A Few Good Notes: The Trade Deadline

• Over the past week or so, Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal has been reporting that the Washington Nationals are hot after Twins CF Denard Span. But as he tweeted today, it would appear that the talks are about to either die or intensify (hopefully die). And if you follow me on twitter (@gilesferrell), you will know how I feel on this issue. As long as Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard are not an option, the Twins need to continue to say no. Span is incredibly valuable as a leadoff hitter and a centerfielder, and his team friendly contract needs to up his trade value as well. These rumors just need to go away.
  
• It is still unclear whether the Twins are going to be buyers or sellers this weekend. If they choose to buy, they need to buy big time in the reliever market. Over The Baggy has the list of relievers that the Twins have been linked to, and should be considering acquiring to help the very weak bullpen.
• It is too bad that Jason Kubel missed over a month of action with that foot injury. Had he not, his trade value would probably be much higher than it is. As Jayson Stark of ESPN points out in his Rumblings and Grumblings post, the Pirates could be interested in Kubel, but it would appear that GM Bill Smith doesn't want to move him, unless it adds a piece or two that helps the Twins this year. As you know, Kubel is in the final year of his contract and is a free agent at season's end. And since it is unclear who will be back in the Twins outfield, I would rather move him now and get something in return rather than wait and let him leave as a free agent at season's end.
• Don't expect Michael Cuddyer to be traded this weekend. In fact, you can probably count on him being back in a Twins uniform next season as well. As Rosenthal tweeted on Tuesday, the Twins will keep Cuddyer even if they sell and possibly try to resign him. Cuddyer has been the only consistent player in the Twins lineup this year hitting .301 with 15 HR and 51 RBI and is one of two players from the opening day lineup that has yet to have a stint on the disabled list. The Twins love Cuddy and Cuddy loves playing for the Twins, so this really is no surprise.
  
• On Sunday, as more of a fun thing, I will be doing a live blog with all the trades from the day. I did this back in 2009. You may remember the Twins acquired Orlando Cabrera that day, and as I wrote on the page, they were also kicking the tires with the Padres on Heath Bell. Think about this: Had the Twins acquired Heath Bell that day, they would of certainly never needed to acquire Matt Capps in 2010, and our catcher for most of this season would of been...Wilson Ramos! Yikes...I better stop now.
  

Rock Bottom

Last night, an awful 8th inning in the field for the Twins helped Kansas City to a 4-3 win. It marked the fourth straight defeat for hometown 9, bringing their record to 9-16. They are currently tied with the South Siders for last place in the AL Central. If you have seen any Twins games this week, it makes you nauseous. And one can only think, it can't get much worse.

Injuries have plagued the Twins so far in 2011. Starters Joe Mauer (leg weakness/viral infection), Tsuyoshi Nishioka (broken fibula), and Delmon Young (Flu/Oblique) all have missed a good portion of April. Other mainstays such as Justin Morneau and Jim Thome have battled minor ailments, but they kept them out of the lineup for a few games. So filing the lineup card on a daily basis has not been easy for Manager Ron Gardenhire.

And when your key players are spending more time in the trainers room, than being on the field, your run production is going to suffer. The Twins rank at the bottom of the Major Leagues in runs, home runs, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. To prove how bad it is, the Twins have played 225 innings this year. In those 225, they have had just 8 innings where the offense has gotten four or more hits in an inning. That comes out to three and a half percent.

But perhaps the big problem of the offense is having inept hitting catchers Drew Butera and Steve Holm behind the plate. Together they have hit a combined .118 with 4 RBI. And what makes it worse is that former C's Jose Morales (.227 AVG, 4 RBI, .346 OBP in 8 games with COL) and Wilson Ramos (.373, 2 HR, 6 RBI in 16 games with Washington) are doing much better than Butera or Holm.

And lets not forget that Twins pitching has been sub-par this year as well. Francisco Liriano (9.13 ERA) has just been shelled in seemingly every one of his starts. Joe Nathan was removed from the closers role because his velocity and command have been very bad. And besides Jose Mijares and Glen Perkins, the middle relief has been horrible.

But perhaps my biggest cringe this year has been watching Alexi Casilla play shortstop everyday. He will make some good defensive plays, but then it gets evened out with his booting of a routine play (i.e. last night's 8th inning). Offensively, it has gotten predicable. Lately all he seemingly does is flyout weakly. A guy with decent speed that he possesses should be trying to hit the ball on the ground and use that speed. He only carries a .227 average coming into tonights game. So the leash on him has to be getting close to choke level, especially with Trevor Plouffe continuing his offensive surge down at AAA-Rochester (.261, 5 HR, and 12 RBI).

This is by far the worst I have seen this team play under Ron Gardenhire. Everyday it seems like the same story that results in another loss. The last time the Twins were in last place this late in the season was in 2000, and that team finished last at season's end. So you have to ask yourself, it can only start getting better...right?