Seth Stohs

Glen Perkins signed for $1.55 Million. Francisco Liriano signed for $5.5 Million. Still waiting on Alexi Casilla.

Agreed, but it's not like they would eat the rest of his contract and DFA him, woudl they?

If there is anything to this whole Roy Oswalt situation, then they won't be looking at relievers! Blackburn would head to the bullpen.

I don't like the MLB contract either, but thanks to the non-guarantee, I'm OK with it.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?130-Twins-Arbitration-Eligibles

Major League players with less than six years of service time and more than three years of service time are eligible for salary arbitration. As we all know, there are a bunch of Super-2 arbitration-eligible players as well each year. On Tuesday, arbitration numbers will be exchanged. The teams will say how much they are offering to the player, and the player and his agent will submit the value that they think they should receive. Of course, in most cases, the team and the player come up with a value somewhere in the middle and numbers never get exchanged. When the offseason began, and TwinsCentric was working on its Offseason GM Handbook, the Twins had eight arbitration-eligible players on their roster. Since the end of the season, there have been a few changes: Phil Dumatrait – Was Designated for Assignment and removed from the 40 man roster. He became a free agent but returned to the Twins on a minor league contract. That means, he is no longer eligible for arbitration. Jason Repko – Was Designated for Assignment and removed from the 40 man roster. He became a free agent but has not yet signed with another organization. Matt Tolbert – Was Designated for Assignment and removed from the 40 man roster. He became a free agent but has not yet signed with another organization. Jose Mijares – Was non-tended last month by the Twins. Less than a week later, he signed with the Kansas City Royals. Kevin Slowey – Was traded to the Colorado Rockies in December. That leaves the Twins with three arbitration-eligible players. The Twins will likely attempt to sign all three before Tuesday’s deadline. It is also possible they are working on multi-year deals with one or more of them. Here they are: 1.) Alexi Casilla – In 2011, the 2B/SS made $700,000 in his first year of arbitration. In the Offseason GM Handbook, TwinsCentric predicted that he would get $2.5 million in arbitration. If I were to place my bet, I think it will be closer to $1.5 million. 2.) Glen Perkins – In 2011, the lefty reliever made $865,000 in his first year of arbitration. TwinsCentric projected him to make $1.8 million, and I think that is about right. I also believe that the Twins may look to lock up Perkins for three years (to buy out one year of free agency). Perkins may be hesitant to sign a long-term deal knowing that there is a chance he will get some time as Twins’ closer this year, and closers make a bunch more money. However, if he wants to stay with the Twins, it’s possible that he could be signed in the neighborhood of three years and $8 million. 3.) Francisco Liriano – In 2011, Liriano made $4.3 million. Despite a frustrating season, he will likely get a raise. TwinsCentric predicted that he would be awarded $6 million, but I think it will be closer to $5 million. A year ago, I said that the Twins should sign him to a 4 year, $40 million deal. At this point, I’d be very hesitant to give Liriano a multi-year deal. However, if they are at all interested, now is the time to do it. This would be a buy low scenario. Could the Twins now have the talented (but enigmatic) Liriano to a three year, $18 million now? If so, would you consider it? We will learn quite a bit before Tuesday’s deadline. Many years the Twins get all their arbitration situations figured out before numbers are even exchanged. This year, the Twins have three very interesting situations. What do you think will happen?

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?129-Twins-to-sign-Joel-Zumaya

According to a tweet by Jason Beck of MLB.com, the Twins have reached an agreement with RHP Joel Zumaya on a minor league contract that will reportedly pay him between $800,000 and 1.7 million. Obviously, especially in this case, the Twins are wise to not report it themselves until Zumaya passes a physical. A caution to Twins fans expecting to see the Zumaya of 2006 that threw 100-101 mph with a sharp slider and little control. Reports of his tryout several weeks ago were that he is touching 92 mph with his fastball. However, there is little risk in a minor league contract, and Zumaya is still just 27 years old. The last time he pitched was at Target Field in 2010 when he bounced off the mound after throwing out his elbow. As a 21 year old rookie in 2006, he posted a 1.94 ERA in 62 games. From 2007 through 2010, he averaged 27 appearances and 31+ innings. He did not pitch in 2011. I must admit that Zumaya is a name that intrigued me coming into the offseason, but based on there being 50 scouts at his tryout, I assumed that the Twins would not be in the mix. Now, I’m just very curious how this will go. What do you think?

