Easy, Tiger

We have wondered if Bill Smith would be a more risk-taking, pro-active general manager than Terry Ryan, especially as an off-season of incredible importance kicks off.
He has done nothing yet, but it sounds like the answer is yes.

While I've written extensively that there are plenty of affordable free-agent hitters on the market this off-season, Smith is apparently targeting some higher caliber players via trade, as the Strib reported last week that the Twins are interested in Tampa Bay's BJ Upton and Delmon Young. The article indicated the Twins would be open to moving Matt Garza for a top-shelf hitter.

I'd love to have BJ Upton or Delmon Young, but with the likelihood of keeping Johan Santana long-term getting slimmer, I'm not so sure that trading Garza, the only healthy Twins starter with ace potential, is a good idea.

So apparently now we should worry about the Twins GM being too aggressive. Slow down, Billy Boy.

*SI.com reports that the Twins still insist they won't trade Santana, but that everyone else believes they'll eventually relent. The Mets are mentioned as a suitor, and supposedly the Twins would insist on Jose Reyes in return. I'd damn near be up for that deal straight up.

*You know it's bad when a Vikings game bring back memories of the ol' 41-doughnut we all remember so well. That's what happened Sunday. Brad Childress must've just expected AD to rush for another 296 yards, because he didn't seem to bother with an actual gameplan. Brooks Bollinger looked decent in two relief appearances, so then they start him and don't let him throw the ball downfield. Terrible.
And you know what else? The Vikings offense is bad, but the defense isn't much better. Viking fans are so used to bad (really bad) defenses, that they've convinced themselves this one is good.
It isn't. It may be good enough to win with a decent offense, but it's nowhere near the top of the league.