More names emerge on Twins offseason target list
Posted on November 8th, 2008 – 10:08 AMBy Joe Christensen
The Twins ranked 21st out of 30 major league teams in OPS at third base last season, at .730. Mike Lamb was just plain terrible before Brian Buscher and Brendan Harris eventually gave the Twins a serviceable platoon.
Still, Twins 3B combined to hit seven homers, ranking 29th in the majors.
The Twins were 24th in OPS at shortstop, at .648. Adam Everett was injured and even less productive than expected before Nick Punto took over, quietly turning in a bounce-back season from his miserable 2007.
With six homers from their SS, the Twins ranked 22nd in the majors.
Punto is a free agent, but the Twins are determined to upgrade offensively at both positions on the left side of their infield. Besides Garrett Atkins, they have targeted Casey Blake, J.J. Hardy and Yunel Escobar, as we learned Friday.
Kevin Kouzmanoff could very well be on that list, though no one mentioned that name specifically.
There are pros and cons to each player, but each is a righthanded hitter with pop in his bat. A quick thumb-nail sketch on each:
Age: 28 (turns 29 on Dec. 12)
Contract: Made $4.4 million this year in his first year arbitration, and will likely be in the $6m-$7m range next year. Will be eligible for free agency after 2010.
Stats: Batted .286/.328/.452 (.780 OPS) with 21 homers, 32 doubles and 99 RBI this year. Since 2007, he has batted only .244/.303/.415(.718 OPS) away from Coors Field.
Age: 35 (turns 36 on Aug. 23)
Contract: Made $6.1 million this year and will likely get a three-year deal on the free agent market.
Stats: Batted .274/.345/.463 (.808 OPS) with 21 homers, 36 doubles and 81 RBI this year for the Indians and Dodgers. He has averaged 596 plate appearances over the past six seasons, a testament to his durability.
Age: 26 (turns 27 on Aug. 19)
Contract: Made $2.65 million this year in his first year of arbitration and will likely approach $5m by next season. Will be eligible for free agency after 2010.
Stats: Batted .283/.343/.478 (.821 OPS) with 24 homers, 31 doubles and 74 RBI.
Age: 26 (turns 27 next Nov. 2)
Contract: Made $402,500 this year in his second major league season and will get only a slight raise for next year. A strong Super-2 arbitration candidate by next year at this time, but he won’t be eligible for free agency until 2013.
Stats: He batted .288/.366/.401 (.767 OPS) with 10 HR, 24 doubles and 60 RBI this year. As a rookie in 2007, he batted .326/.385/.451 (.836 OPS) in 94 games.
Age: Age 27 (turns 28 on July 25)
Contract: Made $410,000 in his second full major league season and won’t be arbitration eligible until after 2009. He’ll be eligible for free agency after 2012.
Stats: He batted .260/.299/.403 (.702 OPS) with 23 HR, 31 doubles and 84 RBI. Petco Park is tough on hitters. For his career, he’s batting .243/.290./.390 (.680 OPS) at home, and .282/.330/.488 (.818 OPS) on the road.
78 Responses to "More names emerge on Twins offseason target list"
To me they are all intriguing, it’s more a matter of what the cost would be to acquire any of them combined with what the Twins FO thinks they have long-term within the organization at 3B & SS. If the Twins FO thinks Valencia is just a year or two away at 3B and Casilla is the future at SS, then go for Blake in the short-term and stick with Harris/Punto at SS. If they want Casilla to stay at 2B and think they should make a long-term commitment to some of the above then it’s a matter of cost in return. Cuddy straight up for any of them I’d entertain. If it’s Cuddy and one of our starting 5, than I think it’s too much unless the other team adds to the return package.
I predict the Twins will end up with old father time Casey Blake. Blake is a good player but his best days are behind him plus he is 35 YOA. The Twins always get old washed up players at the end of their careers to play 3B. Hey Smith how about a change this year get Atkins or Betre for 3B. Then get Orlando Cabrea to play SS who is old too but is way better defensively. The Twins front office has about 20 million to spend after losing the two best players last year and should spend it.
Not to be too pessimistic but there’s no assurance that Alexei is going to be the answer either. Worst case is that we have three infield holes.
I’m of the belief that Plouff will top out as a utility guy. Valencia may well be the real thing, Hughes less likely so. Our position player strength in the minors is outfield, especially CF.
