3:23pm: The Twins are meeting with Cuddyer's agent today, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports, and seek resolution on their offer.
10:25am: The Twins offered Michael Cuddyer a three-year, $25MM deal, tweets Jon Heyman of MLB Network. Josh Willingham is viewed as a back-up plan.
You scared me when you first said Willingham. Willingham probably would have took that deal in a second.
I screwed that up initially, my apologies.
If the rays are willing to give willingham 3 years for $18 million, would he be okay with that money? It’s just are the rays willing to give him that
Willingham should be a front-up plan
That’s almost exactly what I was going to say. All things being equal, Willingham is the far superior player. This is why the Twins are in trouble.
Willingham? far better than Cuddyer? Doubtful!
Fair offer…
indians should offer 2 years, 20 mil… we need someone who can play first base and outfield!!!!!!! more per year may get him, and he’d be productive with us by knowing the competition (AL Central) and possibly being one of the best hitters on the team… could get him a bigger contract in 2 years than the 3 year deal would on a team with other great hitters.
Move on Twinkies! Cuddy turned you down, take the picks and run.
That’s it? I was scared the Phillies were going to give him 3 years $36. He’d be taking a paycut with that offer from the Twins, no?
Giants should get in on this…i was expecting cuddyer to get 12 mill a yr. 3yr. 27 mill offer.
Cuddyer and Willingham are not the same player objectively–or to the Twins. Cuddyer is a unique clubhouse strength and from what I understand, offers leadership and desire that the Twins true stars do not. Moreover, he can theoretically play 7 field positions, and plays many of them when needed. (Heck, make it 8 in a sense since he’s done some mop-up pitching as well.) Very versatile.
One more thing….by staying, Cuddyer can etch his legacy into a place in Twins’ history. Not as a Puckett or Killebrew or more recent superstars. But as someone who is remembered for a generation as a true Twin, someone who will not pass easily into the forgotten mists of baseball past. That should count for something substantial to both the Twins and particularly for Cuddyer.
Typical lowball offer from the Twins. Then if Cuddyer signs elsewhere, they can say at least they tried.
I understand the disparity in people’s opinions on what Cuddyer is worth, but this offer takes the concept of a hometown discount to an extreme. Perhaps they’re panicking due to the injuries and anemic production piling up between the two in-house guys they preemptively locked up to massive deals?
I don’t think they should treat Cuddyer, a guy who’s absolute maximum value is 4 years/$50MM, the same as if he’s a potential liability. I think they’ll meet in the middle. 3 years/$33MM or something along those lines.
Take that offer and give it to Edwin Jackson. See if you can get Willingham for the 2/16 you first offered Cuddy. Pray for Mauer’s legs and Morneau’s head and call it an offseason Twins.
CommissionerBart is right. Re-signing Cuddy should take into account more than a statistical analysis – he is clearly a clubhouse leader among a team of soft spoken superstars (M&M boys). He is the club house magician / prankster, makes motivational tee shirts at spring training, and is a fan favorite. Terry Ryan will bring him back.
Unrelated but, Hanley said no the third and wants to be traded.
Link?
Why are the Twins bringing back the same 99 loss team at ANY price? Time to start rebuilding around your $23M/year DH.
Agree… Twins are done for so time regardless who they sign. One again they will regret signing the M& M boys to that kind of money. It’s retarded.
This isn’t the same team at all, and the offseason isn’t even over yet. Carroll is a huge upgrade offensively and defensively from anyone they had in the MI last year and Doumit is a huge offensive upgrade over Butera, and he is more versatile. And you bring back some good players (because even with a 99 loss season, there are good players). Cuddyer was very good last year. Obviously an “if”, but if Mauer is healthier this year, that’s huge. Same with Span. With those two upgrades in FA signings and two additions due to better healthy, the Twins compete again, provided they find someone to replace Slowey now and pick up another BP arm, preferably a righty.
Id rather have Willingham 3/18 than Cuddy 3/25…we can apply that extra 2+ per year to sign a solid middle reliever. Of course I’d rather have Willingham at 1/6 or 2/12