HOT STOVE UPDATE: Harden Signs Minor-League Deal w/Twins; Diamond Gets Bone Chip Removed; Liriano Goes to Pittsburgh

The Twins officially signed Rich Harden to a minor-league deal on Friday. Per LaVelle, it comes with a spring training invite, as you'd expect. As discussed this morning, it's a low-risk, high-reward move for Minnesota, and one hopes this isn't the end of their attempt to rebuild their starting rotation into something that isn't a garbage fire.

(In that same post, LEN3 also notes that Scott Diamond had surgery to remove a bone chip from his throwing elbow on Tuesday. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!)

Meanwhile, there is one less option for the Twins to "improve" their rotation, as the enigmatic Francisco Liriano has taken his enigma to Pittsburgh for two years and $14 million.1 We do not need to rehash the pros and cons of Frankie, as every Twins fan has wasted enough pixels on his case already. THAT SAID: Frankie for $14 million or Kevin Correia for $10 million over the same 2-year span. In order of preference, speaking only for me:

1. Pass, spend the money elsewhere
2. Liriano
3. Correia