Crede: Twins announce one-year deal, Neshek to 60-day DL
Posted on February 21st, 2009 – 10:29 AMBy La Velle
The Twins have announced that they have reached agreement with third baseman Joe Crede’s on a year=year contract
Another source with knowledge of negotiations called Joe Christensen with even more details.
The Twins will sign Crede to one-year deal with a base salary of $2.5 million with the chance to earn as much as $7 million with appearance bonuses. The bonuses begin once Crede reaches 250 plate appearances and tops out at $7 million when he makes his 525th plate appearance.
Crede, while traveling to Fort Myers, has run into weather problems - in Minnesota. The Twins had scheduled a 3 p.m. press conference but that now has been pushed back until they learn when Crede will arrive in town.
Joe C. is the man! He’s producing all the way from the Twin Cities!
This a is very, very good deal for the Twins. A $7 million base salary seemed too high. A $5 million base seemed reasonable. But a $2.5 million base really helps the Twins out from a risk standpoint. If Crede is healthy, he should play like a $7 million player. If he breaks down, the Twins have a good Plan B in Brian Busher and Bredan Harris. And there’s money available to add move talent - perhaps a free agent reliever like Juan Cruz.
This also means the Twins will have to make another 40-man roster move to clear space for Crede. Update: To make room for Crede, the Twins have placed injured righthander Pat Neshek on the 60-day disabled list. Neshek will miss the entire 2009 season because of Tommy John surgery.
Check back later to www.startribune.com for video highlights.
Juan Cruz update; Reliever Juan Cruz is now drawing interest from a few other teams. Indications are that Cruz and his agent will try to get a deal agreed upon in the next few days because up to another 48 hours would be needed for the team and the D-Backs to work out a trade.
303 Responses to "Crede: Twins announce one-year deal, Neshek to 60-day DL"
YES! 2.5 million! That’s even less than I thought he would take. I love this!
First? Great job LaVelle. I’m excited to see Crede in a Twins Uniform!
Holy crap!! That’s better than I expected..couldn’t be happier!
La Velle, you are the man! Anything on Cruz, whenever you have time will be a bonus!
YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOOOOOAAAAARRRRDDDDDDD YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS…. GO TWINS!!
Great news. Now go get Cruz!
thanks La Velle great signing 2.5mil
i’m liking the linup alot more
The best news of 2009. I wanted a salary between 2-3 million, and Billy Smith delivered!
I love the fact that it’s laden with incentives. I hope that kept Boras and Crede honest when it came to that 30-year old back injury.
Excuse me while I go celebrate. 
Seemingly a very safe bet. The upside is awesome. The downside is pretty limited.
Great job Bill Smith!
Cruz, too? That would be incredible.
In perspective, he is guaranteed half what Punto makes annually… How can you not do with this deal? No-brainer.
That’s more like it, thanks Lovul…
Don’t ever go out with friends again!!!!
Looks like Boras wasn’t too upset about the Gagne deal. Can’t wait until we negotiate a long-term deal while Crede’s at the All-Star game in July….maybe I’m getting ahead of myself.
Hey Pete !!
You were very close in what you said last night about the dollar amount for Crede! I am starting to trust your GF a little more now! Take her somewhere nice tonight and open a bottle of chardonnay and get her to spill her guts on the Delmon plus two other deal will ya???
Only down side is it’s only one-year deal. Nit-picky, but it will kind of stink if he can stay healthy and have a monster year, and then bolt after the year, putting the Twins right back with the same problem next year.
Of course, if he does stay healthy and puts the Twins over the top to where they can advance in the playoffs, you won’t hear me complain.
I don’t see how anybody doesn’t like this. Hardly anything is guarenteed which protects if an injury happens.
I hope they pay closer to the total amount, it’d mean the Twins are doing pretty well
KB,
You’re getting way ahead of yourself.
Crede is 30 years old. If by “long-term” you mean another one- or two-year deal, I’m all for it… but four or five years from now Crede may have grandchildren.
Well done Bill Smith. Even with Boras twisting the screws and fans putting pressure on him to sign “at any cost”, Smith didn’t blink and ended up getting a deal that surpasses even what I was expecting ($5mil base)
Now I’m FAR less concerned about Crede’s health. If he was willing to go that low and make more than 60% of his contract incentives, then he’s got confidence in his health.
A+ effort.
I’m giving Smith an A for getting Crede signed because it’ll help the Twins if he’s healthy. I’m giving Smith an A+ for working out such a fair deal with Scott Boras. Now if he gets something done with Cruz, we’ll be a DOWNRIGHT SCARY TEAM!!! Having a dangerous top 7 in our batting order, 5 solid starting pitchers & Cruz & Nathan for the 8th & 9th innings sounds pretty solid to me.
Juan Cruz at this point would be icing on the cake.
I guess Jim Pohlad was right when he said spring training doesn’t mean the end of the off-season.
The only people that shouldn’t be happy about this are Buscher and Harris, but I’m sure they even understand this was a no-brainer signing.
This is great news all around. Got him for basically nothing in baseball terms. If he produces he gets paid more and if he hits that 7 million dollar bonus figure more than likely that would be a bargain. Again, good overall move by the Twins.
Question for ecstatic Twins fans:
If the Twins can land Cruz as well for a upper- to middle-tier pitching prospect and somebody else, where do you think we will sit in the scope of the MLB? Division title? Deep in playoffs? World Series?
I’d give him an A for this one. Regardless of how it turns out, this is a low risk deal, at a position they’ve been trying to fill for years. Nice job Mr. Smith.
KB: Buscher right now should be more concerned than Harris. Harris has flexibility (althought limited) in that he can play MIF in an emergency as well as 1B.
The guy who’s really SOL right now is Macri.
TF: I’m not going to count chicks before they hatch.
A healthy Crede gives the offense a boost, and both Ayala and Cruz would greatly stabilize the pen.
It definately puts the Twins in a seat of power within the division, but I’m not going to make any predictions beyond that.
Too much can happen in a season, and I’m definately a person who believes in karma.
I think icing on the cake is going out and getting one more position player upgrade. Short or second.
La Velle,
Was there anything to the rumor that had an option for Crede for a second year? There was some rumblings last night that a second year with a base of five million with the same incentives and a buyout of $500.000 was there too??
This is a good day for Bill Smith so congratulations as this is a great deal! Welcome to the Twins Joe Crede!!
One of the things I like about this is that there is little chance of Crede struggling and being a long drawn out process of when do you pull the plug, etc. (like with Bautista and Lamb).
It’s either, in the line-up and likely productive or hurt and Buscher/Harris.
This is arguably the best Twins team “on paper” that we have had in a very long time! Now if we can get Cruz without giving up any of our core players it will be totally sweet!!
TwinsFix, I think acquiring Cruz & Crede gives the Twins a realistic shot at the ALCS at minimum. Having a potent top 7 in the lineup makes them dangerous. Having a 1-2 late inning punch of Cruz-Nathan slams the door shut after the 7th inning. I don’t see how that isn’t trouble for the AL Central. I don’t see how that isn’t fielding a team that can compete with the Angels, Bosox & TB D’Rays.
WJ: SS/2B aquisition is definately icing, as the primary holes (if Cruz is wrapped up) would be filled.
