I like what Ryan is doing so far. Signing useful, cheap, pieces has always been something he struggled with. First two this time around look real good.

Carrol for $7m/2 is very solid.

Now, supposedly, Doumit at $3m/1. I like this one even more. He might be a mediocre/bad catcher but he's a career .271/.334/.442 hitter and is .275/.336/.461 vLHP for his career.

clearly they signed doumit to back up drew butera when mauer moves to 1b and morneau retires

Yeah as pathetic as it may seem these two moves are significant upgrades.

Carroll has been about a 2 war player the past couple years, and if he does that again would be a 4 war upgrade over what we put at SS last year. Plus he can take a walk and "handle the bat" which I'm sure Gardy will love. His .359 OBP would've been 2nd on the team last year.

It doesn't seem like they will play Doumit at catcher much, but he can fill in at 1b/rf/dh and is a good platoon bat.

Also his career line is pretty similar to Cuddyer's, and comes at a fraction of the cost. It remains to be seen how good of a clubhouse guy and warrior he is though.
Doumit- .271/.334/.442
Cuddyer- .272/.343/.451

Already commented on this in the MLB, thread, but I think you two sum it up pretty well and am pleased with both signings. Doesn't make for the most exciting headlines, but I'll take two solid, cheap acquisitions over trading our best young players for relievers any day.

Have a feeling we'll mostly see Doumit filling in at 1B/RF/DH, so I'm sure Drew will stick around.

Remains to be seen how good both are at battling their tails off and getting after it.

o great, Doumit is a disabled list regular and also has concussion issues. should fit in perfectly

Nathan to Rangers. Hell of a run it was.

$14.5m/2 for Nathan doesn't seem terrible to me. Bit of a high-risk signing but at that price it seems like a good risk if you can afford it.

still seems twins need to sign at least 1 reliever, prolly 2 now w/ 1 being a closer. seems like we should be fine from the left side but def need a righty or 2. also, are we gonna get a starter through FA? i mean we almost HAVE TO; did anyone see how awful the rotation was last year? this is should be our biggest area of concern imo.

Starter through FA seems unlikely. Your 2011 starters, imo:

1. Baker
2. Pavano
Blackburn
Slowey
Liriano
Duensing
Swarzak

Here is a good look at the reliever FA market that does a good job of ignoring all the guys who are going to get overpaid:

http://aarongleeman.com/2011/11/15/o...get-relievers/

Some of those guys have been signed now, but I think most of them are still available.

Annnd, just as I post that, the Twins are supposedly interested in Chris Capuano.

And now Capuano has signed with someone (maybe the Twins?)

Dodgers $10/2. Seems like a decent deal.

He pitched better than his peripherals showed last season, but I'm kind of glad this didn't happen given his history.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/73...-one-year-deal

Yuck.

This seems like a move Bill Smith is perfectly capable of making. Why tease us fans by removing him?

Single game tickets go on sale Feb. 25...better start lining up!

4.75mil + suppl. pick is a lot for a middle reliever... oh wait is he gonna close?!? !@#$ me.

Don't worry guys...hes a proven closer!

noooooooooo!

wtf

Sigh. Duck.

Sooooo I just got a text that we traded Slowey for a PBTNL. I'm gonna assume it was my buddy trolling me and I'm gonna plug my fingers in my ears and go say, "la la la la la," until April, seems like a good plan.

lol twins. the slowey trade is even worse than the capps sign.

i guess i'm happy for slowey though. i still can't believe they left him off the playoff ROSTER that one year

So tilted I couldn't spell PTBNL.

Buy high, sell low.

#twinsway