Thread: What Would Morneau Command on the FA market?

Morneau would likely get a deal for 1 year north of 8 figures. If he plays out 2013 looking more like the Morneau of old, he will likely net a 3 year deal north of 30 M.

The Twins are considering Kyle Gibson for their Opening Day rotation.

Gibson is almost fully recovered from Tommy John surgery and finished with 75 innings between the regular season and Arizona Fall League. With only Scott Diamond returning to next year's rotation, there's little upside for the Twins to stash him if he's still healthy in spring training. Earlier this offseason, GM Terry Ryan said he expects Gibson to be limited to 140 innings in 2013.


Source: ESPN 1500 Twin Citie

Originally Posted by Top Gun

The Twins are considering Kyle Gibson for their Opening Day rotation.

Gibson is almost fully recovered from Tommy John surgery and finished with 75 innings between the regular season and Arizona Fall League. With only Scott Diamond returning to next year's rotation, there's little upside for the Twins to stash him if he's still healthy in spring training. Earlier this offseason, GM Terry Ryan said he expects Gibson to be limited to 140 innings in 2013.


Source: ESPN 1500 Twin Citie

I honestly think it would be dumb to do anything other than set a pitch/inning limit at 60/4 and start him at Rochester for a few months (Andrew Albers could be his permanent long relief). Save 100 good innings for the Twins starting in June or whatever.

Originally Posted by diehardtwinsfan

Morneau would likely get a deal for 1 year north of 8 figures. If he plays out 2013 looking more like the Morneau of old, he will likely net a 3 year deal north of 30 M.

30+ hr, 100++ rbi, and a 900+ OPS a year and only 32 years old would net you more than 10 million a year

Originally Posted by Shane Wahl

I honestly think it would be dumb to do anything other than set a pitch/inning limit at 60/4 and start him at Rochester for a few months (Andrew Albers could be his permanent long relief). Save 100 good innings for the Twins starting in June or whatever.

Yep. It won't break my heart to see Gibson on the Opening Day roster but I don't really see the point.

It also means the JR didn't do a good enough job of rounding out the rotation this offseason.

I could see Morneau getting two years and close to $20 million on the open market.

Originally Posted by Physics Guy

Wookie, you may be overestimating LaRoche's impact on our ability to trade Morneau. He was tendered the 1 year offer so signing him would cost the team a first or second round pick.

Ah, very good point. I did fail to factor that in.

Originally Posted by Shane Wahl

I take it that this is your first thread-starter? Good job to start with a very good one.

Thanks! I've enjoyed reading and occasionally commenting on Twins Daily for a few months now, so it's nice to take the next step in becoming a member of the community.

Rumors are that Boston is looking at stop gap 1b this offseason so after 1 year of Pena at 1b they could go after Morneau next year and with .850 OPS production. I am sure they would be willing to go close to 30 million for 2 years cause its only 2 years. Nobody is going to hand out a 4-5 year contract for him with a concussion knocking him out for good. 3 years is possible for the desperate.....

Guessing contracts is not really my thing, but if he were a FA I wouldn't expect Morneau to get much more than a 1-year deal for around 8 million this offseason, maybe with an option for a second year. He still has to prove he's healthy, even though he looks awful good compared to most of the FA 1B options.

As for Gibson, any reason to not just use him as the #5 starter? Every time an off-day in the schedule comes around, he gets skipped to keep everyone else on normal rest schedule. Assuming good health he'd get around 25ish starts on the year, presumably. At 5-6 innings a start he'd end up in the 125-150 innings range for the year, depending on how well he pitched and how many starts he actually got.