Twins Inquire On Adrian Beltre

Over the past 3.5 years, Beltre slugs about .050 higher on the road. That is significant since Safeco is hell on right-handed hitters. He's certainly not an elite bat, but moving away from Safeco would help and he is an elite defender.

Minnesota still has some decent pitching prospects in the minors, so I bet they could work something out. Money might be the biggest issues, since I would be surprised if Minnesota decides it has an extra $13 million hanging around.

I hate how quickly TypeKey logs a person out. It is ridiculous. I always have to sign out, then sign back on.

This just doesn't strike me as a Twin's type move.

Twins didn't think they'd really contend this year is my guess and they wanted to try I guess to show that they were committed to this season along with the future. Keep in mind, this Twins team might have better days ahead with Liriano coming back and getting rid of Hernandez. Beltre might be the one more bat this team needs. Mauer, Morneau, Young (Had a bad open but if you look at the stats he's been better over the past month and a half), Cuddyer (bad year though), and Beltre would be a pretty good middle of the order pop.

Minnesota and Seattle don't seem like a good match on this move. Beltre is the guy the Mariners want to deal least and his salary is likely to be a stumbling block for the Twins.

Another hurdle is that Seattle has absolutely no depth at 3B and the Twins don't seem to be bursting will MLB ready expendible talent.

Money shouldn't be issue; the Twins are well under payroll the next two season. If Lamb could be part of the deal (a LHer) that certainly would expiate things.

I'm thinking something like Lamb or Buscher and Mulvey and maybe a an A-ball guy.

Quick question, haven't the Twins wanted to upgrade to a good third baseman for the last 10 years?

That article about Beltre being called out for not taking extra batting practice was really good.

Shows the behind the scene turmoil that explains the sucktitude of the Mariners.

"That article about Beltre being called out for not taking extra batting practice was really good."

Agreed, and it doesn't put Bedard, Sexson or Beltre in a very positive light. Maybe there is something to that chemistry thing afterall.

From the Twins perspective, moving Cuddyer for Beltre would be a positive. That would upgrade third and create an opportunity to keep Span in the lineup. That would also help them match up better on payroll. They could also have the Mariners take Lamb to further reduce payroll.

The Twins are $14.5 million under last years payroll, and about $19 million under what ownership said they had budgeted for. Add to that the fact that they have no big pending free agents they'll need to sign and a new ballpark opening in one year - they absolutely do have $13 million hanging around.

I don't question whether they have the money. Ownership could spend to their budget and then some. I'm just trying to remember the last time they paid big bucks to a player who wasn't brought up through their organization.

Maybe with a new GM things will be different.

bjsguess,

True, as a rule the Twins like to rely on homegrown talent. But that doesn't mean there haven't been exceptions...

1) Trading for Luis Castillo during the offseason.

2) Trading for Shannon Stewert during the All Star Break.

Trading for Adrian Beltre wouldn't be THAT unprecedented for this team. Also, I do think the rules the Twins play by are changing now that the new ballpark is on the horizon. After all, they DID offer Torii Hunter $15 million a year and Johan Santana $20 million a year.

IIRC, the Twins acquired Rick Reed and his 9million dollar a season contract, which ran an additional year. The gave up Matt Lawton.