Is this it for the Twins?

Well friends, it may be almost over here in about 24 hours. We hear in Minnesota have grown accustomed to seeing a winning team taking the baseball diamond every year for the past 6 or so years, but that magical ride could come off the tracks in about 24 hours. Yes, baseball’s free agency period is beginning tomorrow, and while it used to pass under the radar here in Minnesota (either we wouldn’t be losing any major pieces or the ones we brought in were nothing to sneeze at, see: Tony Batista) this offseason will spell the fate of the Twins for the next 5 years or so.
Torii Hunter is all but gone, which makes a decision on Johan Santana’s future essential to the Twins now. New GM Bill Smith must do something before the season starts. The way I see it, he has two options. Trade Santana now and get some ready to play outfielders and other prospects to open the new stadium in 2010 or resign him to the most expensive contract in Minnesota Twins history. There is, of course, a third option I’m not mentioning but has been mentioned by many that also follow the game. Trade some pitching prospects for some bats and win in 2008. I’m less than enamored with that idea.
There are problems, of course, with all of the ideas. The first plan is essentially a signal that the Twins are rebuilding. Of course, this is fine if the team eventually does rebuild. Will Justin Morneau want to continue to wear a Twins uniform after he plays through another struggling season? Perhaps not. The other issue? Folks in Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Tampa can tell you that rebuilding sometimes never happens. After living with the Twins through the 90’s, you’d better believe this is something I’m intensely fearful of.
The second plan would cost a lot of money, and I’m not sure that Carl Pohlad would spend much more than that. Sure, we’d have Santana and Mauer locked up, but again, would he want to fork over the cash for Justin Morneau? Michael Cuddyer? Nick freaking Punto? Perhaps not. At least the Twins wouldn’t be bad, but they would mirror the team we have now. More or less irrelevant, but still pesky.
The third, unfathomably bad idea would be to trade away our prospects and then let Santana walk away at the end of the year. Think about that. We have no better than a 1 in 30 chance to win the WS this year and we’re putting all of our eggs in this basket. The next year without Santana, without those vaunted prospects, we would have a pitching rotation that would have Twins fans clamoring for Rich Robertson.
The worst part is, of course, that the Tigers (who acquired Jacque Jones today) and Indians seem to be at a crest in their ups and downs, and the White Sox are much more capable of spending the money it takes to field a consistent winner. If things go poorly for the Twins, at least we’ll have company with the Royals.