Minnesota Twins Talk

Does anyone know if the Twins winter caravan schedule has been announced? Do you know if they will be coming to Rapid City this year?

The Payroll is lining up to have lots of flexibility. C Mauer 23,000,000 1B Parmelee 500,000 Possibly Morneau resigns 2B Dozier 500,000 SS Florimon 500,000 3B Plouffe 500,000 LF Willingham 7,000,000 CF Hicks 500,000 RF Arcia 500,000 DH Doumit 3,750,000 SP Worley 500,000 SP Diamond 500,000 SP Gibson 500,000 SP Meyer 500,000 SP May/ Hendricks SP Correia 5,000,000 CL Perkins 3,000,000 Burton 3,650,000 Deunsing 1,500,000 Fien 500,000 Swarzak 500,000 Robertson 500,000 Roenecke …

Pelfrey, Correia and Jackson are all risks. I seen some people even talking Blanton. I think T. Ryan did just fine with his choices and terms.

If Joe Benson makes the 25 man over Hicks (assuming no other OF acquisitions), we'd be going into the season with an all white guy OF. When was the last time that happened?

Another one gone. Reported 1 year, $2.5 million w/incentives. I'm starting to wonder about TR. Twins couldn't top that? And why did they spend so much more on Correia? Phillies sign pitcher John Lannan to one-year deal according to reports | NJ.com

Morosi reported that the Pirates, Mariners, Twins, Blue Jays and Indians have checked in with the Dodgers on Capuano and Harang. My assumption is The Dodgers have to be asking for Perkins. Any thought of offering some scrubs would be pointless to get the trade completed with the Pirates rumored to be offering Hanrahan. The Dodgers lack a talented lefty in the pen which brings us back to Perkins. Would you do it? Is Perkins enough for both? Is Perkins too much for both? Do pieces have to be added to make a deal work? On wich side should the extra pieces come from? What say you all?

So what is going to happen between now and 2014 when the All Star game comes to Target Field? You would hope they would add some pieces to the puzzle this winter and a few more to be a competitive team in 2014. I hope they don't just rely on all the prospects that are supposed to be ready by 2014 to rebuild. Also, how long before we start hearing the Twins beg for season ticket holders and use the All Star game tickets as ransom?

John Lannan signs with the Phils for $2.5 million with another $2.5 million in incentives. Lannan is a much better pitcher than Correia. Is it close???? John Lannan to Philadelphia Phillies as potential starter, source says - ESPN We as fans cannot allow management to continue to scream poverty when it comes to signing big ticket FAs when they are signing glorified 5th starters like Correia to multi-year deals for insane money. Even if we were short on cash (which we are not), terrible contracts like Correia's, especially with a guy like Lannan out there, only make the situation worse.

You gotta love how Terry Ryan makes these great signings. 2 years for Kevin Correia is a joke to start and to top it off $5M per season is robbery. If he had to be signed it should have been a 1YR deal with a low base salary and incentives. Now you see the Phillies sign John Lannan a one-year contract worth $2.5MM with another $2.5M in bonuses. So if Kevin Correia was signed to be a #4 for the Twins who does that make the rest of the rotation? Hopefully my rotation below is what ends up happening but I highly doubt it. 1. Edwin Jackson - Try 3YR $40M or just a 1YR $13-15M 2. Scott Diamond 3. Vance Worley 4. Kevin Correia 5. Liam Hendricks

A little feature they do on MLB Network's "MLB Tonight" is they take a team and give the two guys (I don't know who they are) the "company credit card" and let them do some off season shopping. They looked at adding a pitcher, shortstop, second baseman and outfielder. The first guy was going to sign Jurrjens, trade for Freddy Galvis, keep Jamey Carroll and trade Morneau for Franklin Gutierrez. The second guy was going to sign Pelfrey, start Florimon, sign Freddy Sanchez and bring up Hicks. Then it got crazy... Second guy brought up how Griffey came to Seattle's spring training as a 19-year-old and "never looked back". He then suggested the Twins bring Buxton to…

Read an interesting yahoo sports article with comments from both Ryan and Correia: Kevin Correia, Twins finalize $10M, 2-year deal - Yahoo! Sports Some things that made me question whether TR (BTW, why do people call him JR??? I've seen this for years and always questioned why.) really agreed with signing Correia: After finalizing a $10 million, two-year contract with Kevin Correia on Thursday, general manager Terry Ryan acknowledged there's no guarantee the right-hander will strengthen the group. Ryan raised the concern of Correia's adjustment to hitters he hasn't faced much, or at all, plus the addition of the designated hitter to opponent lineups in his transitio…

As long as we're signing the likes of Scott Elarton and Michael O'Connor to minor league contracts why not extend an olive branch to Kevin Slowey? If he pitches well we look like geniuses. If he doesn't, we get the satisfaction of cutting him again.

Earlier Nick asked if you would go 2 years and $30 million on RHP Ryan Dempster, who apparently signed with the Boston Red Sox for 2 years and $26 million. It sounds as though the Cubs and RHP Anibal Sanchez are nearing a 5 year, $75 million deal. So, the similar question for the forum is: Would you have signed Anibal Sanchez for 5 years and 80 million? They theory, of course, is that the Twins would have had to overpay a little bit to have "won" the Sanchez derby. I would have liked the deal at 5 years and $75 million, so I would be good with 5 years and $80 million just because he is very good, and unlike most free agents, he is still young and so the five years on …

With Napolis contract hitting a snag with the Red Soxs,could the reason be Joe Mauer has waived his no trade clause, and the Red Soxs and Napoli are agreeing on compensation for breach of contract?After watching a perenial post season team becoming the worst team in the American Leaque for 2 years running and no hope for the future, did Joe decide playing in Minnesota friendly just wasnt enough to be ladden with a team going now where fast? If so what could we expect in return for Mr. Mauer?

