Comments on: UPDATE: The Twins have a deal with Tsuyoshi Nishioka

By: Panda Claus

Panda Claus — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 17:58:07 +0000

As an O’s fan, I was hoping to get Nishioka and was disappointed the team never put in a bid for the guy. And when the Twins won with “only” a $5M bid, I was almost apoplectic. Then it turns out Hardy gets sent to Baltimore for what seemed like reasonable trade pieces, and my viewpoint started to change.

If Hardy holds up health-wise Baltimore clearly has improved at SS. And if Nishioka comes close to his production last year, Minnesota’s move will look good too.

By: sknut

sknut — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 16:39:35 +0000

I was in the boat that wanted Hardy to stay but I got the move from a dollars and baseball sense. I am excited to see what Nishokia brings to the table. I give the Twins credit for reaching out to bring talent in this is an area they have vastly improved upon. Now I hope they use more advanced metrics than they have in the past, maybe Aaron could get a job with the Twins if this HBT thing doesn’t work out.

By: Loren

Loren — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 15:28:56 +0000

Math quibble: As Aaron Gleeman detailed in his post about the A’s negotiations with Hisahi Iwakuma, the size of the total contract has been historically similar to the size of the posting fee, so a $10M contract is a bit high in this regard. I don’t think there have been enough players that have been posted yet to really draw any conclusions from history though.

By: Jeremiah Graves

Jeremiah Graves — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 15:09:03 +0000

**crosses fingers that he’s NOT Kaz Matsui v2.0**

I had a serious man-crush on JJ Hardy and loved me some O-Dawg (even though letting him walk was the right move), so I really, really hope this works out.

To say I’m not overly confident in a Casilla/Nishioka middle infield with–most likely–Matt Tolbert as the super utility would be a bit of an understatement.

Hardy/Nishioka with Casilla as the understudy would have made me feel a whole lot better heading into 2011, especially with the White Sox and Tigers making some strides in the right direction.