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.
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