As a White Sox fan I'm generally not in the business of helping out the Minnesota Twins seeing as how they're the White Sox's biggest rival, but, due to some new developments, I feel I have to step forward. Over the last month and a half as I've scoured the internets reading rumors on free agents and the teams interested in them, I've seen a tidbit over and over again.
When I first saw it, I thought that the Twins would come to their senses and realize the mistake behind their idea, but every few days there's another mention of it in a Minneapolis newspaper or on a Twins blog, and I feel it's time to put an end to it. The latest person to broach the subject is the Pioneer Press' Charley Walters.
In the last few weeks, Minnesota Twins general manager Bill Smith has come out and said he wasn't going to look to make any deals before the trade deadline. Then the Twins started talking with the Seattle Mariners about the possibility of trading for Adrian Beltre, but it's been reported that Minnesota balked at the high price tag the Mariners are asking for, and are now backing off.
Before forgetting about Beltre all together, though, Smith may want to have a talk with his manager Ron Gardenhire, because it sounds like Gardy really wouldn't mind seeing Beltre in his lineup.
"All I can control is what I have here in this clubhouse," Gardenhire said. "We're going to play with these guys."
"If they (the Twins' front office) get somebody that can really help us at the end of the game, to set up, to take the place of (injured pitcher Pat) Neshek, that would be really great. Or if they go and find a big right-handed bat to fit in the lineup, that's great. But you'd have to tell me who that is."
Though Gardenhire didn't mention anybody by name, I don't think he'd be against having Beltre playing third for the Twins for the stretch run. The Twins haven't gotten much on offense from the right side of the plate this season, with Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau doing the majority of the damage. Delmon Young has come on as of late, hitting .350 with four homers and 24 RBI since June 1st (Delmon didn't have any homers and only 15 RBI before then), but the lineup really has missed Michael Cuddyer's presence.
Cuddyer has missed over 30 games due to injury this season (and when he has played, he's only hit .252/.324/.376 thanks to the injuries), and the team really has no idea when he'll be back as he's scheduled to undergo a CT scan on his right hand today. Beltre could be a perfect fit as he brings gold glove defense, and can provide more power to help out Morneau.
The Minnesota Twins are probably pretty sad to see the All-Star break come along, as four days off is the last thing a team wants when they're playing as well as Minnesota is. Since June 17th, the Twins have gone 19-6 and are only 1.5 games behind the White Sox in the AL Central.
The Twins recently contacted Seattle to inquire about third baseman Adrian Beltre as they look for ways to boost their offense against lefthanded pitching, a club source said.
It's unclear how deep the discussions got, but the Twins decided to act on the internal discussions they had about the Mariners slugger.
Beltre is currently hitting .259/.329/.440 with 16 homers and 46 runs driven in, and he's also scheduled to make $12 million this season and next. He does have a limited no trade clause in his contract though that allows him to block a trade to eight teams. I think it's safe to say the Twins aren't one of them, or else the Mariners wouldn't be discussing the deal.
As for whether or not this would be a good move for the Twins, I'm not entirely sure. Beltre's defense would fit right in in Minnesota, and his 16 bombs are more than anybody else on the Twins, but he's also been battling a wrist injury all season. There's no guarantee it will hold up through the second half. The Twins may want to sit back a little longer to see how Brian Buscher works out, as he's hitting surprisingly well (.316/.341/.418) in 85 at bats, and has played pretty good defense at the hot corner.
The Twins did something they haven't been doing a lot of lately on Monday night, actually losing a game for once, to drop their record to a paltry 16-3 in their last 19 games. Now, you would think that a 1-0 loss to the Red Sox would send the organization into a panic.
After all, they fell from a game behind the Chicago White Sox to a full game and a half. That's a lot of ground to make up, and doing so won't be easy. Still, that doesn't mean the Twins are going to be buyers come deadline time.
"You're always looking to make your team better, and we'll continue to do that," Twins General Manager Bill Smith said before Monday's game against the Red Sox. "At the same time, you don't want to tinker too much with something that's not broken.