I can stomach Punto a little better now that Crede will be in the lineup. Of course I said the same thing about Everett when the Twins aquired Young.
But I think the only MIF help left out there is Orlando Cabrera…and I think it’s a bit greedy to expect the Twins to buy out half of the White Sox infield in a single offseason.
Though Crede may help calm Cabrera down…being teammates.
at first i thought this was awesome but doesnt it say something about crede’s health if he agreed to drop to this price? this is half the price that we all thought would be reasonable. i dont want to be a skeptic but this seems weird. i hope to god i am dead wrong about this and he makes every last nickel of the 7 million!
Hmm I don’t personally care if they pay him 2 million or 20 million other then the effect it has on them adding others.
2.5 million scares me more then it excites me, this is the best deal Crede could get folks. The Twins might be able to sell 2.5 million worth of tickets off this deal.
Another negitive is the multiple at bats incentives. If he’s hitting .265 with 12 HR’s at the break (which is about what a healthy Crede gives you) why play him.
Here’s hoping there is a stat based incentive or two in their otherwise this looks like the Twins are expecting him to be another Rondell White as are the other 29 teams.
Should be a Twins/Indians summer, if I had to guess now.
I haven’t been this excited for a season to start since the off-season before the 2007 season…..that didn’t go so well.
This is a bad signing by the Twins’ front office. Many Twins fans wrongly think the team needs power. They do, but not when it takes away from the team OBP. Joe Crede has a career .306 OBP and the Twins need all the guys they can get on base. They won’t be as lucky as last year where they hit insanely well with RISP, so they need to get more guys on base in order to offset that, and signing Crede only makes the team’s OBP worse. This is an awful signing, and Crede will have a bad year, along the lines of Mike Lamb and Tony Batista. Harris/Buscher are much, much better options at third base.
You people who think that Joe Crede is the difference between 2nd and 1st place are absolutely delusional. Let me tell you how its going to go: Crede will be bad for two months, and then (as usual) he’ll get hurt for the rest of the season. He doesn’t get on base. At all. Power is good, but if you can’t get on base you aren’t all that valuable. Give me Harris/Buscher any day over this washed-up veteran.
Wow - outstanding. Congrats to Bill Smith for b-slapping Boras back to reality. Very well done.
So - if it is a 1-year, what if he goes nuts next season? Draft picks, right? It’s a win if he goes ape crap crazy and they get picks when he goes, and less than Lamb money if he tanks.
Well done.
wilhill: Think of it this way.
With this contract, a healthy productive Crede earns 7 mil on the year.
With the last rumored contract demands, Crede would’ve gotten that same 7 mil had he started the first game and then went on the DL for the rest of the season.
By making 60% of his contract incentives, it’s showing he’s confident enough in his health to risk that much on his playing time.
I cannot wait to see Joe Crede smack AJ Pierzynski in the mouth!
krs33 — the opposite is true — the Twins are stacked with on-base guys but thin on power guys. Power makes up for low OBP if it’s good enough, and Crede has a pretty good track record on that account. Plus, this isn’t a washed-up veteran situation like Tony Batista (shudder).
Boy, am I pumped. We all need some good news and it’s exciting to think of Crede being in a Twins uniform. The only downside is my small glimmer of hope of seeing Koski back playing again in a “M” baseball cap.
Remember, “hope springs eternal”, it’s spring training, winter is almost history and Crede will certainly add a lot to the team. Can’t wait for April 1.
Who goes off the 40 man roster now?
Methinks the “lower” salary is in line with what is happening throughout baseball in response to our economy.
thanks t(slightly exhaling)
LOL, on cbssports MLB homepage, the first headline reads “· Miller: Crede, White Sox agree to 1-year contract” Oops!
Never expected a 2.5 mil base. I can’t see a downside to this signing. Way to go, Twins!
Smith looks like a freaking genius now. As for the 40 man roster, I think we have to wait and see what happens with Cruz…
All things being considered, I think this is probably as good a deal as the Twins were going to get this year and it actually seems fair for both. If Crede makes it injury free, he gets his 7 Mill. For an all-star 3rd baseman, that isn’t to bad. If he is not playing well, Gardy will simply bench him anyway. If he makes it through the year, they will probably have first dibs to re-sign him going into the new park. For the Twins, they do make a significant investment in a good player who can help solidify and pretty good infield!
As for his dropping the price, in his workouts a comment was made somewhere he was not playing 100%. I think Crede had to swallow a little pride and realize he was not going to get a better deal right now. Personally, he has to prove his injury has not permanently affected his play and if he will play protecting his back! It may lower the quality of his play! I don’t want to see him re-injure his back, but if he is going to favor it, that will keep him from good play as well!
Great signing. Twins got fortunate with the economy mainly. 3 things will happen this year:
1) watching like a nervous parent every pitch to Gogomez hoping he wont embarrass and massive relief when he doesnt and great pride when he does well.
2) watching Crede like he’s a ticking time bomb with that back
3) Twins win division by mixing and matching and some unexpected hero(es).
Go Twins!
Sure hope krs33 is dead wrong!
Play ball!!
Wow! This is a fantastic deal. Good job to the front office and props to Crede and Boras for putting the twins a a great position to keep moving on other things. Like LaVelle said, half of what I expected!
Work the phones Wobble the natives want CRUZ news. Don’t disappoint…
So sweet! This is an amazing deal. I can not wait to see our starting line-up on April 6th.
Bill Smith played this perfectly.Well done.My only hope would be that the Twins and Crede also would agree on some type of option for 2010.
Joe C-welcome to the Twins-we’ve been waiting! I also am looking forward to this season-the most promise since-hell I don’t know when! Let’s get Cruz and Billy geys an A for the off season and an A for suspense!
didn’t like the idea of Joe Crede before now, but the slight improvement in power and RBI balanced against his lack of walks and fragility is acceptable now that he is $4.5M cheaper. If he earns the incentives, great; if not $2.5M is relatively cheap to find out. Bill G.
Pro: Let’s wait to plan for Crede next year until we’re sure he holds out this year. 
qualler: Power never, ever, ever in a million years makes up for a low OBP. Ever.
And for the record, the Twins lineup isn’t ’stacked’ with OBP guys. Mauer and Morneau are, and if Span can keep his production from last year he will be too. But everyone else is average to below average. They won’t hit for as high an average this year, and in turn need guys to get on base. Crede is hindering that.
Hmmmm… I wonder why his old team the White Sox passed on him. They don’t have anyone to replace him yet. The certainly could have afforded to keep him.
Mike, you’re right, this LOOKS like it might be another one of those signings. HOWEVER, look back almost twenty years; Andy McPhail needed a couple signings like this to make things happen in ‘91, with Chili and Pags. Sometimes these things actually work out. Usually not, but sometimes, and Crede is a worthy gamble.
Nice job Bill Smith.
Very little downside here. If Crede is healthy, he’ll probably have a similar OPS to what Buscher/Harris would’ve provided. His OPS will have a lower OBP than those two, true. But he’ll have a higher SLG as well, which I think will be more valuable hitting somewhere behind Morneau, than would an extra few singles from Buscher/Harris hitting in front of Punto/Gomez.
But the big difference here for the Twins will be the solid defense they can now count on at third from Crede (if healthy). Buscher’s just a really, really bad defensive third baseman, and in a platoon he would be getting the majority of the playing time.
