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Fortune seekers continue digging in their fruitless search for the legendary Buried Treasure of Junior Ortiz.

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Item: Big League Stew (no relation) gives the Twins the early edge in the Hardy/Gomez swap.

Nobody asked me, but: I will miss Gomez's defense and remarkable speed.  I will not miss his craptacular at-bats and .623 OPS.

Item: Pat Neshek's rehab is an ocean of positivity.

Nobody asked me, but: if I may put on my Captain Obvious hat for a minute, a healthy, effective Neshek would be gigantic for 2010.  In a winter where the team needs to/had better address other areas of the team, upgrading the bullpen via trade or free agency seems unlikely.

Item: Cuddyer is priority #1 for Twins.  The club has until Monday to pick up his $10.5 million option for 2011 or buy him out for $1 million.

Nobody asked me, but: of course they're going to do pick up his option, and they should.  He does magic tricks, for pity's sake!  Cuddy-haters, unload on me in comments, but be advised that I will be forwarding your e-mail addresses to Howard Sinker.

Item: autographed Nick Punto jerseys among the items for sale at tomorrow's Metrodome rummage sale.

Nobody asked me, but: all purchasers must show sufficient grit, hustle and moxie in order to acquire the jerseys.  If you see Scott Ullger telling you not to buy it, KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN AND GO RIGHT PAST HIM. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?  /still bitter

More photos » by Charles Krupa - AP

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Last February, Scott Boras client Joe Crede dropped his asking price enough for the Twins to sign him to an incentive-laden deal.  He was exactly as advertised, from the glove to the power to the number of games he was healthy, but with the Twins going into 2010 with third base in essentially the same position it was at going into 2009, should the Twins double-dip on their experiment?

Okay, so the situation isn't exactly the same.  Crede will be another year older with another injury-plagued season under his back belt, there are a pair of third base prospects that are nearly major league ready (Are they the next Casey Blake / Corey Koskie tandem?  No?  Right, then.) and the alternatives will be a bit more expensive.  But in spite of all those things, the team is still in a similar position as they don't have the one sure answer that they need.

His '09 deal of $2.5 million base with playing time incentives ($50,000 for 400, 425, 450, 475, 500 and 525 plate appearances) and award incentives made his possible payout a reasonable $7,000,000.  Suffice it to say he didn't reach any of those, so the Twins paid just the minimum.  But according to the FanGraphs value scale, they still believe that Crede would have been worth $8.3 million on the open market for the performance he gave this past summer.  How?  Because of his defense and the position he plays, and did I mention his defense, Crede was worth 18.4 runs above replacement.

Among third basemen with at least 350 plate appearances, FanGraphs values Crede's defensive performance as fifth-best in all of baseball (behind Evan Longoria, Ryan Zimmerman, Chone Figgins and Adrian Beltre) in terms of fielding runs above avearge.  He also tallied the highest UZR/150 total among third basemen with more than 700 innings in the field.

Long story short?  Crede plays some wicked defense.  Arguably better than any third baseman on the free agent market.

Joe knows the Twins, and isn't opposed to returning to Minnesota next year.  Would playing more regularly on a non-artificial surface play less havoc on his back and knees?

We all know the risks involved with Crede, which means the game would be all about how to mitigate those risks to both the player and the club.  That means possibly giving him scheduled days off to keep his body as fresh and healthy as possible, not to mention offering a contract that resembles the 2009 version that will pay for good health.

Other free agent options are likely to cost more than Crede.  Internal options may not be the health risk, but none of them can flash the leather like Crede, either.

What would you rather do?  A Brendan Harris/Matt Tolbert platoon would cost a little less, but not significantly less than a $2.5 million base.  Another thought:  when (not if) Daniel Valencia gets his callup in 2010, what kind of a player do you want available as a mentor?

There's merit in considering Crede's return, it would just have to meet the right criteria.  Where do you sit?

What?  More changes?

Well, sort of.  Our SB Nation crack squad of technoguysandgirls are on a never-ending quest to perfect not just the interface of Twinkie Town, but also how the site looks.  Today there isn't a focus on the former, as much as it's about the latter.

That's pretty much it.  The changes you see today are visual, made in an effort to make the content number one visually.  By the end of the day these alterations should be completed network-wide.

If you encounter any problems, please feel free to email me or leave them in the contents section.

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And, when can it be done by a financially conscious club?

Answer:  When there are no entrenched players with big contracts.  Which is exactly the position the Twins find themselves in this year,

Almost two years ago to the day I talked about how this club would go about replacing Torii Hunter.  It wasn't realistic to think that the organization would be able to replace everything Torii brought to the table with one guy, but it was possible that the Twins would be able to replace at least parts of his production through different players.  This time around it's a little bit different, because A) there's more than one position open, B) the positions are open in spite of guys you could dub "incumbants" and C) we're not asking anyone to replace an All-Star.

