Because if you followed the team the past four months, you know the running theme for this season has been, "Don't break us up! Don't trade Torii! Give us a chance to show what we can do! We like the team we've got! We can beat the Tigers and Indians with this bunch, so keep us together!"
Then, the day after they decide to keep the team together (save for slap-hitting free-agent-to-be Luis Castillo), Santana and Hunter go all prima donna on the bit and whine about the front office not getting them any help. Wait, I thought you liked the team you've got? I thought all you wanted was a chance to show what you can do down the stretch?
I tell ya, if I were Terry Ryan, I'd have walked away from this a long time ago, not because Pohlad doesn't give him enough money to do his job, but because he's overseeing a clubhouse full of candy-assed babies who cry to the media when they don't get their way. (Granted, when I'm wearing my media hat it makes for good copy, but as an unabashed Twins fan, it wears thin. Real fast.)
It's as if Hunter and Santana were listening in, George Bush wiretap-style, as Ryan rebuffed team after team begging to ship their superstars to Minnesota in exchange for the Twins' rejects. I'm just guessing here, but if the Rockies had wanted to send Garrett Atkins to the Twins for Juan Rincon and Lew Ford (who can pack their bags for Rochester or Mexico right now, as far as I'm concerned), Ryan would have obliged. But the teams who were selling apparently wanted more than what the teams who were buying were willing to offer.
Example: the Twins were interested in pig-faced journeyman infielder Ty Wiggingon of the Devil Rays to fill their Punto-sized hole at 3B. But the Devil Rays reportedly were asking for Matt Garza in return. (See my post last month about Garza if you need to discern my feelings about that trade offer.) Garza for Wigginton has the potential of, say, Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas. And, if the Twins had traded Garza, it's even money that Santana, Hunter, et al, would have griped that the team was trading away its future, so why should they consider signing a long-term deal with them?Unreal. Just come right out and admit you're looking for a way out of Minnesota and don't blame it on Terry Ryan and the rest of the front office, fellas. You only come across as ungrateful, spoiled multi-millionaires, and hey, you don't want to let the public in on that secret...
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Watching the game last night on TV (while also watching the 35W bridge collapse), I began to wonder: Is this Twins team, with the addition of Casilla, the shortest team in MLB? These guys barely rise above the mask of the squatted catcher!
Remember how the Twins cried when they traded Dougie Mientkiewicz??? They are babies indeed. That only opened up room for the future MVP at first.
That said, the best thing they can do to counter Santana's aggressive comments is to sign Hunter to a deal in the next week or so. I think something like 3 yrs./$36M or 4 yrs./$40M would be about right -- get him through the stadium opening at least. But they wouldn't do that, would they? At least they knew who would replace Castillo; there is no heir apparent truly ready to play centerfield.
Conk -- they do have the Canadian lumberjack and the Incredible Growing Catcher, but the rest of the lineup looks like a bunch of garden gnomes. Mauer, by the way, is going the way of Garnett in respect to his height. Remember when Garnett didn't want to be listed at 7-foot-1 because he didn't want to be typecast as 7-footer who has to play inside, so some of the local media took to referring to him as "6-foot-13." Mauer might be a legitimate 6-foot-6 but nobody's ever heard of a 6-6 catcher so he'll stay 6-4 in the team's media guide until the move him to third base or the outfield in 2009 or so.
RJ -- this is exactly like the Mientkiewicz mess, and they survived that one OK. I'm guessing this will blow over, but it's gotta get old for Terry Ryan. How can he justify paying millions for guys who can't keep their emotions in check when they don't get their way?
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