Those up in arms about the Twins' offseason moves and potential payroll can, at least for the moment, put the pitchforks down. Jon Morosi of Fox Sports reported this morning via Twitter that the Twins are pursuing veteran left-hander Joe Saunders.
Pursuing and landing are two different things, as we know, but this late in the free agency game Saunders might be fetched for a reasonable price. While hardly an ace, he's not quite fifth-starter fodder either. His career line, most of it in the AL: 78-65, 4.15 ERA. He doesn't strike out a lot of batters (5.1 per 9 innings in his career). His best year was 2008, when he won 17 games and was an All-Star with the Angels.
One thing certainly working in the favor of Saunders, who is still only 31 years old: durability. He has made at least 28 starts and pitched at least 174 innings each of the past five seasons.
In other words, he's the kind of bridge pitcher who could help get the Twins back toward respectability, though probably not contention. Still, respectability in 2013 would be a step up from 2011 and 2012.
We'll see, as always, where this goes. Your thoughts in the comments.
