If I were the GM: Landon Evanson

In our ongoing series, exploring what people would do if given control of their team for the offseason, I consulted Landon Evanson, the Twins writer at Bugs and Cranks and got his thoughts on the offseason. His words are below:

Twins GM Bill Smith is in an interesting position as baseball's winter kicks into full-swing. On paper, the Twins aren't that far off -- perhaps just one player away from being the clear-cut favorite to win the American League Central next season.

That said, wise decisions will only occur through long hours of deliberation because Minnesota has many options in many areas.

Here are the positions of need:

First and foremost, Michael Cuddyer will be back for the duration of '09, but it's not quite that simple. You see, with the emergence of Denard Span, the most beneficial position for Cuddyer may be a return to third base but he didn't take to the hot corner as he did right field. Then again, he's too good defensively to DH so what to do?

And at short, while Nickie Punto put up decent numbers, his bat is a liability on an everyday basis, but that doesn't mean the Twins can't get away with him playing all season long -- they just need to pick up a bat at either third or short.

Jason Kubel finally had a solid season but being that he's left-handed, and the Twins are already lefty-heavy, what do the Twins do?

And with the perceived return of Pat Neshek it seemed as though the Twins depth of bullpen and set-up spot were locked up -- but it turns out that Neshek will likely miss all of next season so -- back to the drawing board.

Solutions:

With Kubel's pop and the myriad of solid youngsters the Twins have up-and-down their farm system, a deal could easily be worked out with the Rockies for Garrett Atkins, a man that would solidify the third base position for the Twins for the first time since Corey Koskie's departure following the 2004 season. And why? Because Atkins has averaged 25 homers and 110 RBI with a .305 average over the past three seasons and the boy can play some defense at third (see presence on the greatest defensive team in baseball history '07). Then again, he costs money but the Twins are moving into a new park. Perhaps. Just perhaps. And with all the rumors swirling around Brian Fuentes, if the Boulders were willing to package Atkins and Fuentes that would be a mighty-fine deal for the Twins because Fuentes was content as a set-up man for Manny Corpas during the Rocktober run. But that's not happening -- the Fuentes part, anyway -- but it's still nice to think about for a minute or two. Fuentes setting up Joe Nathan? Warm fuzzies. But back to reality.

Then again, the Twins may not go the Atkins route, instead setting their sights on J.J. Hardy or Yunel Escobar. Hardy can pick it and would be the best bat Minnesota has ever had at short. Zoilo Versalles may have been sick in '65 but Hardy's production is consistent and he's only 25. Escobar would fit nicely, too because he is solid afield, hits for average and he is only 25 years old also. But if neither move were to materialize, signing Orlando Cabrera would be a welcome transaction. Not only is Cabrera a Gold Glove defender but he has helped his past three teams reach October, he's won a World Series, can hit, has a bit of pop and can steal bases. Not only that, he is capable of playing small ball if need be and he would provide a strong veteran, Latino presence for youngsters Alexi Casilla and Carlos Gomez. Oh, and one added bonus, it would be taking Cabrera away from the White Sox and beating them with their own guy. Sometimes life has its little bonuses.

The Twins will need to find a way to deal for a set-up man unless they ink Juan Cruz because no one else out there really knocks your socks off and Neshek was fantastic, so those are big shoes to fill. Then again, the Twins need to and should re-sign Senor Southpaw, Dennys Reyes.

And Punto absolutely has to return -- he is Twins Baseball personified. Punto plays hard, runs the bases well, plays small ball, makes contact, excels with the glove at numerous positions and is all about doing whatever needs doing to win a game. Playing every day he is valuable with limitations, but as a utility man he could be the best in baseball.

