Seth Stohs

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2701[/ATTACH] On Wednesday, the Detroit Tigers signed former Twins outfielder Torii Hunter to a two-year, $26 million contract. On the surface, the Tigers paid a ton for his charisma, leadership and veteran status. Although he had a terrific 2012 season, including the first .300+ batting average season of his career, there is a lot of risk in signing an outfielder who will be 39 years old when the contract ends. That said, my first thought when I heard the news was that it cemented in my mind the need for the Twins to build for 2014 or even 2015. The comment was met with mixed emotions and plenty of comments on both sides. Was the signing of Torii Hunter that big for the Tigers? No. The Tigers were head-and-shoulders the favorite in the AL Central even before the acquisition of the former Gold Glover. Adding Hunter got me thinking about the Tigers roster again. I think it is safe to say that Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder are really good hitters. Austin Jackson and Hunter will comprise two-thirds of the outfield with Andy Dirks, Brennan Boesch, and young Avisail Garcia. Alex Avila, Jhonny Peralta, and Danny Worth will round out a very strong lineup. Then there is the starting rotation of Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Doug Fister and Rick Porcello is a pretty good starting point. Will they bring back Anibal Sanchez? Their bullpen is stacked even when they let closer Jose Valverde leave via free agency. Will they hand a starting job to Drew Smyly or the closer role to Bruce Rondon? Sure, the wild card could come from the AL Central, but considering the A’s, Angels and Rangers in the AL West, and the five strong teams in the AL East, it seems unlikely. (Yes, about as unlikely as the A’s and O’s being playoff teams in 2012.) So, what does “build for 2015” mean to me? To some, it could be a fire sale like the Marlins did. It doesn’t have to though. Here are some of the things it means for me: FREE AGENCY I completely agree with Terry Ryan that building via free agency is not the best way. That isn’t to say that free agency isn’t important. Of course it is. However, if I’m looking to being a contender in 2015, there is little need to spend a ton of money on older, expensive pitchers like Ryan Dempster. It can mean using the free agent market to acquire two types of players. First, the Twins can sign decent players who can fill a short-term role. If they do it well, they can be traded at the July deadline for more talent. Terry Ryan had success with this strategy in his previous time as GM. He traded signed Dave Hollins to be his primary 3B in 1996, and in August, he traded him to Seattle for David Ortiz. Roberto Kelly was turned into Joe Mays. JC Romero became Alexi Casilla. I also think that the Twins can still build for 2015 by making a big splash in free agency this season. (Not that I think they will, just that they could.) They could go after a big name, top of the rotation starter and give him four or five years. The name? Anibal Sanchez. Why? He is looking for a long-term deal, and he is just 28 years old. Most free agents are 31-32 years old. The best of those get three year deals. As he is just 28, maybe a six year deal would be OK. The risk is certainly higher, but it would be a way of telling the fan base that there is a plan, and Anibal Sanchez is going to help us get there. Of course, Twins fans also have to acknowledge that it takes two sides to make a deal. The Twins can go after Sanchez, but Sanchez would have to be willing to sign with a team that has lost 95 or more games each of the past two seasons. How much would the Twins have to overpay to acquire an impact pitcher like Sanchez? TRADES Beyond the trades mentioned above which generally will bring back low-level prospects, if the Twins are trying to build for 2015, they will likely need to trade some players. In order to bring back the best return, it is important to trade players at peak value rather than holding on to them for too long. The Twins have a few guys that they could consider trading this offseason. It’s hard because they are players that Twins fans know, and they would be traded for players that many fans do not know much about. When the Twins traded Chuck Knoblauch, few Twins fans know much about Eric Milton or Cristian Guzman. When All Star catcher AJ Pierzynski to the Giants, Joe Nathan had one good year as a reliever under his belt, Boof Bonser was a decent prospect, and Francisco Liriano was an injury-prone pitcher in Low A ball. Josh Willingham is coming off of the best season of his career. He could bring back a couple of quality players. Seeing that Torii Hunter got $13 million a year for two years, the market for outfielders is clearly a bit crazy. Willingham’s