Orioles are one of the teams that the Twins have contacted in regards to Justin Morneau

[Orange_Crush]

Jeremy Guthrie and they also picked up Ervin Santana.

Guthrie was on their team already but isn't Santana average at best?

[Orange_Crush]

He played in 134 games last year at a .775 OPS... I honestly dont know his injury (concussion) issues but he is atleast a year removed from them. What are the chances he can bounce back to a +.800 OPS +20 hr season?

Hitting @ OPACY why not?

[soxhotcorner14]

Guthrie was on their team already but isn't Santana average at best?

It's not about what players they picked up, it's the money they gave them. It's not big time, but it's unlike the Royals to pony up money like that. I honestly think they want to put a comptitive team on the field and as Yost said, they don't want to trade from their big league roster.

[OrioleMagic79]

The more I hear about who we're possibly involved with at first base, the more I think we just need to bite the bullet and re-sign Reynolds. Have him work with an experienced infield coach in the spring and get him more acclimated to the footwork needed to make him a better fielder.

That's nice, but the two worst things about Reynolds to me do not include his defense. He strikes out too often (worst out you can make in baseball), and he also grounds into a lot of double plays (second worst out you can make)...

He certainly walks a fair amount, so that lends to the reason for his strikeouts to either not keeping his head down and/or swinging too hard. If he works on keeping his head still and down and then only swings hard in the right situations, hopefully his contact goes up, resulting in more balls in play and more RBIs. The power would go down a bit, but many of the HRs would become doubles, and he would be making more contact and therefore could potentially become quite the doubles hitter...

The defense needs a little work, but he made so much progress in such a short period of time that I would trust he will continue to develop that just by playing and getting reps...the contact is where I want to see an improvement...

[Frobby]

He played in 134 games last year at a .775 OPS... I honestly dont know his injury (concussion) issues but he is atleast a year removed from them. What are the chances he can bounce back to a +.800 OPS +20 hr season?

Morneau's problem is that he no longer hits LHP.

2011: .144/.189/.211

2012: .232/.271/.298

He's still pretty good against RHP. I'd have interest in him at some price, but not at $14 mm. A team with Betemit and Morneau makes little sense since they both have very extreme L/R splits.

[soxhotcorner14]

Morneau's problem is that he no longer hits LHP.

2011: .144/.189/.211

2012: .232/.271/.298

He's still pretty good against RHP. I'd have interest in him at some price, but not at $14 mm. A team with Betemit and Morneau makes little sense since they both have very extreme L/R splits.

This is a reason he is Plan B and not Plan A

[Bulgaria]

Twins would love to get young and promising pitcher in Tillman/ Britton mold. I'm not sure it's worthing right now.

[Frobby]

That's nice, but the two worst things about Reynolds to me do not include his defense. He strikes out too often (worst out you can make in baseball), and he also grounds into a lot of double plays (second worst out you can make).....

A double play is way worse than a strike out where I come from. But Reynolds typically does not hit into a lot of DP's. He hit into 19 last year, but never had more than 11 in any prior season. His GIDP rate was below league average in every season other than 2012.

By the way, if you hate double plays, you are really going to hate Billy Butler. He has hit into 119 DP's in 3,540 PA, compared to Reynolds' 61 in 3,443 PA. Butler hit into 32 DP's in 2010 (13 more than Reynolds' worst year).

[Art Wing]

I have a strong feeling this is the one that happens. I'm not sure why but I've been thinking this would be a DD move for over a month now.

[Number5]

That's nice, but the two worst things about Reynolds to me do not include his defense. He strikes out too often (worst out you can make in baseball), and he also grounds into a lot of double plays (second worst out you can make)...

He certainly walks a fair amount, so that lends to the reason for his strikeouts to either not keeping his head down and/or swinging too hard. If he works on keeping his head still and down and then only swings hard in the right situations, hopefully his contact goes up, resulting in more balls in play and more RBIs. The power would go down a bit, but many of the HRs would become doubles, and he would be making more contact and therefore could potentially become quite the doubles hitter...

The defense needs a little work, but he made so much progress in such a short period of time that I would trust he will continue to develop that just by playing and getting reps...the contact is where I want to see an improvement...

The bolded statement is not supported by the facts. Reynolds has a lower lifetime GDP% than major league average. He has been below major league average every season of his career except 2012. I think it is more likely that the SSS of 19 GDPs in 2012 is an outlier than Reynolds has suddenly become higky prone to grounding into double plays. His tendencies have alway been strike-outs and fly balls. Even last year, when he had the unusual DP%, he had a .56 GB/FB ratio, compared to league average of .80. Nothing in Reynolds stats seem to support your claim.

[canonfaz]

I would not give up any of Britton, Tillman, or Matusz for Morneau. Maybe something like Hunter for Morneau would be ok.

[Bulgaria]

Arrieta + Hoes for him is good deal.

But Britton for him? Nooooooo. Tillman for Morneau? Nightmare.

Although i like Arrieta, he seems more like reliever than above average starter. Britton sinker looks promising. Tillman finally make progress. If we deal them, let's be for young bat,

[Can_of_corn]

That's nice, but the two worst things about Reynolds to me do not include his defense. He strikes out too often (worst out you can make in baseball), and he also grounds into a lot of double plays (second worst out you can make)...

The bolded is simply an untrue statement. He grounded into a lot of them last season but that is not an issue he has had historically. I am guessing having Wieters in front of him in the lineup contributed to his total. Hardy hit into substantially more double plays despite hitting second in the lineup.

I am also of the opinion that a strike out is a lot better then a double play and I would in fact rather see a strike out then a pop up to the infield. At least with a strikeout you know the pitcher had to throw at least three pitches.

[Brendan25]

Arrieta + Hoes for him is good deal.

But Britton for him? Nooooooo. Tillman for Morneau? Nightmare.

Although i like Arrieta, he seems more like reliever than above average starter. Britton sinker looks promising. Tillman finally make progress. If we deal them, let's be for young bat,

Arrieta + Hoes is way too much.

[dabirds]

The O's will take on money if it makes sense. They aren't going to go out and give Victorino $39M to put on a uniform and be a shell of his former self. I know $14M is a big number, but it's not tied up to years. It's one year. See if he can get that stroke back that made him one of the best hitters in the AL. I think an Oliver Drake type of prospect(s) will get this done. With his recent production, $$ and health issues the Twins aren't going to ask for the moon on this one.

I think going into the meetings Butler was Plan A, Morneau is Plan B. Morse is Plan C.

I can easily see Plan B and C coming to fruition... Would everyone be happy with that?

Any chance they are working on a deal for Morneau and Willingham?