Nomar Garciaparra and Todd Walker stayed with the Cubs.
Matt Morris signed to stay with the Cardinals.
Jaret Wright and Tony Womack signed a ridiculous
contracts with the Yankees. Eric Milton was supposed to
too. Arbitration was offered to stars like Pedro Martinez,
Derek Lowe, Orlando Cabrera, David Wells, Roger
Clemens, Carlos Beltran and Edgar Renterria, and
to bit pieces like David McCarty and Todd Greene.
Arbitration was declined by stars like Troy Glaus and Jeff
Kent and many others, meaning there are a lot of new-found free
agents looking for work. This, my friends, is the real beginning of
the Hot Stove Season. This is arguably my third favorite time of the
baseball calendar (third only to the opening of spring training and
Opening Day).
This is
when things start happening. And this is when players start signing
with their new teams. And the GM Meetings start at the end of the
week. And there is the Rule V draft. And players will be traded.
And, most importantly, fans of most of the teams in the Major
Leagues can start figuring out who will be on their roster on
opening day and how their team will do. So last night, the Twins had
a couple of decisions to make that would very much affect how I, as
a Twins fan, would start my thoughts on the 2005 Twins. So, what
happened?
Are you
like me? Did you wake up this morning and check out the MLB
Transactions to see which players signed with their former teams?
(Or, in my case, I waited until well after 11:00 central time last
night, hitting refresh on
ESPN.com's MLB
Transaction page, the
Dickie Thon Twins Fan Forum and the
Minneapolis
Star-Tribune's Twin Page) I was just waiting for news to
come out on Corey Koskie and Brad Radke. Had Terry
Ryan and the player's agents agreed to a last second deal (as
was the case with Shannon Stewart a year ago), did they chose
to not offer arbitration to the players (as they did with Eddie
Guardado last year) or did they chose to offer the players
arbitration in hopes to sign them to long-term deals before actually
going to arbitration?
So many
questions... and we sat there, just waiting. We couldn't really do
anything more. Likely, the essential parties were locked away in a
room negotiating. Hopefully they sat in a room until the 11:00
deadline and didn't make themselves available to the media. But what
would the results be. When we found out what happened last night, we
at least knew what the next steps could be.
So, what
happened, you ask? Let me tell you. 11:00 came and went and still no
news. What did it mean? At 11:08, on the Dickie Thon site, we saw it
first. "Twins sign Radke, offer Koskie arbitration." And I finally
took a deep breath.
Brad
Radke - Near the
final minutes available to them,
the
Twins and Brad Radke agreed on a two year contract believed to be
$18 million. I have to admit that I am thrilled about this
signing. First, it is only two years. Also, $9 million is more than
fair for a 31 year old coming off the best season of his consistent
and lengthy career. Had he and his agent insisted on a 3 year deal
or more than $10 million a year, I would have understood not signing
him, or offering him arbitration. I also believe that, although
Johan Santana is clearly the ace and the team's best pitcher, a
good team needs a steady, calming pitcher like Radke. He provides
200+ innings every year, has never had problems, and is so steady.
Last year, he added impressive to the list of adjectives used to
describe him. He sits in as the #2 pitcher for the Twins for the
next two seasons, and I am happy about that!
And so is
Radke, "I feel the Twins were my first priority, and I'm just
glad it got done."
Corey
Koskie - The Twins
did not reach an agreement with Koskie, however, they did decide to
offer him arbitration. What this means is that the two sides can
continue to negotiate a long term contract right up until their
cases would go to an arbitrator. Of course, Koskie could decide not
to accept this or he could still sign with another team, but I don't
think he, or the Twins, want him to do that. (and if he does that,
at least the Twins will get draft picks in return!) I fully expect
the two sides to reach an agreement in the near future. If they are
able to sign him, the team can feel more confident in letting
Jason Bartlett take over at shortstop. Despite his low batting
average last season (.251), Koskie improved his power numbers and
showed in the playoffs the type of tough out that he can be. Now, I
think that the Twins and Koskie can take time to come up with a
good, fair, incentive-laden 2 year deal with an option for a third
year. Because he is assured to miss 25-30 games a year, I do believe
that a 2 year, $8.5 million deal would be fair, with a team option
for 2007, with a clause saying if he meets a certain number of at
bats over the next two seasons, the 2007 contract automatically
vests. (Note - a side benefit of Koskie coming back is that it
likely means that Luis Rivas will not return)
Terry
Mulholland - The
Twins did offer him arbitration. I am not entirely sure why this
makes sense. I think if they wanted him and he wanted to stay, they
could have just reached a one year deal. Either way, this isn't a
big deal as even in arbitration, I don't think Mulholland would get
a very high salary.
Henry
Blanco - The Twins
decided to offer Blanco arbitration. This again was another
formality. The Twins had already signed Mike Redmond to be
their backup catcher for next year. Also, late last night, Blanco
signed a contract to catch for the Chicago Cubs next year, reuniting
him with Greg Maddux. It is uncertain as to whether the Twins
will receive a supplemental draft choice for losing him.
I guess,
we should have known good things were in store for the Twins. I
mean, even
Phil Rogers wrote an article on the Twins domination of the AL
Central in recent years!
In the
cases of Radke and Koskie, which if we're being honest are really
the only two that matter, I am happy that some of the "old guard"
will stick around to mesh with the new crew. Now that we can pencil
in Koskie at 3B and print Radke's name in pen as the Twins 2nd starter, let's take a look at the Twins possible 2005 roster.
