Dissecting the Bill Smith era: Other trades of 2010

Steve Tolleson got to play in Target Field in 2010,
but not as a member of the home team.

When: Dec. 12, 2009
What: Traded right-handed pitcher Boof Bonser to the Boston Red Sox for right-handed pitcher Chris Province.
Value: Bonser pitched two innings for Boston in 2010 before being released. He has worked 25 major league innings since the trade (all in 2010, mostly with Oakland) with an ERA of 6.12. He recently signed a minor-league deal with the San Francisco Giants. Province did not pitch well in 2010 in the Twins system and decided to quit playing last spring.
Twins motivation: Avoid going to arbitration with Bonser.

Bonser's once-promising career has been derailed by injuries. As matters stand, nothing to see here.

When: Feb.1, 2010
What: Waived infielder Steve Tolleson, who was claimed by Oakland
Value: Tolleson played in 25 games for Oakland in 2010. He spent 2011 in the minors, was traded in midseason to the San Diego Padres, was released after the season and signed to a minor league deal by Baltimore.
Twins motivation: Open a 40-man roster spot that was filled three days later by the signing of Orlando Hudson.

Tolleson's major league future, if any, figures to be as a utility infielder, and he probably doesn't have the arm to handle the shortstop part of the job.

When: Aug. 25, 2010
What: Claimed Randy Flores on waivers from Colorado
Value: Got 11 outs in 11 appearances for the Twins with an ERA of 4.91.
Twins motivation: Injuries to Jose Mijares and Ron Mahay left the Twins short of lefty relievers.

The Twins took a flyer on Flores, and he quickly fell out of favor with Ron Gardenhire.

When: Aug. 27, 2010
What: Traded right-hander Loek Van Mil to the Angels for left-handed reliever Brian Fuentes
Value: Fuentes gave up no runs in 9.2 innings with the Twins. Van Mil has not pitched in the majors

Matt Fox in his
sole game with
Minnesota.

Twins motivation: Injuries to Jose Mijares and Ron Mahay left the Twins short of lefty relievers.

Fuentes -- who had been closing in Anaheim -- was obviously over-qualified for the LOOGY role and was always viewed strictly as a short-term rental. The Twins made no serious attempt to retain him as a free agent, and he signed with Oakland. Van Mil, a unique prospect (7-foot-1 from the Netherlands), had a decent year in Double A and still could, if he ever manages to stay healthy, emerge as a major league relief option.

When: Sept. 9, 2010
What: Waived right-hander Matt Fox, who was claimed by Boston.
Value: Fox has pitched 1.2 major league innings since leaving the Twins. He signed a minor-league deal this offseason with Seattle.
Twins motivation: Opened a spot on the 40-man roster for Ben Revere.

Fox was put on the 40 to make one memorable spot start. My guess is that that will remain the high point of his career.

Free agent arbitration: Brian Fuentes

2011 age: 35 (turns 36 in August)

Free agent classification: Type B

2010 basic stats: 4-1, 24 saves, 2.81 ERA (Full stats here)

2010 salary: $9 million

The Outsider's verdict: No

In less than two full seasons as the Angels closer before
being traded to the Twins, Brian Fuentes had 71 saves
and an ERA of 3.76.

Diminished role should equal a diminished salary, and that's the basic argument against offering arbitration to Brian Fuentes.

Fuentes has been paid the past two seasons as a top-flight closer. In truth, he was probably never at that level despite leading baseball in saves in 2009, and he certainly isn't now.

He's still an effective pitcher -- sure death on left-handed hitters (.128/.222/.149 in 2010) but a bit home-run prone versus righties. Depending on his bullpen mates, he can be a second-tier closer, a top-flight set-up man or an overqualified LOOGY. None of those roles is worthy of $9 million a year.

If the Twins offer arbitration and he accepts, the lowest offer the team can make is a 20 percent cut, or $7.2 million. That might be justifiable in their salary scale if he's the closer, but that job, at least in theory, still belongs to the rehabbing Joe Nathan.

The Twins have, in the past, effectively capped what they'll pay set-up men at around $3 million. Even if that rises this offseason, it's not going to double.

They could offer arbitration it they were sure that somebody else is going to purse Fuentes as a closer, but that's hardly a certainty. The market is unlikely to put as high a price tag on the short-arming southpaw as arbitration is likely to.

Brian Fuentes, Manny Ramirez and waivers

Now that I've had a few hours to sleep on the Brian Fuentes trade, I realize that what makes the deal a surprise is that the lefty made it to the Twins on waivers.

For those unfamiliar with the waiver process: When Anaheim put him on waivers, the other 29 major league teams had something like 47 hours to claim him. Had nobody claimed him, the Angels had the right to trade him to any of the 29 teams. Claims go in reverse order of the standings, league first — in this case, all 13 other American League teams would have had to pass on him before a National League team could claim him.

The Twins are ahead of the Chicago White Sox in the standings; therefore, the Sox had an earlier shot at Fuentes. The Sox also have bullpen problems, with both J.J. Putz and Matt Thornton — their most useful relievers this season — on the disabled list. And, of course, they know that the Twins have injury problems in their bullpen, so claiming Fuentes would have at least blocked the Twins.

Heads they win, tails they win.

But they opted not to flip the coin.

I suspect they passed on Fuentes because of their Manny Ramirez maneuvering. The Sox are reported to have won the waiver rights to the slugger (meaning that the entire National League passed on him) and may fear that the Dodgers will simply dump the $4 million remainder of Man-Ram's contract on them. (As happened last August, when White Sox general manager Kenny Williams put in a claim on Alex Rios and was startled when the Blue Jays said "Great, you got him," and walked away rather than negotiating a trade and paying a chunk of Rio's salary.)

Claiming Ramirez isn't as risky as claiming Rios; Rios has years yet to run on his overpriced contract, Ramirez weeks. But Williams claims things are tight enough that he's checking the walk-up sales for each game to see how much he has available.

That may be posturing. It appears to be a complicated three-way negotiation, with Ramirez (and agent Scott Boras) wanting a contract extension in return for waiving his no-trade rights, the Dodgers and Sox dickering over prospects and who's paying off Manny, and the Dodgers (4.5 games out in the wild card race) weighing their own status (contender or pretender).

The Sox want Manny; they probably wanted Fuentes; they may not be able to afford both.

My guess is that they picked the wrong one to pursue.

Twins add Brian Fuentes

The Twins lefty relief acquisition du jour is a step up — at least — from Randy Flores.

Brian Fuentes, acquired Friday for a player to be named later, may not be as good as his four All-Star selections suggest, but he's a quality left-handed bullpen arm with lots of ninth-inning experience. Last season he had 48 saves for Anaheim.

I'll post more on him later, perhaps when I post the late-night update on the Twins game in Seattle, which is almost certain to end after our press start.