Be sure to drop below this post to check out Roger's weekly Minor League Report. He recaps some of the shuffling that's went down throughout the Twins' farm system over the last seven days, and then gives you his review of the Beloit Snappers in 2011. And now for some late morning updates to go along with that confusion of exactly where you were and what you did last night.
- Suitors for Micheal Cuddyer, outside of the Twins, don't seem to be exploding like we thought they would at one point earlier in the fall. We know that the Red Sox, Phillies, and Rockies all have varying levels of interest, but seem to view Cuddyer either as a backup plan or as an option whose asking price is too high. He could be on the wish list for the Orioles, too, but we haven't heard anything from the Braves or Giants recently.
- Jason Kubel has has a few interested parties too, including the Phillies and Indians. Kubel was tied to the Phillies along with Grady Sizemore recently, and we posted about Cleveland's interest earlier this week (they've been interested in Kubel for a while). The Pirates were looking at Kubel last summer, as a "professional hitter", but they haven't come up in any rumors this off-season.
- Neither Denard Span nor Ben Revere will be traded this winter. That's direct from the horse's (see: General Manager's) mouth. This is good news on both fronts. With Cuddyer and Kubel seemingly more likely to depart than stay, trying to find one MLB starting outfielder will be easier than two. Revere's upside is still in question to about half of Twins Territory (the other half are faily optimistic even when taking into account Revere's drawbacks), but he's a known quantity: great range, a good base stealer, a good contact hitter. He's easy to pencil in as the number nine hitter while playing left field. Besides, the Twins have enough holes to fill this winter without spending the necessary dollars to bring in two quality corner outfield free agents.
- The Twins had a number of minor leaguers they needed to add to the 40-man roster in order to protect them from the Rule V draft next month, but in the end they only added three: outfielder Oswaldo Arcia (.291/.335/.531 in 2011), right hander Carlos Gutierrez (4.62 ERA, 43 G, 8.2 K/9, 4.5 BB/9), and lefty Tyler Robertson (3.61 ERA, 55 G, 8.8 K/9, 2.9 BB/9).
- Arica and Gutierrez aren't big surprises, but Robertson will shock a few. He's a southpaw, and hopefully the Twins test him at triple-A this season. This was his first year as a reliever, however, so it remains to be seen how the organization chooses to develop him.
- Righty David Bromberg was outrighted to triple-A. He broke his forearm this season, a total fluke, and I know this move surprised Seth. But the 40-man roster is just that: 40 men. There are a lot of players who are good enough to be on the list, but the question isn't: are you good enough? The question is: which players are most likely to be taken? Bromberg, who reached triple-A in 2010, didn't pitch there in 2011 and will be seen by many teams as a player coming off of an arm injury who took a step backwards in '11. And who is now 24. I believe that Bromberg can be a good relief pitcher for the Twins at some point, but when you're looking at players who are the least likely to be taken, Bromberg will be on that list. Think of it from another team's point of view: would Bromberg be a good bet to stick with your 25-man roster all season? Probably not. That's the reason why Angel Morales wasn't added to the 40-man: he'd be unlikely to hold down that roster spot.
- Finally, a big welcome to Ryan Doumit! A lot of people had Jamey Carroll and Ryan Doumit in their off-season blueprints this year, so I won't pretend like I was some kind of evil genius for endorsing them both. If we look at my blueprint, this means the Twins have now signed two of the nine targets I picked out for them. At what point do I receive a cash prize for accuracy?
That's all for now everybody. Now get outside before it gets dark.