Long story short (many of you are probably thinking, too late) -- the Twins should deal Kubel and prospects to pick up Atkins and hopefully find a way to harness a solid set-up man in the process, which would mean Cuddyer returns to right, Span slides over to left and Delmon Young becomes the everyday DH. After that, Minnesota should sign Orlando Cabrera to play short if it is economically possible or simply re-sign Punto to play every day. So long as one more bat is added, the Twins can allow Nickie to play every day. That said, if only one man can be added, it doesn't it should be Atkins because he provides a right-handed, run-producing bat that would allow the line-up to fall as such:

LF Span
2B Casilla
C Mauer
1B Morneau
3B Atkins
RF Cuddyer
LF Young
SS Punto
CF Gomez

And you'd be hard-pressed to a find a Twins fan anywhere unhappy about that line-up. Now if only Cabrera could be slipped in there...

Bottom line, Smith is in position to make a smart deal just as the Twins may have re-emerged as the favorite in the Central -- a young, talented team that is one player away and just one season short of playing in a new ballpark. Did I mention that Minnesota's rotation is set with another year's experience under its collective belt or that Francisco Liriano will be good to go from day one this spring? Just sayin'.

This is going to be a fun winter leading up to the final campaign under the Teflon confines and you know what, with the options Smith has at his disposal, I don't think the Twins can go wrong and our long goodbye to the Metrdome should prove a fond farewell.

If I were the GM: The Ryan edition

All right, after great posts from a few other people, it's my turn. Time to put on my General Manager pants and take the reins of this team. So. Let's do this thing.

First, let me make two things about my plan clear. I intend to meld the team into my own vision. In my mind, the problem is that the Twins don't hit for near enough power to take advantage of their speed and high average. Their strength has always been a strong farm system that produces pitchers and gifted players in the field. Now, in the majors, we need to develop some hitters. The other facet of the plan is that I will not use free agency, save for patching last minute holes or filling roster spots. That being said, here are six things I would do as the GM.

Let Nick Punto and Dennys Reyes go. Both are gifted role players. Gifted, yes. But role players. The Twins have been able to find pitchers off the scrap heap to plug into short reliever roles, even lefties, and Matt Tolbert appears ready to step in as the second coming of Nick Punto (or third coming of Denny Hocking (or fourth coming of Jeff Reboulet))

Trade for a third baseman. It sounds easy enough, right? Everyone has been saying it, pointing to guys like Garret Atkins and Hank Blalock, with Atkins the hottest rumor. Blalock was redigned by the Rangers and may be a tougher sell anyways because of cost and a history of injury. Atkins has put up good numbers, however they are much better at Coors than they are on the road. Instead of rehashing those old rumors, I would explore a trade with the Reds for their slugging, line drive hitting third baseman Edwin Encarnacion. He's only 25 years old, but had he played for the Twins, he would have led the team in homeruns. Sure, there is a park factor too in Cincinnati, however he hits line drives, and has comparable numbers away from home. He's certainly not the prototype of a Twins infielder, but with coaching, his defense and batting average will both improve. Now, the proposed trade? Well, the Reds are going to be thirsty for a veteran outfielder and youth to go along with him. Here's the blockbuster, as I proposed it in July: The Twins get Encarnacion and relief pitcher Jared Burton in exchange for Michael Cuddyer, Brian Buscher, Steven Tolleson and Steven Singleton. The number of prospects would have to be high simply because Burton and Encarnacion are cheap, young and talented.

I would dangle Joe Nathan as trade bait. Closers are overvalued, and with Nathan we could add a solid middle infielder or a few pitchers for the bullpen. Can you imagine if Johan Santana and Nathan had been packaged? The Twins could have ended up with Jose Reyes!

I would suggest to Ron Gardenhire and hitting coach Joe Vavra that with Delmon Young, Edwin Encarnacion, Justin Morneau, Jason Kubel and even Joe Mauer and Carlos Gomez in the lineup, I expect a few more extra base hits.

I wouldn't change the pitching rotation much at all. The only thing I would consider is seeing if there is a market for Boof Bonser, but other than that, a more veteran rotation will mean more innings pitched by starters meaning fewer innings pitched by the bullpen. In the end, this means the bullpen doesn't break down over the last two months of the year. That's something I don't even have to do!

Ok, one free agent. Cliff Floyd!

