YourHouseIsMyHouse

C Mauer 1B Morneau 2B Plouffe 3B Youkilis SS Carroll LF Willingham CF Revere RF Parmelee DH Doumit

I'd like to see Span traded for a pair of AA-AAA pitchers.

Like I've said, I really don't care who the better pitcher is. Shields is of course more talented, but his short deal and minor inconsistencies worriy me. I'd just be happier if Span was traded for something else. Marcum+Prospects>Shields-Span-Prospects

*sarcasm

No, Marcum is not even close to Shields. Between Greinke and Shields, I'd probably prefer Shields because of money and duration of contract. You just can't rely on high-end pitching to perform for 5+ years. A .18 difference in ERA last year is not even close??? Marcum also has better career numbers as I said previously. Talk about WHIP (.001 career difference), and SO/BB all you want. It doesn't matter because Marcum will still give up roughly the same amount of runs. Same for Shields. You can't compare a pitcher from the AL East to a pitcher in the NL Central using straight statistics and expect me to agree with your assessment. Shields' xFIP was nearly 1.00 lower than Marcum's in 2012. Shields also pitched ~80 more innings, if I recall correctly. I'd love to see Marcum on the Twins in 2013. That doesn't mean he's the equal of Shields. I don't put any value whatsoever on that argument at all. Marcum pitched in the AL East for 5 years and put up the best numbers of his career in his last two with the Blue Jays. Not much use for xFip here since it's used to predict where ERA should be. In Marcum's case, it hasn't gone anywhere the past few years. Shields ERA has been all over the place though, so it makes sense there, but I think we should value consistency more.

I'm still pretty high on Benson and think he's about #8. The tools are just too good.

No, Marcum is not even close to Shields. Between Greinke and Shields, I'd probably prefer Shields because of money and duration of contract. You just can't rely on high-end pitching to perform for 5+ years. A .18 difference in ERA last year is not even close??? Marcum also has better career numbers as I said previously. Talk about WHIP (.001 career difference), and SO/BB all you want. It doesn't matter because Marcum will still give up roughly the same amount of runs. Same for Shields.

The only stat that matters is how many runs you give up. WHIP is used for better judgement of where ERA should be. Both Shields and Marcum are 30 and it's pretty obvious that the ERAs are going to stay consistent where they are. IPs are a manager's decision and I believe that's been hammered into poster's heads enough here. Regardless of who's better (I'll take either), they are close. Saying "not even close" is just ridiculous hyberbole. Anyway, the point is that trading Denard Span for something we could get without trading Denard Span is stupid and I'm just thankful you're not running the organization. Be it Greinke or Marcum in this situation I don't care.

Kelly Johnson is going to pitch AND play 2nd base? Now that's what I call value! That rotation makes me a little nauseated by the way.

Span is too much for Shields? Get a grip, people. Well sure. Go ahead. Trade the best asset for what you could get on the free agent market. Marcum and Greinke would make about the same money as Shields is getting now and they are both better. I'd rather forfeit a draft pick than Span. Shields is a free agent after 2014 too. So if you're someone who would dislike an Elvis Andrus deal, this is for you. Marcum will get less money and probably only 1 or 2 years. Greinke will get way more than Shields salary next year and for many more years...Your comment may be correct if you average Greinke and Marcum next year, than you are probably correct. Oh ya, and I'd rather have the draft pick You'd take a crapshoot draft pick over one of the MLBs best outfielders? Span should be able to net some prospects with a better chance at the show than one 30-40 selection ever could. It's also extremely unlikely that the pick would ever perform at a higher level than he has.

Did I read that right? Marcum and Grienke are better than Shields? Check out their career ERAs and ERA+. Marcum and Greinke are both better. You may want to look at some stats sometime. They are really nice.

Span is too much for Shields? Get a grip, people. Well sure. Go ahead. Trade the best asset for what you could get on the free agent market. Marcum and Greinke would make about the same money as Shields is getting now and they are both better. I'd rather forfeit a draft pick than Span. Shields is a free agent after 2014 too. So if you're someone who would dislike an Elvis Andrus deal, this is for you.

Pretty sure it's Ryan since he appears in the rotation. I wouldn't spend that much on a 33 year old in a pitcher's market.

