Minnesota Twins Make Casey Blake an Offer

Trade for Kevin Kouzmanoff

Kouzmanoff is my third most-wanted commodity. He has a lot of power potential, but strikes out a lot. Being 27 years old, he still has some years left in the tank, and he has a very reasonable price tag—$410,000 last year. His defense isn't the best and would be about the same as Buscher's.

The thing the Twins most need is a power-hitting, right-handed third baseman. Kouzmanoff fills that void perfectly, but comes bundled with excessive strikeouts. 

Those are the three things that I would do before I ever offered Blake a contract. On the other hand, after thinking about this latest development for a while, I have realized that I am simply glad GM Bill Smith has donesomething.

He has been sitting on his hands for too long. He was pushed around when dealing with Santana and settled for less than what the best pitcher in the league was worth. If he can make at least a couple of major acquisitions this offseason, he will start asserting himself as a force to be reckoned with in baseball.

Blake is a perfect example of a Minnesota Twin. Bill Smith may be attempting to make his team better through a free agent signing—which is what is expected of him. He is too new to break the mold of what the Twins believe in, however, so he may not yet feel comfortable going against countless years of small-ball.

Casey Blake may seem like a minor pick-up, but it could be a modest start to the Bill Smith era.

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