Very interesting... I think I just started out being negative about Michael because he waited so long to sign, and for what, an extra $50,000? He could have signed in late June and got 3 months under his belt. He could have started next season in New Britain instead of Ft. Myers or Beloit. But as we've learned, he was really hurt and likely wouldn't have played anyway since he couldn't even play in the instructional league. I ranked Michael like 15th or so among Twins prospects due to that and because I just don't see a ton of upside. Doesn't mean it was a bad pick at #30. Especially when you consider that Law and Baseball America and a lot of scouting people had him ranked in the top 20 among all players available to be drafted. I'm actually very curious about where he'll start and how he does. Hopefully he's a Top 5 guy for me by mid season, or at least by the end of the season.

http://www.freep.com/article/20120115/SPORTS02/201150528/1050/sports02?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FreepDetroitTigers+%28freep.com+%7C+Detroit+Tigers%29 That's the title of an article in the Detroit Free Press. In the article which includes several quotes from Twins GM Terry Ryan, they talk about the incoming free agents (Willingham, Carroll, Doumit and Marquis) and what each does for the team. THe term "high character" is uttered. Ryan also says that the process that has made the team successful in the past decade didn't need a complete overhaul. And the key of the article is the health of Mauer and Morneau, which we've been saying all along.

Ordonez at $1M is intriguing. I like Bates though... FSN would have his new wife, Lacey Wilson, on their cameras all of the time!!

