Twins sign Clay Condrey
January 7, 2010
The Twins have sign right-handed reliever, Clay Condrey, to a one-year deal on Wednesday. Condrey will take recently released Bobby Keppel’s spot on the 40-man roster.
Condrey, who spent that past four seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, became a free agent in December after the Phillies decided to non-tender him. He missed a portion of the 2009 season with a strained oblique muscle but still posted a 3.00 ERA in 45 appearances with 25 strike outs and 14 walks.
Condrey, who spent his first two seasons in the majors with the San Diego Padres, has a career record of 18-12 with a 4.10 ERA, 143 strike outs and 87 walks in 250.1 innings. All but nine of his 179 appearances have been in relief.
“This guy’s battle-tested. He’s been in two good pennant races with the Phillies and held up well,” Twins GM Bill Smith said. The plan is to have Condrey as a veteran middle-relief presence in the bullpen. Smith also stated that they were sorry to lose Keppel but he would have a good opportunity in Japan.
UPDATE: Twins make offer to Jarrod Washburn
January 6, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010:
According to La Velle E. Neal, the Twins offer of $5MM for one year was rejected by Washburn.
It is likely that Scott Boras is trying to shop his client around for a better deal as he did with Joe Crede in 2009. At that time the Twins offered the veteran third basement a low salary that was loaded with performance incentives. The initial offer was rejected, but when no one else showed interest, Crede accepted the Twins initial offer.
With a strong pitching staff the Twins have a luxury in that they can wait this out if necessary as another veteran pitcher is simply a luxury at this point with Francisco Liriano, Glen Perkins and Brian Duensing all fighting for the fifth spot in the rotation.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010:
According to a post by Scott Miller at CBS Sports, the Minnesota Twins have made an offer to Jarrod Washburn. The club is waiting for a response from the left-hander this week according to Miller’s sources.
There is no mention of how much the offer is, but Minnesota is very intent on landing the left hander.
Jarrod Washburn
The Twins claimed the 35 year old Washburn off of waivers from the Mariners late in 2008, but no deal could be reached to bring him to Minnesota.
Washburn’s reputation of being a good guy to have in the clubhouse and his experience as and MLB pitcher makes him a good fit for the Twins organization who are looking for some veteran help for their young staff. Washburn’s Upper Midwest roots are important to him as well, as he has stated he was looking to play for a club closer to home.
A knee injury sabotaged Washburns 2009 season, that began in Seattle and was traded to Detroit before the injury cut his season short. After going 8-6 with a 2.64 ERA over 20 starts in Seattle, Washburn was only 1-3 with a 7.33 ERA in eight starts for the Tigers before being shut down.
The Twins earlier this winter offered Carl Pavano arbitration and he accepted after the testing the market for a short time. The club returns several young starting pitchers in Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Nick Blackburn, Francisco Liriano and Glen Perkins on a team that won the American League Central division in ’09.
Many analyst are looking at the trade as a way for the Twins to shore up their strong rotation and allow them to trade one or two of their young strong arms for a third baseman. Kevin Kouzmanoff of the San Diego Padres was mentioned in a Perkins for Kouzmanoff trade, but the Padres wanted more then the young left hander and the Twins decided to hold out as there were several free agent third basemen on the market. Since then most of the top players at the hot corner have signed with other ball clubs, leaving Kouzmanoff as one of the few remaining quality third basemen.
There has been a lot of chatter lately about how happy the Twins have been with Liriano’s off season progress. If the reports are correct, he is close to returning to his 2006 form. It is possible that if the Twins are able to land Washburn, they will be able to sweeten the offer to San Diego for Kouzmanoff and still keep a strong rotation.
Twins release pitcher Bobby Keppel
January 5, 2010
The first transaction of 2010 is in! The Minnesota Twins announced today on their web site that they have released Bob Keppel.
The 27 year old right-handed pitcher appeared in 37 games for the Twins last season. Keppel had a 4.83 ERA with a 5.3 K/9 in 54 innings.
Keppel started his MLB career pitching for the Kansas City Royals in 2006 and then with the Colorado Rockies in 2007 before playing with the Twins in 2009.
There are several reports that Keppel will be pitching for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan this year with former Rochester Red Wings pitcher Juan Morillo.
Bert Blyleven and the Hall of Fame
January 5, 2010
Most think it is an unlucky number, but thirteen just might be the charm for former Minnesota Twins pitcher Bert Blyleven.
This is the thirteenth ballot that Blyleven has been on and with a week freshman class, Blyleven should be able to top the scales with over 75% of the votes. That is if the sports writers were logical and fair.
David Schoenfield has written a very thought provoking article about how there is no logic in the voting for hall of fame by the sports writers.
Bert Blyleven
Blyleven’s career stats are similar to those of Don Sutton and Gaylord Perry, both of whom were elected to the Hall of Fame.
So why hasn’t Bert Blyleven been elected to the Hall of Fame yet? Other then the “no logic” explanation, it could be that Blyleven has been an outspoken critic of the sports writers and the Hall of Fame election process. It also has been mentioned that as a player, Blyleven had a tenuous relationship with the media.
So as the results are announced tomorrow, there is no doubt that many Bert Blyleven fans will be hoping to see his name included in the list.
New Year update
January 1, 2010
The year 2009 ended quietly for the Minnesota Twins. There was no Christmas signing of Joe Mauer and there was no moves to shore up third base.
Joe Mauer
As the new year comes in, the list of available free agent third basemen continues to shrink. The San Francisco Giants agreed to terms with Mark DeRosa just before the end of the year. The 35 year old third baseman reportedly signed a two year $12MM deal with the Giants. The Giants also are reportedly very close to signing Juan Uribe which would give them a versatile roster.
The St Louis Cardinals will receive a supplemental draft pick for their loss of DeRosa. The Cards reportedly never made a formal offer to DeRosa according to Derrick Goold.
A Twins blog named Twins Overlook has an article that gives a run down of seven Twins prospects. Nothing significant, but gives many Twins fans an idea of some of the prospects the Twins have playing in Rochester and Beloit.
Nick’s Twins blog has a nice article about next years projected starting rotation. Although I don’t personally agree 100% of Nick’s assessment (Nick Blackburn has a lot to offer the Twins), it is a nice look at who will be fighting for the fifth spot if the Twins don’t make any other moves in the off season.