two years and $14 million (Total) has to look very attractive to teams looking for right-handed power. The same can be said for Denard Span whose contract, when compared to what teams are likely to shell out for Michael Bourn, Shane Victorino and Angel Pagan, is very team-friendly. What has been encouraging is reading rumors about the Twins interest in trading for young pitchers like Trevor Bauer (Diamondbacks), Danny Hultzen (Mariners) and some of the Braves young pitchers like Mike Minor, Randall Delgado and Julio Teheran. The pitchers all have high ceilings and only Minor has anywhere near a full year of big league service time. Those are exactly the types of pitchers the Twins should be feverishly attempting to acquire. PLAYER DEVELOPMENT This is the most important piece to building a team that can compete for years to come. The Twins did a terrific job of player development from about 1999 through about 2007. It was a system that started with several young players coming up together and then a player or two coming up and contributing each year. It started with the Hunter, Jones, Mientkiewicz, Koskie, Guzman, Pierzynski group that we enjoyed so much. Johan Santana came to the team in 2000. They were joined by Michael Cuddyer in 2002, Justin Morneau in 2003, and Joe Mauer and Jesse Crain debuted in 2004. Jason Kubel debuted in 2004 as well, but his knee injury meant that he missed 2005. Scott Baker came up in 2005, and Francisco Liriano came up late that season. Matt Garza and Pat Neshek came up in 2006. The Twins minor league pipeline seemed to have an unending supply of impact players. For whatever reason, that has not been the case in recent years, but there are some players working their way up the Twins system that we can be excited about. Some will be up in 2013, some more in 2014 and guys like Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario could be up in 2015. The entire goal is to develop and find out which players can be counted on for the second half of 2014 and 2015. It isn’t to rush them to the big leagues, but it is to make sure when they come up, they are ready. The Twins have to find out what they have in Chris Parmelee. They still need to find out what Trevor Plouffe can be. Can Brian Dozier play shortstop, or will he move to second base? Can Pedro Florimon hit at all? Can Chris Herrmann fill the same role for the Twins in the future that Ryan Doumit filled in 2012? Scott Diamond, Liam Hendriks and Kyle Gibson all need to get innings in 2013 to see if they factor into the 2014/2015 planning. Could lefty Pedro Hernandez be this year’s Scott Diamond? Getting Adrian Salcedo and Alex Wimmers healthy for 2014 is important. Does Eduardo Escobar have the tool set to be the Twins utility player for the next half-decade? Those can be answered starting in 2013 and into 2014. In 2014, we should hear about names such as BJ Hermsen, Logan Darnell and maybe Levi Michael. If uber-prospect Miguel Sano were to be exactly on the Joe Mauer path, we would see him in 2014, although 2015 makes more sense for him, Eddie Rosario, and some of those hard-throwing relievers drafted in 2012. Maybe we’ll even see Byron Buxton and J.O. Berrios. In 2016, Max Kepler, Niko Goodrum, Hudson Boyd, Travis Harrison and other names we aren’t even aware of will start appearing. That’s how you build a long-term contender. They have to hit (and get lucky) on their high draft picks, and they have to sign well in the international market as well. If you’re going to rebuild it, they need to do it right. That doesn’t have to mean completely blow it up. It does mean being smart in free agency and in making trades, keeping an eye on the future as much as the present. It is always remembering that player acquisition through the draft and through international signings ill always be crucial, and then it is necessary for those players to develop their potential. I’m a Twins fan, first and foremost. They could lose 100 games in 2013 and I will be right back and cheering for them again in 2014. I would like to understand the thought-process and the plan. That said, the front office shouldn’t be expected to say, “We’re trying to compete in 2015.” They should make some moves and hope they get a little bit lucky and give Twins fans some good baseball in 2013. If I’ve learned anything from the last two seasons, it’s much more fun watching a competitive team all regular season than watching a team that is out of contention by Memorial Day. That said, I also have to be realistic after two such poor seasons. I want hope for the future. I’d like to see improvement in 2013. I’d like to see a team that starts to really play well and come together as a young unit in 2014. And I want to see a team that is contending for the AL Central title in 2015, and 2016, and 2017, and, and… you get my point.