The big news is who will come off the 40 man and thus be exposed to waivers….
I think this deal is great for both sides. 2.5M for the Twins is a good deal and the incentives for Mr. Crede will be a good way to prove himself. Good job Twins. Now we have another All Star named Joe!!!!!
qualler - nice…..poor A.J. Is this the first White Sox to Twins in a while?. What…. J.Baldwin? Of course he was at the end of his run. I love Crede on the field with Ozzy jawing at him. Of course if or when Crede breaks like a china doll, Ozzy gets the last laugh.
I think J Pohlad is the one that got this done as much as anyone. This year is an homage to Monty Burns aka Carl Pohlad. I think they are gettin er done to remember the guy that kept baseball in MN, then tried to move her to the carolinas, contract the team and then keep it in mn.
Good job twins, keep up the good work.
Now get JJ Hardy.
So what is our line up then? Plus how does he really help us.
Qualler, your spot on. The Twins need more pop and that’s what Crede brings to the table.
Krs33, their is one thing missing in your analysis and that is Crede will have a big impact on defense. His defensive metrics well make up for his league average offensive skills.
Fantastic news! This is the first move Bill Smith has made that I can really get behind. It may not work out but there is really no downside and the upside could be huge. Bring on Juan Cruz!
who loses a spot to make room? Hopefully it will be “bye-bye BOOF”!
Max
You can probably say good bye to Matt Macri off the 40 man roster now that Crede is here.
I say move Top Dogg from the 40 man roster. He stinks.
Looks like the Twins called Boras out on his $7 million bluff. I don’t think anyone would disagree that signing Joe Crede, an All-Star, third baseman with power, for $2.5 million, was a bad idea for the Twins. If Crede makes 525 plate appearances, that would be a miracle. A big day for Twins fans.
Welcome to Minnesota Joe Crede. Great job. Can you say division champs. Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow.
Get Cruz deal done before we have to make changes to our 40 man roster
Mike,
2.5 mil should not be scary, it should be exciting! Instead of looking at it from the perspective that “it was all he could get” or “the Twins’ FO obviously wasn’t that confident in his health,” you should look at it that HE’S confident in his health and wants to play on a fun team with his workout buddies Mauer and Morneau.
Sure, he’ll hit anywhere from .250-.280, but if you look at the ChiSox websites they’re all BUMMED that he’s playing for Twins now, while thanking him for the amazing defense and CLUTCH HITTING. I don’t know about you, but that’s one of the most telling things for me that he’s a good player, because those are the guys that watch him every game.
Oh, and 12 HRs at the break would be nice, not to mention all of the RBIs he’d be getting.
if crede is on the dl all season long we still gain since he hits abot.500 with lots of homeruns and rbi against the twins. i love the signing if he just plays good defense the rest would be a bonus.
The guess here is that Smith told Boras they had to have Crede in camp by today or he was moving on. It would not have looked good to have Crede show up a week or two into camp.
Add the other small money signings from this week and Crede/Boras knew it was take it or leave it. Crede had to take it because as I’ve said before, if he has a good year in ‘09 then he’s in for a nice multiyear payday starting in ‘10.
Nice move, great upside, little downside. Macri looks to be the odd man out.
awesome deal; wow, with a healthy Crede, we’re looking at a power-hitting, right-hand, 3rd baseman.
The key word is HEALTHY, though…still, well done BS. I can’t wait to hear the dissenters pop off if Crede underperforms and or gets hurt.
Matt: If the Twins work a deal for Cruz, that will probably be how they make room for both him AND Crede.
T
Hence the word “option”!! If he produces I’d like to at least have a shot at him in the new ballpark.However he is a Boras guy,and settling for far less than he hoped for,if he produces,I would conceed he is probably one and done and looking to make up for the $$ he didn’t get this year.
not if they trade people from their 40 man roster i.e boof (if Arizona would take him), Humber
LaVelle, I cannot believe people were busting on you last night. It’s good you have a life, and it’s good you wait until you have actual data to post an article/blog.
a fair deal all the way around. nice job twins, bill smith and joe crede. i hope crede gets his $7 mil.
Who goes to Rochester? Or gets DFA’d?
I agree with T and Big Dog. If Crede was willing to sign this contract it suggests he has a lot of confidence in his health. This is a very good sign, indeed!
Billy,
Treat yourself to a filet at Ruth’s Chris at Coconut Point tonite. Make sure you take Joe C out with you….
Just wanted to take the time to say to some that thought I was an idiot about the that 7million base being a white lie.
2.5 that is a steal. Very excited to be a Twins fan today. Also, this is probably some of the best off-season news we have heard for year.
Now we can get after Cruz too!!
Going into this season, it sounded like Crede wanted a rehab contract. So I doubt the Twins were able to secure an option on the contract…as Crede (and Boras) would want to hit the open market after this season.
With his recent issues, I don’t think Bonser has much value.
I was hoping to watch the Bucsh man and see what he could do at the plate…
But now, I get to watch an excellent defensive thirdbaseman hopeully hit for power.
His prescence will help protect Justin M., maybe move Joe to him to the 2nd and move delmon down to thebottom
Span
Joe M
Cuddy?
Justin
Crede
Kubel
Delmon
Cassia
Gomez
not bad
sorry for the missed spellin’
Krs33, “Power never, ever, ever in a million years makes up for a low OBP. Ever”
I don’t mean to pick on you, but that statement would only be true if the player had a 1.000 batting average. That’s not even close to reality in baseball. The subject has been studied and OBP is about 1.8 times more important than SLG.
So, although OBP is more important, at some point a high slugging average can overcome a player with a better OBP, but lower slugging numbers.
Great news !!
there were somany posters that complained the Twins could not deal with Boras.
So many complained about his bad back.
so many complained he would not be healthy.
complained like how much money he would get.
KRS33 is not a baseball fan by the earlier posting.hmmmmm.
Twins have plenty of guys to get on base….
It is always been HR and RBI’s they needed from a RH hitter.
We can another Allstar..performs well, he probably gets resigned for 2010…
Win Twins!!
Team to beat so far!!
wtf
terrible
sorry
Hard to find any fault with this deal at all. about a million less guaranteed than I was hoping to get him for.
I’m sure people will still find something to complain about, but it’s a solid pick up. Even if you happen to believe Crede is only a marginal upgrade over Harris at 3B, I think Harris is a pretty solid upgrade over Tolbert as the new utility guy and he’ll get plenty of plate appearances in that role.
Have to figure Macri is the guy dropped from the 40-man.
replace gomez with punto
I’ll never speak against OBP because it’s very important, but 1.) we can’t expect the Twins to hit over .300 wRISP again, so we need someone that can drive the ball and get some consistent RBIs, and 2.) I remember getting frustrated last year because our lineup would hit SINGLES the entire game, but this would give us someone who hit the gaps and sometimes hit it over the fence.
Oh, and his defense is better than Harris and Buscher (though Harris did a pretty good job at 3B last year).
Humber, Manship for Cruz
then- Punto, Perkins, draft pick for JJHardy
They could package a deal of Macri and Humber for Cruz and then no one would have to come off the 40 man roster.
then- Punto, Perkins, draft pick for JJHardy
Draft picks aren’t tradeable in baseball (at least what I know)
Not that your suggested package was even CLOSE to something that would land Crede.
