Offseason – Page 20 – Knuckleballs

Do You Trust the Twins?

Posted on 25 October, 2011 by Jim Crikket

These are interesting times to be a baseball fan.

The nature of Major League Baseball has always been unique because of the almost daily scheduling of games and its rich history of publishing at least basic statistics about each of those games, whether they be in box scores in the local newspaper or on the backs of baseball cards. Even going back to the days of my own childhood during the 1960s, I can recall friends who seemingly could recite the stats of all of our favorite Twins. That attention to detail came in handy when it came down to one of our favorite pastimes, trading baseball cards. We all wanted to assemble the best collection and we all thought we were better at making those swaps than anyone else.

But that didn’t mean we were smart enough to run a ballclub. Same Mele and Cal Ermer and Billy Martin were much better at managing a team than we were (well, maybe not Ermer, so much) and until free agency changed the entire business model, most of us thought Calvin Griffith and his organization were among the best baseball minds in the country when it came down to evaluating and acquiring talent.

We could watch most of the Twins’ road games on television, but for home games, we saw the games only through the eyes of the radio broadcasters. Any detailed accounts of the games came only through the words of the beat reporters for whichever Twin Cities newspaper your family happened to subscribe to.

Through most of the first decade that the Twins spent in Minnesota, corresponding with my youth, no matter how one season ended, we just trusted the Twins would be good the following year. There was no reason to think otherwise.

How times have changed.

Now we’re all experts. And as experts, ourselves, we simply don’t trust the people running the Twins to put a competitive team on the field every year.

Because we have access to so much more data than anyone dreamed 50 years ago, we can confidently “prove” that Ron Gardenhire is clueless when it comes to managing a baseball team (despite the fact that he’s arguably had more success as a Twins manager than Mele, Ermer and Martin, combined). Then again, we don’t just know better than Gardy, we also know better than Hall of Fame caliber managers who have their teams in the World Series. (Be honest… you and I both have been wondering what the heck Tony LaRussa’s been smoking through most of the current WS.)

With the help of those same statistics (and a healthy dose of selective 20-20 hindsight), we can “prove” that Bill Smith is overmatched by his fellow GMs, as well as players’ agents, when it comes to making deals to fill out the Twins roster.

Not only that, but thanks to the internet in general and social media in particular, even a guy who writes for the 44^th ranked blog in Twinsville can voice his concerns loudly enough that thousands of readers (OK, maybe just 100 or so this time of year) will know just how little faith he has in the Twins’ front office being capable of making the myriad of tough choices facing them this offseason.

Sometimes, it hardly seems fair to the Gardenhires and Smiths of MLB to have to put up with all of us “experts”. We should trust these people more, right?

Then again, they make it so difficult. Often, too difficult. Sometimes, impossible.

Just when we want to believe Bill Smith “gets it”… when we hear that he acknowledges that he needs to find an everyday shortstop (understandably glossing over the fact that he HAD such a shortstop a year ago and traded him away to the Orioles for a handful of magic beans) and needs to strengthen the rotation and accurately recites many of the club’s obvious deficiencies, he follows that up with a comment that makes you wonder if he either slept through half the season or really believes all the muscle strains and pulls and “weaknesses” that landed most of his team on the DL in 2011 were all caused by “collisions”.

Maybe he was just trying to put a brave public face out there to justify the club’s announcement that their entire training crew was being retained despite that particular segment of the organization having every bit as bad a year as the Twins pitching staff. Then again, the pitching coach is keeping his job, too, so I suppose it’s all fair.

Our friend k-bro made largely the same point this week in her blog (hey, I never promised I’d be original when I started doing this blogging thing). At some point, you really just want to see the Twins acknowledge what everyone who paid any attention this year could see. When they don’t do that, it’s difficult to trust them to fix problems they can’t even acknowledge exist.

Despite my frequent rants here, I don’t really believe that I know more than the people the Twins employ to run their organization, either in the front office or on the field. But, as I’ve mentioned too many times already, it’s frustrating that this organization seems to almost take pride in their unwillingness to use modern analysis to their benefit.

Yes, I’m once again referring to the apparent lack of serious attention the Twins pay to advanced statistical analysis. I get that they will never be an organization that makes all of their decisions based on so-called advanced metrics. I’m actually happy that’s the case. But when so many other teams DO make many decisions based on those metrics, it just makes me nuts to think the Twins seem to almost completely ignore them.

It brings to mind a scene in the classic movie, Patton. About to face off with Germany’s Erwin Rommel in North Africa, the camera shows Patton’s bedside table with a copy “Infantry Attacks,” authored by Rommel. After defeating Rommel’s Afrika Panzer Korps in battle (albeit absent Rommel, himself), Patton exclaims, “Rommel, you maginficent bastard…I read your book!”

Did Patton read Rommel’s book because he thought the German Field Marshal was smarter than he was? Unlikely. Even if he did pick up a kernel or two of strategic knowledge he hadn’t considered before, he’d likely never admit it. But that’s not the point.

The point is, if there is a way to get in to the minds of your opponents and get insight in to their strategies… what they believe… what they feel is over or under valued, you are a fool not to do so.

The Twins, under much of the current leadership, had considerable success over the past decade and the organization has earned a bit of leeway from fans. Injuries, more than any other factor, were responsible for the team losing the number of games they lost in 2011. But that doesn’t mean the front office can stick its head in the sand and pretend that doing everything the way they’ve always done things in the past will be good enough to restore the team’s competitive standing.

They’re smart enough people to know that.

I wish I trusted that to be the case.

– JC

Enough About Target Field – Just Fix It

Posted on 11 October, 2011 by Jim Crikket

I’m sure almost everyone is familiar with the parable about the semi-truck that got stuck going under a low bridge. The driver and several emergency personnel stood around trying to figure out some way to get the truck unstuck. Meanwhile a little girl who came across the scene simply asked, “Why don’t you let the air out of the tires?” Problem solved.

Which brings us to today’s idea that, like every other idea anyone from outside the Twins front office might have, is all but certain to be ignored by the organization.

TFUpgrades2 — Right Field @ Target Field... Where baseballs go to die? (Image: Twins)

I’m growing a bit tired of all the discussion about how difficult it is to hit in Target Field. The power alleys kill long balls. The out-of-town scoreboard in RCF is too tall. The only way to hit home runs is to adjust your swing and become a dead-pull hitter. Therefore, the Twins need to totally re-tool their roster and adjust their amateur draft philosophy to prioritize speed in order to take advantage of the way Target Field plays.