In the end, the opening day lineup and rotation are as follows:

1. Denard Span RF
2. Alexei Casilla SS
3. Joe Mauer C
4 Justin Morneau 1b
5. Edwin Encarnacion 3b
6. Jason Kubel DH
7. Delmon Young LF
8. Brenan Harris 2b
9. Carlos Gomez CF

Bench
Matt Tolbert
Cliff Floyd
Mike Redmond
Jason Pridie/Matt Macri

Rotation
1. Scott Baker
2. Francisco Liriano
3. Nick Blackburn
4. Kevin Slowey
5. Glenn Perkins

Bullpen
Jared Burton
Matt Guerrier
Craig Breslow
Jose Mijares
Pat Neshek
Jesse Crain
Joe Nathan.


Thats it. Thoughts?

If I were the GM : Anthony Dunkel

I branched out to the rest of the Victoria Enterprises community, and Anthony Dunkel, one of the meteorologists at Victoria-Weather, agreed to submit his ideas on what his team, the Chicago Cubs. His words are below the Cubs logo.


Well considering [Ryan] Dempster and [Kerry] Wood are free agents and were 2 of our best pitchers all year, we have to resign them. I’m sure neither of them would want to go anywhere, especially Wood, so I don’t think it’ll be overly hard in getting them to resign. Otherwise, I’m not really sure I’d want to change anything from what we had last year.
I’d rather talk about why we started Fukudome in both games 1 and 2 when he’d been so awful down the stretch the last 2 months and Reed Johnson was performing very well. Need to score runs to win games, and ‘dome wasn’t going to be knocking any of them in. And also about starting Dempster over Zambrano for game 1. Granted Dempster was the more consistent pitcher during the season and excellent at home, but Zambrano has been our club ace for the last few seasons and can get up for a big game. and we needed to keep the crowd into it for Game 1, which Zambrano could do.

So not a whole lot for the Cubs to look forward to, it sounds.

If I Ran the Circus

A little over a week ago, Ryan posed a question to all of us:
what would you do if you were GM? I’m indecisive, and way too nice of a person to be a GM, so it’s a good thing I can write about this from the comfort (?) of my office.

I don’t know where to go, so I’m just going to break it down position by position. And for whatever reason, I'm able to analyze pitchers the best, because there are more concrete stats (fielding stats are difficult, and for non-pitchers, defense is important to me).

Catcher
We really need an upgrade here. Our starting catcher is Joe Mauer, and, as everyone knows, among catchers, his batting average and on-base-percentage was leading. But what really matters, above all else, is that he only hit nine home runs. Expensive singles hitter is all he is. Oh, sorry. I’m still making fun of the fan I overheard talking early in the 2008 season. With Redmond backing Mauer up, it would be hard to upgrade at this position.

First Baseman
The Twins really didn’t have a back-up first baseman. This really didn’t become an issue because Justin Morneau didn’t get hurt. He’s also early in his six-year contract, so there’s not much of a reason to get concerned about this position. His defense, from my view, never really seemed to get worse, but his hitting tapered off in September. I think it would behoove the Twins to make sure they have a quality back-up. Fortunately, Cuddyer should be healthy in 2009, and also under contract, so there is a viable option there. As there’s a back-up for Cuddyer in right field, this would not be an issue.

Second Base
Gotta say, I’m happy with Alexi Casilla there. After his injury, he seemed a bit too anxious to be back, or possibly it was the wear of the long season. The kid is the fifth youngest on the 40-man roster, so age and maturity may help him concentrate more. I’m still in favor of trusting him for the year, as long as there is a quality utility player.

Shortstop
Nick Punto held that position this year, but most by default. These are the 2008 Twins shortstops, in order of games played: Punto, Brendan Harris (who also had the second-most starts at second base, and third-most at third base), Adam Everett, Matt Tolbert, and Alexi Casilla. As right now our only options are Punto and Tolbert, I would not mind if the Twins picked up/traded for a quality shortstop, defensively. Punto had a great 2008 (it’s true!), but his career stats should make anyone a little hesitant to right his name in ink for the season. That being said, if there’s no reasonable option, Punto could hold down the position, as they bring value defensively.

