Parker Hageman

Between all three players, I think we found almost $2M in salary we did not anticipate them having. Could be a reliever right there.

I don't know, basically Teahen and Sean Burroughs are the exact same type of hitter -- both are left-handed and use the opposite field a lot. I would guess if they are going to add another hitter, it won't be Teahen.

Plenty of free agent options available to replace him -- Carlos Pena, Derrek Lee, Casey Kotchman, et al.

I took a lot of flak in February for siding with the Twins on their decision to just go the one year with Liriano but his mechanics and reliance on the slider are a recipe for injuries. The real question will be what will the Twins do if Liriano has a 2010-type of season in 2012? Do you give him the multi-year contract or let him walk because of his injury potential?

According to ESPN's Enrique Rojas, the Twins and Francisco Liriano have agreed to a one-year, $5.5 million deal: After a very good 2010 season, Liriano followed that up with a 2011 campaign in which he struggled to throw his fastball for a strike, work ahead of opponents and battled through various arm injuries. He will be a free agent after this season.

According to Jon Heyman, the Twins and Glen Perkins have reached an arbitration settlement of $1.55 million. Perkins was easily the Twins best reliever, working 61.2 innings while striking out 65 and walking 21. He held a 2.48 ERA while holding opponents to a .238 average. By Fangraphs.com's WAR standard, Perkins's 1.7 WAR was the 11th best among all relievers in baseball in 2011. His $1.55 million salary was slightly below the one projected in the TwinsCentric Offseason GM Handbook of $1.8 million - a decent savings for the team given his performance.

According to Darren Wolfson on Twitter, the Twins have not been in contact with Wheeler's agent for the past two and a half weeks: In the past three seasons, Wheeler has held right-handed opponents to a .195 average with a very good 5.8 strikeouts-to-walks ratio.

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In theory, Liriano is a front-line starter. Unfortunately, mechanically he's a mess and that it leaves him susceptible for reoccurring injuries. The early performance in the Dominican has not reassured anyone that he's ready to turn things around either -- much different than his 2010 appearance in winter ball when he was dominating the lesser competition. Of course, he could make the necessary adjustments in the spring and be back to his 2010 form in time for the start of the season but I get the impression that there are many in the organization who do not think that is going to happen. I know the Twins - nor the players for that matter - do not like to negotiate contracts during the season but that's what I would do if I were the Twins. Even though the financial commitment is not that great, he's got to show some signs of being able to figure it out before you lock him in for three more seasons.

Ish. Nick Blackburn in the bullpen.

According to Phil Mackey's tweet, it sounds like the Twins were interested in Dan Wheeler and Todd Coffey before landing Zumaya and that there is still the possibility of bringing one of those two names in as well.

