Did you know only 11 men have played more games wearing a Twins uniform than Michael Cuddyer?

Neither did I.

Given the news today, it appears we’ve seen the end of Cuddyer’s 11-season career with the Minnesota Twins, and his 14-year tenure with the Twins organization. Michael Cuddyer will leave Minnesota as one of the more popular players in Twins history, joining Joe Nathan as long-time fan favorites that have hung up their Twins jerseys this off-season.

Cuddyer’s appeal to fans is easy to explain – he is a well-regarded clubhouse presence, brings a strong work ethic and embodies the idea of Minnesota Nice. He arrived on the scene just as the Twins became relevant again, and has been a regular contributor throughout the team’s recent decade of success. And let us not forget the dimples. Oh man, the dimples.

During his 11 seasons with the club, Cuddyer left his mark on the Twins record books. After the jump, we’ll take a look at where Cuddyer ranks on some of the team’s all-time leaderboards:

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Assuming the Twins finalize the rumored 3-year, $21 million deal with Josh Willingham, the front office will turn towards improving the team’s pitching staff, which compiled the second-highest ERA in the Majors last season.

But how much money will they have to spend? The Twins appear to be trimming payroll this season, after spending a franchise-record $118 million in 2011. Some reports have the team shooting for a $100 million payroll this season, though some guess it may get closer to $110 million when all is said and done.

Let’s do our best to figure out where we currently stand. Below I’ve laid out a chart that estimates our payroll commitments for 2012 based on our current projected roster. I’ve included rough estimates for arbitration eligible players (stolen directly from this page at MLB Trade Rumors), and assigned a generic $500,000 salary to each player that has yet to hit arbitration. Because these are just guesses and estimates, please keep in mind that the totals come with a reasonable margin of error.

The big chart, after the jump:

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As part of the club's 40th Season Celebration in 2000, the Minnesota Twins created the Twins Hall of Fame, which they've since used to honor 23 players, coaches and executives "who have contributed to the organization's growth and success since the Twin Cities broke into the Major Leagues in 1961."

Earlier this week, the team released the newest ballot for the Twins Hall of Fame and announced the 2012 inductees will be revealed at TwinsFest, which is set for January 27-29 at the Metrodome. According to the team's website, "voting is conducted by a 54-member committee, which includes local and national baseball writers, Twins broadcasters, Twins Hall of Fame members, local TV and Radio members, select Twins front office personnel and the fans." Fans can make their selections at http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/min/fan_forum/hof_ballot.jsp before midnight on January 4. At most, two players will be inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame in 2012.

For those interested in taking part in the voting, I put together a chart that includes the total Wins Above Replacement (WAR ) generated by the players currently in the Twins Hall of Fame and those currently being considered for inclusion. The WAR totals listed below only reflect the wins created by these players while wearing a Twins uniform, excluding value they may have generated for other teams or for the Senators before they moved to Minnesota in 1961.

The chart, and more, after the jump:

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Could Josh Willingham be the consolation prize for the Minnesota Twins if they lose out on the Michael Cuddyer sweepstakes?

As we discussed last night, Joe Christensen of the Star Tribune reported yesterday that the Twins have recently been in contact with agent Matt Sosnick, who represents both Willingham and Ryan Doumit. This was the first time I had seen the Twins officially linked to Willingham, who will be a Type-A free agent following a monster (29 homers, 98 RBIs) season with the Oakland As in 2011.

Willingham makes complete sense for the Twins, who are at risk of losing both Cuddyer and Jason Kubel this offseason. Of course, a consistently productive right-handed hitter coming off a 29 homer season makes sense for a lot of teams, so the Twins will obviously face stiff competition if they plan on making a serious run for the 32-year-old outfielder.

So how does Willingham stack up against Cuddyer and Kubel, the players he may be replacing in the lineup?

I'll explain the chart after the jump:

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Jorge Posada had a rough year. He was one of the members of the Yankee Dynasty, but throughout the year it was shown that even the grace bestowed by that fact runs out eventually. New York broke open the season with Posada as their designated hitter, and ended up catching just once all year: for six innings on September 10th.

As designated hitters went, Posada was one of the worst in the American League. Only Adam Dunn had a worse season. Posada obviously felt a little put out when he was ousted as the starting catcher, and according to this it sounds like those feelings haven't changed:

So why would we want Posada, who turned 40 in August and hit .235/.315/.398 in 2011, to play for the Twins? This is why.

Posada's season looked terrible, at least in part, because he was so astonishingly bad versus southpaws in 65 measly at bats. It destroyed his overall triple slash. But looking at his splits versus right-handed pitchers he still looks like a useful bat. Not only that, he could back up at first base and be the team's emergency third catcher.

Let's go back to my Offseason Blueprint for the Twins, where my payroll came in at just over $110 million. Right now I'd make the following alterations.

1. Instead of signing Roy Oswalt ($11 million per), I'm either tendering Kevin Slowey ($3.5 million) or finding another starter worth $3 to $4 million, and
2. I'm not offering Jason Kubel arbitration, in case he accepts, and in his place I'm offering Jorge Posada a one-year, $2.5 million deal to be my starting DH versus right-handed pitchers. Jonny Gomes gets first crack at being my DH versus left-handed pitchers.

That saves me $7.5 million on a starter, and just over $4 million by replacing Kubel with Posada.

This team, at just under $100 million, certainly isn't as good as the version with Oswalt and Kubel, but it still wouldn't be a bad side. But what about you? Would you take a chance on Posada?

The Minnesota Twins officially announced yesterday that they had declined Joe Nathan's $12.5 million option for 2012, choosing instead to pay his $2 million buyout and bid for his services on the free agent market.

This was bittersweet news for Twins fans. Intellectually, most Twins fans agree that picking up Nathan's option - which would have covered his age-37 season - would have been a mistake, especially given the number of holes on the team that need to be filled this offseason. But Nathan ranks as one of the most popular players in recent Twins history. On an emotional level, the prospect of seeing Nathan end his career in a different uniform is a painful possibility for many Twins fans.

If this is the end of Nathan's tenure with the Twins, I thought it'd be a good time to step back and put Joe's career in some perspective.We'll dive in after the jump:

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Following last night's loss to the Seattle Mariners, the Minnesota Twins have now scored 582 runs on the season, the second worst mark in the American League and 104 runs (or 15%) behind the league average.  At 3.8 runs per game, the Twins are on pace to score 616 runs in 2011, or 165 runs fewer than they scored in 2010.

Obviously the Twins offense is not the only culprit behind our miserable season: even if the Twins offense were scoring runs at the league average rate, they'd still likely have a sub-.500 record (more specifically, they'd have a .445 winning percentage according to their Pythagorean expectation).  That being said, we all know that the Twins can't hope to compete in 2012 without a substantially better offense.

We'll be spending countless hours discussing and debating potential solutions to the Twins offensive woes in the coming months, but I thought we could start out with some simple accounting.  If, in fact, the Twins offense in scoring runs 15% below the league average, where are we losing those runs?  We'll dive in after the jump:

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Let's take our minds off of Bruce Chen and 100 losses, shall we?

Below I've listed some player comparisons that I found interesting, entertaining, or, well, frustrating.

Let's start with a simple one:

Here we have two virtually-identically players.  They're both outfielders with great speed and great gloves, but questionable offensive skills.  Any guesses?

Player A: Carlos Gomez in 2008 (his first season as a Twin)

Player B: Ben Revere, 2011.

Let's try some more, after the jump:

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