For those who have read your copy of the 2011-12 Twins offseason handbook, this is the fun part. At the end, the guys all take the role of the GM chair and piece together a team for the next season. So, after reading the book, I am all filled up with some ideas as to how the Twins should go about filling up the roster for the 2012 season. So here, I will assume the role of GM and put together a team for the 2012 season.
Here I will start with the players under contract or team control for 2012:
Lineup
CF: Span ($3M)
SS: Casilla (ARB)
C: Mauer ($23M)
1B: Morneau ($14M)
RF: Empty
3B: Valencia ($500K)
DH: Empty
2B: Nishioka ($3M)
LF: Revere ($500K)
BN: Empty
BN: Butera ($500K)
BN: Luke Hughes ($500K)
BN: Plouffe ($500K)
Rotation
SP: Baker-RH ($6.5M)
SP: Pavano-RH ($8.5M)
SP: Liriano-LH (ARB)
SP: Blackburn-RH ($4.75M)
SP: Duensing ($500K)
RP: Swarzak-RH ($500K)
RP: Oliveros-RH ($500K)
RP: Mijares-LH (ARB)
RP: Slowey-RH (ARB)
RP: Burnett-RH ($500K)
RP: Perkins-LH (ARB)
CP: Empty
Now that we see where the empty slots and the arbitration players are, here are the moves I would make this offseason:
1. Offer salary arbitration to free agent OFs Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel. This is a relatively easy move. Both will take on multi year contract offers this offseason, so they both will almost certainly decline them. Why you do this is to ensure you receive draft pick compensation if both players sign with other teams.
2.Non Tender arbitration eligible players Jose Mijares, Alexi Casilla, and Kevin Slowey. Kevin Slowey is a no brainer. He would make somewhere in the $3 million range next year. It was tough to let Casilla go, but he would make somewhere in the area of $2.5 million, and I simply felt that was too much at this time. Mijares would of been cheap, but I felt it was just time to let him go. He had been terrible in 2011, posting career lows in multiple stats. I felt I could fill his spot with a different option.
3.Buyout Joe Nathan’s contract (2M cap hit) and resign him to a 2 year, $14 million contract. The Twins of real life already bought out the closer's 2012 contract. So now hopefully they can follow suit, and resign the franchise's all time saves leader. His stats from 2011 are very misleading. he returned from TJ surgery and them battled elbow problems in June. But upon his return, he took the closer job back, and showed signs of being the Nathan of old.
4. Move Brian Duensing to the bullpen. Duesning simply was awful as a starter in 2011. So the logical move should be to move him back to the bullpen, where he enjoyed success as a left handed specialist in 2010, before moving to the rotation. Hopefully, he can return to that success moving forward.
5. Resign Michael Cuddyer to a 3 year, $33 million contract. I was really torn on bringing Cuddy back at a high price, or letting him go. The first option won. Cuddyer proved to be too valuable to the Twins in 2011, to simply let him walk away. He can play numerous positions, and when healthy, he can be a very good hitter. He finally got his first all star appearance last year, while leading the team in many offensive categories. The years on the deal is less than what the market will probably be giving Cuddy, but I think he takes the deal simply out of respect to the only team he has ever played for.
6. Sign Glen Perkins to a 3 year, $7.5 million contract. This deal isn't a necessary task, but, I wanted to lock up my best reliever past his final arbitration year. Perkins came out of nowhere last year and started blowing hitters away with his mid to high 90s fastball, and electric changeup. Locking up Perkins through 2014, gives the Twins a solid arm at a very good price.
7. Sign OF Rick Ankiel to a 1 year, $750,000 contract. The Twins need a fourth outfielder. One who can hit decently and play a good defense in the outfield while being relatively cheap. And I found Rick Ankiel. He has decent pop in his bat (career .423 slugging percentage) and is a very solid defender in the outfield (1.7 dWAR in 2011). Ankiel should have no problem playing in the spacious outfield of Target Field, with his defensive skills. And for $750,000, Ankiel comes at a very good price.
8. Sign P Kerry Wood to a 1 year, $2 million contract. Wood had a decent season in Chicago last year (51.0 IP, 3.35 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 57 K). But his age (34) and his injury list (Too long to list here) will keep his contract offers low. So you Wood comes at a good price, and he should be a solid back end reliever to help bridge the gap to Nathan in the 9th.