Bull.

Let me ask this question…

IF you decided this approach was appropriate… that you should build a team to fit your pitcher-friendly ballpark, just how long do you think it would take to do so?

If you have an unlimited payroll, the answer might be, “not too long.” MAYBE.

But the Twins don’t have an unlimited payroll, so they’ve apparently decided to go about the process gradually. Last year, they traded JJ Hardy away for a couple of magic beans and let Orlando Hudson walk away so that they could be replaced with middle infielders whose games were more suited to the way Target Field plays.

How well did that work out for us? If this off-season brings Phase 2 of their “remaking the roster to fit the ballpark” project and it’s anywhere near as “successful” as Phase 1 was, 2012 is going to be a very long season.

Parker Hageman, of the TwinsCentric crew, points out quite convincingly that it is possible to generate offense in Target Field. Of course, he’s right. Anything is possible. And Parker offers a recipe for doing so. He recommends acquiring hitters who have tendencies to hit high percentages of line drives from gap to gap and hit with power down the line. He even mentions a couple of pending free agents that might fit that bill.

But let me offer another suggestion.

Instead of totally remaking your roster… instead of trying to find free agents who can not only hit line drives to the gap, but also home runs down the lines… instead of having your existing hitters try to adjust their approach at the plate to fit their new home ballpark… instead of filling your amateur draft board with future Ben Reveres… how about we change the ballpark, instead?

Have you looked at the MLB “Park Factors” (the ranking of which ballparks are “hitters parks” and which are “pitchers parks”)? No? Go take a look… and while you’re there, take a good look at what kind of ballparks the Division Champions play in.

Too lazy to go look for yourself? OK… I’ll tell you what you’d see. There are 30 MLB ballparks. The grand total of 2011 Division Champions who play in “pitchers parks” is zero. None of them. In fact, none of the Division Champions play in the lower 60% of the rankings. (In fairness, the two Wild Card teams, the Rays and Cardinals do play in “pitchers parks” that are even more difficult to score in than Target Field, but if the Cards and Rays had not pulled off their miracle finishes, none of the 2011 playoff teams would play their home games in a true “pitchers park”.)

For years, organizations like the Padres, Mariners and Mets have tried to construct teams to take advantage of their “pitcher-friendly” ballparks. But I ask you, are those the organizations you want to model the Twins of the future after?

I’ve read, however, that it would be too difficult to reconfigure the outfield by bringing in the fences. It would destroy the aesthetics of the overhang in RF, the scoreboard in RCF, the bullpen in LCF and the bleachers in LF all being right up against the outfield grass. I’ve also read that, with the Twins pitching issues, it might not be a good idea to give opposing hitters even more of an advantage than most of them already have just considering their comparative talent levels. Some even take that argument further by pointing out that top level free agent pitchers are more likely to want to sign with the Twins because of Target Field’s “pitcher friendliness”.

The last one actually makes me laugh. Seriously. Who was the last top of the line pitcher to sign with the Twins as a free agent? How soon do think the Twins are going to start opening up the checkbook to pay $20 million a year for one of those arms? OK… then enough about how Target Field could help sign those guys.

Do you know who DOES make a point to sign contracts with teams that play in “pitchers parks”? Mediocre (or worse) pitchers, that’s who. Pitchers who know they need the extra distance or wind shears to knock down long fly balls in order to prolong their careers. I think we have enough of that particular variety already, don’t we?

The other two issues… the reconfiguration challenges and the concern over taking away whatever small advantage the current talent-deficient pitching staff might have… can be dealt with as easily as letting the air out of a truck’s tires.

You don’t change the fences. You change the field.

You simply move home plate a few feet further out toward center field. For the sake of argument, let’s say eight feet. What would this accomplish? Here are just a few things:

More home runs. Using just a little bit of my 10^th grade level geometry, the new outfield dimensions would be approximately 333’ down the LF line, 370’ to the bullpen in LCF, 396’ to straightaway CF, 360’ to the tall scoreboard in RCF and 322’ down the line to RF. That’s 6 ft closer down the lines, 7 ft in the gaps, and 8 ft closer to dead center. Someone with access to the season’s scatter-chart, go check to see how many more HRs that would have produced this season, will ya?
More foul territory. Target Field already has to have just about the least foul ground among MLB stadiums, resulting in very few foul pop-outs. More foul territory means more foul balls become outs, partially negating the negative effect closer fences might have on a pitcher’s stats. With all the foul balls hit off of Scott Baker and Kevin Slowey alone, this could be significant!
Improved sight lines for fans. Admit it, from about half of the seats in Target Field, it’s impossible to see all the fair territory down the lines in both outfield corners. In my view, this is a major design flaw of Target Field. Those lines would both move inward about six feet, giving a lot more people a chance at seeing the action in the corners.

I think those are compelling reasons to make what would be a relatively easy and cheap adjustment to the playing surface. Cut out a bit of sod here, lay down a little bit of sod there. Done.

But even if the change ended up having no effect on offensive productivity at all, it should still result in the one thing that would, in my opinion, make it well worthwhile.

There would be less whining.

Honestly, whether your name is Span, Mauer, Morneau or Valencia, if you can’t hit a baseball out of a ballpark with dimensions no deeper than most legitimate high school fields, at least have the decency to admit you have no power and shut the hell up about the field.

– JC

Are the Twins a Baseball Team or a Camel?

Posted on 7 October, 2011 by Jim Crikket

I’ve worked in a corporate office environment since I was 21 years old. Over the subsequent 30-some years, when it comes to management styles and philosophies, I’ve pretty much seen (endured?) them all.

I remember back in the 1980s and early 1990s, my company had a big push toward what I call “group think”. We had previously had a very autocratic, control freak-type president, so I suppose this may have been a bit of an over-reaction to that. In any event, everything became “team” oriented. We had teams (which is just a nicer way of saying “committees”) for everything. If you weren’t a member of at least half a dozen teams, you just weren’t trying very hard.

It wasn’t a total disaster, of course. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with tossing ideas around with a group of smart, progressive experts on whatever the subject matter assigned to that team might be. Some very good ideas came out of those meetings and if you ever did arrive at a consensus decision, it was helpful for implementation purposes to have gotten buy-in from around the table. Even if you didn’t happen to agree with the decision, you liked feeling your input had been considered. We all like that.