If anyone is still wondering what position(s) I'm talking about, it's second base, third base and shortstop.  Naturally.

With Joe Crede and Orlando Cabrera possibly not returning to the Twins as free agents, both Brendan Harris and Brian Buscher are legitimate non-tender candidates this year.  Brendan's versatility is only a plus when it doesn't cost a lot of money, which he's going to get now that he's about to enter arbitration for the first time; Brian's penchant for handling right-handed pitching gives him value in a platoon situation, but his defense and lack of power make him a one-trick pony if you give him extra credit for being able to backup first base.  Being able to play multiple positions and having backup options has been part of Minnesota's MO over the last few years, but with Harris and Buscher in particular the Twins have some decisions to make as they weight their cost versus benefits ratios this winter.

This leaves Alexi Casilla (plausible trade fodder), Matt Tolbert (the new, younger and cheaper Harris) and Nick Punto (hello, contract!) as the only infielders who I would rate as likely candidates to remain entering 2010.

Let's get onto the fun part--what a player coming in would have to replace.

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2008 Roster
2006 Roster

For the second year in a row I tried to put together a full 25-man roster, and while I made the cut this team has some pretty big holes.  Generally it's old, which is surprising, and there's going to be some pretty bad defense in places, but if any of the three outfielders get hurt there's nobody to be a fourth outfielder.  Luckily, none of the guys on this team have to play a single game.

Without further ado, your batting order:

All in all that's not a bad offensive lineup.  According to Baseball Musing's Lineup Analysis tool, this offense would blow last year's out of the water:  5.741 runs per game, or about 930 runs over the course of a full season.  Even with Jones and Monroe being stone defenders in the outfield corners, those runs are going to make up the difference.

The tool also insists that all of the best lineups would have Monroe hitting 8th and Castillo 9th, while a vast majority of the best lineups still have Bartlett leading off, but they also have Ruiz batting cleanup with his massive OBP and SLG in limited time.

Your bench?  Outfielder-less.  Henry Blanco of the Pirates is your catcher, followed by a trio of infielders:  Cristian Guzman (Nationals), Adam Everett (Tigers) and Juan Castro (Dodgers).

Next up?  Your starting rotation:

I want you to know that I seriously considered going with a three-man rotation, a three-man bench, and then having a nine-man bullpen, but the reality is that even the bullpen pickings get a little thin once you get six or seven deep.  As far as other starters I could have considered, there aren't many guys out there right now.  Carlos Silva?  Absolutely not.

Last season saw Santana, Lohse and Garza as the top three in the rotation as well.  Moving onto the bullpen, last year I had Balfour closing, but this season I'd probably tab Hawkins.

 Even in limited time, Romero is still managing to escape at least the appearance of damage in spite of some unnerving peripherals.  Like the bench and the back of the rotation, this one of this team's weaker spots.

If injuries weren't a factor, how would this team fare over a season?  Would an offense like this be able to keep this team afloat with the help of a strong 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation?  Or would those unproven bats pair up with some older arms to bring the team's fortunes crashing to earth?

Guys who have made the team each of the three years:  Pierzynski, Blake, Ortiz, Beimel, Romero and Hawkins.

More photos » by David J. Phillip - AP

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Stop me if you've heard this off-season story before...the Twins have an opening at second base.

When the Twins traded Luis Castillo at the 2007 trade deadline, it was seen as a curious but defendable action.  Since then second base has been a carousel of mediocrity, with Minnesota starting Nick Punto, Alexi Casilla and Luis Rodriguez the rest of the way in just '07.  '08 began with Brendan Harris and Matt Tolbert before Casilla and Punto and even Matt Macri saw starts.  This past season saw the usual suspects cover the position once again, and while no new names were pulled from the hat it still means there were six guys getting starts over the last two-and-a-half seasons at second base.

It's difficult to be too hard on the front office for not bringing in an everyday second baseman last year.  Punto had proven himself to be a versatile and valuable glove man over the years, even if 2009 wasn't as strong.  Casilla has been, for the last two years, the guy that the organization has wanted to step into the role long-term.  And as far as versatile swingmen are concerned, you could do worse than Harris.  Additionally, as a position that typically doesn't provide a lot of offense, it kind of made sense that the vacancy at second base sort of fell to a secondary concern last winter.

Moving into 2010 it's impossible to not see second base as a primary concern.  While the Devil You Know, or Devils, will still be around, their cumulative performance was one of the worse in baseball this season.  Twins second basemen hit a combined .209/.302/.267 in 2009, with their .569 OPS by far the worse in the game.  San Francisco's combined .611 OPS was good for a distant 29th.