I just want to point out that we (TD Leadership) monitored this situation very closely right from the point that we saw Thrylos tweet that Baker had agreed to sign with the Twins (minutes before he posted it as a forum thread here). You will notice that none of the TD folks gave it any credibility. We never acknowledged it as legit. We did not push it out as an Article. It stayed in the forum, and was met with a mixture of skepticism and some belief. We made the decision to let it go and see what happens. We all can learn a lot from the situation. If people do hear news and want to post it as a forum, be sure it's legit. Be sure the source is really legit, and then be sure to discuss your rumor's credibility within the forum. I have broken quite a few stories at SethSpeaks.net or on Twitter or seen here at Twins Daily. A couple of them have taken up to 12-15 hours for the team to verify or to make public, and that can be nerve-wracking. But the sources I've had, I've had 100% confidence in posting. Obviously in most of these cases, I'm not going to name my sources, but I like to think that over 8-10 years, I've built up some credibility. However, when we have a site where the four of us write and we also have forums, things can get cloudy. In this blog, Brock is blamed for shutting down that thread. He shut it down because I couldn't figure out how to do it first. It wasn't, at least in my mind, about protecting Thyrlos. It was about moving on. It had been a day, and lots of people had their say. It was my opinion that the thread just needed to be done so we could all move on. That isn't to say that the thread should be forgotten, or that the next time Thrylos posts a blog reporting something that it isn't fair game to be questioned unmercifully. We have always wanted the forums to be good, strong, meaningful, thoughtful and a place people can go to have quality discussions. We understand the inherent nature of forums and know that there is a small percentage who choose to act a certain way. We have sent 'warning' messages to some people about overkilling certain topics or excessive bashing of a person or so. In fact, some people have been banned for various lengths of time following warnings. I don't want to fully speak for all five of us at Twins Daily, but know that we are trying We may make some mistakes, but our goal has always been to create a community of Twins fans able to discuss appropriately the positives and the negatives of our Twins team. Of course, with a couple of 96+ loss seasons, it can be tough. We want to be consistent, and we want to churn out quality content that TWins fans will enjoy. We want a thoughtful forum, but we know that some people do come in with the purpose of destroying that. We do believe that we provide Twins fans with the best overall experience of any Twins web site,yet we acknowledge that we can and we need to always strive to improve. And we will. Thank you for your concerns.

Hunter is better than Delmon. He also gets a guy like Brennan Boesch out of the lineup. Meanwhile Victor Martinez takes over for Delmon at the DH. I'm not a big Torii Hunter fan at all, and it's far too many dollars. So, I do think this move makes the Tigers a little bit better. Not a ton. Based on the fact that they were 20 games better than the Twins last year (and that's likely because they didn't really come together as a good team until late in the season), my thinking all along has been that they should be shooting for 2014 or 2015 to compete.

I would say that when the Twins felt they had a team that could compete, two years ago, they went about $20 million over budget to bring in some final pieces. It makes no sense to spend that much to finish 3rd or 4th.

well put, Jim H, and that would be awesome if he can be a great story like that. He definitely was the good story of the year in the Twins farm system.

I used to think that trading Willingham was a good idea, now I am not so sure. Detroit is going to own this division for a few more years and slap hitters are not going to beat them regularly. I like a good OBP but we need the power Josh provides. If this move doesn't cement that the Twins should build for 2014 and 2015, I don't know what else would convince Twins fans...

I like the idea of seeing the downside of his career up close, in the division. That said, with the Tigers pitching staff, and their lineup which next year will bring back Victor Martinez and bring in Torii Hunter. They may have a nice run left in them!

Source, that I've seen, is Ken Rosenthal...

Yeah, that is exactly right. Based on what we know, they added a headache, a utility infielder, one OK prospect and one prospect who wasn't a top 30. That's very different than the scenario that you laid out above.

There's been a ton written about him at Twins Daily... http://www.twinsdaily.com/showthread.php?982-Chris-Colabello He's 29... 2012 was his first season in affiliated ball after being the independent league player of the year in 2011, his 7th or 8th year with that team, in the town he went to college in. Just a great story. Due to the age, the word 'potential' may not be appropriate. However, I think he can be a solid enough RH bench bat with a little power who can pinch hit and play some 1B.

