Chance

We DON'T have the luxury to be looking for competition when we have roster spots empty.

I don't believe they think Plouffe will stick at 3rd. they might want to move him to 2nd. I wouldn't want a single player other than pitcher who can't play the middle. those are more urgent. Even if Plouffe bats .200 he will at least have some power. The other guys in the infield (not Dozier) have very little upside and if they slump at all could bat .160 with no power. Yuck. Get pitching and if there is a couple million left, sign a quality bat for SS or 2nd.

I do praise you for taking a different approach. But really besides the fact that he (might not) reach the majors, there aren't a lot of negatives.

Also, many reports say he throws between 93-99 mph. The 93-95ish mph are his 2seamer which is pretty impressive. He's above average for a major league pitcher in the velocity department and leaps and bounds ahead of the Twins options. We need front of the rotation pitchers and span would never have brought us a big league or big league ready starter that could eventually even have the potential to be a top of the rotation guy. We got the best player we could have.

Take off the last 2 starters and the rest of the pitchers would all interest me for low salaries/minor league deal with invite. They would be better than anything we have potential wise or proven wise after Diamond Hendriks and Gibson. Rodriguez is probably better than anything we have up the middle.

But they are clearly making every effort possible. And not waiting for other teams to dictate what they can do. My belief is the Twins miss out on players all the time because they were about 500 thousand off the price and won't cave.

I hate to beat a dead horse but I'm going to do it anyway. We all saw the Blue Jays make a big trade. They are taking on a lot of salary but they want to compete and they want to win. They are now rumored to be targeting another starter, such as Edwin Jackson or Zach Grienke. With almost every free agent or trade target you are sure to hear Toronto mentioned. The Twins haven't made an impact trade or signing yet and it's discouraging. It's not that I'm impatient but since there has already been several players the Twins have been rumored to have interested in come off the board, I can't help but think that they aren't really serious about improving this team. I have the sinking feeling that they will continue to undervalue players and not she'll out what it takes to bring in quality players via trade or free agency. It is time that the owners and front office step up and pay the price to field a winner. They have to make realistic offers in trades and they need to offer a real contract to a top end free agent. It's really aggravating to see the Blue Jays doing what Twins fans want and deserve since Target Field has been built and we show up to watch the AAA guys play.

according to mlbtraderumors Redmond is the new manager of the Miami Marlins. Congratulations to him.

Lindstrom is reliable. He is a sub 4 even a sub 3 era some years. I'm not saying he's the next joe Nathan, but IF the Twins add someone I would prefer it to be him. They usually, not always, go with crazy contract (Capps for example) or they get Luis Ayala? I prefer someone who is dependable has a decent K rate and throws hard. Twins could possibly get him for 2.5 million. There isn't a lot of Burton's to be had.

Lindstrom's option was declined by the Dbacks. Should the Twins consider him? If the Twins do add a bullpen guy I would love to have him.

Dozier can still pan out... In his first 84 games in the majors he batted what, .234? With 6 home runs? I'm guessing on those numbers but the average is par with other twins middle infielders for the most part and 6 homers is much better than we usually get. He played half a season so there is still plently of hope he can work it up to around the .265 to .275 range with around 8-10 homers and that would be great for the twins.

Sorry I missed adding Jackson to the starters. And also I know Willingham is LF and parmelee is RF. my bad. The cubs did say last year around the trade deadline that they would be opening to trading him, not in those exact words. It might take a few more plays, established and/or prospects to get Castro, but I think it is worth pursuing. When I wrote this the Twins hadn't made any roster moves but thanks for pointing that out. i know they only make like 485k that's why I stated that I rounded up. Just so I wasn't low-balling it. It still locks pretty affordable.

