Minnesota Twins Talk

on the 11th hour, of the 11the day in the 11th month , we take time to remember our fallen comrades and to take time to say thank you for those who served ,to those who protected and are protecting our way of life , so let me say thank you to those who served and may god bless america especially the troops who served and servived and those who gave there lives in our defense god bless you and amen

According to mlbtraderumors the Braves are going to be looking heavily at a CF to replace Bourn and Span is at the top of the list. I'm not going to mention all the arms the Braves have since we have gone over them time and time again in the Willingham thread, but wonder if we can get a better package for Span then Willingham, I am guessing that the haul would be significantly greater.

So, that's something. His AAA stats last year look pretty decent, so why not give him a shot right? He throws hard and every team needs bullpen depth. It's a minor league deal, so no risk. Note - I see a thread on this topic in On The Farm, which is better place for it. Go discuss there and just let this one die. Sorry dudes and dudettes.

From an article by Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post in which they talk about Davey Johnson being done after 2013: "Rizzo has said he wants Johnson’s successor to come from within the organization. Bench coach Randy Knorr appears to be the leading candidate, with first base coach Trent Jewett, Class AAA Syracuse Manager Tony Beasley and Class AA Harrisburg Manager Matt LeCroy also possibilities." I looked up LeCroy's record and he is 253-302 in four years between Low A and AA. He has yet to have a winning record. That doesn't necessarily mean he isn't a good candidate, but his record isn't very stellar. From my recollections of his time with the Twins he seem…

David O' Brian, Braves beat writer for the Atlanta Constitution Journal, says its so. Also adds that the Twins are concerned about replacing that right-handed bat. What say you? Trade Willingham?

Couple thoughts: The Yankees are cutting payroll quite a bit over the next year, which means that Swisher is gone, and Grandersons future in pinstripes could be in doubt after next season. After the ALCS debacle the Yankees will be looking to add some legitimate offense to the team. Willingham is affordable and seems like a perfect fit for them. One guy I think we could target would be Ivan Nova, who still is young and under team control until 2017, his ERA etc weren't the greatest last season in a very tough AL East (tough ball park to pitch in as well) but looking closer at the data he managed to put up a 3.97 xFIP. Another guy we could potentially get in the trad…

with brian dozier and pedro florimon both struggling to make shortstop there own , did we miss an oppertunity to lift the succsess of the franchise off there shoulders by signing maicer izturis as our 2nd utility infielder and insuring we would have an option at shortstop this year?

Twins outfielder Josh Willingham joined Mike Trout and Josh Hamilton as the three American League outfielders to win Silver Slugger Awards for 2012. Very well deserved, and congratulations to him! (have to assume Mauer will win at catcher in the AL as well)

In a snippet that appeared on MLBTR via Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Twins are talking with the Mariners. The Mariners have a bunch of young arms - Walker, Hultzen, Paxton, Maurer - and are said to be interested in Hicks and/or Revere.

I have been on record since Sept that I HATE our middle infield guys & if they start the 2013 season with someone out of the grouping of Florimon/Dozier/Carroll/Escobar as their starters, they will lose 90gms for the 3rd straight year & firings will be prevelant through the organization. I also know that many people argue that MN should spend all their available funds on pitching.....I am not one of those as you can find affordable pitching in trades (which is what MN will do) & not spend in FA. I have brought up Dan Uggla in a few different threads as his career worst 2012 season is better than any middle infielder in MN has had since the Chuck Knoblauch da…

Star Tribune Sports ‏@StribSports RT @gcrev: Beat change at @StribSports: Baseball writer@JoeCStrib will cover #Gophers football in 2013. @MillerStrib moves to #Twins.

LINK My favorite Boras gem, on the $25m more that every team will get starting in 2014 (because of the TV deals): "Every team can afford to keep a franchise player now. For the same product, major-league teams just got $25 million more. So, for players, the same performance should get you grandly more. The quid pro quo has to continue: If revenues go up, player salaries go up."

with the twins keeping ron gardenhire and allowing him to keep ullger,joe the notebook of failure(stolen ) vavra and dick anderson (yes i realise its rick , but i think hes more of a dick kinda guy),im surprised sal butera wasnt given a coaching position and that nick punto wasnt resigned to keep ronnie in his comfort zone and to reunite the gardy skirts in the dirt gang, well at least this was a pleasent surprise

KSTP's Darren Wolfson tweets that the Twins have been inquiring on right-handed starter Ryan Dempster. The 35-year-old Dempster had averaged 206 innings per season since converting back into a starter with the Cubs in 2008. In over 800 innings, he had a 3.81 ERA and a 758-to-308 K-to-BB ratio. Of course, this season he failed to reach that 200 inning mark and struggled in Texas after a mid-season trade, which is not necessarily a good sign at his age. His velocity has dropped another few notches but thanks to a vicious slider, he still misses bats regularly. As Wolfson notes, "inquiring" is the operative word as the Twins will be inquiring on any or all starting pitch…

It should be expected and, in my opinion, doesn't really qualify as news. Here's the LINK anyway. The theory is that it would cost Span and more to get Shields, who will cost $10.25m in 2013 and at least $12m in 2014 (though he has a $1m buyout).

According to Crasnick the Diamondbacks are willing to trade Bauer. If I were the Twins he would instantly become my number one target. Assuming they trade Upton as well the Diamondbacks could use a CF in Span. However obviously Span would NOT be enough to get Bauer, I wonder if we included one of Arcia/Rosario if it would be enough to get Bauer back in return? Prob not. But maybe they could include more pieces. Span+Rosario+Vargas+C+ prospect? for Bauer? Do it. Bauer has the potential to be an absolutely dominating pitcher.

