Posted by twinsmvb on February 26, 2009 under John | 
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Twins no longer pursuing Juan Cruz http://bit.ly/jICnJ Remain interested in reliever Chad Cordero. Nick Blackburn starts today against Reds.
Posted by twinsmvb on February 25, 2009 under John | Be the First to Comment
Exploratory surgery discovers quite a bit: Boof Bonser out for 2009 season http://bit.ly/iSboT
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Twins set to take the field for the first spring training game tonight against the Boston Red Sox. Glen Perkins will get the start for MN.
Posted by twinsmvb on February 24, 2009 under John | Be the First to Comment
Sounds like Boof Bonser is going to have surgery. Phil Humber may have just found himself a roster spot. Let’s hope the best for Boof.
Posted by Dain on February 23, 2009 under John | Read the First Comment
Count me in as a happy camper about Crede’s signing with the Twins. This feels like one of those stars-aligning type things to bring him to our club, and he could be a huge impact. I already feel better knowing his right handed bat is in the lineup. And after the clown show at third base, at times, since Koskie’s departure, I’m excited to see him add to the Twins reel of Web Gems. He makes some sick plays at the hot corner.
From my perspective the Twins 25 is almost set. I think I could list the first 24, barring injury.
Starting 9:
Span, Casilla, Mauer, Crede, Morneau, Cuddyer, Kubel, Punto, Gomez.
Bench 5:
Redmond, Buscher, Harris, Tolbert, Young
Starting Rotation:
Baker, Liriano, Blackburn, Slowey, Perkins
Bullpen (who carries pink Barbie bag this year?)
5 for sure should be: Nathan, Mijares, Crain, Guerrier, Breslow.
So, if everyone stays healthy, who gets the last bullpen spot between these characters:
Bonser, Ayala, Dickey, and Humber.
I’m so sick of Boof, it’s like banging my head against a wall. I really thought he was going to be a solid pitcher after he helped carry the rotation in 2006 after injuries to Liriano and Radke. He’s been awful since game 2 of the ALDS that year.
Ayala – honestly don’t know anything about him, but his numbers looked pretty terrible last year in the national league.
Dickey – a knuckleballer from the bullpen? Sounds like passed balls and wild pitches giving away crucial victories to me.
Humber – The Twins like to go young, so if he has a solid spring, I’d give him a shot to start the season in Minneapolis. If he fails, we can certainly bring Boof up from the minors, right? Maybe send Ayala to AAA to start the season, just like they did with Reyes a couple years ago.
It shall be a good spring, but this club looks poised and confident to start the season. All bets are off after that, as we’ve come to learn.
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No surprise here, but Scott Baker named Opening Day starter against the Mariners on April 6th. 42 days!
Posted by John on under John | Be the First to Comment
Joe Crede took the field yesterday in Ft. Myers with his same old number 24 on his back, but a set of new colors. “It takes a little bit to get used to. But it’s a good change of scenery and hopefully it’s for the better,” Crede said of no longer wearing a White Sox uniform.
Here are what some other people had to say in and around the organization about the Twins new thirdbaseman…
Michael Cuddyer: “Crede has killed us over the past couple years. I think with the opportunity he’s going to have over here he’s going to have a hance to help us. He might be the guy to do it. If anything, he won’t be killing us.”
Ron Gardenhire:“We’ve been looking for a corner guy. You always look to upgrade, see if you can get an impact player. At a corner position that we went into spring thinking about. I mean, we went into the spring looking for one and this is the guy. This is the guy that we talked about way, way back. This guy, if he’s healthy, can do a lot of damage. We’ve seen him. He’s done it to us.”
My favorite, the always quotable, Ozzie Guillen: “He will make their pitching staff better because their defense will be a lot better. He will create double plays. He knows how to play the game. There is one player who didn’t grow up with the Minnesota Twins organization, and he played like a Minnesota Twin. He’s that type of player. They will help him, yes. They got better? If Crede is on the field they’re going to be better. I don’t think they’ll win the division because of one player. They always had a good club and always will be in the pennant race and you have to handle it the way we always handle it and see what happens.”
Now that the hoopla around the singing is over and Crede is on the field in his new uniform, I’m ready to watch him play and see how the rest of the roster shakes down because of the new signing.
Posted by John on February 21, 2009 under John | Be the First to Comment
Last Sunday on the Twins MVB Twitter site, I wrote the following:
You heard it hear first, “Joe Crede will be a Twin by this time next week!”
Well tomorrow afternoon, one week after this Twitter, Joe Crede will be taking the field in Ft. Myers as a Minnesota Twin!
Now when I read that it sounds like this is the biggest signing the Twins have ever made. Maybe it’s the long, slow, boring offseason we’ve endured as Twins fans, or maybe it’s the deal that GM Bill Smith was able to pull off (from a Scott Boras client nonetheless). LENIII printed the financials of the deal today in the Star Tribune. A one-year $2.5 million guaranteed deal with incentives possibly reaching up to $7 million. It was last reported that Crede and Boras wanted $7 million with incentives possibly totalling $11 million.
Perhaps Scott Boras came down to earth about his 30 year-old client with chronic back problems, or the Twins patience paid off and there really was no longer a market for the third baseman. The great part about the deal is the incentives don’t kick until Crede reaches 250 at bats. This way the Twins protect themselves if Crede just fails on the Metrodome turf or is his back is not as healthy as advertised. Conceivably the Twins wouldn’t have to pay Crede anymore than $2.5 million until roughly mid June when he would reach 250 AB’s. Ideally, we get to pay Crede $7 million but that’s means we get an All-Star third baseman with power for the entire season!
I wrote back at the end of January why I thought a Crede signing made sense given the right price and I’m glad the Twins were able to find the right price. The amazing thing about last night was not only did the news about Crede come out but there is word the Twins made an offer to top free agent reliever Juan Cruz.
A Cruz signing would require a sign and trade acquisition with the Arizona Diamondbacks so the Twins would not have to lost their 1st round draft pick this June to obtain the pitcher. If Bill Smith could pull both of these moves off the Twins offseason would quickly go from a boring blur to an exciting finish and you’d have to believe many “experts” would place the Twins as the favorite to win the AL Central.
Look for more analysis later today with a 6-4-3 MVB Radio Podcast!
Posted by twinsmvb on February 20, 2009 under John | Be the First to Comment
Patience is a virtue? Bill Smith could fill his two voids with top quality free agents on the eve of the first full workout in Ft. Myers.
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If sign and trade option is available Twins could sign one of the best relieving options in Juan Cruz. Could this really happen?
