Pohlad Talks About Twins’ Future
Twins owner Jim Pohlad spoke to La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune about the future of the team. A few highlights:
- Smith blames the Twins' disastrous 2011 season on "the perfect storm of injuries" as well as players failing to match their 2010 performances. He also admitted there were fundamental issues with players called up from the minors.
- Manager Ron Gardenhire and GM Bill Smith will be back in 2012, with Pohlad noting that the Twins are not a "knee-jerk reaction organization."
- Told about the potential $40MM+ the Twins have coming off the books, Pohlad said, "Well if what you just said, if that's true, that gives us tons of flexibility." The owner also said, "My guess is we're probably going to have to do more than one impact player."
- Pohlad was noncommittal on bringing back Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel, and gave a non-answer regarding the team renewing their interest in Hisashi Iwakuma. Said Pohlad, "I think probably everybody is on our radar."
- Pohlad says the team's $115MM payroll is "going to come down naturally" but it won't be slashed and will be "right up there."
- Based on our arbitration estimates, a $105MM payroll could give the Twins about $30MM to spend in 2012 salaries.
Cafardo’s Latest: Fielder, Orioles, Wilson, Capuano
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe discusses player conditioning and expanded rosters in his latest column, before sharing a few notes and rumors from around the league. Here are a few highlights from the piece:
- While the Brewers have been all but ruled out of the Prince Fielder sweepstakes in some corners, Cafardo hears from big league sources that the Brew Crew may make a bid to retain their first baseman after all.
- It appears Buck Showalter will have a significant infuence on Orioles' moves and decisions going forward. If Andy MacPhail leaves the team this winter, the O's may hire someone to hold the general manager title, but have Showalter acting as the de facto GM.
- Cafardo speculates that the Orioles, Red Sox, Yankees, Twins, Tigers, and Cardinals could all be in on C.J. Wilson this offseason.
- "Nobody has any real answer" about why the Red Sox and Mets couldn't reach an agreement on a Chris Capuano trade. We heard earlier this week that the Sox tried to acquire Capuano to help them clinch a playoff spot, but that talks were dead.
- Although Manny Ramirez has mentioned the possibility of playing in Japan, Cafardo doesn't think a Japanese team would be willing to take on a two-time PED user.
- Cafardo has heard Bobby Valentine mentioned as a potential replacement if the Red Sox and Terry Francona part ways. Earlier today, FOX's Ken Rosenthal looked into whether or not Francona's job is in jeopardy.
Astros To Select First Overall In 2012
The Astros are on the clock. The Twins won today, ending their 11-game losing streak and assuring Houston of the top pick in the 2012 draft. As our Reverse Standings page shows, there's no way that the Twins will finish with a worse record than the Astros this year.
The Astros will finish with at least 102 losses (even if they don't lose again) and the Twins reached the 60-win plateau with today's win, which means they won't exceed 102 losses. Because the Astros finished with a worse record (73-78) than the Twins (91-60) a year ago, Houston would win a tiebreaker and select first overall in 2012 should both clubs happen to finish 60-102 this year.
Houston has selected first overall twice before, though both selections came long before they hired current scouting director Bobby Heck. Houston selected Floyd Bannister first overall in 1976 and selected Phil Nevin with the top choice in 1992, five picks ahead of Derek Jeter.
Free Agent Stock Watch: Michael Cuddyer
The Twins are all Michael Cuddyer has ever known. They drafted him ninth overall as a high school shortstop in 1997, and he reached the Majors in 2001. Cuddyer's Twins career has spanned 11 seasons and 1,130 games (plus 22 in the postseason) to date. He's mostly played right field, but has also logged innings at the infield corners and second base. Cuddyer's career batting line is .271/.343/.451, which is similar to his work this year.