And when it turns out that your team made a good decision, it’s a great feeling to know you share the credit with your other team members. It’s a natural high to have the president of your company tell everyone what a great job your team did and how important that work was in the ultimate success of the company over the course of the year.

But you know what’s coming next, don’t you? Yeah… how many committees are really made up completely of smart, progressive experts? Most aren’t and, as a result, the finished product is seldom smart or progressive. Often, the results are a disaster.

When that happens, good luck finding anyone willing to stand up and be accountable for the decision and taking responsibility for fixing things. Accountability can be a real problem in a “group think” organization.

Fixing things becomes problematic, too, because that assignment falls back on the team (or gets pushed to yet another team). That’s all well and good unless the problem needs fixing immediately, because while committees have some things they may do well, doing anything quickly is not generally one of those things.

There’s a reason that they say the definition of a camel is a “horse designed by a committee.”

All of which finally brings me around to the Minnesota Twins.

Since I don’t have an office in the Twins front office suite, I admit I have no first-hand knowledge about how they do things there. But from most accounts, it sure seems like they take the “management team” approach to an extreme, at least where it comes to the actual baseball operation (from all accounts, Jerry Bell pretty much took on responsibility for getting Target Field built and that turned out pretty well). Bill Smith isn’t so much “General Manager” as he is the “Team Leader” of the management group, which is made up of people like Mike Radcliff, Rob Antony, Jim Rantz, Terry Ryan and, of course, Ron Gardenhire.

All of these people have their respective areas of expertise, of course, but the public sense of how things work is that this group of people work together as a team to chart the course the Twins will follow in any given season and beyond.

It’s worked out great for most of the past decade or more, too. Most of these same people have been around in one capacity or another throughout a period of considerable success on the field. Terry Ryan, Bill Smith and Ron Gardenhire may be the guys most often credited for all the winning seasons this millennium, but they’ve all been quick to point out what a “team effort” it’s been by all of the management group as they’ve developed players, promoted from within, and watched as those guys have won division title after division title.

CommitteeCamelCafepresscom — (Image: cafepress.com)

But the Twins didn’t win the division title this season. They didn’t even compete for it. They finished 8 games back… of the Royals… in the competition to not finish last. This comes just one year after winning the division.

And as fans, we want to know who’s responsible.

In typical “group think” fashion, however, the answer coming from the Twins front office is, “nobody”.

I suppose in some way it’s noble that people in authority aren’t throwing others under the bus… not directly, anyway. And some changes are being made. The AAA manager and hitting coach have been relieved of their duties, but that’s kind of like an executive committee responding to their company’s stock tanking by firing the manager of their mail room and issuing a press release to assure stockholders that they’re taking action. It’s nice to know they noticed something is wrong, but hardly reassuring that they know what to do about it.

Look around. The Red Sox won 90 games and their manager is gone… perhaps followed shortly by their GM. The Angels only won 86 games, so their GM and his top two assistants are excused… even though they have a manager who’s probably got even more say over his roster than Gardy does. We may or may not agree that those teams made the right decision, but the message sent to their fans is that they do hold people accountable when results do not meet expectations, especially when the owners have spent competitively on payrolls.

I’m not suggesting the Twins fire everyone… or that anyone needs to be fired, for that matter. But I do believe that the people running the team should have specific responsibilities and they should be accountable for the decisions made within their respective realms.

Everyone makes mistakes. But if one of my managers makes a mistake, I tell them to learn from it, don’t do it again, and move on. If mistakes are continuous or especially egregious, we’ll need to find someone else to do that job. But don’t tell me that you and your team got together and all agreed this is what we should do so none of you are really responsible.

Maybe Dave St. Peter has told Bill Smith exactly that… that he screwed up and he needs to fix things. Maybe the conference call with the season ticketholders was one way Smith was directed to address issues with fans. Maybe St. Peter was on the call primarily to make sure Smith did exactly that.

Maybe Smith’s acknowledgment that the team missed JJ Hardy most of all and now needs a shortstop was his way of telling Gardy, “that was your idea, it didn’t work, and now we’ll do things my way.”

I certainly don’t expect the Twins to suddenly start broadcasting every detail of their internal discussions. Maybe there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes than what we’ve seen and heard.

Maybe we’ll see changes. Maybe we’ll see some accountability.

Let’s hope so.

Or they might as well just rename the team the “Minnesota Camels”.

– JC

From the Twins to Fans

Posted on 3 October, 2011 by CapitalBabs

We will rally.

It wasn’t exactly the season we had in mind either. Coming off our sixth division title in nine years, we approached 2011 with our sights set on repeating and exceeding. Unfortunately, we fell far short of those expectations. Yes, there were injuries. Yes, there were some heartbreaking losses. But ultimately, this season failed to live up to the high standards of baseball for which the Minnesota Twins organization has become known. And we are just as disappointed as you are. But we promise to use this disappointment to motivate us to a better 2012. We will rally.

This season was not absent of some incredible moments. We cheered future Hall-of-Famer Jim Thome as he blasted his way toward 600 career home runs, a feat matched by only seven other players. We celebrated a Francisco Liriano no-hitter. We marveled at Ben Revere’s over-the-shoulder, Willie Mays-esque catch. We witnessed Joe Nathan return and notch his team record 255th save, And we all rejoiced as Bert Blyleven earned baseball immortality by finally gaining his rightful place in Cooperstown.

But perhaps the most incredible moments were provided by you. As your smiles showed, Target Field continues to be the shining jewel of Major League Baseball. Day in, day out, through wins and losses, snow, sunshine and rain, even hail, you were there – showing off your Twins colors. You proved to all the world that loyalty, indeed, lives in Twins Territory. We are eternally grateful.

So, fans and friends, let’s all turn our hats and rally toward 2012. After all, there are only 139 days until pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training.

More Suggestions For the Twins To Ignore

Posted on 12 September, 2011 by Jim Crikket

Now that the weekend of football is over, my mind is drifting back toward baseball again and, specifically, toward ways the Twins can improve themselves for next season.

I realize that the Twins pretty much flat out ignore any ideas that don’t come from within their own ranks, but why should that stop any of us from writing about what we think the Twins should do before 2012 rolls around? It sure as hell won’t stop me, that’s for sure. I’ve been getting ignored for over half a century and by much smarter people than those folks in their Target Field offices, so there.

