Minnesota Twins Offseason

The Minnesota Twins finished the 2011 season with the worst record in the American League (63-99).  What did they do to improve themselves after that 2011 season?  They cut salary, because apparently they feel that's how you improve your ball club.  They went from a $112 million payroll in 2011 to a $94 million payroll in 2012.  The results?  Pretty predictable, a 66-96 record and the worst record in the American League for the second straight year.

So what do they do after the 2012 season to improve themselves in 2013?  More of the same of course, cut more salary, because apparently they felt it worked fine the previous year.  At this point, they are projected to have a payroll in the $80 million range in 2013.  For the mathematically challenged of you out there, that's a decrease of $32 million over the course of 2 seasons, all the while playing in a brand spanking new stadium that was built so that the team could remain competitive.

They can't possibly expect different results in 2013 can they?  They're still missing a top of the rotation starting pitcher (or two), they've weakened themselves defensively (trading away Span & Revere), they lost a lot of team speed (trading away Span & Revere and not bringing back Alexi Casilla), they weakened the top of their batting order, their middle infield is still shaky, third base is still a question mark and they have no closer.  I smell trouble ahead. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely opposed to the Span & Revere trades, I think they got good value in return for both of them, outside of Vance Worley though you won't see the benefits of that trade for another year or two.  Free agency certainly hasn't helped either, were Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey really the best they could come up with?  Correia didn't even end last year in the Pirates starting rotation and Pelfrey is coming off of Tommy John surgery.  It's not like they didn't have the cash to spend either (see above, they've cut payroll by $32 million over the past 2 seasons), and apparently they are done making major moves this offseason.  You cannot convince me that more could not have been done to improve the quality of the product they will be putting on the field in 2013. 

At this point, I'm predicting another 90+ loss season, on the bright side though, that will come with another high draft pick in the 2014 MLB Draft.  My advise to Twins fans, save your money (just as the Twins are) until they show a commitment to putting a quality product on the field again.