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?126-Tweets-of-the-Week

I’m known on Twitter for doing a lot of tweeting and retweeting. For those who are not on Twitter, it simply means that I tweet something that someone else already tweeted. I retweet Twins related articles and blogs or general comments that I tend to agree with. If you’re interested in following me on Twitter, you can click the “Follow” button here, or you can simply bookmark my twitter page and check it from time to time. Today, I wanted to go back to Saturday and blog many of my retweets from the week. Hopefully you enjoy the variety of topics! MONDAY NoDak Twins Fan blogged his first of a three part series on Justin Morneau. Todd Van Steensel wrote about his release by the Twins. More unfortunate, arguably, was the manner in which he found out. Sadly, I’ve heard a few other similar stories from former Twins minor leaguers. The Puckett’s Pond Non-Roster invite of this day was Ray Chang, who is from Kansas City. He was terrific last year until a broken fibula cost him two months of his season. Travis Aune and I co-hosted a special offseason Twins Minor League Weekly. We weren’t sure how much there would be to be said, but we went 90 minutes and filled the time fairly efficiently. Check out the new DiamondCentric t-shirt showing Timberwolves rookie sensation, Ricky Rubio! ManCenter.com posted its Top 10 Twins prospect list. TUESDAY Are you following the log entries of former Twin R.A. Dickey as he and Kevin Slowey are currently climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro? Check out this photo that the North Dakota Twins Fan is calling “Pot of Gold.” NoDak Twins fan posted Part 2 of his Morneau Chronicles series. Paul Boye (Phrontiersman) tweeted: “Greg Maddux should be the first unanimous Hall of Famer and I won’t hear otherwise.” I concur! John Manuel was in charge of putting together Baseball America’s Top 10 Twins Prospect list. 1500espn got their copy in the mail and posted the list. WEDNESDAY Here is the newest episode of Gleeman & The Geek. Puckett’s Pond Non-Roster invite of the day was Brian Dinkelman. NoDak Twins Fan posted Part 3 of his Morneau Chronicles. Some Twins fans are down on our favorite team and its minor league system, but hey, at least we aren’t White Sox fans! Knuckleballs’ Jim Crikket posted his Top 10 Twins Prospects list. Hudson Boyd, Dakota Watts, Kyle Gibson and David Bromberg joined former Twins 3B (and lifetime .357 big league hitter) Tommy Watkins for the Ft. Myers portion of the Twins Winter Caravan. Here’s a pretty cool Sports Illustrated picture of Kevin Garnett’s shoe tribute to Kirby Puckett after his death. Starting next week, the Twins Winter Caravan will begin throughout the Upper Midwest. Here is the list of locations, times and dates for the caravan. It’s a great time, so if you get a chance to go to one, be sure to do so. Twins International scout Howie Norsetter posted a tremendous response to an angry blog commenter regarding the Twins and their Australian signings. Well worth the read!! Upon reading this blog, Todd Van Steensel, who the Twins just released last week, tweeted to me, “I loved the Twins and had a great time there, had great coaches and made great friends, just wish it ended a little better.” Thrylos98 informed us that former Twins catcher Mike Redmond was promoted to Dunedin to manage the Blue Jays Hi-A affiliate in the Florida State League. THURSDAY North Dakota Twins fan wrote about the pursuit of a little white spherical object (sometimes referred to as a baseball. Brian Dozier was the subject of the Puckett’s Pond Non-Roster invite of the day. Baseball America’s Ben Badler informed us that the Twins signed Mauricio Silva, a 16-year-old right-handed pitcher from Venezuela, for $370,000. It makes me happy every time that I see the Twins sign one of the top 20 or 30 prospects from Latin America. Puckett’s Pond also posted several Thursday links. According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, it was 30 years ago (on Thursday) that the Twins drafted Kirby Puckett with the 3rd overall pick in the now-defunct January draft. Had a good Twitter discussion with FSN’s Robby Incmikoski. He posted a couple of pictures from the arena in Chicago and commented on Jordan’s 6 NBA titles and called him the best athlete ever. I said I thought that Bo Jackson was the best athlete. Others chimed in with discussion on how winning NBA titles has to do with being an athlete, and I think the word “athlete” refers to strength, speed, power, and everything that Bo Jackson was. I just wish the guy wouldn’t have had the hip injury because he was incredible. Few remember he had a 32 home run, 105 RBI season with the Royals. The man was amazing. As I tweeted, “Bo Jackson was 6-1 and 230+ pounds and ran a 4.2/40. He hit a bunch of HR before “the era”, had a big arm, knocked down LB and out-ran DBs.” Bob Nightengale tweeted that the Twins and Target Field will host the 2014 All-Star game. Later, Twins President Dave St. Peter tweeted that nothing was official yet. Phil Dumatrait, who spent much of 2011 with the Twins, is the non-roster invite of the day at Puckett’s Pond. FRIDAY Parker’s TwinsCentric blog of the day is titled Coffey is for (setting up for) closers. Nick’s Twins Blog discusses payroll. NoDak Twins Fan posted his Friday Links-n-Thinks. Aaron Gleeman posted, at Hardball Talk, that Johan Santana still isn’t sure when he’ll be able to pitch again despite having surgery 16 months ago. Joe Christensen wrote a very nice article on Dan Johnson, from Blaine, and his career which has been up and down but full of some big moments. Phil Mackey wrote about the Twins’ Pitch-to-Contact philosophy. If you’re heading down to Ft. Myers for spring training, tickets go on sale tomorrow morning. You can now vote for Prospect #29 in the Twinkie Town Community Top 50 Prospect voting! FINALLY – I’ll be editing the Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2012 all weekend, so look for much more order information on Monday! If you’re interested, you can follow me at www.Twitter.com/SethTweets. If you have any questions, please let me know!

Ravens over Texans Patriots over Broncos Packers over Giants Saints over 49ers

Late last night, the Yankees traded catching prospect Jesus Montero and RHP Hector Noesi to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for young pitchers Michael Pineda and Jose Campos. There are very few trades of young talent and prospects in baseball. The Yankees get a young pitcher in Pineda who had a terrific rookie season in Seattle. He teamed with King Felix to form an intimidating 1-2 punch. Jose Campos is another young pitcher who throws really, really hard. The Mariners received one of baseball's top prospects in catcher Jesus Montero who finally got an opportunity late in the season. The Yankees have a lot of young catchers and needed pitching, but Montero is a lot to give up. That said, he is not a good catcher and Safeco Field isn't exactly a hitter's paradise. I actually really like Noesi, who got time in the Yankees bullpen in 2011 and could start for the Mariners in 2012. Who won the trade? We won't know for several years, but these are fun to discuss.