It’s no surprise that we’re seeing more and more being written, both in blogs and the more traditional media, about how inadequately some of the Twins’ young players appear to be prepared when they find their ways in to a Big League uniform. Given how long it takes the Twins to typically promote a player through their minor league ranks, it is surprising how flawed some of the call-ups are in certain fundamental aspects of the game of baseball.

I do believe some of the mistakes being made can be written off as rookies just trying to do too much to impress people during their first trips to the Big Leagues, but even where there are flaws, those flaws may not be fatal. I’m a big believer that hard work can overcome even years of doing things the wrong way… if the player is willing to work hard.

That said, I believe that one of best truisms in coaching is, “practice doesn’t make perfect, PERFECT practice makes perfect.”

It’s not enough to work hard. It’s not enough to field 100 ground balls a day and make 100 throws to 1B. It’s not enough to take an extra 50 cuts in early batting practice. It’s not enough get in extra mound work. If all you do is repeat poor form, you accomplish nothing but reinforcing that poor form until it becomes ingrained.

First, you have to learn the right way to do things, THEN you practice those things over and over again. Learning those right things requires someone to teach them and if the most recent batches of young Twins to arrive at Target Field aren’t doing things right, it’s certainly not because they’ve been rushed through the minor league system without having time to be taught.

Yes, the players have to be open to instruction. You can’t influence a closed mind. However, with few exceptions, the personalities of most of these players coming up don’t seem to indicate that they aren’t open to learning.

The recent dismissal by the Twins of their AAA manager and hitting coach, Tom Nieto and Floyd Rayford, could be indications that the Twins see the need to make changes in their instructional staff. On the other hand, it could simply reflect an acknowledgment that after two consecutive 90+ loss seasons in Rochester, the organization couldn’t afford the PR hit they’d take by sending the same failed leadership to the Red Wings for another season… especially given that 2012 is the final year of the Twins’ current affiliate agreement with Rochester. Let’s hope that’s not all it is.

For a very good take on the need to move on from Nieto, from Rochester’s perspective, go read through this blog post by Rochester Democrat-Chronicle beat reporter Jim Mandelaro. It’s well worth your time.

But enough about the problem, how about those suggestions?

When I make my annual trip to Spring Training in March, I enjoy spending most mornings over on the minor league complex watching the young players work out. Trust me when I say that there’s not a lot of “standing around” going on out on those minor league fields. They take ground balls. They take fly balls. They work on bunts. They work on fielding bunts. They work on relays. They work on baserunning. Then they do it all over and over again. There’s no shortage of work going on.

But let’s face it, when you’ve got 30 guys on each field, there isn’t a lot of opportunity for individual instruction. Still, it does happen.

I’ve seen Tom Kelly take aside a high ranking pitching prospect who was having trouble just fielding a bunt and throwing the ball to 3rd base. I’ve seen former GM Terry Ryan take a young infielder aside just to point out that, in the Twins organization, you tuck your jersey in your pants. Not big stuff, I grant you, and let’s be honest, Kelly and Ryan are not going to be spending summers riding buses up and down the east coast with 21 year old ballplayers.

There are, however, other guys I’ve watched in Ft. Myers who have impressed me with the time and attention they give to individual or small group instruction. One has been Bobby Cuellar, the AAA pitching coach. I enjoy watching him work with pitchers and it certainly appears that, when he talks, they listen. While I realize it may border on sacrilege to suggest, I’d like to see Cuellar become the Twins’ pitching coach. I’ve felt for a long time that they need at least one Latino coach on the Twins’ staff. Let Rick Anderson bounce around on minor league buses for a while. Anyway, I was glad to see Cuellar was not let go along with the rest of the Red Wings’ staff.

Paul Molitor is another guy who impresses during Spring Training. He works with young hitters. He works with infielders. He’s teaching constantly and he certainly has the Hall of Fame credentials to get a young player’s attention when he talks. Unfortunately, I don’t believe he’s a full-time member of the Twins’ coaching staff. I’ve heard that could be by his own choice and, if so, that’s fine. He has certainly earned the right spend his summers with his family doing whatever he feels like doing. But if he’s willing, the Twins really should find him a full-time job at either the minor league or Major League level. I know a lot of people who would like to see Molitor eventually become Ron Gardenhire’s successor with the Twins. I’m one of those people.

Another coach I enjoy watching is Jake Mauer. Jake may not have gotten his younger brother’s talent, but just from watching him, it appears he relates well to the young ballplayers. He’s been coaching in the Twins organization since 2006 and has spent the past couple of seasons managing the Ft. Myers Miracle, the Twins’ high-A affiliate.

Maybe his ability to work with younger players means that Mauer is best utilized right where he is, in the lower levels of the organization, but I’d like to see him move up to AA and work with the Twins’ more advanced prospects… guys who are considerably closer to needing to be ready to contribute to the Twins in Minnesota.

Finally, there’s another guy in the organization that impressed me as I watched him in Ft. Myers last March. Tom Brunansky is another former player who, like Molitor, is out there doing a lot more than posing for pictures in his old Twins uniform. He joined the Twins organization just over a year ago, finishing 2010 as a hitting instructor for their Gulf Coast Rookie League team in Ft. Myers. This season, he’s been the hitting coach for AA New Britain. (Since I’m in a linking mood, check this little story out about Brunansky’s trip to Cooperstown with some of the Rock Cats.)

I realize that Bruno hasn’t been working his way up the ranks of the organization’s coaching/managing ladder the way other guys have (he was coaching HS baseball in California from 2004 through 2010), but do me a favor… go read Mandelaro’s article again and then tell me if you could see the issues Mandelaro raised with regards to Nieto being even a remote possibility if Brunansky was managing in Rochester. There’s also most likely nobody in the organization more qualified to teach the “Twins Way” than Brunansky.

I won’t pretend to think that, because I’ve watched a few days of minor league Spring Training workouts, I know who the Twins should and shouldn’t fire, retain or promote in their organization. I also don’t want to insinuate that these are the only people who give individual attention to young players in Spring Training. I know better.

I simply mean to point out that the Twins do have guys who should know what they’re talking about and who appear to relate well with young players and I hope that the Nieto/Rayford firings are not an indication that they’re going to clean house just for the sake of cleaning house.

Changes should be made, but I’d like to see more of the guys I’ve mentioned here and, if possible, more guys like them brought in to the organization.

