Eight is Enough
See what I did there? Eight is Enough was apparently a tv show at some point in time.
The Twins had eight arbitration eligible players and they signed them today in order to avoid arbitration. Arbitration is a pretty ugly process, so avoiding it is great. A player basically has to convince a third party why he deserves X dollars, and management has to convince that party why the player doesn’t. Can you imagine how bridges can be burned if Smith is in a room listing the reasons why Liriano sucks. With Liriano present. Not fun.
So, here are the contracts:
Pavano- 1 year, $7million
Harris- 2 years, $3.2 million, with various plate appearance incentives included.
Liriano- 1 year, $1.6 million
Hardy- 1 year, $5.1 million
Crain- 1 year, $2 million (that is terrible, by the way)
Guerrier- 1 year, $3.15 million
Young- 1 year, $2.6 million, with various plate appearance incentives. Should be interesting to see if Gardy benches him down the stretch. Although the incentives aren’t very significant.
Neshek- 1 year $625K. With a minor incentive that can kick it up to $700K.
Today was a pretty expensive day for the Twins. I don’t like the 2 million they gave to Crain, I think we would have been better off non-tendering him. That figure for Guerrier seems a little high. Especially when we are paying Nathan a boatload of money, you combine that with Crain and that is one pricey bullpen.
I thought Liriano would make a little bit more, but given his crappy year in 2009 I guess I’m OK with throwing him a million and some change in what might be one of his last chances with the team. If he ends up in the pen, that makes it that much more expensive and upsets me even more.
I don’t really have a problem with giving Harris two years. He is a useful player who will still be making much less than Nick Punto.
What does everyone else think of the (relatively) big bucks tossed around by the Twins this afternoon? Was it worth it to avoid several ugly arbitration cases? Or would you have like to see Smith take that worthless Canadian Crain down a peg or two?
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FG,
I concur on Crain. He’s done like dinner and should not be on this bullpen. That is wasted money.
I still struggle with Carl getting 7 mil, knowing that last year was not the trend for him, as far as health goes. But it’s just a one year deal, so I can live with it.
I also think Matty G might have been a little high, to his actual value, but then again, Gardy has over used him the last two years, so he might deserve it based on that.
I think the problem I have with such an expensive bullpen is the way Gardy uses it. He saves the best relievers (usually Nathan and sometimes Guerrier) for situations that never come up. If the twins are in a tight game we rarely see the top set-up guy (probably Guerrier) before the 8th and the top guy (Nathan) before the ninth. I have no problem paying top dollar for excellent relievers, we just need to use them better.
That’s a good point. I have reservations about paying so much money to Crain and Guerrier (and I’m probably less pessimistic about them than most Twins fans), but the real problem is this one:
Regardless of how much we’re paying Guerrier and Crain and Nathan, Gardy will find a way to make sure the lion’s share of relief innings are pitched by a $400K replacement level minor leaguer, like Bass or Keppel or something.
Whew! I guess they are not worried about increasing our payroll this year? $25M+ in arb players… I’d have to say I’m fine with paying Grrrr, he deserves it… but with Rauch, Crain, and Nathan, that IS an expensive bullpen… hopefully they are used correctly and produce great results this season.
Does this mean that Harris/Punto/Tolbert/Valencia will be getting the time at 3B/2B?? I think we are done with FA signings and a trade now seems unlikely… Is this enough to lock Mauer down for the next 10 years?
Speaking of Harris, how’d he get 2 years? Where was Gardy? I thought he hated him.
Gardy doesn’t sign the contracts, and he doesn’t have final say. Also, it’s possible that he realized that Harris is sub-.400 in both OBP and SLG, and therefore is a Gardy kind of player.
I wouldn’t totally rule out another move for the infield. It remains possible that Orlando Hudson or Felipe Lopez slips through the fingers of the rest of the league and falls to us on a make-good one year contract. I don’t expect it to happen, but it’s too soon to lose hope.
FG
Agreed, we can’t rule out an infielder being picked up yet, although it doesn’t look good.
Again, Mauer is not signed, and I am not sure Hardy and Pavano are enough to make him think we have arrived and can actually win a post season game.
Oh yeah we picked up Condary too (or whatever his name is).
big deal.
Condrey for $900k and Gardy said he’ll be in the bullpen… not sure I agree with saying someone who you just signed w/ injury problems is already granted a spot in the bullpen.. especially considering last year. You still have to figure out what Neshek can bring, and then there’s Liriano, Duensing, Slama, Delaney, Swarzak, Manship (and I’m probably missing one). I guess their thinking is 1 of them gets the pen while the rest pitch in AAA until needed.
As for 3B, I’d offer a 1 yr $1M deal to Crede with incentives… and then offer 1 yr $4M to Hudson to play 2B. If you were willing to shell out $5M to Washburn to fill the rotation, why couldn’t you do this? Assuming they both accept which might be a long shot, but I’d at least make the effort to sign them…
I guess I’ll believe it when I see it.
Bill Smith would be lauded as a genius if he signed both Crede and Hudson to 1 year contracts totaling just $5M. The problem with that is that in order to sign a contract, both sides have to agree. And both Crede and Hudson just finished seasons where they’d signed a 1 year contract for less money than they wanted so they could put themselves in position to sign a bigger contract — and in both cases the “not as much money as they wanted” was considerably more than what you propose.
You want to sign Crede and Hudson? Are you okay with 1/$6M for Crede and 2/$14M for Hudson? Because that’s what it’ll likely take, and I don’t think Smith thinks we can afford it.
Twins interested in Thome?
Really? Really?
Thome and Washburn. Wow, Gardy will certainly have his vets. That wasted money could be used for Lopez.
Makes me sick cause both of those dudes sound exactly like the type of small potato signings the twins will make.