How scary would the Twins be if they still had D. Ortiz?

[chinch sacs]

It would make a dangerous line-up look more like the Red Sox or Yankees...

1. Castillo (2B)
2. Mauer (C)
3. Ortiz (DH)
4. Morneau (1B)
5. Cuddyer (RF)
6. Hunter (CF)
7. Kubel (LF)
8. Punto (3B)
9. Bartlett (SS)

Can you believe they just CUT this guy? Not even a draft pick compensation.

[Syler]

It wasn't a terrible move. He was terrible for the Twins, like 54 homers in 6 years and no one possibly expected him to become the player he is today.

[willy-t]

They'd get murdered by lefties. Ortiz wouldn't make them elite IMO, better, certainly, though.

[dooz]

Id probably slip cuddyer in at the 2 hole and slide the rest of the order down.

Yeah, that would be a nasty team. But what if they hadn't traded AJ Pierzynski for Liriano/Nathan?

[Snakes Gould]

scary





ps they didnt "cut" him. he was a free agent and they chose not to resign him. and to the comment that he was "terrible" in minnesota: he never got more than 415 abs, and his last season he was showing signs of breaking out hitting 20 hr in about 400 abs. .839 OPS not terrible either. needless to say hes improved every year for the sox every year hes been there. AND the twins let him go before the vaunted 27 year old season, which coincidentally was his first year with the red sox.

[GotowarMissAgnes]

As Ortiz will happily tell anyone, the Twins constantly tried to mess with his swing, trying to get him to strike out less and make more contact. Their loss was Boston's gain. Even good organizations make mistakes sometimes.

[BritSox]

scary





ps they didnt "cut" him. he was a free agent and they chose not to resign him. and to the comment that he was "terrible" in minnesota: he never got more than 415 abs, and his last season he was showing signs of breaking out hitting 20 hr in about 400 abs. .839 OPS not terrible either. needless to say hes improved every year for the sox every year hes been there. AND the twins let him go before the vaunted 27 year old season, which coincidentally was his first year with the red sox.

He was under their control. They non-tendered him.

[A Fleshner Fantasy]

You can say this about a lot of people that were traded though, it's not just him.

[Millhouse]

as a sox fan i'm certainly glad they let him go, but you can't blame them. they would have had to pay him a relatively high salary for a guy who was injury prone and had, they felt, holes in his swing (they always tried to get him to hit to oposite field more, etc.).

[Melo255]

Even good organizations make mistakes sometimes.

Exactly. Every team has plenty of players they have traded or cut that in retrospect would have helped them tremendously. It happens to every team in every sport. The Twins have been arguably the model franchise of the MLB and one mistake, even a really big one, is definitely excusable.