Saturday, December 1, 2007
Six (or Seven) Questions
with Coffeyville Whirlwind
Here is another Six Questions with another Twins blogger. This one
is with Scot of Coffeyville Whirlwind,
another blog that does a terrific job of covering the Twins, particularly their
great history.
SethSpeaks: You’re the GM, what do you do about Johan Santana? To trade, or not to trade? If your answer is “To Trade”,
what would it require in return to make it happen?
Coffeyville Whirlwind: I think the Twins did the right thing in letting Torii
Hunter go. That said, I would prefer to keep Johan
Santana. In an ideal world, he would be willing to meet the Twins about halfway
between the figures that are being reported. If Santana and his agent stick to
the reported $126 million figure, then I might start entertaining trade offers
because it is silly to devote that much money to one player given the financial
limitations of this team.
SethSpeaks: The Twins have been hesitant in the past to trade young pitchers.
It sounds like that theory may be somewhat altered this offseason. Are there
any of the Twins young pitchers that you would call untouchable?
Coffeyville
Whirlwind: No player is untouchable in my estimation,
and I would entertain offers for any of the young pitchers. That said, there are certain players that I would be more careful
about. Francisco Liriano would be a near-untouchable,
but given his arm injury and uncertain future, if another team wanted to offer
some major league power and empty out the farm for him, I'd listen, though it
would take an awful lot to pull the trigger (so much that I doubt there would
be any takers).
SethSpeaks: As of today, where would you rank the Twins in the AL Central?
Coffeyville
Whirlwind: I still like Cleveland and Detroit
better than the Twins at this moment, so I guess that makes them third. Right
now they are closer to fourth than they are to second, but that could change
with a good offseason.
SethSpeaks: What would you consider the top three things that the Twins need
to do this offseason?
Coffeyville
Whirlwind: First, I think it would be wise to take
care of the Santana situation one way or another. Then, there are a few gaping
holes in the lineup that need addressing, namely center field and third base.
Between the two, I think it would be worth devoting more money to sure up third
base with a bat, and then maybe gamble on a center fielder that won't break the
bank. If it becomes necessary to trade Santana, it is possible that all three
of my priorities could be taken care of with one deal (and hopefully a boat
load of prospects thrown in).
SethSpeaks:
On a scale of 1 to 10,
how confident are you that Bill Smith will be able to do the things that the
Twins need to compete?
Coffeyville Whirlwind: I think that Smith has the experience and is well-regarded
enough that I am comfortable with him in the GM position. That said, the
financial handcuffs he seems to be working with might be too much to overcome,
particularly when other teams in the division are starting to spend more money
(it's not 2002 anymore...). History has shown that Twins' ownership is pretty
firm about tying payroll to revenue, so until the new ballpark revenue starts
to roll in, I don't expect there to be any major changes in how the GM is
allowed to go about his business. There is precedent, however, for a team with
payroll limitations to continue to compete with success against the big
spenders (see A's, Oakland circa 2000-2006), and I think the jury is still out
on Smith in that regard. Short answer: about a five or six.
SethSpeaks: Tell us a little about what you do on your blog, where we can find
it and what you write about during the offseason?
Coffeyville
Whirlwind: The great thing about blogging history
is that there is always something to write about. At Coffeyville Whirlwind, I
am chronicling
the 1988 Twins game-by-game for those who need a hot stove baseball fix,
and I am continuing to plug away at the
history of all 100+ years of franchise history in season capsules - I just
recently finished 1944 and am working on 1945. I am also doing some writing for
Tony...the Killer and Carew, the blog
run by Blake and the TwinsCards.com staff.
SethSpeaks:
(The Twins/Rays trade
went down, so I asked Scot for his thoughts on the deal and if it altered any
of his previous answers)
Coffeyville
Whirlwind: This is a hard deal to get behind. I
think that of the two centerpieces, Garza has a higher potential ceiling. Young
is a decent hitter, and certainly makes the Twins' lineup better; but he lacks
plate discipline and doesn't get on base enough for my liking. I'm a Bartlett
guy as well, but I don't think his skills will ever be fully appreciated in this
organization, so a change of scenery might be the thing for him. Still, his
departure doesn't make the Twins better in my estimation, particularly if
Harris is the plan at shortstop.
In the big picture, I'm not sure that this trade can be fairly judged without
the context of future deals. There are still several major question marks that
need to be addressed, and based on the rumors, it
appears they might still be. I'm okay taking a wait and see attitude at this
point, but overall I'm skeptical.
Update on Santana trade question: In a perfect world I would prefer to keep
him, but it appears the asking price is going to be just too much for the
Twins. With Garza on his way to Tampa Bay, all of the rumors that included
pitching prospects coming to the Twins make a little more sense. It's a good
sign that all of baseball's big spenders are rumored to be interested in
Santana, hopefully that will drive the trade value up a bit. I would hate to
see a deal done just to move him, because getting one more year out of Santana
would still have some value (along with the draft picks the Twins would get for
compensation).
SethSpeaks:
(He gave the above
answer, and then wrote me back with some additional thoughts on it.)
Coffeyville
Whirlwind: Now, with the news that Rincon is no
longer included, the deal looks even worse from a Twins' perspective. It was
one thing to unload Rincon, which was actually part of the deal I liked.
Instead, the Twins are parting with a decent prospect in Morlan.
It all feels like just a little too much to give up for Young and a couple of
supporting players.
Thank you to Scot from Coffeyville Whirlwind and
everyone for stopping by this site. Keep checking back throughout the weekend.
If you have any questions, comments or ideas for future postings, please e-mail
me.