Wednesday Afternoon, November 28, 2007
Six Questions with Brandon Warne
We are back with another Twins bloggers who has taken time to
answer some questions for us. Brandon
Warne writes about the Twins for the Hardball Review. In the
past, I have received several e-mails from Brandon and he has occasionally
participated in the Comments section. Again, I originally sent these questions
before the Twins/Rays trade, so I added a question at the end regarding that
trade. Of course, I sent that too early as the trade wasn’t finalized yet, so
his response still counts Juan Rincon into the deal. But still, Brandon did a
nice job with these questions and you should check out his site.
SethSpeaks: You’re the GM, what do you do about Johan Santana? To trade, or not to trade? If your answer is “To Trade”,
what would it require in return to make it happen?
Brandon Warne: Honestly, I extend him. 7 years, 126
million dollars. This team is a reasonably productive (to throw out a
number, roughly .750 OPS in each spot would do) 3B, DH, and CF away from being
very, very relevant in the AL Central. Even filling those holes with
modest additions like Mike Lamb at 3B, Rocco Baldelli
at DH or CF, and maybe someone like Cliff Floyd, Luis Gonzalez, or perhaps my
favorite choice of all, Milton Bradley (who was an absolute stud offensively
last year) for the CF/DH spot that Baldelli wouldn't
fill would make us relevant. These are all guys that can produce .750 or
better OPS numbers, a far cry (as far as DH and 3B go) from the .562 put up by Punto (off the top of my head so don't quote me) and
whatever we got out of Tyner, Redmond, Cirillo and
co. at DH last year. You simply can't go shopping to directly replace
Torii Hunter. You can't afford to, and you don't need to (although if you
look at Bradley's stats, it's a reasonable scenario that he could easily
replicate at least Torii's career OPS of .793). Not only that, but the mentality that you should shop for HR and RBI is
silly. HR and RBI don't translate from park to park, from league to
league, and besides that, they're overpriced on the market. There are
plenty of bargains to be had on the market each year,
we just need to find ourselves a Dmitri Young, Matt Stairs, etc. type of
player.
If, however, I do trade Santana, the package that entices me
most is to the Dodgers for Kemp, Kershaw, and LaRoche. Kemp
and LaRoche can step in immediately and provide
productive service at their respective spots (CF and 3B respectively) cheaply,
and Kershaw is probably the best pitching prospect of those that haven't seen
ML time. That's a fantastic trade for us, and might still allow us to
contend because we'd simply need a bat for the DH slot (for which I'd still
LOVE to see Milton Bradley play as he recuperates from his ACL injury).
SethSpeaks: The Twins have been hesitant in the past to trade young pitchers.
It sounds like that theory may be somewhat altered this offseason. Are there
any of the Twins young pitchers that you would call untouchable?
Brandon Warne: Liriano is
the lone one that I wouldn't trade for anyone, and I probably would object very
strongly to dealing anyone named Garza, Slowey,
Perkins, Baker, Manship, or Swarzak.
So I would troll the market with Bonser, Blackburn,
and Duensing, most likely. If any of them could
fetch Baldelli or better, and I think Bonser should be able to since he's probably worth more
than that to us, then I do it. Blackburn looks nice, as does Duensing, but in all reality they're probably 8-10th on our
totem pole as far as starting pitchers to go to. If Garza can net B.J.
Upton or someone like that, I'd have a hard time saying no. Anything of
value for Garrett Atkins is a big NO for me.
SethSpeaks: As of today, where would you rank the Twins in the AL Central?
Brandon Warne: 3rd. Better than the White Sox,
behind the Indians and Tigers. The Royals are making strides, too.
SethSpeaks: What would you consider the top three things that the Twins need
to do this offseason?
Brandon Warne: Settle the Santana situation.
Find starting CF/DH/3B. Long term extensions for Kubel/Cuddyer/Morneau.
SethSpeaks: On a scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you that Bill Smith will
be able to do the things that the Twins need to compete?
Brandon
Warne: So far he's talked a pretty big game, but until we see some
results I'm going to go with a cautiously optimistic 7.
SethSpeaks: Tell us a little about what you do on your blog, where we can find
it and what you write about during the offseason?
Brandon Warne:
I write at www.hardballreview.wordpress.com.
We are a Twins/Mariners blog, and I'm the lone Twins staff writer. The
main guy is a dude that went to the same schools (AFLBS in Plymouth,
Northwestern College in Roseville) I did, but a little earlier. One day
he was trolling around campus and happened into my room, saw the Baseball
Prospectus' on the shelves, and I don't think we've stopped talking baseball
since. He called me "the best Minnesota Twins baseball mind he'd
ever met". Yes, of course, he never met Gleeman or Stohs, but it's
still a nice consolation prize. I write about potential moves, and their
ramifications. Also, lately I've done an offseason preview, an update
(Monroe trade/interest in Tony Clark update), and I'm working on a "Johan
Santana/2B options" post that should be up in the next couple days.
If you'd like to
contact me, hit me up at brandonwarne52@hotmail.com or brandonwarne52 on AIM if
you'd like. I'm always up for a Twins game (if you buy me a beer I'll pay
for parking) or to chat baseball, or whatever you got.
Take care and
God Bless
SethSpeaks: What are your
thoughts on the Twins and Rays trade (Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett and Juan
Rincon for Delmon Young, Brendan Harris and Jason Pridie)?
Brandon
Warne: Well, the deal isn't final yet, but I absolutely love it.
This is a write off of Rincon's salary, and Harris is a superior offensive
player to Bartlett, so it comes down to Pridie and
Young for Garza, and I'll make that deal any day of the week. I would be
absolutely thrilled if this spurs a Santana extension, but I'm still not
opposed to loading up on prospects for Nathan and Santana and letting the kids
play.
Either way, it's a step in the right direction.
Thank you to Brandon Warne and to all the readers for stopping by this site. If you have any questions, comments or ideas for future postings, please e-mail me.