I very much doubt Pavano will actually go to arbitration. Both he and the team would be better off with incentives added to a modest base ($4-5M) and perhaps a vesting option for maybe 180 innings.

I really believe that the Twins are done making major acquisitions this off-season. Unless they don’t believe at all in Valencia, I see them rolling with the same prospect/suspects at second and third. I doubt they add another starter.

The success of this off-season now (and always has) hinged on whether the Twins can sign Joe Mauer to an extension to his contract.

He hasn’t played yet. He reports on Thursday.

http://www.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=l133&t=t_ros&cid=688

I seriously doubt the Twins are done. There’s a lot of work to be done and two infield holes, one of which should probably be filled and not necessarily by anyone within the organization.

Roger is also right about the excess, and it’s something I mentioned last night too. The Twins can package some young, cheap and mid-to-bottom rotation talent for somebody, and maybe it can help them with an outfielder who can play all three positions. I don’t know. But there’s zero reason to stand pat on December 8th, and I seriously doubt that’s what the front office would be thinking at this point as well.

We still have a young starting rotation and he can still serve as a mentor and (if healthy) be an affordable option to help fill out the rotation.

Im hoping that it’s a reasonable deal and we don’t get taken for a ride. We need to save some money to get a deal done with someone like Orlando Hudson.

I suspect that signing Pavano was a pleasant surprise for the front office, and it should open up other opportunities for trading. I believe that the twins have a well respected organization, especially when it comes to developing pitching talent. The problem in the past is that there have been so many question marks about the rotation. Adding Pavano provides another lock in the starting five. Between Perkins, Duensing, Swarzak, Manship, Cisco, and other younger talent, the twins may be able to fill some more holes.

I agree that Church would be an ideal 4th OF and probably would get at leat 350 PAs. I believe he makes mid-range money, though, and I doubt the Twins will spend for that.

I feel like in past years there were more updates and more rumors. But I guess the information we are getting now is from valid sources LEN3 and their otherwise isn’t much going on that is Twins related

There have been zero Twins-related rumors this off-season. Add that with uncertainly around an already full rotation, Valencia possibly being ready to take on third base and Punto not being a bad fit for second base…and what we get is a situation where yeah, we’d prefer the Twins to keep moving, but there aren’t any really big obvious gaps. Third base and shortstop were both hot tickets this time last year, but this time around there isn’t as much buzz.

Twins FO = vow of silence.

really? When did the Twins move to England?

It also summarizes what I’ve been saying to a lot of friends who are big-market-team fans: at the end of the day, the Twins are as good a bet as any to get to the postseason. Because of that, if we can offer non-insulting salaries, we’ll always be a draw for real competitors. No, we won’t get many who are only in it for the biggest payday, but honestly, who wants someone like that in the best clubhouse in baseball?

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/12/yanks-tigers-dbacks-discussed-blockbuster.html

talking to the Giants about Kouz?! Giants already has a 3B, and a good one!

Adrian Beltre. Thanks.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/12/peter-gammons-to-leave-espn.html

they say he wants 10 mil a year in multi year

just sign orlando hudson and move punto to 3rd or resign crede for 2 mil and if crede and or punto dont work then in the summer call up the kid

what about signing mike cameron and moving span to left and having delmon on the bench that improves offense defense and our bench and we could possibly trade young

spend 2 mil on crede and let punto play 2nd…no matter how much everyone complains punto will be playing 2nd or 3rd next year and if we get another player its really not that bad to have him batting 9th with above average defense

would you rather have punto young and kouz or cameron crede and punto

but I am not giving up hope on more. Isn’t that what the offseason is all about?

our offense is not bad we were like 4th in runs last year we have no speed right now our outfield D has taken a big hit with gomez gone. Cuddy had a good arm but not much range and young has no idea whats going on out there

he came in towards the end of games…do you remember spans diving catch in right to save the season last year he wont be there next year

i read somewhere that gomez was the 2nd best defender in runs saved last year….lol i cant remember where so i got really no source but i did see it

im just worried a little that right now the only people on the team with above average speed is punto and span

gomez had more putouts the young did last year

I dont want to pay for a career year

would be a nice number 2 hitter if we can get him for 4 mil or so… thats probably a better option than signing hudson for 8-10 or trading for kouz

This is an honest question: would the Twins be able to get anything of value from him?

but if we trade for kouz that means we are pretty much done this offseason, we may add another pitcher but punto will be a starter next year which is why i dont want kouz

if we trade for kouz that just means punto plays 2nd base next year so there arent many moves left except signing mauer and maybe trying to get harden or sheets

we give up a player on the roster, so it doesnt change how much room there is. Also, wouldnt signing Harden or Sheets count as another move and not being done? If you want a top of the rotation guy you better hope they find a player cheap to fill the infield role.

we wont make anymore moves other than maybe signing a pitcher…i would just rather have a lopez or hudson then kouz.. its not that i dont like kouz its just we cant get him and a 2nd baseman even if it makes sense it wont happen because of punto

kouzman of crede?

it makes more sense to me to sign crede for 2 mil who is better in my mind that kouz especially on D, and save perkins and maybe try and upgrade outfield with what was said above with dejeus and if crede doesnt work out the bring up the kid

i would just rather have crede and save some young arms for a different trade maybe a pitcher

first the Twins lose naked batting practice and now they lose their Boof… that’s a rough week.

do you think they are asking for?

thank you i have said that since day 1

So he has a little pop. I’d rather have a solid hitter then a little pop and over 100k’s

Trade Perkins and Harris to SD for Kevin Kouzmanoff

Sign Felipe Lopez (3 years, $12 million total)

Trade Jeff Manship + lower tier prospect to KC for David Dejesus

Sign Rich Harden (2 years, 12 million total)

Morneau, Lopez, Hardy, Kouzmanoff

Cuddyer, Span, Young, Kubel, Dejesus

Harden, Baker, Slowey, Pavano, Blackburn

chances of happening?: 1-1000
do I want it to happen: God yes!

punto is like a minny m and mn boy and they will never get rid of him

so the Padres turned down a Perkins – Kouzmanoff trade. How about they package Boof and Perkins for Kouz? Might as well make some use of the Boof DFA.

Not much talk here about Orlando Hudson. I would much rather see us sign him over Lopez if we are going the 2B route.

i heard he can get 8-10 million range and we can get lopez for 4 million

He’s tought to project, because you have to adjust for Petco, and adjust for switching leagues. Doing the best I could with all of that, I came up with this line for him in a neutral park in the AL.

.282/.323/.466, or about 5 runs above average. I’d also project him to be about 5 runs better than an average 3b on defense, so with position adjustment he’d be about 3.25 WAR mark.

For reference, CHONE has Beltre at .270/.320/.446, or almost exactly league average. This should all ready be adjusted for neutral park since he’s a free agent. He is a better defender than Kouz, probably about 12 runs above average. Putting that together, I’d put him right around 3.5 WAR.

Kouzmanoff will probably make 12-15 mil over the next three years, none of which are guaranteed, so very little risk is involved.

Beltre will probably end up making around 25-30 mil for 3 years, each of which would be guaranteed. He’s also leaving his prime age, which means I’d expect some sort of decline over the next three years.

So we’re talking about two very similar players in overall value, one of which is older and twice as expensive, the other of which will cost talent.

The difference in salary is about 15 million dollars. Is Perkins + Casilla worth saving 15 million dollars? Hell yes. How about Perkins + Tyler Robertson? Perkins + Joe Benson? Perkins + Carlos Gutierez?

Where do we cross the line where Beltre becomes a better option? I personally would be fine with any of the above scenarios except the last one.