This is my early wants for the Twins 2013 opening roster. I would trade Span/Carroll/minor leaguer for Castro. He hasn’t played the best defense yet in his very early 20’s but with maturity I believe he will vastly improve this part of his game. His offense is undeniable. He would solidify the SS position for the Twins which they gravely need. With Span gone, Revere would move to center and the lead of spot. I believe that Dozier is better than we saw last season. I would give him the starting 2B job and hope he runs with it. The rest of the lineup is fairly obvious. Parmelee would become the everyday right fielder and Josh Willingham would stay in left field. The corner infield would consist of Plouffe and Morneau. Mauer would catch with Doumit as the backup and DH. The bench would still have a third catcher because Gardy will have it this way, but the catcher would be Herrmann not Butera. The rest of the bench would be Escobar, Mastroanni, and Florimon. If an outfielder would get injured Hicks or Arcia would come up to start. CF- Revere (1 mil) SS- Castro (6 mil) C- Mauer (23 mil) RF- Willingham (7 mil) 1B- Morneau (15 mil) DH- Doumit (3.5 mil) LF- Parmelee (1 mil) 3B- Plouffe (1 mil) 2B- Dozier (1mil) BH- Mastroanni (1 mil) BH- Florimon (1 mil) BH- Escobar (1 mil) BH- Herrmann (1 mil) My plan for pitching would be to sign Bedard and Jackson for (roughly) $15 mil a year total. So far the AFL has me hoping that Gibson would be ready for opening day. Diamond and Hendriks would fill out the rest of the starters. Blackburn, De Vries, Vasquez, Walters, and Deduno would be in the minors if someone struggles or gets hurt. I wouldn’t add a bullpen arm besides resigning Burton because of money reason and because these guys listed below haven’t been that bad at all and some minor leaguers should be ready to come up if need be (Gutierrez, Guerra). SP- Diamond (L) (1 mil) SP- Gibson (2 mil) SP- Bedard (L) (5 mil) SP- Hendriks (1 mil) LR- Swarzak (1 mil) MR- Fien (1 mil) MR- Robertson (1 mil) MR-Burnett (1 mil) SU- Duensing (2 mil) SU- Burton (2 mil) CL- Perkins (2.5 mil) I rounded up on most of the salaries and estimated the salaries of a few players. The total spent on the major league roster would roughly be $92 million. I don’t think that this is outrageous and though the roster isn’t that much different than it was this year I think it would be pretty solid as we work towards the future. It would be great to get Grienke, trade for Johnson and completely rebuild the bullpen but it isn’t realistic.

Thanks for the exact stats. in general any trade that the twins do makes me nervous, especially if they are trading for a pitcher. I just dont like who they target, there are players similar to who they trade for on the market that would require equal pay but not giving up an asset or trade chip.

. In my opinion, if we are trading Span, Revere, Willingham or Morneau, we have to get pitching. And can you imagine Gardy having the biggest error machine in baseball on his team? Gardy would destroy him. I'm also not sure we have the right people to develop him into being the type of player his potential would suggest he is? I would agree with that but realistically with Jackson and Bedard as FA I don't see us getting anyone better in a trade so I wouldn't want us to try. Castro has had a lot of errors but most have been mental/indifference, that can be corrected especially when dealing with a 22 yr old. Right now the Cubs don't want to deal with him, they would like a center fielder and some prospects to rebuild. I wouldn't mind trading Span and some others to strengthen our lineup. The bottom line is Castro's problems can be fix and right now I believe you can get him for a steal. .283 ave with 15 hr is very desirable from the SS position. We had over 10 errors at SS this season and Castro had (without looking I believe 19?) with at least 9 of them coming on mental mistakes that should get eliminated as he reaches 24-25 years old and has a coach who can hopefully get the most out of him. Its not a lock that these decisions would yield a high payoff but the reward is worth the risk in my opinion.

last season i thought it would have been a good idea to pick up Bedard, this season I feel the same way. I feel that an affordable "twins quality" rotation would be Edwin Jackson, Scott Diamond, Kyle Gibson, Erik Bedard, Liam Hendriks. right, left, right, left, right. This isnt that expensive at all, you still have Deduno, De Vries, Baker (when healthy), Vasquez, and others as backups. For the offense I think you could trade Span and a few prospects for Starlin Castro to help our infield, Cubs want to trade him and he will eventually mature he is a guy the twins can and should target.

My guess is: Revere mastro mauer willingham morneau doumit plouffe florimon carroll

Thanks Seth got it now!

Strange that salcedo was bad and got hurt but moved up 5 places and herrmann went back with a better showing. Morales move up 10 places even though he has struggled as bad if not worse than benson/tosoni. Thats why these lists are fun though. You can argue about them and have serious doubts about a persons sanity yet they could turn out to be the sane one.

Marquis was/is terrible. He has been subpar his whole career. Don't let 13 games change your opinion on him. He will start sucking soon. He's a worse Blackburn. Strings some great starts together but the rest of them make you want to puke.

It would be great to trade for him, but what do we have to give up for a young prospect on a team that is in the same boat as us?

I have zero faith in blacky anymore. With that said I hope he pitches another 8 innings of 2 run ball.

How about Gibson today in the GCL 3innings no hits 1 walk and 7K!!! Beautiful line. Also encouraging that he went 3 innings. Hope he feels good tomorrow.

Bark- mastro runs pretty well himself. If he gets on base I'm sure Frankie will be a little concerned and that could mean a big night from Mauer and Willingham. One thing the twins know and probably why they didn't mind trading him within the division is they know what gets Frankie off track better than anyone. Im just concerned that we the 6 runs well get wont be enough tonight

With regards to the lineup, if Danny V has more games like last night I think it's not out of the question to move Plouffe to 2nd. Then we would be set for 8 spots. Plouffe filled in a little at 2nd this year and I thought he looked pretty comfortable there. I know that many will say he just got comfortable at third but given the full time starting 2nd base job I think he can hold that down. Clearly we need pitching but I can only seeing TR signing one pitcher with a 4.00 or higher again that is an inning eater. By mid season we have Devries Walters/Deduno back up here.