Twins' latest bargain buy

Some people like their baseball teams to be free-spending, power-hitting, power-pitching juggernauts. Me, I appreciate a good bargain. I'm still wearing clothes I've had since eighth grade and I fully intend to run my economical compact car into the ground before I get a new one. So, I kinda like rooting for a team like the Twins, who watch their dollars and are unwilling to mortgage the future to try and snag a few extra wins this year.

The Twins' big mid-season move last week was to sign veteran free agent second basemen Mark Grudzielanek. Reaction from most of the local sportswriters has been to scoff about the tightwad Twins and how they missed a chance to really help themselves by trading for a young up-and-coming second baseman like Felipe Lopez or Freddy Sanchez. I disagree. After watching Grudzielanek play for the Royals for the last three years, I think he's a better option.

The Twins almost certainly would have had to give up at least two pretty good prospects to get Lopez or Sanchez. They didn't have to give up anybody for Grudzy and, though I haven't seen any specific terms of his contract, it had to have been dirt cheap (at least by pro sports' completely warped standards). He's 39 and missed the last two months of the 2008 season after having ankle surgery. He hasn't played a MLB game in nearly a year, so it will take him some time to get up to speed. He can't command much of a salary because he's not a long-term solution at second base.

But the Twins didn't necessarily need a long-term solution. They're still hoping that will eventually be Alexi Casilla. What they needed was a back-up plan and another option to push Casilla, who's hitting under .200. Grudzielanek is a good buy for that role. He may be getting old, but he's still got it. He hit .299 in 86 games last year and won a Gold Glove as recently as 2006. Much has been made of Sanchez' career .302 batting average but Grudzy's is not far off at .290.

Maybe Grudzielanek will never play a game in a Twins' uni. Maybe his ankle will act up, or maybe he will find that at his age he suddenly just doesn't have it anymore. Or maybe, best case scenario for Twins fans, Casilla will get his stuff together and the Twins won't need Grudzy. If so, it's not a big deal — they didn't give up much to get him anyway. But it's just as likely that Grudzielanek will join the Twins some time in the next few weeks, play reliable defense and hit in the high .200s like he always has. Plus he's always been known as a consummate professional who's great in the community and the locker room. He's not likely to upset a team's chemistry and that's a very important quality for any mid-season pick-up to have.

Basically, I'm glad the Twins didn't rip up their farm system to try and get Sanchez or Lopez. Grudzielanek is a better player than he gets credit for and is a great, cheap stopgap measure.

And here's more good stuff for MN sports fans. Jonny Flynn has looked pretty darn good in the NBA summer league and, if this interview is any indication, he's a smart, articulate kid who already talks like a leader:

http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/07/18/nba_20090718_flynn.nba/index.html