This just in: Bill Smith is still alive. It has been rumored that Good Ol' B.S. had been pulling a Weekend At Bernie's stunt and having two Pohlads move his lifeless corpse around the new Twins headquarters at Target Field for the past three months. I am glad to say that Bill Smith is alive and well. How do I know this? The Minnesota Twins have finally made a move. The Loaded Gun has landed in Minneapolis.
Twins fans, meet Jim Thome. Well, actually you should already be aware of Mr. Thome right now. Thome was one of the all-time leaders in home runs at the Metrodome...I mean Mall Of America Field...sigh. Thome signed with the Twins to become their sawed-off shotgun in late game situations. I find this to be very good news. I can't begin to tell you how many times I wanted to drive my car the wrong way down I-94 after seeing Brian Buscher pinch hit for Nick Punto in late game situations. Signing Thome gives the Twins an actual threat late in games.
Yes, Thome strikes out a lot (He K'd 123 times in 124 games last season), but he also walks a lot. Thome has a career on base percentage of .404. By comparison, the Twins loaded gun last year, Busch Man, has a career on base percentage of .343. The OPS is also astronomically higher as Thome has a .961 OPS and Buscher has a .699. Even at 39 years old, Thome still was able to crank 23 home runs last year. Buscher has 8...in his career. Thome also came on the cheap, as he signed for 1.5 million.
The Thome pinch hit experiment was tried in Los Angeles last season and Thome didn't fare well. However, Thome was also in an unfamiliar division. Thome said in a conference call earlier this week that it contributed in his struggles. Being back in the AL Central means that Thome knows more of the teams and, even better, their relievers. Thome is not going to play every day in Minnesota and unlike a certain hockey player that the Wild just cut loose (Petr Sykora), Thome is willing to step into that pinch hitting mode.
Now that the bench is addressed, and we know that Bill Smith is alive. What do the Twins do now? It's most likely that they'll stay pat. However, like a 10 year old who really wants that PS3 for Christmas and knows he's not going to get it, we're still going to ask for it just in case. So what else could the Twins do.
They could address the starting pitching. The current rotation for the Twins looks like this...
1. Scott Baker (15-9 4.36 ERA in 2009)
2. Nick Blackburn (11-11 4.03)
3. Carl Pavano (14-12 5.10)
4. Kevin Slowey (10-3 4.86)
5. Jeff Manship (1-1 5.68) OR Francisco Liriano (5-13 5.80) OR Glen Perkins (6-7 5.89) OR Anthony Swarzak (3-7 6.25)
As you can tell, the 5th spot is still up for grabs. Many people think that the Thome signing was a waste of money because of the lack of solidarity in the rotation. I would kind of agree that the rotation is something the Twins still need to fix. Francisco Liriano is supposedly lights out in winter ball, but winter ball isn't the majors. I also doubt that Perkins will still be on the Twins past spring training, so the Twins need to look for an option. There's just one problem. The Twins have waited so long that they only have two viable options.
The first one is Jarrod Washburn. Many people thought that it would be a slam dunk to get Washburn in a Twins jersey. Washburn is from Webster, Wisconsin and has always had an admiration for the Twins. While the Twins want Washburn, they're just not willing to pay that much for him. The Twins offered Washburn a 1 year deal worth 5 million. Washburn (9-9 3.78 ERA in '09 between Seattle and Detroit), scoffed at the Twins offer and the Twins haven't made an offer since. Part of this may be because of the splits for Washburn between Seattle and Detroit. Washburn was 8-6 with a 2.64 ERA with Seattle, but then fizzled in Detroit with a 1-3 record and a 7.33 ERA. The Twins must be wondering which pitcher they are getting should they sign him.
The other option for starters is Erik Bedard. Bedard was considered one of the brightest young aces in baseball a couple seasons ago right before he was traded for Seattle for a budding superstar in Adam Jones. Bedard had to have his elbow scoped once again, so if the Twins are bargain shopping, this may be worth a look. Bedard was 5-3 with a 2.82 ERA for Seattle last season and it may be a similar situation with Ben Sheets.
Sheets obviously put up good numbers with Milwaukee two years ago, but he was coming off of elbow surgery. I thought that Sheets would have been a great fit for the Twins if the price was right. Enter Scott Boras! Sheets signed a 1 year, 10 million deal earlier this week. Way out of the Twins price range. Bedard is also a Boras client, but if the Twins wait long enough, they may be able to get Bedard to sign the 1 year, 5 million deal that Washburn is rejecting.
The other area that the Twins are looking to improve upon is 2nd base. I think the Twins have conceded that they will not get a quality 3rd baseman to be a stop gap for Danny Valencia, unless if they sign Joe Crede, who might play 20 games this year if the Twins are lucky. Anyways, at 2nd base, there are two moves the Twins can make if they want to upgrade over Nick Punto or Alexi Casilla.
The first option is Orlando Hudson. The Twins have been rumored to have been courting the "O-Dawg" over the past week. The Twins also wanted Hudson last year when he was a type A free agent. Hudson, like Washburn, scoffed at the Twins offer and waited for a better deal. What happened is that Hudson wound up producing twice as much stats as Nick Punto, but getting paid half of what Punto made. The Twins could use Hudson as the two hitter in front of Joe Mauer. (.283, 9 HR, 62 RBI last season for LAD) Also the Twins wouldn't be losing anything defensively as Hudson won a gold glove last season.
The second option is "O-Dawg Light", Felipe Lopez. (.310, 9, 57 for Arizona and Milwaukee last season) Lopez is three years younger and the Twins might be able to sign him for the same price. Like Hudson, he can fit in the two hole ahead of Joe Mauer. The defense may not be as good as Hudson, but the Twins would be getting the same type of player: a catalyst at the top of the lineup that can get on base for Mauer and Justin Morneau.
Problem is that this will only happen if Ron Gardenhire gets over his man crush on Nick Punto. I'm pretty sure Punto has some naked pictures of Gardy and is blackmailing over playing time. Greg Oden eat your heart out!
Finally, the other move that the Twins might consider making is signing Joe Mauer to a long term contract. Time for a captain obvious sighting...THIS MUST GET DONE!!!! The Twins are dodging every possible question about this, and I hope they aren't doing the same with contract negotiations. The sooner this extension gets done, the better off the Twins will be. Should Mauer hit the open market, the Twins will get into a bidding war with the Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox. At that point, Mauer might be as good as gone.
Mauer, of course, also means a ton to the community. Rick Reilly came to St. Paul last night to do a taping of his "Homecoming" series in which he takes an athlete back to their hometowns and interviews them in front of their adoring hometown fans. 3,500 people showed up to an interview. I'll rephrase that, 3,500 people came to see a conversation between two people. Yeah, that Mauer guy is pretty popular. Should he leave, the Twins fan base may go down the drain.
However, for all the doom and gloom that's outside, including the 4 degree temperature, there is hope knowing that baseball is on the way. Soon the warmth and hope of another season will capture our hearts and we'll be seeing the mystery that is Target Field.
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