All I gotta say is the only guy that I really want to get the hook up with the Twins is Nomar Garciaparra.

Two years, $16 million. Give it to him.

Peace out, Torii. On the flip, Jacque. We love ya, but we need a high grade (hopefully healthy) infielder, yo. We got a log jam in the outfield, and you're costing us too much bling.

Nomah!

And maybe Denny Hocking. You know, just for nostalgia's sake.

Bloody P out.

We could have a reunion: Eddie Guardado, LaTroy Hawkins, Kenny Rogers, Matt Lawton, Dougie...

Then again, maybe not...

I vote for Shigetoshi Hasegawa - because Bert loves to say his name =)

or Paul Konerko -because it's fun to scream Pawwwwwleeeeeeeeeeeee =)

much love
WW

Want:
Rafael Furcal
B.J. Ryan
Todd Walker

Need:
Erubiel Durazo
Ricardo Rincon

Oooh. I want Pokey Reese, Quinton McCracken, and Mark Grudzielanek. I like their names.

k-bro

Larry Walker and the Cardinals have a mutual option for next year, but I wouldn't mind having his bat in the DH spot.

Dear Mr.JimCrikket -

Larry would be great - but I think he's going to officially call it quits this off season - he'd be great for Justin - the good doctor looks up to him I hear =)

much love
WW

WW, I wondered if maybe he might be getting ready to call it a career. I just can't get used to people younger than I am retiring from the game even though it's been happening for over a decade now.

Too bad. He still has enough pop in the bat to help a team (one particular team comes to mind) as a DH.

Wow what a boring group of no name average to below average major leaguers. If Nomah was healthy I would agree he could be a good pick for you guys.

I'm waiting for the FA list that has Johan Santana, Roy Holliday, Josh Beckett, and Juan Pierre.

Yeah - I think Larry's aches and pains wore him down this year - it's too bad he would have been fun to watch - I saw him play with the Rockies.

I wish I could retire at 38 =)

Much Love
WW

If we were wanting to re-vamp the Alphabet Gang, I'd say let's get Mark Grudzielanek, Esteban Loaiza, Juan Encarnacion, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Scott Sauerbeck, and because it wouldn't be the Alphabet Gang without him, Dougie Mientkiewicz.

**Note: I don't really know much about any of these guys. I just picked the ones with the most interesting names. Plus Juan Encarnacion played in the Appy League.

I can confirm Larry Walker has retired. Sad but true.

The Twins are welcome to Grudzy, though. The Cards don't appear to want to re-sign him -- I think they're hoping Nunez can move over to 2nd when Rolen returns.

One Rafael Furcal please.

I think the Twins should sign Shigatoshi Hasegawai. That's not because of his talent. I don't even know if he has any talent. I just like saying his name. I am going to name my first born after him just so I have a reason to say his name everyday.

Let's take a Konerko on the side. Perhaps as the DH. No offense Lew...but you could go out in the outfield.

Each day that goes by, I fear for the loss of the Soul Patrol.

A couple players I'm intrigued by, and their respective OPS for last season(sorry for the stats):

Third base, moving Cuddyer (752 OPS) to second:
Jeff Cirillo - 800 (still considered a good fielder)
Wes Helms - 814 (will be 30 next year, but really shaky in the field)
Joe Randa - 787 (likely overperformed last year homer-wise, but still a solid hitter and decent fielder)

Cirillo is 36, Randa 35 and so I don't expect their numbers to be that high next year, but I think they might be worth looking into if the price is right. What they're likely to attract this offseason I have no idea. Helms will be 30 next year, he'll probably go down a little too.

Other players I'm intrigued by that are possibly in our price range:

Mark Grudzielanek 2B - 787 (ok defensively, 35 years old. By way of comparison the way I figure it the median OPS of our 2nd basemen last season was 627, L-Rod had the best at 718)

Julio Franco 1B - 799 (yes, he'll be 48 next year and he's likely to hit a wall pretty soon, but if he can be gotten cheaply for 1-year it might be worth the risk as a DH, backup 1B, and ice-water-blood pinch-hitter. Also might be good to have around as a secondary hitting coach. He made $1m last year.

These suggestions are open to ridicule. Fire away.

Heh. Good luck trying to land Furcal. I'll work an entire shift with a marshmallow in my ass if the Twins sign him before opening day.

Durazo's got some appeal but I dunno... I'm thinking too high a price tag on him. Though his DOB's 2 days before mine (same year and all) so we could have a flipping sweet party for the two of us ;-)

UUU's a free agent, except he's got this little issue he's got to work out:

"Major-league pitcher and Venezuelan national Ugueth Urbina denied on Tuesday allegations by several employees on his ranch he attacked them with machetes and set fire to them."
(from http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2203868)

And they say Steinbrenner's a shitty boss.