C - Joe Mauer
1B - Justin Morneau
2B - Michael Cuddyer
3B - Corey Koskie
SS - Jason Bartlett
LF - Shannon Stewart
CF - Torii Hunter
RF - Lew Ford
DH - Michael Restovich/Matthew
LeCroy
B-Up C - Mike Redmond
U-IF - Nick Punto
U-IF - Juan Castro
B-Up OF - Michael Restovich/(one
of Michael Ryan, Todd Dunwoody or Jason Tyner)
SP 1 - Johan Santana
SP 2 - Brad Radke
SP 3 - Carlos Silva
SP 4 - Kyle Lohse
SP 5 - JD Durbin
CL - Joe Nathan
RP 1 - Juan Rincon
RP 2 - Grant Balfour
RP 3 - Jesse Crain
RP 4 - JC Romero or Terry
Mulholland
RP 5 - Joe Mays
Again, I
see no reason why that roster can't win the Twins fourth AL Central
title in a row! Cleveland will be tough again. Detroit will spend
money on veterans again, so they could compete. But this is a good
team! In the batting lineup, here are the changes:
Joe Mauer
replaces Henry Blanco
Michael Cuddyer
replaces Luis Rivas
Jason Bartlett
replaces Cristian Guzman
Lew Ford replaces
Jacque Jones
In each
case, the offensive numbers will be better. Defense will likely be
lessened at 2B and SS. It will be equal, if not better, at catcher
and RF. That bullpen of Crain, Balfour and Rincon setting up Nathan
will be incredible. The team doesn't really need a lefty with those
power arms, but we all know that Ron Gardenhire will want at
least one. The team now needs to decide if it will offer JC
Romero arbitration later in the month. I would say that if they
can't agree to a cheap, two year deal, they should just let him go.
That's
right! You heard it here first. This team will win the 2005 AL
Central! Of course, injuries will be a factor. Michael Restovich
already will miss time with his broken collarbone. That could give
Kevin West an opportunity. If/When Corey Koskie misses
time, Terry Tiffee is more than ready to hit at the major
league level. Scott Baker is near ready as are a couple of
other arms.
I am
officially excited about baseball again! It has been quiet for a
month, with stupid non-baseball issues creeping into our world. But
now, the Hot Stove League is officially upon us, and that makes me
very happy and rejuvenates me! I can't wait for February!
Any
thoughts on the Twins decisions from late last night? Or any
thoughts on my roster?
E-mail me. Let's talk!
DISCUSSION QUESTION: TWINS ANNOUNCERS
Reprinted from 12/7/04 - I got an interesting e-mail from a guy
named "Mike" this weekend and think it is worth posting. I myself am
quite curious as to what the answer might be. So, I am going to post
it as a new Discussion Question of the Week. We haven't really had
one of them for a long time. But what it is is a way of making this
site a little more interactive. Here is the process:
-
I will post a question or
multiple questions today.
-
On Friday, I will post the
responses that I receive to the question of the week.
-
So, you need to take a
look at the question, and then
send me an e-mail
with your
response to it, by Thursday night.
The
reason I really like doing this is because so many of you come to my
webpage and take the time to read my thoughts on a daily basis. What
this does is allows you to participate a little bit in the site and
to let your thoughts be heard to a bigger audience.
So, let's
get to "Mike's" e-mail and questions:
Since XM radio
is going to broadcast MLB games this year, I was curious
about other team's announcing crew. If you have time, could
you address a few of the topics below regarding the Twins
announcers?
voice
knowledge of the game
insights
keeping track of the game situation
sense of humor
knowledge of sabremetrics
objectivity
ability to criticize home team
frequency of cliches?
homerism
attitude towards umps (is he highly critical?)
Thanks...I
appreciate both your website and any info you can give me,
I
guess what Mike, and now I, would like to know is a couple of
things. First, please tell us who your team is. Second, since XM
radio will likely broadcast the radio broadcasts of the game,
who are your team's radio announcers? Third, just to add a
little bit to this, who are your television play-by-play and
color analysts? And finally, please tell us how they are at
announcing using the above criteria or measures? Mike was
specifically asking about the Twins, but let's get thoughts on
as many teams as we can!
So yes,
there are multiple questions and it might even take a couple of
minutes to compile a message, but please take the time to do so,
especially if you aren't a Twins fan because I am sure that it could
create a fun debate when reading how other other announcers call a
game. The Twins radio crew includes Herb Carneal (who is a
Hall of Famer, a legend, but is getting up there), John Gordon
(who is very annoying to listen to and frequently wrong and wayyyyy
too easily excitable) and Dan Gladden (who I actually think
is the best of the three despite being relatively new to it). On the
TV side, Twins fans listen to Dick (I set up Bert) Bremer
and Bert (I should be a Hall of Famer, and my birthday is
April 6, and you are hereby circled) Blyleven. I am curious
as to how Twins fans feel about listening to these announcers too.
So
please, take a couple of minutes and respond to this week's
Discussion Question of the Week (by Thursday night).
E-mail me.
Thanks!
CHRISTMAS
IDEAS
If you're
looking for a great way
to organize your family's Christmas Wish Lists, be sure to
go to this site, designed by a good friend of mine.
And as I
mentioned yesterday, I got my copy of
2004 Hardball Times Baseball Annual over the weekend! It is
far more impressive than I ever would have thought. Great articles,
get writing, and very interesting and comprehensive statistics. It
is well worth picking up for yourself or as a Christmas gift for
family and friends who are baseball fans! By it
here.
And on
that note, I am going to call it a day! If you have any thoughts,
opinions or questions on any topic, please feel free to
e-mail me. Have a
great Wednesday!
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