Twins GM Bill Smith told ESPN.com’s Buster Olney that Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are totally committed to arriving at Spring Training in top physical form. The Twins’ chances in 2012 revolve around Mauer, who had knee surgery in December, and Morneau, who is recovering from concussion symptoms. Here are the rest of Olney’s notes from around MLB…
- Mauer has discussed a ‘rigorous’ training program with the Twins’ staff.
- The Twins will also have to restructure their bullpen and decide how Tsuyoshi Nishioka fits into their plans this offseason.
- The Mets are expected to listen to offers for David Wright, who would presumably draw interest from the Rockies and Angels, among others.
- Rival teams are in awe of the Royals’ collection of promising position players, Olney writes. Kansas City is still waiting for its pitching prospects to develop.
The Royals line-up/defense is going to be scary. Still I am not too worried as a tigers fan until they get some decent pitching.
I think it will get there. I’ve been saying 2013 for a couple of years now and have no reason to change that opinion, though I think they’ll be better next year. The good news is that the team has enough talent that it will be less difficult to get FA signings and perhaps trading for an arm because players will want to be part of the turn-around. I’ve followed the Royals since the mid 70s, and I’m telling you they will pack that stadium every night for a winner. We’re fair-weather fans for sure, but give us a winner and that place will be rocking.
“Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are totally committed to arriving at Spring Training in top physical form,” according to Bill Smith.
They better be. If we are going to turn this thing around we need these two to be ready.
The sad thing is. Justin might be done. I’m a whitesox fan and Justin is one of my favorite players but this long after the actual concussion and he is still showing symptoms. It might be the end of his career which is very very sad. And why do the twins have to decide on Nishioka this offseason. Wasn’t he brought in to be the ss of the future? I mean they posted for him and gave him a multi year deal.
Nishioka: Because he’s awful. He is incredibly awful. I was fine with waiting on the offense because I know that’s an adjustment, but the guy is terrible at defense too. Gold Gloves in Japan must be an even bigger joke than they are in America. He doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t know how to play certain balls (forehand, backhand) and he frequently forgets how to play baseball. I mean that last part can be said about pretty much most of the Twins this year but…still.
If he’s anything more than a backup next year…heck, he should be released. I’m hoping there’s some kind of opt-out in his contract so we can just drop him. I’m not a huge Plouffe fan but at least Plouffe can provide some offense once and awhile.
Should have kept Hardy, and no that’s not hindsight talking. I was a huge Hardy fan when he was with the Brewers. I was ecstatic when we traded for him especially for Gomez. Sure, he was injured more than I’d like, but he was still a very, very good SS for us. I loved having a guy who knew how to play the position for the first time in 20 years.
Yeah the decision to trade Hardy was bad enough, but Nishioka has been a complete total disaster. This guy is just not that good. I don’t see an adjustment happening. He just can’t handle MLB baseball. I will say this, his Japanese counterparts and agent did a fine fine job of fluffing his abilities. They absolutely swindeled Bill Smith. One of many many one sided deals Smith has made since taking the reigns.
Why would the Twins have kept Hardy? Actually making the right moves defys Minnesota Twins logic.
The Mets are expected to listen to offers for David Wright, who would presumably draw interest from the Rockies and Angels, among others.
Expected by who?…news to me and I’m sure other Mets fans.
As an outsider, the Mets need pitching to compete in that division(Braves and Philly)
Should build around Wright.
Trade Bay to White Sox for Dunn.
Trading Bay to the White Sox is right, though not for Dunn but for Jake Peavy who I envision the Mets turning into a closer.
20M dollar closer, yikes!
20 million dollars .220 singles hitter.
Not a terrible idea in the least. The Mets need pitching, not sure anyone has any idea where it’ll come from – but let us not forget that they need offense as well…its tough haha.
well they have a some of good pitching in the system but they are a year, but prob two years away in Wheeler(from SF) Matt Harvey, and Mejia
Howie Kendrick/Peter Bourjos/Tyler Chatwood for David Wright
Is that a joke?
Expected by who?…news to me and I’m sure other Mets fans.
No…not news. Periodically there have been articles that suggest that Alderson & co. have been weighing the possibility of cashing in on the return Wright could bring in trade as a viable way to infuse young promising talent into the team. There was even some talk that he was listening to offers prior to the trade deadline. So this latest from Olney is just a natural progression of all that.
Always mentioned in rumors but the Mets officials never affirmed anything and when asked they quickly distanced themselves from such talks. Only rumor mill typical fantasy trade stuff mostly from Rockies fans who have a massive desire for em. Don’t believe me, type David Wright into the MLBTR search box see what pops up.
You misunderstand. I was not referring strictly to MLBTR, and definitely not to fans who post. This stuff has popped up in a number of places — including SNY itself.
As to the Mets “distancing themselves,” from rumors, etc., there is a change in culture in terms of how the front office communicates with the outside world. While Alderson is not Alex Anthopolous (where absolutely nothing gets out until a deal is done), he does play his cards significantly closer to the vest than previous GM’s the Mets have had. So while stuff may leak out sometimes, Sandy often refuses to engage until he is ready to talk. So don’t look for indications from him.
Mauer’s days of being the #1 catcher are over. He’s already been injured for 281 games in his career, and this is only his 8th season. That’s being physically unable to play over 20% of the time, which is crazy.
Where do people think he’d have the most success? OF? How does that impact the rest of the team?
Most catchers don’t play even half the season. The injuries are a problem, but no catcher plays more than 80% of its team’s games at C without injuries/regression happening. And, the Twins have no excuse; this is the American League and the DH spot exists for this exact reason.
Morneau’s recovery process reminds me a lot of Corey Koskie’s a few years ago. Koskie ended up unable to return. I’m sure there are several differences but still. Hoping Morneau comes back healthy. I think the Twins should be cautious relying on production from him though.
Morneau clearly came back to early, he needs to step away from the game to recover.
Concussions take time to heal, thats all. If proper time is allotted, there should be no questions of whether he can return or not.
So Billy boy’s plan is to sit around, do nothing and hope everyone is healthy next year? Sounds familiar. Maybe he will throw in a few more terrible trades and call it an offseason.
Yeah. We need mauer and morneau. But in case you haven’t noticed, you have left our system bare and ineffective at developing the players we have. Additionally the approach with starting pitching sure isnt paying off. You can’t win with a rotation of 5 and 6 starters.
This clown needs to go now. Or mauer will be playing out his contract from the bottom of the standings.
The idea of Mauer hitting the weights rigorously has me very worried. After all, this is the guy that just missed a week of baseball (and collected almost a million dollars) after straining his neck jogging after a pop fly.
Hopefully his rigorous workout plan won’t get in the way of making shampoo commercials and video games.
I always thought that having a workout room in your house was mandatory for any pro athelete… Wtf does he do all winter hang out with Kevin Butler and play mlb the show?
While the Twins are restructuring the bullpen, I hope they restructure the starting rotation and the front office.