Torhu, somehow, I think Lew would agree heartily with you on playing outfield rather than DH.
Can we afford Konerko? I mean, does Pohlad think he can? Paulie may be a tad rich for our blood.

I'm quite thankful for those who have picked up on one of the most important considerations in this years' signings (names). But the more important considation TR should be looking at is: who wears tall socks?

There is zero chance that
A) the white sox will let Konerko go after the postseason he-and they-just had
B) if for some reason they did, the Twins would shell out the dough.
Besides, I would rather have a few players for that kind of scratch.
Jacque Jones will be the best free agent available after most of those guys re-sign with their former teams.
We will probably make a run at Bill Mueller, Eddie G, Grudzielanek and a Brian Jordan/Conine/Reggie Sanders type vet

Twins supposedly have a payroll of $55-60 million next year. If Torii and his 12 million stay--Radke and Santana are 9 million each--there are a bunch of guys making a million or more that total about 15 million including Kyle at 5-6 (he goes to arbitration). There is not a lot left. I agree with Skorch--go with the ageless one (almost as old as me) Julio Franco at $1mil. Most of the others are out of our price range--Furcal intrigues me. So does the gambler (Rogers) if he could come cheap--never too many lefties.

Dear BG,

Batgirl certainly has her sights set on Grudzielanek to help with the Twins serious and highly detrimental funny-name deficit.

Sincerely,
BG

p.s. The Angels are said to be making a strong play for Paulie. I wonder if they have more money than we do? Nahhh.

Honestly, I don't see anyone worth our time, except maybe welcoming back semi-disgraced pitchers. I still think Redman has something in the tank.

Or we could go with Alfonseca and lead the league in fingers.

Skorch - some interesting ideas, but I'm not sure Julio Franco should be a hitting coach. I've watched him for years and still can't believe he makes that stance work.

And with Mike, I have to say this is a pretty dull list. There's Furcal, whom we ain't going to get, and a bunch of old guys, injured guys, and roll-players. (Oh, and pitchers. I'm not even looking at them. Except Eddie. I love Eddie.) I think the trade market is going to be a better option that the FA, but not with Torii, for God's sake. We have little enough spunk left. Who else will bring that to the park? No, I'm thinking more about moving some of our talented but redundant pitching. Perhaps some of the more volatile (which is not the same as spunky) guys. You know who you are, Misters McSpazzypants.

Here's a thought about someone who doesn't show up on the list, though. What about Bucky Jacobson (Mariners)? He came up to the majors and hit the snot out of the ball last year, then blew out his knee and headed back to the minors, and the Mariners signed Sexson. I thought I heard that Jacobson was going to become a free agent, but he's not listed here. He seems like he would make a nice addition at DH, and with his age (30?) and lack of major-league experience and because he's coming off a major injury, he might be pretty cheap. What do you all think of this, or would it be just signing another Matthew Lecroy? (Of course, Tony Clark is still my first choice.)

Hrunting - True, Franco's got a goofy stance, my "secondary hitting coach" idea was more meant as since he's been around forever and still seems to hit well he might be a good resource/influence. I'm thinking along the same line that Shannon Stewart was when he first came to the Twins. The story goes that the other players saw how professionally Stewart prepared himself and it rubbed off on them. Maybe it could happen again. Franco's not going to hit like Stewart, but he could be a good influence.

Hey Redbird -

Thanks for the info - bummer! But I suppose I knew it was going to be. Really not wanting MG back huh - I like Nunez - or Father Abraham - yeah I don't know my sister says there is a song about Father Abraham - so everytime he came to bat she would sing it - ok -sorry about that tangent!

Eddie - what are we going to use Eddie for -don't get me wrong I love Eddie -we're buddys =) I don't really see him taking JC's role.
I'm asking my friend in Seattle about Eddie's situation -

K-bro -we had Quinten McCraken once - in the bad days =)

WW

I think Grudzilla would look pretty hot in a Twins uniform.

Hrunting -- so, I watched Bucky Jacobsen last year, when he seemed to be a pretty promising DH-type. He blew out his knee... and then he gained like a hundred pounds. I'm not kidding, I went down to Tacoma to see him play in an AAA game, and the guy looked like he'd eaten a cow. Maybe two cows. Maybe two cows AND Walter Young while we're at it... anyway, I don't know if the weight slowed him down or what, but he couldn't hit the ball to save his life; he struck out three times in the game I saw. The Mariners released him after he stunk up the PCL championships for the Rainiers as well, so he's technically now a minor-league free agent, I believe.

