Here's the first set of questions. They both apply to my posting "Twins Down Now, May Be Out Tomorrow."
Question: "What happened to the scouting we used to have?"
Answer: I somewhat misspoke in writing that something has happened to Minnesota's evaluators of talent. They're still pretty solid; some of the best, in fact. The problem has been that the Twins have been winning and have therefore kept their most marketable pieces (or lost them to free agency or one sided trades) in the past few years.
Small market teams are forced to ride waves. Once they can no longer win with the talent they have, they trade it all away and start from the ground up again.
The Twins were bad from 1993 through 2000 (eight years). They’ve been competitive since (nine years). Just seems like the time is nearing where they will have to start over.
The economy will factor greatly into whether Minnesota can avoid the onset of the cycle of losing.
The Santana deal can partially be attributed to this different era in baseball. In tighter financial times teams are more wary of acquiring a major league star at the expense of depleting their farm. That's why Toronto wasn't able to deal Roy Halladay before the trading deadline. Both situations can also be blamed on the GM for not pulling the trigger at the right time when good, if not ideal, offers were out there.
I do still want to make clear that regardless of economic times, some players just aren’t very marketable. Minnesota has quite a bit invested in guys like Michael Cuddyer, Delmon Young and Brendan Harris – the latter two were involved in what should be considered one of the worst trades the Twins have made in my lifetime, giving up an everyday shortstop (which the Twins just acquired back by trading for Cabrera) in Jason Bartlett and a front of the rotation starter (no one has yet filled that void) in Matt Garza.
Don’t forget the Santana trade either.
Management has begun making some mistakes. Large market teams like the Yankees can cover their mistakes by spending.
Small market teams pay the price.
It hurts to watch.
Question 2: "The Boston Red Sox recently acquired catcher Victor Martinez. Do you think they would still be in the running for Mauer, should the Twins be unable to retain him?"
Answer 2: As far as I’m concerned every team that can afford to play the baiting game will in the quest for Joe Mauer. If I’m the Red Sox, I know Mauer is the best in the business and one of the game’s top 10 players, so I go for him. Martinez always has the option of become a full-time first baseman.
1 comment:
I think the Twins should pay Mauer less
Post a Comment