Fooled Again!
By Fanatic Jack
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I had a bad feeling going into this off-season the Twins would just shuffle their deck of cards and not really make any legitimate moves to strengthen their biggest weakness starting pitching. I was ambivalent after Denard Span was traded and did not know what to think. Trading a solid leadoff hitter, with a team friendly contract, for a talented but unproven prospect like Alex Meyer seemed very risky to me. I knew it was the right move but would of felt more comfortable getting a major league ready player in return. When the Twins traded Ben Revere on the last day of the winter meetings for Vance Worley and Trevor May it was bittersweet. I use the term bittersweet because Revere was my favorite player on the team, but the overall trade looked like another magnificent fleecing we have seen in past years by the genius Terry Ryan.
The off-season looked very promising as the Twins made two very good trades. It was time to turn our attention to the free agent market to shore up the rest of the rotation. Now for whatever reason GM Ryan has struggled with signing quality free agent starting pitchers in the past. Washed up veterans like Tewksbury, Ortiz, Ponson, Hernandez, and Marquis have created bigger problems than helped. Not sure if it's hesitation to spend big money on a free agent or the ownership reminding him about payroll. Either way this year sure appeared to be different than others. The front office said all the right things to convince fans and of course we believed them like always. Diehard fanatics want something to believe in so badly they will ignore the warning signs even if it's staring them directly in the face. Earlier this week the Twins signed pitcher Kevin Correia to a 2-year, $10 million deal. Ryan said Correia is projected to be their #4 starter this year. Not sure what is scarier, Correia being a #4 starter or the Twins having someone worse than him to be the #5 pitcher in the rotation. This might end up being the worst free agent signing in team history.
I think realization is starting to set in for most fans we have been fooled again! The Twins did not make any contract offers to Ryan Dempster or Brandon McCarthy before signing and they have not even nibbled at Edwin Jackson or Shawn Marcum either. The only pitchers Twins have been linked to lately are Blanton, Saunders, Myers, and Brandon Webb. Yes the same Webb who has not thrown a pitch since 2009. It's quite obvious to me Ryan will sign one more cheap free agent pitcher and call it a winter. I have said it before fans are like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football and the front office is like Lucy pulling it away at the last moment.
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