I would of preferred the Twins sign Fuentes instead of Capps, but I like Capps enough. Its not like this is a huge commitment, only 1 year. And he is a guy who can close out games and save some innings on Nathan’s arm (I imagine Nathan is going to be eased into things, maybe not saving back to back games, that kind of stuff)

YF, I like those… you’re imagination is clearly so much better than mine! (Not that it takes much to be better than mine.) By the way… as much as the Twins needed to get Pavano back in the fold, I have to admit that it almost would have been worth it to see him choose the accept the reported deal his agent was discussing with the Evil Empire, just for the pure entertainment value of the inevitable fan reaction out of the Bronx!

I also prefer the “most often frequently overly-shat on” designation (or MoFoSho)

As for the people complaining that the Twins shouldn’t have traded Wilson Ramos, he was traded for a very good reason. Some wish the Twins would have kept him so he could be called up and be a right-handed DH in addition to a backup catcher. The Twins felt that this was wasting Ramos’ talents. He SHOULD be an everyday catcher, not the guy sent in once or twice a week to give Joe Mauer a break. The only way Ramos could be a starting catcher is with another team, and the Nationals still need a lot of help if they want to compete.

Also, I am eagerly anticipating Carl Pavano taking us on another mustache ride for the next two years.

THE ‘STACHE IS BACK!

Thank you.

Assuming they want to use Mijares for more than just getting out LH hitters, they’re going to need at least one more lefty in the pen… and two more would be nice. Other than Perkins, the only other contenders for a LOOGY role would be Rule V draftee Scott Diamond and… if he isn’t given a rotation spot… Brian Duensing. There are a couple of other lefty arms among the “non-roster invitees” coming to camp, but I imagine the Twins are hoping either Perkins or Diamond (or both) perform well. Given the time and money already invested in Perkins, I guess I don’t mind the Twins committing three-tenths of one percent of their payroll to him at this point.

I ‘m a little disappointed that Perkins got a deal, though. I feel like that’s definitely some money that could have been better used.

AK: I agree with both you and the Twins… I agree with them that more speed was needed… I agree with you that adding some of it in a corner OF spot would have been a good idea. As I also said in an earlier post, it dumbfounds me that the Twins could conclude they needed more speed because of how Target Field plays… yet didn’t recognize that they needed that speed in the OF because of how Target Field plays! As for your contention that nobody has been able to answer the question of whether the Twins have someone on staff who analyzes advanced statistics, I disagree… that question seems to have been answered… unfortunately, the answer remains, “no, they don’t”.