So I propose the rather bold action of shopping Span for a young legitimate infielder. He’d likely command more than Cuddy. Because of our talent distribution I’d prefer to keep a Young-type player than a center field type.
Would the Nationals bite on Zimmerman for Span and Perkins? Would we do it if they did?
Escobar or Hardy, please!
What happened to their interest in Adrian Beltre? Too much $$$?
The Buscher/Harris platoon can darn near match the production and defense of Kouzmanoff or Atkins. If we trade players of value (more than Bonser or Humber) I don’t see how those trades work out.
The Twins payroll went down in ‘08, so they have the money to sign Blake. 3 years/$24M might be a litte high, but DO IT.
I wouldn’t mind to see a big trade for Hardy. What is the defensive reputation of Yunel Escobar?
If we were able to add Hardy and Atkins, we would have a legimate World Series contender by 2010 in the new stadium! Assuming we trade Cuddyer and Blackburn/Slowey to get Atkins and Hardy it would look like this:
1. Span, RF 1. Liriano
2. Hardy, SS 2. Baker
3. Mauer, C 3. Perkins
4. Morneau, 1B 4. Slowey/Blackburn
5. Atkins, 3B 5. Swarzak/Duensing
6. Kubel, DH
7. Young, LF
8. Casilla, 2B
9. Gomez, CF
Add in Nathan, Neshek, Mijares in the pen and it looks like a winner!
7
The Brewers will be in the market for pitching. What about Perkins and Slama for J.J. Hardy? Then put Boof back in the rotation or go for a free agent pitcher.
I’d like to see Harris learn how to turn the double play at second base and Casilla moved to short. I don’t think the Twins believe that Casilla is mature enough to handle that job, though. Harris is a doubles machine, would be nice to get him in the line up more than last year.
That said, Hardy has to be #1 on the wish list. Another young, talented hitter to take into the new park in 2010. If Zimmerman was available, same thing. I’d give up Span in a deal with either, without hesitation!
I continue to believe that a 3-team deal with Atlanta and San Diego makes a LOT of sense. We have what both teams need, and both teams have what we need. Something like this would work IMO:
From Twins: Delmon Young, Glen Perkins, Matt Guerrier, Boof Bonser
To Twins: Yunel Escobar, reliever, Kevin Kouzmanoff
From Braves: Charlie Morton, Yunel Escobar, Jordan Schafer, another good prospect
To Braves: Jake Peavy, Delmon Young
From San Diego: Jake Peavy, Kevin Kouzmanoff, solid reliever
To San Diego: Glen Perkins (perfect for that park), Charlie Morton, Jordan Schafer, Boof Bonser, Matt Guerrier, another good prospect
Something like that solves all 3 teams’ needs very well IMO.
I think Casilla will be the best 2B we have had in awhile. Certainly better than anyone we’ve had recently. Boone, Cirillo, Rivas? Casilla and Hardy could be the great middle infield of the Twins for the next decade.
let’s just hope Billy is as willing to deal now as he was last winter!
Kouzmanoff’s batting line is skewed by Petco Park, but the stadium doesn’t explain why he still strikes out a ton. We’ve already got guys who do that.
I’d love to get Blake and Hardy. But what would the Twins have to give up to get Hardy in a trade? The price might be too steep. If they were willing to take some AAA pitchers though, well then maybe it’d work out.
Just sign Casey Blake! 3b is solved for a short time with a prototypical Twins player. Then feel around for Hardy or Escobar or some other SS.
Hardy would be a good fit but I think there’s going to be a lot of teams competing for him.
The only name on that list that I would be at all interested in is Yunel Escobar.
[…] Around the Majors – […]
i would like to see atkins and escobar.
cuddy/blackburn for atkins.
now, i really hope the team can keep
slowey. he looks like a young radke. i would also like to keep perkins. he reminds me of kenny rogers. plus hold on to liriano. that leaves baker/boof/humber and some prospects.
if the twins want Escobar and they think they can get him for prospects, they better make the deal..
span- rf
escobar-ss
mauer-c
morneau-1b
atkins-3b
kubel-dh
young-lf
casilla-2b
gomez-cf
liriano, slowey, perkins.
twins still have a ton of pitching in the minors to fill 2 spots. depending on who we would trade.
Baker was hands down our best starter last year MH. The Twins should keep him over Perkins or Slowey.
