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Leeeewwwwwwww!

I was rooting against the Lee trade at the time. I didn't like the idea of getting rid of longer-term assets for a one-and-done guy. I get the World Series or Bust angle, but I don't subscribe to it. What makes baseball superior to all the other sports for me is that there are sooooooooo many games that every team, every year will give you good ones. A good season has value to me whether or not it ends the way I'd prefer. On the other hand, tradingtomorrow for today can easily turn into next-season-we're-bound-to-lose-so-you-may-as-well-stop-watching-and-miss-the-good-stuff-because-you'll-need-to-sort-through-so-much-garbage-to-find-it. Okay, so before that tangent, I was going to note another factor to take into consideration. If the Twins traded for Cliff Lee, they likely wouldn't have traded for Matt Capps. For me, that is a strong point in favor of trading for Lee.

It's like the end of Lost when you find out it actually was what you thought it was all along. Disappointing! Fun read, though

I still love Hunter and AJ. I only hate Knoblauch because he blew me off when I saw him at valleyfair as a kid- and then became a Yankee. I was glad they made the offer to Torii that they did. I thought it was fair. When he signed with Anaheim, I was equally glad they did not make that offer to him. If he had a career year every year of the deal, Anaheim wasn't going to get a good deal at that price. Happy for him! Happy for Denard! Well, at the time, I had really low expectations for Denard and was first hoping Jason Tyner would be a stopgap solution at center. I can recall thinking, "They have to choose either Hunter or Santana, because they can't keep both, but they can't succeed with neither." Those two became very, very rich men. Jason Tyner did not.

I had never known why Mack went to Japan when he did. He was still so good and no one else seemed to consider it until they couldn't find a job in MLB. I had wondered about that for years. I wasn't reading the sports page yet in 1994. Just yesterday, it was on my mind and I dug up the history and finally got my answer. If I'd waited one more day, you did the work for me! We were on some parallel something yesterday, man.

Absolutely. There are roles within a bullpen that can be managed very closely. You have control. He certainly wouldn't fit as a go-to BP guy (like a Perkins, Burton workhorse.) But, he can be valuable and remain protected if used for 2 innings here and there on a regular basis. You can plan to have him as 2nd in line on days a shorter-inning starter throws. For example, If Deduno makes the squad. Kyle loosens up after inning 4 (or 5 if you prefer) regardless of the game scenario. If Deduno (or other chosen guy) flames out early, long relief guy enters the game to bridge to Kyle. If Deduno pitches a gem, Kyle throws a BP session that is tailored to his recovery/strengthening program. You can afford to carry one reliever in a very protected role like that if there is reason to. In my opinion, that experience would be very valuable and help position him to contribute in the rotation later with some momentum already established. All the while, his innings will have been limited early in the season rather than late in the season.

This is completely untrue. The Twins were not willing to pay Santana. It was widely reported that the Twins offered Santana 5 years, $93 million. That was a HUGE number for the Twins to offer at the time. He countered at $126 million which seemed to indicate that he had no interest in being part of the Metrodome era, small-market Twins team anymore. Had the Twins signed him at $126, Mauer would've likely been gone after his MVP season while heading into a new ballpark. Santana's 2010 was excellent as usual and would've been nice to have, but then he got hurt in Sept. His surgery would've been the same albatross around the neck of the 2011 season that Mauer's bad health was. It is very high risk to sign pitchers to big deals. More often than not, high-end deals blow up in your face. The results are especially bad with pitchers (and Alex Rodriguez.) Ryan has managed to pull value out of low-moderate risk guys at most positions, but I can't think of many successful SPs he's acquired from outside the organization. Kenny Rogers comes to mind.

If he pitches well in ST and they want to limit innings and ease him in slowly, I'd prefer to see him used sparingly in relief with the Twins rather than starting in Rochester. That way, he starts to experience MLB competition before joining the rotation and fires fewer of his bullets against AAA players. I know it affects contract status eventually, but they need to play every angle they can to establish a real, major-league rotation now.

He's not very far removed from 2010. How would you like to insert this stat line into next year's rotation for little cost? 191.2 IP, 201 K, 14 W, 3.62 ERA He has the same (or better) stuff today as he did in 2010. Sadly, he has the same head as he did in 2011 and 2012. I don't think anyone is still basing any hopes on 2006, but he's still had stretches of dominance (every season) that tease and tease and tease.

Oh Francisco, how I wanted you to be our go-to pitcher! Oh Francisco, how deep the gash you left with your repeated failures! Any success the Twins have in '13 will have to include some bargain-midlevel free agent pick-ups outperforming a contract (ala Willingham '12.) Liriano at a low cost seems a good bet, but you can only flip a coin a have it land tails so many times before you pick a new coin. Therefore... ...Ervin Santana! Yeah, I'm dreaming. He won't be as cheap as Liriano, but a guy can hope against hope every once in a while.

