Starting pitchers top Minnesota Twins agenda in Winter Meetings - MLB News
The Minnesota Twins are having a serious go at pitchers in the Winter Meetings in Nashville, Tennessee. With Scott diamond the only name guaranteed on the starting rotation next year, the Twins are checking every resource available in the free agent market
to add some names to their roster.
Twins have been associated to several names in the free agent market including starting pitchers John Lannan, Joe Blanton, Brett Myers, Francisco Liriano and Kevin Correia. Terry Ryan, the general manager of the Twins went on to suggest that they have not
left any options untouched in this regard.
"I don't believe there's a guy alive [we haven't talked to]," Ryan said with a laugh. "I've talked to quite a few agents for starting pitching." He also stated that some of the options looked good but everyone on the block was not a practical option.
"There are some more realistic than others," Terry said. "I don't want to pretend that we're going to be able to go out and get every pitcher that's on the market. Some of them won't be realistic."
Apart from pitching, the Twins are also looking for a third baseman to add to their ranks. Currently the spot is held by Trevor Plouffe and Terry wants him to have some competition and earn his spot.
"We need to create competition," Ryan said. "I don't want to be flippant about that because I told Trevor that. I think it'll be good for him. He needs to compete and earn it."
The team will not be shopping for any middle infield help as they already have a few names fighting it out for the spots. He was quite clear that the team needed pitchers and not shortstops.
Without good pitchers, there will not be much use of a good shortstop. He also said the money for free agents that was set aside had the main purpose of boosting the pitching unit.
The Twins ended at the bottom of the American League Central twice in as many years, losing over 90 games on both occasions. This is a sharp turn around for a team that won 94 regular season games in 2010. One hopes that the ball club can make the right
moves and get back to being serious contenders.
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