Berch:
I agree with you. The Twins need to commit to Baker, as he looks like their #1 SP going into ‘09.
The trade targets have pros/cons. Escobar hits into a lot of GDP..not helpful for Twins style of offense. The power guys on the list do not have good Walk/SO ratios. Maybe they think Atkins is more attractive because he splits 3B/1B, and has some great defensive stats, 1B especially. But his power #’s have decreased each of the last 3 years. Kouzmanoff probably gets a bump in batting pctg if he leaves Petco, and his offensive stats increased incrementally 07 to 08. He might be worth a shot, if the price is not too high. That means Baker and Liriano are off-limits. I’d rather they use DY as trade bait than Span, as Span should be the starting CF for the forseeable future. Me thinks trades will be hard to make.
[…] C. has recently thrown some names around that the Twins may or may not be interested in. To be honest, the only two I see as real […]
I agree with Thomas in response up above Blake is washed up and thats why we will aquire him. Why not pull the trigger on a trade and get Atkins or Kouzmanoff. Then go get Escobar or sign free agent Cabrera. Either way spend some money Pohlad after all we built you a stadium for free..
I think not only Baker and Liriano, but also Slowey are all untouchable. That’s the core of this pitching staff for the future, and I’d actually like to lock all 3 up longterm this offseason, avoiding arbitration.
Also, there’s no way I’d give Cuddyer AND Blackburn for Atkins. Heck, if you move Cuddyer to 3b alone you’d have about the same production as Atkins, and about the same defense. One for one, fine. But not ALSO Blackburn.
I really like this 4-team deal that someone proposed. Seems to solve a lot of issues for all 4 teams:
SS JJ Hardy to MIN
3B Kevin Kouzmanoff to MIN
RP Cla Meredith to MIN
SP Jake Peavy to ATL
SS Khalil Green to MIL
SP NIck Blackburn to MIL
SS Yunel Escobar to SD
LF Delmon Young to SD
SP Charlie Morton to SD
CF Jordan Schafer to SD
SP Boof Bonser to SD
i think the twins should get crazy.
land matt holliday and atkins.
ship out delmon, blackburn, cuddy, boof, and a prospect?
ha.. maybe give up a little bullpen help?
maybe the twins will think outside the box and pull a shocker and land tex to dh and play a little first.
maybe we trade for russ martin and kemp.
put martin at 3rd and ship out delmon and others.
philly is listening to offers for rollins. how bout we get him.
make a trade for micheal young.
sign adam dunn to dh.
ryan zimmerman?
Why haven’t I heard Jack Wilson, of the Pirates, mentioned in any trade rumors. I heard he was on the trade block and we need a shortstop. He isn’t quite as good as JJ Hardy, but he wouldn’t take as much to trade for.
If I were the GM. I would first try to sign Blake. He could hold the position for a couple years until Valencia is ready. If I can’t get that done I would look at a trade. The Twins should have enough good pitching prospects to land 2 good players.
Sign Blake at 3b, wait for the farm system to produce longterm for ss,3b. Possibly trade extra of for power arm in the bullpen. We would be set well for next year AND the future.
do not break up this pitching staff, other than maybe blackburn and i would really be thinking twice about that–try to remember the atlanta braves pitching a few years ago…enuf said…….sign blake as a steady and power enough 3b to handle that spot for a season or three and then concentrate on building up that bullpen….we have good middle people in casilla at ss and tolbert at 2b with harris in reserve….unless we can pick up hardy without destroying the nucleus of our staff (maybe blackburn or perkins at the most, hopefully a AAA guy….stop this cuddy to 3rd bs, as thats nuts….i would not freak out if delmon is dealt, as i think he is headed for a weight problem like his brother anyway, so mr bill smith, be smart and think ahead a bit this year …now lets get to spring training..is it feb yet??
We should trade Escobar and sign Blake to play hot corner until Valencia is ready, this is not Matt Moses he is the real thing
Re: Valencia:
Have a look at the mlb.com feature of the Twins in the AFL. Methinks that he is not a year or 2 away.
Also, in case you did not realize it, Valencia is a year older than Delmon Young and he just broke into AA this last season. There are still people who think that Valencia is untouchable and Young should be trait bait. This is just absurd. He might be a solution in 2-3 years, but he needs a lot of work.
