Winter Meetings, Day 1

The only news of substance involving the Twins Monday was a reshuffling of titles and responsibilities in the scouting department.

Deron Johnson, who had been scouting director, has been named "senior advisor of the scouting department." As expounded here by the Pioneer Press' Mike Berardino, he's to be more heavily involved in international and pro scouting than he has been. Sean Johnson (no relation) will be the scouting director, which puts him in charge of the June draft and the No.1 overall pick.

To my knowledge, neither Derek Falvey nor Thad Levine, the two newcomers at the top of the baseball ops hierarchy, have been an amateur scout, much less a scouting director. But the Twins have no shortage of experienced -- and well-regarded -- amateur scouts. Mike Radcliff, the scouting director when the Twins took Joe Mauer 1-1, is still around (vice president, player personnel). So is Larry Corrigan, the scouting director before Radcliff; he ran the draft that brought in Torii Hunter. So the new scouting director has his predecessors going back more than two decades to advise him.

At least, they are around now. While Falvey and Levine said at their introductory press conference that current baseball ops people who want to buy into their vision are welcome to stay, we know that Terry Ryan chose to leave and Bill Smith has been told he's not returning.Two area scouts were let go even before Falvey and Levine arrived, a decision made by assistant general manager Rob Antony. The new cadre of special assistants (Michael Cuddyer, LaTroy Hawkins and Hunter) are apparently expected to play a role in the draft. There are going to be changes -- not necessary dramatic or in a tidal wave, but changes nevertheless.

Winter meetings, midway through

The Twins have been on the sidelines through the first two days of the Winter Meetings -- no trades, just talk and some indications.

Indication One: Reluctant as I am to accept this, the Twins are certainly behaving as if they are serious about this Miguel Sano-to-the-outfield concept. Reports out of Nashville indicate that the Twins will listen to trade offers for Trevor Plouffe but aren't showing any urgency about moving the veteran third baseman.

Another factor in this: Oakland is apparently eager to trade Brett Lawrie, a very comparable third baseman. If the Twins were pushing for a Plouffe trade, the immediate effect would be a buyer's market. Taking their time on moving Plouffe, assuming they want to, might well be the best tactic.

Indication Two: Brian Duensing and Blaine Boyer, two free agent relievers who between them made 123 appearances for the Twins last year, won't be back. The Twins are, however, interested in bringing back Neal Cotts. As lefty relievers go, I'd probably prefer Duensing to Cotts, but Duensing figures to be the more expensive of the two.

Indication Three: Minnesota's top focus so far is said to be relief pitching, particularly left-handed, but there is also chatter that the Twins are shopping Ricky Nolasco. It's a good guess that moving Nolasco will either require the Twins to take on somebody else's bad contract or hand over a chunk of money to cover Nolasco's remaining years. Or both, Dumping Nolasco looks like addition by subtraction at this point, however. The Twins need to clear some rotation space.

Indication Four: Unless something happens today, the Twins will sit out the Rule 5 draft on Thursday. They have a full 40-man roster. They have seldom skipped Rule 5, but this year may be the exception.

Winter meetings, Day Two: White Sox strike

Jeff Samardzija has never
had a 10-win season.

The word in the wee hours of Tuesday morning (at least here in the Central time zone) was that the Chicago White Sox had both traded for Jeff Samardzija and signed David Robertson.

The first is a power starter who had a 2.99 ERA last season, the second a closer who racked up 39 saves as the successor to Mariano Rivera as the Yankees closer.

Added to the quick free agent signing of first baseman Adam LaRoche and reliever Zach Duke, plus the anticipated return to health of outfielder Avisail Garcia, these moves had some people proclaiming the Sox contenders in the AL Central for 2015.

I'm not so sure.

Every winter some team makes a big splash in the transactions market and is acclaimed the winner of the offseason, and then those expectations come to naught. Remember the Toronto Blue Jays a couple of winters ago? They added Jose Reyes and Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson and ohmigosh, what a team. They finished fifth, a.k.a. last.

Activity in December does not necessarily equate to wins in the summer.

Samardzija, LaRoche and Robertson might make the Sox better, Or the Sox might just spin their wheels.

The well-traveled LaRoche is 35 and slashed .248/.347/.429 the past two years combined in Washington. I don't see him as a real upgrade from the debated (and retired) Adam Dunn as the lefty slugger in the middle of the lineup.