"There's a fine line there. We have gotten tremendous starting pitching over the last month. We've gotten quality bullpen work. Our offense is clicking, and Gardy's got enough flexibility right now that we're able to match up against good pitchers. And we're on a good run."
Smith's logic seems sound here, as the team has performed well in all aspects of the game, but it's not like they're perfect. They're third in the AL in both hitting and runs scored, but are dead last in home runs with only 60, and their team ERA is middle of the road.
Frankly, I think that if the Twins are going to hang around all season and win their division, they could probably use another starting pitcher. Just whom they could get, and who they would have to give up to get him I'm not sure, but for Smith to rule out the idea completely doesn't seem smart to me. Just because it isn't broken doesn't mean it couldn't use a tune up.
It seems that no matter how many times we see it, baseball fans just never learn. Every spring baseball fans and experts alike say that this is the year that the Minnesota Twins are going to finish below .500 and at the bottom of the AL Central. Then summer comes along a few months later, and there they are. Sitting on top, or near the top of the division while the rest of us scratch their heads.
Though it happens every season, it still catches us all by surprise, but this season has been the most baffling of all. There is just no way that the Twins should be sitting at 40-36, only a game and a half behind the first place White Sox. The obvious reasons for this are that the team said goodbye to both Johan Santana and Torii Hunter during the offseason, and that Francisco Liriano has spent his time on the disabled list.
Still, it's not exactly a new phenomenon that teams carry on and continue playing well after saying goodbye to their stars. The Athletics have been doing it for years along with the Twins, so we know it can be done. The difference between these Twins, though, and the Twins and Athletics teams of the past is how they're doing it.
The guys who were supposed to replace what was lost have been horrible so far, yet they're still winning.
Twins' general manager Bill Smith, in a panic to move Johan Santana, called the Yankees and admitted surrender: Phil Hughes was no longer a prerequisite, he said. Instead, the Twins asked for Ian Kennedy, Melky Cabrera and a top prospect. Would the Yankees still be interested, Smith wondered?
The Yankees considered the idea, but only briefly and not seriously. Their passion for Santana started waning as far back as December, when Andy Pettitte announced he was returning to the Bronx. The Yankees' internal straw vote was unanimous: The Twins had waited too long. On Tuesday Yankees' GM Brian Cashman told Smith he was passing on the deal, prompting the Twins to call the Red Sox. Equally devastating news awaited. Both Jacoby Ellsbury and Jon Lester were unavailable.
The rest is history. When Smith came to the Mets asking for Fernando Martinez, GM Omar Minaya didn't blink and refused to give in, instead holding fast on an offer comprised mostly of good-but-not-great pitching prospects. With Santana forcing Smith's hand to do something, he had to pull the trigger, even if it was for the least impressive package of players mentioned all winter.
What's interesting to me is that the Mariners were never mentioned as a serious contender, despite their claims to have put the best deal on the table. Of course, this is probably because they're still neck-deep in negotiations for Erik Bedard (and may be holding onto damaged goods with key negotiating chip Adam Jones), but given the pace those talks have gone, you would have thought they'd at least stay in the loop.
Fellow FanHouse blogger Josh Alper recently posed the question of how Twins GM Bill Smith could trade Johan Santana to the Mets without getting Fernando Martinez in return. It's a very good question, and one I was asking myself when I found out about the trade on Tuesday.
Johan Santana forced his trade to the New York Mets.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner told the Twins that unless they traded him by Tuesday, he would not waive his no-trade contract clause, he would go to spring training and play this season with the Twins, then become a free agent at season's end. That would mean the Twins' only compensation for him would be two draft picks.
As I've said before, Walters is somebody whose word I trust, and I don't doubt for a second that he's telling what he believes is the truth here. At the same time, it's entirely possible that Walters' source for this is someone within the Twins organization that's trying to spin the deal. After all, if I were a Twins fan I wouldn't be happy at all with what the team got in return for the greatest pitcher in organization history, and finding this out may turn the focus of my anger from the team to Santana.
The biggest question facing Twins GM Bill Smith this morning isn't about trading Johan Santana. Everyone knew that was coming, the question is why did you trade him to the Mets for a package that didn't include Fernando Martinez after passing on deals that included a higher return?