– JC

Let’s Spend The Twins Money! Wrap Up

Posted on 6 September, 2011 by Jim Crikket

In parts 1 through 4 of this series, we’ve taken a look at possible free agent targets for the Twins to consider this offseason.

Now it’s time to assemble a roster and see how much of the Twins money we’re going to have to spend to fix the damage done a year ago and return this team to some reasonable competitive level.

Catchers:

Joe Mauer ($23 million), Jose Molina ($2 million)

Infielders:

Justin Morneau ($15 million), Brandon Phillips/Jimmy Rollins/Kelly Johnson ($10 million, more or less), Alexi Casilla ($1.5 million), Danny Valencia ($500K), Luke Hughes ($500K), Trevor Plouffe ($500K)

Outfield/DH:

Michael Cuddyer/Lance Berkman ($10 million), Denard Span ($3 million), Ben Revere ($500K), Josh Willingham/Jason Kubel ($6 million), Jason Repko ($1 million)

Starting Pitchers:

Chris Carpenter/Ryan Dempster ($12 million), Scott Baker ($6.5 million), Carl Pavano ($8.5 million), Francisco Liriano ($7 million), Nick Blackburn ($4.75 million).

Bullpen:

Kerry Wood ($6 million), Frank Francisco ($3 million), Glen Perkins ($1.5 million), Brian Duensing ($500K), Anthony Swarzak ($500), Phil Dumatrait/Scott Diamond ($500K), Alex Burnett ($500K).

You’ll notice that Kevin Slowey is not on either list. The Twins paid $2.7 million this season for Slowey and while I suppose it’s possible that they’ll be willing to pay him a bit more for 2012, I have trouble envisioning that.

Could Swarzak take Blackburn’s starting role? Sure. Duensing may find a way to keep his rotation spot, as well. The roles may or may not play out as listed, but the point is that the Twins need someone new at the top of the rotation… from there you just fill in the blanks with whomever (a) has not been traded and (b) is pitching the best in Ft. Myers in March.

In addition, the Twins will have to pay for two players not contemplated above:

Tsuyoshi Nishioka ($3 million), Joe Nathan (buy out $2 million). Yes, I know Nishioka will, in all likelihood, be on the roster. If he magically plays better by April, fine… but if not, he simply needs to work on his game somewhere where he can’t do real damage.

That’s a total of $129.75 million or approximately $16 million more than the 2011 payroll (and comparable to the increase that the 2011 payroll was over and above 2010). Can the Twins afford it? Yes. Will they spend it? Probably not. It simply runs contrary to the Twins’ organizational DNA to go on major free agent shopping sprees.

But it was worth the exercise, anyway.

Not every hole has to be filled via free agency, of course. Trades can, if done well, accomplish the same thing. If the Twins can find someone interested in Liriano, there could be $7 million shaved off the payroll there. Bill Smith certainly seemed willing to part with Denard Span in July, so you’d have to assume he would similarly entertain offers for Span once the season ends, potentially freeing up another $4 million. I’m not saying I would support trading Span (I wouldn’t, unless that’s what it takes to get a top-of-the-rotation pitcher), but I’m almost expecting it, at this point.

If those two are traded and replaced internally, you’re starting to get back down to within shouting distance of the 2011 payroll.

We’re going to have plenty of time once the season ends to more seriously consider the moves that we all think the Twins should make. By the time the winter meetings are held in December, I’m likely to reconsider every option posed in this series.

Is it a waste of time to think about all this now? When you take in to account that nobody in the Twins organization gives a damn what any of us think, yes… it’s almost certainly a waste of time.

Then again, we just watched the Twins score a grand total of one run in two games on Monday against the White Sox… what could possibly be a bigger waste of time than that?

– JC

Let’s Spend The Twins Money – Part 4

Posted on 4 September, 2011 by Jim Crikket

We’re working our way through the list of potential free agents, with an eye toward helping our friend and Twins GM Bill Smith fill out his shopping list for the upcoming offseason.

Since the Twins’ first round draft choice is protected, thanks to the lowly position they are all but assured to claim in the final standings. That, combined with the Target Field revenue stream and the not-insignificant amount of money scheduled to come off their payroll books after 2011, leave the organization with a lot of opportunities to improve the team on the field.

In Part 1, we discussed the catching position and in Part 2, we looked at 1B, OF and DH, in Part 3, we examined the rest of the infield. In Part 4, we’ll try to figure out what to do with the pitching staff.

First, the bullpen. Ugh.

Glen Perkins was a pleasant surprise this season and likely double his $700,000 salary via arbitration, but even he hasn’t looked as good lately as he did earlier in the year.

Joe Nathan’s $12 million option can be bought out by the Twins for $2 million, making him a free agent. That essentially makes the Twins’ cost of retaining Nathan just $10 million, since the other $2 mil is going out the door, either way. Still, I’m not convinced he’s worth that right now. I’d certainly see if he could be retained for something a bit less, but I would expect another team to be willing to overpay for his high career save numbers.

There are six relievers who will be getting screwed by their Type A status, assuming their teams offer them arbitration. One of them is the Twins’ own Matt Capps. Capps is probably the one member of this group least likely to be offered arbitration. Then again, we know the Twins front office have liked Capps more than the fans have, so maybe they will end up offering him a deal. If they offer arbitration, he’ll take it in about 2 heartbeats.

I suspect all of the other five will get arbitration offers from their current teams, with two possible exceptions. I’m not positive San Diego will risk offering arbitration to Heath Bell, given their financial restrictions and the Red Sox may think twice about offering arbitration to Jonathan Papelbon. He’s bounced back this season after a lousy 2010 (for him anyway) or there wouldn’t have been any doubt about them NOT risking an arbitration raise from his current $12 million salary. But now… I just don’t know. In any event, I don’t see the Twins bringing in either guy anyway. I’d rather spend the money to keep Nathan than spend it on either Bell or Papelbon.

The other three current Type A bullpen arms are Ryan Madson (Phillies), Takashi Saito (Brewers) and Darren Oliver (Rangers). Those guys need to just sign extensions with their current teams and be done with it because not many teams will give up a draft choice to sign them. On the other hand, if the Twins have already signed about three other Type A guys, why not give up their 5^th round draft pick for one more, right? I wouldn’t mind seeing Madson in my bullpen.

There are four Type B free agents. I see no value in the Tigers’ Joel Zumaya (the Twins don’t need another guy who lives on the DL) or Javier Lopez. But Frank Francisco (Blue Jays) and Kerry Wood (Cubs) have both had 3-4 pretty consistent seasons in a row out of the pen and miss bats better than pretty much anyone the Twins currently have. I’d place a call to their agents.

