Twins sign Morneau, Cuddyer to multiyear deals

Ficklone02 · 01-27-2008, 07:54 PM

Originally Posted by kurimski

Lamb is going to be the starting 3b. Most likely the OF will look like Kubel, Young, Cuddyer, and Monroe with the extra being the DH for the day. 3 of the 4 have the ability to play CF. There is also a shot that Pridie will play CF. If Monroe can be the player he was 2 years ago and Mauer can stay of the disable list the offense could be awesome.

Hopefully Lamb will do better than the last 3b acquisition....ugh. If not, we still have Nicky, albeit he probably can do no better than .250 on a consistent basis. I really hope Pridie/Delmon get the start in Center, I don't think any of those other guys have the speed to play there.

Iastfan112 · 01-27-2008, 07:57 PM

Originally Posted by Bewilderme

Too bad we lost Terry Ryan...man he was a great GM.

I have mixed feelings on TR yes he had some great trades, actually thats what he pretty much excelled at but his drafts were very mixed, especially recently and he let there become a dearth of young hitting in the minors. Those are very forgivable sins and with just that I'm willing to consider TR a great GM but the guy went out and signed horrible awful washed up veterans: Butch Huskey, Jose Offerman, Henry Blanco(okay he wasnt a washed up veteran he was a never was been), Juan Castro, Rondell White(and then exercised his option!), Ruben Sierra, and Tony Batista.

Iastfan112 · 01-27-2008, 08:01 PM

Originally Posted by Ficklone02

Hopefully Lamb will do better than the last 3b acquisition....ugh. If not, we still have Nicky, albeit he probably can do no better than .250 on a consistent basis. I really hope Pridie/Delmon get the start in Center, I don't think any of those other guys have the speed to play there.

Lamb well average defensively excites me as a guy to have on offense, he takes walks has a little power and actually hits both lhp and rhp pretty well, never got why he wasn't a starter before. Compared to the almost Mendoza line production from 3b last year it'll seem like we have Babe Ruth on the team.

Jables22 · 01-27-2008, 11:12 PM

Originally Posted by Iastfan112

Butch Huskey, Jose Offerman, Henry Blanco(okay he wasnt a washed up veteran he was a never was been), Juan Castro, Rondell White(and then exercised his option!), Ruben Sierra, and Tony Batista.

Yeah, that's too bad RonDL retired! WOW he sucked!

jdoggivjc · 01-28-2008, 01:34 PM

Originally Posted by Iastfan112

You do realize your claim is a bit off, under Polhads ownership the Twins have signed Kirby Puckett to a then record contract and Brad Radke when the Twins were heading absolutely terrible. Could Pohlad spend more money? Sure but I'm pretty sure for that family(its now the son who runs things) its still about making a profit which although frustrating isnt miserly. Currently the Twins are in the middle third in terms of payroll and with the stadium they have and market size, thats doing okay.

Also, in that same time period, Pohlad conspired with Selig, whose family owns the Milwaukee Brewers of all clubs, to have the Twins contracted in order to hold Minneapolis hostage to get a new stadium approved. Granted the Metrodome is the worst stadium in all of MLB, and he "did" what he "needed to do" in order to get financing for the new stadium, but he burned a lot of bridges in order to get his new stadium and there's now a lot of mistrust when it comes to Pohlad. While it appears Pohlad is now more willing to open up his wallet with the contract extensions of Morneau and Cuddyer, as well as bringing in Young and Lamb, how long does that attitude last? I mean, look at what's going on in Pittsburgh. The Pirates are a cash cow simply because of the revenues that their new stadium creates - the owner has no motivation to put talent on the field because he doesn't need to put all kinds of $$$ into payroll because he STILL makes all kinds of money, even with one of the worst franchises in sports. I honestly hope this isn't what happens with the Twins.

mjones34 · 01-28-2008, 01:38 PM

Can't wait for the Twins this year. Liriano is back! Silva improved a lot over last year. If we can keep Johan, that would be huge. I simply cannot wait!