I should look it up on Twitter, but someone tweeted something about how messed up it is that Mark Cuban can not own an MLB team and yet Jeffrey Loria can. This is a ridiculous one.

They wouldn't have to give up much at all because they would have to pick up his entire salary!! He's got a little talent, for sure, but he's never been able to put it together yet.

It appears that the Miami Marlins will do their best to make life difficult in the NL East for Mike Redmond. Sources are indicating that the Marlins have traded RHP Josh Johnson, LHP Mark Buehrle, SS Jose Reyes, C John Buck and IF/OF Emilio Bonafacio to the Blue Jays for Yunel Escobar and several prospects. Holy ridiculousness!!! Embarrassing for baseball are the Marlins!

Nice article by Phil Mackey about the Baker signing/loss: http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/Mackey_Baker_wanted_deal_before_Oct_but_Twins_likely_wise_to_pass111312

This has always been my point... Get to the playoffs often and you have a better chance of winning a title.

According to several sources (including MLB's), the Cubs have signed RHP Scott Baker to a one year contract. More information to come.

Since the teams play different schedules, I think that the W-L record of division champs and playoff teams matter less and less. The cause of the Twins losses in the playoffs were many, but it had nothing to do with the regular season. Against the Yankees, the Twins lefty-heavy lineups struggled against Sabathia and Pettitte. There were also a couple of bad calls (Mauer fair ball/foul ball), bad bounces (Koskie's ground rule double), and bad pitching (from guys who generally pitched great). To summarize, I'm not at all surprised by the 0.07 number.

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?1169-Twins-Week-in-the-Winter-Leagues-(Dec-5-11)