I wouldn't be interested. Denard Span for Shields just appears like too much and there is realistically no way the Twins can walk away winners with that foundation. Dealing with Tampa is like dealing with the devil too.

Adam Jones and Denard Span are also best friends. It's looking pretty good...

The team that offers the most money seems to usually get the player. Sometimes you have to be safe to be sure you get the guy you want. Since when have the Twins ever been an appealing team to free agents? Minnesota has never been a team that gets many and Willingham was the highest paid free agent they have ever signed. Free agents have a list of things that attract them to a team. "Competitive" and "Weather" are two important things this destination doesn't have.

1. Sign Shaun Marcum for 3 years/40 million (+13) 2. Trade Denard Span for Something Cool (-4.75) 3. Sign Kevin Youkilis 2 years/15 Million (+7.5) 4. Sign Erik Bedard 1/3 Million (+3) 5. Sign Rich Harden to incentives based deal (+4) 6. Sign Scott Baker to incentives based deal (+4) Overall adding an estimated 26 3/4 million to the salary cap. I was somewhat generous with some of the salaries too. Because more or less, I expect that the Twins would have to overpay a little to have a chance at getting Youk, Marcum, and other FAs. I want to see a payroll in the 100-105 range since I think this is Joe Mauer's time and we have to get him a good team. I'm clearly in a win now mode. Depending upon how the 4 starting pitchers signed fare, one may be traded for middle infield or big power help if Gibson is knocking at the door at the deadline. They could be traded for prospects too if our record isn't good once again. I really value depth at starting pitching and it's obvious why. Morneau could also be traded at the deadline if we are failing to win in this situation for prospects. Hicks and Arcia brought in at their own pace by the way. Youkilis and Bedard have had really incredible careers, but have failed in 2012. These two are high risk, high reward players who have both played in the AL and can rebound here. I'd really like to try Plouffe at 2B again. Youk could also DH on occasion with Plouffe shifting back to third. Kevin is also right handed and might flourish in the way Willingham has. Quite a bit of versatility at the DH and in the infield. There is a ton of power and I LOVE IT!!! It will be even better if the aforementioned Hicks and Arcia can replace Revere in the everyday lineup and force Escobar off the 25 man. Note: The only free agent signed that might cost a draft pick would be Marcum if I'm correct. I'd say he's worth it. Ideal Lineup: Ben Revere CF Joe Mauer C Josh Willingham LF Justin Morneau 1B Kevin Youkilis 3B Ryan Doumit DH Chris Parmelee RF Trevahhh Plouffe 2B Jamey Carroll SS BE Florimon BE Mastroianni BE Escobar BE Herrmann SP Marcum SP Diamond SP Bedard SP Harden SP Baker (In the wings) Kyle Gibson, Liam Hendriks, and Samuel Deduno RP Duensing RP Fien RP Burton RP Burnett* RP Swarzak RP Robertson RP Perkins Note*: I favor both Oliveros and Devries over Burnett, but am unsure if he'd pass waivers until he inevitably sucks. (In the wings) Lester Oliveros, Pedro Hernandez, and Cole Devries Addition! I really wanted to do this. Estimated Dingers: 0 (BR11), 10 (JM7), 30 (JW), 25 (JM33), 20 (KY), 15 (RD18), 20 (CP27), 15 (TP24), 1 (JC8), 2 (DM19), 3 (PFJ25), 6 (CH23), 0 (EE5), 5 (Hicks/Arcia) Totaling...152HRs That puts the Twins at 18th by 2012 standards. Above the Braves at 149 and up from the 26th we actually saw.

Certainly not.

Appreciate the updates JN!

One less bad player on the Twins. Too bad he'll be replaced by someone just as worse!

Taking a pitcher from the worst pitching team in baseball is always thrilling. The infielder claim looks interesting since he wouldn't have much competition to earn a spot. Although, I doubt he is much of value.

Well to be fair I wouldn't even say he was the worst this year. Maybe the worst by the Marlins organization.

His pay rate is way too high and I like the salary dump for the Angels in this. I don't think this a good move for the Royals since Santana is a career 4.33 ERA pitcher. Nothing special and he's really more like a #3 option at best in terms of performance.

Morneau for Buehrle straight up?

It only takes a month or two for bursitis to go away. Not really a big issue for 2013.