With the Twins moving into their new stadium this April they can afford to throw some cash around. With big holes all over the infield they should consider calling the Florida Marlins. The Twins could offer up lefty pitchers Francisco Liriano, Glenn Perkins, 2B Alexi Casilla, 3B Brian Buscher and a prospect to the Marlins for Dan Uggla, Jorge Cantu and lefty reliever Reynel Pinto. The Marlins need pitching and they also need to trim the payroll so this would allow them to kill two birds with one stone. Uggla and Cantu would make the Twins one of the most dangerous teams in all of baseball. Pinto would give them another power arm to team with Mijares in the bullpen. The Twins need to make something like this happen this winter if they strikeout in the free agent market for a 2B and 3B.

The Twins have five of their own free agents and they probably have an interest in bringing back three of them (Orlando Cabrera, Ron Mahay and Carl Pavano) while they will likely let two of them walk (Mike Redmond and Joe Crede). Moving into a new stadium means that the Twins should be able to throw cash at all of the holes on the roster. No offense to Nick Punto but the Twins need more production out of second base. With that in mind the top three targets at 2B in free agency will likely be Orlando Hudson, Placido Polanco and Akinori Iwamura. If the Twins whiff on those three guys then they would consider Ronnie Belliard, Adam Kennedy, Felipe Lopez or Freddy Sanchez. At shortstop the Twins might want to bring back Orlando Cabrera who played pretty well for them after coming over from Oakland. If the Twins or Cabrera go in a different direction then the Twins will consider guys like Marco Scutaro, Juan Uribe, Alex Gonzalez, Miguel Tejada or Jack Wilson. With money not being much of a object for the Twins this off-season they could make a play for Chone Figgins to play either 3B or 2B. He would give them even more speed at the top of the lineup. Adrian Beltre, Mark DeRosa, Pedro Feliz and Melvin Mora will all probably also be on the Twins’ radar this winter. If Ron Mahay does not re-sign with the Twins they will need another lefty in the bullpen. Joe Beimel, Scott Eyre, John Grabow, Darren Oliver, Brandon Shouse and Jamie Walker would all likely interest the Twins. This should be a fun winter for Twins’ fans as the team will likely act like a big market team for once.

The Minnesota Twins made too many mistakes in this series and were swept by the New York Yankees last night in the Metrodome’s final baseball game.  Once again, a baserunning error turned out to be very costly for the Twins.  Nick Punto thought a ball hit up the middle had gotten through and started to go home.  He thought wrong and was easily gunned down at third by Jorge Posada after Derek Jeter threw it home.  The Twins were completely outmatched in this series though, and the Yankees proved it with both their pitching and their hitting.

Joe Mauer got the lone RBI for the Twins in this contest, and it was his first career postseason RBI.  Mauer’s sixth inning RBI single gave the Twins the lead, but it only lasted an inning.  Alex Rodriguez, who went 5 for 11 with 2 homers in this series, tied the game at one with a solo shot in the 7th.  Jorge Posada followed that up with his own solo shot and the Yankees kept the lead the rest of the game.  It was a disappointing end to an exciting season for the Twins, where they beat out the Detroit Tigers for the AL Central title in the final day of the season.

The Twins have lost starting 3B Matt Tolbert due to a strained left oblique muscle. He could return to action in the post season later if the Twins somehow advance. He played in 2 games against the Yankees in this series and he was 1 for 5 (.200 avg). Brendan Harris will likely step in at 3B. That will make the Twins a better hitting team but weaker on defense. The Twins have added Brian Buscher to the active roster to replace Tolbert.

The Twins have five players hitting over .360 in this series. Joe Mauer and Nick Punto are each hitting .500 in this series. Mauer is 4 for 8 with a double and a run scored and Nick Punto is 3 for 6 with 1 RBI. Next up is Michael Cuddyer who is 4 for 10 (.400 avg) with 1 RBI. Brendan Harris has swung a hot stick too for the Twins as he is 3 for 8 (.375 avg) with a triple, 1 run scored and 1 RBI. Finally, Denard Span has been a pest for the Yankees at the top of the lineup as he is 4 for 11 (.364 avg) with a double and a RBI. The Twins really need to keep hitting as the pitching staff has been having problems keeping up their end of the bargain.