Orlando Hudson still lingering on the market.

In the Twinscentric Offseason GM Handbook, we speculated that Orlando Hudson would be the most desired free agent second baseman on the market. After all, his wOBA in the past three years is the sixth-highest (.353) among second basemen, plays above average defense all while turning just 32-years-old in December.  With that in mind, we pegged him primed for a multi-year contract (three years) with an average annual value of $6 million. Turns out, we were the only ones that thought so and in yet another offseason, the market is collapsing in on Hudson.

 

Since the hot stove action began, players that we viewed as inferior second baseman have been signed. Placido Polanco (Phillies, but moving to third base), Jamey Carroll (Dodgers) and Ronnie Belliard (Dodgers) all have found teams. What’s more is that Polanco, two years Hudson’s elder, wound up with the exact contract from Philadelphia that we had earmarked for Hudson.

There are several unbelievable positive attributes about Hudson that are worth mentioning. His 2009 season with the Dodgers in which the switch-hitter produced a batting line of .283/.357/.417 proved that he was still very capable of being an offensive threat even after moving away from Arizona’s Chase Field. That condensed ballpark in the desert allowed Hudson to hit a stalwart .294/.365/.448 between 2006 and 2008. By all accounts, Hudson is poised to continue that production. His BABIP (.332) was thirty-two points above the league’s average, which in some cases would be a sign for some regression, but as a line drive/ground ball hitter with speed, he is very capable of continuing a BABIP that outperforms the norm. Likewise, his career .348 on-base percentage holds up well when you consider his maintained walk rate that is also typically above average. This means that Hudson’s 2010 season is not as contingent on him hitting safely to buoy a respectable OBP (unlike Delmon Young whose lack of walks makes it difficult to hold an OBP above .340).

Furthermore, he’s havoc on the base for the opposing team but very conservative at the same time. In the past three years, he’s swiped just 22 bases, succeeding with an outstanding 84.6% rate. Similarly, in ‘09, Hudson went from 1^st-to-home on doubles eight times in 11 opportunities. This was the seventh highest in all of baseball. To be clear, this is not necessarily a repeatable skill, but if you take into account for the fact that he was on base 65.2% of the time in his career with his quickness, there is a strong likelihood that he will be on base to motor home if his team has some doubles machines behind him (i.e., Mauer, Morneau, Thome, Cuddyer, etc). When you couple this with his plate skills, you see that Hudson makes for an ideal number two hitter.

Reviewing his qualities, Hudson is a product that should sell itself, not the kind of good that needs to be coerced into buying, right? However, the only really suitors left for Hudson appear to be the Washington Nationals, (oddly) the Seattle Mariners and the Minnesota Twins – and even those doors are closing fast. According to Bill Ladsen, Washington’s MLB.com reporter, the team has attempted to woo the free agent but Hudson and the Nationals are not seeing eye-to-eye financially. Hudson had originally sought a $9 million, one-year deal – slightly better than his 2009 contract which came to $7 million total with incentives. Uninterested in paying retail, the Nationals offered a one-year, $3 million contract worth $4 million based on incentives. Despite not getting his desired amount, Hudson appears to have little designs on playing at this discounted rate.

The Twins, meanwhile, have announced that they are strictly Wal-Mart shoppers, only interested in the low price due to their budget limitations. Joe Christensen blogged that he had a gut-feeling that the Twins would pass on Hudson even if his price tag was reduced to $3 million dollars. Even at this extreme reduction, I've got to say that I agree with him. Christensen continued by citing the team’s hopes that Alexi Casilla would rebound to fill the number two spot in the order. Naturally, this inspired outrage among the faithful. Use whatever method or metric you wanted it is impossible to come to a conclusion where Casilla is a better option than Hudson.

Before you head to your pitchforks, consider this: A recoil season is not out of the question for Casilla. While developing in the system, Casilla has shown the capability of getting on base consistently while making a high rate of contact. For the most part, he’s continued that in the majors, exercising a high-walk, low-strikeout rates but had struggled with putting the ball in play well. His .240 BABIP was insanely repressive as his groundball and line drive batting averages were severely below the norms which submarined his entire season. As a career .298/.371/.375 minor league hitter, he has been Orlando Hudson without the pop. Sure, he’ll never achieve the same power numbers as Hudson but he could reach base more frequently and do just as well while on there (Casilla swiped 11 bags without being thrown out). While he has only shown a small portion of that side of him, if Casilla rebounds and plays to his potential, he could be every bit as equal to Hudson but of course, there’s the rub. Whereas Casilla is skilled enough to be Hudson’s equivalent if given an opportunity (and at a price that fits the budget), the guarantee of Hudson’s track record will cost you anywhere from $3 million to upwards of $7 million but with confidence that you purchased consistency in the lineup.

