The Minnesota Twins announced their first major acquisition of the winter adding Luis Ayala to a $1.3MM dollar deal with incentives for next year. Ayala’s stats were flawless up until his injury two seasons ago that required Tommy John surgery. Last year was certainly his worst year in the majors as he posted a 5.71 ERA in 86 games. But as SethSpeaks pointed out, that’s the ‘definition of overuse’ and that Ayala gave up 0 runs in 58 of those appearances. He also was battling injuries last season, certainly affecting his performance.

With the addition of Ayala, our relief options have opened up. We won’t have to see guys like Guerrier, Crain and Breslow every night meaning that we will have much fresher arms in the latter part of the season, something that lost us a chance at the postseason in ’08. Ayala has gotten a pretty bad rap among fan commentary, but given the right situation; he should be a good fit in our relief rotation and should compete for the setup job.

A Joe Crede signing is looming.

In a press conference yesterday, Jim Pohlad stated that a Joe Crede signing made sense to him:

“We’re not done. The season hasn’t started yet,” Pohlad said. “Frequently, transactions do occur during Spring Training, so it still could happen. There is nothing from us saying, ‘Don’t go get anyone. We’re done. Go into the season and keep your fingers crossed.’ … We still have room in our payroll, and if there are opportunities [to add a player], we’ll pursue them.

Pohlad doesn’t make the personnel decisions, he just cuts the checks, but we at least we know Pohlad’s wallet isn’t holding up the deal. Pohlad was optimistic that the Twins were not done making deals this offseason, contrary to previous reports.

Scott Boras also had some noteworthy quotes this week regarding Joe Crede:

“Joe Crede has been cleared to play and is ready to compete every day, as any other player would be going to camp,” Boras said. “And he’ll be doing so in about 10-14 days…Joe Crede is healthy, the playing surface he plays on is not an issue.”

Boras is obviously trying to sell his client to the Twins, noting that he is healthy and the playing surface (the Metrodome turf) is not an issue. Crede’s back problems have worried Twins officials for some time as playing on turf only intensifies the likelihood of injury.

Acquiring a healthy Joe Crede would be a huge upgrade for Minnesota. Crede hit 17 home runs before his injury as he was on pace to put 30 over the fence by season end. If we get anywhere near that sort of performance from Crede and the rest of our team stays healthy, we should be eyeing postseason play. But again, the keyword being a ‘healthy’ Crede.

Brandon Warne from SethSpeaks.net puts together an argument against acquiring Joe Crede, stating that a Buscher/Harris platoon puts up similar numbers at a fraction of Crede’s cost and health problems.

Jim Pohlad also pointed out that payroll should significantly increase after 2009 as several players are up for arbitration (that and a massive Joe Mauer contract is looming). This gives us some hope that we can keep the core of our young talent together for a few more years, but fans are skeptical as the Pohlads have promised an increased payroll for years.

The Twins also reached middle ground with Matt Guerrier on Thursday, signing him to a 1.475MM dollar one year deal for 2009. Guerrier’s a good pitcher who is best noted for being overworked during the latter part of the 2008 season.