MarshalltheIrish

Nick, I agree wholeheartedly. Trust me, I love Perkins in every way too, and 9 seasons out of 10 I think he stays. But this is that one season where he just has to go. The Twins have had so many bad trades and missed years where they could have been sellers, and they desperately need to sell what they can now so they can commit to a rebuilding process. Even if they move Morneau, Perkins is by far the best chip available. Ideally, I think they should offer him to Los Angeles and Arizona, who are both in a division race, have had major bullpen issues, and would have plenty of great prospects and/or current players to deal for him. Also, spot-on about the Soria bit. I had heard someone else mention that as well as a cautionary tale.

I'll be disappointed if the Twins don't make Perkins available. As much as I love him, he'd be a fantastic trade chip. If they did, though, I think it would be best if they offered him to the Dodgers, who desperately need a closer especially now that they're getting into contention for their division. Even though I do follow LA, I'll admit I don't know their farm system inside-out, so I think a piece on the Dodgers as a fellow trade partner would be a great idea. Good piece on Philly though!

I'd say it'd be worth it to have Harper instead, but this only comes with 100% hindsight. I was totally jazzed about the 2010 season as our best chance to win a World Series, especially to christen the new stadium. If they had failed in the regular season I would have been pretty sour on it, and they had such a good nucleus built from the 2009 season that I don't think they were going to fail period. But I couldn't care less about them just making the playoffs that year. We had already won a ton of division titles, and were promised that the new stadium and higher payroll would make for a team that would go deep into the playoffs. Instead, they were embarrassed by the Yankees yet again, and now have a historic 12-game playoff losing streak to break when they return to the postseason. That being said, I still do savor the memories of Thome's stint with the Twins, especially his walk-off against the White Sox. That was fantastic.

In addition to turning around drafting philosophy (which they've already started this year, at last!), all the Twins really need to do to a dramatic extent right now is just improve the starting pitching. It drives me crazy to think how much better they'd be standing-wise right now if they had a good or great pitching staff. And as far as trading this summer, I absolutely do not want to see Willingham, Morneau, Doumit, or Span traded. Liriano is our best piece.