chopper0080

My hope is the Twins trade Morneau and Doumit which would move Willingham to more of a DH / sub LF role with the team which is where I feel he fits best.

Weird but valid. I don't see the Twins as a team who will spend next offseason to get another 20+ home run player, and Willingham is cheap. More than that, he probably won't net much of a prospect. Better to keep him to take pressure off of our young hitters IMO.

and my arguement is that not trading Willingham might be in the best interest of the Twins in 2014. He likely won't bring much in the way of a trade and his bat in the middle of the lineup allows the Twins to ease Arcia and Sano's bats into the lineup without putting all of the pressure to score runs on them.

I started a thread in regards to this, but I see no reason why the Twins should trade Willingham at this point. His production is down, we probably not get a top prospect for him, and he is the only power threat on this team. I see no reason to sell low at this point as he is far more valuable for the Twins in 2014.

The Twins should be viewed as sellers this trade deadline, but they need to do so with an eye to 2014. The moves they do or do not make will impact the roles and expectations for Oswaldo Arcia, Aaron Hicks and Miguel Sano. I understand that Sano might not start 2014 with the Twins, but it seems his rise to the major leagues at some point in time in 2014 is inevitable. Because of all of this, it is my opinion that the Twins should not trade Josh Willingham unless they are totally blown away by an offer. Willingham has had a decrease in production compared to his 2012 season, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is still the best power hitter the Twins have on the team. Normally you would believe Willingham’s production is incredibly replaceable, but that being said, what is the likelihood the Twins will spend to bring in another power bat? Keeping Willingham on the roster does not only give the team a legitimate power option in the middle of their order, but forces Arcia and Sano down in the order which decreases the pressure on them next year. It should also lead to them getting better pitches to hit batting behind Mauer and Willingham. Sano’s early time at AA proves why this is very important. While both he and Arcia begin to learn the major league game, the Twins need to have a lineup in place that forces pitchers to give them pitches to hit so they can have an impact on the game. Having a legitimate power threat in the 4 spot of the lineup does this, and the rest is up to them. At this point, I have to believe Willingham has more value to the Twins than he would net in a trade. No reason to sell low. Thoughts?

It is starting to look this way. Ugh, I hate the fact the Twins will go into 2014 without any knowledge of how Gibson will look at the major league level. I was really hoping they would give him 7-10 starts so he could see how major league hitters would be approaching him and then could use the offseason to make adjustments. Now, it doesn't look like he will have that opportunity.

I would take Tony Cingrani off of their hands, but I am not sure what it would take.

First, no one is advocating that Twins become one of the biggest spenders in baseball. I am stating that they do however need to start approaching free agency with finding the best players with the most acceptable risk REGARDLESS of the price tag. Don't be afraid of Anibal Sanchez's 4th year of a 5 year deal when he can be the best pitcher on your team for the first 3 years. Secondly, why would you rather have a huge question mark prospect in Eades rather than a proven, quality #2 SP? Because of cost? I would rather pay someone who I know will give me quality MLB production rather than a player who I hope just makes it to the Show. Is that going to be the case the majority of the time? No, pitchers like Sanchez don't always hit the market and there will always be a certain cap on spending. But in the Twins case, signing Sanchez would have done wonders for this pitching staff and bringing it into respectability.

He was 29 when he signed the contract. Even if he is a #3 SP when he is 33 which would be in his 3rd year, he still would be better than anything we have right now. You can't manage your team in fear of the unknown. Prospects are cheap and contracts eventually expire. IF you are smart with your moves, you won't get bit too often.

Who knows if that level of pitcher is going to available if or when your "core" is ready. Facts are that if you can identify a player like Sanchez who is relatively young and has been consistent throughout his career, you shouldn't be afraid to make a move. Who else are you going to spend your money on? How else are you going to attract other free agents. This is the biggest pile of crap from the Twins. They are terrified of the big contract and so have consistently ignored that area as a way to get their teams the pieces they need. I love the fact that we have Sano, Hicks, Arcia, Buxton, and Rosario in the pipeline, but even if they all make it to the show, it doesn't matter without pitching. Say what you want about the potential of May, Gibson, Meyer, Berrios and Winmmers, history says they won't all pan out. If that is the case, who do we have in two years? Of course if your organization's interest in quality, sub-30 players is dependent on their win/loss record, your team has much bigger problems.

Why can't we shop in that range? Greinke comes with some inherent risks, but Sanchez was a pretty easy pitcher to scout and did cost the entire farm when you consider you signed a very good #2 SP. We don't need to sign 5 of these guys, but we are going to need to sign at least in the next two years if we are going to be serious about competing.

Anibal Sanchez Mike Napoli and I can't think of a short stop. Those were two easy signings and were fairly low risk. Sanchez is relatively young and has had a history of consistent pithcing. Napoli was a buy low candidate coming off an injury, but he offered big time power and the ability to play C, 1B, and DH. But of course, we had Doumit who is the same guy but older and with less power. Smart, low risk FA signings that improve power and starting pitching. Not too difficult if you can trust your evaluations and pull the trigger.