I do not understand why we, as Twins fans, allow the organization to get away with representing poverty when it is anything but! More on that here: Explaining the Twins? Fabricated Fiscal Cliff | Border Rivals. But, the long and short of it is that in the last three years, the Twins have had an operating income (read profit) of $70 million. In the last six years, that number doubles to $140 million. So, instead of signing some of the higher priced free agents (Haren, Sanchez, Marcum, etc.), we get stuck with Kevin "Freakin'" Correia!?!? As was recently pointed out in a great post on this site about how sad that signing was, the guy is barely a 5th starter. I refuse to …

Regardless of how people feel about Correia as a pitcher his contract is disturbing in its own way. When I heard that they had signed him to a 2 year/$10 million contract I assumed it was either split evenly accross the years or possibly even weighted towards 2013 because they are so far under payroll. I saw the published details today and it is actually neither of those: 2013: $4.5 Million 2014: $5.5 Million Obviously $500,000 more in payroll in 2014 is not that big of a deal and this is not that big of a shift but in my mind it reflects a cheapness on the part of the Twins front office that should not be there this year. We are probablly going to have a problem s…

Has there been any indication of Twins' interest in this pitcher? Or for that matter, any other teams' interest? I would think he would be in demand, given his age, velocity, performance so far, but never see his name mentioned. Am I missing some negatives about him?

Due to a lack of Kevin Correia discussion on this site lately... Here is a list of Twins free agent starting pitcher acquisitions, by season. This list only includes "true" major league free agents (so no Carl Pavano or other re-signees) who were signed with the expectation of being regular starters at the time (so no Terry Mulholland). All attributed to Terry Ryan unless otherwise noted. 2013 - Kevin Correia 2012 - Jason Marquis 2011 - none (Bill Smith) 2010 - none (Bill Smith) 2009 - none (Bill Smith) 2008 - Livan Hernandez (Bill Smith) 2007 - Ramon Ortiz, Sidney Ponson 2006 - none 2005 - none 2004 - none 2003 - Kenny Rogers 2002 - none 2001 - none 2000 - Sean Be…

LEN 3 has a column on Twins pitching prospects. Twins' search for free-agent pitching isn't over yet | StarTribune.com He acknowledges that the Twins have "shown interest" in John Lannan, Joe Saunders and Brett Meyers then proceeds to name the potential starting pitchers in the system. He concludes with the following quote from Terry Ryan: "We've got numbers." Ryan said. "It's just a matter of who is going to emerge. Some guys will be injured. Some will fall by the wayside. Some won't be ready. But we have to have numbers." He did say prior to that quote that Ryan was waiting for the free agent market to heat up (which Ryan thinks will happen soon) but count me a…

Sounds like he'll sign with Boston for around 2/26, and according to Doogie the Twins didn't make an offer. Who knows if kicking in a few extra mil would've been enough to entice Dempster, but would you have made a 2/30 bid if you were Terry Ryan? Keep in mind that Morneau's expected departure takes $14M off the books for next year.

So, it's been a pretty much universally panned move by JR. I don't think we need to start another thread doing so. So I decided to take another angle. What will it take out of Correia for Twins fans to be satisfied with his performance (whether you think he can reach it or not)? I'm hoping we see something around 160+ innings, with a 4.00 - 5.00 era. more importantly I'd like to see him keep his walks in the low 40's for the season total. If he can get this team through 6 innings still in the game I think this will be a good signing. It's obviously nothing spectacular but it should be enough to help the abysmal rotation improve.

According to MLBTR, he is open to resigning with the Brewers. However, he has been linked to teams including the Twins, Royals, Cubs, and Padres within the last few weeks. With their recent trade for Shields and Davis, I don't see the Royals as a contender for Marcum anymore. I see the Twins, Brewers, and Cubs as his most possible destinations, because all of them need a pitcher of his caliber, and I don't see him bolting the Midwest to play for the Padres unless they make him an offer that he can't refuse.

I read that the Dodgers are looking to trade/give away Nicky Punto. I want to say his contract is $1.5M. How about 2B or backup at 3RD?

I know the Twins bullpen is not a major weakness at this point, when it comes to depth at least, but what about taking a shot with Brian Wilson on a low base, high incentives contract? This could be a great buy low, sell high opportunity. I feel that the Minnesota fans would also love his antics and he could possibly sell some tickets. This is all dependent on him being realistic and realizing he is not going to make top closer money though, which is why it probably isn't a possibility. The Twins don't have a ton of money sitting around to throw at a closer, but this move could realistically maximize the value of other pitchers in the bullpen by moving them back an …

Could Angel outfielder Peter Bourjos be available with the Hamilton signing?

Punto could be coming back!!!

What are the chances that the Twins would add Marcum and Villanueva to the starting rotation? Both would be top three starters right out of the date and both seem to be available.

What do you think of the notion of incentive-laden contracts . . . for pretty much everybody? For instance, if I were a part of the uber-wealthy aristocratic class of owners, I would employ a particular approach for FA signings, and I don't really think I would like to budge from it. Consider a free agent whose average value is X. There are teams who are going to pay more than that and teams who would try to pay less. I would take that average as a baseline and include incentives over the likely amount of the top payers. Does this really seem like a bad idea? Take Edwin Jackson. Let's say the average is 3/39. Add in 9 million in incentives over those three years and…

According to ESPN's MLB Transaction page, P Scott Elarton has signed a minor league contract.

Anybody got a running list of who we can expect to show up at Ft Meyers?