Willihammer

I'll go out on a limb and say it was this guy: http://vimeo.com/83641554

This answers so, so much

I for one haven't written off 2014 yet. Stuff happens, teams go on runs, players get hurt, other players get hot, rookies from nowhere, lightning in a bottle. That's why you play the games. I'd rather give up the ~45th pick now, and have a better chance to win in 2014, than wait till we're "ready" to compete, and give up the 15th pick. Besides, the Twins have a top 10 pick next year. Automatically they should do better than most teams.

Mastroianni too. People seem to forget he OPSed nearly the same as Hicks last ST, when he was healthy.

Tor picks 11th, SF picks 14th (they also have Crawford), and Houston has Villar. Pittsburgh is cheap, and Miami is cheaper. There's no market. That's why nobody's interested in Drew.

Florimon hit .180/.229/.230 against lefties last year. That's supposed to be his strong side.

Who should pursue him (besides the Twins)?

I doubt it. Both teams had him in a contract year. The DBacks dumped him at the deadline for a bag of balls, but the Red Sox offered him a 14m contract. The DBacks handling of Drew reminds me of the Twins handling of Hardy. IIRC there was some chatter from Gardy or the FO questioning Hardy's toughness before they traded him (also for a bag of balls).

What, faking injuries? Drew's injuries, ordered by days on DL. [TABLE=width: 500] [TABLE=width: 534] Date On Date Off Transaction Days Games Side Body Part Injury [TD=align: right]3/26/2012 [TD=align: right]6/27/2012[/TD] 15-DL[TD=align: right]93[/TD] [TD=align: right]73[/TD] Right Ankle Recovery From Surgery [TD=align: right]7/21/2011[/TD] [TD=align: right]10/8/2011[/TD] 60-DL[TD=align: right]79[/TD] [TD=align: right]64[/TD] Right Ankle Surgery [TD=align: right]6/28/2013[/TD] [TD=align: right]7/20/2013[/TD] 15-DL[TD=align: right]22[/TD] [TD=align: right]17[/TD] Right Thigh Strain [TD=align: right]3/8/2013[/TD] [TD=align: right]3/27/2013[/TD] Camp[TD=align: right]19[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] - Head Concussion [TD=align: right]4/24/2009[/TD] [TD=align: right]5/12/2009[/TD] 15-DL[TD=align: right]18[/TD] [TD=align: right]18[/TD] Left Thigh Strain [TD=align: right]3/27/2013[/TD] [TD=align: right]4/10/2013[/TD] 7-DL[TD=align: right]14[/TD] [TD=align: right]7[/TD] - Head Recovery From Concussion [TD=align: right]6/15/2005[/TD] [TD=align: right]6/29/2005[/TD] Minors[TD=align: right]14[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] Right Thigh Strain [TD=align: right]3/22/2011[/TD] [TD=align: right]3/31/2011[/TD] Camp[TD=align: right]9[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [/TD] Strain [TD=align: right]3/21/2009 [TD=align: right]3/29/2009[/TD] Camp[TD=align: right]8[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [/TD] Abdomen Strain [TD=align: right]3/31/2011 [TD=align: right]4/4/2011[/TD] DTD[TD=align: right]4[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] [/TD] Abdomen Recovery From Strain [TD=align: right]4/5/2011 [TD=align: right]4/8/2011[/TD] DTD[TD=align: right]3[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] [/TD] Abdomen Soreness [TD=align: right]3/17/2011 [TD=align: right]3/20/2011[/TD] Camp[TD=align: right]3[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [/TD] Abdomen Strain [TD=align: right]5/18/2013 [TD=align: right]5/20/2013[/TD] DTD[TD=align: right]2[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] - Low Back Soreness [/TABLE] [/TD] [/TD] [/TABLE] The two biggies are the ankle injury and ensuing recovery. Closely followed by a concussion. Not sure how you fake either of those. The right thigh strain could be worrisome I guess, maybe it could aggravate the ankle if Drew has to compensate for it. I'm reaching here. By comparison, here's Michael Cuddyer's injury history. [TABLE=width: 500] [TABLE=width: 598] Date On Date Off Transaction Days Games Side Body Part Injury Severity [TD=align: right]6/28/2008 [TD=align: right]9/13/2008 60-DL[TD=align: right]77[/TD] [TD=align: right]66[/TD] Left Fingers Strain Index Finger [TD=align: right]8/19/2012[/TD] [TD=align: right]10/4/2012[/TD] 15-DL[TD=align: right]46[/TD] [TD=align: right]44[/TD] Right Abdomen Strain Oblique [TD=align: right]4/4/2008[/TD] [TD=align: right]4/25/2008[/TD] 15-DL[TD=align: right]21[/TD] [TD=align: right]18[/TD] Right Fingers Dislocation Index Finger [TD=align: right]5/9/2013[/TD] [TD=align: right]5/24/2013[/TD] 15-DL[TD=align: right]15[/TD] [TD=align: right]14[/TD] - Neck Cartilage Injury Herniated Disc [TD=align: right]8/1/2012[/TD] [TD=align: right]8/16/2012[/TD] 15-DL[TD=align: right]15[/TD] [TD=align: right]14[/TD] Right Abdomen Strain Oblique [TD=align: right]7/19/2007[/TD] [TD=align: right]8/3/2007[/TD] 15-DL[TD=align: right]15[/TD] [TD=align: right]13[/TD] Right Thumb Sprain Thumb [TD=align: right]6/30/2005[/TD] [TD=align: right]7/17/2005[/TD] 15-DL[TD=align: right]17[/TD] [TD=align: right]13[/TD] Left Hand Contusion [/TD] [TD=align: right]8/11/2011 [TD=align: right]8/22/2011[/TD] DTD[TD=align: right]11[/TD] [TD=align: right]9[/TD] - Neck Cartilage Injury Felt Pop Swinging Bat Disc Injury [TD=align: right]9/3/2005[/TD] [TD=align: right]9/11/2005[/TD] DTD[TD=align: right]8[/TD] [TD=align: right]7[/TD] [/TD] Trunk Strain Rib Cage [/TABLE] [/TD] [TD] [/TABLE]

