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After posting on day one's happenings (or lack thereof), late last night emerged the news that the Twins have some level of interest in free agent outfielder Rajai Davis. According to ESPN 1500's Darren Wolfson, "the Twins are willing to go multiple years." As a supplement and perhaps a hint of where the Twins are coming from in their interest of Davis, LEN III has this from Terry Ryan:
``We all know Hicks has got ability,'' Ryan said. ``Now it is just a matter if the adjustability comes into his game. Whether or not he can handle some of the failures that come with that major league seat. You don't move a guy until people are convinced that they are not able to handle the physical part but (also) the mental part. That a part of the equation any time you make a move, promotion or demotion.''
Davis, 33, has averaged 43 stolen bases over the last five years (80% success rate), although he's also been a regular for most of that period. It's unsure what the Twins' plans would be for him, although offensively he's likely to be a marginal improvement over both Darin Mastroianni and Alex Presley.
Back to Wolfson, in a Twitter conversation he estimates Davis' value to be a couple of million dollars per season, and that sounds pretty fair to me. A player who has more potential to post a positive WAR than not has to be considered an upgrade at this point; at least until Aaron Hicks (or Byron Buxton, for that matter) prove they are ready and worthy of a Major League role.
Adding Davis would necessitate a move by the Twins to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. They apparently did not request outright waivers on anyone at the end of last week, since there was no roster movement yesterday. It's a curious situation, more indicative of a team that is waiting for things to fall into place than a team that knows it has some dead weight.
Still, it's a luxury the team can afford for the time being. The team is unlikely to be active in the Major League portion of the Rule 5 draft, which means yesterday's deadline was, in some sense, arbitrary. But the point remains: interesting decisions will need to be made when the front office inevitably adds players via trade or free agency.
We'll see you back here again throughout the day for regular updates.
