A look at the Twins players who will be eligible for arbitration after the season…
- First time: Kevin Slowey, Alexi Casilla, Glen Perkins
- Second time: Delmon Young, Francisco Liriano, Pat Neshek
- Third time: Matt Capps, Clay Condrey
- Fourth time: J.J. Hardy, Jason Repko
Perkins, Neshek, Condrey, Repko, and Hardy are candidates to be non-tendered due to injuries or poor performance. Aside from Hardy, our common refrain applies: these guys could be retained cheaply even though they're arbitration-eligible, so some might stay. In our August 17th poll, only 15.5% of you predicted Hardy will be non-tendered. A trade is one alternative, if the Twins find a new shortstop.
Slowey, Casilla, Young, Liriano, and Capps should be tendered contracts. Casilla should remain affordable. Slowey and Liriano could be in the $3MM range. Liriano's had his ups and downs, so despite the big platform year I wouldn't expect a huge payday. Young will be in good shape since he's working off a $2.6MM salary from this year. It's hard to find a past comparable for Capps, who was non-tendered after finishing a two-year deal, though he and Heath Bell might compare notes. Perhaps he'll get $6-7MM.
Even though it’s their second time, I wonder if Delmon or Franky will be in some sort of extension talks. 2 great seasons out of them and I think they will only get better. Repko should be kept and Hardy non-tendered.
who replaces Hardy?
Either Plouffe, maybe someone like Rafael Furcal or Jose Reyes. Maybe Alex Gonzalez.
Plouffe is a fail, and all those others arent free agents right? ftw Reyes is not going to get moved, same with Gonzalez, Furcal maybe but very unlikely.
Gonzalez is a free agent but not the other two. There could be a chance that Reyes gets moved.
reports are Reyes loves New York and wants a extension, idk any reason for the Mets to move him, Gonzalez being a free agent is very intriguing.
casilla would probably be moved over to short since it would be easier to find a second baseman
Delmon and Frankie seem likely extension candidates, and Repko sounds like the type of guy they like, but they’ll keep Hardy. They love the glove and the guy, so if they can pay for 120 games and cover the rest in incentives ($4m/yr + $1m each for playing in 140 and 150 games) they’ll sign him. It’s not the type of contract we sign, so they’ll just give him $16m/3yr and he’ll take it.
I realize his entire body seems about as durable as peanut brittle, but Pat Neshek is someone I could see a lot teams in on if he gets non-tendered… career FIP of 3.43, career K/9 of 10.51 (against 2.81 BB/9). I’m not saying he’s someone you could depend on, but one of these years he may yet have an extended stretch of avoiding injury and when he does, he’s sure going to look pretty closer-like.
Agreed. Nehsek is easily going to get tendered a contract. Not only is he highly effective when healthy, but he’s a hometown kid.
Repko will be offered a contract. The Twins love his OF versatility and he’s the best (defensive) OF on the team. As long as one of the kids isn’t in the plans for next year (and I don’t think they are), Repko will hang around.
He’s also very cheap…
Delmon Young deserves an extension after this years performance, sure it wasn’t amazing and everything we hoped to get when we traded for him but this is just showing us that he is developing. The only person I could really care less for on that list in Glen Perkins so he could leave in my opinion. But as long as Punto gets released from this team and not offered any contracts during free agency I will be happy. Gardy needs to end his relationship with that guy.
Seriously? This is definetly what I expected when we traded for him. Talked about one of the best offensive seasons in the AL this year.
Yup, one good year should make us all forget about his three bad years! He has 16 unintentional walks this year. 16. He has no trade value so why give him a long term deal? So once he regresses next year we can regret the deal immediately just like the Blackburn deal?
Yup, one good year should make us all forget about Delmon’s three bad years! He has 16 unintentional walks this year. 16. He has no trade value so why give him a long term deal? So once he regresses next year we can regret the deal immediately just like the Blackburn deal?
He has no trade value? He has no trade value? What?
Delmon has a 290 plus lifetime average in his 4 years, at 24 he still has upside but remains a work in progress with a few holes in his game to work on. Given the way the ball jumps off his bat, and his ability to find holes he will definitely get an offer from the Twins. Sorry Matt Helbling but Delmon has plenty of trade value and you can be sure the Twins will hang on to him unless someone makes an offer that blows them out of the water. He’s getting comfortable in Minnesota, knows his role and has been a big reason why the Twins are in first place. Dumping him because he might regress is idiotic.
