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Despite needing a right-handed bat and help in the bullpen and at second base, the Twins were unable to swing a deal on Thursday and watched the White Sox add Ken Griffey Jr. in a headline-grabbing move.
“We’re disappointed that we couldn’t make the club better,” first-year general manager Bill Smith said. “Our guys are very resilient. We have a lot of confidence in this group of players.
“But you’re always looking to make the club better and we couldn’t do that today. So in that sense, yes we’re disappointed. But we’d rather make no trade than make a bad trade.”
Smith said he had conversations with several teams throughout the day, but never could match up on offers involving “multiple positions and multiple players.”
That will hardly come as a shock to followers of this small-market franchise, which has always been loathe to risk mortgaging the future for a two-month run at the playoffs.
“We don’t want to make a deal just to make a deal,” Smith said. “We wanted to make a deal that would make the club better and we just couldn’t make that happen.”
Last year, former ace Johan Santana and former center fielder Torii Hunter were critical of then-GM Terry Ryan for not making a deal to bolster the team.
Santana and Hunter are gone, of course, and these Twins ended Thursday just ½ game behind the Chicago White Sox in the division.
“We’re in the same spot we’ve been in the last few years. We have a chance even if we didn’t make a deal,” catcher Joe Mauer said. “Yeah, it would have been nice to add something. But I try not to get my hopes up too much and just worry about what’s going on now and that’s all we can do.”
The biggest needs this year were at second base, where a flourishing Alexi Casilla is on the disabled list with an injured finger, and in the bullpen, which has been without injured setup man Pat Neshek for most of the season.
Casilla saw a doctor on Thursday, and the team said the report was “very positive.” Casilla’s injured finger will be put in a splint for a week and then re-evaluated. If things improve, he will return to the lineup. If it requires surgery, he will be lost for the season.
With four good young starting pitchers in the rotation in Nick Blackburn, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey and Glen Perkins, the Twins did have ammunition to make a move if the right offer came along.
“You’re trying to strengthen your ballclub, but you don’t want to hurt your ballclub,” said manager Ron Gardenhire, who was in the room with Smith all afternoon as the talks were conducted. “That’s what he was trying to do, make some moves that made sense and not destroy what we have here for now and for the future.
“It just wasn’t out there. It wasn’t in the cards.”
The Twins’ best hopes for improvement now rest with players already in the organization. Right fielder Michael Cuddyer has been on the disabled list with a hand injury since the end of June, but has started taking batting practice as he works his way back.
Potential ace Francisco Liriano also has been lighting up Triple-A Rochester, going 9-0 with a 2.51 ERA in his last 10 starts. He missed all of last season after having Tommy John surgery, but could soon be called to action.
Smith declined to discuss Liriano in detail on Thursday, but said he does see the lefthander contributing sometime this season.
“You get both those guys healthy and we should be all right,” Mauer said.
The possibility has been raised of Liriano joining the bullpen as a setup man to Joe Nathan, but Gardenhire quickly shot that down on Thursday.
“No bullpen,” Gardenhire said. “He’s out 16, 17 months, then you start questioning whether he can rebound, get him loose two or three times in three days. That’s not right. He’s a starter.“
