Several outlets have offered up Twins trade proposals for Cliff Lee and many seem a bit far-fetched.  Several have included Kevin Slowey, Scott Baker or Brian Duensing while others have used both Ramos and Revere to highlight a megadeal.  For a fairly realistic comparison, however, let’s look at the previous two Cliff Lee trades in the past year (2009 Baseball America prospect rankings in parenthesis).

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Signs emerge of Joe Mauer talks heating up!

As linked to in the game thread by Eric in Madison, Buster Olney is reporting that the Twins and Joe Mauer may be nearing an agreement that will keep the MVP in Minnesota for some time.  Mauer's agent, Ron Shapiro, was spotted at the Fort Myers airport Sunday afternoon signaling a possible break-through in contract talks between the Twins and Mauer. 

Here's hoping... my fingers are crossed!
 

The Twins blogosphere was lit up with a very "ballsy" article penned by TT of Granny Baseball today.  TT asked the question if Kirby Puckett was a steroid abuser.  And despite several comments, including a statistics-based argument from Jesse, it appears that TT is of the belief that not only did Puckett abuse steroids, but that they were a factor in both his glaucoma and his untimely death. 

I decided to do a little research and I strongly believe my findings prove that Puckett's reputation as one of the greatest right-handed hitters ever should remain in tact and that any question of steroid abuse should be laid to rest. 


Continue reading after the jump...

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Baseball America recently released their "Top 100 Prospects" list and four Twins were honored.  Aaron Hicks is their 19th-ranked prospect, followed by Wilson Ramos at #58, Kyle Gibson at #61 and Miguel Sano at #94.

For those of you keeping track at home, Aaron Hicks was the only Twin featured in MLB.com's Top 50 Prospects at #29.  He was also featured as Keith Law's 19th-ranked prospect for ESPN.   

Ramos, Gibson and Sano also cracked Keith Law's ESPN list at #'s 42, 89 and 97 respectively. 

The future definitely looks bright for our hometown nine!

According to SethSpeaks.net, the Twins have signed long-time minor leaguer, Charlton Jimerson.

"The Rochester Red Wings announced tonight that the Twins have signed Charlton Jimerson to a minor league contract. The outfielder played in 31 big league games from 2005 through 2008 accumulating just nine at bats. He went 4-9 in those at bats, including two home runs. He spent 2009 with the Independent Newark Bears where he hit .335/.387/.567 with 27 doubles and 21 home runs in 103 games. This is a great signing. The Red Wings needed another outfielder. Jimerson can play all three outfield positions. And, when it comes to potentially needing a fifth outfielder, I would much rather the Twins go with Jimerson than Jacque Jones, Brandon Roberts or Dustin Martin. Again, he isn’t a difference maker, but the 2010 Twins don’t need a difference maker. I like this signing."

Good speed, decent defense and some power sounds like a solid 5th outfielder to me.

Just like everyone else on this board, I am completely overexcited for the 2010 season to begin.  This is arguably the best Twins team on paper since 1991 and I think we have a legitimate shot at making some noise in the postseason.  However, I think we as fans need to temper our recent "World Series bound" mentality a bit because there are vital question marks going into 2010 that will make or break this squad.

5.  Third Base

From all accounts, it appears that Nick Punto and Brendan Harris will be manning the hot corner this year for the hometown nine.  It is likely that we will see Danny Valencia at some point as well, but I firmly believe the Twins will stick with this seasoned combination unless it fails miserably.  The platoon should feature Harris starting against lefties and Punto wielding his wiffle bat against right-handers.  Harris hits lefties fairly well with a career batting average of .297 and an OPS of .785.  Harris hit rock bottom (.238 avg) against righties last year and although Punto isn’t a world beater by any means, his defense makes him a logical start instead.  Punto’s splits are near identical, but he has shown better OBP skills hitting from the left side.  Last year he coaxed a walk in 15% of his at bats as a lefty and that skill will be significant in turning over the batting order.

With the lineup constructed as is, any production from this group will be a bonus from the 9-spot but strong defense is essential to this platoon playing a key role on this squad.  For all his faults, Punto is a pretty strong defensive presence and his best position is arguably third base.  Harris isn’t a butcher at third, but he is fairly limited with a decent arm making up for some of his deficiencies.  For the Twins to be successful, Punto and Harris need to admirably play the roles of Mike Pagliarulo and Scott Leius.      

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