Most of the Twins’ bullpen next season is going to come from within or from the free agent bargain bin. Some will be guys who had relief roles this season and some may be guys who spent this year in the minor leagues, but there’s also a pretty good chance that one or two guys who spent most, if not all, of this season in the rotation will find themselves with relief roles in 2012.

Ah yes… the rotation.

A year ago, most of us wanted the Twins go add someone at the top of their rotation. This year, arguably, they need to add someone legitimate to the top TWO spots in their rotation (unless you’re one of the diehard “Liriano could still be an ace” folks… I’m not).

So dammit, why don’t the Twins just go out and spend money on an “ace” or two?

The answer is easy, really, there probably won’t be an ace or two on the market.

There are six Type A starting pitchers that could be free agents. Three of them have club options that could be exercised, one has a player option he may or may not exercise, and one of them, CC Sabathia, has a player option that would allow him to void the rest of his contract if he thinks he could command more than the $23 million/year he’s due from the Yankees over the next few years. I think we can assume Captain Cheeseburger won’t be wearing a Twins uniform.

The one guy who may actually hit the market is CJ Wilson of the Rangers. He’s going to get a nice raise from the $7 million he’s getting this season. You have to figure he’ll at least double that figure and get a long-term deal. I like Wilson, but I don’t believe in giving pitchers big contracts for 5+ years. I’d kick the tires on him, but I wouldn’t get in a bidding war… and there will be a bidding war.

That leaves…um… nobody? Just about, yeah.

Just for fun, let’s look at the guys with options to see what might be available.

There’s Roy Oswalt. The Phillies aren’t likely to pick up his $16 million option, but last we heard he was thinking his career may be over. Cross him off the list.

Then there’s the Cubs’ Ryan Dempster. His $14 million option is actually a PLAYER option, not a club option. That means it’s up to Dempster whether he returns to the Cubs for that figure. I doubt Dempster would get $14 from many teams for 2012, but I wonder if he’ll opt out and look for a 2-3 year deal for less money per year, but more money guaranteed over that period. He’s 34 years old and his numbers this season haven’t been what we’ve seen the past couple of years, but they aren’t far off from his career lines and he’s still striking guys out at about twice the rate of most of the Twins pitchers. If Wilson is the only other comparable pitcher on the market, someone might overpay for Dempster, but if not, I wouldn’t mind taking a chance on him for a couple of years.

The other two Type A possibilities are Cardinals and they present the Cards with some interesting challenges. While they ponder what to do about Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman, the Cardinals also have Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright to think about. They’ve got a $15 million option on the 36 year old Carpenter (with a $1 million buy out) and they have to decide whether to pick up Wainwright’s 2012 ($9 million) AND 2013 ($12 million) options. Wainwright had Tommy John surgery in February.

Media reports indicate the Cardinals will exercise Wainwright’s options, but the situation isn’t quite as certain with Carpenter. I don’t know where they’ll find the money to keep all these guys, but what would 1-2 seasons of Chris Carpenter be worth? He still has his velocity, strikes out over seven hitters per nine innings and will throw over 200 innings again this season. Again, if you can get him on a 1-2 year contract, would he be worth taking a shot?

The Type B free agent market starting pitchers are then and if you insist on an “ace”, you don’t find them on the Type B list. It looks to me like the best you could do on that list would be guys like Mark Buehrle and Edwin Jackson. They are not aces.

One way or another, the Twins need someone new to plug in to the top spot in their rotation. I’m not sure the minor league organization is deep enough to trade for someone better than Carpenter or Dempster. Let’s hope so.

Next, we’ll wrap up this little exercise by trying to actually assemble a 25 man roster for 2012 that might allow us to pretend 2011 never happened.

– JC

Let’s Spend The Twins Money! Part 3

Posted on 3 September, 2011 by Jim Crikket

We’re working our way through the list of potential free agents, with an eye toward helping our friend and Twins GM Bill Smith fill out his shopping list for the upcoming offseason.

In Part 1, we discussed the catching position and in Part 2, we looked at 1B, OF and DH. In Part 3, we’ll try to figure out what to do about the mess that the front office created in the infield last offseason. Elias combines 2B, SS and 3B together in their rankings, so we’ll talk about those three positions together, too.

You’re going to spend $3 million on Tsuyoshi Nishioka. Those are probably sunk costs (though in my little fantasy world, I’ve been trying to fool myself in to thinking there might be some way to send Nishi back to Japan and get out from under the rest of his contract… I just have no idea how that might happen). But even if you’re paying him, that doesn’t mean he has to be on your roster. If we can find a replacement who is better at baseball (and that seems like it should be easy enough to do), you ship Nishioka to New Britain or Rochester.

We’re estimating Alexi Casilla would get about $1.5 million via arbitration, but since he’s been sitting out the last several weeks, that might be a bit high. Danny Valencia is going to be another minimum wage earner in 2012.

But if we’ve got the money, who’s out there to spend it on?

Of course, Jose Reyes is the guy getting all the ink and as a 28 year old with an OPS in the high .800s, he’s earned the attention. He’s going to find someone willing to give him a nice raise over his current $11 million salary. It won’t be the Twins.

I might check in to see what kind of offers the Phillies’ Jimmy Rollins is getting. He’s pulling down $8.5 million this season and he’s still not putting up the MVP numbers he was 4-5 years ago, but he’s certainly looking better this season than he has the past two… and a helluva lot better than what the Twins have put out there at SS. I might also keep track of whether the Reds pick up Brandon Phillips’ $12 million option. That’s a lot of money to pay a middle infielder, though he is a couple of years younger than Rollins. If I have room in my budget and can sign one of those guys, I’d do it.

The only other Type A 2B available is Kelly Johnson. Johnson picked a bad time to have a bad season (though he seems to be turning things around a bit since coming over to Toronto from the D’Backs). He put up numbers in Arizona well below his career line and even further below his 2010 offensive stats. He’s making less than $6 million this season, so he’ll likely be relatively affordable, especially saddled with that Type A collar around his neck. At age 29, I might be tempted to find out if he’ll bounce back to something close to his career averages, say .260/.350/.450 with 10 HR and 12 SB.

Johnson, Rollins and Phillips would all be capable of giving the Twins some of the speed that they claimed was important when they let JJ Hardy and Orlando Hudson go last offseason.

