It's no secret that the reason the Twins have failed to make the playoffs two out of the last three years was feeble offense. In hindsight it also now looks like the only reason they made the playoffs in '06 was several players going over their heads - fluke seasons.
The Twins probably should be on a three year run of missing the playoffs.
The Twins are just flat out terrible at coming up with offense. They have an excellent track record in drafting offense - Michael Cuddyer, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Torii Hunter and Jason Kubel were all harvested in Terry Ryan/Bill Smith/Mike Radcliffe drafts - but they are piss poor when it comes to filling in their offensive holes with trades and free-agents.
The excuse we often hear from the Dave St. Peter's and Dick Bremer's of the world is that they can't afford offense, that their small market plight prevents them from adding the bats necessary to compete with the big bad Yankees (it's always the Yankees who are the bad guys in the small market/big market argument. Doesn't anyone else realize the Yankees haven't won a title since 2000?)
The whole premise is total bullshit. No, the Twins aren't going to be in the running for A-Rod, or Manny Ramirez, or Albert Pujols whenever they become free-agents. But the idea that quality offense is unaffordable is an outright lie.
Either that, or the Twins front-office is much more incompetent than we realize.
For a quick example, let's look at the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who had the worst record in the majors this year at 66-96.
They paid Carlos Pena $800,000 this year, or about half what the Twins paid Nick Punto.
Pena hit .282/.411/.627, with 46 homers, 121 RBI and 103 walks. Seriously.
The Rays went to Japan (try it Twins) and signed 3B Akinori Iwamura for $1.8 million, or about the same the Twins pay Nick Punto.
Iwamura hit .285/.359/.411.
The Rays started the season with Ben Zobrist as their SS, but Zobrist got hurt. So Tampa gave the SS job to journeyman Brendan Harris. Harris hit .286/.343/.434. They paid Harris $386,000 - barely above the league minimum.
Jonny Gomes, who hit 17 homers in 309 ABs, couldn't stay in the Tampa lineup. And this is the worst team in the majors.
There are other examples. Oakland acquired minor league journeyman Jack Cust from San Diego for another minor leaguer, and saw Cust hit 26 homers with 105 walks in 124 games.
Marlon Byrd hit .307/.355/.459 as a spare player on the Rangers' bench.
The point? Offense is out there. But you have to actually look for it. The Twins seem to want to wait for players to fall in their lap. What do they do, wait for the agents of shitty players like Tony Batista and Rondell White to call them up?
I swear to God if the Twins sign Darin Erstad (.248/.310/.355) to replace Torii Hunter, I'm going to become a Brewers fan.
So who should they look at? Glad you asked.
The following is a list of players who are free-agents (though a couple could still be brought back with a club option). A couple obvious names will likely be pretty expensive, but the overwhelming majority should be well within the Twins price range. It proves, in my mind, that there is no excuse for the Twins to trot out a lineup next year with three or four dead spots in it.
Outfielders Kenny Lofton
Yeah, he's going to be 41 by next year, but he hit .296/.367/.414 with 23 steals this season. If you're watching the playoffs, you can see that he can still play. Surely he's lost a step, but he'd be a decent stop-gap in CF, assuming Torii Hunter doesn't come back.
Moises Alou
Also soon to be 41, he hit .341/.392/524 in 87 games. He'd never repeat those numbers, but as a DH, he'd possibly be able to handle 120 games and hit in the .300 range with decent pop.
Barry Bonds
A long shot to be sure, but if Bonds showed any interest at all, his 132 walks and 26 homers make him well worth a big salary. As a DH playing half his games at the Dome, 40 homers wouldn't be out of the question at all.
Milton Bradley
Possibly not worth the headaches he can cause, and now he's coming off an ACL injury, but he can hit and is a good OF. Batted .306/.402/.545 in 209 ABs this year.
Mike Cameron
Another good candidate to replace Hunter. He's 34, but I still think I'd rather have Lofton. Regardless, Cameron's .242/.328/.431 line, to go with 21 homers, would be a pretty good replacement for Torii. OK, I'd rather have Cameron. He's better defensively.
Jose Guillen
Hit .290/.353/.460, with 23 homers and 99 RBI. Be a great DH.
Cliff Floyd
.284/.373/.422. Another great DH option.
Darin Erstad
No. He sucks. Bad.
Andruw Jones
.222/.311/.413. Not much of a contract year. But he's a Scott Boras client, so he's probably not going to be any cheaper.
Brady Clark
.262/.352/.346
Just a bench guy, but part of the Twins' problem is how they blow off their bench. It might help to have something better than Lew Ford and Luis Rodriguez on the bench. Apparently Bill Smith agrees, since he ditched both of those two.
Marlon Anderson
Another bench guy. Hit .319 with 3 homers in 69 at-bats.
Shannon Stewart
Hey, he played 146 games for Oakland, and hit .290/.345/.394. But I doubt Ron Gardenhire could resist the temptation to play him every day in LF.
Matt Stairs (pictured)
.289/.368/.549 wit
h 21 homers as a part-time player. Always crushes in the Dome.Sammy Sosa
I know, I hate him, too. But he hit .252/.311/.468, 21 homers and 92 RBI. Not a bad DH.
