Minnesota Twins Whatnot: June 25

Has the Mike Lamb investment been worth it? Minnesota owes Lamp $3 million this season, and $3.5 million next year. He was brought in to provide an offensive upgrade over Punto, but with poorer defense. He is hitting only .224/.263/.302. What should be done with him?

Dan Wade: Has he been worth it? Um...there’s not really a polite way to stress no enough, so I’m just going to go with: Bear Stern stocks would have been a better investment.

Lamb was brought in because Little Nicky P was so bad last year. Smith was forced to do something, by the fans, by the media, even by Johan Santana’s comments at the deadline last year, about how the team never improves. Lamb was a decent gamble for the money, but the Twins lost. Snake eyes, if you will.

If the Twins can find a buyer for him, sell him off; like Jeff Cirillo last year, and Bret Boone the year before. Lamb was a gamble that failed. Cut bait and move on.

If they can’t find a sucker, MLB's clone of Kevin McHale, a willing partner, it might be time to just to stash Lamb on the bench, since he does have some value as a bench bat.  

Marty Andrade: For a very long time now, teams have been signing and paying over-30 veterans coming off of good years a lot of money. They then act surprised over being disappointed in the player's performance and offer excuses to diehard fans.

The reality is that veterans often have similar production over age 30 that under-25 players have. And veterans are very expensive.

Going into this year, Matt Macri and Brian Buscher both looked like they could platoon at third base successfully. Now, of course, Buscher and Macri are platooning at third base. The difference is the Twins are now out over $6 million.

The argument in favor of the Mike Lamb signing is that he was coming off a pair of good seasons with above-average offensive numbers. I got it. I understand that Bill Smith thought he wasn't taking a huge risk. But the fundamental truth of baseball is that players who are over thirty tend to fall very far, very fast, and with little warning.

Signing players over thirty isn't always a bad idea, but it must be done in a disciplined manner. Not a lot of money should be in play, and neither should a huge portion of the starting lineup be put at risk. Most importantly, don't sign mediocre veterans to multi-year deals if you can't afford it.

And the Twins can't afford it. $6 million spent elsewhere could mean a lot to a small time team like the Twins, and it is being thrown away on Mike Lamb, even when the team had younger and cheaper players to do the job.

Lamb should be shopped around for a trade, and if there are no takers he should probably be let go. His salary is a sunk cost, and the Twins need to accept the fact that his removal will mean addition by subtraction.

Belthezar Bumperdingle: I really don't know. Third base has been a circus for the Twins since Koskie left anyway, so it's no surprise that we have questions yet again. Between Lamb and Macri, I take Macri.

As I said earlier, Macri has some potential. He already has a dinger and is batting around .360 in just over a month's worth of off-and-on playing time. No jitters at all for him hitting against the Big Unit last night. I know this is probably jumping to conclusions too early, but the Twins could groom him to be their long-term guy at 3B.

As far as Lamb goes, it's important to note that he has held his own, defensively, and hasn't been the biggest disappointment offensively (Everett has, remember him?). He's best suited as a backup to Macri/Punto, but is that what we want to spend $3.5 million on? Maybe not.

The investment has been less-than-satisfactory, but this batch of new players the Twins got in the offseason are collectively a disappointment, with exception (most of the time...) to Harris and Hernandez.

Andrew Kneeland: No, Lamb has not been worth $6 million. I'm sure he is riding on cloud nine right now, as he believes he has the easiest job in the world.

I am not overly worried, though. Minnesota has Macri available to them full-time as soon as next year, and I think that is the route they need to go. If not a full-time shortstop, maybe splitting the duty with Lamb, who would become the utility infielder.

Third base is no longer a question for Minnesota. Brian Buscher has shown that he wants the job, and I think everyone is willing to give it to him.

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