Samardzija's reputation, and his talent, outshines his fairly pedestrian 36-48, 3.85 career record. He does represent an upgrade for the White Sox rotation, but his track record doesn't compare to the first three guys in the Tiger rotation, even excluding free-agent Max Scherzer.

The 2014 Sox had a below average offense (particularly troublesome for the White Sox because their home park is a hitters haven) and one of the worst defenses in the league. At the moment they have no obvious second baseman, a problem at catcher and an outfield that figures to display about as much range as the Twins outfield, which is to say not much at all.

I still don't see them as a threat to the Tigers and Royals at the top of the division.

Into the Winter Meetings

The baseball world gathers this week in San Diego for the annual winter meetings.

The Twins go into the giant trade convention with a full 40-man roster and a desire to reshape the pitching staff.

Just as I believe they took the wrong step in addressing their outfield questions by signing the aging Torii Hunter, I suspect they will do the same on the pitching.

Terry Ryan has spoken in necessarily vague terms about looking for "innings," code for veteran starting pitchers who would fill out the rotation. As I see it, that's what Ryan has behind Phil Hughes and (maybe) Kyle Gibson at the head of the rotation. Ricky Nolasco, Tommy Milone and Mike Pelfrey are not high-ceiling guys.

Ryan would do better, in my view, to move one or two of those guys out of the way of Alex Meyer and Trevor May. I want to see at least one of those two in the rotation this spring. I doubt I will get my wish.

Other things to watch for this week:

• The Hall of Fame veterans committee votes today on the 10 finalists for this year's time period. Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat are among the 10, and Tony-O is widely seen as one of the most likely to be selected.
• The Toronto Blue Jays are looking for a new team president, and Ryan's name has come up. He declined to pursue a Toronto job back in 2001, and I suspect he'll not jump ship now either. 
• The Twins last winter stayed out of the Rule 5 draft for the first time in years. Unless they move somebody off the roster this week, they'll be out of the picture again this year. Rule 5 is generally the closing act of the meetings, so they have time to do something there.

Winter Meetings, Day One

Tony LaRussa, Joe Torre and Bobby Cox were
selected Monday for induction into the Hall of Fame.

The Twins -- and pretty much everybody else -- had a quiet first day of the Winter Meetings in Orlando, Fla.

The newsiest news for the Twins:

• Terry Ryan said he doesn't anticipate clearing a roster spot, and that means the Twins won't participate in the Rule 5 draft at the end of the meetings; and
• The Twins have not ruled out surgery for Miguel Sano, whose planned stint in the Dominican Winter League was cut off just as it began with a sprained elbow.

The possibility of Tommy John surgery for the megaprospect -- and right now that's all it is, a possibility -- started a mini-flurry of speculation about making the Joe Mauer position shift to third base rather than first. I don't think that's happening.

The biggest news overall was the Veterans Committee electing Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa and Joe Torre to the Hall of Fame as managers. Or maybe the biggest news was the Veterans Committee bypassing Marvin Miller (again) and George Steinbrenner.

Cox, LaRussa and Torre were obvious picks. Miller, in my opinion, should have been in long ago. Steinbrenner, as far as I'm concerned, can wait an eternity. I wrote this when he died, and my opinion has not softened with time.

Into the Winter Meetings

The Winter Meetings begin Monday, and Terry Ryan, the Twins general manager, has probably already made his biggest moves of the offseason:

• Retained Ron Gardenhire as manager
• Moved Joe Mauer to first base
• Signed Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes for the starting rotation

Ryan has typically been the master of winter patience, waiting until he has the last open seat in the game of player musical chairs. This time he's stuck rather quickly.

He still has something in the neighborhood of $15 million in 2014 budget space and a team with holes. What might we look for from the Twins at the Winter Meetings and beyond?

A roster opening move. The Twins have the fifth pick in the Rule 5 draft, but at this point no way to use it, as the 40-man roster is full. The Twins take Rule 5 seriously. They almost always select somebody in Rule 5, and are more likely than probably any organization in baseball to find a way to keep that selection, so it's hard to imagine Ryan and Co. sitting it out this year. But first they have to clear a spot on the 40.

Catcher. Ryan indicated this week, after A.J. Pierzynski and Jarrod Saltalamacchia found new employers, that the Twins were willing to move ahead with Josmil Pinto as Plan A behind the dish for 2014. I suspect it's a case of willing but not eager. The options are thinning out, however.