Third Base
Like shortstop, if we find a reasonable option--in terms of cost, whether free agent or trade--I’d like that. However, I don’t see a Brian Buscher/Brendan Harris tandem at third the worst thing in the world. Neither are power-hitting third baseman, but meh. I’ve been a Twins fan for over 20 years. I’m not sure what the team would do with power. They’ve won a World Series with power (1987) and without (1991). Besides, Brendan Harris is the only player, other than Neshek, whom I have hope of seeing tall socks on a player. Call me shallow if you like, but these things do count! (A friend and I were once going to set up a fantasy team based entirely on guys who wore tall socks. But we didn’t.)

Utility Infielders
Here’s where it’s tricky. I have room for one utility infielder in my roster (if you consider the Harris/Buscher tandem at third as solid, and not Harris as a utility player). Cuddyer counts as an outfielder, but he could fill in at first, and Ron Gardenhire expressed a desire to see spend time practicing at first. If you consider Harris a utility player, between Tolbert, Punto, and Harris, one of ‘em won’t be on the roster. (If a third baseman is picked up, Buscher won’t make the team, either.) If a shortstop is picked up, I would like to see Punto and Harris as the utility players.

Outfield
There’s Michael Cuddyer, Denard Span, Carlos Gomez, Delmon Young, and Jason Kubel. Six outfielders is ridiculous, with a capital I, so we’ll list Kubel as the Designated Hitter. It still seems a bit much, but Cuddyer is under contract and a clubhouse leader (something that can’t be ignored), and Span proved his ability to hit, run, and play defensively, and Gomez and Young are the two youngest guys on the 40-man roster. (Although that will change in the off-season, I’m certain; there are guys who will be removed, and kids put on.) I’d like to see Span rotating through the outfield, giving the other guys days off (so Span would play often). I like Span’s defense; certainly better than Cuddyer in right, but I like Cuddyer’s arm in right field, and if he hits for power, that would be the moment that pushes him over the edge. The Twins need right-handed hitters. The outfield is over-crowded, so a trade there might not be the worst thing--unfortunately, the only one who’s not young is also mentioned as a clubhouse leader and role model for the very young clubhouse. This makes a trade much more difficult.

The Starters
Twinsgeek posted an article entitled: "Q&A: A Veteran Starting Pitcher". Someone asked if the Twins would sign on a veteran pitcher this off-season. It was pointed out that they've historically done this every year (prompting someone to ask, "The real question is, will the Rockies again pick up the failed vet after the Twins release him mid-season?" because they've picked up Ramon Ortiz and Livan Hernandez the past two years). Back in 2003 they picked up Kenny Rogers--no, not that one, this one--for a left-handed starter, despite the fact that they had a left-handed kid in the bullpen who started 14 games in 2002, with a 7-4 record, 3.13 ERA. Hindsight shows it was a good move to bring in a veteran, because the kid never really did much because in 2003: he only went 12-3 in 18 starts (45 total games) with 3.07 ERA. That started his all-too-brief Twins career that only consisted of two unanimous Cy Young awards and pitching Triple Crown in ‘06; the Twins traded him in January 2008.

2008’s pitching staff was quite young, but not overly so. The elder member of the five is Scott Baker, who turned 27 in September. But is he that young? Johan Santana was 27 the year he won his second Cy Young. Granted, he wasn't the youngest member of the pitching rotation (Brad Radke, Kyle Lohse, and Mike Smith were older. Smith only pitched one game in August, so discount him if you like). Nick Blackburn is only five months younger than Baker. Francisco Liriano is a year younger Baker and Glen Perkins is only a year and a half younger than Baker. (Kevin Slowey is the baby, over two and a half years younger than Baker.) If these five start the season next year, the "baby" of the rotation would be just under 25, and the "old man" would be 27. That's not veteran by any means, but the Twins wouldn't be throwing toddlers on the mound. They've all been playing the game a long time.