Martinez, the Mets top prospect, was a must because it appears that Smith passed on packages involving Phil Hughes and Jacoby Ellsbury from the Yankees and Red Sox, respectively. By trying squeeze more players out of the two teams, Smith lost his chance at either of the deals. None of the Met players acquired possess the upside-readiness combo of Hughes and Ellsbury. When you throw in the assorted other players that would have accompanied them to Minnesota, it's hard to defend the job that Smith did. By pitting the two rivals against each other, all he did was find himself holding the bag.
Unless those offers never existed in the first place. In such a case, Smith didn't make an awful deal. He got the best return he could, and one that should probably help the Twins more than the two draft picks they would have received if Santana left as a free agent after this season.
I'm guessing most Twins fans believe those offers existed, though, and that they believe Smith overplayed his hand. In baseball, as in cards, that means you leave the table with less than you should have.
During all of the Santana trade talks this winter, it kind of felt like both the Yankees and Red Sox felt like they could hold out on Santana because the A's were waiting in the wings to deal Haren to whoever lost out on the Santana sweepstakes. Now Haren is off the market (unless the D'Backs are planning something really crazy) and best second option is Erik Bedard, who'd older than Haren with more questions about durability and consistency (though he does have more of a track record against the AL East).
All this adds up to is little cash register noises going off in Twins' GM Bill Smith's head yesterday when the Haren trade went down. Without Haren around, he now may well be able to extract Jon Lester and Jacoby Ellsbury from the Sox or Phillip Hughes and Ian Kennedy from the Yankees. Without Haren out there, whichever of the two picks up Santana won't just be upgrading their pitching staff, they'll be keeping the other team from doing the same.
Earlier today, Matt Watson wrote about a blockbuster deal that's reportedly very close between the Twins and Rays. The Twins would acquire the bat-tossing megatalent Delmon Young in exchange for starting pitcher Matt Garza. What would this trade, if consummated, mean for the ongoing trade talks involving Johan Santana?
On the one hand, Young puts the Twins in position to contend next year. Slot him in the middle of a lineup with Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer and Michael Cuddyer and you've got a lineup that's as good or better than this year's 79-win edition. If Francisco Liriano can come back and make an impact, they've got an outstanding top of the rotation and, assuming he isn't dealt, Joe Nathan to close out games. That's a solid core that, with a little tweaking, would contend for the playoffs.
On the other hand, the Twins could view Young, Mauer and Liriano as the base for a cheaper rebuilding effort. If this deal comes to fruition, the Twins would also be getting centerfield prospect Jason Pridie, who tore up AAA this season. Pridie's never played in the majors before but the Twins did pick him in the 2006 Rule V draft, and sent him back to Tampa, so they clearly see something they like in him.
As a White Sox fan I'm generally not in the business of helping out the Minnesota Twins seeing as how they're the White Sox's biggest rival, but, due to some new developments, I feel I have to step forward. Over the last month and a half as I've scoured the internets reading rumors on free agents and the teams interested in them, I've seen a tidbit over and over again. 
In the last few weeks, Minnesota Twins general manager 
The Minnesota Twins are probably pretty sad to see the All-Star break come along, as four days off is the last thing a team wants when they're playing as well as Minnesota is. Since June 17th, the Twins have gone 19-6 and are only 1.5 games behind the White Sox in the AL Central.
The Twins did something they haven't been doing a lot of lately on Monday night, actually losing a game for once, to drop their record to a paltry 16-3 in their last 19 games. Now, you would think that a 1-0 loss to the Red Sox would send the organization into a panic.
It seems that no matter how many times we see it, baseball fans just never learn. Every spring baseball fans and experts alike say that this is the year that the Minnesota Twins are going to finish below .500 and at the bottom of the AL Central. Then summer comes along a few months later, and there they are. Sitting on top, or near the top of the division while the rest of us scratch their heads.
So just how exactly does a GM bungle the most anticipated trade of the winter? 
Fellow FanHouse blogger 
The biggest question facing Twins GM 
We know that the 
Earlier today, Matt Watson wrote about a blockbuster deal 