Starting pitcher.  The Twins have added two starters; they're open to adding a third, but they don't have the urgency now that they did before landing Nolasco and Hughes. They remain linked to Bronson Arroyo and Mike Pelfrey; my particular case of Sid Hartman Disease — the irrational wish to bring back former stars — is focused at this point on Johan Santana, whose shoulder rehab has reportedly progressed to playing catch at 90 feet on flat ground. If they do sign a pitcher, I doubt it will happen before the Rule 5 draft, which is pretty much the final act of the Winter Meetings.

Trades? Unlikely. Ryan's said that he's more focused on free agency than on trades as a means to boost the 2014 team, because free agents don't cost players. (And, unsaid but implied, he's got more money to spend than trade chips to cash in.) The one real area of surplus he might have dealt from, second base, got dented with the news of Eddie Rosario's positive PED test.

But ... it's certainly possible that the Twins will create that roster space cited above by peddling somebody (most likely a bullpen arm) for a prospect who doesn't need rostering.

Winter meetings, Day 3

Joe Blanton finished 2012 with the Dodgers, for whom
he made 10 starts and pitched 57 innings.

The Twins lost out on one of their reputed free-agent targets Wednesday. As that target was Joe Blanton, that was winning by losing; Blanton hasn't had an ERA below 4.00 or topped 200 innings since 2007. His ERA the last three years were 4.71, 5.01 and 4.82.

He's not close to the Diamond Standard.

Brandon McCarthy missed
much of September after
suffering a fractured skull when
hit by a line drive. His recovery
is said to have gone well.

And Anaheim signed him for two years, $15 million.

Blanton does have a track record of making 30 starts a year, and his strikeout rates have improved with age, but on the whole I'm not impressed. He's a back of the rotation guy, and the Twins have plenty of cheaper options there. I'm glad the Twins missed out on him.

I might as well put this on the record: Of the free agent pitchers linked to the Twins, the three who interest me most are, in order, Brandon McCarthy, John Lannan and Shawn Marcum.

All three are flawed, of course; if they weren't flawed, they probably wouldn't be available. McCarthy and Marcum, both right-handed, are health risks; the left-handed Lannan has poor strikeout and walk numbers. But McCarthy and Marcum, if they can take the mound, pitch well, and Lannan is a true ground ball machine. I have no issue with slotting the two righties ahead of Diamond, and Lannon isn't far off Diamond.

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Coming this morning is the Rule V draft. The Twins have the fourth pick, and they have four open roster spaces still, so we can expect some activity from them.

I anticipate that they'll select a pitcher. If they instead pick an outfielder, that will suggest that a trade of either Justin Morneau or Ben Revere is in the works; whispers out of Nashville this week had the Twins gauging the market for both.

Winter meetings, Day 2

Ron Gardenhire's contract as Twins manager expires
after the 2013 season.

Two days gone on baseball's big winter swap meet, and for the Twins -- as for most teams -- it's been all talk and little action.

Ron Gardenhire had his managerial presser Tuesday -- all managers are expected to do one during the meetings -- and his became the Twins story of the day, if only because there was no competition.

He professes to be OK with his current lame duck status; he said, as he has before, that he hasn't had enough success the last two seasons to merit an extension. Terry Ryan, for his part, told reporters that it's on him to get Gardy a better starting rotation.

Which is true -- you can put any of the managers in the Hall of Fame in charge of the current starting staff, and he's not winning a pennant -- but I doubt the sort of upgrades the rotation needs are available or affordable. Anibal Sanchez is reportedly seeking six years, $90 million? Really? And he's generally reckoned the second-best starter on the market (behind Zach Greinke).

Ryan is vague on what he needs to see from Gardenhire to retain him beyond the coming season. It's an offseason of mixed messages for we the fans -- talk of improvement in 2013 is more than countered by an apparent commitment to a young middle infield that is unlikely to hit, the trade of an established position player for a possible future ace and the continued void in the rotation.

It's still early in December, with plenty of time for significant moves, but the pattern so far says Ryan's priority is 2014-15 and beyond. I'm inclined to think that's the proper direction. But I'm also inclined to think that may not bode well for Gardenhire.

The question before the house: Is Ron Gardenhire a good match for a rebuild? I suspect this will be a running theme for the coming winter and season.

Winter meetings, Day 1

Monday was an outwardly quiet day for the Twins at the winter meetings.

Terry Ryan told SiriusXM radio that Joe Mauer wouldn't be traded (now there's a news flash; I have no idea why the Star Tribune keeps dragging that nonsense out); Ron Gardenhire told MLB TV that the front office is busy trying to trade his entire team; no moves were actually made.

