Minnesota Twins

Following the acquisition of JJ Hardy, there are two major needs on this Minnesota team. First, and in my opinion the most important, a No. 2 hitter is needed to bat behind Denard Span.

With his new-found power, the Twins desperately need to find a way to get runners on base for Joe Mauer; batting third this past season, Mauer was 103rd in the league in total number of runners on base when he was at the plate. His 19.15 RBI percentage—ninth in the league of those with at least 250 chances—demands that he be given more opportunities.

In baseball, it’s not always easy to find the answers.

To this day it seems that almost no pitchers have found the answer to Albert Pujols’ bat and no hitters—except Chase Utley—have found the answer for CC Sabathia’s left arm.

Today, however, there is one question that can be answered unequivocally:

A good portion of this piece will call back to point two of my Off-Season Plan , please refer back if you missed it!

The Minnesota Twins came into this offseason with three major goals:

1) Sign Joe Mauer to an extension
2) Improve the infield
3) Add at least one veteran arm to the rotation

General manager Bill Smith got off to a quick start on his offseason “to do list” by acquiring shortstop J.J.

The Twins need an ace. They unequivocally need a pitcher who can go out every fifth day and shut a team down. They need a pitcher with a Jack Morris mentality. A guy who says, “Give me the ball and I will win this game.”

The Twins need Roy Halladay.

Obviously, every team wants a pitcher of Halladay’s caliber, but the Twins actually have the pieces to make a deal. Odds are they won’t do it, because Bill Smith and company won’t want to give up young talent. The fact is, however, dealing for Halladay is the one thing they absolutely should do.

Minnesota general manger Bill Smith is a busy man.

In the last week alone, Smith was rumored to be in on a deal for new Pittsburgh second baseman Akinori Iwamura, he traded away Carlos Gomez for J.J.

The Minnesota Twins announced today that the club has exercised Michael Cuddyer’s 2011 option valued at $10.5 million.

The option is part of the four-year deal Cuddyer signed in 2008. The right fielder will make $8.5 million in 2010, the third year of the $33.5 million pact.

In both my 2009 postmortem and my 2010 offseason plan, I laid out two key points.

The Twins cleared up a logjam in the Outfield by moving Carlos “Go Go” Gomez to Milwaukee for Shortstop J.J. Hardy.

I think it’s a great deal for the Twins. They have too many Outfielders with Denard Span, Delmon Young, Michael Cuddyer, and DH Jason Kubel. As for the Twins they got some pop at Shortstop, which they haven’t had in years.

Now that everyone is starting to calm down over the initial reports of dealing fan-favorite Carlos Gomez for JJ Hardy, it's time to evaluate the trade from several angles.

This trade from a Twins perspective is good. While Gomez is one of the best defensive outfielders in the league, he yielded playing time in center field to Denard Span and when Delmon Young started hitting late in the season, Gomez saw seldom playing time.