One thing about Buscher… Crede actually has a HIGHER BA against RH pitchers than LH pitchers each of the last 3 years. It seems unlikely that the Twins would keep Buscher to platoon with Crede. It would be like sitting Mauer against LH pitchers. It may read that way in the book, but it’s not the reality with all players.
for some perspective, Mike Lamb was a lefthanded, avg. to below avg. defense who hit for less power in his career, and he got a 2yr 6 mil deal. Crede gives the lineup more balance and maybe more wins vs lefthanded pitching.
I agree with T.
With an agent like Boras, it is a GREAT sign that Crede feels so confident in his health to sign this deal…
If he is truly healthy, we should become the division
Yes!!!!!!!!!!! Now if we can get Cruz I think the Twins will have a great shot at winning the division, and perhaps even advancing in the playoffs. $2.5 mil plus incentives is a great deal. I have not been thrilled with BS or the FO this off season, but this looks like a job well done. No matter how Crede turns out this year, way to get it done Billy!
it may be it was the last offer on the table, take or leave it. leave it, how’d that work out for spree?
Lets see….who could the Twins dump off the 40 man roster to make room for Crede….
1. Ayala
2. Bonser
3. Guerrier
4. Jones
5. Neshek on the 60 day DL
6. Butera
7. Buscher
8. Macri
9. Punto
10. Cuddyer
11. Pridie
This is a $9.5 million deal, right? That’s a pretty HUGE FA splurge by the Twins. I’d say Boras did well by Crede–I didn’t think he’d get that much in this market. (Dunn$10mm, Abreu $5mm, Crede $9.5mm?)
Kay says:
February 21st, 2009 at 11:36 am
Yes!!!!!!!!!!! Now if we can get Cruz I think the Twins will have a great shot at winning the division, and perhaps even advancing in the playoffs. $2.5 mil plus incentives is a great deal. I have not been thrilled with BS or the FO this off season, but this looks like a job well done. No matter how Crede turns out this year, way to get it done Billy!
middle infield sucks, gomez and cuddyer are terrible, the back end of the rotation has nowhere to go but down, and they have the worst in game manager in baseball. if they are even lucky enough to make the playoffs, they will lose quickly and quietly in the first round.
Bill Smith is having a decent offseason after all, probably to the chagrin of the detractors. He waited Boras out and got a fair deal for player and team.
AM says:
February 21st, 2009 at 11:41 am
This is a $9.5 million deal, right? That’s a pretty HUGE FA splurge by the Twins. I’d say Boras did well by Crede–I didn’t think he’d get that much in this market. (Dunn$10mm, Abreu $5mm, Crede $9.5mm?)
only 9.5 if he makes it to bat 550 times. what are the odds of that. haha
To start the year:
Span
Casilla
Mauer
Morneau
Cuddy (or Crede)
Kubel
Crede (or Delmon)
Punto
Gomez
Bench:
Harris for any IF position
Cuddy/Delmon for OF
Redmond for C
Buscher for 3B or 1B?
Depends on how the OF situation shakes out. I’m quite confident that this move allows the Twins to carry 12 pitchers. If not, then add Tolbert?
Anreo got incentives, too, right?
Abreu.
this is Crede’s 7th full season in the Majors…to date, he’s only had over 500 ABs twice. There is a very good chance he never sees all that money.
People are looking at this deal from an offensive perspective which is fine. The guy has nice power from the right side of the plate. That is something we have all wanted. However, his defense alone is worth this money. He is a HUGE upgrade over both Harris and Butcher at 3rd.
I am very, very, very happy with this deal.
Abreu got 5M + 1M incentives
La Velle needs to sty onto of the Twins…
why did Chicago and SI report this first?
Guess I need to Bookmark the Chicago Trib
to find out about the Twins! Get off your butt LaVelle…get to work!
[…] Twins Insider – […]
Before popping the cork, check out how Crede has done over his career at the Metrodome. In 169 AB’s his line is .219/.242/.355. That’s a 597 OPS. Power? Just 5 HR and 17 RBI.
I think the lineup will look like this the majority of the time:
CF-Span
2B-Casilla
C-Mauer
1B-Morneau
3B-Crede
DH-Kubel/Young
RF-Cuddyer
SS-Punto
CF-Gomez
With injuries/matchups, we gotta think that their will be plenty of AB’s for the 5 outfielders + DHing. I think Delmon Young will be the odd man out, but that is a nice problem to have.
Edited - impostor
HGD–incentives are for PA, not AB.
He was intimidated by the carpet floor and pirahnas.
oh no! maybe smith isn’t the devil … what to complain about now?
Guru Dan,
How do you measure how good a team is?
Twins still have weaknesses, as does every team, but making the playoffs means a team is one of the top 4 in its League.
If winning the World Series is your only measure of success, there isn’t one team which is good, in your terms, entering a season.
I was asking for help at 3rd all off season and had given up hope. This was the perfect storm, well played Mr. Smith. Thank you so very much.
haha! nice one La Velle!
Now, where did I put that checkbook? I have to get those season tickets ordered.
La Velle,
You do a great job! BIG DEAL if he did not get the scoop. People have to understand that their is NO WAY that LaVelle and Joe C can get the first jump on every Twins breaking news event.
LaVelle scooped all of baseball on the Cruz/Type A work around.
So give him Kudos for that and get off his back!
If Guru Dan is correct with only 2 seasons of 500+ ABs, Twins may just be looking at a 3 man platoon at third in 2009.
Yahoo! 2.5, 1 hy guaranteed…where’s the bottom? Who cares! Good signing for the Twins. Good job BS and company!
Nice Job Mr. Smith but what have you done for me lately!
Get Cruz. LOL
HG Dan, perhaps you should stick to hockey.
I have been highly critical of the Twins FO this off season, but no matter how this turns out, this is a darned good signing.
I think the post is somewhat misleading:
“The Twins will sign Crede to one-year deal with a base salary of $2.5 million with the chance to earn $7 million in appearance bonuses. The bonuses begin once Crede reaches 250 plate appearances and tops out at $7 million when he makes his 525th plate appearance.”
It’s my impression that the max value is $7 million. I think if should have read, “…chance to earn $7 million with appearance bonuses.” I think most people are reading it as 2.5 plus another 7. If the max is 7 million with 525 PA, I can live with that especially considering what they gave Punto.
I’ve been critical of the Twins office the last two years but I’m happy to give them a thumbs up on this deal. Nice work.
Maybe this signing will give Smith a little more street cred
AWESOME!!!!!!
If two of these guys (Delmon/Cuddy/Crede)play up to their potential, this will be the best lineup we’ve had in quite some time.
I would think Tolbert’s days may be shorter as well, with the big club.
Great job, Mr. Smith; I’m assuming it’s a $2.5M base with incentives up to $7M.
Now, please, please don’t trade DY. He’s young (literally, too, by name) and hit .290. Don’t trade him. Wouldn’t it be better to platoon Cuddy and Kubel at DH, especially with Cuddy’s injury history?
what happens come august when crede is hitting .217 with an obp of .246 and 1 hr?
Hockey Guru Dan should probably stick to hockey. My guess is he writes that same email each spring, just changes the names.
Mickey Mental,
They we cough up 2.5 million and start thinking about Valencia.
I read it as incentives up to $9.5million.