OtB Twins Notes (01.31.10)

Joe Christensen at the Star Tribune reported on his blog that Nick Punto would need minor surgery on his right wrist (throwing wrist). According to Christensen, GM Bill Smith said it as a minor procedure in order to get it “cleaned up” and will be ready by the time the Grapefruit League games start.

• ANALYSIS: As it stands today, Nick Punto figures to be the Twins’ starting second baseman. Yes, there is obviously room to upgrade in either Orlando Hudson or Felipe Lopez but at the same time Punto is a very serviceable option for an organization that is encroaching on their budget limitations. I do not think I am going out on a limb predicting a better 2010 season at the plate either. In the TwinsCentric Offseason GM Handbook, I wrote that “Lipsticking the pig, Punto hit better than his demoralizing batting average would suggest. Hitting line drives on nearly 20 percent of the balls in play, his BABIP was a suppressive .281. Couple that with an improved walk rate (8.6 to 13.9 percent) and Punto did not deserve the overall numbers bestowed upon him in 2009.” How much better will he be in’10? That remains to be seen. While he will be restrictive offensively because of zero power (career .076 ISOP), he could turn in a batting average around .280 with a .340 on-base percentage if his BABIP this coming season is north of his career .301 average. On the field, he’s potentially the best defensive infielder on the roster. In 510 innings at second in 2009, Punto held a very solid 9.4 UZR/150 (7^th best in a minimum of 500 innings). The Plus/Minus system paints a fairly different picture of his glove, noting that he  is very adept at going to his left but is -8 runs when it comes to defending up the middle.  Under this system, Punto was the 22^nd-best second baseman in baseball. Nevertheless, Punto was the only second baseman with 500 or more innings to not commit an error. He’ll be a value menu item that you are surprised it how underappreciated it is. Still, you kind of wonder if manager Ron Gardenhire’s comments towards Orlando Hudson and the timing of this surgery doesn’t inspire Bill Smith to acquire some form of back-up plan in the event Punto does not rebound quickly post-surgery.

Both Tom Powers at the Pioneer Press and Joe Christensen have heard that the Twins seem unlikely to go through the Joe Crede Injury Experience again in 2010. Powers relayed that it seems that the Twins are “unwilling to go through the Joe Crede ‘day to day’ thing again” while Christensen tweeted that he “got hints that Joe Crede won’t be back, even with another incentive-laden deal.”

• ANALYSIS: Imagine you were running a business and you had little to no idea if one of your employees would show up for his shift. You would certainly let him go even if he was one of the best shelf-stockers or burrito-wrappers even while working at a below-standard wage. It is that kind circumstance that playoff-caliber teams have to concern themselves with when team-building. Whether you are using WAR or VORP or whatever, Crede gave the Twins an above-average contribution but at the same time, without any semblance of stability post-June 1. Despite all the value that Crede can provide when healthy, the uncertainty and the developing Daniel Valencia beckons the organization to move on. In this context, Brendan Harris’s multi-year deal now makes more sense even if he is a lateral move. Outside of Harris and Valencia, the Twins could go with Luke Hughes, Matt Tolbert or Nick Punto.

A potential backup outfield option in Eric Byrnes as been taken off the table. Byrnes signed with the Seattle Mariners after being released by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

• ANALYSIS: I don't think it was a very realistic target for the Twins nor do I particularly like his fit with the team. It’s interesting to watch the reaction of the baseball community after Mariners’ GM Jack Zduriencik does anything. He’s certainly getting the Emperor’s New Clothes treatment from the vast majority of analysts. Is this a naked situation or is he strutting around in fine garments? Yes, the 34-year-old Byrnes had suffered injuries and missed substantial portions of the season since 2007 except that he’s cheap and has hit left-handed pitching well in his career (.284/.345/.511) so he could wind up being a useful platoon partner with Griffey Jr if he can remain healthy. Then again, a right-handed bat at Safeco is not the best environment for one with marginal power.

