Cliff Lee to the Twins - do it!

There has been a lot of buzz lately about the Minnesota Twins trading for Cliff Lee. Let's take a quick look at the pro's and con's of such a move.

The Twins are in first in what is now a three team race in the AL Central. A staff ace would not only provide assurance that the squad will win the division, but more importantly is a necessary piece for a playoff rotation that would look pretty solid with Lee at the top.

Not only that, but if the Twins fail to acquire Lee, the Tigers might step in and grab him, making the top of their rotation dominant as he pairs with Justin Verlander. That would be extremely dangerous and is not something the Twins can let happen.

Obviously it is not a secret that going after a guy of Lee's caliber and contract status (rental player) is not part of the organization's history. I support the Twins overall organization philosophy and they do a great job developing  and scouting and they have ever since the young group got the call together for the early part of the decade and started winning divisions.

They clearly have identified how to be successful long term. But it's time to win some series in the postseason, and in order to that, you have to possess an ace in the rotation that can not only survive a potent lineup like the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and Rangers all have; but neutralize them and shut them down.

Having an ace takes pressure off of the Liriano's, Pavano's and Baker's in a short series. You win game one regardless of the venue and all of a sudden you are in the driver's seat.

So clearly it makes sense to add Cliff Lee. But at what cost? This is where the Twins are in the driver's seat right now. They have the young talent and the organizational depth to survive dealing a top OF prospect, top catching prospect and MLB starting pitcher.

If it takes Wilson Ramos, Ben Revere and Kevin Slowey/Nick Blackburn to do this deal that is an absolute no-brainer!

Why? Ramos is obviously blocked by Joe Mauer and his value to a team like Seattle is much greater than his value to the Twins. Seattle's catching situation is dismal at best (I have Adam Moore on my fantasy team, I know from experience!). Ben Revere is a solid young outfielder, but the Twins are currently deep in the majors in the outfield and also have Aaron Hicks among others who are behind Revere and developing to provide depth at the position.

In the rotation, you add Lee so someone is the odd man out. I'd prefer to keep Slowey over Blackburn but in this deal if the Twins have to give up Slowey then so be it. The Twins have Kyle Gibson dominating the minors and he should be ready for The Show at some point next year and potentially a full-time mid-rotation guy (a-la-Kevin Slowey) by 2012. Their 2010 1st Rounder, Alex Wimmers, is a seasoned college pitcher like Gibson and could also arrive by 2012. So long term, the Twins have answers if they don't keep Lee long term and Pavano bolts with him when his deal expires (I believe he's on a 1 year deal currently).

They also have Duensing, Manship and a few others who have experience, so they have the organizational depth to survive losing Slowey.

Aside from all of that, they have the insurance on Joe Nathan's lost season, so they are getting some money back immediately already, and the success of Target Field as a revenue source is certainly as good as they expected and most likely much better.

That means they could be in position to pony-up for a multi-year offer for Lee and/or Pavano to keep them around for sustained success. Is that a probability that they'll be able to do that? No, but it's possible.

And, if they lose Lee, they get 2 1st round picks next year, 1 from the team that signs him (mid-20's?) and another in the supplemental round. So they'll have 3 first rounders, and if Pavano leaves, that could be another 1st rounder or supplemental choice with the year he's had. And the Twins draft well.

The downside of all of this is that they've already paid the bonuses to Revere and Ramos, so the Mariners get cheap young talent that they'll be in control of for a few years, while the Twins will have to divvy up more bonuses to the future draft picks. So this would certainly be a costly move financially for the Twins.

But, we now see the support from the fan base. The Twin Cities loves this team right now, and you see it with daily reactions (for better or worse) - that means the passion is there. If they spend the money on the team, they'll keep selling tickets for years to come.

But if they just stand pat and hope to win another division and just play competitive in a first round exit in the playoffs - the fans will grumble.

We've seen too many first round exits with the Wolves and Twins and even the Wild. The Vikings finally made a serious run last year and the town was electric.

The Twins have shown the ability to electrify the town as well, but they need to go deep in the playoffs or they'll just see a big collective YAWN which will be even more financially devastating to this proud franchise than taking on the Lee contract and having to shell out more bonus money down the road.

This piece was written based solely on opinion - no research was conducted