Minnesota Twins: Rating Their Chances of Landing Prince Fielder or Other Stars
With Zach Greinke off the board signing with the Milwaukee Brewers, what if the Twins were in a position to grab their neighbor to the east's other prized possession, Prince Fielder? Bleacher Report will examine this possibility and rate it on a scale of one to 10 with one being the least likely. We will also look at a few other stars in major league baseball and their chances of playing the Twin Cities in the near future.
Prince Fielder
1 of 5
Prince Fielder could quite possibly be the next $160 million man. His agent is Scott Boras who is known throughout baseball for getting much more than market value (to put it nicely) for his clients. Fielder is not only a power-hitting first baseman, but he also is a very good hitter (114 walks last season to 138 strikeouts). This is quite uncommon for a power hitter but Fielder has been able to have this consistency the past two years. His fielding percentage is .997, which was a career high last year.
How does this fit into the Twins' plans? Easy. If Justin Morneau can't come back from his concussion issues, Minnesota would NEED a power-hitting first baseman. For as many good things as Michael Cuddyer did for the Twins the past two years taking over at first base, his value is in the outfield. Fielder will be 27 this year and just coming into his prime.
Now the tricky part: how do the Twins obtain him? Unfortunately it would definitely be a long shot to pull off this deal at the July trade deadline or even sign him as a free agent. In order to obtain him in a trade, Minnesota would at the very least need to package 3-4 of their top prospects in the organization. It's still a possibility though because of the deals GM Doug Melvin has made the past three seasons (Zach Greinke in 2010 and C.C. Sabathia in 2008), the Brewers have lost a lot of depth in their farm system. He may want to restock it with top-level prospects and trading Fielder would do just that.
One other thing to consider—most of the "big market teams" have a bona fide first baseman already: Yankees, Mark Teixeira; Red Sox, Adrian Gonzalez; White Sox, Paul Konerko; and Detroit, Miguel Cabrera. This really only leaves the Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs and Baltimore Orioles as big-market teams with money to spend on Fielder, which may give the Twins a punchers chance at landing him.
Odds of obtaining Prince Fielder: two out of 10 (may go up to six if Morneau isn't able to come back)
Chris Carpenter
2 of 5
The second star that the Twins would love to obtain would be top-line starter Chris Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals. Carpenter is one half of the two aces for the St. Louis staff along with Adam Wainwright. Carpenter has had a series of arm injuries throughout his career but is pitching his best baseball in his mid-30s (he'll be 36 in April).
Carpenter has reinvented himself under the direction of pitching coach Dave Duncan who seems to do this with a Cardinal pitcher every year. Carpenter is in the last year of his five-year, $63.5 million contract and will be looking for one more big pay day before he calls it a career. The Twins are looking for a top-of-the-rotation type starter and Carpenter would fit the bill. He's won 33 games the past two seasons and has pitched an average of 206 innings over that same time frame.
It's hard to tell exactly what the Cardinals are doing with their offense but they are always looking for pitching. If Carpenter would be interested in signing an extension with Minnesota and the Cardinals are out of the playoff chase in June or July, this could be a definite possibility. A possible package around Kevin Slowey may be what it takes to get this top NL starter.
Odds of obtaining Chris Carpenter: five out of 10
Andrew McCutchen
3 of 5
To land a player like Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen would be a complete coup for the Twins. McCutchen is arbitration eligible in 2013 and had a 2010 salary of $423,000. He is a poor man's Justin Upton. McCutchen has hit fewer home runs than Upton (43 to 28) but all the other offensive numbers are close to the same or better than Upton's, including stolen bases (55-23). Gardy is looking for speed. This All-Star provides speed and then some.
McCutchen is a big part of the Pirates' future but it's becoming more and more difficult to figure out what exactly the Pirates are trying to do. Past history shows the Pirates will try and trade their best players (Jason Bay, Freddie Sanchez, Jack Wilson) or try and sign them long term (Jason Kendell). McCutchen is their best player and therefore most attractive trade chip. With his service time possibly putting him as a free agent in 2013, the Twins would be smart to look into the availability of this young star in the making. A deal centered around either Ben Revere or Denard Span would make the most sense along with an arm.
Odds of obtaining Andrew McCutchen: six out of 10
Robinson Cano
4 of 5
If we could rewind time back to 2007-2008, it's possible we aren't talking about obtaining Cano but re-signing him. When then-first-year GM Bill Smith was trying to figure out what to do with Johan Santana, the Twins' Cy Young award-winning pitcher, the Yankees were interested along with most other teams in baseball.
Smith wanted Cano, and for good reason. The Twins were in need of middle infield help and Cano was on the fast track to greatness after posting a .342 average in 2006 and a .306 average in 2007. His steady glove and gaudy numbers made Cano the centerpiece in a potential Yankee and Twins trade. Unfortunately it didn't work out and Santana went to the crosstown Mets for Carlos Gomez and Phil Humber amongst others; none of which panned out, which puts us back to Cano.
Cano was an MVP candidate in 2010 posting career highs in runs, RBI and home runs. He also won his first Rawlings Gold Glove. He is a fixture in the Yankees' future plans and would therefore cost the Twins a king's ransom to get. With that being said, the Yankees are in need of pitching help. Not being able to sign Cliff Lee, trade for Zach Greinke or pry away Felix Hernandez from Seattle has made the 26-time world champion's pitching rotation suspect at best. They are in need of quality arms, which the Twins possess.
This deal seems to be the most far-fetched but undoubtedly any deal would have to center around Kyle Gibson and at least three other prospects from the Twins farm system. This would undoubtedly deplete the Twins pitching for years to come but make their lineup as strong as anybody in baseball.
Odds of obtaining Robinson Cano: one out of 10
Adrian Beltre
5 of 5
As of December 25th, Beltre still remained unsigned. If this were last year, the Twins may have been in the market for the third baseman. Beltre had a monster year for the Boston Red Sox in 2010 knocking in 102 runs with 28 home runs and 49 doubles. His offensive numbers at third base were unparalleled.
Unfortunately for teams that are interested in Beltre, you aren't quite sure what you are going to get. Case in point: in 2004, Beltre hit 48 home runs, drove in 121 and hit a solid .334 for the Los Angeles Dodgers, which was his contract year. Seattle, having money to spend, forked out a five-year at $64 million contract for the third baseman. He never came close to putting up the numbers he did in 2004 with Seattle topping out in 2007 where he hit 26 home runs, knocked in 99 and hit .276. When he signed his one-year, $9 million contract with Boston, people weren't sure what to expect.
Fast-forward to 2011. The Oakland A's as well as the Los Angeles of Anaheim seem to be the front-runners for Beltre's service. The Twins seem to be set at third base with Danny Valencia having the rookie year he did in 2010. This leaves little room for an Adrian Beltre on the Twins roster in the near future.
Odds of obtaining Adrian Beltre: zero in 10