By the Twins or anybody else. The biggest news of the day:

Umpire Hank O'Day. He
is the only man to
play, manage and
umpire in the majors.

• Alex Rodriguez needs hip surgery again; the Yankee third baseman is prehabbing now, will have the surgery in January and is unlikely to play before midsummer. Brian Cashman had an amusing reason for not revealing this earlier: Nobody ever specifically asked him about A-Rod's hip.
• Joe Mauer will play for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic next spring; Justin Morneau will play for Canada. Liam Hendriks was also announced for Australia, but Ryan said Hendriks had his elbow scoped and will not pitch in the tournament. 
• The Veterans Committee elected three men from the pre-integration era to the Hall of Fame: umpire Hank O'Day, catcher Deacon White and owner Jacob Ruppert. 

That Ruppert, the owner who turned the Yankees into the Yankees, wasn't already in the Hall is inexplicable. O'Day is most noteworthy as the man who made probably the most famous controversial call in umpiring history; he's the guy who ruled Fred Merkle out in 1908. Merkle's Boner. The call was correct by the written rule, but it went against the conventions of the day. White was a standout in the early days of professional ball -- a 20-year-career and a barehanded catcher.

A barehanded catcher. Yeah, I don't want to think about it either. It was definitely a different game then, but still ...

The Diamond standard

Scott Diamond is the only certain
piece of the 2013 rotation right now.

Last week's Denard Span trade -- established center fielder for Class A pitcher -- was the trade of an organization looking to 2015 more than 2013.

The Twins insist that's not the case. With the winter meetings -- three-plus days of the baseball industry gathered in Nashville -- getting started today, we may be about to find out how serious the Twins are about trying to rise up in the coming season.

Terry Ryan and Co. appear to have some $30 million in payroll available. They also have four openings in the starting rotation and a reputed focus on the free agent crop rather than trades to fill those gaps.

My yardstick for whatever veteran starting pitchers the Twins acquire is fairly simple: Scott Diamond. Diamond's career numbers to date -- 34 starts, 212 innings, 3.82 ERA -- is roughly one full season in the rotation in terms of workload and a decent third starter in terms of results.

The Twins have plenty of options to slot in behind that. They have, on their 40-man roster, five pitchers who figure to start if they make the 25-man roster -- alphabetically, Cole De Vries, Kyle Gibson, Liam Hendriks, B.J. Hermsen and Pedro Hernandez -- and a sixth, Brian Duensing, who may start but probably fits better in the bullpen. They will have in camp as non-roster invitees another wave of candidates, most of whom we're familiar with: Nick Blackburn (and his $5.5 million contract), Sam Deduno, Esmerling Vasquez and P.J. Walters.

That's at least 10 candidates, none of whom can reasonably be said right now to project to the Diamond Standard in 2013. Gibson does in further seasons, but we know he's not going to be allowed to throw 200 innings next year.

The Twins goal in Nashville this week -- if they are serious about trying to return to contention in 2013 -- has to be on finding two pitchers who can reasonably match or surpass the Diamond Standard next season: 30-plus starts, 200-plus innings, ERA under 4.00.

That won't be easy, or inexpensive. But that's the need. The Twins don't need to spend on bulk starters to fill out the rotation; they have that already. They need quality at the head of the rotation.

Winter meetings, Day Four

Terry Doyle has been a workhorse in the minors,
something the Twins probably found attractive.

While waiting on Michael Cuddyer some more -- and while no doubt standing agog at the silly money Anaheim spent on Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson -- the Twins made more fringe additions on Thursday. They now have filled their 40-man roster, and I would expect them to do something in the next few days to open at least one slot.

Rule V: The Twins took RHP Terry Doyle from the White Sox with the second pick. Doyle turned 26 last month, has good size, throws strikes, gets ground balls, doesn't have particularly good strikeout rates. He split last season between High A and Double A; between the regular season and the Arizona Fall League, he worked about 200 innings in 2011.

One of the ways I know I'm a baseball geek is that I get more excited about the Rule V draft than it deserves. These guys were left off the 40-man rosters, and there are generally good reasons for that. The Johan Santana and Jokim Soria picks are memorable because they're so rare. Still, here's more info on Doyle than you really need.

