Minnesota Twins

If you were surprised in any way by return in the Denard Span trade, you shouldn't have been. Terry Ryan told us this was coming four months ago.

Back in July, with the trade deadline approaching, Ryan spoke about his approach:
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"I don’t say this about many decisions, but starting Doumit at catcher might be a fireable offense. In 60 games at catcher for Pittsburgh in 2011, his framing cost the Pirates 20 runs. In 59 games for Minnesota in 2012, his framing cost the Twins 21 runs. All told, his framing has subtracted 98 runs over the past five seasons, on top of the damage from the other things he does poorly behind the plate, which wipes out his offensive value."

It has been difficult on this site to state concerns about Ryan Doumit and the Twins extending him. In a debate last week, I was told 28-29 teams would love to have Doumit and he was more valuable than ever.
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Last week, the Twins announced that they had signed Jeff Clement, the team’s 12^th round pick in the 2002 draft. Clement chose not to sign with the Twins, instead going to USC and later signing with the Mariners as the #3 overall pick in 2005. Following the Twins Thursday trade of Denard Span to the Washington Nationals in exchange for RHP Alex Meyer, Clement is now the only player that the Twins drafted in 2002 that is with the organization.

The Twins drafted Span with the 20^th overall pick in the 2002 draft. The Colorado Rockies, who picked ninth that season, had offered him a pre-draft deal at $2 million, but Span declined it. He had a football scholarship to Clemson in his back pocket. However, at the end of the summer, just before the deadline, he signed with the Twins for about a $1.2 million bonus.

Below will be a look back at the Twins career of Denard Span. ...

Lord help me, but I love offseason speculation. It’s a weakness. If you really want to immerse yourself in the offseason rumor mill, the Twins Daily forums are the place to be. Below are some of the highlights from the last 24 hours. As always, have fun and play nice.

• Was Francisco Liriano offered a one-year deal by the Twins?
• Turns out the Twins aren’t the only team thinking about Carl Pavano
• Know how the Twins always praise how Bruce Chen pitches? He’s available.
• The Boston media is insisting that the Red Sox chase Joe Mauer. Meanwhile, the Twins seem to be telling them to go away.
• Is Josh Willingham available? Should he be?

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Originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com

Last week the Minnesota Twins added eight players to their 40-man roster, maxing out their roster with 40 players. The Twins will likely remove at least one player prior to the upcoming Rule 5 draft, but for now, the Twins do not have room for any additions. If Spring Training started tomorrow, here are the 40 players that would be competing for a coveted 25-man roster spot and a place on the 2013 Opening Day roster. We'll start with ...

With as many as four spots needing to be filled in the rotation, it figured that Terry Ryan – with his traditionally risk-averse nature in free agency – would target low-cost pitchers with upside who could be acquired on one-year deals. This strategy makes sense for a couple reasons: it adds multiple options to the starting pitching mix without requiring huge commitments, and hurlers looking for the one-year make-good deal ought be more apt to sign with a club that offers such wide-open opportunity in the rotation.

If that was indeed Ryan's intended tack, he can't be pleased to see the Cubs aggressively following the same course. Already, Chicago has snatched up two of the most intriguing pitchers in this category.
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