As the deadline approaches, normally rational and reasonable fans can often turn into extreme homers. We see it everywhere, whether it be on blogs such as these, sports-themed message boards, or sports talk-radio. Soon it becomes a perfectly reasonable proposal to offer Lew Ford, Kyle Lohse, Shannon Stewart and #### Bonser for Soriano. I've listened to KFAN 8-4 every weekday since I started my new job, and lets just say I've heard it all. From fans ripping Mauer, (yes, the .370+ hitting phenom), calling for Ryan's head for not making a move, praising Rondell White, and even suggesting the Twins trade for A-rod. I listen because it often provides comic relief from a mind-numbingly boring job. So this blog post will be focused on some ways to improve The Twins, if any can be made with reasonable offers. So call my BS if that's how you see it, because everyone has a little Homer inside of them, and sometimes he creeps out.
Minnesota has a couple directions they could go at the deadline. Their name has been tossed around in relation to Soriano's name, but I believe Carlos Lee destroyed any chance the Twins had of trading for him when he turned down a 4 year 48 million dollar offer. Why you ask? Because Lee's contract refusal will set the bar much to high for the Twins to lock up Soriano long-term. Without being able to keep Soriano beyond this season, TR will not mortgage the future to bring in anybody, even a guy with 40-40 club potential. So with Lee traded, and Soriano priced to high, what can the Twins do to improve their hitting? With so many teams considered contenders, it is hard to make a move to improve a line-up that is already scoring enough runs to win ballgames. The Twins have one hole in their line-up as it stands now. Jason Kubel's knees are not healthy enough to play left field on that hideous turf, and his nagging injuries are proof of that. This makes him a full-time DH, meaning guys Rondell White, Jason Tyner and Josh Rabe will be seeing time at the position.
The Solution? The Twins need to go out and get a left fielder. The second problem? The market for outfielders is weak. Some names that have been made available are Soriano and Abreu, but as I've stated before, Soriano will not come to the Twins, the asking price is too high for a rental player. Abreu has an ugly contract, and the only way I'd consider going after this guy would be if the Phillies will eat the majority of that contract. But the Phillies are only considering trading Abreu because of contract issues, so the Twins are far out of the running on this guy... scratch him off your list Twins fans. Another outfielder rumored to be available is Willy Mo Pena, he is a young outfielder with some potential that the Red Sox are dangling on the market, but I don't believe this deal could be made either. First, Pena is a Right Fielder, which isn't a deal killer, but it would come with a few rough patches in the field in the first few weeks. The second, and more important reason is the fact that the Twins and Red Sox could be competing for the Wild Card by season's end, and I doubt either team would want to help fix a weakness of their opposition.
Here is the player I'd like to see the Twins make a serious run at, Raul Ibanez I do not know how available he is, if it all, but The M's are not in contention this year with the strong play from the Angels and A's, Even though they are only 4 games back. The Twins have prospects to offer, and could make a deal that suits both teams well.
The Brewers do this trade because they have shown a lot of interest in Kyle Lohse, and the Twins will likely give away Lohse. The Brewers could be interchanged with several teams that have shown interest in the Twins Starter/Reliever.
The Mariners get some quality young talent in exchange for the 34 year old Ibanez. They acquire two pitchers that have risen quickly in the Twins organization, Perkins is a hard-throwing lefty, but has struggled a bit this season (but still posted a decent 4 ERA). Slowey is one of the many great prospects on the Twins roster, and is rising quickly. He has top of the rotation potential, but is expendable because of the several other prospects the Twins have. Alex Romero is a great young outfielder that might be ready to make the jump to the Bigs. If not this year, Next year will be Romero's first year in the majors.
The Twins will do this because Ibanez allows them to keep Kubel DH'ing to keep his knees healthy this season, and it also allows the Twins to keep guys like Tyner, Ro White, and Rabe on the bench where they belong. (Well... Rondell doesn't really belong on the bench either...but I digress).
The only downside to this deal is Ibanez struggles vs lefties. The best case scenario for the Twins would be to get a quality Left Fielder with a right handed bat, but the market is just not there. Ibanez would likely bat clean-up when he is called up, shifting Cuddyer down the order where he would be much better suited.
The Twins are one of the long list of teams in need of pitching. This year's market is very weak, beyond Barry Zito who may not even be on the market, there are very few players who could make an impact at the bottom of the rotation. Names that have been tossed around are Corey Lidle, Greg Maddux, Jon Lieber, Livan Hernandez. This list is relatively unappealing, Hernandez and Maddux are at the tail end of their careers with velocity decreasing from an already low level. These two pitchers would struggle against the power filled line-ups in the AL, and I doubt either could make the transition well. Jon Lieber is coming off Tommy John surgery and would come with an inflated salary, so scratch him off the list as well. This leaves Corey LIdle, he has good strike-out numbers and a respectable 4.5ish era. He would fit in well as a 4th starter, allowing the Twins to send Baker back down.