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The Twins have frequently been accused of not catering to power arms and also not taking risks on their offseason signings. On Sunday, they may have made inroads in both areas by agreeing to a deal, pending a physical, with former Tigers flame-thrower Joel Zumaya. According to Joe Christensen, the Twins and Zumaya have agreed to terms of a deal worth $800,000, with the potential of adding another $900,000 of incentives based on innings pitched, pending a physical. Zumaya, the talented yet often injured pitcher, has drawn some interest this offseason. In early December, the free agent Zumaya was in Houston to throw off the mound in front of teams. Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi tweeted that a scout told him that “almost every team was there” to watch him. Reports from the Texas audition were that the 27-year-old right hander was throwing in the mid-90s, down slightly from his 98.5 mile-per-hour average from 2007 through 2010. Based on this, several team courted Zumaya as a potential buy-low, reward-high type of arm. Both Boston and San Diego were engaged in talks with him but, as the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo reported, one AL team’s doctors did not believe that Zumaya would be able to pass a physical in order to be signed. Because the concern, it is easy to see why he would be available for under a million. [attachment=4205:46.attach] As you can glean from the chart above, Zumaya’s fastball is pure diesel fuel. From 2007 to 2010, Zumaya averaged the hardest fastball in the majors. Although an impressive feat, his regular absence from the active roster was a true detriment. After bursting onto the scene in 2006 as a hot-shot 22-year-old reliever, he supposedly destroyed his elbow in 2006 by playing Guitar Hero too much (a video game that is no longer available either). In 2007, Zumaya missed extended time when he dislocated his finger while warming up in the bullpen and threw just 33.2 innings that season. Those 33.2 innings would be the most he would throw in a single season outside of his rookie year. In November of 2007, he would require AC joint reconstruction in his throwing shoulder (which he injured removing items from his Southern California homes during one of the wildfires) and missed a substantial portion of the 2008 season. The following year he would re-aggravate the shoulder in July of 2009 and wound up on the DL as the pain kept him from being able to lift his arm above his head. Finally, in 2010 most Twins fans were witness to Zumaya’s elbow exploding (a fractured olecranon) on a 99-mile-per-hour pitch to Delmon Young. He would miss the entire 2011 season because of that last injury, which necessitated a subsequent surgical procedure to replace a screw that was inserted into his elbow after the fracture. Given the laundry list of ailments, it wouldn’t surprise me that during his impending physical that those doctors discover that his elbow is being held together with rubber band and duct tape. Clearly, there is an injury risk associated with him but when healthy, he’s been a dominate arm in the bullpen. Over his career, he’s thrown 209.1 innings, striking out 23.1% of all batters faced and holding opponents to a .213 average against. However, unlike the majority of his Twin counterparts, Zumaya’s been a bit erratic with his control. His 12.8 % walk rate dating back to 2007 has been one of the league’s higher numbers in that period. Because of the various injuries, you can see how they would affect his command, particularly in 2008 and 2009 when he was recovering from shoulder surgery (44 walks in 54.1 innings). Considering he is recovering from elbow surgery this time around, it is very possible that Zumaya will struggle with his control in 2012. If things work out favorable for Zumaya in the health department, it is an exciting move that could transform the look of the bullpen, giving Ron Gardenhire a viable late innings right-handed option that was missing from the 2011 squad. At the same time, we must remember that Zumaya is coming off surgery that really has no comparables that would indicate how he will respond. Early indications suggest that the velocity is not quite what it was – as Phil Mackey tweeted, the Twins clocked Zumaya between 92-94 miles per hour – so while it is still good readings, you have to wonder if several ticks off the fastball (one that is thrown up and over the plate) translates into a few more hits. On top of that, there are some team doctors who simply do not think he would pass a physical let alone finish an entire season. This is certainly an out-of-the-box move for the Twins. We’ve seen a steady history of safe bets - those low-risk/ low-reward acquisitions for the bullpen that have become the organization’s MO. Zumaya, who’s obviously a high risk with his injury history, yet he represents a very high reward. With less a million dollars invested, the Zumaya signing is a good gamble for Minnesota. View full article

The Twins have frequently been accused of not catering to power arms and also not taking risks on their offseason signings. On Sunday, they may have made inroads in both areas by agreeing to a deal, pending a physical, with former Tigers flame-thrower Joel Zumaya. According to Joe Christensen, the Twins and Zumaya have agreed to terms of a deal worth $800,000, with the potential of adding another $900,000 of incentives based on innings pitched, pending a physical. Zumaya, the talented yet often injured pitcher, has drawn some interest this offseason. In early December, the free agent Zumaya was in Houston to throw off the mound in front of teams. Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi tweeted that a scout told him that “almost every team was there” to watch him. Reports from the Texas audition were that the 27-year-old right hander was throwing in the mid-90s, down slightly from his 98.5 mile-per-hour average from 2007 through 2010. Based on this, several team courted Zumaya as a potential buy-low, reward-high type of arm. Both Boston and San Diego were engaged in talks with him but, as the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo reported, one AL team’s doctors did not believe that Zumaya would be able to pass a physical in order to be signed. Because the concern, it is easy to see why he would be available for under a million. [ATTACH=CONFIG]51[/ATTACH] As you can glean from the chart above, Zumaya’s fastball is pure diesel fuel. From 2007 to 2010, Zumaya averaged the hardest fastball in the majors. Although an impressive feat, his regular absence from the active roster was a true detriment. After bursting onto the scene in 2006 as a hot-shot 22-year-old reliever, he supposedly destroyed his elbow in 2006 by playing Guitar Hero too much (a video game that is no longer available either). In 2007, Zumaya missed extended time when he dislocated his finger while warming up in the bullpen and threw just 33.2 innings that season. Those 33.2 innings would be the most he would throw in a single season outside of his rookie year. In November of 2007, he would require AC joint reconstruction in his throwing shoulder (which he injured removing items from his Southern California homes during one of the wildfires) and missed a substantial portion of the 2008 season. The following year he would re-aggravate the shoulder in July of 2009 and wound up on the DL as the pain kept him from being able to lift his arm above his head. Finally, in 2010 most Twins fans were witness to Zumaya’s elbow exploding (a fractured olecranon) on a 99-mile-per-hour pitch to Delmon Young. He would miss the entire 2011 season because of that last injury, which necessitated a subsequent surgical procedure to replace a screw that was inserted into his elbow after the fracture. Given the laundry list of ailments, it wouldn’t surprise me that during his impending physical that those doctors discover that his elbow is being held together with rubber band and duct tape. Clearly, there is an injury risk associated with him but when healthy, he’s been a dominate arm in the bullpen. Over his career, he’s thrown 209.1 innings, striking out 23.1% of all batters faced and holding opponents to a .213 average against. However, unlike the majority of his Twin counterparts, Zumaya’s been a bit erratic with his control. His 12.8 % walk rate dating back to 2007 has been one of the league’s higher numbers in that period. Because of the various injuries, you can see how they would affect his command, particularly in 2008 and 2009 when he was recovering from shoulder surgery (44 walks in 54.1 innings). Considering he is recovering from elbow surgery this time around, it is very possible that Zumaya will struggle with his control in 2012. If things work out favorable for Zumaya in the health department, it is an exciting move that could transform the look of the bullpen, giving Ron Gardenhire a viable late innings right-handed option that was missing from the 2011 squad. At the same time, we must remember that Zumaya is coming off surgery that really has no comparables that would indicate how he will respond. Early indications suggest that the velocity is not quite what it was – as Phil Mackey tweeted, the Twins clocked Zumaya between 92-94 miles per hour – so while it is still good readings, you have to wonder if several ticks off the fastball (one that is thrown up and over the plate) translates into a few more hits. On top of that, there are some team doctors who simply do not think he would pass a physical let alone finish an entire season. This is certainly an out-of-the-box move for the Twins. We’ve seen a steady history of safe bets - those low-risk/ low-reward acquisitions for the bullpen that have become the organization’s MO. Zumaya, who’s obviously a high risk with his injury history, yet he represents a very high reward. With less a million dollars invested, the Zumaya signing is a good gamble for Minnesota.

