Goodbye Cuddy

[Scrod]

Sounds as though Cuddyer will be gone with the signing of Josh Willingham. Hard to understand as a fan, but things needed to change. Only time will tell if it was a good move.

[4baller]

not saying this is a bad move but Cuddy is way to valuable to just let go the man can play pretty much anywhere if need be. its terrible for the community and the state the man has done alot for the state and twin cities area outside of baseball. If he doesnt resign which i highly doubt he will now i hope for the best

[SledNeck]

Great move by the Twins.

Willingham was about to get away and obviously the twins couldnt afford to wait any longer for cuddy to decide.

[greebs]

I'm sure they gave cuddy every opportunity to take the offer they made him and he must have felt it wasn't enough. With the mauer and morneau contracts, I can completely understand why they didn't offer him more.

I think in the end willingham is basically the equivalent of cuddyer except the pay will be less and we get two draft picks to try to build up the awful farm system that has deteriorated so much the last several years. and if it somehow allows them to have $ left to pick up some pitching help it's definitely a win.

[harvey lee]

Very sad to see Cuddy go. He has been a great Twins and one of the best the last few seasons.

[Moonshine]

Good post Greebs. I hope the critics remember that the Twins offerred Cuddy more than Willingham. It was his decision not to accept. Obviously the Twins would pay slightly more for a guy they know. Two extra draft picks is just icing on the cake.

[Big Tom]

I'm glad the Twins signed someone with some power since Cuddy was committed to playing out the string on his free agency negotiations. I am a little concerned over Willingham's injury history. With Delmon and Kube likely gone,we needed some power. Best of luck to Kubel and Cuddy wherever they end up.

[Rick G]

The Twins say this is not a rebuilding year, they let most of the decent players sign elsewhere, wait one or two more terible seasons and then rebuild Good luck Cuddy where ever you end up!

[Musky Buck]

Good Luck Cuddy and his Twins which would of made a great tv ad like him spitting out the water when Thome is leading the blue ox to the clubhouse, Cuddy has twin kids born couple weeks ago, I like how so many are like good he's gone, but what's replacing him ? Anyone think the world series is within reach ? If not a chance then why not keep him, we're in trouble, Gardy is scrambling to the back of the titanic getting 1 last breath before going under. If Willingham is our power then we're done.

[PierBridge]

Great move by the Twins.

Willingham was about to get away and obviously the twins couldnt afford to wait any longer for cuddy to decide.

Not a great move by any means, we are much worse off with Willy versus Cuddy and thats not arguable at all.

But you are right on the 2nd part the Twins couldn't afford to wait for Cuddy to decide and the move had to be made.

[PierBridge]

How much cash are we saving?

[Musky Buck]

0 savings when Joe signed his deal. Bad grammar but I aint buying tickets at the prices they're getting and asking, that was the nice thing about the dome, think how many summer rec groups will never see target field, time to burn all the old D.Young,Cuddyer jerseys, etc. Time to slap on the Tosoni and Dinkelman shirts. We lost more than a ballplayer in Cuddy, he's the type I hope my daughter can find and date someday, it's sad to see our chemistry going bye bye. Thome,Cuddy,Nathan,Guerreir,Crane,Punto, etc. I bet the Budweiser is getting replaced with some sissy drink now. Man, 2 years ago I thought this is going to be awesome following this group for hopefully another 5 years. Car skidding into a tree head on, just like that our identity is gone.

[PierBridge]

Great post and spot on!

Now that we have a left-fielder barley better than Delmon Young where does rest of the outfield stand? Keep Spaun in center or move him to right?

What a mess!

[Musky Buck]

Not sure if you're referring to my post but I think I was trying to say I'd rather watch and pull for a bunch of guys that have great chemistry and friendships then pay 2 guys 80% of our salary schedule and see if we have any answers at the triple A level and we live in a place where we never or rarely overpay any athlete but we did and now we remember why we don't lol. Sure enough, now players want out and we won't recover from this for quite some time, the ship hasn't quite sunk, but they better put the air in the life rafts quickly.

[greebs]

How much cash are we saving?

at least a few million by the sounds of it although we'll never know what dollar amount cuddy would have accepted. cuddy didn't accept a few million more than what willingham supposedly signed for. guess we'll know how much once cuddy signs although depending on the market and timing, he might end up getting about what twins offered him anyhow. time will tell.

[pegleg]

Cuddy is supposedly a "team" guy but he sure left the Twins hanging. He wanted to finalize his deal prior to December and the birth of his twins but here we are sitting waiting for him still to decide on December 15th. The Twins needed to move on before Willingham, Cuddy and Kubel were all gone.

[B. Amish]

is the willingham deal official yet?

you can't ignore the 2 draft picks we'd get if cuddy leaves.

the 20/20 hindsight on mauer and morneau is really starting to get old. these two were mvp's, best in the game. they got the contracts they deserved. the twins paid to keep them. fans were screaming for years to keep their stars. remember johan?

the twins ponied up just like they said they would with the new park and it came back to bite them. that's the nature of big money long contract deals.

would everyone rather have us go back to spending 40 million total on payroll? you can't have it both ways. if you want them to spend money, you have to realize that these things will happen.

[hanronson]

Yep...it's official...3years/$21 mil...from Twins HSOforum.

[DonBo]

the 20/20 hindsight on mauer and morneau is really starting to get old. these two were mvp's, best in the game. they got the contracts they deserved. the twins paid to keep them. fans were screaming for years to keep their stars.

Couldn't agree more. For as loud as the screaming is for the huge contracts with little payback (so far), can you imagine how loud the screaming would have been if they'd have let these two go? OMG!

Also, I'm not so sure Cuddy is gone yet. No one is beating down the door for his services. He may not WANT to come back to the Twins, but we may be the only team willing to sign him for more than a one year deal.

[PierBridge]

Quote:

Not sure if you're referring to my post

Yes I was, we are on the same page!

Good news were are still in the runnuing for Cuddy!

[Musky Buck]

I wasn't screaming to keep Joe Joe, no way, I was disgusted when I heard he signed that deal, 100 million less and you bet keep him. Told mom and she hates hearing it monthly, but when something sounds too good to be true it always is. But, he is going to have a good year this year thankfully.

[greebs]

strib is posting that they still may be trying to retain cuddy. I hope it's a case where they've decided that they can afford $25 million more on payroll but instead of using it on cuddy that they get a #1 pitcher.

got to wonder if they lose cuddy and don't bring back punto, who will gardy's new pet be?

[LOTWSvirgin]

Punto signed for 2 years with the Boston

[Harmonica Bear]

From ESPN

The drama has apparently come to an end. According to multiple reports, free agent outfielder Michael Cuddyer has agreed to terms with the Colorado Rockies on a three-year, $31 million contract.

Can't thank you enough for the time

[Kettle]

Frustrating thing about this is the evil money has shown, a man that said he wanted to stay here in MN and was offered 24 million and then said he would sign for 30 million in regards to three years. So passed on 8 million a year to shoot for 10 million a year, when you make that much money does it even matter? I just believe that the overall factor for him was the money and not what he had said about staying here. Money the root of all evil.

Kettle