There are no Type A free agents currently at the 3B position but, despite being the target of a fair amount of criticism from his manager, it’s tough to imagine Danny Valencia not being the Twins’ 3B next season. Nevertheless, let’s glance at the Type B options.

The Cubs’ Aramis Ramirez and the Dodgers’ Casey Blake both have club options that their teams will have to decide about picking up. Ramirez will be pricey (the option is for $16 million) and Blake would have been a good option for the Twins three years ago, but I can’t see him being an upgrade over Valencia at this point in his career.

There is one 3B that might be worth at least taking a look at, particularly if the Twins decide to use Valencia as trade bait (perhaps to help upgrade their pitching staff?) and that’s Wilson Betemit of the Tigers. He’s only making $1 million this season, is just 29 years old and carried a .286/.345/.413 slash line in to the end of August. He can also play 1B and 2B. I’m not so sure he wouldn’t cause just as much anxiety for Gardy with his defense as Valencia does, however.

Next up, in Part 4, we talk pitching. I hope we still have some money left.

– JC

Let’s Spend The Twins Money! Part 2

Posted on 2 September, 2011 by Jim Crikket

We’re working our way through the list of potential free agents, with an eye toward helping our friend and Twins GM Bill Smith fill out his shopping list for the upcoming offseason.

In Part 1, we eased in to this process by looking at a couple of options for improving the quality of the back up catching situation. In Part 2, let’s look at the group of free agents available to play 1B, the outfield, or just DH. Elias lumps this group together and, interestingly, they rank the players at these positions based solely on offensive statistics without regard to defensive contributions whatsoever.

The Twins clearly need an outfielder or two from the free agent ranks. Of course, one option would be to re-sign one or more of their own free agents outfielders, Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel and/or Jason Repko. Right now, Cuddyer and Kubel are both Type B free agents, though they are both close enough to the dividing line to have some chance of reaching Type A level by the season’s end.

There’s been a lot of speculation about what these two might command on the open market. Some reports have suggested that Cuddyer might be the most sought after OF and the Rockies have reportedly already decided he’ll be their top target.

Earlier in the summer, Cuddyer appeared to be a likely Type A free agent. If that were to be the case, it might make the Twins more open to letting him go, since they would get two compensation draft picks in return. On the other hand, being a Type A might shorten the list of teams open to signing Cuddyer, since at least those without protected first round draft choices might not want to forfeit their top picks to sign him.

By the way, this brings up a point I’m a bit confused by, so if you can help me out, I’d appreciate it. I know I’ve read in a couple of places that Cuddyer is now listed as a 1B, rather than an OF, and that this is perhaps the reason he is now a Type B, rather than a Type A. The conjecture is that he may be more likely to regain Type A status if he predominantly plays the OF the final month of the season.

This makes no sense to me. Elias lumps 1B’s, OF’s, and DH’s together in their rankings so it certainly appears to me that it makes no difference whatsoever whether a player is considered a 1B or an OF. If I’m missing something, someone straighten me out in the comments section, will ya?

UPDATE: Timing is everything. About half an hour after posting this, MLBTR posted updated “reverse-engineered” player rankings that now have Cuddyer listed as a Type A outfielder. In theory, this could (a) narrow the list of teams interested in bidding on him due to the prospect of losing a draft choice, and (b) make it more likely Cuddyer would re-sign with the Twins, but (c) give the Twins less incentive to re-sign Cuddyer because they would get two compensatory picks if he signs elsewhere. In other words, it’s still a crapshoot.

In any event, I thought the Twins might trade Kubel a year ago in an effort to add speed to their outfield so I don’t see them as likely to get in a bidding war with other teams for Kubel’s services. I wouldn’t mind him being retained if they can get him signed for a minimal raise over his current $5.25 million contract, without going more than 2-3 years. I just suspect that someone is going to be willing to just about double his current contract and I don’t think the Twins should do that.

Likewise, with Cuddyer, I suspect someone will give him north of $30 million guaranteed over the next three seasons and as much as I’d like to see him stick around, the Twins’ best prospects coming up are outfielders and they need guys who can cover more ground in the field than Cuddyer and Kubel can at this point.

So what if we go shopping on the free agent market?

Well, there’s a reason people are speculating that Cuddyer and Kubel will be in great demand… there simply aren’t many other outfielders out there. Don’t expect the Twins to be bidding for Carlos Beltran. He’s bringing in $18.5 million this season and while, at age 34, he may not be likely to command another similar deal, it’s tough to find a way to shoehorn anything close to that in to the Twins’ budget.

The only other Type A free agent likely to be on the market is Oakland’s Josh Willingham. He’s put up about an .800 OPS this season for a mere $6 million, but then again, if the goal is to tighten up the outfield defense, he’s probably not going to help you out in that area. He’s about the same age as Cuddyer and likewise bats righthanded and will hit around .250 with some power. He doesn’t play the number of positions that Cuddyer does, of course, but ideally you wouldn’t want to continue to rely on Cuddyer to play all over the infield. So, if he’s essentially a Cuddyer clone, why let Cuddyer go and sign Willingham?

Actually, there is one reason. If things play out the way they are right now with Willingham a Type A free agent and Cuddyer a Type B, the demand for Willingham is likely to be considerably less than for Cuddyer because teams that finish in the top half of MLB, would lose their first round draft pick by signing Willingham. The Twins, by virtue of their crappy season, would forfeit only their second round pick. Still, even sacrificing their second round pick might be overpaying for Willingham, especially when finding a way to keep Cuddyer wouldn’t come with the same penalty.

In the end, I expect the Twins to find a way to keep Cuddyer for something approximating his current annual contract. Let’s call it $10 million. I just hope they don’t get locked in to too many seasons. I also think they still like Jason Repko and I could see them retaining him for something around $1 million.

For now, let’s assume Kubel gets an offer he can’t refuse elsewhere (does anyone else think he’s got a high likelihood of ending up with the White Sox? He has killed the Sox in his career, much like Jesse Crain did, and I could see Kenny Williams overpaying him to be their lefthanded DH and occasional outfielder). If you don’t shell out money for Cuddyer, or Willingham, are you willing to settle for leftover free agents like Ryan Ludwick, Cody Ross, David DeJesus, Juan Pierre or Johnny Damon? I’d have to get a helluva deal on one of those guys because, say what you will about Cuddyer, but any of the low Type B to non-ranked outfielders on the market would be significant steps down.

