Twins general manager Bill Smith answered questions from Minnesota’s season ticket holders on a conference call tonight and Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has the details on what we should expect from the club this offseason:
- The Twins are looking for starting pitching, bullpen help and a backup catcher who can contribute offensively.
- It’s unlikely that Smith will try to re-sign Jim Thome, who collected his 600th career home run with the Twins before finishing the season in Cleveland.
- Even if the Twins don’t pick up Joe Nathan’s $12.5MM option for 2012, they’re interested in bringing him back next year. The right-hander has expressed a willingness to stay in the Minnesota organization.
- Though they’ll consider internal shortstop candidates such as Alexi Casilla, Trevor Plouffe and Tsuyoshi Nishioka, the Twins could acquire a shortstop from outside of the organization.
- The Twins have had some talks with prospective free agent Michael Cuddyer and hope to re-sign him. MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes examined Cuddyer's free agent stock last month.
Yay!!!!
More like tsuyoshi nishi-sucka
Cuddyers goina stink next yr, he gettin old
If Cuddyer is old, then what is Jamie Moyer?
Fossilized.
Hardy’s coming off of a good year. Could trade a couple low end relievers for him…
I like where this is going. 😛
I have absolute confidence that Bill Smith will do everything in his power to ruin the twins once again this offseason. His nonsensical moves have soured my once revered view of how the Twins were run organizationally. I no longer give them the benefit of the doubt instead I expect the worst and will undoubtedly get it.
Smith if you read this take notes. JJ Hardy doesn’t look so expensive anymore now does he? You will regret giving the Tigers Delmon for years and years to come. We had a japanese player who should be in CLASS A ball hitting 2nd to start the year. Good one. If you let Jason Kubel leave he will go to the White Sox and you will regret it. Blame injuries all you want but it was YOUR MOVES who put this team in position to go from first to worst. A great day will be when you recieve your pink slip because you obviously have NO CLUE!
Kinda hoping Nathan goes the free agency route, since I always wanted him on the Mets and the Mets could use him. I know he would definatly consider for two reasons New York is his hometown and the Mets need a closer.
If he leaves the Twins (and I think they will reach a deal), Nathan will want to pitch for a team that has a chance to win. The Mets – for the foreseeable future – will be battling with Washington and Florida for third place in their division.
Nishioka use was puzzling? Play him then sit him on the bench and play him then sit him on the bench. Let the guy go to spring training to win the SS or 2b role. He broke a leg and you expected him to come back 100% that is crazy. Its better than sending out AAAA players that will never amount to more than a bench player. Twins can rebound but first thing fix the starting pitching which should be the #1 off season move.
The more Nishioka played, the less he looked like a MLB caliber infielder. The broken leg was early in the season; once it healed it didn’t affect his July – September play. Nishioka looks exactly like a AAAA player and there is nothing to suggest he will get any better next year. One more thing: middle infielders who have no power should at least know how to execute a sacrifice bunt. Nishioka can’t even do that.
Twins, sign Hideki Matsui and Jose Reyes. Make it happen!
4) congratulations, you missed the joke
5) What’s a joke? the 2011 twins season? I DONT GET IT!!!!!
young hit .274/.298/.458 for the tigers, a .325 wOBA. league average wOBA is ~.330. average wOBA for a corner outfielder is much higher
young’s subpar bat along with his horribad defense combined to produce 0.1 WAR for the tigers in a month and a half
to make that clearer, that means that over the course of the season, delmon young was on pace to produce 0.4 WAR
sweet dividends man
Without Young they wouldn’t be playing Game 5? Really? Without him maybe they’d have acquired someone who can post an OBP higher than .300.
The Twins got two pitchers under the age of 23 and saved enough cash to sign their first round pick and still have some money left over for a guy who was going to rot away for 6 weeks and be non-tendered.
The Twins COULDN’T have gotten a better package for Young because the Tigers claimed him on waivers. They had to deal with Detroit, or pull him back.
I despise Bill Smith and his team and most of the moves they make, but I’ve got no problem with this one.
Delmon has hit good for them after going over but he will go right back to being the old Delmon next year and 17 times a year we will still get to watch routine fly balls hit him in the face and his patented strings of 10+ at bats where he swings at a terrible first pitch every time until breaking the streak by taking a first pitch meatball right down the middle
Based on your comments on this thread, I’m not sure you watch baseball. Young isn’t going to “pay dividends” in the future, he had one pretty decent season and that’s been it. The guy has an attitude problem, can’t play defense at all, and has zero motivation. Go take a look at some stats in FanGraphs, just because he hit a bomb here and there that you saw on SportsCenter, doesn’t make him a superstar.
Fact 1: Tigers trade for Delmon Young
Fact 2: Tigers win division
Your logic: Delmon Young won the division for the Tigers
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Fact 1: Jose Bautista plays for Blue Jays
Fact 2: Blue Jays finished 4th in the AL East
Your logic applied: Jose Bautista held the Blue Jays back
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Fact 1: Delmon Young plays for the Tigers, while Jose Bautista plays for the Jays
Fact 2: Tigers won their division, Jays finished 4th in theirs
Your logic applied: Delmon Young is better than Jose Bautista
Normal logic: The Blue Jays have other holes on their team and must also play against NYY, BOS, and TB over a combined 50 times a year. The Tigers won their division by 15 friggin games. Jose Bautista & Delmon Young were not factors in these finishes
Look at their injury reports and it’s not too tough to see.
It is funny because that’s exactly what the Twins traded him to the Orioles for. My guess is the Twins go season with with they have. Probably planning on giving Trevor Plouffe a chance to make it.
Actually according to Baseball-Reference he had a -.1 WAR. So you average out FG and BR and he’s exactly even. Not exactly a huge win for the Tigers…