Really, it can’t.

The Twins are 18 games below the .500 mark. Yesterday, Francisco Liriano was put on the 15-day DL for left shoulder inflammation—and he’s only one of the many crucial Twins players who are MIA.

Sitting at the bottom of the MLB, the Twins have never looked so bleak. Naturally, I keep thinking we’ve hit the bottom. It can’t get worse, right?. It might not get better, but at least I know it can’t get worse.

Oh baseball, you proved me wrong once again.

In their most recent losses, the Twins have managed to keep the scores close, struggling in the 8^th and 9^th innings before losing. Fans are left feeling disappointed and discouraged that a turnaround is no longer a possibility.

Yesterday’s game was no exception.

A Call to Change it All

The Twins have struggled for almost every win they’ve received this year. And they’ve had to endure some tough losses. However, Monday’s game against the Tigers was an especially difficult loss for players and fans alike.

Here’s what happened: in the bottom of the 8^th, Alex Avila was up to bat with Jhonny Peralta on first. Avila nailed the ball down the left field line where the it hit two fans before falling onto the field. Delmon Young notified third base umpire Gary Darling, who called fan interference. After a huddle with the umpires, Peralta was allowed to score. Here’s a link to the hit.

The call did NOT go over too well with Ron Gardenhire and the Twins. Gardenhire was ejected from the game for his heated argument over the call not being ruled as a ground-rule double for going into the stands.

“I still don’t understand it. I don’t have any opinion on it, other than my opinion that we know it hit a fan in the stands and we know it went into the stands. Their call was not clear when I talked to them. I don’t know how that runner scored.”

The Twins only expected Peralta to be rewarded third base and were stunned by the awarded run. Stunned enough to let the play get the best of ‘em.

The Right Call?

Living in Iowa provides little access to Twins games. Therefore, I am forced to watch via my computer or rely on ESPN updates to my cell phone. I have to form my opinion based off the video footage on mlb.com. After reading a few articles on the call, researching the rules on ground-rule doubles, and watching the unhelpful video online, I was more confused at what is the right call than before I started to look into it. It’s a tough call.

I can’t help but go back and forth on whether or not I think Darling made the right call.

The Wrong Way to End

So the call doesn’t go your way. And it’s another kick to the ground for the Twins. Or is it? Poor call or not, it’s not the first time this has happened. The call only put the Twins down by one run. Top of the 9^th, batters up and ready. But three outs later, the game is over. Consistent with so many other losses by the Twins.

I can’t help but wonder if the call from the previous inning had any effect on the team as they got ready to bat. If so, get over it. The game goes on, and you can’t dwell on a wrong call forever. I don’t care if you feel like they are kicking you when you are already down. Get back up and brush the dirt of your shoulders. Since so many games have ended this way, it’s hard to tell if the one play truly messed with the players’ mental game. Or if they just didn’t have it in them to make a comeback.

Tell me what you think about the play that pushed the Twins down. Did Darling make the right call? Did Gardenhire have good reason to be upset?

C – Joe Mauer – $10.5MM

1B – Justin Morneau – $10.6MM

2B – Alexi Casilla – $450K

3B – Brendan Harris/Brian Buscher – $450K

SS – Nick Punto – 4.25M

LF – Delmon Young – $700K

CF – Denard Span – $400K

RF – Michael Cuddyer – $6.75MM

DH – Jason Kubel – $1.3MM+

SP – Scott Baker – $423K

SP – Francisco Liriano – $400K

SP – Kevin Slowey – $400K

SP – Nick Blackburn – $400K

SP – Glen Perkins – $400K

RP – Joe Nathan – $11.25MM

RP – Jesse Crain – $1.7MM

RP – Matt Guerrier – $950K+

RP – Pat Neshek – $435K

RP – Boof Bonser – $433K

RP – Craig Breslow – $400K

RP – Jose Mijares – $400K

Bench – C – Mike Redmond – 950K

Bench – 3B – Brendan Harris/Brian Buscher – $450K

Bench – IF – Matt Tolbert – $400K

Bench – OF – Carlos Gomez – $400K

Others on Payroll: Mike Lamb – $3MM

That’s a full 25 man roster tallying to a cool $58.2 million dollars.

In 2007 before we let go of Hunter, Santana and Silva’s contracts, our team salary was at $71.4 million dollars, quite a bit higher than the 58.2 million we stand at now. It would appear as if we should have room to spend and that our team payroll could be anywhere from $70–80 million if management decided to spend at previous years’ numbers plus increase, leaving $12-22 million dollars of unspent payroll.

So what would our options be?

1. Trade for Adrian Beltre at 3B – Should be at a price $12 million next year and players (possibly a mix of Cuddyer/Perkins/Prospect)? Beltre added the Twins to his no-trade clause list most likely by recommendation of his agent Scott Boras in order to have bargaining chips down the road (i.e. compensation for waiving his no trade clause).

