I like the Twins move to resign Cuddyer and the trade for Hardy but unless the Twins really open up the pocketbooks this restricts them for any long term signing this off season.  The combined 2011 salaries of Nathan (12.5), Morneau (14), Cuddyer (10.5), Kubel (5.25), Mauer (20, likely), Baker (5), Hardy (7?) is a big load to bear  (74.25 million).  This and the fact that Slowey, Blackburn, Span, Neshek, Bonser, Young, Harris, Casilla, Tolbert and Liriano will all be in their 1st or 2nd years of arbitration at that point means the Twins have a lot of money already committed for 2011.  I realize that some of those arbitration eligible players will likely be gone either through being non-tendered or traded but even if you lose half of those the rest could be set for big paydays (Slowey, Span, and Blackburn especially).

It's really going to be tough for the Twins to make any big commitments to other players if they hope to keep their own key players.  I can really only see the Twins going after a one year type player this year(Beltre or Crede) to fill one of the holes at either 3B or 2B.  One option would be to structure Mauer's contract in a way that 2011 is a cheaper year and make up for it over the rest of the contract.  This makes sense because the Twins will likely be done with Cuddyer, Kubel, and possibly even Nathan saving them roughly 25 million in 2012.  They will have to be the expendable players and likely someone out of the group of Tosoni, Benson, Revere, Hicks, or Morales will have to be ready to replace Kubel and Cuddyer at this point.  Backloading Mauers contract might allow the Twins to go after a guy like Felipe Lopez and pay him 5-6 million over the course of a 3-4 year contract or Pavano to a 2-3 year deal.

Another option to consider would be packaging one of our top young prospects with pitching to get a 2B who might be blocked in another system.  I'm not familiar enough with other teams farm systems to suggest any names but this is an idea that I hope the Twins are looking into.  It lets the Twins keep payroll down thus being able to resign Mauer without back loading his deal causing problems in the future or giving them a shot at maybe picking up a veteran pitcher this year and/or next.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm expecting the Twins to sign Mauer to a big extension and then the rest of the off season to be pretty quiet.  Hopefully I'm wrong and they make a move to pick up a good OBP guy to hit between Span and Mauer but I just don't see it happening.  Maybe someone like Polanco would sign for a 1 year deal, heck if Hudson and O-Cab did last year I guess it could happen this year too.  The Twins will likely depend on Punto to cover 2B and Tolbert/Harris to hold down 3B until Valencia is deemed ready to take over.  This isn't an awful scenario but it does leave the Twins lineup looking pretty bad should any of their big hitters go down for any amount of time.

Although the top prospect in the organization probably is a catcher and the best power prospect a first baseman/corner outfielder, center field is clearly the top position in the organization.  Not only are the following Top Ten the strongest group of any position, the organization has two very good players capable of playing center field who were included with the corner outfielders...Joe Benson and Rene Tosoni. 

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A couple items of note this week include the Twins outrighting Brian Buscher to Rochester.  This cleared a 40-man roster spot before the five free agents are removed in the next week.  Why this was done at this time remains a mystery?  My best guess is that the Twins were in discussion on some deal from which they may have needed an open spot on their roster.  It turned out to not be the case with the J.J. Hardy deal.  Maybe during the Hardy discussions there were other players under consideration or there could have been another deal (perhaps Tampa) being discussed that would have required an extra roster spot. 

On a more serious note, Seth Stohs reported yesterday that Wilson Ramos injured his knee in Thursday's game in Venezuela.  I had noted when reviewing the boxscore that he was removed from the game in the bottom of the fourth inning after drawing a walk.  He finished the game with a 1-1 night, a walk, double and 2 runs scored.  So whatever the injury was either happened on a play at the plate or he ran the bases, scored and then was removed.  I believe that Ramos is a Top 10 prospect and I don't mean in the Twins organization, rather, in all of baseball.  He was hitting better than anyone in the VWL (.403/.460/.766 with a league high 6 home runs and 23 RBI in 77 at bats) and getting him healthy for spring training is the most important concern the Twins have this winter....well, maybe second most important behind signing another catcher to a contract extension! 

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Today's trade of Carlos Gomez for J.J. Hardy ends an era of hilariously bad English. As the Twins add to their ever-growing list of players whose names begin with the letter J (double points for Hardy!), I thought it might be fun to take a look back at Gomez's Twins career. What is your favorite Gomez memory/quote/moment?

For me, the highlight of Gomez's time with the Twins has to be the 2008 game where he hit for the cycle. In an early May 2008 game, Gomez became the first Twin in 22 years to hit for the cycle. Gomez was also the first Twin to cap off his cycle with a single since Lyman Bostok, pictured below in 1976:

As you can see, it was a different era of baseball.

