I have no doubt that other GMs know what they’re getting in Willingham, but we’ve seen ridiculous trade deadline deals a million times before (see: Casey Blake for Carlos Santana) and I’m sure we’ll ‘em a million more times.

I’m not saying the Twins HAVE to move Willingham. If there’s not a solid offer out there, well then don’t pull the trigger, but his value is at it’s peak right now…if someone makes a big offer that helps the club in the future, they’d be ill-advised to pass.

P.S. You are aware that WAR is just an arbitrary number yes? It doesn’t actually mean wins.

The Twins have no starting pitching. They had very little to begin with, and what there was either lost its mind for ten weeks (Liriano) or blew up and crashed on the DL (Baker, Pavano) or was not very good (Blackburn) or was Jason Marquis, whose quick cut was a miss on the part of the front office. But in general the bullpen has been OK, the offense is OK, the defense is OK, so really what you need to do here is address a specific concentration of trouble in the rotation. If you add two or three starters (depending on what you do with Liriano) you can vault right into the 2013 AL Central race. Diamond, Gibson, Baker and the rest can fill the #4 and #5 spots if the front three are even average.

Yes, he hits for power. Yes, he’s very popular in the Twin Cities already. Yes, he’s one of the few bright spots on the club this year. He’s also the EXACT TYPE OF PLAYER you trade when his value has peaked. Look at his career numbers, he’s not going to suddenly become a consummate All-Star in his mid-30s. If someone offers the Twins a good return for Willingham, they should take it. He won’t be around or, at the very least, effective when the club is legitimately ready to contend again.

No one on this team should be untouchable right now. Is it going to help the club at all to have a guy hit 30 home runs on a last place ball club in 2012 when they could move that guy for a player or two who contribute to the next winning, playoff-contending Twins team in two or three years?!

Trading him now, before he gets hurt or reverts to his career norms is pretty much the smartest thing the Twins could do. His value has never–at any point in his career–been higher than it is right now. As much as I like the guy and as much as I’d love to see him crush home runs for the next couple of years, those homers mean nothing on a last place club. It’s better to sell high and build for the future, because they sure as hell aren’t going to win a pennant when Willingham is with the club.

The dude has only topped 140 games played twice since becoming a pro and that was back in 2006 and 2007. Since he became a regular he’s averaged 128 games per season with 22 HR, 72 RBI, 26 2B, 64 R, and a .262/.361/.478 batting line. Those solid numbers, but are they worth missing out on a handful of prospect who could actually help the next contending club? People always complain about weak farm systems, well, this is how you build a farm system. You sell high on players like Willingham and stock the cupboards for the future.

Willingham has been worth between 2 and 3 wins a season. Is that going to be enough to put the Twins over the top and into the postseason at any point during his contract? It doesn’t look like it given the current construction of the team. If they can move him–while his value is at its absolute peak–for some younger guys who will be around to help the club when we’re ready to contend again, wouldn’t that be more beneficial in the long run than winning 67 games in 2012 instead of the 64 or so we’d win without him?!

Yeah, it sucks when your team has no hope. As a Nats fan I’ve been there, done that. But trading vets for prospects is the only way to get better sooner rather than later. See All Star Matt Capps for Wilson Ramos (2010), for example.

MLB is a business. Having Josh on the team helps fill the seats, even with a bad record overall. Based on his salary, it makes more sense to keep him. Also, as previously posted, he is one of the few Twins not scared to hit at Target Field. By the way, it says something that his contract (3 years, $21 million) is the largest the Twins ever gave to sign a free agent that wasn’t a re-sign of their own player. In today’s baseball, $21 million isn’t that much. Pujols got more per season than the Twins have ever given as a total on a contract to someone that wasn’t their own player.

but I guess it’s better to be vet-friendly

They have Veterinarians at the stadium now?

(grammar nazi believes it should be losses)