Latest rumor is the Mets won't go 2 years for Drew, because they don't really want him either. Yankees, Orioles, Tigers, White Sox, Royals, Indians, Rangers, Phillies, Braves, Nats, Cards, Reds, Brewers, Rockies, Dodgers, D-Backs, Padres - all of them are probably out on Drew. Even the Red Sox have Bogaerts and Middlebrooks.

What's wrong with a 2-3 year solution?

You can save a thousand runs on defense but if you don't score they don't matter. This club was constantly playing from behind last year. They cannot afford to punt every 3rd inning when the 7-9 batters come up. Those at-bats are guaranteed. Having the opportunity to field a hard ground ball to the 5 hole with men on base, is not a guaranteed situation.

Betemit would be a good pickup too. I forgot about him. edit: wait... http://wapc.mlb.com/play/?content_id=25859081

He broke his ankle in 2011, had surgery later in the year and the recovery spilled into the 2012 season. He wasn't 100% for much of 2012. Last year, he returned to 100% and picked up where he left off in 2011. So from where I'm standing, all his troubles resulted from the ankle injury and that seems to be fixed now. Obviously when healthy, Drew's a very solid SS.

Here's the organizational depthchart at SS, sorted by OPS. [TABLE=width: 500] [TABLE=width: 454] Player Pos Age level G OPS Montesino Ariel# SS[TD=align: right]17 ROK[TD=align: right]23[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.812[/TD] Escobar Eduardo# SS[TD=align: right]24[/TD] AAAMAJ[TD=align: right]109[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.755[/TD] Bernier Doug SS[TD=align: right]33[/TD] AAAMAJ[TD=align: right]125[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.754[/TD] Goodrum Niko# SS[TD=align: right]21[/TD] L-A[TD=align: right]103[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.732[/TD] Santana Danny# SS[TD=align: right]22[/TD] AA[TD=align: right]131[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.719[/TD] Ramirez Joel# SS[TD=align: right]19[/TD] ROK[TD=align: right]53[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.709[/TD] Mejia Aderlin# SS[TD=align: right]21[/TD] H-A[TD=align: right]75[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.708[/TD] Michael Levi# SS[TD=align: right]22[/TD] H-A[TD=align: right]94[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.67[/TD] Walker Ryan* SS[TD=align: right]21[/TD] ROKL-A[TD=align: right]48[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.651[/TD] Florimon Pedro# SS[TD=align: right]26[/TD] MAJ[TD=align: right]134[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.611[/TD] Vielma Engelb# SS[TD=align: right]19[/TD] ROK[TD=align: right]48[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.571[/TD] Pettersen Adam SS[TD=align: right]24[/TD] H-AAA[TD=align: right]86[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.556[/TD] Avila Carlos SS[TD=align: right]23[/TD] ROK[TD=align: right]24[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.533[/TD] Molina Nelson* SS[TD=align: right]18[/TD] ROK[TD=align: right]36[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.297[/TD] [/TABLE] [/TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TABLE]

The thing with comp picks - Drew's already declined one QO, because he's good. He might regress badly in the next 2-3 years, that's FA for you. He might also remain good enough to decline a QO entering his age 33 or 34 season. In which case the Twins could not only get the pick back, but even drat higher. Or we could wait till next offseason, face the same dilemma all over again, and have to surrender the 15th pick instead of the 35th pick to get a FA SS.

I'm not interested in C+ prospects for Correia unless the Twins are 25 games out by the deadline or something. I'd rather see a rotation of Garza, Nolasco, Pelfrey, Correia, and Gibson/Deduno/Diamond with Hughes coming out of the pen, a role where he's been pretty excellent.

minorleaguecentral.com for minor league splits. IHe hit .687 as a LHB and .758 as a RHB also with better K and BB rates. We are not talking about a high ceiling player that if given more playing time might suddenly turn into a guy who should be hitting everyday.

Against RHP, which is 2/3 of all games, the entire infield minus Mauer will be at a platoon disadvantage. If they could bring in even one LH hitting util infielder to displace one of Plouffe or Florimon, that might be a big help.

According to Dickbert, the Twins think Florimon's strong side is as a RH batter. His minor league numbers do support this conclusion. Obviously this makes Florimon and Escobar even more redundant.

Florimon made some nice plays. Good arm, tandemed well with Dozier. But he posted a .600 OPS and I think an argument could be made he was lucky to do that. So I see him as the next iteration in the Hocking-Punto-Casilla line of switch hitting / no hitting middle infielders. I would like to some more punch from him with the bat, or see someone else take over.

That's not an optimistic take. Want an optimistic take? Mauer is MVP Hammer hits 35 dingers again Kubel hits 30 dingers again Arcia hits 30 dingers Dozier hits 25 dingers Sano hits 25 dingers Gibson wins Cy Young

The wages may be limited and the hours long, but sheesh 11 weeks PTO!