February 21, 2009 – So Bill Smith finally landed that 3B in Joe Crede that he said that the Twins did not need since he was happy with Buscher and Harris. Crede is a very nice addition for both his bat and his glove plus the Twins got him on the cheap, just a $2.5 million base with incentives based on at bats that could pay him up to $7 million. Where he will bat is still undetermined but I see projections all over the board from the 5 hole to the 8 hole.
Now the hot rumor is that the Twins have made an offer for relief pitcher Juan Cruz in a sign-and-trade deal with Arizona. Again, if the Twins can add him to their bullpen he will be a plus; it will be very interesting to see what Minnesota has to give up.
That still leaves some unfinished business for Mr. Smith; he still needs to clean up the outfield situation where he has too many players and not enough positions. I have talked to a number of people and most of them feel that the Twins will not move any of them but will mix and match them getting all of them some at bats. The logic behind keeping them all is that Span, Gomez, and Young make very little money and the Twins can afford to keep one of them on the bench. I don’t see it that way at all, you need to play your best players as much as possible and good players need to play regularly, not be taken out of the line-up when they go 0-4 with 3 strike-outs. If the Twins mix and match then Span, Gomez, Cuddyer, Young, and Kubel will all be unhappy. If you bench one of these guys then you have another unhappy scenario, The Twins are not the Yankees, the Twins like a happy clubhouse and happy players. Delmon Young has to be traded and I think the Twins brass realizes that and will make a move before spring training is done. The Twins should be able to get a nice starting pitcher for Delmon, someone that they can put in their rotation because I just don’t see Perkins making it in the rotation for very long before an injury strikes him down. I think Bonser has been their ace in the hole if a rotation spot opened up but now with that sore shoulder, who knows what is in store for the Boof man.