters on offense? I grant that any realistic SS/2B will be a table-setter, but does Gordon bring significantly more than what we already have in, say, the Florimonster? I think Gordon has significantly more upside then a guy like Florimon, who personally I don't think should ever be counted on as a starter at the major league level. You can survive with Revere type production out of SS/2B, and his speed is truly an asset. He is just raw, which maybe isn't the best fit seeing as our record with "raw" MI hasn't worked out to well in the past.

I could be pretty shocked if a team gives Blanton 3 years. I have him pegged at 1 year (maybe two, but that is a stretch) at 4-6 mil per year. He is coming off of two pretty bad years (ERA wise)

Except there really aren't any frontline pitchers. There are a bunch of #3s that people are touting better than that and Zach Grienke. So get used to this. I think Sanchez is a #2 to be honest as is Haren. Jackson and Marcum are sort of on the fringe of being good #3's as well.

Feel free to reach out, you know I am always a fan of mediocre pitching!

Your point may be moot, Revere apparently is already drawing some interest, if you could you get a C+/B- rated "A level minor league experience SP for Revere, this whole discussion is academic. Or, does "teams with pitchers on the block" mean a Vargas-type from Seattle? from MLB Traderumors: "Although the Twins seem to be looking at plenty of pitching options in free agency, the team has also been more active in trade talks than expected, says Crasnick. Teams with pitchers on the block have approached the Twins about both Ben Revere and Josh Willingham." Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/minnesota_twins/index.html#ty30IECPbULUgyHk.99 Well, Hicks is a former 1st rounder with 5 seasons in the minors...it's about time he gets a chance. To be fair, he wasn't exactly making a case to be promoted quickly until last year really.

Sounds exactly in line with the stats I see for him on baseball-reference.com. His range factor looks about average, he makes more than his share of errors (not that that's a prime metric for a middle infielder) and his bat should be more of an asset by age 24 than it is. If, as another poster states, the Dodgers are posturing that they want a prospect-not-a-suspect in return, I'm not interested. The Dodgers can think and say whatever they want, nobody is giving up anything close to a top 100 prospect back for this guy at this point. The whole point about getting Gordon would be buying low on a kid that still has potential. He did have a .302 in his cup of coffee in 2011 and hit .302 in the minors, so he has shown in the past that he can get on base. Though hoping for anything more then a .700 OPS would be wishful thinking, however, he has speed, and tons of team control if he gets it together. I'd also be willing to trade for Jed Lowrie if he is truly on the block.

Your point may be moot, Revere apparently is already drawing some interest, if you could you get a C+/B- rated "A level minor league experience SP for Revere, this whole discussion is academic. Or, does "teams with pitchers on the block" mean a Vargas-type from Seattle? from MLB Traderumors: "Although the Twins seem to be looking at plenty of pitching options in free agency, the team has also been more active in trade talks than expected, says Crasnick. Teams with pitchers on the block have approached the Twins about both Ben Revere and Josh Willingham." Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/minnesota_twins/index.html#ty30IECPbULUgyHk.99 If a team offers any SP (or SP prospect) of value for Revere the Twins need to hop on it ASAP. They already have a superior option who is almost MLB ready in Aaron Hicks. I would prefer not to start Hicks clock this early this year, but if it brings back pitching, go for it!

Nobody is tearing him down. Pointing out that he has zero power, no arm and projects more as a 4th OF isn't tearing him down, it's just reality. Nobody will be more happy then me if he proves me wrong, I just don't see it.

Yeah that is what I was thinking. Someone around #10-#12 in the system. Or a couple guys in the lower teens/twenties range.

I don't want either of these, nor Correia. They all are about on a par with Deduno, but because they are "proven" starters they command a significant premium in price. I'd rather see them take what they would pay for Blanton, add half of what they are saving by trading away Span for a prospect, and apply it to getting Saunders - as mediocre as Saunders is, he has a chance to provide positive value versus some AAA nobody, and I'm not sure Blanton is capable of that. Is Saunders even better then Blanton? a quick check of career numbers has them about the same, and Blanton had an xFIP and FIP quite a bit lower then Saunders last year as well. At the end of the day, its not like there is a right answer, both Blanton and Saunders are #4/#5 types anyways.

That last sentence was what I was thinking, rather than that Blanton is some unfairly persecuted savant whose actual value is consistently and drastically understated by ERA and other conventional stats. Not excited about either Blanton or 2013, but he's at least got a decent shot to exceed either the pitching slurry within our system or some of the expensive time bomb free agents who've already signed. I mean the k rate and BB rate doesn't lie. So maybe there is something there, Bill James prediction for 2013 holds a little weigh for me to. If he can give you the 4.10 ERA and 180 IP James suggests Blanton would be a fine pick up on an affordable one year deal. I think people get to up in arms at this point, the Twins need 2-3 FA starting pitchers. Best case scenario is they sign one of the "Tier 1" guys on the market: Grienke, Sanchez, Haren? Marcum? Jackson? at some point if you want to have more then one pitcher the Twins are going to have to grab one or two of these secondary Tier guys as well. As far as these secondary tier guys go (lannan, Blanton, Liriano) I don't mind it as long as its a one year deal. Hopefully they can get a couple decent cheap effective finds and add on a tier 1 guy on a long term deal.