John Bonnes

Aaron and John discuss the Minnesota Twins spring invitees, the rest of the available free agents, Aaron's reason for going to New Zealand, Hammerheart's smokey experiments, John's brilliant baseball tournament, what happened to a bunch of ex-Twins, Aaron's bucket list and one million reasons to love you crazy listeners. You can listen by clicking below, or download us from: [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com.

Aaron and John take the podcast to Town Hall Lanes and talk about Eddie Rosario's "drug of abuse" suspension, Oswaldo Arcia's Winter League drama, turning 31 years old and putting yourself out there, persistent Matt Garza rumors,Twitter rankings, a crowded pitching roster, paying money to podcast, buying low, our bowling skills, Chris Kluwe and picking fights, Philadelphia for Christmas, and being out of options. You can listen by clicking below, download us from: iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

Following their third straight year of having their season torpedoed by a dismal starting rotation, the Minnesota Twins went on a free agent spending spree like Twins fans had never seen before. Within a month, they committed $86M to four players, including handing out their two largest contracts in team history. Those increases were not just a result of the inflated price of free agents. The top contract, a 4-year, $49M commitment to Ricky Nolasco, more than doubled the biggest contract the Twins had previously paid to a free agent, which was signed by Josh Willingham for 3-years and $21 million. Within a week, they topped that contract again, enticing Phil Hughes to ink a 3-year deal for $24 million. But this isn’t just about the amount of money. This also ran contrary to the Twins historical attitude towards signing free agent starting pitchers. Their biggest FA pitcher contract before this year was their much maligned 2-year, $10M deal with Kevin Correia. Other than that, they’ve never paid more than $5M – and that was to Livan Hernandez in 2007. So the deals with Nolasco, Hughes and a subsequent 2-year, $11M deal with Mike Pelfrey represent the three biggest contracts they’ve ever given to starting pitchers – and they all happened within a month. During the press conference in which they signed Nolasco, Terry Ryan was asked by Wally Langfellow of Minnesota Score magazine whether or not this reflected a change in philosophy for the Twins. “No, This isn’t a change in philosophy. We’ve always said, if we need to do something... Now we have the resources to do it. There’s no doubt, if we were still in the Metrodome, this probably wouldn’t happen. But we’re in Target Field. We’ve got more revenue and resources, certainly. This is a nice opportunity. We need pitching. We went out and got it. As people recall, we tried to retain [Johan] Santana or retain Torii Hunter. To some extent, we just didn’t have the wherewithal. We would not hesitate to jump into free agency. I don’t think it’s the greatest path, because it is risky. We all know that. Free agency is not the answer. It’s a help and a supplement to a roster. But if you’re relying on free agency year-in and year-out, it’s not gonna work. Now we’re in a situation where we need help. We need immediate help. And this is the reason Ricky is sitting here. But I don’t see this as a big change.” I don’t know if it’s a change in philosophy, but something sure changed. Hopefully, 2014 will show it is a change for the better.

It’s possible that Minnesota Twins fans, and Twins Daily fans in particular, got a little too worked up about Drew Butera’s Twins career. I’ll grant you that. Nevertheless, it was big news when the Twins lone “trade deadline” move was trading Butera to the Dodgers. The immediate announcement was for a “player to be named later” who ended up being Miguel Subran, an A-ball pitching prospect.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Certainly Butera hadn’t impacted the Twins much in 2013 – he had only three at-bats. (By the way, he had a similar impact with the Dodgers, totaling only seven at-bats with them.) And his usage in his three-and-a-half years with the major league club was relatively sparse. He totaled just 541 AB in his tenure. But it sure seemed more significant than that for anyone who lived through the 2011 season. That was the year Joe Mauer, with his career .323 batting average, was laid up for long spans with bi-lateral leg weakness. Butera ended up with the lion’s share of Mauer’s at-bats, posting a .167 batting average, even as the organization raved about his defense. It’s possible Butera's fans overrated that aspect of his game, while it’s also possible that Butera's critics underrated it, preferring to concentrate on his .181 career batting average. But both camps were encouraged by the return the Twins got from the Dodgers in the trade. The 19-year-old Sulbaran finished the year with a 2.96 ERA in Low A and 101K in 120 IP. He’s not a top prospect, but he’s the type to keep an eye on, as we wait to see if he can continue to develop as he matures. However, the excitement about this trade was mostly driven by the perception that the Twins were turning the page on an unhealthy infatuation with a player with limited upside. In a year with a quiet trade deadline, the organization seemed to recognize the right way to go and took a small step in that direction. Regardless of the return, that ended up being a big story in Twins Territory.

Aaron and John meet for happy hour at Summit and midst tasting beers review the wisdom behind giving Mike Pelfrey a two-year deal, the impact of trading Ryan Doumit to the Braves and whether Kurt Suzuki will cost Josmil Pinto a roster spot. In between, they taste a Nate Dog, try a firkin, wonder about Danny Valencia's legacy, battle over double-dipping, forecast a move to Uptown and wish Byron Buxton a happy birthday. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]You can listen by clicking below, download us fromiTunes or Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com.