Big City

The Red Sox appear motivated to trade Triston Casas and the Mariners could use guys like Julien and Miranda. Can we start gassing up a 3-way trade where: M’s get Julien, Miranda Red Sox get Luis Castillo, Harry Ford Twins get Triston Casas

The Rangers paid $100 million for 5-years of Darvish and are still reaping about $5 million/year in value from the signing. Similar value can be had by siging Tanaka. He's only 25 and has experienced similar success in Japanese baseball to Darvish. I'd then go after Kazmir and Kuroda to fill out the rotation and Pierzynski to platoon with Pinto.

Any GM offering that for Shark would be the laughing stock of MLB. The Cubs are in the same position as the Twins in that they're stacked with positional prospects but are thin at pitching prospects. If the Cubs trade Shark, they'll want at least 1 TOR SP which would equate to Meyer or Berrios and May. I'm predicting they target a LHP like Skaggs and/or Corbin from the DBacks.

Ha, you're dead wrong. Worley gives the Twins the best chance to compete on day 1. Name me the better option. If/when Gardy doesn't get retained past this season he'll be out of work for maybe 5 minutes. This staff is a joke and the bullpen is even more questionable. The lineup on the other hand has the potential to exceed expectations which makes the pitching staff even that much more of a glaring weakness. I'll chalk it up as a lack of top flight free agent starting pitching and TR's goal to build for the future. We may be down for now but the future is bright and I can't wait to watch the progress of our top prospects as they make their way to Mpls. We've got another top of the rotation type pitcher coming in this summer's draft which should round out our 2014/2015 rotation and the bats to back them up. Hey AL Central, objects in your mirror are closer than they appear! We're coming!

One thing to consider in new management is Gardy's previous success at ushering in new prospects. He's got a pretty spectacular track record and over the next couple of seasons the Twins will be promoting more prospects than ever before. Do you really trust that Molitor or any other new manager for the Twins would do better than Gardenhire at this and shouldn't this be considered more than W's and L's for a rebuilding franchise?

Great write-up, thanks for the pre-draft info. First Buxton, then possibly Appel??? I've no clue who's in the 2014 draft but the Twins are raking in amazing prospects. Appel just fits so perfectly with our group of top prospects a year or two away from Minnesota. This is exactly what we need is to graduate a group of prospects to play together in Minnesota for the next 6 years. I really don't care that our rotation will be almost completely RHPs and I think it actually plays better to Target Field since RF's more difficult to hit HR's than LF. If the Twins have to go a bit over slot to sign Appel, I'd say do it, we'll kick ourselves later if we don't.

Yes, I read the entire thread and not once did you give your own grade to the offseason moves (which was kind of the point of the thread). I like how you criticize everyone else's grades on the offseason but you haven't sacked up and posted your own evaluation. Also, you didn't answer my other question, "If it was ownership's directive for the Twins to have a payroll of $65 million, then shouldn't these moves be considered an A...?"

My point was that these offseason grades assume all things are equal but in reality, they're not. The Twins are operating on a different budget then the Dodgers, Red Sox, Angels, Cubs, etc. If it was ownership's directive for the Twins to have a payroll of $65 million, then shouldn't these moves be considered an A since we've been able to fill our rotation with serviceable talent and add a couple of top of the rotation prospects for the future? P.S. Do you ever have anything substantial to add to the conversation other than snide half-sentences?

I'd give the Twins a C as it stands or a C+ if they sign Saunders (I really like Saunders), but, for all we know it could be an A+. Would it be TR's fault if ownership gave him a budget of $70 million to work with for 2013? This offseason has neither felt like the Twins were fully committed to rebuilding for the future or going for it in 2013 and I think that's where the confussion sets in. Maybe the flurry of trades and mediocre signings were enough to appease the average fan but for the more knowledgable ones (in these blogs), he can't pull the wool over our eyes. When compared to other teams in our division, every other club spent and did more to improve for 2013 then the Twins. Unless Gardy can pull a rabbit out of his hat, we should be major players at the trade deadline to send Willingham, Morneau, and Carroll packing.

I didn't see any comments from you on this string saying to only go 2-years for Saunders unless I missed it. My comment was directed at those who said they'd only go two years but have ever bitched about the Twins not signing good free agent starting pitching this offseason. Not to name any names but, *cough* Seth Strohs *cough*.

