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Twins After Craig Monroe?
UPDATE: The deal is official.
This is odd: Joe Christensen reports that the Cubs may send Craig Monroe to the Twins for a player to be named later, perhaps today. For the Cubs, getting something for Monroe is gravy since they would non-tender him otherwise. I guess the Twins like the idea of Monroe on a one-year, $5MM commitment as opposed to the free agent options in left field.
I wonder if any other non-tender candidates might be moved? Guys like Ben Broussard, Joe Crede, Morgan Ensberg, Kevin Mench, Mark Prior, Josh Towers, and Claudio Vargas are possibilities.
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Desperation is a stinky cologne. Kudos to the Cubs for whatever they can wrangle out of this. Even if the Twins catch lightning in a bottle, it'll be .300 OBP lightning with a ton of strikeouts.
Posted by: DunkinDonuts | November 13, 2007 at 10:19 AM
I think Monroe might make a decent RHB side of a LF platoon. Pairing him with Geoff Jenkins would be a massive upgrade over Jason Tyner.
But wouldn't it make more sense to wait until he's non-tendered and sign him for less than 5M. i can't imagine that there will an intense bidding war for him.
Posted by: kab21 | November 13, 2007 at 10:42 AM
Getting Monroe was pretty pointless. He did nothing for the Cubs. I just hope that they can get someone good out of this.
Posted by: glberns | November 13, 2007 at 10:45 AM
could craig monroe be packaged with other player/s to acquire joe nathan?
Posted by: daveyrosello | November 13, 2007 at 10:53 AM
Davey,
No. Monroe is not a commodity, he's an attempt at a salary dump. It wouldn't be a "package" so much as a throw-in.
Posted by: DunkinDonuts | November 13, 2007 at 10:55 AM
I think the article clarifies the reasons for the Twins interest pretty well.
1 - "Monroe has been a notorious Twins killer throughout his career, batting .322 against them with 13 home runs in 283 at-bats. He has batted .304 in 35 career games at the Metrodome."
The line is .304/.351/.520 in 125 career Metrodome at-bats. That's worth paying attention to.
2 - "Monroe is also close friends with free agent center fielder Torii Hunter, and the two work out together in the offseason at a facility outside Dallas."
The Twins have certainly not given up on re-signing Hunter, as has been indicated by the media.
My #3 - He definitely represents an upgrade over Rondell White. If DH/LF is settled with Monroe and Kubel (for better or for worse), they can now focus on 3B and CF.
Posted by: AJ | November 13, 2007 at 10:57 AM
Seems incredibly stupid move for the Twins.
1. Wait for the Cubs to non-tender/release him, sign him for less and keep your low-A 24 year old.
2. Actually trade something from the organization and committ $5M while still trying to sign Torii Hunter on a cash strapped budget.
Posted by: TrueCubsFan | November 13, 2007 at 11:24 AM
Whether this is a good deal for the Cubs depends on who the PTBNL turns out to be. I doubt it will be a useful major league player, but I just hope it won't be a black hole of suckiness who takes a 40-man (or even worse, a 25-man) roster spot away from a more deserving player. That would leave the Cubs worse off than if they had simply non-tendered Monroe. I hope Hendry was smart enough to know that he has some leverage here and he doesn't have to take the Twins' garbage off their hands in order to make a deal happen.
Ideally, the PTBNL will be a promising-ish low to mid-level prospect who, at worst, will be a warm body for a class A or AA roster.
Posted by: backbackheyhey | November 13, 2007 at 11:32 AM
The Cubs aren't going to get anything. The PTBNL probably is an A-ball middle reliever.
Monroe really is pretty worthless. He hits lefties OK but is strictly a platoon player.
The Twins will need someone else to have a viable DH situation... maybe Luis Gonzalez or, preferably, Cliff Floyd.
Posted by: jehu | November 13, 2007 at 12:27 PM
Official. Press release is up at cubs.com. It is a PTBNL. Cubs also activate Prior and Guzman from the disabled list.
Posted by: cubbyrick | November 13, 2007 at 12:36 PM
I'd love to see Ensberg platooning with Betemit at 3rd for the Yankees.
They could put up a 850+ OPS.
He's at $4.35 million, so the lowest he could get in arbitration is $3.48M. I can't imagine SD paying him that. MAYBE the Yankees would, but I doubt it. He's likely to be non-tendered.
Alternatively, maybe the Yankees could sell a prospect to the Padres? They could trade one of their lesser prospects for Ensberg and $3M or so, sign Ensberg to a $4M deal, and not have to risk him being a FA.
Posted by: bobo | November 13, 2007 at 01:06 PM
Early reports say Prior just re-injured himself when he was removed from the disabled list.
Posted by: cubbyrick | November 13, 2007 at 01:28 PM
Please, you can have him. I can't believe someone actually gave us something for him. Good work by Hendry on getting anything here...
Posted by: Aduncaroo | November 13, 2007 at 01:36 PM
"Early reports say Prior just re-injured himself when he was removed from the disabled list."
Nice...I wish that was the case...it would make the decision much easier!
Posted by: Aduncaroo | November 13, 2007 at 01:37 PM
so this means the twins are definitely NOT folding the hand and trading away everybody this winter. i guess that's good. i mean, they need to resign johan, unless they get an absolute gold mine of an offer from the yankees (like cano, hughes, and cabrera). just resign johan, he is irreplaceable. as good as hunter is, he's getting older and his best season was in a walk year, go figure. so they could part with hunter and find a replacement.
the twins should trade 2 or 3 pitching prospects (think slowey, swarzak and some other unknown) for carl crawford. he doesn't have the strongest arm but they could put him in center either way. he's only going to get better and is a bonafide leadoff hitter.
Posted by: minnesotawins | November 13, 2007 at 08:22 PM
joe mauer for craig monroe?
Posted by: grathanial | November 13, 2007 at 10:02 PM