LaVelle, which is it?
Its a sad day in Chicago. I will always treasure my World Series headline, “Say it is so, Joe!” He will always be remembered as a Chicago White Sox and a great player. I wish him good health.
Mickey. If Crede is hitting .217 and 1 hr then he is hurting himself just as much with this 1 yr deal. Are you putting him in the same category as Tony Bastista?
Jeez, Twins fans are awfully excited for signing someone whose reaction from me was “Who??”
Young isn’t going anywhere. He will get plenty of at bats in the outfield and as a DH. I suspect that Gardy will be rotating his outfielders quite a bit. Whoever is sitting at any giving time could also be called on to pinch hit. There will also be a few injuries as well. There will be plenty of at bats for all 5 outfielders.
Signing Crede should help A)stablize the infield defense and B)stablize the lineup and take pressure off Young.
When Delmon was brought in here, everyone (and I damn well mean EVERYONE) expected him to be a near-All-Star caliber player, one who would protect Morneau in the lineup. There was waaaaaaaaay too much pressure put on him. Now you can run Mauer-Morneau-Cuddyer-Crede-Young, and that’s a reasonably daunting lineup to face (no, it’s not Murderers Row, but it’s more formidable than Papercutters Row). If you remove one of Cuddyer/Crede/Young from the lineup on a given day and put Kubel or someone else in, there’s still a solid core there.
Great signing, Billy. Here’s hoping you can get Cruz and that these moves make the Twins a contender this year.
Win! Twins!
Why wouldn’t teams always be putting in AB or IP or games finished incentives, regardless of whether a player has an injury history? I’m guessing that is going to be a big trend going forward, especially in this economy.
[…] reported by SI.com’s Jon Heyman that the Twins and Joe Crede were close to an agreement, today LaVelle is calling it a done deal. He is saying that the Twins will announce this afternoon that they have signed 3B Joe Crede. The […]
If we get Cruz, Boof gets the boot.
AM, your right that would be the smart thing to do if it was a level playing field. NYY or Bos or MYM etc could come in and garentee the same total others are offering with incentives. If they held down there spending then it would work. If they discussed doing that it would be colusion, and they got caught doing that before.
You’re absolutely right Dennis IRO you 12:02 pm post.
Everyone talks about the Yanks 26 WS; however, 20 of them were won between 1920 and 1963. Since then, they’ve only won 6 and 4 of those came in a 5 year span.
Yes, it’d be great to win or at least play in the WS every year, but that’s foolish dream.
More realistic is to hope that come Sept. 15th of almost every year, the Twins have a realistic shot (i.e., if they play .600 ball the rest of the season and the teams(s) in front of them play just above or below .500 ball, then they’ll make the playoffs) at making the playoffs.
If the Twins make the playoffs on average once every 3 years with a WS appearance at least once a decade, again, on average, this also isn’t too unrealistic, but certainly is very optimistic.
Teams have to dump old ammo and reload from time-to-time, especially small-market teams, such as the Twins. So, we Twins fans should be be more than happy with the above-delineated chances.
The post by me was an impostor. I would never tell someone to blow me on this blog.
BTW the most Crede can make is $7 million. I’ll clarify that up top.
“JJackson says:
February 21st, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Its a sad day in Chicago. I will always treasure my World Series headline, “Say it is so, Joe!” He will always be remembered as a Chicago White Sox and a great player. I wish him good health.”
To quote McLovin’ from Superbad, “cry me a river.”
Assuming Crede has a good year & does not sign an extension because we all know who his agent is, there is even a good chance we could get a draft pick when he signs elsewhere! A win-win situation.
“La Velle says:
February 21st, 2009 at 12:36 pm
The post by me was an impostor. I would never tell someone to blow me on this blog.
BTW the most Crede can make is $7 million. I’ll clarify that up top.”
Damn LEN, I was just starting to like you
Midd89, that’s your IQ, right?
All McLovin’ quotes are insightful. Love it!
Why is Jason Kubel the odd man out here? I thought they guy stepped up last year. I think he could be a real force in the lineup. Unfortunately, and I like the guy, but I Cuddyer should be the odd man out.
To krs33 and the other OBP naysayers I’ve got one word for you …
Defense.
Think of Crede as a gold glove caliber 3rd baseman with 30 homer potential. There is no way in your wildest dreams that Crede isn’t an upgrade over a Buscher/Harris platoon.
He will also give Morneau some real protection as well. It sure would be nice to see him hit 30+ homers again. Crede’s bat could really help make that happen.
Crede is also a middle of the order type of guy, not a lead off hitter. Also, if he bats 5th he will have the two slowest runners on the team in front of him. I’m not sure how much OBP over power in that spot would help.
“midd89 says:
February 21st, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Jeez, Twins fans are awfully excited for signing someone whose reaction from me was ‘Who??’”
And you are “who” again?
I said earlier in the week when everyone was balking at Crede’s price tag that no such number could materialize unless a real market developed for him. The Giants already have a kid at AAA who they think is their 3rd baseman of the future, so they were never going all in for Crede. The Brewers signed Mike Lamb so they were never really in it. Ditto for the Reds. The Twins were the only team really interested in Crede. Bill Smith did a nice job here of not buckling into Scott Boras’ trap. In situations like this that guy usually creates a bunch of b.s. about a “mystery team” and gets teams to bid against themselves. Well, not this time.
Does anyone think that maybe Gomez doesn’t make the team out of spring training and starts in AAA?
That’s awesome. I really wish we could keep him around long-term though.
“Everyone talks about the Yanks 26 WS; however, 20 of them were won between 1920 and 1963. Since then, they’ve only won 6 and 4 of those came in a 5 year span.”
And they were juicing big time during those 5 years.
Thanks for the clarifications, LaVelle (on the impostor and the total numbers.) Both sound right–although you would have been justified for writing that, given some of the posts around here.
Crede problably wouldn’t sign a multi year deal knowing his value was down(back injury) and the baseball economy is also down somewhat.
Great News, especially since I was out snow blowing when I heard it on my headphones. Well done Bill Smith and co.!
So if other teams have interest in Cruz…do the twins have a 48 hour window to negotiate with the D-backs alone? or will they have other teams.
Gomez is not starting the season at AAA. He is one of the best defensive center fielders in the league.
Jeez, Twins fans are awfully excited for signing someone whose reaction from me was “Who??”
Any AL Central fan will know Joe Crede immediately…as he’s been a Chicago White Sox for a LOOOONG time.
Which makes you a troll.
sploorp
I agree. I think the only chance that Gomez starts the season at AAA is if he has an absolutely horrible spring.
“sploorp says:
February 21st, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Gomez is not starting the season at AAA. He is one of the best defensive center fielders in the league.”
Really? I’ll grant fast, and that he has potential. But did you see him at the plate last year?
> Midd89, that’s your IQ, right?
No, classy answer btw. Just can’t stand AL baseball, never heard of the guy.
> Any AL Central fan will know Joe Crede immediately…as he’s been a Chicago White Sox for a LOOOONG time.
Which I’m not.
> Which makes you a troll.
And you a name-caller. I’m making a simple observation.
“No, classy answer btw. Just can’t stand AL baseball, never heard of the guy.”
I don’t even have a snarky answer for that…just simply: wow.