Delmon Young, Glen Perkins, Matt Guerrier, Boof Bonser for Yunel Escobar, reliever, Kevin Kouzmanoff
and
Young, Blackburn and Bonser for Hardy, Kouzmanoff and Meredith
do not make much sense. Young alone has more value than Kouzmanoff and Escobar together. Hardy and Kouzmanoff are not exactly wizards with the leather. If you get a good fielding third baseman (Beltre, Glaus, Rollen, Wigginton) then you can afford Hardy but unless you do that the infield defense will be about where it was last year.
I think that the Twins do not have the chips for 2 trades that would get them a good SS and a good 3B. They should go all out and try to sign Furcal to a 4 year $45-50 mil contract (not much more than Cuddyer money) and try to package Perkins, Cuddyer and 2-3 minor league prospects for Beltre, Glaus, Wigginton or Rollen. Seattle needs pitching and the Twins could take Washburn off their hands to sweeten the deal if necessary. Toronto and St. Louis (if they lose the Peavy sweepstakes) need starting pitching also.
Meanwhile, the White Sox are the front runners in signing one of the best Cuban position players ever, Dayan Viciedo a 19 year old third baseman
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/1267725,CST-SPT-sox08.article
The Twins’ front office should just not sit on this one and should try to pry him…
The Twins should definitely sign him, just as some of us advocated signing Alexei Ramirez before last year as well.
But I do have a couple big disagreements;
1) Young is NOT worth more than Kouzmanoff and Yunel Escobar combined. Not even close.
2) Kouzmanoff is average with the glove (much better than Buscher/Harris, or Atkins) and Hardy is well above average defensively actually. I don’t know where you get that he’s “poor” defensively or anything like that. He’s an upgrade defensively at SS for the Twins, as well as being amongst the best offensive SS’s in the game. Hardy was the 3rd best defensive SS in baseball in 2008 and the 5th best over the last 3 years according to the Fielding Bible.
Re: Hardy
From the 18 qualified MLB shortstops, Hardy was:
7th in FP (.977), 14th in ZR (.813), 12th in RZR (.826)
plus/minus 2006-2008 (fielding bible): +33 (332 games)
What the Twins had last year:
Punto: FP .973, ZR .865, RZR .860, plus/minus 2006-2008: +26 (3B, 150 games)
Everett: FP .967, ZR .829, RZR .854. plus/minus 2006-2008: +58 (264 games)
The fielding bible plus/minus system is great, but is not normalized for games played. If you normalize the above values per game you get Hardy 0.099, Punto .173 and Everett .220.
Hardy will be a step down using any fielding measurement than what the Twins had last year.
Re: Kouz:
2008 @ 3B:
Kouz: .974 FP, .768 ZR, .705 RZR
Harris: .971 FP, .766 ZR, .707 RZR
Buscher: .938 FP, .774 ZR, .688 RZR
(don’t have +/- numbers)
Not that much better than Harris, a bit better than Buscher.
Young is NOT worth more than Kouzmanoff and Yunel Escobar combined. Not even close.
That’s debatable 
I don’t like the idea of NL players trying to make the adjustment to the AL. Atkins may be alright but his offense performance has gone down year-to-year since he’s been at the majors.
Blake might be old but we’ll know what we’re getting and he has a lot of AL and playoff experience.
I say don’t forget about Crede. If you platoon him with Buscher he could stay healthy for more of the season. Plus since he was totally disrespected in Chicago last year he’ll have a lot of hunger to bury them in the Central race in 2009.
still don,t know why in the world, that you,d trade blacky for, he seems to be on everybody list, He,s our No. three picher, behind Bak, and Slowey..
ship out delmon, blackburn, cuddy, boof, and a prospect?
And now that you’ve got an OF of Kubel/Gomez/Span…who DHs?
Part of the solution is thinking out of the box. Hence, the Twins need to sign Orlando Hudson to play 2B. He fits their offense, is gold glove caliber defense, and would have all-star caliber seasons playing for Gardy.
Casilla is then either trade-bait for a SS or 3B,or, attempts the move to SS himself.
Hudson is better than any of the other infield FA’s that are available, so why not (provided he’s healthy…he injured his wrist late season and that would have to be examined). Assuming that’s good, he’d be a great fit.
Atkins would likely put up good offensive numbers. But his defense would be offensive. Better have one hell of a great glove man at short to cover for this guy. No thanks!