9. Sign C Jose Molina to a 1 year, $1 million contract. Signing Jose Molina wasn't the best move for backup catcher. But, he can hit decently (.241 career hitter, .281 avg last year) and is very solid behind the plate, as any Molina is. He also can play first base if needed (Anyone who can play first is appreciated given the injury history to Morneau). Molina is 36, but should do just fine as a back up to Joe Mauer.
10. Sign INF Nick Punto to a 1 year, $1 million contract. Last season should simply be dubbed "The Curse of Nick Punto". For the previous 7 seasons Punto was with MIN, the team won 4 divisonal titles and only had one season where the finished below .500. Then last year Punto signed on with the Cardinals. The Twins lost 99 games (2nd worst in team history) and the Cardinals won the World Series. Punto, doesn't hit for a great average, but makes up for it with gold glove caliber defense from second base, shortstop, or third base. I overpaid for him just a bit to make sure he returns to the Twins.
11. Sign P Mike Gonzalez to a 1 year, $2 million contract. Before his awful two year stint in Baltimore, Gonzalez was one of the best left handed relievers in the game. He still holds a career 2.94 ERA a 1.24 WHIP, and a 10.3 K/9 average. But his past two seasons in Baltimore will scare people away and will drive his asking price way down. I bring in Gonzalez as a third lefty in Ron Gardenhire's bullpen, giving him the advantage of being able to matchup with lefties more than once in a game.
12. Keep 2B Tsuyoshi Nishioka, 1B Chris Parmelee, SS Trevor Plouffe, and SP Liam Hendriks on the big league roster. This is where I will differ from most people's offseason plans. I keep Tsuyoshi Nishioka in the big leagues (But this time he bats at the bottom of the order) and at second base, and I leave Trevor Plouffe at shortstop. I know Plouffe was a defensive mess at the position, but if he can even halfway clean it up, you can have him hit for 7-8 innings and use Punto for the 8th and 9th inning as the defensive specialist. I'm also keeping Chris Parmelee as the DH/First baseman to help keep Justin Morneau off the disabled list (And if he can hit like he did in September, he should do just fine). Hendriks was a tough call. But, the starting pitching market isn't that great, so why not continue to fill some spots from within your own organization. He didn't exactly put up the best line last year with the big club (0-2 6.17 ERA in 4 starts), but he won the Twins minor league pitcher of the year. If he can't make the adjustments, you can always go get someone during the year, but for now, I fill the last starting slot with Liam Hendriks.
So after the 12 moves, here is what my 2012 Opening Day Roster would look like with the players salary next to them.
CF: Span ($3M)
SS: Plouffe ($500K)
C: Mauer ($23M)
1B/DH: Morneau ($14M)
RF: Cuddyer ($11M)
3B: Valencia ($500K)
DH/1B: Parmelee ($500K)
2B: Nishioka ($3M)
LF: Revere ($500K)
BN: Punto ($1M)
BN: Molina ($1M)
BN: Luke Hughes ($500K)
BN: Ankiel ($750K)
Rotation
SP: Baker-RH ($6.5M)
SP: Pavano-RH ($8.5M)
SP: Liriano-LH ($6M)*
SP: Blackburn-RH ($4.75M)
SP: Hendriks ($500K)
RP: Swarzak-RH ($500K)
RP: Oliveros-RH ($500K)
RP: M. Gonzalez-LH($2M)
RP: Duensing-LH ($500K)
RP: Wood-RH ($2M)
RP: Perkins-LH ($2.5M)
CP: Nathan-RH ($7M+$2M buyout)
(*-notes arbitration estimate)
2012 Team Payroll: $102.5 million
Following a 99 loss season, the payroll is going down. Last year I believe the payroll was in the 110-115 million range (They picked up most of Jim Thome's and Delmon Young's salaries), so you cut 8-13 million from last year's payroll. I know there wasn't great change to the Lineup or Starting rotation. But, injuries really limited key players in both areas last year. And this is a contract year for P's Carl Pavano and Francisco Liriano, and Scott Baker has a team option for 2013. So if all goes bad in 2012 pitching wise again, the team should have some more change with big name pitchers such as Greinke, Cain, and Hamels on the market, and the team could go out and get themselves an ace. So all we can do is hope the injuries are kept down, and players perform up to the levels they are capable of.
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