Defensively the prospects weren't much brighter.  As a group Twins second basemen accumulated a -7.0 UZR/150, 28th in the league.  A -10.4 RngR was only slightly better at 27th.

The tricky bit, the part that sneaks into my brain and every other optimist's brain out there, is the bit that says Well, there's still some upside here.  Casilla's still young, Punto finished strong at the plate and actually played strong defense down the stretch to end the year as the only Minnesota second baseman to finish the season with a UZR/150 not in the negative.  Aye, that's the rub.  THE RUB!

For the third consecutive season, the Minnesota Twins enter the off-season without an incumbant at any of the three infield positions to the left of first base.  Each of the last two years I've said the exact same thing:  as long as they fill two of those three spots with a quality player, I'll be happy.  But even saying that I knew that second base wasn't the biggest concern.  For the first time in these three years, I believe that it's just as important for the Twins to improve at second base as it is for them to solve their issues at third and short.

But with so many internal options available the organization will need to be creative if they aren't going to go the route that most of us expect them to take.  If they want to think outside the box and go for a guy like Dan Uggla or Kelly Johnson, the trend of internal promotion that's plugged the gap in the middle infield over the last couple years will need to be bucked and some of those familiar faces, the Punto's and Casilla's and Harris's's's and Tolbert's, would likely find themselves donning new uniforms in 2010.

I'm hoping that the organization takes a few calculated gambles this off-season.  I would like nothing more than to see this team make a move for a guy they believe can start 130 games at second base next year; not just start but own the position.  He doesn't have to be an All-Star or a Gold Glove winner, but some value on at least one side of the ball would constitute an upgrade.  That's what I want.

Every year we have a little wish-list of guys we hope the organization targets.  Here are a select few who garnered interest from Twinkie Town or from the Twins organization.  In no particular order...

He's always been a bit of a loose cannon, but at least he was striking out people with such regularity and consistency that he could get himself out of as much trouble as he got himself into.  This year the strikeout rate was nearly cut in half, his LOB& dropped from 83.6% in 2007 to a miserable 62.1% this season.  He was around the strike zone more often, hitters stopped swinging at anything he threw outside of the strike zone and contact was way up.  It was a bad season for Cruz, and suffice it to say I'm glad the Twins didn't gamble here.

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A common theme, I feel.

• Joe Mauer will be catching today, playing with a "hip flexor", which basically causes pain any time you try to flex a leg upward; kicking, lifting a knee, that kind of thing.  So, really, not idea for your catcher.  I'm thinking maybe DH'ing Mauer today, for his own good, would be for the best.  With a four-man bench, two of them catchers, I feel it's a move that's pretty much made to order.  This is also the kind of game where I'd trust Mike Redmond to come up with a big hit.
• Montanatwinsfan noted this earlier, but with Matt Tolbert out due to an oblique strain Brian Buscher is taking his place of the playoff roster.  Brendan Harris will get the nod at third base, and hopefully he can make a play or two like he did back in New York on Friday.
• Jason Kubel needs to show up today.  Four strikeouts in game two, which is just unacceptable by any measurement of success, showed exactly how overmatched he was.  The bad news is that it's southpaw veteran Andy Pettitte on the mound, which means Kubel's contributions will be harder to come by.  The good news is that pretty much any contribution is better than what he's given the Twins so far.
• It's a good thing that Carl Pavano is getting a nod at home in the Dome.  I can't imagine what kind of horrible reception he'd get had he started in New York.  Not that he couldn't handle it, because I'm sure he could, but no doubt pitching in front of a crowd that's got your back will be much easier.  Nick Blackburn managed to largely neutralize that great Yankee offense, and Carl will need to do the same.
• It's hard to look at this series thinking "the Twins have to win three in a row" or "the Twins can't lose".  You still have to take it one day at a time, because it's no use looking to tomorrow until you've won today.  So that's how I'm looking at it:  win today.  Just win today.  Then think about winning tomorrow.  One game at a time.
• Michael Cuddyer has homered off of Pettitte this year, in Minnesota's one shot at him.  Carlos Gomez and Brendan Harris picked up multi-hit days.  Justin Morneau went 4-for-4, but for some reason I think he's unavailable tonight.
• The Yankees, meanwhile, have already seen Pavano twice this season, both times when he was with the Cleveland Indians.  Mark Teixeira is the only Yankee with a homer off him, while Derek Jeter is the only Yankee with more than one hit off him.
• I like what Bill Smith had to say in Sid Hartman's column today.  No excuses, but with a real understanding of the situation:

"We like our team, we like our players. Any success we have is going to be through scouting and player development. We know we have a great manager and great major league coaching staff. We have a lot of good young players who have come through our system."

• This could be the swan song for the Metrodome, but I'd like to play at least one more.  Let's take down the Yankees tonight.