I'd be happy to see him get into shape and come back, but I sort of doubt it will happen. He *would* be cheap, though.

I fully agree with Beth. We don't have enough players that wear the high socks. We should make sure we get more high socks players since it looks like Rivas won't be coming back.

I'd expect to see the Twins sign Grudzielanek and make an unsuccessful run at Bill Mueller, possibly falling back to Joe Randa (if he remains unsigned).

I think the big offseason news will probably be a trade with LAAAA, not a free agent signing.

Dear Mr. Boi,

What KIND of trade?

Sincerely,
BG

Any chance of prying Vlad out of LAAs mitts for Romero and Lohse?

Anyhow, back on planet Earth, I would love to see Chone Figgins in Twinstripes, but I don't see that happening either.

BG,

Hunter (to replace Steve Finley) and Romero (LAAAAA has no LHP in the bullpen) for prospects. Gleeman discussed some possible prospects in an entry dated October 19th, and I gave my opinion about a few of them over in the 'Cave in the "Offseason Thread" in a post also dated October 19th. Ideally, Dallas McPherson (3B) would come over in the trade.

This would free around $12-14 million in payroll next year, which could allow the Twins to flip those prospects (or send a Bonser/Durbin type player) for a star on a team in the middle of rebuilding. (Some one in the Mike Sweeney class.)

Of course, we could see some fraction of the trade happen - just Hunter or just Romero - but both (and maybe cash) would be needed to get a prospect or two plus McPherson.

"(or send a Bonser/Durbin..." should have been "(and/or send a Bonser/Durbin..." I doubt the Twins could get a star player for just a mediocre pitching prospect, even if they are helping the other team shed a lot of payroll.

How 'bout this: sign and trade Lohse - either to the Rangers for Hank Blalock or the D-Backs (with a prospect or maybe JC) for Chad Tracy. Either way nets a 3B with some pop and frees up cash. And they both NEED pitching.

Then see what the Reds want for Felipe Lopez.

-ex

I bet the Twins do nothing this off-season.

Dear Ms/Mrs/Mr Lets Go Mets,
Excellent post, but I have ask...Would that marshmellow simply reside in the crack or would you pack it in, so to speak? And how would those of us in blog world ever be able to know if you indeed stayed true to your word without puking up our lunches. There are really just too many questions to pose them all here.
Although I find your dedication to offseason signings applaudable, I wish there was an equally amusing feat for you to perform that was easier for us to observe. Maybe you can just pull an Urbie on Steinbrenner? I'm sure it would make the papers.

And to Leslie, I'll take that bet.

Seriously, where's da love for Nomah??

As for Expatriate's take on a sign and trade of Lohse for Blalock.

I think he'd better pass the hookah pipe to Jon Daniels, cuz that's the only way that trade's goin' dizzown.

But I that Leslie Monteiro might have it right...

Da*n, yo.

Shigetoshi Hasegawai. Just for Bert's sake.

Ovie,

"We will probably make a run at Bill Mueller, Eddie G"

Are you saying we're going back after Guardado? Why? We've got Nathan.

It always amuses me that while Bert loves to say "Shigetoshi Hasegawa," he pronounces the last name as if there were a "sh" sound in it. I'm not a Japanese linguist, but I've never heard anyone else pronounce it like he's Slavic.

Anyway, Shiggy is actually quite the Renaissance Man, an author of books on economics as well as an artist of the forkball, but lately his pitching has been a bit of a bear.

I think Grudzielanek would be a nice cost-effective cheap buy for the Twins, so we'll finally have a competent 2nd baseman. Otherwise, I hope TR can make some changes via trade and possibly might surprise us with a big signing if he's shifted his dollars around just right.

I have to agree with the names. And the tall socks. And especially Denny Hocking "for old times' sake."

What would we have to do to sign this Jacque Jones guy? That would be a free agent signing that would make me happy!

Plenty of former twins to choose from, not that I know where we would put them. Matt Lawton? LaTroy Hawkins? Jose Offerman?? (I'll pass on Rick Helling...)

Finally (those of you that are familiar with me know how hard this kind of thing is for me to say), I might not mind having Bill Mueller around. Or Grudz...whatever. (*working hard not to picture what that would mean in terms of letting current players go*)

Mr. Craig-

You can dispense with the Ms./Mrs. bidniss... although if there's a girl out there who would keep a marshmallow nestled between the cheeks for a shift, I'd be at least a tad intrigued.

No way would I pack it in... I think I'd be itching enough as it is just having the boxer briefs hold it in place on the periphery for 12 hours. And you'd have to take my word for having worn my new ass-essory.

