Fire Gardy

The Twins have historically avoided Boras clients, because he drives up the cost of his players and is a very tough negotiator. Well, today we signed a Boras client — Joe Crede * — and really took it to Boras in the negotiating room.

* This news began to leak out late Friday night, and the Chicago Tribune was the first to call it that the deal was done. ESPN re-printed the article apparently without checking it; LEN3 and JoeC at the Star Tribune are a little more professional than that, however, and didn’t want to call the deal done until it was actually official. As I tweeted, I wasn’t buying it until we had the terms.

Conversations started with a base of $5M plus incentives, and Boras attempted to demand a base of $7M with incentives to push it over $11M. That’s where the numbers stood for weeks, and it was beginning to look like the Twins would simply walk away, unwilling to take a risk like that on an injured player coming off two back surgeries. Until yesterday, when Crede presumably called Boras and said “Listen, Ass-Face*, there’s only one team bidding, and I want to actually play baseball this year. Make it happen.”

Apparently when Boras’ leverage disappears, he’s not so tough any more. The base salary is $2.5M, with incentives that could push is up to $7M if Crede has enough plate appearances. The bonuses begin at 250 PA; if he’s hurt or ineffective, he won’t even get that high, and will be cheaper than Mike Lamb.

* Scott “Ass-Face” Boras is a pretty fitting nickname, I think.

It’s good to see that the market is taking back a little power in setting prices, rather than simply letting the supply side define what things will cost regardless of what they’re worth. But more importantly, this is great for the Twins. Excellent third base defense and a right handed power bat on a ridiculously team friendly contract, for just one year.

We just got a 2+ win player for the price of 0.5-1.5 wins. For the first time in recent memory, the Twins have made a free agent signing that actually makes sense when you actually think about it. (Although the projection systems seem to think Crede’s basically done, putting him somewhere in the 0-5-1 win range for 2009, I don’t buy it. I don’t think the Twins would have shown continued interest if they didn’t think he could play; while we did have a hole at third base, it’s not like we lacked a workable solution. I think he’s due for a good season — especially since he’ll be playing for his next contract.)

I’m now excited about the entire infield — with Crede and Punto* on the left side of the infield, nothing’s getting through. Casilla and Morneau are no slouches on the right side either. With the outfield set such that any combination of our four starters has both better than adequate offense and defense (whether it’s Young-Gomez-Span, Young-Gomez-Cuddyer, Young-Span-Cuddyer, Span-Gomez-Cuddyer, or any other combination, I feel pretty good about the outfield), the team suddenly looks really good.

* Did you know Punto’s zone rating was the best in the AL for any shortstop who logged 500+ innings? Neither did I. That’s awesome.

Frankly, it’s amazing the difference one player can make. Especially when the team was essentially missing exactly one thing: a right handed power bat at third base. It’s just gravy that he’s got an excellent glove and is practically free.

Alright everyone. The Twins have made their splash! The season can start now!