Cuddyer has earned about $29MM in his career, most of which comes from a multiyear contract he signed in January of 2008. That became a four-year deal when the Twins exercised his $10.5MM option for 2011. 33 years old in March, Cuddyer is closer than he's ever been to free agency. The Twins held on to him at both trade deadlines this year, despite interest from the Phillies, Braves, Giants, Red Sox, and Angels. Cuddyer wants to stay, and the Twins reportedly floated a two-year, $16MM deal in August. Joe Christensen said talks didn't get beyond that trial balloon, and the player prefers to resume talks after the season. Cuddyer is represented by Casey Close of Excel Sports Management, as our agency database shows.
In our latest Elias Rankings projections, Cuddyer profiles as a Type A free agent. The Twins clearly want him back, but offering arbitration would result in a salary north of this year's $10.75MM salary. My guess is that the Twins won't consider the draft picks worth the risk and will not offer arbitration if it gets to that point. Cuddyer figures to be a popular free agent target in a market light on offensive depth, and his value will only increase if he doesn't cost a draft pick. I think Cuddyer could find three years and $30MM on the open market, so the Twins might have to improve their offer to something in the three-year, $27MM range to get a deal done. He "might need some convincing" to re-sign, tweeted ESPN 1500's Phil Mackey yesterday. If talks with the Twins fall through, teams like the Red Sox, Athletics, Cubs, Cardinals, Rockies, and Giants are speculative suitors.
Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.
NL West Notes: Rockies, Stewart, Darnell, Giants
Some NL West notes for Sunday evening..
- More on Ian Stewart from Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post as the 26-year-old says that he's willing to take a significant pay cut to stay with Colorado next season. Stewart says that the club has made no indication of the future outside of telling him to be ready for Spring Training.
- The Rockies would "love" to sign Michael Cuddyer this winter, but Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post thinks they need to focus their offseason spending on pitching rather than offense, given the structure of the NL West. Renck says the club won't get C.J. Wilson, but should "relentlessly" pursue Wandy Rodriguez in a trade, and also do the same with Matt Garza and Carl Pavano. Colorado was Pavano's second choice last offseason after re-signing with the Twins, says Renck.
- Renck's colleague Jim Armstrong tweets that Ian Stewart isn't looking for a change of scenery and will report to the Instructional League on September 27.
- Padres 2008 second rounder James Darnell will miss the Arizona Fall League and undergo surgery to clean up his labrum, tweets Dan Hayes of the North County Times.
- Bill Neukom's departure from the Giants came down to money and management style, according to Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross of the San Francisco Chronicle.
- In a Q&A with Brian Murphy and Paul McCaffery KNBR Radio, Larry Baer tells fans that the Giants mission won't change much. Baer reminds that his role isn't to evaluate player mechanics, but to make sure that the organization has the funding to field the best team they can to win.
- Earlier today, Dodgers GM Ned Colletti talked about the upcoming offseason.
Indians Notes: Sizemore, Carmona, Thome, Cabrera
The Indians may have had their playoff hopes dashed by the Tigers, but with a strong performance over the next week and a half, they'll still finish the season with a winning record. Cleveland sends Justin Masterson to the hill against the Twins today, looking to finish off a sweep and get back to .500. Before they get underway at Target Field, let's check out a few Tribe-related links….
- The Indians figure to pursue starting rotation depth and a right-handed bat this winter, according to Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Pluto also expects the club to exercise Grady Sizemore's 2012 option, though he's not as sure about Fausto Carmona's. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes said earlier this month that Carmona's option "requires pause, but is worth exercising," and also predicted Sizemore's option will be exercised.
- Within Pluto's piece, he notes that the Tribe should end up drawing more than 1.8 million fans this season, well above their projected figure of 1.3 million. The bump in attendance will help accommodate a payroll increase for 2012.
- The Indians have sent $20K to the Twins to complete the Jim Thome trade, tweets MLB.com's Jordan Bastian.
- Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer fields reader questions in his latest mailbag, discussing Casey Kotchman, Orlando Cabrera, and September callups, among other topics.
