According to Neal St. Anthony of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Twins owner Carl Pohlad passed away at age 93.
Twins Rumors
Braves Still In Kawakami Mix?
According to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Atlanta Braves remain a possible suitor for Japanese pitcher Kenshin Kawakami.
The Japan Times has reported that Kawakami had narrowed his choices to the Baltimore Orioles, Minnesota Twins and St. Louis Cardinals. O’Brien’s report disputes this by saying he spoke Saturday with Kawakami’s agent, who said the Braves were still one of the teams Kawakami had on his list.
Kawakami Down To Orioles, Cardinals, Twins
According to Wayne Craczyk of the Japan Times, Kenshin Kawakami has narrowed his options to three teams: the Orioles, Cardinals, and Twins.
Kawakami probably makes the most sense for the Cardinals out of those three. Baltimore isn’t near contention and the Twins already have a nice starting rotation. However, signing Kawakami could allow them to feel more comfortable about trading a young starter.
Odds and Ends: Teixeira, Dickey, Takahashi
Links for Friday…
- In the aftermath of the Yankees’ spending, Joe Posnanski reminds us that two thirds of MLB teams have won the World Series in the last 30 years.
- UmpBump doesn’t like the idea of a salary cap.
- FanGraphs now shows a hitter’s wins over replacement level, as well as the player’s dollar value. You don’t need to be a stathead to enjoy this. For example, here’s the Carlos Pena page. Scroll to the bottom. Value Wins shows he was worth 6.0 wins over replacement level in 2007. That made him worth $24.6MM, but he earned just $800K.
- If you are a stathead, you’ll like this 1981 SI article on Bill James.
- A look at the only five players who should be considered within the first five picks of a fantasy baseball draft next year.
- Mark Teixeira leftovers…Murray Chass says Tex and his wife didn’t want to live in Boston, while Kat O’Brien details the hard stance the Yankees took with Scott Boras. The Nationals did everything they could to sign Teixeira, but he wanted to win now.
- ESPN’s Keith Law explains why the draft pick compensation system is broken. Brewers GM Doug Melvin had interesting comments on this in a recent Buster Olney blog.
- The New York Times Company is trying to sell its stake in the Red Sox.
- La Velle E. Neal III tries to figure out the Twins’ signing of knuckleballer R.A. Dickey.
- Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker takes a closer look at lefty reliever Ken Takahashi.
Dickey Picks Twins
Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey has chosen to pitch for the Minnesota Twins over returning to the Seattle Mariners, Kirby Arnold of The (Everett, Wash.) Daily Herald reported.
Dickey told Arnold that he likes his chances of playing at the major-league level with the Twins, despite a larger amount of money offered by the Mariners. Arnold writes that he agreed to a “split minor-major league contract.” I’m guessing Dickey signed a minor-league deal that will pay more if he makes the 25-man roster.
The Mets and Brewers also had interest, Arnold writes.
UPDATE: MLB.com’s Kelly Thesier has it posted now. It is a minor-league deal.
Walters On Joe Mauer
Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press wrote yesterday about Joe Mauer, whose contract runs through 2010. He says the Red Sox are "already salivating over Mauer." I’m sure many teams are. The Twins have yet to talk to Mauer about another extension. Since Mauer is just 26 in April and his next contract will cover only free agent years, the deal could be record-setting (for a catcher) if he stays healthy.
Twins Rumors: Lyon, Wigginton, DeRosa
La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has the latest on the Twins.
- The Twins are one of several teams in on free agent reliever Brandon Lyon.
- It does not seem that the Twins are pursuing Ty Wigginton.
- Nothing new on the Twins’ rumored interest in Mark DeRosa; the two teams don’t match up well (the Twins are not willing to trade Jason Kubel).
- Neal likes the match between the Twins and Brewers, but J.J. Hardy has not been discussed.
Twins Interested In Kawakami, Uehara
According to Joe Christensen and La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Twins have expressed interest in Japanese pitchers Kenshin Kawakami and Koji Uehara. The authors suggest Kawakami could allow the Twins to trade a starter, while Uehara may enter the Majors as a reliever. The Twins’ interest in Kawakami first surfaced back on Tuesday. Teams such as the Orioles, Cardinals, Braves, Red Sox, Mets, and Giants have also been linked to him.
Another note from Christensen: the Twins have expressed interest in Brett Tomko.
Twins Still Exploring Shortstop Options
According to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Twins are still exploring shortstop options despite signing Nick Punto.
Two of the team’s targets do not seem available – J.J. Hardy and Yunel Escobar. The Braves were hard-pressed to discuss Escobar even when they thought they had Rafael Furcal, though the Twins inquired. And Doug Melvin is sticking to his stance on Hardy.
We talked about other failed Twins infield pursuits yesterday.
Wigginton Too Pricey For Twins?
According to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
The Twins like Ty Wigginton but believe he’s looking for a bigger contract than the three-year, $17.5 million deal the Los Angeles Dodgers gave Casey Blake. So the Twins have had little to no dialogue with Wigginton’s agent, Dan Lozano.
I had Wigginton pegged for two years and $12MM or so, but he is four years younger than Blake and outhit him in 2008 (though he had 172 fewer plate appearances and was largely aided by Minute Maid Park). If Wiggy can really get a better contract than Blake, it would’ve made sense for the Astros to tender him a contract and then trade him.
Christensen adds that the Twins still have hope for acquiring Mark DeRosa, but talks for Garrett Atkins and Adrian Beltre hit dead ends. Also, Jon Heyman tosses the Twins into the mix for Michael Young. We’d previously heard about the Mets, Angels, Dodgers, and Royals discussing him. Heyman did not find evidence talks for Young got serious with any team, though, and he wonders if Young would approve a trade to Minnesota.
In other Twins news, Christensen notes that the Twins expressed interest in free agent reliever Brandon Lyon, who seems to be waiting until Brian Fuentes signs.