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2671[/ATTACH] Each week here at Twins Daily, we will be taking a look at how players in the Twins organization are faring in the Winter Leagues. The Twins have players in the Arizona Fall League, in Venezuela, in the Dominican Republic, in Mexico, in Puerto Rico and in Australia. A week of numbers is fairly small sample, but it does give a look at who is playing well of late. So, let’s walk through each of the leagues and name a Twins player of the week followed by a look at the rest of the Twins players. ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE Player of the Week – Nate Roberts, OF Roberts has been the story of the Fall League for the Twins, and it was another great week for him. He played in four games and went 7-14 with four walks to go with just one strikeout. He got one base at least twice in all four games he played and scored seven runs. He also hit his first home run of the season. In 16 games in the Fall League, he is 25-53 with 10 walks and just five strikeouts. He’s hitting .472/.592/.623 (1.214) with five doubles, a home run and ten RBI. Evan Bigley – 5 Games – 5-16 (.313) with a double, a triple and 2 walks. Dan Rohlfing – 2 Games – 4-8 (.500) with two walks. Logan Darnell – 1 Game, 4 IP, 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts. Kyle Gibson – 1 Game Started, 5 IP, 4 earned runs, 5 hits, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts. Caleb Thielbar – 2 Games, 2.2 innings, 4 earned runs, 6 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts. Michael Tonkin – 2 Games, 4.2 innings, 1 earned run, 2 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout. (First run he’s allowed in regular season games) VENEZUELAN WINTER LEAGUE Player of the Week – Dakota Watts, RHP Watts missed time early in the season due to some tendonitis, so he is getting some extra innings in Venezuela. This past week, he pitched 6.1 innings in four games. He gave up no runs on one hit. He walked none and struckout eight and recorded two saves. After giving up four runs in his first 3 games (2.1 innings), he has not allowed a run in his past seven games. Oswaldo Arcia – 6 Games, 7-25 (.280), 3 BB, 5 K, 3rd home run – in one game, he was 4-5 with a walk and HR. Eduardo Escobar – 4 Games, 1-12 (.083), 1 BB Deolis Guerra – 3 Games, 3 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts. 1-0 with 1 save. Edgar Ibarra – 1 Game Started, 3.1 innings, 4 hits, 4 earned runs, 3 walks, 1 strikeout. Angel Mata – 1 Game, 1.1 innings, 2 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts. Bruce Pugh – 2 Games, 0.1 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk. Over the past week, Aaron Hicks and David Bromberg have returned to the United States. MEXICAN WINTER LEAGUE Player of the Week – Chris Colabello, 1B Colabello had a huge week last week, but this week was even bigger. In six games, he went 8-24 (.333) with two walks and seven strikeouts. The week started out very hot, with six home runs in five games. Overall on the season, Colabello is now hitting .304/.356/.652 (1.009) with eight doubles and eight home runs. Anthony Slama – 4 Games, 4.2 innings, 6 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts. 3 saves. Gonzalo Sanudo – 2 Games, 3.1 innings, 2 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts. DOMINICAN WINTER LEAGUE Player of the Week – Miguel Sano, 3B After a terrific season at Beloit, Sano went to the Twins Florida Instructional League. Although he was the top pick in the DWL draft, he eased his way back into the schedule. After playing in just three games coming into this week, he played in five games this past week. In those games, he went 4-15 (.267) with two home runs and four RBI. He walked three times and struckout three times. Jhonathan Arias – 4 Games, 2-8 (.250) with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts Pedro Florimon – 3 Games, 3-9 (.333) with a double, a walk and a strikeout Luis Perdomo – 2 Games, 4.2 innings, 5 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. PUERTO RICO WINTER LEAGUE The Puerto Rican league got started over the weekend and there are several Twins players from the island to follow. Player of the Week – Eddie Rosario, OF Rosario was the #3 hitter on the Beloit roster that included Miguel Sano and Kennys Vargas. In Puerto Rico, his roster includes Vargas and outfielder Danny Ortiz. After spending most of the season playing second base, he played centerfield for the Snappers throughout the season. Through four games, he has played only right field. The Royals’ Irving Falu has been playing second base. Either way, Rosario is a hitting machine who got off to a nice start. He went 6-15 (.400) with a double and three RBI. Jorge Fernandez – The Twins 7th round pick, a catcher, has pinch run in one game and scored a run. Angel Morales – 2 Games, 2-7 (.286), BB, 2B, HR. The two games epitomize the last couple of seasons for Morales. In the first game, he went 2-3 with a walk, a double and a home run. In the second game, he went 0-4 with three strikeouts. Daniel Ortiz – 4 Games, 1-9 (.111), 3 walks and one strikeout. Kennys Vargas – 4 Games, 2-14 (.143), home run, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts. Nelvin Fuentes – 1 Game, 0.2 innings, 3 hits, 3 earned runs, 1 walk, one strikeout. Josue Montanez – 1 Game, 2 innings, 1 hit, 1 run, 0 earned run, 1 walk. AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE Player of the Week – Jacob Younis, 2B Younis played in two of three games and went 4-8 with a walk and two RBI. He has spent the past two seasons with the GCL Twins. Unfortunately, he played very little in 2012 due to injury. JD Williams – 3 Games, 2-10 (.200), 2 walks, 4 strikeouts Logan Wade – 2 Games, 2-6 (.333), 1 walk, 1 strikeout Sam Gibbons – 1 Game, 3 innings, two hits, 1 earned run, no walks, 1 strikeout. Tyler Herr – 1 Game, 2.1 innings, 2 hits, no runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout. Feel free to discuss or ask any questions that you like. Also, feel free to pick a player of the week. Here were the nominees: Arizona – Nate Roberts Venezuela – Dakota Watts Mexico – Chris Colabello Dominican – Miguel Sano Puerto Rico – Eddie Rosario Australia – Jacob Younis

CSN Chicago's White Sox Insider Dan Hayes gives Five Reasons that former Twins catcher AJ Pierzynski will not resign with the White Sox this offseason. http://www.csnchicago.com/baseball-chicago-whitesox/whitesox-talk/Five-reasons-why-Pierzynski-wont-return-?blockID=800945&feedID=10338

Why? other than being conservative with his healthy 19 year old arm, why? That would be the reason. He's long and lanky. He's not built like Felix Hernandez. It's wise to be patient. Also, reports from Instructs said he really struggled and tired. Not unusual at all.