There is a reason those guys are still on the market -- mainly that they are all spent. We saw last year what happens to a 36-year-old Guerrero when you take him out of a very hitter-friendly ballpark: the power vanishes. Can't imagine him having any more success at Target Field. Matsui encountered the same struggles in Oakland. Ordonez was one guy who, during the post-season, I thought would be a huge bargain this offseason. Unfortunately, he re-aggravated his knee and required more surgery. This pretty much kept him from performing at the beginning of the 2011 season. Still, if you get him on a minor league deal and he proves to be healthy, he would be a solid right-handed addition but I wouldn't count on a rebound.

I considered that but I'm not sold on that being correct. Swing rate was at 45% in '09 -- well above average. The adjustment brought the swing rate up to 50%. Not a substantial difference. Besides, his walk rate on the slider was lower in '09 when it was in the zone less than it was in '11 when it was in the zone more. So no, I don't think that is the reason for the adjustment.

Pearce has been very talented in the minors - hitting .292/.367/.519. That of course has not translated into major league success but it is possible that he is a slow-developer that could emerge like a Casey Kotchman. While Bates put up some impressive numbers at Rochester, a lot of that seems BABIP-driven. Yes, he had a solid 23% line drive rate but the .407 BABIP is likely unsustainable moving forward (although he has been well above .300 for most of his career). At the same time, he is slaughtering the ball in the Puerto Rican Winter League (hitting .356/.396/.556 in 47 PAs), so I think at the very least he's done enough to merit an audition.

A former teammate of mine in Legion ball wound up scouting for the Padres in the Carolinas the last few years. Said he watched a lot of games with Levi Michael and was very impressed with his skill set. Sent me the message "You guys got a legit player" when the Twins drafted him. Bourassa, the scout, also echoed what numerous people have said about him -- he's likely destined to be a second baseman. A few months ago when I did a preview of the 2012 draft, I had mentioned Devon Marrero - ASU's shortstop - and said that the Twins would benefit from selecting him as his defensive skills are far superior to those of Michael (and he produced well at a much tougher conference than Michael). Interestingly enough, Keith Law emailed me and added a few tidbits saying I was pretty much spot on with that assessment but that Michael was a "much better runner" than Marrero. Personally, if Marrero has a good collegiate showing this year, I would love to see the Twins pick him and have a Marrero-Michael middle infield combination in the minors.

Actually, he's 31 years old but still his figure doesn't inspire youthfulness. Agree with Nick that he's durable and a serviceable arm to subdue righties. He's had an interesting transition the past two seasons from a ground ball-inducer to a more average one. For my money, I prefer Wheeler but it sounds as if the Twins are not that keen on him.

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