Twins offer Pavano arbitration
The deadline to offer arbitration to pending free agents was midnight last night. As expected the Twins offered it to Carl Pavano. Pavano is a Type B free agent, so if he decides to sign elsewhere the team will get a compensatory draft pick.
This move was a no brainer because if he accepts we have him for one year at a reasonable price, and if he doesn’t we get the pick. Let’s just hope Bill Smith doesn’t sign him to some huge extension to prove to Mauer “we’re building a winner here, and everyone knows Pavano is a winner”. That would piss me off.
Polanco and Orlando Hudson were not offered arbitration so the Twins wouldn’t have to forfeit a draft pick to sign them. Thus making them more appealing. I have always been a bigger Polanco fan than Hudson fan but either would give the Twins a huge boost, adding one of them plus JJ Hardy would turn the Twins middle infield from a huge liability to a strength. Not sure if I can handle that. I’m so used to the Twins having really crappy middle infielders, and I don’t think Gardy would be happy if we had two GOOD ones.
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I was happy to see both Hudson and Polanco not get offered arbitration, as it makes it much more likely that the Twins can get one of them.
They’re roughly equivalent players, overall — Hudson’s the better hitter, Polanco’s the better fielder, but it balances out to about a +3 win player.
Hudson is a full two years younger than Polanco, which I must admit I did not expect. On the one hand, that makes him less of a risk (second basemen notoriously fall off a cliff in their mid-30s) … but on the other hand, Hudson has a history of injuries and Polanco has been steady.
There’s some risk involved with either player, and neither is worth more than a 2 year commitment. Hopefully Smith doesn’t get carried away.
(Oh, and everyone suspects that Felipe Lopez will fly under the radar this winter. These two guys not requiring a pick will make that even more likely.)