Twins Christmas Wish List
While it has become very clear that I have a different set of wishes (and possibly goals) for the Twins than they do for themselves, I am going to lay out a list anyway. While there really isn’t much I reasonably believe the Twins will go after, I also plan on throwing in a few things I wish for them NOT to do.
- Acquire one or two right-handed bullpen arms. If the price becomes too high, stick with what you have. Don’t sign a third or fourth tier free agent just because. Give more innings to Breslow and Mijares, not scrap heap players who were slightly below league average in 2000.
- Do not trade Kevin Slowey. I am pretty sure this has already come true, as it seems that Smith has turned down several trading partners who asked for Slowey. However, I would still like to stress it.
- Use Punto off the Bench in a utility role. This is where is is most (or the only way in which he is) valuable.
- Platoon Buscher/Harris correctly. If Buscher goes 4-4 with 2 homers or something against a righty, and a lefty is pitching the next day, do not start him because he is “hot”. Do it right. Buscher against righties, harris against lefties. No questions about it.
- Do not trade Delmon. His value is WAY down from a year ago. If we trade him now, there is no way we get anything close to Garza/Bartlett. I work in the financial industry, and buying high and selling low is not what you are supposed to do. Unless you hate money/winning.
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Don’t trade Baker or Liriano either.
If Punto doesn’t play SS, nobody does. We don’t have anyone else to do it, unless we make Harris an every day player: Harris at SS and Buscher at 3B against righties; Punto at SS and Harris at 3B against lefties.
Harris hits lefties and righties about the same, so that could “work,” except that he’s not that great and isn’t even that much of a step above Punto (as long as Punto is playing “well”).
We still have a giant hole at SS. The plan looks like it’s going to be to use Punto to spackle over it, but I really hope they’re looking for a real solution and not just crossing their fingers and hoping Plouffe finally figures something out. He’s not going to figure anything out.
I hadn’t heard baker or liriano’s names surface in trade talks. Not that people don’t want them, but maybe at the beginning of the offseason Smith wasn’t as clear about slowey being off-limits as he was about Baker and Liriano.
Thoughts on Mike Lowell IF Teixeira signs with Boston?
If Boston promises to pay his entire salary, and we don’t have to give up much of anything, maybe. He is an overpaid, injury risk whose career is clearly declining.
Ha! That’ll happen…
Buscher/Harris > Lowell
Right. Knowing the red sox we will have to give up Slowey and Valencia, AND pay the rest of Lowell’s contract. And the Sox would act like they are doing us a favor.
Baker has been named as the price in a few trades. Those talks end faster than when they demand Slowey+Span, so I’m not that worried. And I threw Liriano in just in case someone thought he was being neglected and therefore available. No.
Lowell? A rapidly declining third baseman (who was vastly overrated in the first place), moving to TURF, and into a lineup where he won’t be protected by sluggers behind him or offered high-OBP guys in front of him?
Lowell with Red Sox > Buscher/Harris > Lowell with Twins
The Red Sox will try to make us pay for what THEY get from Lowell, while he’s really not even worth paying for if we pay for what WE would get.
I’m interested to see how the Red Sox fare in their first full season without Manny since they became relevant again. Ortiz is clearly declining after an injury plagued 08, we’ve mentioned Lowell, and JD Drew really is no good. That leave Youkilis, who is decent, and Pedroia. Ellsbury will be playing full time CF with Crisp now gone, but he hasn’t impressed me much. Jason Bay is also a solid hitter, but not the imposing slugger Manny is. They lost (technically gave away) Manny at the worst possible time.
Not only did they give away Manny, they gave up prospects to get rid of him. I don’t care how much ESPN tries to spin it to make it look like the Red Sox came out ahead — they lost that trade.
Lowell, as mentioned, is declining fast. Their SS is presumably Lowrie, who’s a decent young player; but they’ll have to give Lugo some time because of his contract and Lowrie might need some time to adjust (not everyone hits the ground running like Pedroia). Pedroia is really good at 2B. Youkilis is pretty good at 1B. So their infield is solid on the right and shaky on the left.
Drew is a decent hitter (his problem is that he gets contracts that usually go to players better than he is, and can’t live up to the dollars — that’s a statement on the skill of Boras and the idiocy of GMs, not on the talent of Drew). Bay is a decent hitter. Ellsbury is Jason Tyner plus absurd hype. Their outfield is suddenly weak.
David Ortiz isn’t what he used to be, and is the type of hitter who declines extremely quickly after his peak. They won’t get much from their DH this year.
Jason Varitek is cooked, and the Red Sox know it. But no other catchers are really available, so they’re stuck with another 73 OPS+ year from C again.
Losing Manny will turn out to be huge for the Red Sox. Unless, of course, they sign Texeira. In which case they move Youkilis to 3B, Lowell to an old folks’ home, and suddenly their lineup is pretty good again.