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.
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