Corey Patterson
Another option to replace Torii Hunter. Hit .269/.304/386 - not very good, but he did steal 37 bases, and he's excellent with the glove.
Aaron Rowand
The best free-agent CF available. Yes, better than Hunter in my opinion.
Hopefully the rest of the teams looking for a CF will throw all their money at Hunter and Jones, leaving the Twins to sign Rowand. He hit .308/.374/.515 with 27 HR, and was Gold Glove caliber.
Infielders Aaron Boone
Could do better, could do way worse (see Punto, Nick). In 189 ABs, hit .286/.388/.423. Very good defensively. Unlike brother Brett, presumably not on steroids. Could play 3B, 2B or 1B.
Mark Loretta
Very Cirillo-like, but probably more durable, hit .287/.352/.372 for Houston. Can play 3B, 2B or 1B.
Tony Clark
A DH option who could give Morneau a day off or two, Clark has rejuvenated his career in Arizona. Hit .249/.310/.511 this year, with 17 HR in 221 ABs.
Scott Hatteberg (pictured, top)
Another 1B/DH guy, Hatteberg doesn't have a ton of power, but is an on-base machine. Hit .310/.384/.474 for Cincinnati.
Eric Hinske
Hit just .205 for Boston this year, but barely played. Could be worth a shot as a bench bat/3B/1B/DH.
Tadahito Iguchi
If the Twins aren't committed to either Punto or Alexi Casilla at 2B, Iguchi (.267/.347/400) would be a good option.
Corey Koskie
Might never play again. He missed all of '07 dealing with post-concussion syndrome. But if he can come back, he'd be cheap. We know what he can do.
Mike Lamb
Another example of how inexcusable it is that the Twins never have offense. This guy is a total nobody, but hit .289/.366/.453 in Houston, where he couldn't even crack the everyday lineup. Can play 3B/2B/1B.
Mike Sweeney
Has already expressed an interest in signing with the Twins, but I've gotta say I'm not interested. He's washed up. He can't stay healthy at all. And this year he wasn't even that good when he did play (.260/.315/.404).
Mike Lowell
The Twins could've had him fairly cheap two years ago, but they (surprise!) wouldn't take a risk as he was coming off a terrible '05 season. This year he batted .324 with 120 RBI for the Red Sox, so he's probably not affordable any more. Way to go, guys.
Mike Piazza
Could DH. Could he stay healthy? I think so, he's not that old. Hit .275/.313/.414 with 8 homers in 309 ABs.
Kazuo Matsui
He's the kind of spark-plug, top of the order 2B that Gardy likes to pretend Punto is. Hit .288/.342/.405 with 32 steals in 36 attempts.
Doug Mientkiewicz
I've advocated the Twins turning Dougie into a utility player before. Not a lot of people know it, but he's played 2B, 3B and OF admirably in the minors before. The Twins even used him in RF for a few games in '03 when they had some injuries.
He hit .277/.349/.440 for the Yankees this year. Again, not every guy you sign has to be a starter. The bench is important, too.
I think it's obvious that there are bats out there. And these are just free-agents, this doesn't even account for guys who could be had in a trade.
If the Twins sign Darin Erstad and Willie Bloomquist and call it good, then tell you it was because they couldn't afford anything better, you will know from having read this that they are either liars or total idiots.
13 comments:
Good news!
Hope they sign a couple of them.
Erstad may not be that great, but Andruw Jones is worse. His range has been among the worst for NL centerfielders over the last few years. True, a couple of years ago, he did hit over 50 homeruns. But, he's too expensive for what you get.
So are you saying the Twins should go sign every player you listed? They'd have too many players then. Why not just list every single free agent available, and then say, the Twins should sign all of these.
Is that a serious question?
No, I'd say out of all those, they could find a DH and a 3B, as well as a backup OF, and maybe a backup IF.
Moises Alou as DH/ backup outfield, Rowand at CF, Iguchi at 2b, and Lamb at 3rd. I could live with this.
However, no way in hell the Twins sign this many players.
Arrrrrgh, as a gentlemen o' fortune, I be despising these dwellers of caves. When ye be loaded to the gunnels, ye be ending up in per curious dwellings. Aye, sometimes she be caves.
But if these be the bats that be finding their way into the lineup of the Twins of Minnesota, Aye, she be fine.
Zim,
After this year's Rockies (Ortiz and Hawkins) win the Series, you really have to do a blog about all the fucking ex twins that will have won a fucking ring in the last 7 years. It is fucking unreal.
Yet, here we sit every fucking year with our dicks in hand by the time the LCS is up.
I'll have to be honest. I have a hard time masterbating to Ortiz and Hawkins. There are much better looking players. Why choose these two?
Oh yeah? Name them.
your buddies forgot that there is another former Twin in a Rockies uniform - Redman
you forgot that the Twins did pick up one good free agent - Shannon Stewart - otherwise, hard to argue with
Unbelievable. Craig and Bob weren't even listening to you. They had no idea what you were talking about. Why didn't you swear on the air?
Cause he's a pussy.
In relation to the ongoing Boomer saga.
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