Here's John Sickles' take on Doyle coming into 2011:

Terry Doyle was a 37th round draft choice back in 2008 out of Boston College. He had a terrific season in the 2006 Cape Cod League and was projected as a possible second or third round pick at one point, but by '08 he had fallen apart, undone by mechanical problems that cost him six MPH on his fastball and left him lucky to be drafted at all. The White Sox drafted him anyway, rebuilt his mechanics and seem to have made him a decent prospect again. Doyle has average velocity but throws strikes and picks up grounders (1.56 GO/AO last year). He was old for the levels last year and we need to see more, but sometimes you can pick someone off the junk pile and find a gem.

Sickels on Doyle after Thursday's draft:

He had an excellent season in '11 ...He followed that up with a 1.98 ERA and a 22/5 K/BB in 27 innings in the Arizona Fall League. Age 26, Doyle has a mediocre fastball in the 87-90 range, but he mixes in his breaking ball and changeup very effectively and throws strikes. He could end up being a useful fifth starter, and Minnesota seems like a good fit for his skills.

Here's Baseball America on Doyle after the draft:

Doyle is a righthander with guile who lacks a plus pitch but knows how to set up hitters. He helped his chances of being picked with an excellent Arizona Fall League performance. He certainly understands the geometry of pitching, consistently getting outs with his command and a cut fastball. Doyle's 88-92 fastball did pick up as the season progressed and he touched 93-94 mph in Arizona. Doyle confuses hitters who don’t know him, as he often pitches backward, using breaking pitches to set up his fastball. He throws four pitches for strikes, including a biting slider and a high-70s changeup.

You probably know the rules: Rule V picks must remain on the 25-man active roster all season or be returned to the club from whom they were drafted. Last spring the Twins traded for the rights to Scott Diamond rather than return him to the Braves.

Finalizing the Slowey trade: The player to be named got named after the Rule V draft. He's RHP Daniel Turpen, a sidearming reliever who is joining his fourth organization. He had more walks than strikeouts in Double A last season, and certainly that isn't going to fly with the Twins. I fully expect this will be the only time he gets mentioned in this blog.

Winter meetings, Day Three

Cuddyer cuddle: Michael Cuddyer and
his newborn daughters on Tuesday. Twins for a Twin?

Wednesday was a waiting day for the Twins.

Waiting for an answer from Michael Cuddyer. Waiting for today's Rule V draft.

There were a couple of things that did happen. The Matt Capps signing became official. Cuddyer and Jason Kubel declined arbitration, which keeps them free to sign elsewhere but also ensures that if either (or both) do, the Twins will get compensatory draft picks.

My expectation is that Cuddyer will re-sign with the Twins. He may be a bit preoccupied with his new daughters, and his agent may be trying to stir up some interest elsewhere, but I doubt there is a team as interested in him as Minnesota.

Which raises the question: Should the Twins be that interested in him?

Nobody knows Cuddyer as well as the Twins. He's got his flaws as a player, and he has his strengths -- and those strengths are almost exactly a match for what the Twins need. If he leaves, they will have almost no right-handed power, and they'll be shy an experienced alternative at first base if Justin Morneau has to become a DH.

That the Twins are hot to retain Cuddy not only speaks to the high regard in which they hold him, but to the belief that 2011 was a fluke season, that they have a genuine chance to win in 2012. If Terry Ryan were committed to rebuilding, he should have more interest in the draft choices than in a non-star who'll be 33 before Opening Day.

Winter meetings, Day Two

Kevin Slowey: Going to Colorado.

It was pretty obvious last season that there was a massive disconnect between Kevin Slowey and the Twins, and it was widely expected that the pitcher would be moved along this winter.

And so it transpired on Tuesday: Slowey to Colorado for a player to be named.

This move also

• clears Slowey's salary -- which would have been, through the arbitration process, somewhere between $2.5 million and $3 million;
• opens a slot on the 40-man roster, allowing the Twins to finalize the Matt Capps signing and participate in the Rule V draft; and
• clears a bit of the brush in the starting rotation field.

I wish Slowey the best, but I can't say I'm optimistic. Denver is not known as a place where pitchers go to revive their careers, and as a fly-ball pitcher Slowey may be a particularly poor fit for Coors Field.

---

Here's a Terry Ryan quote from the above link about the Slowey trade:

Twins general manager Terry Ryan — speaking with reporters during his media availability on Monday — spoke highly of Slowey, saying he expects him to bounce back next season.
“All you have to do is look at 2010,” Ryan said. “What did he do in 2010? How many games did he win? You can slice and dice those statistics any way you want, you’re looking for guys who win games. A starting pitcher’s job is probably, first and foremost, to win games. A guy wins 15, 20 games in the major leagues, you say, ‘Geez, I don’t know how he did it but he’s got ‘em.’ OK.”