In 2011, Brian Dozier, Chris Herrmann and a few others had impressive seasons and jumped up prospect ranking lists. Who will do that in 2012? Here are a couple of names that I think you should watch: 1.) Matt Hauser - the RHP from the University of San Diego throws hard. In 2011, he spent time in Beloit and Ft. Myers and ended the season with one appearance in New Britain. He throws 95 pretty consistently, with two other pitches. He could be the Twins next closer. 2.) Josh Hendricks - The burly Australian 1B showed potential in the GCL in 2011, but when he moves up to Elizabethton in 2012, he could put up some big numbers. 3.) Luis Nunez - The little lefty from the Dominican Republic throws some serious gas and should be the closer in Elizabethton in 2012. 4.) Matt Bashore - The former supplemental 1st round pick from Indiana pitched two innings for the Twins Elizabethton team combined in 2009 and 2010. He returned in 2011 in a limited role. By Instructional League, he was again touching 93 mph with his fastball. Hopefully he is recovered from shoulder and then elbow (Tommy John) surgery and can advance his career. 5.) Lance Ray - If you look at his 2011 batting average in Beloit, it doesn't speak to how hard he hit the ball. Ray has a smooth, left-handed swing. He hits for power to all fields. He can play both corner outfield positions and first base. He should advance to Ft. Myers and put up some big numbers. who are some candidates in the Twins farm system to jump up prospect rankings in 2012? Discuss.

I'll just mention that Aaron Bates should be considered an option early in the season if Parmelee struggles in Rochester. Bates joined the Red Wings last year in early May and hit .316/.404 with a bunch of extra base hits. He's not young, but he was a 3rd round pick by the Red Sox in 2006 who worked his way up to the Boston lineup by the end of the 2009 season. I'd consider him before Pearce, or as a bench guy should they use the Doumit/Mauer split at 1B as well.

For

Are you sure you don't mean Michael Levi? My assumption is that he will start in Ft. Myers, although if he's not 100% yet, he could start in EST.

The Twins are rumored to have interest in reliever Todd Coffey. What do you think? He is 35 years old and has career numbers of. I think he can be valuable because the Twins do have a need for a RH bullpen arm, a guy who can get righties out.

Ben Revere. My assumption is that he will hit for a little better batting average which should increase his OBP, which means more SBs. And, his defense is vastly superior already and could be even moreso.