(Side note - talk about a bizarre game. Gomez hits for the cycle, Nick Punto gets 5 consecutive home runs 5 RBIs, and Livan Hernandez(!) took a shutout into the 9th inning).

Gomez's cycle began with his leadoff homerun in the 1st. Rather than the usual home run trot, Gomez dashed around the bases, clearly excited. When asked about it after the game, Gomez explained: "The game today started too late. I say, ‘Let me run the bases quick so the game goes fast.’"

That game is a symbol of Gomez to me. It offers many examples of his unique style of English. It epitomizes the promise that Gomez has, the excitement that Twins fans felt for what Gomez might become.

While Gomez still arguably has that potential, he failed to realize it in 2009. Here's hoping that Go-Go develops into the player we thought he could be, even if it doesn't happen with the Twins.

A few weeks ago I posted an email interview with Howard Sinker here that I'd originally done for my defunct Twins blog. Here's another item from the blog, about Kent Hrbek's rookie year, 1982:

In early May, 1982, Kent Hrbek was leading the American League with eight homers and 22 RBIs in his rookie season, at age 21. Twins PR director Tom Mee called him “the best player to come into the American League since Mickey Mantle.” Hrbek had been hitting around .400 for a while in A ball in Visalia, California, in 1981, and wound up hitting .379 that year, leading all North American professional ballplayers. He’d signed with the Twins in 1979 as a 17th round pick out of Kennedy High School in Bloomington, down the road from the Met, for a $30,000 bonus. Calvin Griffith, the Twins owner, scouted him personally, and said: “Give him the money.”

Hrbek and the Twins opened up the Metrodome with an exhibition game against the Philadelphia Phillies in ’82, and Kent hit the Twins’ first homer in the place. He talked about going to games at the Met as a kid: “I used to sit out in left field or right field. I think I started going to games when I was about 8 years old, which would’ve been the year Carew was a rookie.”

Twins’ manager Billy Gardner said of Hrbek: “He’s hit everywhere he’s been. No reason he won’t keep hitting up here.” He’d had knee cartilage surgery in ’79, then went to Wisconsin Rapids and the Midwest League in 1980, batting .267, with 19 homers and 76 RBIs, then an enormous .379 at Visalia with 27 homers and 111 RBIs. I assume he led the California League in those three categories for 1981.

He went right from Visalia to the Twins and, in his major league debut on August 24, 1981, he hit a 12th-inning homer off George Frazier for a 3-2 victory at Yankee Stadium. Hrbek said: ”Whenever people ask me about my biggest thrills, I tell ‘em my first game wasn’t bad.” He added of the A.L. pitchers: ”Hopefully they won’t catch up with me within the next 20 years.”

I’d remembered Hrbek, more than anything else, as a fairly good-natured but subtly aggressive big guy, to put it gently, who specialized in homers and was one of the crew that led the Twins to the two titles in ’87 and ’91. I thought of him as a classic Minnesotan who, along with Gladden and Puckett, was at the core of those ’87 and ’91 Twins. I had no idea he once hit .379 or any memory of him being a standout rookie. Take a look at his 1982 season, game by game, here.

As a P.S., I got two comments on this post, both saying Hrbek, not Cal Ripken, should have been rookie of the year in '82. I'll reprint them here. One from "Rick":

Hrbek finished 2nd in the Rookie of the Year balloting just below Cal Ripken. He actually had a better year then Ripken but the Twins were pretty bad so that didn't help his cause. Plus Ripken had a lot of pre-season hype, a better lineup surrounding him, and a father already coaching in the majors. But Hrbek should of been the Rookie of the Year.

And another from John Swol, who runs the Twins Trivia site:

I have to agree with the previous commentor, There was no question that Hrbek should have been ROY but with us being here in "flyover land" he was robbed. Hrbek was a very good player but I wonder how good he could have been if he had really worked at the game. I think what we all saw was his natural ability.

I anxiously wait to see who each team jettisons, or which players declare free agency.

I can't wait to see the list of minor league free agents. Anyone from the Twins Rochester roster returning?

The talk can begin about trades and such, but somewhat stilled as teams wait to see who will gain arbitration or free agency, too...which is round #2 of the free agent madness.

Contracts, who wins and who losses.

Plus, it is Awards time? Joe Mauer MVP? Who gets the gold gloves.

It's not too early to plan for spring training and 2010, baseball as it should be played in Minnesota, outdoors amongst the snow, rain and smoke from the garbage garage!

Given all of the speculation regarding Iwamura today, I thought I would lay out the free agents for people to see. Here are the players up for free agency in 2010 according to Cot's Baseball Contracts.