You couldn't ask for a better traditionalist defense of the pitcher's win stat. And Ryan probably used that sales pitch on Colorado and others as he shopped Slowey around.

Of course, Slowey was the losing pitcher in all eight of his 2011 starts, and the Twins lost in all of his relief appearances as well.

---


Michael Cuddyer's wife gave birth to twin girls Tuesday morning. I don't know how rapidly Daddy Cuddy will decide on his next employer, but the Twins clearly would prefer it be sooner than later. The Twins are reported to have offered him a three-year deal for about $24 million. I would expect him to take it.

---

Matt Capps passed his physical, so those hoping that signing falls through will be disappointed.

Winter meetings, Day One

The Twins reportedly lined up on Monday the return of Matt Capps, which was their big news from the first day of the winter meetings.

The initial Internet response to the well-telegraphed signing is predictably negative.

I'm not enthused, but I'm hardly outraged by the move either. As I've said before, my concern is that the bullpen be deep enough that Ron Gardenhire doesn't wreck his few good arms through overwork. Capps alone doesn't do that, but his presence does deepen the bullpen.

One of the common threads to the objections raised by my blogging brethren —  which I shared in my initial post — is that the Twins are bypassing a compensatory draft pick. Terry Ryan's response to that factor, from the Strib story:

Ryan said compensation picks don't factor much into the Twins' decisions on players. "We'll take it," Ryan said, "but we'd rather have the player."

I don't believe for a moment that the Twins don't take the value of compensation picks into serious consideration. Their historic reluctance to give up first round picks to sign Type A free agents is evidence of that.

But I wonder if they are uncertain today of the real value of those picks under the new labor agreement and the formalized, enforceable restrictions on spending. I haven't seen any explanation of how the spending ceilings are to be set, but if the ceilings are too low, it may be difficult to get high school prospects to sign— which will push teams to overdraft collegians and thin out the quality choices by the time the sandwich picks come up.

If that's a realistic possibility, then Ryan has a good point about preferring the player to the pick. Draft picks are hardly a sure thing.

Pedro Florimon hit .267/.344/.367
at Double A Bowie in 2011.

---

In a lower profile move, the Twins claimed shortstop Pedro Florimon on waivers from Baltimore.

I don't understand the Florimon pickup. That doesn't make it bad. It just means that it's not transparent enough for me to understand.

Florimon is a switch-hitter, turns 25 on Saturday, and got an eight at-bat cuppa in September. He is said to be fast (although his minor-league stolen base stats don't impress) and struggle with breaking balls. He's been bouncing around between A and AA ball in the Baltimore system for a while, and 2011 was pretty clearly his best season at the plate.

My guess is that he's Triple A fodder rather than a threat to make the 25-man roster. But the Twins saw fit to fill one of their 40-man roster spots with him. I don't know what they have in mind. I doubt he's better than Brian Dozier.

---

Ron Santo didn't live
long enough to see his
election to the Hall.

As of now, the Florimon pickup gives the Twins 39 players on the 40-man roster. If/when the Capps signing becomes official, the roster will be full, and if the Twins intend to do something in the Rule V draft Thursday — they have the second pick — they'll have to clear a spot. They've picked up so many marginal players on waivers since the last week or so of the regular season (Esmerling Vazquez, Matt Maloney, Jeff Gray, Florimon) that I wouldn't think it that difficult to do.

---

Ron Santo made the Hall of Fame, which is OK by me. Jim Kaat came one vote shy of getting in; that's also OK. Tony Oliva got eight votes, four votes short of what he needed. Unless the Hall changes the Veterans Committee system (again), Oliva and Kaat will be eligible for consideration again in 2014.

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Rumor mill (and my reactions):

• LaVelle Neal said Monday that there's a growing expectation that Michael Cuddyer will re-sign with the Twins (makes sense to me). 
• Ken Rosenthal said the Twins are one of four teams who have made an offer to Mark Buehrle (someone else will actually sign him).
• Rhett Bollinger (MLB.com) said the Twins have a tentative meeting on Thursday with Josh Willingham's agent, apparently as a Plan B on Cuddyer (Cuddyer makes a lot more sense for the Twins for a variety of reasons).
• ESPN Deportes says the Twins have "expressed interest" in Carlos Guillen (as if they need more guys who can't stay off the DL).