Sign Casey Blake. We know what we’re getting. He’ll fit right in. Great glove. He’ll give the Twins more than adequte offense and won’t cost them young, upcoming players. He’s a sensible short term solution.
keep all the starting pitchers. baker,liriano,blackburn,perkins,and slowey can all eat up a lot of innings,although they give up a lot of hrs,and take some much needed pressure off of the bullpen.
i think people expected too much out of delmon young and,despite his extremely mediocre defense,had a solid year beatting .290 but only hit 10 hrs i think. the only trade i would make with young is for ryan zimmerman which would be unlikely.maybe cuddy for him and trade for yunel escobar or jj hardy.
i would like to hear the twins inquire about ss/3b brandon wood or 3bchone figgins of the angels or 2b jose lopez of the mariners
1. Kouzmanoff is awful and wouldn’t be a good fit here at all.
2. The Twins couldn’t swing a trade for Escobar if they wanted to unless they were willing to give up Slowey or Baker, and they’d be fools to do that.
Atkins and Hardy should be the targets. They are both young, hit the hell out of the ball, and would be great assets for a long time coming.
What’s with all the comments about Blake being washed up? I don’t care how old he is as long as he’s getting the job done. And he got the job done just fine last year. What I do NOT want to see the Twins do is trade away another talented pitcher for a guy who MIGHT provide some power.
Orlando Hudson is a great thought, but he’s a Type A FA. So the Twins would have surrender their 1st rd pick. Personally I would not do that. If you’re going to go that route, you could sign Rafael Furcal instead (for similar money), who plays SS already AND does not require any draft pick compensation.
So good thought, but the cost is too high for Hudson IMO.
Adam says:
November 9th, 2008 at 1:26 am
What’s with all the comments about Blake being washed up? I don’t care how old he is as long as he’s getting the job done. And he got the job done just fine last year. What I do NOT want to see the Twins do is trade away another talented pitcher for a guy who MIGHT provide some power.
who would be the guy that might provide power? Every one of them hits for power. Kouzmanoff just isn’t a good fit because his power is too inconsistent and he’s the worst fielder of the 3B options.
Dustin, giving up a draft pick wouldn’t be a bad thing at all. All the Twins ever do with their first rounders is either draft a toolsy guy they could get a round or more later, or they draft a pitcher. What the Twins need most is to draft slugging college infielders with their 1st round picks and never do. Losing the pick for a year wouldn’t kill them at all.
we cant draft power hitting college infielders. have you seen how much it costs to sign those guys….
Atkins? Really? Especially if we have to give up Blackburn, a perfectly good starter with pinpoint control who turns 27 next year? What part of “.244/.303/.415 (.718 OPS) away from Coors Field” don’t some people understand? And that’s his career line- last season he hit .233/.278/.408. Unless Target Field has some kind of freakish localized thin-air atmosphere, he’ll be another Batista.
Can someone tell me why Jorge Cantu from the Marlins is never mentioned in any 3B discussions? Power, can play 1B too in order to spell Morneau, $500k contract…
If the braves are willing to trade Yunel Escobar we should do all we can to get him.
D Young + Liriano + Blackburn might be too light to get him but that guy is going to be awesome. If for some crazy reason he is avaiable we need to do EVERYTHING to get him
Young, Liriano, and Blackburn for Escobar? Why not throw in Morneau while you’re at it?
Dan: To answer your question — Atkins.
Gillie, that is too much to be getting Albert Pujols for the love of Christ, and the love of hating Kevin McHale.
Escobar is going to be a good SS. NOT the second coming of Alex Rodriguez!
I would like to see JJ Hardy here.
I do think that would cost us Perkins or Slowey, plus Luke Hughes and Robertson. That’s an aweful lot to give up, but to have that bat in our lineup would be a huge plus.
While I would like to see Kouzmanoff here I don’t want to see a ton of trades, and I think Casey Blake would be the best option for adding a stable bat to the lineup.
1. Span CF
2. Mauer CA
3. JJ Hardy SS
4. Morneau 1B
5. Blake 3B
6. Kubel DH
7. Young LF
8. Cuddyer RF
9. Casilla 2B
The scary thing is that this puts Gomez in AAA to learn how to draw a freaking walk. This lineup also keeps a lot of speed at the top and bottom of the lineup, and it puts in some RBI machines in there, and by bringing Cuddy back in the 7-8 hole he has zero pressure, and that might bring his bat back to life…
But if we can find a deal for Atkins that will get rid of Cuddyer’s bloated contract… we have to seriously look at that. I like Blake more than Atkins (his attitude).