Ok, so you want something more visible than smores in my drawers... suggest some stuff and maybe we can cut a deal.

ps- the snozzberries taste like snozzberries

Shigetoshi Hasegawa MUST sign with an AL team. Because it just won't be the same without Bert saying his name!

Torhu-
We have Nathan but no Romero, which means our only lefty in the pen is-gasp- the agless one. I dont think Eddie cares all that much about being the "closer," at least not enough to keep him from coming back to minnie if the price is even close to right.
I would sign him just for the clubhouse presence, maybe shut Torii up for a freakin week.
Really, though. Close circuit to Torii, KEEP IT TO YOURSELF about the whole "pinstripes and that baaad..." crap. You're scaring the children

Ah. I see where you're going. Have him do some lefty-relief.

Eddie seemed to get back into the swing of things with Seattle. It'd be interesting to see what happens if we brought him in to the pen.

Heck, with Eddie and Nathan...you'd have a two-headed Closer (probably one of the first in the leauge) If one blew the save in a road game, the other could come in extras to try again.

Or even more likely...if one got in trouble the other could come finish it up.

I think Eddie's gonna want WAAAAAY too much bling-bling. No way TR and Tha Crew re-sign him. Not with Nathan and a seemingly exhaustive supply of young fireballers in the minors.

expatriate: you're wayyyyyyy undershooting the dback trade...my home team is FAMOUS for lopsided trades. For Lohse (ONLY!) the Twins could get Chad Tracy, Alex Cintron, Troy Glaus, the hotdog guy in section 128 AND any and all left-handed pitching prospects.

I'm certainly hoping our brand new, Moneyball-ish GM changes this, what I like to call, Richie Sexton-for-HOW-Many-Players???!!, trend.

At least when we got our lunch money taken for Schilling, the ends justified the means.

Mulholland? Dear God, no- who else will pull his chair away from the others in the bullpen, tip it back against the wall, cross his arms and fall asleep while Guerrier and Boo occasionally nudge him to make sure he's still alive? Who else can fill those orthopedic shoes?

That's not an exciting list of free agents this year. With 30 teams fighting over a handful of useful players, I think we can expect some especailly outrageous contracts. We also might see more trades.

Lee

X10, you saying the Twins will need a new "old man" with no velocity but enough junk to chew up meaningless innings in blow outs and otherwise just take up space and sleep through the middle innings of games?

Pardon me while I dig through the closet for my glove.

In response to BloodyP:

The love for Mr. Garciaparra most likely runs about 9-10 bills a year. Hence the problem. Far as I'm concerned, he can continue to clutter the Cubbies' IR until Doomsday.

-ex

From what I hear here in the Seattle area, Shiggy (Shigetoshi Hasegawai) will not be asked to joining the team next year since the bull pen is so packed that someone would have to stand during the game until someone else is called into relief.
I'm hearing that the team will let 2-3 guys go from the 'pen, so everyone else isn't too squished together.

Personally, I have seen Shiggy pitch about a dozen times in person, and he is an exciting player to watch.

I'd like to add a reliever, Furcal, and either Konerko or Giles. Wishful thinking, I know.

Actual possibilities:
RP Braden Looper
RP Julian Tavarez
2B Todd Walker

Good but too good for the Twins:
1B Paul Konerko
SS Rafael Furcal
OF Brian Giles
DP Mike Piazza

Good but not worth the money:
RP Trevor Hoffman
RP Tood Jones
RP BJ Ryan
RP Ugueth Urbina
RP Billy Wagner

Good but we probably don't need:
SP Matt Morris
SP Jeff Suppan

Mr. Walker was signed today by the Cubs.

"Good but too good for the Twins:
1B Paul Konerko
SS Rafael Furcal
OF Brian Giles
DP Mike Piazza"

Nobody's too good for us...just too expensive. If only...

Bad news guys:

http://www.startribune.com/stories/508/5694180.html

Thanks for this Pat. And here I was going to renew MLB Extra Innings, now I know there's no sense bothering!

Good old Reusse.

Ever the optimist.

Torhu/Woo -

"Good but too good for the Twins:
1B Paul Konerko
SS Rafael Furcal
OF Brian Giles
DP Mike Piazza"

I'd agree on those first three. We let a slightly better hitting and cheaper version of Mike Piazza (778 OPS last season) go in Matthew LeCroy (798 OPS). Piazza will just likely command too much money for the Twins based on reputation next season.

In other news Manny Ramirez is reportedly asking to be traded... again. [sarcasm]I bet he'd make a great 2nd baseman! [/sarcasm]

Glad I don't take Reusse seriously anyway. But this?

