An open letter to Bill Smith

I write this on behalf of a number of Minnesota Twins fans.

Bill Smith, you are the main reason as to why the Minnesota Twins are currently 52-53 and in third place in the worst division in Major League Baseball.

Forget the career years that the Twins are receiving from Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Jason Kubel, and Joe Nathan. Those overwhelming statistical seasons, unfortunately, are being overshadowed by the mishaps made by you and your front office during the off-season as well as the mistakes you guys have continued to make during the 2009 season.

What GM in any kind of mind set gives Nick Punto, one of the worst players in all of baseball, a 2 year, $8.5 million contract? Because the manager begs you for one? Give me a break. It is your job to make that decision, not the managers. If he is threatening to walk away or protest based on the fact that you do not think signing a 31-year old (fu)tility player is in the best interest of the team, then you respond with a 'too bad.' It is not that difficult to see that this was a bad, bad move - especially for a franchise not known for spending money on players that would actually deserve such a contract.

Or what about second base? Did you and Ron Gardenhire really not view second base as an 'issue' after watching Alexi Casilla hit .243/.305/.303 in the second half of the 2008 season? You had to have known, along with everyone else that had watched this baseball team, that the middle infield would be an issue. However, rather than taking the route towards helping this baseball team, you effectively hurt it more than help by allowing the manager (who loves his no hit, scrappy style infielders) to hand starting spots to Punto and Casilla.

And how about the bullpen? Even when you do not consider the injuries to Boof Bonser and Pat Neshek, the Twins bullpen was going to be an issue. Behind Nathan and Jose Mijares who had a solid 2008 season despite some underlying issues that had him in AAA earlier this season, the bullpen was a huge question mark. This was not going to be like 2002 when the Twins could turn to nearly anyone in the bullpen and feel confident doing so. Instead, you had guys like R.A. Dickey, Brian Duensing, Bobby Keppel, Jason Jones, and others fighting for spots in the Twins bullpen. Really? Jason Jones? The same Jason Jones who currently holds a 6.15 ERA in AAA? Nice work, Bill.

Your impact move to address the bullpen was signing Luis Ayala - who was coming off a 2008 season in which he posted a 5.71 ERA between the Nationals and Mets. Again, could you not see the inevitable coming? And when the trade deadline came and passed, you were 'battling your tail off' on the phones during the coming weeks and days leading up to the trade deadline only to watch it come and go; with no move being made to address arguably the biggest need for this baseball team.

The trade for Orlando Cabrera may work out from an offensive standpoint, but Cabrera is not going to help this pitching staff. This staff needed help and it still needs help. Cabrera's defense is arguably going to affect the staff in a negative manner more so than a positive manner, but that argument is for a different time. There were names such as Michael Wuertz, Jon Rauch, and Heath Bell linked to the Twins around the trade deadline...but as you called it yourself, those teams wanted to turn a Larry Anderson into a Jeff Bagwell. You, much like your protege Terry Ryan, just could not part with your precious, untouchable prospects...and the Twins and someone like Matt Guerrier, are going to feel the effects of it.

When Wilson Ramos turns into nothing more than Mike Rivera, then what are you going to think? You had the opportunity, regardless of what teams wanted. I don't know what teams were asking for someone like Wuertz or Bell. No one will know beyond the people that were taking part in the negotiating...but what we do know is that something COULD have gotten done if you would have opted to do so. The Twins, regardless of what people think, have the pieces in their system to get something done.

Speaking of in their system, why is Anthony Slama still in AA? Is it his .204 BAA? His 2.63 ERA? Or his 12.62 K/9? Don't give us the bullshit excuse that he still needs to work on his 'makeup' or 'leadership' qualities. The guy has thrown a major league amount of innings in AA without even sniffing Rochester. You moved his bullpen sidekick Robert Delaney who looks to have figured it out after a rough start in AAA? Why has Slama, at 25 years old and a potential option to help the Twins bullpen, not been moved more aggressively? He's cheap, and he would not cost the Twins an 'untouchable.'

Oh, I know...they must still be hoping for a postseason berth at New Britain and they could not afford to lose their closer.

Or what a starting pitcher? Could you not have gone out an gotten Kevin Correia from the Padres or Jon Garland from the D-Backs? Guess not.

You are lucky Bill Smith; lucky that the players who wanted you and your staff to make a move have been suckered in to thinking that Cabrera is that 'impact' move that could put this team over the top and into the postseason. Forget the beat down that the Angels just provided 40,000+ fans over the last two games. It was just one of those series, right? Wrong. It has been happening all too often for the Twins since the All-Star break. But don't worry, there is also Philip Humber or Reid Santos waiting in the wings to step in, right?

The blame game has long passed the likes of Delmon Young vs. Carlos Gomez. It has moved onto not what you, Bill Smith, have done...but what you have not done. I know there are still opportunities left to the waiver wire deadline, but do we really expect the Twins to make a splash? Their big move a season ago to address the bullpen was bringing back Eddie Guardado who proved to be about as effective as a wet napkin. One can just not afford to put trust into Bill Smith and his front office cronies making a move that will ultimately help this baseball team.

If it were up to the many disgruntled and frustrated Twins fans, you would have never became the general manager of this baseball team. But because the Twins have a 'Twins way' of doing things, you were given such a position...a position off the field that is going to ultimately cost the Twins a chance at winning a very winnable division as we also watch a .355/.426/.592 season go by the wayside.