Dman

Yeah this is not a jump for joy trade but I also don;t think it really hurts us to unload Morneau either. Maybe Ryan can make something better out of this down line maybe not. At least he did something instead of nothing. I would have liked younger prospects with better upside as well but if that wasn't on the table let's see what we've got and go from there.

So this trade was more about Morneau playing for a contender than the Twins getting much in return. I t sounds like the Twins were pushing for a higher level prospect but apparently Pittsburgh didn't bend. Can't blame them though as Morneau has strong ties to MN and will likely be back for the right price. Tough to give up a ton for one month. Pirates got a good deal. Justin will help them.

According to MLB the PTBNL is Duke Welker Does anybody know who that is?

Given the state of the Twins they were likely going to need to sit Morneau the rest of the year to give the young guys a look anyway. So trading him to the Pirates works well for both teams. At least we get something for him. If we really feel we need him back with the club then we still have a chance to sign him next year. If we get outbid for his services next year then we will have gotten nothing for hanging onto him. This is nothing but positive for everyone no matter how you try and spin this. Even if the player(s) are crappy it is still a good deal for the twins as they get more at bats to see what the young kids have.

Clearly the Orioles thought if they could get Willingham for a decent price he could help them down the stretch and if he had a better year next year flip him for a decent return. Did TR just not like anything they had to offer? or was he afraid if he didn't get a good enough return the Orioles might make him look bad next year by getting something better than he managed to in trade. I am guessing it is easier on the ego to only trade players in the last year of there contract if you do not need to dump payroll as another GM could show you up IMHO. He had to make sure he was getting a return that they could not get if Willingham had a good year next year.

A number 3 prospect for Willingham does seem high to me but then again I am no baseball genius. He is old and although probably solid the next three to four years he is what he is. The Orioles could flip Willingham next year and if he does well get a nice a return as well but I think they were right the price was too high IMO.

For Willingham the price should be high. He is under contract for one more year and the Orioles can flip him for prospects next year as well. Terry is doing the right thing here. Willingham will likely have more value next year so no hurry to make a deal today.

I didn't see the slide but if the catcher was blocking the plate then I don't understand the need to retaliate. Yeah the guy got hurt and that is unfortunate but it is a part of baseball. Even if they decided to retaliate with a pitch that ultimately missed Dougie should have been prepared to hear something from the other dugout. I really don't see how he can be defended in any way shape or form for going after the other manager. This had nothing to do with protecting his players and much more to do with Dougie's injured pride IMHO He should be better than that. I don't see how this promotes anything good except reinforcing kindergarten type behavior.

You schooled me there. Not thinking correctly about it. Too in love with the guys we have I guess. I retract my not well though out post.

I am actually being fairly serious. I realize that they can fit anyone in but if they are a lessor talent than what you have already why potentially block someone else. I am just saying I think they need someone pretty good to make it worthwhile.

Yeah Pittsburgh likes our guys because they fix them and make them All Stars. You would think they could give us something back for Morneau.

I would think they would need a pretty good prospect to trade Morneau because they are so stacked in low A and High A where would they find a place to put a marginal prospect. Also we have guys in short season ball that need to move up next year as well. They need something good or it is pointless to trade anyway.

There is a long way to go but I think Stephen has it right. He should never have dropped to the 4th round given his potential. Giving teams that passed on him the first three rounds something to think about (insert middle finger here) with his play thus far, Priceless. Confidence is a good thing. Over confidence is bad because you don't adapt and change. I think this is just confidence talking so far and I am happy he has it.

I really think Mejia is going to be a good one. I was hoping they would move Santana to AAA and move Mejia to AA. I guess his lack of walks and or plate discipline is going to cost him. I know he is in a bit of slump but the guys can sure hit. He seems to find a way to have multi-hit games thus his high batting average. I think he is a good guy to keep an eye on.

He has been tested by adversity and has found success. I hope it holds up to challenge of MLB as that step is a pretty steep challenge. I wish him the best of luck as he has more than earned the opportunity. If he makes it I think he would be a great leader in the clubhouse as well.

Although I like the idea I don't see it happening. Mainly because as an organization you don't want to bring players up early to learn in the big leagues. You want those players as close to ready for MLB as possible because you only control them for X number of years and you want to maximize your return on investment before you have to outbid the Yankee's for Sano and Buxton. If the Twins didn't have to worry about that then the scenario above would make even more sense for the Twins because it lowers payroll. My guess is you won't see those guys until the Twins think they are ready.

Add me to the list of people who like what the Cubs have done this year. They bought guys in FA and got rid of them for prospects. They hit International FA really hard this year taking a lot of top players. They played fairly well early in the year to keep their fans interested and can now safely tank for high draft picks in a deep draft. It just doesn't get any better than that if you are in rebuilding mode. The Twins so far no FA's traded. 1 top 10 international FA. played well and awful for various stretches and with an easy schedule on the horizon will likely start winning enough games to keep them out of the top 10 for draft picks. It just doesn't get much worse than that.

I think we are getting really close to fielding a pretty good team. Would like one last crack at a top five spot in the draft before we never see the bottom again for hopefully the next 10 years or so.