A = type A free agent; B = type B free agent; *means club option

Second Basemen
Marlon Anderson NYM
Ron Belliard LAD (B)
Jamey Carroll CLE
David Eckstein SD
Orlando Hudson LAD (A)
Akinori Iwamura * TB
Omar Infante ATL
Felipe Lopez MIL (A)
Mark Loretta LAD
Placido Polanco DET (A)
Freddy Sanchez * SF (A)

Shortstops
Orlando Cabrera MIN (A)
Juan Castro LAD
Alex Cora NYM
Bobby Crosby OAK
Adam Everett DET
Alex Gonzalez * BOS
Khalil Greene STL
Ramon Martinez LAD
John McDonald TOR
Marco Scutaro TOR (A)
Miguel Tejada HOU
Jack Wilson * SEA

Third Basemen
Adrian Beltre SEA (B)
Geoff Blum HOU
Craig Counsell MIL
Joe Crede MIN
Mark DeRosa STL (B)
Pedro Feliz * PHI
Chone Figgins LAA (B)
Troy Glaus STL (A)
Jerry Hairston NYY (B)
Mike Lamb MIL
Melvin Mora * BAL (B)
Juan Uribe SF


Starting Pitchers
Brandon Backe HOU
Josh Beckett * BOS
Erik Bedard SEA (B)
Daniel Cabrera ARZ
Bartolo Colon CWS
Jose Contreras COL
Doug Davis ARZ (B)
Justin Duchscherer OAK (B)
Adam Eaton COL
Kelvim Escobar LAA
Jon Garland * LAD (B)
Tom Glavine ATL
Mike Hampton HOU
Rich Harden CHC (B)
Livan Hernandez WAS
Tim Hudson * ATL
Randy Johnson SF (B)
John Lackey LAA (A)
Cliff Lee * PHI (A)
Braden Looper * MIL (B)
Jason Marquis COL (B)
Kevin Millwood * TEX
Brett Myers PHI
Vicente Padilla * LAD (B)
Carl Pavano MIN (B)
Brad Penny SF
Odalis Perez WAS
Andy Pettitte NYY (B)
Joel Pineiro STL (B)
Sidney Ponson KC
Jason Schmidt LAD
John Smoltz STL
Tim Wakefield * BOS (B)
Jarrod Washburn DET
Brandon Webb * ARZ (B)
Todd Wellemeyer STL
Randy Wolf (A)

Since the list itself is a little dull, how about I spice it up with a question. What are the chances we could pry Omar Infante from the Braves as our second baseman? He's not a type B player, but has a career hitting line that isn't too bad for a 2nd baseman ( .264 .310 .391 .701 ) and still has good defense.  Those offensive numbers aren't great, but then again he's only 27 and the average for his last three seasons is about .285 .340 .390 .730.  Not bad.  His 2009 contract was 1.85 million.

With all the positions reviewed to date, there aren't many more than ten players in the organization playing at each position.  Doing the corner outfielders together means that the top ten will include more prospects that have a legitimate chance of someday playing with the Twins.  As with all the previous reviews this isn't meant to be a prospect ranking, rather, it is a ranking of the top ten corner outfielders based on their play this past season. 

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Good morning from beautiful South Carolina.  Every week this time of year we find a few more Twins organization players reporting to their winter teams, although players who were with the Twins won't be reporting for several more weeks. 

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There's been a lot of talk about what to upgrade on the Twins but one thing that the Twins also need to consider is making a decision on who to start between Gomez and Young.  They're both still very young (23) which is the average age at AA, however Gomez just played his 2nd full major league season and Young his 3rd.  They both still have tons of potential even though they haven't become the players we hoped they would just yet. 

It' been said many times here and elsewhere that it has not helped either of them to be sitting on the bench.  For the players sake and for the Twins sake they need to decide on one and send the other away.  It's a tough decision as whoever they ship away could come back to haunt them because both have all star ceilings (remember I said ceiling, not what I expect). 

I really don't have a ton of time to break everything down statistically so I'll leave that up to anyone who feels the initiative to do so.  I just felt like this was a debate that could/should take place in its own fanpost.  My personal opinion is to keep Gomez.  He already is a great defender and if he never develops offensively he'll at least give us great defense.  Gomez also allows the Twins to use Span at a corner which improves the defense and allows the Twins to not have to worry about at 4th/5th OF being able to play Center as Span can still slide over there as needed.  Gomez might not be the better hitter yet, but he does appear to be working on his patience as his walk rate went up 2.5% while his K rate went down 3% (Delmons both went the other direction).  He never got a consistent shot at starting this year and my hope would be that he would improve those numbers even more in the future as a result of everyday play.  So now it's your turn what do you think and why?