- The Star-Ledger's Mike Vorkunov looks at the Indians and a few other teams whose playoff hopes fell by the wayside in the second half. He briefly explains what went wrong and why there's hope next year for each club.
Twins Notes: Payroll, Cuddyer, Kubel, Nishioka
MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger covered a few hot stove topics in his recent Twins mailbag piece, and here are some of the highlights….
- GM Bill Smith "has indicated the club is going to try to sign at least one of" free agents Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel. The latest Elias rankings show Cuddyer is a Type A free agent and Kubel is a Type B, so Cuddyer could net the Twins an extra draft pick if they let him walk.
- There has been no talk of reducing the Twins' $113MM payroll from last season. In his look at the team's arbitration-eligible players, MLBTR's Tim Dierkes speculated that Minnesota could have up to $30MM to spend this winter if it planned to stay at the $113MM figure. That would be more than enough to sign both Kubel and Cuddyer if the team so desired.
- That money could also be spent on a high-profile free agent, though Bollinger notes that isn't the Twins' style. He believes that besides Kubel or Cuddyer, the club will focus on infield depth and rebuilding the bullpen.
- Joe Nathan "has expressed a willingness to remain with the organization" and we heard last week that the Twins were also interested in keeping Nathan in the fold. This would likely require signing Nathan to a new free agent contract, since the Twins will almost surely decline Nathan's $12MM option for 2012.
- Minnesota will probably keep Tsuyoshi Nishioka and have him compete with Trevor Plouffe for the shortstop job next season. Bollinger notes that Nishioka's experience at both short and second base would make him a good candidate as a utilityman.
Outrighted To Triple-A: Sutton, O’Connor, James
Let's keep track of the day's outright assignments right here, with the first batch coming courtesy of the International League transactions page…
- The Red Sox have outrighted Drew Sutton to Triple-A. The 28-year-old utility man had been designated for assignment earlier this week after hitting .315/.362/.444 in 60 plate appearances with the big club and .295/.382/.476 in Triple-A
- The Mets have outrighted Mike O'Connor to Triple-A. The 31-year-old lefty had been designated for assignment earlier this week. In 39 games for New York's Triple-A affiliate, he posted a 5.22 ERA with 9.8 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 60 1/3 innings. O'Connor also appeared in five games at the big league level.
- The Twins have outrighted Chuck James to Triple-A. The 29-year-old lefty threw 10 1/3 ineffective innings for Minnesota, but did post a 2.30 ERA, 9.6 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, and 0.6 HR/9 in 62 2/3 innings in their minor league system. James had been designated for assignment earlier this week.
AL Central Notes: Zumaya, Twins, Tigers, Cabrera
Links from the AL Central before the Tigers host the Twins and the White Sox host the Indians…
- Joel Zumaya has started throwing in Florida, the first time he's done that since Spring Training according to MLB.com's Chris Vannini and Jason Beck. Zumaya won't make it back in time to pitch for the Tigers this year, but it's a "sign of hope" that he'll be ready for the start of 2012. The hard-throwing righty is a free agent after the season.
- The Twins fired Triple-A manager Tom Nieto and hitting coach Floyd Rayford, according to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. GM Bill Smith told MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger that the firing was due to the Triple-A team's performance over the last two years, not about mistakes made by rookies at the MLB level (Twitter link).
- Ryan Ford of the Detroit Free Press runs through some of the Tigers’ best (Ivan Rodriguez and Jose Valverde) and worst (Dean Palmer) free agent signings in recent memory.
- Justin Verlander has been generating MVP buzz recently and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports adds Miguel Cabrera’s name into the mix, along with Jose Bautista, Curtis Granderson, Robinson Cano, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez.
- Indians manager Manny Acta told MLB.com's Jordan Bastian that Asdrubal Cabrera has been his team's MVP "without a doubt." The shortstop, who played through some minor injuries this season, has a .275/.336/.462 line with 22 homers.
Olney On Mauer, Morneau, Wright, Royals
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.