If Pelfrey continues to pitch this well he would be a fool not to become a FA and see what the market is. If he does indeed like Minnesota then maybe he would give the Twins the opportunity to match his best offer in FA. The guy looks like a solid 4 or 5 starter to me right now. I guess the other question for the Twins might be if they want to clear roster space and go with the younger arms on the farm. Then maybe they are not interested in Pelfrey at all.

Very nice article as this topic seem to come up in a lot of posts. I have to say I am disappointed by how few good pitchers there actually were in FA. Many of which we didn't really have a shot at getting. Although I understand most of the mediocre pitchers are as good or better than what we have, I think what we need in a FA pitcher is that ace or near ace potential pitcher otherwise why not try to fill from within and hope our own guys get better. I have been hard on TR about getting us a good and or very good FA pitcher as it seems we have the money to do that but finding the right guy can be troublesome. Ahhh, If only we could develop our own ace.

Technically it seems to me the fans are the real owners of the team because without them there is no business model to support baseball. Yes the Pohlads own the team and are welcome to take a profit but when does that profit become excessive and alienate the fans. I don't know why we have to apologize for wanting the FO to spend close to break even to try and field a good team. It is not like we are asking them to lose money just to try and do what they can to field a better team. If they are just pocketing the money then I can see why some fans could see that as not trying very hard. Most of the best teams use all their available resources to field the best team possible. That is all some people are questioning. Why don't we use all the resources we have available?

Yes I am contradicting myself as I have the benefit of hindsight but going in to FA you do not. Last year he appears to be proven correct but what if half of the pitchers last year turned out to be great and he missed out on them? We have hindsight to see that wasn't the case but several people last year thought other pitchers may have been good investments. In fact it is too early to tell as some of them might turn things around later but by and large it appears he was correct this year. It isn't that spending money is exciting but it does give us a chance to be better while not spending or participating means you absolutely cannot get better. I am taking license with my opinion of TR in regards to the no faith and thinks and acts comments but since he has yet to sign a big time FA to a large contract (i.e. Over 10 Million per year for 4 years or more) I think it is a fair assessment for now. I would love to eat crow on that statement but we will see. Your comments are valid and I appreciate your insight but I stand by my earlier post.

I largely agree that Ryan looked pretty good not going after a lot of the FA pitchers available this past year. With the exception of Grienke and Sanchez who I had as question marks injury wise he probably did better by not taking the big risk in FA. You could make a strong argument that TR did pretty well last year by not spending the money. Hindsight makes that much easier to see. The thing about high risk, high reward is that you likely have a greater chance to fail more than to succeed, but that doesn't stop us from wanting to see home runs. In fact most everyone I know loves to see home runs and are willing to put up with strike outs to see them. For every home run there are likely three times as many strike outs. By staying pat in FA you save yourself from striking out but you also ensure no home runs. The frustrating thing about TR is he has a long history of coming to plate in FA and never swinging for the fences. Granted back in the day he didn't have the payroll flexibility but he has it now. Will he ever try and buy us an ace or even a number 2 pitcher? I don' t think most us trust that he will. He just doesn't seem to have it in his DNA to do it. That is what we all are questioning and the main question is that if we have the money to take a chance why not do it? 3 out of four times we will likely strike out but we will also hit home run at some point as well and maybe that is the one that helps us win a world series. First we have to take a chance or two though. I like TR and really think he is right person to rebuild the Twins. I as well as most fans have a ton of respect for TR. The only quibble I have with TR is FA. As has been said on this board before if he doesn't spend in FA in the next year or two then we might have problems down the road when we need to sign the young guys who have turned into stars. So if he doesn't use the funds soon it will be we need to save money to sign our own guys. He needs to make a move sooner not later.

The other side of that argument is that not doing anything is opportunity lost as well. What if your free agent signing sets this team up for the next five years as a contender. it depends on if you want to focus on the positive or the negative in this regard. The way Ryan is building this team now through the draft and not spending money means he has money to spend to try and hit the lotto in FA. If he guesses wrong in FA no big deal because he can still build through the draft etc. on the cheap. That is the issue that people are starting to bring up. yes spending money just to spend it is dumb and buying pitching is risky but I don't know how you can explain to me that doing absolutely nothing is a better plan. That is the question. Doing something versus doing nothing. If the Twins were cash strapped etc then we would all be waiting for contracts to expire etc but that is not the case there is money to spend and he needs to use those resources to take a chance. Even if it fails in the worst possible way at least we go down swinging instead of not even swinging the bat and getting called out on strikes.

I don't know what BJB's number is but mine would be 40 Million. That would be my cmon take a chance number. We don't need position players as we have several on the way up. At some point you have to roll the dice on pitching for this team. The money is there and the Pohlad's are willing to spend to break even at the very least so let's go. Even if the worst you can image happens on one 15 to 20 Million per year 5 year contract there is still room to take another swing next year since you are filling so much of the roster with players that won't be paid all that much for the next four to 5 years. So yes we are reaching the point where he just has to make a move or he needs to come clean with the fans or something because it is going to get embarrassing soon here.