The #Twins are stupid enough to make #ScottBoras smile on Morales

Yesterday, I deconstructed the claims by Jon Heyman, sports "reporter" at CBS and moonlighting PR scribe for überagent Scott Boras, that designated hitter and pseudo-first baseman Kendrys Morales
was about to get an offer from some team. I went through the entire American League, noting that most teams didn't need for either a DH or a Dr. Strangeglove at 1B.

After knocking out the teams that had no need, near the end, I said:

Other teams? Rays are out of it. Royals and Twins are price-tag challenged. That's pretty true for the A's, too. Astros are that, plus out of it. And, that covers the AL.

So, Mr. Heyman, at least in the AL, there's NO "mystery team." 

That said, I forgot to allow for the stupidity that still populates a fair amount of general managers' offices.

Well, according to Tweets from both Heyman and the more reputable Ken Rosenthal, who's retweeting off of Heyman, indirectly, the Twinkies have bit. Here's Rosenthal:

Morales to #Twins confirmed. One-year deal. Dollars less than Drew but "in ballpark," source says. First reported: @JonHeymanCBS

I Tweeted back that, with Heyman, "in ballpark" was pure fluffery until I saw some numbers. And I stand by that.

The Twins are tied for last place in the weakest division in baseball, by run differential, which I noted in this piece about the Tigers. It is more than likely that no wild card comes from this division. And, since the White Sox just got Jose Abreu back, it's unlikely the Twinkies leapfrog both them and the Tigers.

As for where Morales plays? The Twins have Joe Mauer at first, so it ain't there, even with Mauer in a recent slump. Josmil Pinto, listed at DH by B-R, is at least serviceable, and a lot cheaper than Morales for the moderate-at-best upgrade. They've got other players they can rotate in and out of the DH spot, like Josh Willingham or young Danny Santana, when they're not in the outfield.

Sounds like Terry Ryan just blew some money. And gave Borass a nice, cheesy smile.

And, it's not like the Twins have a lot of house money to play with. Per Cot's Contracts, after cutting salary overhead a fair amount the previous two years, it crept up a moderate amount this year. And, if Morales is getting, say, $8M for the remainder (prorated $12M), the final total could approach 2010's $93 million. Per Deadspin, this would push them to No. 18 among the 30 teams.

As for Twins' fans? I can applaud the "go for it" mentality of Ryan while saying it's likely to fall short. What the team really needs is pitching. Its free agent moves in the last offseason illustrated this, but weren't enough. 

And, that "go for it" mentality may be the reason for this. Trying to compete, even though this isn't the right move to really do it, might put some more butts in Target Stadium seats and a few more eyeballs on Twins' cable TV broadcasts. (Oh, for the days when you could get MLB teams on a non-cable non-network standard VHF, or maybe UHF, channel.)