I can’t believe some of the trade ideas being tossed around on here. Just insane, absolutely insane.
The Twins were successful last year. They were successful far beyond anybody’s wildest expectations. Doing a trade means you have to give something up to get something back in return. In other words, any trade that is done would subtract from what is already a proven success. It would diminish any gain you would hope to make and could ultimately prove disastrous.
You don’t subtract from a proven success, you add to it.
Then, to suggest pulling off two trades (read that as making two subtractions)? That is just absurd. Especially when virtually any trade made for any of those guys would involve one of the Twins starting pitchers. They were one of the biggest reasons for the team’s success last year and people want to tear it apart. That starting staff should be considered untouchable.
Casey Blake is the best answer. Not only does the team not have to give up a pitcher, but Blake is a type B free agent, so they wouldn’t even have to give up a draft pick (the Dodgers would get a sandwich pick between the first and second rounds).
Signing Blake would also mean the team could pursue a SS and stud RH bullpen guy with all their options still in place.
One last point I would like to make on what is becoming a rather long post, is of all the possible trades involving an outfielder, I think the best option would be Span.
Young and Gomez have too much upside and are poised for huge years. I see Span and Cuddy as being about equal in what they might contribute next season. Span has speed that makes him more of a threat on the bases and gives him more range in the field. Cuddy has a better arm and and more pop in his bat.
I also have my doubts about Span duplicating the numbers he put up last year. But that aside, of the two, Span probably has the most trade value and that would be the main deciding factor for me.
The Twins were successful last year.
about as successful as the Vikings were last year:
No postseason
Success is relative.
(and as a matter of fact the 2007 Twins were as successful as the 2006 Vikings…
Fire Chili, give Gardy a lifetime extension.
Absurd)
thrylos,
Good point.
The Rays weren’t successful either, although some of their drunk and dopped-up supporters thought otherwise.
They didn’t win the WS, so their year was just as successful as the Nationals.
Regards,
Gillie
Sweet Virginity!! Im glad your not the GM
Liriano, Blackburn, and Delmon for Yunel Escobar?! Are the Braves throwing in Tommy Hanson and Kelly Johnson too? Sheesh, forget that idea right now.
As for the Twins’ success last year Sploorp, do you really think they’re going to repeat their average with RISP? That’s an impossible assumption.
Trading Perkins or Blackburn is fine. Humber won’t be significantly better or worse than either of them probably. We’ve got depth at pitching, we should take advantage of that if the deal is right.
I’m not sold on Garrett Atkins whatsoever, though. Kouzmanoff’s power numbers may be PETCO-skewed, but his ballpark doesn’t explain his pitiful .299 OBP.
I find it a tad ironic that some of the people clamoring for Kouzmanoff are the same ones who were cursing Gomez and Young for their inability to get on base and their big K numbers…
I’d be okay with Harris at 3rd if the Twins were to significantly upgrade at shortstop. It’s time to cut the cord with Buscher, though. The guy is okay offensively but not enough to offset his brutal defense.
RISP has nothing to do with what I posted. No, I don’t see the team having the same production with runners in scoring position. I also don’t see them finishing dead last in home runs again either - especially if the front office is serious about upgrading at 3rd and Short.
My main concern was the rotation. I think the rotation was a bigger factor to the team’s success last season than RISP. Not only that, unlike the team’s RISP, there is a much better chance of the rotation repeating their success.
I wish I had your confidence in Humber, but I don’t. Also, if the team really is serious about upgrading at Short and 3rd, then we’re potentially looking at losing two starters, not just one. Suddenly, that success the rotation had last year doesn’t seem nearly as repeatable.
By going with Blake, the team gains experience, a little extra pop and better defense at 3rd. Also a right handed bat that can maybe protect Morneau in the lineup a little bit. And most importantly, they lose nothing. They would still have all their potential trade chips in place to pursue a short stop with.
Blake just makes the most sense.