2. Sign Ty Wigginton at 3B – Expect $6-8 million/yr and 3 years plus based on Ty wanting a bigger contract than Casey Blake’s 3 year $17.5 million dollar deal to the Dodgers. Talks seem to have come to a halt in December and the Indians have shown interest.

3. Sign Joe Crede at 3B – Could go anywhere from $2-6 million based on his health and where the market for him is at in a month. The Giants seem to think he’s healthy enough to start pursuing. Should only be a one year deal.

4. Trade for Garrett Atkins at 3B – Salary in the $5 million dollar per year range. Rockies are asking quite a bit for him though (Slowey + Prospects).

So it looks like after the Blake and DeRosa talks fell through we’ve run a little thin on options. Unless we take a good stab at Ty Wigginton and give him a 3^rd year, I believe we’ll be looking at another year of the Harris/Buscher platoon. Joe Crede’s another option that I think is viable, we just haven’t heard much about it from the Twins camp and depending on his health he probably wouldn’t be much of an impact. The Garrett Atkins deal just asks way too much from the Twins (no way the Twins give up Slowey for just about anyone at this point).

The Adrian Beltre option, if it went down as described, is preferred but would be a one year rental (plus this means having Scott Boras around which is certainly not something the Twins want to have on their plate). Grabbing Adrian Beltre though, even in a rental situation, makes this team incredibly dangerous and may be this team’s hope for a World Series run. Unfortunately, Seattle probably wants more than described above and are rumored to be unreasonable in the negotiations around a Beltre deal.

—-

Guys I would be looking to deal:

Cuddyer – Big contract and we’re overstocked in the outfield.

Punto – Poor production and unfortunately a new big contract.

Perkins – The weakest of our young starting pitching staff. We have a lot of talent in the minors.

Kubel – If the price was right.

Harris/Buscher – If anybody wanted them in a package and we got a 3B in return.

Guys I would NOT be looking to deal:

Liriano/Slowey/Baker/Blackburn – All young cheap studs. Very underrated pitching staff. Many would argue Blackburn is in the “deal” mix if the price was right, but his performance in the play-in game was stellar. When October rolls around this guy will come to play.

Gomez/Young/Span – This is the future of our outfield. Young and loaded with talent.

Mauer/Morneau – For obvious reasons.

Casilla – Young, talented, fast, and versatile with a decent bat. Can’t look for much more out of a guy playing 2^nd base these days.

Speaking of Nick Punto’s new contract: Since when have the Twins overspent on somebody this much? A guy that hit .284 with 2 dingers last year (not to mention a .210 batting average the year before with nearly 500 AB’s!) can not be worth over 4 million a year. Now that the Cubs have signed a similar player in Aaron Miles to a deal half that of Punto’s (Miles has slightly more attractive stats including a .317 average last season) some Twins fans, including myself, have found themselves a little perplexed. Why would we give Punto such a big contract? Maybe he’s just that much of a “gamer” and has too much defensive ability to deny. Maybe he’s just simply that integral to our team chemistry. Maybe it’s just that inspiring to the clubhouse that when he actually hits a home run, it rallies our team for months. Maybe the Twins just have that much of an infatuation with him, knowing that we should trade him away, we signed him to a big contract in hopes some other team takes it on after we deal him away (for say J.J. Hardy, fair?) giving Nick some extra cash. Whatever the case, the contract was too big for a guy who it can be debated whether or not should have a starting job in the major leagues. I love the guy as a competitor, but his numbers are killing us. Fun fact: Nick Punto will be making roughly twice that of our entire starting rotation next year.

Another guy that we should hold onto and that’s been in dozens of rumors is Delmon Young. Ron Gardenhire was quoted in December as saying our starting lineup next year would consist of Span, Gomez, and Cuddyer obviously leaving out the former 1^st overall pick Delmon Young. This seemingly opened the door for Young to be dealt and the rumors flew in.

Wait a minute…

Yes he only hit 10 homers and yes he only hit .290 last year. But, the guy did that as a 22 year old in the majors. At 22! It seems like sometimes we drool over prospects that do that in the minors at the same age. I would hope we give him plenty time to develop being that there aren’t many guys in the game with as high of a ceiling as Delmon. He’s the definition of a low risk, high potential type of player that I would think the Twins would love to have. Worst case scenario, he doesn’t pan out and we pull one of our talented guys playing well in the minors up to fill in, but I really think this guy could do us wonders in a few years as long as his attitude problems are kept in check.

I’m certainly hoping that the Gardenhire quote was a ploy to increase Cuddyer’s trade value.

In other AL Central news today:

Former White Sox Outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. could be heading back to the Mariners.

]]> http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/2009/01/minnesota-twins-salaries-payroll-2009-offseason/feed/ 8