Twins offseason blog-1/11

In the past week, its been reported that the Twins have been in pursuit of free agent starting pitcher, Jarrod Washburn. In fact, the team has also reportedly made him a 1 year $5 million offer, which he has rejected. If I was Washburn, I would be taking that offer in a heartbeat. This is a guy that completely tanked the last 8 starts with his two month stint in Detroit, posting a 7.33 ERA with the Motor City Kitties. He was so awful he had to be removed from the starting rotation in the seasons final games. That, however, is not out of the ordinary for Washburn. In his career, he has a 82-64 record with a 3.81 ERA and averaged 6.1 innings per start from April through July. August and September brings a 25-45 with a 4.48 ERA while averaging 5.2 innings per start (September Washburn only averaged 5 innings/start). Why do the Twins want to invest in a guy that cannot win in a time that usually sees the Twins go on a tear? Sure, another veteran arm and another pitcher with postseason experience would be nice, but I would rather see the Twins take a shot with using Francisco Liriano, Brian Duensing, Glen Perkins, or Jeff Manship to fill the fifth starting spot behind Nick Blackburn, Scott Baker, Carl Pavano, and Kevin Slowey. Washburn, 34, is now past his prime years and can only see what skills he had diminish. If you sign him in June, like the Phillies did with Pedro Martinez in '09, if no one steps up to claim the fifth starting spot, then thats probably a better investment then signing him to pitch in April and May, because Washburn does not have the stamina to pitch from April through October. He never has. He never will.

NOTES
-Is the signing of reliever Clay Condrey another sign a trade is coming? The Twins have a deep rotation and bullpen which could be used possibly to acquire a staff ace or a third baseman.
-Everyone is trying to chime in on the Mauer contract negotiations.
http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove09/insider/columns/story?columnist=edes_gordon&id=4813411
http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/80969287.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUqCP:iUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jon_heyman/01/11/heyman.pujols.mauer/index.html
-As the Twins officially moved into 1 Twins Way the past week, I couldn't help but miss the old address: 34 Kirby Puckett Place.