Quick rundown of the week's Twins and MLB items of interest, which you can browse after reading up on Ron Swanson's Pyramid of Greatness:
- FINALLY: Carl Pavano signs with the Twins. Two years, $16.5 million, $500,000 in mustache-related incentives. Lots of interesting takes in the Twins blogosphere about the deal, including this one from TwinkieTown's Joss Lunde (sp?).
- BULLPEN GAINS FORM, MONEY: Matt Capps and Glen Perkins avoided arbitration, signing one-year deals for $7.15 million and $700,000, respectively. Not much of a fuss kicked up by the Perkins deal, but the Capps contract did cause what some term a "kerfuffle." 1500ESPN's Phil Mackey has no problem with it. TwinsCentric's Nick Nelson has a problem with it. Me? I just want Tony Fiore's palmball back.
- BULLPEN LOSES RENTAL ARM, NECK TATTOOS: Brian Fuentes signed with Oakland, and Jon Rauch agreed to terms with Toronto. FYI: the A's bullpen now has Fuentes, Craig Breslow and Grant Balfour. Maybe that's where Tony Fiore's palmball ends up.
- COMPULSIVE ARBITRATION: Delmon Young, Francisco Liriano and Kevin Slowey filed their numbers. The Twins filed theirs. Joe C. has them. They do not appear to be too far apart.
- J.J. HARDY'S NOT COMING BACK: the Twins and Alexi Casilla agreed to terms for 2011. They better be right about this.
- CHECKS THE CALENDAR, MAKES SURE IT'S NOT 1986: over Brian Cashman's objections, the Yankees gave up $35 million and their top draft pick to acquire Rafael Soriano to pitch the 8th inning. Watching the Yankees throw money at a player at the expense of their farm system makes me want to roll up my Girbauds and listen to hair metal.
- WHERE IN THE WORLD IS PHILIP HUMBER: as it turns out, he is on the White Sox's 40-man roster. If you want Philip Humber news, you come to SB Nation and its 297 blogs.