Bill Smith has been given the largest payroll in the history of the Minnesota Twins to work with for the 2011 season, with all the revenue the Twins are making at target field this can and should be expected by us fans. What we should also expect Bill Smith to use this 115 million payroll to build a rock solid line-up devoid of question marks. I cannot remember going into a season in the past 5 years with a line-up filled with so many question marks, an all time high payroll should equal a solid everyday line-up, not a bunch of question marks.
How can you have a 115 million payroll and not have a starting shortstop or second baseman on the roster?
How can you have a 115 million payroll and have one of the weakest and most defensively limited benches in the majors?
How can you have a 115 million payroll and have a D.H. Position that is only capable of hitting right handed pitching?
How can you have a 115 million payroll and have a starting rotation that lacks a true ace?
The biggest reason we have a 115 million dollar payroll and have so many of these questions is the 23 million we are paying Mauer, I have written about the huge mistake it was paying him 23 million a year in earlier blogs so I won't get into it again. But Mauer should be making 10 -15 million a year for the production he gives.
The Move that makes me question Bill Smiths sanity is paying Matt Capps 7 million a year. What did we see in the second half of last year that could make anybody come to the conclusion that Matt Capps was any better than John Rausch, Matt Guierre, or Jesse Crain, let alone worth anything approaching 7 million a year. The only reason Matt Capps was signed for this was because Bill Smith was all in on Capps the second he traded him for Wilson Ramos for him.
Jim Thome was a good safe signing, he is a great guy and still a powerful bat, but he does very little to help the Twins bench. The Twins need a right handed bat and a player who can field a position, Smith re-signed Thome who does not even own a baseball glove and struggles against left handed pitching. This was a safe and unimaginative signing.
I am having a hard time figuring out Bill Smith. I think he did a great job with the 2010 roster, JJ hardy, Orlando Hudson and Jim Thome were huge pick-ups. I honestly think losing Justin Mourneau in the middle of another M.V.P season cost us a trip to the world series. But I have no Idea what he is trying to do with the 2011 roster, if anybody has any Ideas please fill me in.
TwinsTakes
Monday, January 24, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
2011 Minnesota Twins projections
In my first blog of 2011 I am going to put forth some of my projections for the 2011 Minnesota Twins season, we will see how smart I am after the season.
First the good:
Justin Morneau will stay healthy for the full year and hit above 310, hit 35 plus home runs, and drive in 120 plus R.B.I's and win his second M.V.P award.
A healthy Morneau will allow Cuddyer to spend the full year in right, he will rebound and hit 20 plus home runs and drive in around 100 runs and play a solid right field.
Denard Span will rebound from his poor 2010 and provide us with the kind of lead-off hitter he was in 2009.
Delmon Young will have another solid season, he will have stretches of dominance and a few slumps. But he will give us another solid year offensively, defensively, we have to take the good with the bad.
I expect another solid season offensively and defensively from Valencia, hoping he hits for a little more power.
I think Joe Nathan will return to form. As the season progresses I think Nathan will get his nasty stuff back and we will see a better Nathan than we saw in 2009.
I think Rick Anderson will find a way to piece together another solid bullpen as he always seems to do.
And now the bad:
Joe Mauer will continue to play like a 10 to 15 million dollar ballplayer, except he will now be making 28 million and eating up a large portion of our payroll. He will hit for a high average, no power, not a lot of R.B.I's and he will have to take a lot of days off because he is dinged up. He will continue to play catcher because everybody in the Twins organization is afraid to do the right thing and make him change positions so he can be healthy and play 155 games a year.
The new middle infield will be a huge failure. Alexi Cassila will not be the starting shortstop midway through the season. Nisho will be mediocre at best, hitting around 250 and looking lost in the field.
The starting rotation will be inconsistent again in 2011. Liriano will anchor the staff and continue to improve. Scott Baker will continue to be Scott Baker and under-perform, Slowey will continue to be up and down. I do think Duensing and Blackburn will be solid. And nobody knows whats going to happen with Pavano.
Unless we make multiple moves we might have the weakest bench in the majors.
I still think the twins will win a lot of games and be competitive in 2011, I just don't think we have done anything to keep up with Detroit and Chicago. I think we will be in the race for the division all year but we are probably looking at a second or third place finish. The good news in this, we do not have to worry about getting swept by the Yankees in the playoffs again.
First the good:
Justin Morneau will stay healthy for the full year and hit above 310, hit 35 plus home runs, and drive in 120 plus R.B.I's and win his second M.V.P award.
A healthy Morneau will allow Cuddyer to spend the full year in right, he will rebound and hit 20 plus home runs and drive in around 100 runs and play a solid right field.
Denard Span will rebound from his poor 2010 and provide us with the kind of lead-off hitter he was in 2009.
Delmon Young will have another solid season, he will have stretches of dominance and a few slumps. But he will give us another solid year offensively, defensively, we have to take the good with the bad.
I expect another solid season offensively and defensively from Valencia, hoping he hits for a little more power.
I think Joe Nathan will return to form. As the season progresses I think Nathan will get his nasty stuff back and we will see a better Nathan than we saw in 2009.
I think Rick Anderson will find a way to piece together another solid bullpen as he always seems to do.
And now the bad:
Joe Mauer will continue to play like a 10 to 15 million dollar ballplayer, except he will now be making 28 million and eating up a large portion of our payroll. He will hit for a high average, no power, not a lot of R.B.I's and he will have to take a lot of days off because he is dinged up. He will continue to play catcher because everybody in the Twins organization is afraid to do the right thing and make him change positions so he can be healthy and play 155 games a year.
The new middle infield will be a huge failure. Alexi Cassila will not be the starting shortstop midway through the season. Nisho will be mediocre at best, hitting around 250 and looking lost in the field.
The starting rotation will be inconsistent again in 2011. Liriano will anchor the staff and continue to improve. Scott Baker will continue to be Scott Baker and under-perform, Slowey will continue to be up and down. I do think Duensing and Blackburn will be solid. And nobody knows whats going to happen with Pavano.
Unless we make multiple moves we might have the weakest bench in the majors.
I still think the twins will win a lot of games and be competitive in 2011, I just don't think we have done anything to keep up with Detroit and Chicago. I think we will be in the race for the division all year but we are probably looking at a second or third place finish. The good news in this, we do not have to worry about getting swept by the Yankees in the playoffs again.
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