Aaron and I have argued a bit on the relative value of Jeremy Guthrie, and I don't see why we should have all the fun.... How would you feel about the Twins signing Guthrie to the amount that is in the Handbook: 2-years/$16M. (Let's ignore, for now, that he thinks he's going to get 3/34, for the purposes of this discussion.) Here's his baseball-reference page. Here's his Fan Graphs page. On the one hand, he's pretty consistently thrown about 200 innings per season with an ERA usually around 4. (Since 2007, when started in the majors full time, his ERA is 4.03 IF you throw out his crappy stint in COL last season.) On the other hand, he's 33 years old and his career …

It seems like the Twins always beat the Kansas City Royals but they never win against the New York Yankees. Do the numbers support that or does it just seem that way? You can see the real numbers by checking out some research I just posted at www.twinstrivia.com . Hope you enjoy the story.

County Commissioners approve $47 million in improvement by a 3 to 1 vote. http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2012/nov/06/lee-county-commissioners-approve-30-year-lease-twi/

A new era in baseball opens on November 6, 1976 when Twins reliever Bill (Soup) Campbell becomes the first MLB player to leave a team under the new free agent system and signs a huge contract. Check it out at www.twinstrivia.com .

Buster Olney reports that Jeremy Bonderman is coming back from reconstructive elbow surgery. Meanwhile, Javier Vazquez is also contemplating a comeback after not pitching professionally last year. Both have some intrigue... Vasquez is 36, and wasn't signed last season, but that was a weird situation, becasue he sure didnt struggle in 2011. He had a 3.69 ERA and threw 192.2 innings for the Marlins, which is a hell of a good year. I always think of him as a National League pitcher, because he only had one good year in the American League, but that also could be coincidence. Bonderman had the misfortune of coming of age during the Tigers miserable years and getting thru…

Where does the "Twins Must Overpay" theory (or myth) come from? I've seen this referenced in a few threads and from (I think) different people, so I thought I'd dedicate one thread to talk about it. Usually, in the middle of a thread, I hear something like "No way this guy gets signed because not only would the Twins need to pay for a guy, they would need to pay a lot MORE for the guy." I'm always baffled by it, but I'm willing to listen. I have a few questions for those that espouse it: 1. Since when does anyone need to overpay for a guy in MLB? This isn't the NBA. In the NBA, where there are individual salary caps, players are far more likely to take other things - …

terry ryan has been the general manager or senior advisor for 18 + seasons and i claim has made only 1 lucky trade, some have pointed out 2-5 trades curly has made, but if you can count on 1 hand the number of good trades a gm has made in 18 years, then maybe its time to hire a senior advisor for him... andy Macphail has tie to the twins was here for the 1987 championship , and i think he would be very useful in balancing ryans inepititude in making good trades and could also help in the the 2 drafts coming up ... and your opinons?

I know he is 35-- but does anyone else think the Twins should inquire about Brandon Inge? He could be offer a veteran presence, spell Plouffe now and then and could be a third catcher that has some pop. I bet $2MM with incentives would get him. We saved all the money we were going to give to Lexi:) We may have enough veteran presence.

Kyle Lohse is receiving a qualifying offer. It stands to reason that if he is, then a lot of other guys - especially starting pitchers - could too. For those that do, and turn it down, the signing team needs to give up a high draft pick. For the Twins, I *think* it would mean their second round pick. Would it be worth it? For instance, say Ryan Dempster costs the Twins 2 years/$26M, but also costs them their second round pick. Would you do it? GIven the Twins need to rebuild, it gives me pause. But if they don't, that could put quite a few pitchers out of reach, given that even Lohse and essentially Ervin Santana are getting that kind of offer.

Of course, on this website, this will be the time of year when all channels will be filled with Twin's Off Season predictions, philosophy, and hopes. Let this thread be the break room away from this talk and let's have some fun with it. The topic is future Twins predictions 2013-2019. What do you foresee happening in the future 7 seasons of the Minnesota Twins. This MoFo is wide open - so have some fun with it! My prediction is this: In 2016 Aaron Hicks will become the first 30HR/30SB player in the history of the MN Twins.

I thought the rest of you might enjoy this: http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/30646/five-crazy-free-agent-ideas I got a good chuckle this morning. David Schoenfield suggests the Twins could sign both Kyle Lohse and Annibal Sanchez. He obviously isn't aware of the end of Lohse's tenure here nor knows Ryan very well. My guess is there is a less that five percent chance Ryan spends that kind of money.

I no sooner finished this and saw that Haren is supposedly off the market... so flame away... http://twinsdaily.com/entry.php?2103-My-offseason-plan

Now that he is a free agent, what would it cost to bring him in? Obviously there weren't a ton of teams willing to bring him in via trade, so maybe we could get him on a year year 9-10 mil deal where he tries to up his value and go for a multi year deal next off-season? Thoughts? I'd prefer a 2 year 18 mil deal over 1/10, but either one would help this team.

According to the Troy Renck, the Twins have claimed RHP Josh Roenicke and Infielder Thomas Field from the Colorado Rockies. Last year in Colorado, Roenicke went 4-2 with a 3.25 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP. In 88.2 innings, he walked 43 and struckout 54. Looks awful Jeff Gray-like to me. I wouldn't be surprised if the Twins decided to DFA him in the coming days and try to sneak him through on a minor league deal. He's pitched in the big leagues for Cincinnati and Toronto before the Rockies. Field hits about like Pedro Florimon who the Twins claimed from the Orioles after the 2011 season. He played in just two games for the Rockies last year after hitting .246/.315/.400 with 3…