Good morning! I just wanted to post a few quick notes on an early Friday morning. I fell asleep early last night (not a bad thing!) and got up early this morning, so here are a few notes. ◦First of all, congratulations to Brian Duensing and his wife on the birth of their first child yesterday, a daughter. [*]◦I was quite surprised last night to read that the Twins decided to release minor leaguers RHP Cesar Ciurcina, RHP Todd Van Steensel, and RHP Pedro Guerra. [*]•Ciurcina was a guy who was terrific in the DSL and GCL and pretty bad last year in Elizabethton. [*]•I’m a little surprised by the Van Steensel decision. He didn’t have a great 2011 at Elizabethton, but at times, he pitched well. The strange thing, according to Jeremy Nygaard, is that Baseball America posted the releases at 6 p.m. last night central time. At 8 p.m. central time, Van Steensel, who is in Australia, tweeted that he just learned that the Twins released him. Strange timing. (Be sure to continue following Van Steensel’s Clubhouse Chronicles blog) [*]•I am very [/indent]surprised by the decision to release Pedro Guerra. He began each of the past two seasons at Elizabethton and advanced to Beloit where he pitched well. ◦Read also that the Orioles signed former Twins minor league catcher, Australian Allan de San Miguel. ◦Happy Birthday to Anthony Slama today! Also, congratulations to Slama and his girlfriend on their recent engagement. Slama’s soon-to-be brother-in-law, Collin Balester was traded earlier this offseason to the Detroit Tigers. (This is Page 6 kind of stuff, huh?) ◦MLB is conducting its Rookie Career Development Program this week. According to Jonathan Mayo, the Twins sent Joe Benson, Chris Parmelee and Rene Tosoni to the conference. ◦Phil Mackey wrote an article on the Twins payroll that I find myself completely agreeing with. Most Twins fans probably don’t. ◦Former Twins Kevin Slowey and R.A. Dickey began their trek to reach the peak of Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro. The two are doing it for a charity that rescues girls from enslavement in the sex trade and fights human trafficking. ◦Those in the Beloit area will want to consider attending the 8th Annual Snappers Hot Stove Banquet on January 19th. Guests will include Twins GM Terry Ryan, Senior Director of Minor League Operations Jim Rantz, and Twins outfielder Ben Revere. MLB Umpire Marty Foster will also be speaking at the event. For more details on the event and to see how to secure your tickets, click here. ◦The Twinkie Town 2012 Top 50 vote is up to Round 24. Be sure to get your votes in. The voting is somewhat different than mine, and that’s a good thing because no prospect lists that go as deep as 50 should be exactly the same! Great discussion in the comments too! ◦I always have to encourage people to follow me on Twitter, or at least bookmark my Twitter Feed page. Why? Because I tweet quite a bit, and often I don’t wind up blogging all of the information that gets tweeted. I retweet a lot of other people’s blog entries and articles for people to read. One such article was Roger’s Minor League Report from last Saturday. He had a sit-down with Minnesotan, former Gophers and Twins 2011 draft pick AJ Pettersen. AJ is one of the really good people, and Roger wrote about their discussion. ◦ By the way, my plan is to be at Twins Fest on January 27 and 28. I’ve enjoyed attending the event for several year and now enjoy meeting up with other bloggers and fans. It’s also fun to chat with the players and the minor leaguers. If you’re heading down to the Metrodome (and it is great that the Twins are back there for Twins Fest this year after the roof collapse a year ago), let me know! ◦One thing that I would love to eventually attend, and won’t be able to this year, is the 2012 Diamond Awards. This year, it is on Thursday, January 26th, at Target Field. It’s a great even that provides dollars for the University of Minnesota’s innovative research and patient care in ataxia, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and ALS. ◦Check out Parker’s blog on A team building exercise. ◦Quick Update on the Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2012 – I also wanted to let people know that I hope to have the book available in the next three weeks. My goal is always to have it available so that people can bring it to Twins Fest and get it signed by players. It is definitely coming together, and I’m nearly to the point of doing the final editing and production. I hope to have more information for you next week, but if you have any questions, please feel free to ask! ◦There are a ton of great Twins blogs, and instead of me doing a Link blog today, I’ll encourage you to check out the NoDak Twins Fan’s Friday Links-N-Thinks and Aaron Gleeman’s Link-O-Rama. That’s it for today! Feel free to leave comments or more links/topics in the Comments section.