Hillarious how people bitch and moan about not signing any good free agent pitchers and then this Saunders rumor comes back around and those same people are saying that they wouln't go 3-years for him. How many good free agents sign 2-year contracts (aside from Corriea, jk)? Also, for those that would sign him to a 2-year contract at a higher average annual salary, WHY? Why would you sign him to a 2-year $20 million contract when you could sign him to a 3-year $24 million contract. An annual salary of $8 million is more desirable to an acquiring team if he gets traded meaning better prospects plus you get an extra year of team control.

A draft pick, yes, but it would only be a # 42/43/44/45, somewhere in that range since their first pick is protected. Still, I doubt Lohse is the type of target the Twins would go after being his age and demands in years and dollars. People have become very impatient with the Twins this offseason but there's still a few decent FA SP's on the market. Consider if the Twins sign Marcum and Saunders, would this offseason be a bust? If you're a GM, would you sign your starting pitching depth or your rotation locks first? Common sense would say those depth SP's wouldn't sign unless they saw an opportunity in the rotation. If the Twins had signed Marcum and Saunders first, would Pelfrey and Correia signed? I say, probably not. I think a rotation of... Marcum Diamond Worley Saunders Pelfrey/Hendricks/Correia ...has some potential.

Wow, TR's taking a ton of flack in here. Did anyone realistically think the Twins could sign Greinke, Sanchez, Jackson, and Drew and make a run in 2013??? Face the facts, the Twins are a small market team, we're not the Dodgers making $200 million/year in TV money. To address all of our roster needs in one offseason we would have had top all other contract offers for the best FA's available which isn’t reasonable and to think otherwise is INSANE. So, instead of pretending to be competitors for the Greinke's, Sanchez's, etc. TR instead moved OF surplus for young high-ceiling starting pitchers that align perfectly with the rest of our top prospects. But this still doesn’t satisfy the “rebuild” crowd because the Twins still have obvious trade candidates Willingham and Morneau on the roster. This is where things get a little hazy because nobody but TR knows the offers for either of these two players but yet he’s getting slammed for not trading them. Realistically, Morneau’s value is about as low as it can be right now. He’s coming off 3 straight years of injuries and performed below his par last season. With a healthy offseason, April, May, and June Morneau could be the hottest commodity on the trade market. Willingham on the other hand is coming off of a career year and has the highest value of his career. Here again, we don’t know what offers are out there for Willingham. Are the Braves offering up Teheran? Are the Mariners offering Hultzen or Paxton? Are the Phillies offering Biddle? Are the Pirates offering Cole or Taillon? Probably not on all accounts but that could be due to the fact that the season hasn’t yet started and most teams are willing to give their in-house players first crack at earning the job outright. Come trade deadline, after most of those in-house platoons have failed, Willingham could be the best bat on the market, and will also come with another full year of cost-friendly team control. So, what is TR doing if he’s not making any more offseason moves? He’s positioning the Twins to have a shot at competing in 2013, rebuilding for 2014 and beyond, and developing young Twins’ players Plouffe, Mastrionni, Parmalee, Florimon, and Hendricks for this season and the future. And he’s doing all of this without completely sacrificing any of the other. There are those who are going to say that we could have signed a different free agent then Correia and still not completely sacrificed the present or the future but again, only TR knows which free agents he could have signed or which free agents are injured and the extent to those injuries. Free agency isn’t a silent auction and not all injury reports are published to the public. Finally, people need to quit jumping to TR lying about his offseason plans because he shouldn’t publicize his actual plan to anybody. It’s been known for over 2,000 years when Sun Tzu wrote “The Art of War” that deception is a strategy that should be used by all great leaders in order to win.

You may be right, the Phillies are still in search of a right-handed hitting, middle-of-the-order, LF with about $7-$8 million left to spend. They've been rumored to be in on Alfonso Soriano, Vernon Wells, and Cody Ross but Willingham's contract and performance should trump those 3. Biddle and Ruf would be 2 super-intriguing guys to add to our organization and align perfectly with our 2014-2015 prospects.

I like the idea but prefer more of a hybrid. What if we traded Willingham and Benson for Hultzen and a throw-in or two?