Young hasn’t hit more than 4 balls hard the whole month of August. If his Sept. continues this way, combined with the worst glove in MLB, the Twins will be lucky to give him away. Plus, he’s got that great attitude that teams just love to have. And as to being “only 24”, the guy has 4 full years in the Bigs. He’s had as many ABs as players in their late 20s. The Twins aren’t going to throw a boatload of money at a guy destined to be a DH. The only thing keeping him will be Bill Smith having to admit how terrible giving up Garza and Bartlett was for this meathead.
You are wrong. He’s making progress, he’s still young, his attitude is not a problem and they don’t really have a lot of good choices in the OF for a couple more years. Now in 13 they’ll be looking at Revere or Hicks for CF and need to shift things around, but right now the four guy rotation is working. And if MN wasn’t satisfied there are plenty of teams that’d be happy to take on that meathead’s attitude.
Delmon is hitting .221/.243/.320 with 20 strikeouts and 2 walks in 28 games since August 1. And Delmon won’t have any trade value. This off season has tons of corner bats available, why trade players for someone you also have to give a big arbitration raise when you can just keep your prospects and sign a free agent who is likely better than Delmon. I like how the supporters of Delmon cite things like batting average and rhetoric as reasons we should sign him. He simply isn’t very good at baseball. His OPS+ is 101 and by any metric, his defense is awful. I am not saying we should non-tender him, but he is already under team control. Why in the world would you sign someone long term coming off his best season when he is likely to regress to his career averages next season. You are buying high on a stock that is likely to fall in value. If this season is a breakout season and his power doesn’t regress then by all means, I would be in favor of keeping him albeit at the loss of Cuddyer.
Demon hasn’t hit 4 balls hard all August. If his Sept. continues like this there is no way the Twins shell out big bucks for him. Plus he has the worst glove of any outfielder in MLB. He won’t bring much in a trade. Besides being suited to being a DH, who would want someone with his surly demeanor. As to being only 24, he’s spent 4 full seasons on the Bigs. That’s like a normal player in their late 20s. He is what he is. The only thing keeping him with the Twins is then the Twins would have to admit what a horrendous trade the Garza/Bartlett trade was.
I love how people hate Delmon but love watching Cuddyer hit into double plays night after night. Delmon is a younger, more talented, but unpolished version of Cuddyer with MUCH more upside. Yes, Young never takes a walk but his K rate is down considerably this year, his OPS is nearly 100 points higher than normal, and his contact rate is also through the roof. It is true his defense leaves a lot to be desired but if you look over the past few years his UZR and Range have been steadily improving. The kid is only 24, most players don’t reach their breakout year until they are 27. Do we really want to give up so soon on someone with that kind of potential? His August has not been great, but there are these things called “slumps” and “small sample sizes” that we need to consider. Things tend to average out over the long haul and this is just the low point. That being said, I wouldn’t give him anything more than a 2 year deal unless he can continue his improvement next year.
I would like to see some sort of Delmon Young for Chase Utley swap. We need a 2nd basemen and we have a platoon in the OF. Sure Delmon had a great year this year but he is such a liability in the OF. Obviously the Twins would need to throw in some more to get the deal done, but the Phillies need to shred payroll ASAP getting Chase Utley off the books would be a start.
HAHAHA.
I’m a Twins fan, but man, that would NEVER happen. Chase Utley, along with Pujols, HanRam, and Mauer, is a top 4 player in all of baseball. No way in hell are the Phils dealing him for Delmon Young.
Chase Utley is not a top 4 player in baseball, he’s not even the best 2nd basemen in the game (Robinson Cano) You really couldn’t see the Phillies parting with a 32 year old 2nd basemen who has had injuries the last few years? The phillies are about to lose Jayson Werth this off season and Raul Ibanez next season. Delmon is only 24 and has huge upside, while the Phillies get younger.
Heres what I had in mind.
Twins send Delmon Young, Kevin Slowey, Matt Capps and Jason Repko
Phillies send Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, Tyson Gillies and $9 million
Helps out both sides.
Helps the twins add players who have won in the playoffs, something they can’t do, while adding another big time bat.
Agree to disagree. Considering defense (best defensive fielding player in the game) and all-around game he’s definitely top 4.
I don’t see that trade working at all. It would be a PR nightmare for the Phils to get rid of easily their best position player. They’ll save money by losing Werth, and have Dominic Brown coming. Delmon makes sense for them, but not at the price of Utley. And there’s really not another great fit.