Jables22 · 01-28-2008, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by mjones34

Can't wait for the Twins this year. Liriano is back! Silva improved a lot over last year. If we can keep Johan, that would be huge. I simply cannot wait!

Silva left as a FA and signed with Seattle. So that's yet another hole in the rotation to fill.....

jdoggivjc · 01-28-2008, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by Jables22

Silva left as a FA and signed with Seattle. So that's yet another hole in the rotation to fill.....

I thought Silva left. Hopefully 2007 was an anomaly and he flames out and it looks like a brilliant move not resigning him.

mjones34 · 01-28-2008, 02:08 PM

Originally Posted by Jables22

Silva left as a FA and signed with Seattle. So that's yet another hole in the rotation to fill.....

Well forget that then!

Iastfan112 · 01-28-2008, 07:12 PM

Originally Posted by jdoggivjc

I thought Silva left. Hopefully 2007 was an anomaly and he flames out and it looks like a brilliant move not resigning him.

2007 shouldn't be an anomaly, he put up a 3.5ish in 2005, and a low 4 era in 2004. 2006 was an awful year but looking at his statistics it should be the outlier, solid pitcher yes but not one who is worth spending a 11 million a year on as Seattle did

kurimski · 01-28-2008, 07:37 PM

If the Twins keep Santana they "MIGHT" contend for the wild card. It'll be tough but they have a shot with Santana. If they are with out Santana which will likely happen pretty soon they will finish at .500 or possilby a little above. Either way they will still be an exciting team to watch. They have the best middle of the order they've had in many years (which still isn't saying much but it'll be very good), and they'll have some young exciting pitchers. Should be a fun season to watch.

jtd9046 · 01-28-2008, 08:16 PM

I'm glad Silva is gone. He had a losing record last year (13-14) and an ERA above 4.0 so not sure why the above poster thought it was a great season for him.

He couldn't shut anybody down and I have a feeling that in the 13 games he won the Twins put up some better than average offense.

jtd9046 · 01-28-2008, 08:22 PM

Originally Posted by jtd9046

I'm glad Silva is gone. He had a losing record last year (13-14) and an ERA above 4.0 so not sure why the above poster thought it was a great season for him.

He couldn't shut anybody down and I have a feeling that in the 13 games he won the Twins put up some better than average offense.

I just did the math. The Twins scored an average of 6.23 runs in the games he won. The Twins averaged 4.43 runs per game for the 2007 season.

Jables22 · 01-28-2008, 08:37 PM

Originally Posted by jtd9046

I'm glad Silva is gone. He had a losing record last year (13-14) and an ERA above 4.0 so not sure why the above poster thought it was a great season for him.

He couldn't shut anybody down and I have a feeling that in the 13 games he won the Twins put up some better than average offense.

I hope Boof Bonser doesn't go above 350lbs this season, now that Silva won't be there to demolish the training table

I always wondered why Tyner was so skinny....... maybe he had to sit in between them.

All kidding aside, I did hear Boof dropped some weight. Hopefully he can keep it off during the season and last more than 5 innings a start.

Iastfan112 · 01-28-2008, 11:52 PM

Originally Posted by jtd9046

I just did the math. The Twins scored an average of 6.23 runs in the games he won. The Twins averaged 4.43 runs per game for the 2007 season.

Silva was a good pitcher and yes they scored runs in the games he won, that because if your offense scores 2 runs for you over 9 innings your not likely to win the game. If you take an actual sampling and factor in all the games he started his run support was an anemic 3.94, this explains why he had a barely losing record with a low 4 era.

Actually his "bad" era was 2nd best for full time starter and 3rd best if you count Garza, and for a team that had the 4th best pitching staff in the AL(would have been better if the Twins had thrown out the garbage of Ponson and Ortiz earlier). If your going to call Silva not good you'd have the make that assertion about former Twin Brad Radke as well.