Sorry for the delay. Just got out of the annual Baseball Writers Association of America meeting, and when you get a bunch of scribes in one room, it becomes a verbal banquet.
Anyway, I tweeted right before the meeting that some agents were complaining about the Twins' deliberate style during talks. The Twins are interested in a number of starting pitchers like John Lannan, Kevin Correia, Brett Myers, Joe Blanton, Brandon McCarthy and even Ryan Dempster (that's a new name).. But the agents have expected more action from the Twins at this point.
I've heard this before. There's always a cat-and-mouse game at this time of year. Agents are trying to get max dollars for their clients and urge teams to hurry up and make an offer before someone else does. Teams don't want to overpay. So there's a little bit of a staredown.
But this year, the Twins need multiple starting pitchers. So I'm curious to see how long they can play the game before pulling the trigger on an offer.
The starting pitching market is starting to move. Dan Haren is going to sign with the Nationals, who are going for it all. Hopefully other clubs and players looking for matches will speed up the process. Especially in the Twins' case. Some believe Zack Grienke is holding up the entire free agent pitching market.
RULE 5: Hey, the Rule 5 draft is coming up on Thursday, and the Twins have been historically active in it. They have the fourth overall pick and have four spots open on their 40-man roster. A couple stories out there suggests the crop of Rule 5 players is a good one.
Now that the BBWAA meeting is over, I can monitor any developments involving the Twins. Will check back with updates.
