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?

Agreed. I watched some Arcia AB's on youtube and he's fun to watch at the dish. He reminds me a little bit of Morneau in that he's aggressive but has a good eye (excluding 2012) and he crushes every pitch. Arcia's definitely on the fast track and I wouldn't be surprised at all if he's our 2014 starting RF.

How was Plouffe a former SS? This season will determine if he's a viable 3B or if he needs to be moved to a corner OF position. The other possibility is to start experimenting with Mauer at the hot corner. I wouldn't put it past Mauer to play a solid 3B which would actually be the best situation for the Twins when he eventually has to move out from behind the plate.

Agreed, and it's articles like this that unnecessarily spurn negativity. The writer failed to mention that TR was quoted to still be looking to add starting pitching and the writer also tried to compare the current rotation to last year’s opening day rotation as if currently we're worse off. Oh wait, he listed Scott Baker but Bake was destined for Tommy John surgery before opening day. This article could have more easily been written looking at things glass half-full and would have been closer to the truth. TR will sign another starting pitcher, he's already added 3 new starting pitchers to the current rotation, and he's added 2 top of the rotation prospects without trading away the middle of our lineup. I'd say the state of the pitching rotation looks pretty darn good considering it's only December 19th.

I don't think adding Worley, Correia, and Pelfrey necessarily say TR is punting 2013 and according to reports he's still looking to add. I think TR feels we have a pretty solid lineup that if we could add depth to the rotation that we'll have a chance to compete and I agree. If TR signs another SP like Marcum, Lohse, Jackson, or Saunders the Twins will have a solid enough rotation to win a lot more games in 2013 and possibly compete.

Is Morneau's salary an albatross? He's only 33, in great shape, and still plays a formidable 1B. If his concussion issues are a thing of the past what's not to say he still doesn't have a few great years left? Pretty much everyone on this board is predicting Morneau to have a bounce back season which would warrant a qualifying offer next offseason. Look at David Ortiz, at age 37, he's still making $14 million per season. So, the acquiring team gets a former MVP, middle of the order bat, in a contract year, to which they could potentially recieve a 1st round draft choice if they can't re-sign him next offseason. I think Morneau alone should net at least Cody Buckel but now throw in Willingham and the Rangers might also include Olt but probably more realistically Perez. Would we consider Perez and Buckel for Willingham and Morneau? What if they tossed in Justin Grimm?

The only way I see this trade happening is if Texas includes Perez and/or Buckel because TR isn't going to punt 2013 for just 1 prospect. Trading Span and Revere was different because we had obvious depth in CF and Philly really stepped up their offer. The same goes for Texas, they'll need to step up their offer if they want to woo TR enough to punt 2013. Another problem is that Texas' greatest needs are in CF and a top of the rotation SP, neither of which this trade would address.

The Twins best trade bait right now is Glenn Perkins, Josh Willingham, and Justin Morneau and trading any of those 3 would be punting 2013 which is why a trade with the Blue Jays wouldn't fit. Toronto's not going to trade any of the top-4 you listed because they're trying to win now and none of the rest align with our 2014-2015 prospects. IF the Twins trade Perkins, Willingham, and/or Morneau I'd hope they'd continue to acquire pitchers in the mold of Meyer and May. For example, the Mariners, Braves, and Rangers all have top pitching prospects that fit into our 2014-2015 group that we should acquire.

I totally agree with all of this, there is huge demand for SS in MLB, the DBacks just traded one of the best pitching prospects in baseball for a soft-hitting SS Didi Gregorious. If TR can't give money away to SPs then try giving it away to improve our SS. Drew was injured last season and as soon as he proved otherwise he was traded to Oakland and thrust into everyday SS duties for their playoff run which could explain his sub-par batting stats. This actually works in the Twins favor because question marks = less years, less money, and less competition. Plus, if the Twins sign a guy like Drew other FA's take notice, maybe that's enough for Marcum to choose us.

I'm not going to totally rip this deal because in my estimation the Twins needed 1 back of the rotation SP to fill the gap until Gibson was ready. I may have preferred Brett Myers because we could have moved him back to the bullpen but then we'd be paying a reliever around $7mil/year for 2-3 years. If you look at the short-term, low money SP options you have names like Liriano, Jurrjens, Bedard, Braden, Garcia, Harden, Pavano, Pinero, etc. The other option would have been just using Deduno or DeVries as the #5. So, considering those options I'd actally trust in TR's scouting in finding the best of available option which in this case is Correia. Now, let's see where we go from here, we still need a top (near top) of the rotation SP and a middle infielder and the two I'd prefer are Marcum and Drew. If TR can't lure in any of these caliber players then we may as well trade Willingham and Morneau. I'm interested to see what happens with Seattle. They've been attached to every free agent hitter but so far have struck out. If Seattle misses out on Hamilton and Swisher how much do you think they'd offer for Willingham, Carroll, and Morneau?

I might be more bullish on Mastroianni than most but I was actually looking forward to seeing Darin play everyday. Worst case scenario he regresses and Hicks gets the call after June 1, thus saving a year of team control. Best case scenario, the emergence of Mastroianni makes Willingham and Doumit that much more expendable and also enhances his own trade value. I just don't see the rush in promoting Hicks. We've got a superb core of 2014 players that could all hit the majors at exactly the same time. In the mean time, sign Drew, Marcum, and Brett Myers and we should be set.