That’s true, slploorp, at least as to Clemens and Pettitte. I’m a 3rd generation Yankee hater with grand kids who are 5th generation Yankee haters (and all generations were and are Twins fans), but…with exceptions listed about, I don’t believe that any of the other Yanks were using PEDs. As much as I hate the Yanks (notwithstanding that I’m in a group that shares in Yanks season tix), that was a team with hardnosed ball players (O’Neill, Brosius, Jeter, Posada, Giraldi, Williams, Martinez, & etc.).
“Just can’t stand AL baseball, never heard of the guy.”
midd89, just out of curiosity, based on your comment above, why are you interested in this blog?
Damaged Goods. I have watched Crede since his career began. A White Sox fan favorite and world series hero, but there is a reason a All-Star went for only 2.5 million, w/ incentives. He has sat out more games than he has played the last two years. His fielding style, lots of amazing dives, but put alot of pressure on his already bad back. Add that w/ the hard metrodome field, a bad combination. There is no way Sox GM Williams would have let him go if he could still play. If he miraculously stays healthy, it is a great move, but I don’t see it. He is below average when he tried to play hurt the last two seasons.
Question: if you cannot stand AL baseball, then why are you posting on a board that discusses an AL TEAM?
Calm down, midd89; you’re very defensive about your IQ. I didn’t say that your IQ was 89, I asked you if it were 89 and you gave the classic example of a defensive answer.
So, are you thinned skinned, too?
Question: if you cannot stand AL baseball, then why are you posting on a board that discusses an AL TEAM?
Not only an AL Team. But an AL team signing an AL player that I do believe has NEVER been anywhere BUT the AL.
midd89, just out of curiosity, based on your comment above, why are you interested in this blog?
Never try to reason with a troll.
what do we call him?? JC???? we already have the chosen one in mauer….oh well its all good…..i hope he makes every cent of tht 7 million
midd89 - you have to admit that coming on here and knocking the Twins for the signing, then admitting you don’t know of the guy (who was an all-star… I think that game usually makes the news) is probably not going to garner a lot of positive feedback in the credibility department …
Cruz?
Anything new?
I want info and I want it now!
Great signing! Go twins!!! Nice work LEN.
Congrats to Bill Smith and Co. on sticking to their guns and signing a guy with a ton of potential for performance and doing it without risk of gross overpayment.
Great deal with Crede and Punto on that side very good range. Crede will give a threat behind Morneau thats been lacking.
SPAN
CASTILLA
MAUER
MORNEAU
CREDE
KUBEL
YOUNG/CUDDY
GOMEZ
PUNTO/HARRIS
As excited as I am about the Crede signing, I am also very curious to see what further moves this signing might signal before opening day. Let’s hope that spring training goes well for all, and increases the marketability of players that could help us make further acquisitions!
The “sign and trade” is a little misleading. It should really be called an “in lieu of” deal. As in the team that signs Cruz can trade players to Arizona “in lieu” of losing their 1st round pick.
The sign and trade part comes into effect only after the player agrees to a deal. Then, Arizona signs the player to the deal that the signing team makes. The two teams then have 48 hours to complete a trade.
Since the players the Twins would have to give up would affect how much they would pay Cruz, I’m guessing that the Twins have already been talking to Arizona and have a good idea who is going.
I’m also thinking that it’s more than a coincidence that a Cruz offer is happening at the same time Crede gets signed. I’m thinking that part of the appeal is they can get some value for a player or two that they would probably otherwise lose on the waiver wire.
As far as the players the Twins might give up …
I’m guessing Humber and either Macri or possibly another lesser pitcher.
When did we get Vinny Castilla?
Bill Smith makes a good deal and all of a sudden, he is a hero. You guys flop more than politicians.
[…] weeks of back and forth contract talks, the Minnesota Twins and free agent third basemen Joe Crede have finally agreed on a deal. The Twins will sign Crede to one-year deal with a base salary of $2.5 million with the chance to […]
will the press conference be on fsn
Winter just got a bit longer…I cannot wait for spring and the season to start, now!
Great job Mr. Smith and team.
this shows what a jack a$$ boras is as an agent….and an idiot.
once again the twins have a world champion on the field…that’s the closest sniff of a ring twins fans are going to get any time soon.
forget about Juan Cruz, sign Tim Hayes.
Ben: in the spirit or signing decrepit has-beens, the Twins FO extended a 3 million dollar guaranteed deal to Vinny Castilla.
Where have you been????
I don’t know why people are so determined to get Juan Cruz. Dennys Reyes has comparable stats.
As for the 40 man roster, whoever Crede (and Cruz if signed)replace, it will be an upgrade. Just something to think about!
The thing about Smith is that he seems more willing to take a chance then the previous GM. May not have worked so well with Young/Garza, but hindsight always knows best!
I should add that they (the Twins FO) are hoping Castilla repeats his mid-90’s offensive production that helped him become one of the “Blake Street Bombers” in thin-aired Denver.
span / cuddyer rf
casilla / harris 2b
mauer / redmond c
morneau / buscher / cuddyer 1b
crede/ buscher 3b
kubel/ cuddyer dh
young/ lf
punto/ harris ss
gomez/ span cf
and if gardy is lucky enough to go with only 11 pitchers, add tolbert to the mix unless mauer is weak and a 3rd catcher as morales is needed–this is the way i see this working out and i hope its enough - it seems as stout a lineup as the twins have put out to open a season in a long time….
“Bill Smith makes a good deal and all of a sudden, he is a hero. You guys flop more than politicians.”
Jeff in LV, I don’t know for sure who you are accusing of flopping. My take on BS since I started blogging here over a year ago is that people/other bloggers have been too quick to judge whether or not he’s doing a good job. Thus far, I am satisfied with job BS has done. Not ecstatic, but certainly not disappointed. His body of worked should be judged over a greater length of time and results IMHO.That said, I am very excited about the Crede signing today!
Jeff in LV, one more thing. I was in Las Vegas earlier this month for the first time. Had a great time while attending my daughters wedding out there.
Don’t see any negatives to this deal. Got a lot of guys on this team that have the potential to be very good or very bad (Cuddyer, Delmon, CREDE) but if everybody’s clicking the Central will be the Twins’ division to lose. Thank god I don’t have to watch Buscher boot grounders this year…..
MJ, I thought Span is going to be the starting LF. Gomez/CF and Cuddyer/RF?
I’m satisifed with Billy Smith and the job he’s done, I love watching the Twins being a contender for 2nd place. 
I think we’ll see Harris at short at times, but I don’t think you will see him a second much. Punto will play there id Casilla is out and Harris will play short, where he does better. My guess is Harris and Cuddyer will backup Justin at first.
LOL at Debby Downer’s comment
Now I’m 5th on the 3B depth chart.
Buscher will back-up 1st.
So is this going to be an actual press conference with a jersey and everything? I haven’t seen the Twins do that before, I know some other teams such as the Yankees do it with every trade, signing, etc.
Yeah, I think Buscher and Harris will see some good time off the bench. This will really hurt Tolbert I think.
All you people who think there’s a log jam with all of our OF. If there were a rotation of every fifth day one of the five out fielders sat then they would all still play in 129 games! There is no jam! We are blessed with a sh*t ton of talent.
When Gomez sits Span plays center.
When Span sits Gomez leads off.
When Cuddy sits Young, Span, or Kubel can play RF.