Charley Walters spoke with the recently acquired JJ Hardy about his horrific 2009 season. Hardy offered this as his diagnosis for his offensive woes: “Pushing off my backside a lot, kind of jumping toward the pitcher. And when you do that, it makes your backside get really long; you can't get to inside pitches. Then you start cheating on them, and you get out in front of off-speed pitches. That was the main problem for me last year; that caused everything.”

• ANALYSIS: Hardy’s own assessment is fairly consistent with the one Alex Eisenberg provided a few months ago. Eisenberg’s video breakdown revealed that Hardy was slowly opening up his stance over several seasons – which is him “cheating” at the inside pitch. Commented Eisenberg “He looks like he strides more in the direction of the shortstop, which might cause his hips to fly open, leaving him susceptible to pitches on the outside corner of the plate.” Reviewing some of his pitch-by-pitch breakdown at Inside Edge, we find that Hardy’s biggest weakness was when left-handed pitchers worked him away. Back in November, I detailed this, showing that all his power was drained as he was unable to elevate pitches the way he did in previous seasons. Step one for Hardy is identifying the problem and step two is correcting it. Although I am predicting a bounce back year of sorts for Hardy in 2010 (there’s just no way it could get worse), he’s got a lot of work to do this spring to correct this inconsistency in his swing.

The Twins are keyed up about Francisco Liriano’s winter showing reports Kelly Thesier. Says Thesier “Liriano also was displaying a trimmer physique at TwinsFest. He said that he's lost some weight since the end of last season by placing more of a focus on his physical conditioning -- including running more often. The Twins have taken notice of the changes and are pleased by what they've seen.”

•  ANALYSIS:  Liriano has been the talk of the Twins blogosphere following his unbelievable showing in Game 9 (yes, 9) of the Dominican League series broadcasted on ESPN360.com. In addition to looking trimmer, his velocity was up and his slider had some vicious bite more reminiscent of ‘06. “Confidence” seems to be the tag word thrown around along when it comes to Liriano’s ’09 season, however, that’s more of a catchall jargon used when results are bad (“He’s lost his confidence”) or when they suddenly reemerge (“He’s throwing with confidence out there”). Typically, there is a physical change that a pitcher cannot adapt to which leads to the poor output. In Liriano’s case this was his surgery. Prior to the TJ, Liriano would cock his elbow well above his shoulder (here is a clip from BTF from ’06). This is scap loading or the dreaded Inverted W. Since his surgery, Liriano has adjusted this to load with his elbow below his shoulder when in the cocked position (Andrew Kneeland of TwinsTarget.com has a good video collection to view of this motion). Liriano had trouble adjusting to this new arm action (think about all the new muscle memory he had to learn in a short span). The Dominican performance shows that he can keep his new arm action and find success. The “confidence” is just a byproduct of him adapting. Rant notwithstanding, the strides that Liriano has taken should give the Twins confidence that they could have the division’s best rotation.      

What's Next for Neshek?

Ever since he burst onto the scene as a dominating set-up man in 2006, striking out 53 in just 37 innings of work, people have debated Pat Neshek's motion. Due to its unique quality from start (where he does not raise his lead leg) to finish (after the arm's whipping action concludes with him seemingly firing an imaginary gun in the air), his mechanics became a polarizing subject. One group focused on his biomechanics and chain-fluidity questioned whether he could remain healthy in spite of little to no power generated from the bottom-half of his body; the other group favored the results over the process said don't fix what's not broken.

Without question, Neshek’s unorthodox delivery raises plenty of eyebrows. It’s funky, quirky and seems to hypnotize opponents. Yet somewhere in that organized chaos, there was something putting undue stress on his elbow. By his own admission, Neshek is incapable of changing his delivery. According to Kelly Thesier, while traveling on the Twins’ Winter Caravan, Neshek was asked on more than one occasion if he had designs on altering his deliver since the injury. Neshek said "I can't really throw another way. Everything is going to be the same. Some people think I got injured because I throw a funny way."

If he cannot change, what does this mean for him and the organization?

What stands out to me the most about his mechanics while re-watching this clip from baseballthinkfactory.com, is that Neshek does a significant amount of scap loading. Essentially, scap loading is when a pitcher forcibly pulls his shoulder off of the acromial line, exerting effort to move their arms towards first base (if they are right-handed) or third (if left-handed) and the north-south invisible axis between second base and home. You should be able to pick this out in the pitching clip above but certainly the photo below. This disrupts timing and often puts stress on the shoulder and elbow. This, more than anything else, is his biggest problem.

A

Admittedly, the merits of implementing this type of arm action have been contested. Carlos Gomez, a one-time contributor to TheHardballTimes.com, is a major advocate of this. In a 2007 write-up on Jake Peavy, Gomez tried to explain why he is in favor of scap loading by taking the reader through an exercise to illustrate his point: “Stand up, elbows at shoulder height (or slightly below), forearms parallel to the ground and at a 90 degree angle with the upper arm. Now, imagine someone is behind you and slowly elbow that person without rotating your torso. Feel that stretch in your pec/shoulder? That elastic loading and subsequent unloading of the shoulder (and the correct timing of it) is a big driver of arm speed. Think of it as stretching a rubber band and then letting it go.”

This can generate velocity. No question. For someone who used little of his lower body in his mechanics, Pat Neshek was able to reach around 90-mph on his fastball. Still the real issue is, at what cost? 

Kyle Boddy at DrivelineMechanics.com, on the other hand, is staunchly against it's use. Boddy used some weightlifting science to reaffirm his belief that scap loading is detrimental to a pitcher’s arm. Boddy writes: “For those people who are educated in the field of exercise science and weightlifting, they will all tell you that proper bench press form involves stopping when the elbow is right at (or just beyond) the shoulder line and no further. Why? It is simple: This position of shoulder horizontal abduction is mechanically weak.” Similar to Gomez, Boddy continues by referencing an article from Real Weight Lifting to educate why, mechanically, this is not suited for the body:  “[I]magine you were lying on the bench press. Put your arms up in front of you and hold the imaginary bar. Flair your elbows out to 90 degrees, like most people do on the bench press. Now, pull your elbows back and stretch your chest as if you were lowering the bar down. You’ll find that it’s hard to pull your arms back past a certain point, and you feel a stiffness or tension in the back of your shoulders, behind the rear delt. That feeling is your rotator cuffs being compressed against your shoulder blades, and telling you that the shoulder is not meant to flex in that direction.”

Meanwhile Chris O’Leary, another pitching mechanics guru, believes that scap loading’s use falls somewhere in-between those stances. By his account, O'Leary suggests there to be a correct way to scap load and a dangerous way to scap load. In his dissertation on the practice, O’Leary identifies numerous pitchers whose mechanics have a variation of scap loading. On the list are Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens and Tom Seaver. What trait all these pitchers’ share is that they keep their throwing elbow below their shoulder. The riskiest method of scap loading, says O’Leary, is just the opposite: when a pitcher raises his elbow above his shoulder line creating what he refers to as the inverted W. In the essay, O’Leary names several pitchers who are guilty of this method including Anthony Reyes, Jeremy Bonderman and Mark Prior. All of those pitchers have had extensive arm and shoulder issues and major corrective surgery (Tommy John and rotator cuff). Looking at the picture below, you can see Pat Neshek belongs in this group. 

Neshek’s method of scap loading surely qualifies as an inverted W. Unfortunately there is an extended trail of scar tissue that originated from pitching like this. He has already admitted he will not make any adjustments. Without any alterations to this approach, I suspect that he is highly susceptible to a slew of injuries, more so now that he’s closing in on his 30’s and he ages.

From the organization’s standpoint, the Twins have navigated through almost two complete seasons without his assistance and do not seem to be convinced that he will (1) return to his pre-injury form or (2) stay healthy. In fact, they built their bullpen anticipating future hiccups. Acquiring set-up Jon Rauch at the trade deadline in ’09 demonstrates this mentality. Unlike some of the other potential trade targets, Rauch’s contract extended through 2010 giving the organization additional cushion if Neshek never fully rebounds. Likewise, although some payroll could have been cut by allowing Jesse Crain walk, instead the Twins offered him arbitration. The Twins are prepared for life without Neshek.

Thome Reactions.

For $1.5 million and some change, you can hardly find much to criticize about the signing of Jim Thome. Is he ideal? No. He’s one-dimensional, not a two-hitter nor a second or third baseman. I still maintain a cautiously optimistic stance that if you limit his exposure strictly to right-handed pitching, he’ll give you an above-average boost of power when needed and give the Twins roughly one additional win. However, judging from some of the evidence in his ’09 season that I highlighted recently, there are some hints that Thome could (emphasis on could) be in for a sharp decline in ’10. That’s where the cautious part comes in. Yet at $1.5 million, I’m more than willing to take on that potential risk for a high reward.

But let's look at other reactions:

On Twitter, Jonah Keri, a distinguished baseball mind found at Baseball Prospectus and many other places, declared the Thome acquisition to be the best of the off-season thus far. More so that Jack Z's Cliff Lee maneuvering. That's a ringing endorsement. Still, I'm leery that Thome would get the necessary prerequisite at-bats in order to meet Keri's vaunted expectations. According to Joe Christensen, Bill Smith's statement was that the front office's expectation was to have Delmon Young as the everyday left fielder, Jason Kubel DHing and Thome available off the bench. Of course the message from the field general was a tad different. Kelly Thesier, MLB.com's Twins beat writer, tweeted that Ron Gardenhire said that Thome won't just come off the bench, he'll get plenty of time at DH. Either way, between divvying up plate appearances among Kubel and Young, his injury potential and general decline, 250 plate appearances seems like a reasonable expectation.

At Bleacher Report, Dan Wade made some critical point regarding the AL Central bullpen structure: all of the closers are right-handed. Having Thome on the bench and calling his number rather than Brian Buscher, Alexi Casilla or Jose Morales gives the Twins a large weapon to deploy at a critical situation. Meanwhile John Bonnes details the probability of having one-run games in the ninth inning and what that Thome home run would mean to the Twins. This is the element that makes me consider this a very solid acquisition. Thome obviously upgrades the bench and in key situations. And Thome feels like he can improve upon his recent foray into the realm of pinch hitting by returning to the AL Central: "The one thing that was a little difficult for me is I never knew the relievers," Thome said. "I wanted to get back to the American League, but I also wanted to be back in the division where I knew the relievers."

Matthew Steuck, otherwise known as Ubelmann at stickandballguy.com, dices up last year's pinch hitting moves by Ron Gardenhire and analyzes what this means for Thome. By Steuck's account, the Twins pinch hit for righties 42 times in '09 - using mostly Brian Buscher (22) and Jason Kubel (13) as the left-handed pinch hitters. So Thome can possibly see 35-40 pinch hit calls in '10.

Meanwhile, Aaron Gleeman implores the Twins to give him a more substantial role that just pinch hitting. Along those same lines, Nick Nelson mentioned that the Central has some very solid right-handed starters. With the likes of Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke, Jake Peavy and Justin Masterson waiting in each series against division opponents, the Twins would be served by a lineup that had the right-handed mashing Thome.  That's roughly 60-70 plate appearances right there without including righties outside of the division. 

While most people are inclined to say Delmon Young and Jason Kubel are similar defensively, ESPN's Rob Neyer notes that Young is a better defensive option of Kubel (but goes on to say Kubel will make up for his lack of defense with a potent offense). I like to bring up too, that Neyer also chastised the Twins for signing Jason Kubel for multiple years last winter. 

The Thome Paradox

Reports emerged first from a Chicago radio station then later confirmed by Joe Christensen that the Twins were indeed considering bringing in the mammoth slugger, Jim Thome. According to the Star Tribune reporter, a Twins official reiterated that the team has “real interest” in the 39-year-old and “haven’t ruled out their chances of signing him.”  This recent development has sent Twins fans agog for the first time since the news about Jarrod Washburn broke.

 

Thome’s role in the overall puzzle isn’t exactly defined. MLB.com’s Twins beat writer Kelly Thesier later tweeted that the expectation would be to limit Thome to 200-300 plate appearances. In a follow-up article on the Twins website, Thesier noted that, as it stands, the organization will enter the 2010 season with a backup catcher, a 5th outfielder (possibly Jason Pridie), an additional infielder (likely Matt Tolbert) and one additional vacancy of which Thome would fill.

 

In an ideal world, Thome would become the Twins equivalent of Cliff Floyd for the Rays in 2008. Two years ago, the Rays had a very young roster and decided they needed an injection of expertise to be a leader in the clubhouse and be able to fulfill designated hitter duties against right-handed pitching. Bringing in the often-injured Floyd, and they gave the 35 year old 284 plate appearances, the bulk of which was against righties (272), and he responded by hitting .268/.353/.466 with 11 home runs that year. Overall, he supplied Tampa Bay with 0.6 WAR for $2.8M contract. Thome, in comparison, has been much better against right-handed pitching then Floyd. In ’09 at 38 years old, Thome hit .262/.383/.498 with 18 home runs in 329 plate appearances in those favorable match-ups. If able to produce a similar line for the Twins, it could easily give the team a 1.0 WAR role player.

