Monday, November 5, 2007
GM Meetings Begin
This week, the 30 GMs in baseball will meet together to discuss
the issues of baseball. From what I understand, the commissioner’s office has
given the group the right to discuss Instant Replay. Hopefully they will Just
Say No. But the exciting thing for baseball fans regarding this week is that
the GMs will begin to discuss their team’s needs and wish lists and although
they all have each other’s phone numbers on speed dial, it is a good chance to
meet in person. Of course, as exciting as that sounds, rarely does anything
happen, in terms of trades, at the GM meetings.
Bill Smith will be making his first visit to the GM Meetings as
the team’s General Manager. He has a lot to do this offseason and hopefully
these meetings will begin the work.
So as this week begins, I thought it would be good to formalize the Twins needs
and other things that need some resolution this offseason:
·
Torii
Hunter – Should the team go beyond their current 3 year, $45 million
contract offer? Joe Christensen
wrote a really
good article about this very issue. It is likely that Hunter will receive
an offer from someone for 5 years and $90 million. Again, Mr. Smith… Just Say
No!
·
CF
– And, if the Twins are smart and don’t offer Hunter that kind of
money, then they need to figure out centerfield as well. I am a fan of Coco Crisp. Would up to 137 games of Mike Cameron be worthwhile? How long
before Denard Span is ready? Is Kenny Lofton a one year option?
·
Johan
Santana – To Trade, or Not To Trade… That is the question! Can they get a
long-term deal worked out? Should they give him a deal that will likely pay him
about 25-30% of the team’s budget? How much could the team get for Santana!?
·
Carlos
Silva – According to this La Velle story, Bill
Smith is saying that he wants to keep Carlos Silva. However, he is arguably
the #1 pitcher on the free agent market meaning a four year,
$40-44 million deal is not out of the question. For a guy who is really a #3 or #4 type of starter, that’s far too much. I
hope Bill Smith knows that!
·
3B – Is a platoon of Brian Buscher and Matt Macri good enough, or will the Twins
make a deal. After Alex Rodriguez and Mike Lowell, the free agent market for 3B
is pretty weak, so a trade is hopefully going to happen. Garrett Atkins? Akinori Iwamura?
·
2B – Are the Twins really comfortable with going
into Spring Training with Nick Punto as their opening day 2B? No way. But are they
comfortable with Alexi Casilla or Matt
Tolbert? Probably not. So, what do they do? Sounds like Luis Castillo will
become an Astro, rather than stay with the Mets. Who
else is even available?
·
LF/DH – I lump these two together because Jason Kubel
should be one of them, or really both if possible. The
Twins could use another solid left field type. I’ve mentioned Jason Bay, but I am sure there are
several options out there. Carl Crawford?
·
Long-term contracts – Obviously the Twins need
to talk about this with Johan Santana,
but I already mentioned that above. The other obvious long-term contract discussions
should be with Justin Morneau and Michael
Cuddyer. These both need to happen
this offseason if the Twins want to survive the next couple of seasons
financially. But does it end there? Should the Twins be a little more
proactive? Should they consider long-term deals with arbitration-eligible
players like Jason Kubel
and/or Matt Guerrier?
How about deals for Pat Neshek and even Francisco
Liriano?
·
Joe
Nathan – picking up his option was easy. I don’t think that the Twins should
look to deal him just yet, but again, it would be interesting to find out what
the market for one of baseball’s top closers would be.
·
Precious
Arms – The Twins have a lot of young, quality pitching prospects. Are
they willing to part with any of them for bats? Which arms, and how much can
they get in return?
Now, of course, some of these could be handled in conjunction with
other deals. In other words, they could work a trade to fill two of these needs.
How many young pitchers will they be able to keep? We likely won’t have answers
to any of these by the end of the week, but when the team gets to spring
training, it will be interesting to look back and find out how these situations
play themselves out. Are there other things you would like to see done? If you
have any questions, comments or ideas for future postings, please e-mail me.
Thanks again!
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