When Young sits things will be as we expect for opening day.
When Kubel sits Young can DH.
Hello lonesome blogger-contributors!! I had dropped out of Twins blogging because I was disheartened over the 3rd base situation.
Now I’m in the process of clearing my calendar for this Summer for the Twins’ run at the WS.
I’m sure my contributions will make the difference. God! I’m important……
Gotta work this weekend. But a hale and hearty “Hello!” to GM Smith and the boys.
And THANKS!!
Later…..
romer
Dam right it’s better than yours.
I could teach you, but I’d have to charge.
I love this signing!
BTW, I also find it amusing when some of you give two shats about how much we’re paying for a player. There is NO salary cap in baseball. WTF do you care how much a player costs if he improves the team?? Some people must love playing fantasy GM…
Reliever Juan Cruz is now drawing interest from a few other teams
fastballs that average 95 mph and reach 98-99 are hard to find… no wonder. Smith better move fast on that one…
Just updated this post….
Foxsports.com has the Twins winning the central this year, and ranked #10 in the bigs.
Macri survives another day. Do you know if it’ll still be sometime today or tomorrow now?
“Juan Cruz update; Reliever Juan Cruz is now drawing interest from a few other teams. Indications are that Cruz and his agent will try to get a deal agreed upon in the next few days because up to another 48 hours would be needed for the team and the D-Backs to work out a trade.”
So, Cruz is going to work out a deal with Dbacks FIRST then work out a trade with…?
I think what happens is Cruz agrees to a deal with a team of his choosing. Then the contract is actually signed by the D-Backs and traded away to the team he chose.
La Velle,
I thought that there was no DL before the season… is that another rule change this year?
LaVelle,
You should get some “higher-ups” to make your comments appear in a different color.
Maybe the DL starts with the first full-team workout (today)?
Crede’s back is not going to make it through the season. The White Sox would have signed him if he was healthy. Crede goes on the DL as usual by June. Cleveland, K.C. And the Sox battle it out. Twins and Detroit battle for the cellar.
Glad the Crede deal is done.
If you haven’t read the new 2009 Baseball Prospectus chapter on the Twins, do. BP is a great baseball book, for the casual or serious fan.
GREAT move by the Twins. At 2.5 million, it’s a no-brainer. Might have been even better had they gotten an option for another, but oh well. Now, let’s hope he’s healthy. But it’s a risk worth taking. I wonder if this will allow Mauer to move up into the #2? Or if Casilla stays there?
Okay, based on what I read, it sounded like the Twins and D-Backs were working on trade for Cruz; no mention of other teams…but I could have been mistaken. No hubris here…
4 day 4hours and 4 minutes till the butt kickin begins.
I am happy. I said 2 mill plus incentives when this all started. If he wanted more I was happy with Harris at third. Good signing.
What time in the news conference? 3 central time or 3 eastern time (FL)
Bobby V. has Herpes.
Now it’s totally offical:
Glad the Twins will have power on the corners! When was the last time we had a 1B and a 3B hit 20+ HR’s in the same season? 1987? 88?
When was the last time we had a 1B and a 3B hit 20+ HR’s in the same season? 1987? 88?
2004
Koskie 25
Mient 5, Morneau 19
[…] to La Velle E. Neal III the Joe Crede signing is a done deal. The Twins and Crede danced around one another for about two months and seemed to reach an impasse […]
Gotta admit that I’m really impressed with this. I’m terrified of Crede’s health but for 2.5M this deal has phenomenal updside without really putting anything on the table. Very Terry Ryan’esque….that’s a compliment. Hey LaVelle, how are you feeling about our SS situation? I’m not comfortable at all.
That doesn’t count Thrylos
It was 1988.
will Joe Crede press be on the mlbn because i know that they said they are going to cover ken griffey JR press 2t 2:30ct
It depends on when it is I suppose. I’m not sure it’ll be today if he is having flight issues.
Bobby V. says:
February 21st, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Crede’s back is not going to make it through the season. The White Sox would have signed him if he was healthy. Crede goes on the DL as usual by June. Cleveland, K.C. And the Sox battle it out. Twins and Detroit battle for the cellar
dude whitesox have Josh Fields at 3rdbase
Maybe, just maybe Smith knew what he was doing all along. If(I know its a big if), but if, they can get Cruz they will have upgraded 3rd and bullpen while still keeping overall depth/talent intact.
I do wonder however, since it was a guarantee that Neshek go on the DL, why they didn’t do so when they signed Ayala? At the time they didn’t ‘know’ that they were going to sign Crede so they could have signed Ayala while still keeping Korecky.
[…] Twins Insider – […]
mike wants wins says: at 11:19 am
“LaVelle, I cannot believe people were busting on you last night. It’s good you have a life, and it’s good you wait until you have actual data to post an article/blog.”
MWW - YOU dont have a life. i’m sure lavelle is relieved YOU are supporting him. how do YOU know Chicago paper didnt have “actual data” to post? they were right. looks like they just beat everyone to the fact. idiot, just shut up!
Big Jimmy,
I appreciate your 12:27 comment pertaining to reduced pressure for D.Young.
Crede’s presence probably means that both Tolbert and Buscher will spend time in AAA… it also means extra clog at Rochester for 3B & 2B (unless Macri gets picked up by someone else).
This is what Crede brings baby…
Pete,
Remember that clip when he hits 14-18 HR IF he’s healthy.
Then we can dream what might have been.
Regards,
Wow….that .306 career average looks great! Oh wait….thats his On Base Percentage….never mind. LOL
Great glove though and that’s more important to the Twins if he’s not a fragile little flower playing on the rug.
Gee ONLY?? 7 Million The whole usa is in the dumpster and everyone is saying only 7 Million What a world.
Dragon you’re a downer just like soccer…
You scared me la velle! crede and DL in the same sentence!
LEN-
I hope you didn’t wake up in tears this morning from all the crap you had to take last night. Howard posted that he thinks Crede will bat 7th. What do you think?
Pete,
Since in the game posts there is alot of inane hatred, I an going to hold Crede to the following line. .230BA, 75 Games played and 14 HR’s.
Regards,
Good one Dragon. This is funny, check it out, VIVA LA CREDE:
Dragon
that .230 BA is quite a low estimate. .250-260 is more fair.
We FINALLY have a right handed POWER HITTER. Joe C. has averaged on LONG BALL for every 22 at bats over his career. Morneau is averaging one for every 20 at bats, and Kubel one for every 27 at bats. Looking forward to a litle more POP in our bats this season!!
Finally, you’re right. And it IS a six and half year career.
Crede is a wondeful addition and if Cruz happens to fall in our lap so much the better. Plus……..we still have Young to deal for a SP cause Perkins will break down before the season is half over. Now the weak link is Punto at SS.
i know its beside the point but i like the fact that players arent getting the bizzare contracts they want. the money is better elsewhere in the economy and better away from baseball
excuse me away from the players i dont have a problem with fans going to games
Hey Twinky fans,
Your Twinkies will fare even worse this season and even Gardenhire (good manager IMO) cannot save em but to eat em (twinkies, get my joke, wink wink).
Here is an excellent suggestion for you is reject your Twinkies and to plead your undying loyalty to the Detroit Tigers.