Here is an offer that the Twins could send the Phillies' way.
The Phillies do this because they are out of contention, and the 34 year old starter doesn't have many good years left in him. #### Bonser is a player who could succeed if given the opportunity to learn how to pitch against major league hitting. There is no better opportunity for him to do that than on a team that is not in the playoff race. Lew Ford has some value for a NL squad because of his versatility. He can play all 3 outfield positions well defensively, and can provide hits in spurts. He would make a solid 4th outfielder for the Phillies.
The Twins would then slide Baker back to AAA, and Silva to the 5th starter. Silva would make a few more starts, and if he succeeds, he will keep his job, but if he cannot cut it in the rotation anymore, Garza will be given a shot and Silva will be moved to the pen, where he was pretty successful earlier in the year.
I think these offers are fairly reasonable, some of the prospects can be tweaked (such as inserting Scott Baker for #### Bonser). But I think all teams involved could come out of these trades happy with the way they went. The biggest problem facing the deals may be the fact that mathematically both teams are in a good position to make the playoffs, but that math is deceiving, and those teams should recognize that they are sellers and do the right thing.
Some Quick Thoughts:
- The Twins last night were ugly in the field, and it cost them at least two runs. Castillo's mis-play in the first inning allowed the lead-runner on, Maggs would only have had 1 guy to knock in with that hit had the gold-glover played it correctly. In the 10th Castillo had his second miss of the night, allowing another ball under his glove. Punto had a chance to be the hero again with a hot-shot to 3rd base, and he to failed to pick up Rincon and get out of that inning.
- But the bigger problem was the line-up the Twins had to trot out in the bottom of the 10th. When the Twins 3-4-5 went down in order in the bottom of the 9th, the Twins were forced to send out Rodriguez - White - Tyner against the Tigers closer. The Twins didn't have a chance at scoring a run in the 10th, let alone getting a batter on with that line-up. The Twins really needed some clutch hitting in the 9th, and the Twins big 3 could not get it done.
-Training camp started today for the Vikings rookies. Chad Greenway is already scoring #### points, showing up 45 minutes early for practice. He has a great work-ethic due to his childhood on the farm, and I believe he could turn out to be a steal at the 17th pick. I'm expecting him to win a starting job on the outside, and he could be a great play-maker for the Vikings.
-Dontarrious Thomas or Nap Harris is going to be the starting MLB. This camp battle is about equivalent to being asked if you want to be kicked in the balls by a soccer player or a kicker...either way you're coughing up your testicles...
-All Draft picks were signed before the first day of camp, this is something we did not see in the Tice or Denny Green Era, it's a good sign that the Vikings have gone out and signed some guys with good character and looking to get in and work hard. This team may not be as flashy as previous years, but I think this team will be fundamentally sound and won't lose games with stupid penalties and mistakes. If Childress does one thing for this team it will be providing disipline.
Soriano gives a team an advantage, but I don't know if that makes said team a favorite. The bigger indication of who is the favorite would be which team can go out and improve their rotation. Becuase all of the teams in the wild card hunt are hitting well enough to win a lot of ball games, but most of the problems are coming from problems at 4 and 5 in the rotation.
I don't miss Jones at all. He was a great club-house guy but (on a much smaller scale) he is a bit like Ortiz. Meaning he could never put it together for the Twins. His bat would be nice to have, but it was the right decision when he was let go, and it's still the right decision now.
I like your idea of getting Ibanez but my guess is that the Twins won't make any moves by tomorrow's deadline. Torii's due to come off of the DL and it sounds like he's ready. Tyner will most likely move over to left field and Rabe will go back to the minors where he belongs after todays throwing errors.
I'd like to see them move Lohse. Especially if Matt Guerrier is healthy. Lohse hasn't pitched well since coming back from the minors and has a knack for giving up homers. If they could get a prospect that would be a good deal in my book.
Here's the only problem with your Raul Ibanez trade: He's not available. He has by far been the M's most productive hitter this year, and he's closing in on some career numbers including HR and RBI. The M's made a mistake of trading him before earlier in his career to Kansas City, but quickly after two years brought him back. As for contention, the front office of Seattle believes that they are in contention right now, and that they have enough pieces to do it. Yes, the Angels are streaking and the A's will always give the Mariners a tough time. HOWEVER the M's did just take 3 straight series, taking 2 of 3 from Boston, Toronto, and Cleveland. It would have been 4 straight if there wasn't a blown call in a Yankee game.
I must also comment on the spectacular series vs. Detroit- even though some of those games didn't go Minnesota's way, it was still a spectacular series nonetheless, even to a Mariners fan across the country.
