Friday, July 20, 2007

"Hook" Us Up!



Well, it’s buy or sell time for Terry Ryan and the Minnesota Twins, and a decision needs to be made in the next couple of days. The way I see it, we have two (and only two) options: trade for Dmitri Young or trade away Torii Hunter. There are no other options in my mind. Here are the arguments for each possibility:

The case for Da Meat Hook is simple: he’s a .300 hitter with some power that could immediately infuse some life into our lineup. He can be had for a relatively cheap price, and it’s a move that would make Hunter happy (and in turn give us another bargaining chip as we try to resign him this winter). Does Young have some personality issues and a quick temper? By all accounts, yes. But maybe that’s the kind of thing this team is missing. Or maybe coming here would calm him down. The Twins clubhouse could have that team-oriented, New England Patriots-type of effect on him. If he does turn out to be a problem, his contract is up at the end of the season anyway.

The other option is to trade Hunter for prospects (preferably of the hitting variety). He’s likely going to leave via free agency at the end of the year, so why not get something for him while we can? Plus, you take his potentially huge contract out of the equation for the future payroll of this team. Keep in mind that Justin Morneau is up for arbitration again this year and Johan Santana can potentially become a free agent after next year. Signing these two guys is absolutely essential to the future of the franchise, and they aren’t going to be cheap (especially Santana). So if you could save some money to make sure that you pay these two, then that might not be the worst idea.

If you are going to trade for Young, it needs to be done in the next few days before we fall further out of contention for the division and/or wild card. If you wait any longer, it could all be futile, and you may as well become a seller and plan for the future. Either way something has to be done…soon.

My choice? A brand new Meat Hook in the middle of our putrid lineup sounds good to me…

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