"Twins Will Seek Affordable Pitchers" I think Pavano will meet the first criteria, affordability, but will likely fail to meet the secondary criteria, being a pitcher. For all of 2012, he was unable to throw a baseball with enough velocity to be a MLB pitcher. It seems unlikely he'll get younger in 2013. Will he be healthier? Can't say for sure, but his value is as a potential "innings eater." He has 14 seasons under his belt as an MLB pitcher, and has pitched at least 140 innings in 5 of those seasons. Not great odds. My conclusion- we were lucky to get 2.5 decent seasons out him. He deserves recognition for an effective and gutty run with the Twins after a streak of injuries that would've forced most men into early retirement. Let's save what remains of his arm for throwing batting practice on a coaching staff.

Love the misguided LeBron comments!

I too have let myself think Shane Mack as a Benson comparison. However, Benson really hasn't shown at any stop yet that he can be a .300 hitter. Maybe Matt Lawton is a more legitimate best-case-scenario comparison. Bobby Kielty?

I loved reading this article. Keep writing! I'd hire you for my paper if I were a thriving newspaper mogul, but I'm not and they don't exist... So. Keep writing!

Because I have no interest in watching him help the Yankees succeed and I've no interest in spending the night with him. He's a key cog in the worst machine baseball ever allowed.

What evidence is there that this is the case? The Twins signed Willlingham at a reasonable price, Doumit too. Maybe Carroll. I hope you are right about Willingham, but it is a little early to know that he will continue to be productive for two more years. Look at his drop the over the final two months with an OPS in the 750s. Look at his defense. There is no guarantee that we will look back at this contract two years from now and say that it was a reasonable deal As for Carroll, how many other starting shortstop offers do you think came his way? Most teams believe Doumit has little defensive ability some needed to find a DH job. How many offers do you think he was juggling? If it is your argument that the Twins can sign players that few other teams want to reasonable contracts, we agree. Jorgenswest, you seemed to infer that the estimated contract projections from last year were pretty accurate, but that there should be a higher number assumed if the Twins sign any given player. John's reply gave examples of the Twin's paying less than or equal-to-market value on the players they did sign. That seems to counter your point pretty fairly. Your next reply doesn't address the issue at all. The central issue is what the player is projected to sign for AT THE TIME OF SIGNING, not whether the player will over or under-perform the contract. Project what players will be available and at what cost. It would be pretty silly to try and project what players would need to be paid over market to come here. Just as silly as trying to project who would accept less than market.

What a great ride the orioles are on! Thome, Hardy and Ford(?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!) are giving me reason to start watching baseball again.

With the way players' performance varies, it's foolhearty to build primarily with a view toward a future that might not arrive. You HAVE to try and compete EVERY year! To me, that means field the best team you possibly can build in 2013 without giving away much in the way of prospects. That ties your hands some. Too bad. It's not choosing 2013 or 2015, it's giving both proper weight in the decision, and next year always weighs more because it is much more of a known commodity.

I've never seen anyone score from second on a walk.

Um... "glerb."

Plouffe must've read this article before tonight's game. Rebound, indeed!

I'll be upset if he doesn't get a Sept call-up, but he's just gaining steam post-injury. For most of the time since the pitching staff v 1.0 fell apart, calling him up hasn't even been an option. However, it's my hope they are willing to rethink their projected, predetermined conclusion. I'll call it "The Deduno Factor." Try-out some guys who shouldn't succeed. Maybe some will play over their heads. Worked with Parmelee last year. Anyone else recall Neshek getting called up despite similar nay-saying within the organization? I seem to remember a real lack of team confidence in his brand of deception-based success. When given a shot, he dominated.

You can't fault a guy for aging. The amount of torque and strain on a pitcher's arm, elbow and shoulder is ridiculous. Add in the scar tissue from injuries in years past. It was more surprising to me that he made it back for a strong post-Yankees run than it is if his arm is past it's mlb shelflife. I would not have extended him, but then I don't know him. He seems like a good guy. Maybe I would've bought into the "stabilizing veteran presence" rationale if I were in Bill Smith's shoes.

It is an awfully fun formula to watch. Seems more likely to be a long-term bullpen option, but I like him.

Wrong. He becomes more valuable when a team realizes they are in it at the deadline and injury or an unproductive season from a single regular outfielder has them convinced that Willinghammer pushes them over the edge. 30+ year olds are at their lowest value in the offseason because they have to be compared with the whole free agent market and a team's own entire cast of milb hopefuls. If they were going to trade him, it should've been this last deadline. Now, if you want to maximize his value, you are probably best to just let him keep outperforming his contract.