"The Indians came into U.S. Cellular Field late in the season. The White Sox were lucky to win once in the three-game series. When Cleveland left, the Sox's lead of 13 games on July 18 was reduced to 2 ½."

Either Cleveland didn't do all the damage, or that was quite the series. Sorry I missed it!

Dear Bat-Girl,

A little birdie told me about this exchange between KW and TR:

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/cs-051029williams,1,7217322.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

-SJ

Dear BG:

Here's the exchange, since the Trib has a wall:

One of the congratulatory calls Williams received in the last week came from Minnesota Twins general manager Terry Ryan. The Twins had won the previous three American League Central titles before this season with players who were local heroes and national curiosities. Star-studded they weren't.

"I told Terry Ryan, 'Congratulations my [butt], you forced me to do this. I was tired of second place. We had to try to play your game,'" Williams recalled.

-SJ

Hi Wonderwoman and everybody --

To follow the tangent--the Father Abraham song might provide interesting opportunites for fan participation, and wouldn't really work without it. It's a kids song that goes

"Fr. Abraham had many sons--many sons had Fr. Abraham.
I am one of them, and so are you, so let's just go like this (touching toes, clapping hands or whatever the leader wants everyone to imitate.)

It could go on and on, because a new gesture is added everytime the song is repeated.

Janet W.

I wouldnt take Reusse seriously either--no Twins hitter matches up with a Tribe--how about Mauer over Victor Martinez?? Give me a break...

Besides the Tribe pitching once you get past CC is not that good...

Dearest Janet W

Thank you - for that - I was always wondering why my sister would clap during the song!
Now I know - you know that would be way better then the WAVE - ok stop doing the WAVE people =)

Much love
Wonder Woman

I'm still hoping for Shiggy for the sake of Bert - or a straight up trade JC for Damaso Marte - because we need more pretty faces in the bullpen =)

I don't know his price bracket, but I wouldn't mind Jamie Moyer on the cheap if only to prevent the two annual losses we get facing him.

Lee,

Yeah, I honestly think the same way. Its not really an exciting list of free agents. I could be wrong you know. They might one day be a very good player but as of now, there are only a handful of useful players and my crystal ball says that there's more likely to be trades.

I think the real intrigue for the Twins lies as the third team in a three-way deal. Perhaps something with LAAAAAA and Boston (involving Manny leaving BOS) and the Twins getting a hitter (though probably not Manny or Vlad) and lots of cash in exchange for a pitcher?

These are the types of things that keep me up at night... *shudder*

YankeeFan

Reusse's a bozo. He loves nothing better than telling everyone how hopeless everything is, then crowing about how great it is when he's proven wrong (with little admittance of his error). As for all this Shiggy nonsense, let's let it go, shall we? He's overrated, always has been, always will be. On top of that, I saw him pitch too many times when I was living in LA and going to see the Twins play the LAAAAAAA - they'd play "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" and sing "Shiggy" instead. Painful. The memories alone are already bad enough - we don't need him in a Twins jersey, regardless of how much fun Bert would have mispronouncing his name.

As a fan of another AL team, you're welcome to Shiggy. He had a decent year this year, but he was nothing short of horrific last year, and awesome the year before, so I think he's headed into the down cycle. But I'll have to listen in to a Twins broadcast sometime just to hear Bert say his name, apparently I've been missing out.

On the other hand, as a fan of Batgirl and all this site stands for ... stay away. For the very same reasons.

Bucky Jacobsen is a great guy. He's friendly, and when he connects with a ball he can hit it a really really long way. But the previous description of his return from knee surgery was pretty much dead-on, and I witnessed it in many more Rainiers games than Deanna. It was just painful to watch him, he looked awful and I felt horrible for him because he's such a great guy. But I cringed every time I saw him in the lineup. On the other hand, if he works hard in the offseason and has a great spring - who knows? He deserves a chance.

From everything I've read locally, Eddie is in talks with the Mariners to come back. They probably won't exercise the team option, but he may exercise his player option. I hope he does, personally, I get an immense kick out of his ritual game-entrance-crotch-grabbing and Maori-like facial expressions on the mound. And he's a pretty darn good closer, too. Unless, of course, we manage to nab Kyle Farnsworth. Then Eddie's all yours ;-)

For DC Twins Fan: You may want to take a look at the Tribe's pitching stats and revise your statement a bit. I'd take that staff as a whole over the Twins. Of course, I wouldn't take anyone over Santana, but who would?

Well Eddie's not going to rejoin us:

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051102&content_id=1263679&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb