It’s always tough when the World Series ends, knowing there won’t be another meaningful major league game for five months. The Twins open April 5, in Anaheim, Calif., against the Angels, and then open Target Field on April 12 against the Red Sox. Twins pitchers and catchers report to spring training on Feb. 21, and we’ll be there as the anticipation builds in Fort Myers.
But what now?
Well, the clock already is ticking for the Twins. They have five days to decide whether to pick up Michael Cuddyer’s $10.5 million option for 2011, or pay him a $1 million buyout. Either way, Cuddyer is coming back next season, but it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out.
Teams also have a 15-day exclusive negotiating window with their own free agents. For the Twins, that involves Orlando Cabrera, Joe Crede, Ron Mahay, Carl Pavano and Mike Redmond.
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The annual General Manager meetings begin on Monday in Chicago, and that’s usually a breeding ground for trade rumors, etc. We’ll be keeping up with all of this, though it’s worth discussing a few ground rules.
On Tuesday, when the St. Petersburg Times reported that the Rays were close to dealing 2B Akinori Iwamura, Internet speculation spread that Aki was coming to the Twins, who had cut Brian Buscher from the 40-man roster earlier in the day.
As the Iwamura-to-Minnesota speculation spread, we checked into it and were told it wasn’t the Twins. I got a tip that it would be Pittsburgh, but it wasn’t from a Rays source or a Pirates source, so I refrained from blogging it or Tweeting it until I had something firm.
Hopefully, our readers will appreciate those standards in what figures to be a newsy offseason for the Twins. In the Twitter age, speculation spreads like wildfire. If you see something, and you haven’t read it here, please pass along the tip via e-mail ( jchristensen@startribune.com ), send an @reply on Twitter ( @JoeCStrib ), or comment below. But we’ll use our judgement on what and when to publish, filtering the information as best we can.