Three of the members of the 2008 rotation (Baker, Liriano, and Slowey) turned in ERAs under 4.00--according to Yahoo Sports, the league average was 4.32. Blackburn’s 4.05 fits under the league average, and Perkins 4.41 is just over. This makes their total ERA 3.96 for 2008, in 753 innings (If your starting pitchers are all going six innings, that would be 972 innings; recall that Perkins and Liriano had 160 minor league innings last year, too). For young guys, who presumably will improve, this is a very encouraging sign.

If reasonable trades for third baseman or shortstops needed to include a quality pitcher, I’d be grudgingly willing to let go of either Perkins or Blackburn. Let me stress for the right deal. (Of the other three, only for an absolutely insane offer: the Mets offer us Jose Reyes and David Wright for Slowey, it would hurt, but I’d do it. Baker won’t be discussed, because he’s mine!) To fill in the extra role, I’d be okay with a decent (not suspect) veteran signing. Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey, Brian Duensing, Anthony Swarzak, or Boof Bonser might be able to fill the role, but the thought makes me a tad bit queasy. I’d prefer them in the background in case (knock on wood) we need them to replace an injured starter.

Bullpen
Here’s where things get tricky. Joe Nathan is the closer. That’s done. Pat Neshek will be back--no, really, he will! (I hope.) Jesse Crain will be back, and his second year from surgery (and a contract year, if my math is right), he should be more of the solid pitcher we saw earlier in his career. Boof Bonser and Philip Humber (out of options) seem like reasonable choices for the bullpen--although, if either of them have good trade value, it should be done. For lefties, it’s time to say good-bye to Reyes, with a friendly hug for filling his position so well. For lefty relievers, Craig Breslow is intriguing. From watching him, he’s not that dominant, not that overpowering…but he was also someone who got the job done, and usually without huge panics. Add to that list Jose Mijares, who by all rights shouldn’t have been a September call-up. Last winter, he broke his shoulder in a car accident. Many of us felt that if he made it to his 2007 level--AA (he did play a few games at AAA, but not a significant number)--we would consider it an astounding success. Instead, he came back even better, flying through rookie league, high A, and settling in at AA for eleven games before his September call-up. I say, give the boy a shot as a second lefty. And finally, Matt Guerrier. I say keep him for another year. If Guerrier goes, and there’s not a decent reliever out there, that’s the place for Bobby Korecky, but that’s for sentimental reasons, but Julio DePaula is also an option.

Conclusion
Here is the conclusion of the whole matter: If a reasonable option (in price or trade value, defense, and offense) can be found at short and/or third, jump at the chance. The rotation is fine, although one piece could be traded for the right deal. A few members of the bullpen could be traded (specifically Humber and Bonser) for reasonable offers, and Breslow, for the right offer. If a trade can be worked in the outfield, it should be done, and another infielder should be added.

If I were the GM: Al

If I were the GM is going to be a semiregular piece for as long as I feel like it through the offseason.
I posed this question to my coworker Al (bringing out the heavy hitters!), who is a Twins fan. His thoughts on what the Twins should do are below:

I look to add another consistent power hitter, while keeping the batting order, for the most part, in place. We have some young talent that showed this year. Delmon was a little disappointing this year but he will turn it around. I didn’t like the rumors that we were looking to deal him. Upgrade the bullpen by getting rid of Matt Guerrier (9-17 career, 5.19 ERA this year, 3 saves over his five year career) and Craig Breslow (0-4 career and really doesn’t have anything special). I might also consider adding a veteran starting pitcher depending on who is out there. It would have to be someone good and reliable to make it worth our while because we have some good talent in that position too.


Thanks Al! I'll be publishing more of these over the coming days, so drop me an e-mail (thevictimes[at]gmail.com) and we'll include what you would do if you were the GM, and of course, we'll be including some other folks from the internet! In the comments, go ahead and let Al know what you you think, agree, disagree, etc.