Disco Dan Ford says:
November 9th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Atkins? Really? Especially if we have to give up Blackburn, a perfectly good starter with pinpoint control who turns 27 next year? What part of “.244/.303/.415 (.718 OPS) away from Coors Field” don’t some people understand?
simple, Atkins has more homers away from Coors then he does at Coors. Sure his average isn’t as good, but it’s hard to hit for a huge average when you get away from that giant outfield in Coors. The Twins need power and Atkins has plenty of it.
the front office says:
November 9th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Can someone tell me why Jorge Cantu from the Marlins is never mentioned in any 3B discussions? Power, can play 1B too in order to spell Morneau, $500k contract…
not a free agent from what I can tell. he’s just arbitration eligible.
sploorp has it right. Let’s pick up Blake and deal for Hardy at SS..
However the dream is…Blake and Furcal at SS..lose no pitching. Then go out and get a Monster DH..just woke up from that dream..
Blake/Hardy..make it so!
Blake is older and will likely be in decline before the contract is up. He still might be the best option, but I’m sure Smith will explore all of his options before making a decision.
We can’t really say what the Twins should do because we don’t really know the cost of all of the players that are being discussed. Last year I wanted the Twins to get Beltre until I learned how much the M’s were asking.
Anyone who thinks that the twins should consider trading Delmon Young is stupid!! Cuddy is the odd man out! Package him and a prospect to bring in a 3B like Atkins or Kouzmanoff. Fix the SS in free agency. The steady glove and good arm are more important for SS than the run production. Don’t bring in Beltre, Glaus, or Blake they will cost too much and they’re old. The roid era of baseball is over and old guys will show their age more than they did in the past decade.
Mark is on the mark. Laurel and Hardy would be defensive upgrades and, get this, they would add 45 more homers to the lineup! Can you imagine that? Two twenty plus homer guys! That would be unbelievable. (BTW, I meant Casey Blake)
If we lose Blackburn or Perkins it’s not going to kill us! We need a rotation spot for Humber anyway. Perkins is a one pitch pitcher(I don’t now why the twins made him stop throwing his slow curve) and Blackburn for all his stuff gives up way too many hits. Humber can’t be worse if he throws strikes!!
Right, shameless, can’t break up that young outfield. But I’m not in favor of breaking up the young starting rotation either, until they start stinking it up.
Mudcat…I don’t like the idea of Blackburn leaving either, but the main thing is to keep Liriano, Baker, and Slowey they are the guys that can get us to the promise land. Sinkerball pitchers who don’t get alot of strike outs and give up more hits than innings pitched are a dime a dozen. Sidney Ponson might still be a twin if he would have had the run support that perkins had last year. I know that blackburn pitched better than his numbers indicate, but he still gives up too many hits. Humber has strike out pitcher type stuff so we have to give him a chance and he’s out of options!
For all those who keep talking about Hughes and Valencia, have you seen their Arizona Fall League stats. Valencia has that sweet .555 OPS. Hughes is hitting .218 with a .271 OBP. Hardly stats of players on the verge of breaking into the major leagues.
ES16..not next yr..but in 2-3.
And I love Blackie..did ya forget the last game of the year? Pressure game baby and he pitched his butt off. Dont trade him.
The Phillies are looking for pitching and possibly a replacement for free agent outfielder Burrell. They have a solid shortstop prospect in Jason Donald who is blocked by Rollins. Cuddyer or Perkins may be enough to aquire Donald. He looks ready and may be a solid major league ss for many years to come. Twins should explore to see if the Phillies would consider a trade for him.
Does anyone know what happened with Dallas McPhearson? I know at one point last year he was tearing up Triple A. Is he an option, I don’t think he would cost as much as some of these other guys.
Out of the whole list of players above, I think Hardy, Escobar or Atkins would be the three I would target first. I like Blake but he is getting old(probably still better than what we have had). I was a Crede guy and thought the Twins should have got him a couple of years ago, but the last two years he hasn’t played much becasue of injuries and I don’t know that I would take that risk. I am not big on Beltre at all. I think he is a very inconsistant hitter. He goes on hot and cold streaks all the time. I really think for what we would have to give up for him people would get really frustrated with him.
[…] this offseason, Garrett Atkins’ name seemingly pops up most often. Not only have the local scribes reported on the Twins’ interest in Atkins, Rockies beat writer Troy Renck of the Denver Post seems convinced […]
Shameless- Adrian Beltre is 29 years old which is hardly old.