Good morning! I just wanted to post a few quick notes on an early Friday morning. I fell asleep early last night (not a bad thing!) and got up early this morning, so here are a few notes. ◦First of all, co ngratulations to Brian Duensing and his wife on the birth of their first child yesterday, a daughter. ◦I was quite surprised last night to read that the Twins decided to release minor leaguers RHP Cesar Ciurcina, RHP Todd Van Steensel, and RHP Pedro Guerra. •Ciurcina was a guy who was terrific in the DSL and GCL and pretty bad last year in Elizabethton. •I’m a little surprised by the Van Steensel decision. He didn’t have a great 2011 at Elizabethton, but at times, he pitched well. The strange thing, according to Jeremy Nygaard, is that Baseball America posted the releases at 6 p.m. last night central time. At 8 p.m. central time, Van Steensel, who is in Australia, tweeted that he just learned that the Twins released him. Strange timing. (Be sure to continue following Van Steensel’s Clubhouse Chronicles blog) •I am very [/indent]surprised by the decision to release Pedro Guerra. He began each of the past two seasons at Elizabethton and advanced to Beloit where he pitched well. ◦Read also that the Orioles signed former Twins minor league catcher, Australian Allan de San Miguel. ◦Happy Birthday to Anthony Slama today! Also, congratulations to Slama and his girlfriend on their recent engagement. Slama’s soon-to-be brother-in-law, Collin Balester was traded earlier this offseason to the Detroit Tigers. (This is Page 6 kind of stuff, huh?) ◦MLB is conducting its Rookie Career Development Program this week. According to Jonathan Mayo, the Twins sent Joe Benson, Chris Parmelee and Rene Tosoni to the conference. ◦Phil Mackey wrote an article on the Twins payroll that I find myself completely agreeing with. Most Twins fans probably don’t. ◦Former Twins Kevin Slowey and R.A. Dickey began their trek to reach the peak of Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro. The two are doing it for a charity that rescues girls from enslavement in the sex trade and fights human trafficking. ◦Those in the Beloit area will want to consider attending the 8th Annual Snappers Hot Stove Banquet on January 19th. Guests will include Twins GM Terry Ryan, Senior Director of Minor League Operations Jim Rantz, and Twins outfielder Ben Revere. MLB Umpire Marty Foster will also be speaking at the event. For more details on the event and to see how to secure your tickets, click here. ◦The Twinkie Town 2012 Top 50 vote is up to Round 24. Be sure to get your votes in. The voting is somewhat different than mine, and that’s a good thing because no prospect lists that go as deep as 50 should be exactly the same! Great discussion in the comments too! ◦I always have to encourage people to follow me on Twitter, or at least bookmark my Twitter Feed page. Why? Because I tweet quite a bit, and often I don’t wind up blogging all of the information that gets tweeted. I retweet a lot of other people’s blog entries and articles for people to read. One such article was Roger’s Minor League Report from last Saturday. He had a sit-down with Minnesotan, former Gophers and Twins 2011 draft pick AJ Pettersen. AJ is one of the really good people, and Roger wrote about their discussion. ◦ By the way, my plan is to be at Twins Fest on January 27 and 28. I’ve enjoyed attending the event for several year and now enjoy meeting up with other bloggers and fans. It’s also fun to chat with the players and the minor leaguers. If you’re heading down to the Metrodome (and it is great that the Twins are back there for Twins Fest this year after the roof collapse a year ago), let me know! ◦One thing that I would love to eventually attend, and won’t be able to this year, is the 2012 Diamond Awards. This year, it is on Thursday, January 26th, at Target Field. It’s a great even that provides dollars for the University of Minnesota’s innovative research and patient care in ataxia, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and ALS. ◦Check out Parker’s blog on A team building exercise. ◦Quick Update on the Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2012 – I also wanted to let people know that I hope to have the book available in the next three weeks. My goal is always to have it available so that people can bring it to Twins Fest and get it signed by players. It is definitely coming together, and I’m nearly to the point of doing the final editing and production. I hope to have more information for you next week, but if you have any questions, please feel free to ask! ◦There are a ton of great Twins blogs, and instead of me doing a Link blog today, I’ll encourage you to check out the NoDak Twins Fan’s Friday Links-N-Thinks and Aaron Gleeman’s Link-O-Rama. That’s it for today! Feel free to leave comments or more links/topics in the Comments section.

Parker, I just posted a blog (Story of the Year)... can you see if you can promote it to the main section?

That my choice for Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year, Andrew Albers, paid his own way to Ft. Myers for a tryout with the Twins. He was later reimbursed, but he went to Ft. Myers knowing that if the Twins didn't sign him, he was ready to drive back home to Canada and begin life after baseball. Instead, the Twins signed the 25 year old left-hander. After spending a couple of weeks at Extended Spring Training, he was promoted 'across the parking lot' to the Ft. Myers Miracle. He pitched great for the Miracle and was eventually promoted to AA New Britain where he continued to pitch well. Following the season, he was named to Team Canada for the World Cup tournament in Panama. Tom Stuifbergen (Netherlands) was the tournament's top pitcher, but with over 15 scoreless innings, Albers pitched great as well. He then pitched for Canada in the Pan Am games and was the winning pitcher in the championship game. Not a bad year for Albers. And I'm sure the Twins are happy to have reimbursed his trip to Ft. Myers.