GO TIGERS 2009 AL CENTRAL DIVISION CHAMPS & 2009 AL PENNANT WINNERS & 2009 WORLD SERIES CHAMPS.
Has anyone seen if Cuddy is taking any ground balls @ 1st or 3rd in ST? If we have a “rotation” of outfielders, Cuddy could also get some time in @ 1st & in a pinch @ 3rd. Don’t trade any of our 5 outfielders. That depth is a strength, especially when you KNOW one of them will get injured at some point!
About F-ING TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey Tigers>Twinkies, you should probably be more worried about trying to pass Royals for 4th place. Royals look improved, Tigers look 1 year older & slower.
The Tigers are going to be great this year, ever heard of a little SS named Adam Everett?
Tigers older & slower & “unjuiced”.
All the Crede haters on here are either gay or Sox fans…
Crede: This year’s Livan Hernandez.
I wonder if in my lifetime I will ever see the Twins sign someone who isn’t an injured has-been.
Someone needs to tell Billy Smith Spring Training has started and he needs to get the BP situation addressed now.
All the Crede haters on here are either gay or Sox fans…
…”or”?
*runs*
Oh, and agreed. Crede is signed and suddenly 30-50 never before seen users pop and start whining.
They REALLY need mandatory registration to post here. It would at least give the Strib a means to clean up the trolls.
You guys make me laugh! I suggested back in November that Crede should be the focus of the Twins offseason and everyone said that was idiotic. Well looks like everyone is pretty happy now. 3rd base has been one of our weakest positions since Koskie left and if Crede can stay healthy he is a top 10-12 3rd baseman. I wish that we could have gotten an ‘10 option year at like $7.5 mil with like a $1 mil buyout. I think that he will fit in great with this club. He will mesh well with Mauer, Morneau and Cuddy.
Over/under for the date Crede goes on DL or is released:
June 13
Hey Pete,
Get the GF on the phone.. I got a name for you … Escobar???
Haha!
Come and get on the Detroit Tigers 2009 bandwagon.
HAIL TO DETROIT TIGERS!
Nathan shall blown not one, not two, not three but four saves and four losses to the Tigers in 2009.
HAIL TO DETROIT TIGERS!
Come visit thess websites: http://www.detroittigers.com
http://www.detroittigersweblog.com
http://www.whytigers>twins.com
Jeff… Interesting…
Yup…you read it hear first. The signing of Joe Crede automatically makes the Twins favorites to win the AL Central!! Woooo Hooooo!!
Remember me?! Joe Crede is the 2nd coming of ME!!!!
We clearly are the favorites in the AL Central right now. I am not understanding why people seem to like the Indians because we are a much more talented club. Their plus players (Hafner, Sizemore, Martinez, Lee) are matched and eclipsed by ours (Morneau, Span/Gomez, Mauer, Liriano). The White Sox are a worse club than last year and are very short on pitching. Not to mention the weapons that they are relying on for offense are getting old fast (Thome, Konerko, Dye). The team that scares me is the Tigers. Everyone seems to forget about everyone predicting them to annihilate everyone last year. Well they still have all that talent and if they can get healthy seasons out of Cabrera, Verlander, Bonderman and Zumaya this is still a more talented club than ours. I think that we have more depth especially with our pitching, but if all are healthy their offensive weapons are still very dangerous.
Tigers will choke just like last year.
Hey we have a new website out that all Tigers fans should see. It basically outlines how to build a last place club with a $140 million dollar payroll.
http://www.expensivelosers.com
Just firing back right at ya.
HAIL TO THE TIGERS!
LEN has a new post up, comments about Crede and he’s on his way (again) to Florida.
Tigers>Twinkies - ZZZZzzzzzzzz
Hey Pete,
Is it still 50-50 today or is she off today and not getting those updates??
That said Tigers>Twins, the Twins will still win the division because we have more depth and I don’t think that the Tigers will stay healthy. I think that it is far more likely that we get productive injury free seasons out of Morneau, Mauer and Cuddyer than the Tigers do out of Ordonez, Cabrera and Sheffield.
Crede = :-)!!
A STEAL a 2.5 mil F U BORAS. This was played perfectly by the Twins, they waited him out and they got him for what about he was worth at this point. For all the Smith bashing he deserves credit for this big time. If Crede can play a full season we have a great chance to win this division and maybe do some damgae in the playoffs.
Yup, the Twins are a well run organization and of course, the Tigers had to resort to “stealing” Knapp from them.
I always have admired the Twins for the way it was run for awhile, however, I could not resist in trying to convert you all into Tiger fans cuz I felt that all of you might be able to help out Tigers out instead of worrying over the low budgeted Twinkies (See the Crede article).
I prefer the Twinkies over the Wahoos and Black Sox.
Awesome!! I knew this would happen and I knew Crede would take less then the $5-7 million Bora’s was asking. With that said I wouldn’t start planing for an ALCS just yet. We may be in a dog fight in the Central as Cleveland has improved, Chicago is always tough and I just do not see Detroit sucking two years in a row, not with the talent they have. We still need our young starting pitching to improve, we will need Span, Casilla and Gomez to improve and then there is our middle relief. But with that said, the signing of Crede is great news! If Crede stays healthy and puts up numbers like he did in 2006….watch out for the Twins.
Moving Neshek to make room for Crede is another great move by the Twins I had forgotten he was still on the 40 man roster. People were speculating on who would be moved and if Buscher would be sent back or even if he had options left, yet by making an obvious and inevitable move they kkep their roster intact.
Great job getting Crede at a very reasonable price and getting Ayala with a non-guaranteed contract. Now let’s see the price for Cruz! If we can get him, I like our chances against ANYBODY! Crede will like playing for Gardy! Hopefully he’ll EASE him in and we still have a pretty good plan B with Buscher and Harris.
Everyone is in love with Bill Smith for the Crede deal. Tough job when the only other team even remotely interested in him was the Giants and they were very lukewarm. All the guys here giving man love to Smith are forgetting all about his horrible acquisitions last year, the bad trades, the fact he dozed through the winter meetings, etc.
Pathetic…
[…] 102 games against the Twins during the past nine seasons Crede has decided to join the enemy, signing an incentive-laden one-year contract Saturday. Over the past couple months there have been countless reports about Crede asking for more […]
Again,
posters here who hate the signing, critize the Twins, I told you sos, know Back injuries,
Please keep off. don”t want to name you out but enough is enough.
u really can’t be Twins fans!
just disgruntled people in life in general.
Win Twins!
Good Deal…Get the relievers now!!! Get Cuddyer producing offensively!!! I sure hope Mauer is healthy and ready for a full year!!!
Patience,patience and more patience is what Mr. Smith showed this winter. You could only have that much patience if you really did believe in the team you already had.
He knew that Harris/Buscher would work out ok at 3rd, so he was able to stick by his guns. I don’t think he knew that prices would drop as much as they have. Who could have? I mean, compare these $ to the Blake deal. I know, its only 1 year, but that 1 year might give the Twins an edge on keeping him longer, if he really is able to stay healthy and play to a high level.
By the way, some of you need to fess up to your past blogs regarding Smith and admit how wrong you were to yourselves.
This could be a grand slam!!!
HAVE FUN !!! GO TWINS !!!
Cruz deal just CREDE almost done.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/cactus/articles/2009/02/21/20090221dbnotes0222.html