 

If the Twins do bring in Jim Thome, there are some inalienable truths that need to be accepted.

 

In the twilight of his career, Thome has witnessed numerous other skills erode. First it was his defense. This was not exactly a surprise as the lumbering lug would have had to improve during his prime years to even be deemed adequate. The Indians tethered him to first base in the late 1990’s, hiding his defensive shortcomings, where he stayed until 2006. Since being signed by the White Sox, Thome has been on the field with his pitcher for all of 28 innings. So he could play first in an emergency just like a skateboard could get you across country if necessary, but god, why? He’s a designated hitter or pinch hitter. Period. End-o-story. Essentially, what this means is that the Twins now have TWO left-handed designated hitters in Jason Kubel and Jim Thome. If Ron Gardenhire wants both of them in the lineup against a right-handed starting pitcher, Kubel becomes an outfielder at the expense of either Delmon Young* or Michael Cuddyer. Simply put, Kubel  is a slightly worse defensive outfielder than either Young or Cuddyer. The Twins already had the second worst defensive outfield in baseball last year. More playing time for Kubel means an incrementally worse defensive outfield next season. Did with not learn anything from Detroit or Seattle? Upgrade, not downgrade, your defense.

 

*Were we not led to believe the underlying message sent when trading Carlos Gomez that Delmon Young would see more time and thus find a groove at the plate that he was unable to because his playing time was so chaotic? Now the Twins are considering once again removing him from the lineup two or three times a week? Am I on crazy pills?

 

In the same vein, if there is an inverse for terminal velocity, Thome’s reached that. He’s so slow that the laws of physics will not allow him to go any slower. According to the billjamesonline.net “skills assessment” section, Thome is in the 11^th percentile for running. This isn’t surprising considering each one of his legs weighs the equivalent of a dead sun. There has been a pattern that shows his ability to motor around the bases is becoming difficult without the assistance of a segway. In ’07 he netted -7 bases. The following year, it was -11. On the bases this past season, his net gain was -15. Likewise, his speed score, a statistic developed by Bill James, is at a new career low of 1.0 (Adam Dunn’s 0.8 was ’09 worst while Michael Bourn led baseball at 8.6). So once he does get on base, the odds that he will circle the set entirely without the assistance of a long ball are slim (he scored just 19 times without the help of a home run in ‘09). While his on-base percentage has remained outstanding as he still has the capability of drawing walks, however once on base the Twins will be forced to decide if they need to use a pinch runner or suffer the slow-moving consequences.

 

Nobody is suggesting that Thome still can’t hit for power - after all he's strong like bull and has been well-above average every year in that department since 1993. Even so, there are developing indications that while flirting with 40-years-old, the power is primed to decrease. His slugging and isolated power numbers have dropped considerable since 2006. As you can see, with the exception of his injury-riddled 2005 season, Thome’s isolated power has started its grand descent, potentially ripe to drop from the "Good" area to the league-average line:

Furthermore, with all this aging comes a reduction in bat speed. Signs that Thome’s swing is starting to slow down can be seen at hittrackeronline.com by referencing his home run distribution maps. According to his home run chart, Thome pulled just four of his 23 home runs to right, hit seven to center while 12 went to left field (47% to right/center):

 

This is a stark discrepancy from 2008 when 24 of his 34 home runs were to right and center (70% right/center):

Overall, bringing in a Jim Thome who is a one-trick pony limits the team’s versatility. The need of a pinch runner on the roster is a necessary. And, as shown above in his power, there are questions regarding how much the trick pony has left. The Athletics rekindled Frank Thomas’s career in 2006 in his age-38 season which allowed him to parley that into a two-year deal with Toronto. However, as Thomas slipped into his age-40 season, his skills ebbed beyond the point of being serviceable. I highlight this because Thome happens to be the third most similar player to Thomas as well as entering his age-40 season. Players of a certain age regress hard.

Certainly he could be a useful piece. Keep in mind that “useful” and “right piece” are two entirely different things. What would be a better fit is targeting a right-handed hitter, one who can supply defense in some capacity, to give the team more flexibility instead of limitation. If the Twins’ investment is small ($4 million or less) and the expectations are low (Cliff Floyd-like implementation) then acquiring Thome would be a useful piece to the puzzle.