also available at www.SethSpeaks.net –
With the decision to tender a contract to each of the necessary players and signing Pat Neshek and Jason Repko, there is little more to say, so today, here are some links:
- Adam Dunn signed a four year, $56 million contract with the White Sox. After rumors said that AJ Pierzynski was about to sign with the Blue Jays, he re-upped with the White Sox for two years and $8 million. The team is also still trying to bring back Paul Konerko. Dunn can hit home runs and draw walks and strike out. He will take care of some position. He and Konerko are both old but solid hitters who can’t play any defense. AJ is AJ. I know some think this is some sort of difference-making deal, but there is still a lot of offseason remaining. Dunn definitely helps the White Sox, but what would he have done for the Twins? How would he have helped the Twins beat the Yankees in the playoffs against Sabathia, Price, Lee, Pettitte, Wilson, etc?
- With last night’s deadline for tendering contracts, there are suddenly a ton of bullpen options available to the Twins. Left-handed options include Hideki Okajima, George Sherrill, Andrew Miller and Ryan Rowland-Smith. Okajima could help on a couple of counts. First, he is a pretty good lefty-reliever to team with Jose Mijares. However, he also could help mentor Tsuyoshi Nishioka through his early struggles culturally in the States, if he has any. Could be a good situation.
- There are some interesting right-handers as well. Dustin Moseley made some spot starts for the Yankees. Joel Peralta had a 2.02 ERA, struck out a batter an inning and walked less than two per nine innings. He’s a fly ball pitcher, but that wouldn’t hurt in Target Field. I am very intrigued by Jose Veras, the Marlins reliever who throws an average of 94.4 mph on his fastball, but does walk a few.
- Last year, the running joke was that the Twins wanted a RH hitting DH/OF/PH option and ended up with Jim Thome. This year, a great option that fits those needs became available with Matt Diaz was non-tendered by the Braves. He has beaten up left-handed pitching throughout his career. So while Jim Thome’s agent says that he is going to play in 2011 and the Twins could be a team he plays for, Matt Diaz is a better fit. In 2010, he hit .273/.318/.512 against left-handers. Over his career, he has hit .335/.373/.533 against southpaws.
- If you want a speedier outfield, how about Tony Gwynn, Jr. He does a great job in CF. Lastings Milledge has been an enigma since he was drafted, but does have talent.
- Trent Oeltjen was non-tendered by the Dodgers. I was always a fan.
- David Winfree signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks.
- The Royals have apparently indicated that they will not trade Zach Greinke within the AL Central, and that’s fine. They were already asking for the world. Ed Thoma, the Baseball Outsider and a great writer for the Mankato Free Press, wrote about the Philosophy of trading within your division.
- Aaron Gleeman wrote about the Twins tendering contracts to all nine of their arbitration-eligibles.
- Roger Dehring posted his annual position player rankings over at Twinkie Town. I’m sure you all know who came out at #1, but there are plenty of surprises through his list of one through eighty-nine.
- Jeff A from the WGOM posts frequent Tigres Tales to let people know how Twins prospects are doing down in Venezuela, playing for Aragua.
- Parker from Over the Baggy asks Will Thome be Back?
- Several Twins bloggers asked, and then answered, the question, “What is the most important position in baseball?” Here are some of the responses:
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- From K-Bro.
- From Andrew at Twins Target.
- From Andrew of Off the Mark.
- From NoDak Twins Fan.
- From The Platoon Advantage.
- From Capital Babs and from Jim Crikket at Knuckleballs.
- Jim Crikket of Knuckleballs wrote about several Twins topics in an article called Twins: Foreign/Domestic, New/Old, Friend/Foe.
- The NoDak Twins Fan reports that Twins Zubaz are back!! He also compared the mega-contracts of Troy Tulowitzki and Joe Mauer.
- And here is a new Twins blog worth checking out and bookmarking. It’s called Twins Takes.
- If you happen to be looking for our Week 13 picks, click here.
What else is going on with the Twins or any Twins-related updates? Please feel free to use the Comments to discuss Twins topics (again, nicely, please), and if you have other stories on the Twins throughout the weekend, be sure to link to them there as well.
SethSpeaks.net 
Fantastic update Seth. You’re right; the Twins now have a plethora of interesting and viable options available supplement the club.
I agree that Okajima and Diaz would be great gets but I’d want to see the Twins take a flier on Sherrill. He had an abysmal season with the Dodgers, but he has talent and is only a year or so removed from complete domination of left handed batters.
I am not impressed with the Sox signing of Dunn unless they re-sign Konerko. If they don’t re-sign Konerko, to me it’s a push. They are just replacing one guy with a lefthanded, heavier and slightly younger version of the same guy, but with probably worse defense. If they do re-sign Konerko, then it’s a different story. It’s definitely an upgrade over Kotsay.
I’d also like to see Okajima with the Twins. And Milledge would be an interesting guy to have on the bench for depth.
imo milledge would make a lot of sense. his #’s were close to what span had last yr. hits lefties decent could get playing time in left or right when a lefty is pitching then dy or cuddles can dh, has some speed and can play center if needed. would make more sense than repko, much better bat.
The question I keep asking myself, but I would prefer asking someone with answers:…Why is Kyle Waldrop not protected on the 40 man roster?..He was 5-3, 2.57 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP in AAA last year…..Among the LESS DESERVING WHO ARE ACTUALLY ON THE 40_MAN ROSTER…Glen Perkins..WHIP=1.58;..Anthony Swarzak..WHIP=1.62;..Eric Hacker..WHIP=1.47;..and Rob Delaney..WHIP=1.31…Waldrop must have run over a dog owned by someone in the Twins Front Office..The other thing I like about Waldrop is that his control was good enough to walk only 20 batters in 87.2 innings, yet he hit seven batters in those 87.2 innings….He obviously was not afraid to pitch inside.. Despite this, the Twins may lose him in the Rule V draft next week….He was not protected even though the Twins now have only 37 players protected on the 40-man-roster…..Hard to understand their thinking.
Once a player is on the roster, he has to pass through waivers to be removed. That means any team can have him for the waiver price and, unlike rule 5 draftees, they don’t need to keep him on the roster. They can option him to the minor leagues.
With the exception of Hacker, all the other players you names were already on the major league roster. Apparently a roster spot was the price the Twins paid for signing Hacker as a free agent.
All that said, I also think the Twins don’t expect Waldrop to be taken in the draft. So you may be overestimating him.
His upside looks like a back of the bullpen guy. Most teams have several guys with that potential already in their systems.
Waldrop fell off toward the end of the season and he did not do all that well in the Arizona Fall League. He is no more likely than others to be ready to help immediately next spring.
Well, when they sign the Japanese guy, that gets them to 38. Then they sign 2 middle relievers, they are at 40. Frankly, I’d love it if they bagged up some of these fringe guys and traded depth for quality, but I don’t see that happening. As it is, they still need a DH/1B potentially, maybe a starter, and certainly a couple of middle relievers. They need that space on the 40 man roster.
Great update…Looks like you have targeted key players who would look good in Twins uniforms..
Veras, we could use heat in the pen…
Hi Seth, Diaz could be a very nice fit. He’ll certainly cost less than Thome. Do you the Twins signing 2 reliever’s? Fuentes & Guerrier would sure be nice on 1 year deals.