Just as an aside, keep an eye on how Twins prospect Chris Hermann performs in the Arizona Fall League. He’s a catcher/outfielder that didn’t look too bad in Spring Training and having a guy around who can fill in at both of those positions and maybe even hit a bit would sure be interesting. He’s almost certainly a year or more away from being ready for Prime Time, but you never know.

What about 1B?

I wish I could say I was confident that the Twins were set at 1B with Justin Morneau through 2013, the last year of his contract. I just can’t. The concussion situation worries me. If he’s going to be at high risk for even minor concussions every time he dives for a ground ball, he probably has no business playing Major League baseball. I could certainly see him becoming virtually a full time DH.

So if you can’t count on Morneau to man 1B for 140 games next season, what do you do? One option, of course, is to pencil Mauer in for more games there. If you re-sign Cuddyer, he’s another option.

If we want to spend Bill Smith’s money, though, are there free agents out there to buy? Sure… if you want to get in the bidding for Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder, I suppose. But I think we can safely say that Joe Mauer will remain the only $23 million ballplayer calling Target Field home for a while.

The list of Type B options is pretty depressing, so I won’t even bother with those. There is, however, one more Type A free agent I’ll bring up. I know reports are that the Cardinals intend to try to keep Lance Berkman, but if they break the bank for Pujols (not to mention a couple of their pitchers that are hitting the market), will they really be able to afford to keep Berkman? He’s making $8 million this season and although he’s putting up terrific numbers (over a .900 OPS), he’s also 35 years old and is not likely to get a lot of long-term contract offers especially, once again, from teams that would have to sacrifice that a high draft pick.

If I could get Berkman for something like $9-10 million on a one-year deal plus a club option year, I’d seriously consider doing exactly that. He’s a switch-hitter who can play 1B and the OF, not to mention DH (though we know he doesn’t like doing that). If I lose out on keeping Cuddyer, I’d look hard at Berkman.

That’s a lot to digest, but in Part 3, we’ll be looking at the rest of the infield positions and that’s not going to be a cakewalk to fix either.

– JC

Let’s Spend The Twins Money! Part 1

Posted on 1 September, 2011 by Jim Crikket

By my count, there are only 13 current Twins who are relatively certain to be on the Twins’ payroll on Opening Day, 2012. If that’s true, there are a dozen roster spots up for grabs. Of course, this could (and likely will) still change a bit if the Twins find a way to jettison some more of the players currently under contract. Either way, there’s a fair amount of money coming off the books after this season, so the Twins have some money to spend.

So here’s our mission… let’s spend the Twins’ money. Sure, it might make sense to hold off on this kind of thing at least until the current season is over, but hasn’t this season been pretty much over for at least a month already? Besides, just because we do this now doesn’t mean we can’t do it all over again this winter!

The 12 spots we need to fill consist of seven pitchers (assuming a 12-man staff), two starting outfielders, and five other position players (or, if you prefer, a DH and four other position players). I think we also need to take in to consideration the possibility that the Twins will have to eat the $3 million they owe Tsuyoshi Nishioka for 2012. If that’s the case, we’ll need to look for room in the payroll for another position player.

I know we’re all programmed to believe the Twins have to fill their roster on a shoestring budget, but that’s simply no longer the case. As long as those of you in the Twin Cities area keep putting your butts in the Target Field seats, the Twins will have money to spend. We’ve been waiting for decades to see the Twins get seriously active in the free agent market and given what’s gone on this season, there has perhaps never been a time when it has been more critical for the organization to do just that.

As a bonus, thanks to the miserable season the Twins have had this year, they wouldn’t have to cough up their first round pick in the amateur draft if they decide to go shopping for a Type A free agent. The top 15 picks are protected, so the Twins would lose only their second round pick if they snag one of the Type A players. It may not sound like much, but that’s no small consideration. It may never be cheaper for the Twins to go shopping at the high end of the market.

So let’s see what’s out there that might match up with Bill Smith’s shopping list. This should be easy, right? After all, it’s not OUR money!

For the sake of convenience, we’ll look at positions based on the same groupings that the Elias Sports Bureau uses to establish whether players are Type A, Type B (or neither) for the purposes of teams being compensated for losing a free agent. By the way, Elias keeps their formula for determining how they rank players a super-secret, but the good folks at MLBTradeRumors.com believe they have been able to approximate the formula and we’ll use their current rankings for our purposes. You can see them for yourself here. Coincidentally, as I finished drafting this post late Wednesday night (or was it early Thursday morning?), I noticed TwinsGeek has a nice piece on this process and what it could mean for a couple of current Twins.

To begin our journey, let’s start with catchers.

Yes, I realize that the Twins have a catcher that they will be paying $23 million per year over the next several years. But as we’ve seen this season, it’s folly to assume that means Joe Mauer will be catching 140 games every season. Drew Butera may be back next year and, if so, the Twins will pay him the MLB minimum. But if the Twins intend to save some wear and tear on Mauer’s body by having him play elsewhere a fair amount of the time, it would certainly seem to be worthwhile to at least look around to see what else might be available.

Unless the Cardinals decide not to pick up their option on Yadier Molina, there may be only one Type A catcher on the market and that’s 35 year old Ramon Hernandez of the Reds. Unless and until the Twins decide to move Mauer permanently out from behind the plate, it would be foolish to bring in a Type A free agent catcher anyway.

Type B catchers would include Jose Molina (Jays), Jason Varitek (RedSox) and Rod Barajas (Dodgers). All three players are in their mid-to-late thirties and only Barajas has been what could be considered a ‘full-time’ catcher this season. Molina and Varitek were paid $1 million and $2 million, respectively, this season. It’s hard to imagine Varitek not being in Boston, but I’d certainly be willing to spend a million or two to have either of those guys catching 50 games in 2012 and ready to do more if Mauer once again has health/injury issues.

On the other hand, if you can’t get one of the Type B guys, you’re likely looking at trying to pick up a Gerald Laird-Matt Treanor-Henry Blanco type and, frankly, I’d probably rather just bring Butera back.

Maybe this isn’t going to be so easy after all, I’m pooped and we’ve only talked about one position.

In part 2, we’ll tackle 1B, OF and DH. In Part 3, we’ll fill out the rest of the infield. In Part 4, we solve all the Twins’ pitching problems (yeah, right).

– JC