Why trade Slama or Swarzak for a one/two year fix? The Twins are not winning the World Series this year...even with the mighty Sanchez added. Their young team is getting older and better. The window of opportunity for this group of Twins is far from closing. With this core of stars, they will be competitive for several years to come. They have middle infielders coming up... Tolleson, Plouffe, even Casilla will be back and improved. But the Twins are not one piece away this year...let them make a good run at the Tigers, maybe even squeak into the playoffs and let the young pitchers face the fire. Then Next year the rotation and bullpen will be much better...Mauer, Morneau, Kubel and Cuddyer will be still in their prime, Young and Gomez will be a year older, Span will be a star and team chemistry will be strong.
Team chemistry might also get hurt when the weakest spots don't get attention. A catcher might think about the ring he won't win in the Twin Cities. A couple of years ago the cellar dwellers went after Morris and Davis and were lucky Knoblauch and Erickson stormed the stage and it worked out. Twins could have won it all last year had't the FO thought about the future too much. But Garza and Santana were traded away for future. I don't think this group on its own will mature that well.
gweilo, how much future does Swarzak have in Minnesota if he's blocked by a string of five young, good starting pitchers? Although many are far from consistent, I don't see Swarzak taking any of their places right now. With that said, it's nice to have a sixth option for the rotation that can be relied upon.
Also, Slama is 25-years-old and still in Double-A. He certainly has a future, but his age is against him and the Twins could probably get a solid return for him.
Many people suggest that we trade guys like Duensing, Mulvey, Tolbert, Buscher, etc., but no team in baseball will give up anything of value for any of those players. In order to get something in return, we need to give something in return.
If you're fine with sending Matt Tolbert out to second base every 2-3 games and with Duensing try to establish himself in the bullpen, that's all fine and dandy, but we'll never win a championship with the current roster we have. We could be close, although we probably don't look like it.
Also, Sanchez is thought of as a high-character guy, I'm sure he'd fit in the Twins' clubhouse just fine.
Commenting by HaloScan