Agreed. It bothers me that the Twins seem approach free agency with a fear of getting it wrong. A cautious approach to free agency is to be lauded, but that doesn't mean there aren't smart, lower risks buys in the mid to high priced markets. Successful teams are built throught their farm system and the Twins seem to be in a good place right now in that regard, but facts are that no farm system in baseball is going to provide all of the solutions a team needs. Hopefully in the upcoming years the Twins will show their awareness of this and use their money to buy a legitimate starting pitcher, power bat at 1B, and/or legitimate short stop.

Meh. If you are winning, then it is considered having an "old school" approach and focusing on the "little things." When you are losing, it is called "micro-managing." Different management styles are neither right or wrong, and, no matter the style, their effectiveness comes down to wins in the end.

I agree that they should be, but I don't see how they do that unless they change their approach to free agency. When looking at this roster, can the Twins win in 2014 with Gibson, Diamond, Deduno, Walters, Correia, Deduno, Mauer, Doumit, Willingham, Arcia, Hicks, Parmalee, Plouffe, Dozier, Perkins, Burton and maybe Hendriks/Sano? I don't see it. If they were a team willing to make moves in free agency, maybe, but they haven't shown to be that team. 2015 is probably the target year as that is most likely when Sano, Rosario, Meyer, Mays and Wimmers could move up. If that ends up being the plan then two years is more than enough time to find another closer IMO. One positive is if you look at the organization, they have a good group of potential 2-5 starters in the system. Gibson, Diamond, Deduno, Walters, Hendriks, Wimmers, Meyer, May, Berrios, Baxendale and Worley are all projectable as projectable SPs in some aspect. The issue becomes the organizations lack of projectable #1 SPs in the system. We really lack a top prospect who projects to a #1 guy in our system for the next 3 years. So, all that considered, this team needs to find an ace either through a trade or via free agency. However and when they decide to do that will determine when they are able to truely be considered a contender. If they decide to do that next offseason through free agency then, by all means, keep Perkins. If not, they need to deal him if they can get another projectable starting pitcher into the system, preferaly AA or better.

Short term gain = long term failure in this regard. Look, the pitchers we have should be able to generate a couple decent starts as they are Major League pitchers. What most of them aren't are players who can maintain consistent success at the Major League level. I hope the Twins don't kind themselves on Pelfrey and move Gibson up ASAP. I doubt it happens, but they should know what they have in Pelfrey while no one knows what Gibson can do at the next level. Get him up, gather info for 2014.

Agreed. Clete deserves to be in the rotation, but so does Doumit, Parmalee, Herrmann and Arcia deserves consistent playing time. Willingham and Morneau need reps to build up their potential trade value and who knows with Doumit. He could possibly work his way into becoming a trade chip. Hopefully, whomever it ends up being, the cream rises to the top.

Like most of you it seems, I am also very torn. I started this thread to get the opinions of those on this board that I value and get some clarity. Most of you agree that it comes down to what you can get. I agree with Mike that SS and SP are the only positions I am interested, but I might be sold on a high level power bat at 1B as well. In the end, it really just depends. A quick list of potential trade chips has to include Willingham, Morneau, Burton, Correia and Perkins. Correia could be a back of the rotation arm that a contender might look for and I can't see the Twins holding onto him if a decent offer comes across. Any thoughts on potential trade partners for any of these guys?

I was looking at our roster and trying to determine which players have legitimate trade value to bring back a decent return and the only player I could determine would be moveable and would bring something decent in a trade was Glen Perkins. What does 14 saves, 35 k's, a .89 WHIP and 13.31 K/9 bring in a trade? Would you deal your closer?

Buxton and Morales would probably improve that though I doubt the Twins would be that agressive with Buxton.

That is my hope. Move that group up and see what you have at AA. Worst case, they struggle and start next year at AA. Best case, they dominate and are either fighting for a MLB spot in 2014 or we finally have solid prospects at AAA.

The issue regarding Correia has more to do with the rest of the Twins staff than it has to do with Correia IMO. Same goes for Scott Diamond in a lot of ways. The Twins have constructed a staff that asks Correia and Diamond to be 1 and 2 SPs while in reality, they are 3, 4 or 5 SPs at best. If you have a staff with Diamond and Correia as the 4 and 5 SPs, you would be very happy with the results. However, with our staff, we judge them differently and unfairly IMO.

Agreed.

Normally I would agree with this, but I don't believe that Gardenhire is going to play a young prospect at this time of the year. He is going to stick with Doumit, Parmalee, Morneau and Mauer rotating at 1B, C, RF and DH. The guy I would like up is Arcia, but if he is still struggling with his shoulder and can't play RF, it reduces his effectiveness. Keep him at AAA DHing until his shoulder is healthy, and then look to call him up for good as long as you are committed to him playing. One reason Clete Thomas makes sense is that it can give Hicks a day off in CF which he could probably use.

Free Danny Ortiz to AAA. Just saying.