kab21

no, it doesn't. the Astros paid almost all of Lee's salary and took back mediocre prospects.

Even if they spent an extra 20M this offseason they would still be a bad team. Not only do those bad contracts hurt future teams but they also block young players that have been given a chance this year. Attempting to rebuild a team thru FA usually ends disastrous results unless you're spending like the Yankees. You get better by pumping a lot of money into the draft and int'l FA's. And the Twins did this.

This is not true. They pushed the payroll higher than they wanted in 2011 because they had a contending team. They were comfortably in the 100-105M range until they couldn't resist pavano. I don't think they planned on signing him and I don't think there was anyone other than a cheap bullpen arm that would have been signed. In 2012 they realistically looked at what they had and rightfully cut spending. they also had the highest draft budget which they have so far spent most of and they have signed two high priced int'l FA's. They are spending and they are actually spending on what they should be spending on. Also just because the money is there doesn't mean that a team should spend all of it since it will impact future payrolls. Usually decent FA's require an extra 1-2 yrs to sign them and they usually aren't productive near the end of the contract. They should approach the next offseason like they did this year. 3 yrs, 2 yrs, 1 yr, 1 yr, 1yr, NRI, NRI type contracts. It wasn't an impressive haul but they didn't hurt the future either.

Valencia has been terrible for 1.5 years and especially awful this year. There is no playoff team that wants to give him AB's much less give up something in return to do so. These teams have their own versions of Valencia to call up.

Nobody is giving you anything for Casilla and Valencia. They have value as better than replacement players.

The Twins have had the two largest payrolls in team history during the last two seasons. They haven't signed a big FA but they are spending. Whether or not they go after a big name will probably have more to do with whether they think adding a 20M Greinke/Hamels makes them a contender. Right now there are so many holes to fill that signing one big name won't be the difference maker. The issue is that they have about 30M to spend and they need several starters and a middle infield (possibly more). Spending 2/3rd's of that on one player means getting Carroll and Marquis types for the other holes. FWIW - I am all about signing Greinke/Hamels and hoping you can find decent players to fill those holes.

I think Sano will move faster than Harrison so this isn't a big concern.

Gomez and Delmon aren't comparable at all to the Dozier situation. Gomez and Young had upside and were called up at 21/22. Dozier had an utility player tag before last year's fluke. It looks like he's headed back to utility player/bottom tier starter status and spending time in AAA isn't going to make the difference. I just hope that he can come out of this funk and be better than Alexi.

You two (above) are unbelievable. Are you talking about the plus defender that is OPS'ing .775 in AA as a 22 yr old?

This isn't the reason that I won't watch. It just sucks as a baseball event. And it has for at least 10 years. I'll use WAR but any stat that says Ruiz is the 3rd best player, Bourn the 5th, Prado the 6th, Molina the 9th and Headley the 10th best player in the NL is flawed. Half of a season just isn't enough data if you're trying to determine the best players using WAR. The fan vote can be a mess also but for the most part it just shuffles around who the starters and the reserves are and almost everybody plays.

Perhaps 'will' was too strong of a word. When there are questions before they even get to full season ball I think you have to consider it 'could stick'. As much as everyone complains about the Twins in drafting/signing/development, they have acquired a lot of guys that could stick at 2B/SS/3B in the last couple of years. Out of Sano/Harrison/Goodrum/Polanco/Rosario/Michael somebody (hopefully 2) should make it to the majors as average players. Now let's see them do this with pitching.

then the Twins shouldn't trade him. It's that simple. He's a really valuable player and he shouldn't be traded just because of this crappy 'we have Revere' argument. The Twins have had awful OF defense for years so there isn't any reason to trade Span just to make a move.

This is just being greedy. At this point the Twins should be happy to get a decent prospect for Morneau.

Plouffe shouldn't be on the block. If a team was giving up some great prospects then sure trade him but the Twins might have found someone that can reasonably well hold down 3B for several years. Those are the players the Twins should be looking for and not trading away.

2 years isn't enough data but 1/2 of a year tells you something? Interesting...

Bruno = the new miracle worker

Gould has a 23% K rate and 7% BB rate in the Cal league. His ERA might be high but the Cal league makes the PCL look pitcher friendly. I would make this trade if the Dodgers/Twins split the salary owed. He might be a bust but developing pitching is about having quantity vs quality. Note that the quantity has to be talented with some projection.

I'm pulling for Psuedo this week. He's tied with the Hoyas and I have a chance to pick up multiple games on both the Hoyas and Mac. A really tight battle for the 7th/8th spots. Maybe I am interested in Trumbo since I have a chance this year.

Imo it will be Mauer because the all-star game is popularity contest and there are too many OF'ers to pick from. After the fans vote in Napoli then the players will vote and AJ's hated by pretty much everyone. So I think they'll pick Mauer over Wieters. It's even possible that they'll take 3 catchers. In the OF Trout, Hamilton, Bautista and Jones are locks. willingham is left competing with Reddick, Jackson, Trumbo, Granderson, Rasmus and a few others.

Players rarely give big discounts when they are 3 months away from FA. Especially when the team that they are going to has one of the worst records in the majors. So it is foolish to even talk about this. I'm all about trying to sign him in the offseason though even I really don't it to happen.

goodrum, Sano, Morales and DRomero with HR's today. Harrison went 3/3 to extend his hitting streak to 8 games after going hitless in his first two appy league games.

Draft picks have never been a big part of the equation when a player is signed for 2.5 seasons. The Twins should absolutely be expecting a top 50 prospect for dealing Span. I also understand that pitching is a big need but I would take the best prospect package instead of looking just for pitching. When you trade/draft for need you usually lose. FWIW - a draft pick is still possible if you offer arb and are willing to pay 10-12M if the player accepts.

I think everyone hating on Blackburn from a couple of years ago should check to make sure they aren't projecting Diamond as anything more than a bottom of the rotation innings eater. Right now Blackburn sucks. You can survive in this league without a high K rate but you better have a tiny BB rate. It was worth giving him a few shots this year because the Twins don't have anything in the rotation. He still looks awful so it's time to pull the plug and banish him. Bullpen first and possibly even DFA later on.

I think that was Votto with the walkoff. You would probably cry in a trade for my MiLB IF'ers. It is my biggest weakness right now and I've collected a lot of them to fix that.

Kepler and Goodrum were extremely raw prospects when signed and they didn't exactly earn a promotion. Harrison and boyd are sandwich picks and are not comparable (or even close) to Buxton or the other top 5 picks that you mentioned. Buxton will almost certainly make his A ball debut in 2013 and I wouldn't be shocked if he made it there this year. It's easy to be critical of the pace that young hitters (HS and intl) are promoted but you need talent and results to earn a promotion. Moses, Parmelee and Hicks were the only highly regarded HS bats (at the time of the draft) that the Twins have taken since Mauer and they didn't exactly push for promotions. You could include Plouffe/Span in that list but I don't recall scouts really loving their bats at the time of the draft.