Scenarios

Let's run through the possible scenarios involving Twins free agents and personnel decisions:

1. Sign Cuddyer, sign Nathan, let Kubel and Capps leave:
Now what? Assuming the Cuddyer deal is for three years and the Nathan deal is for two, this real limits the Twins UNLESS the idea is to sign and trade Cuddyer. I could see keeping Cuddyer and trading him in July (buying OR selling, hopefully) for pitching help. Regardless, this would leave the Twins with two holes. Maybe Thome gets signed and Dustin Martin promoted? Other free agent possibilities include Bobby Abreu, Johnny Damon, and David DeJesus to fill this LH hitting gap.
Capps as a setup man could get replaced internally or externally, I suppose. The external options are a mess to think about here in early October, so I won't speculate. Carlos Gutierrez could be an internal option to accompany Glen Perkins in the setup role.

2. Let Cuddyer, Kubel, and Capps leave, sign Nathan (my personal favorite): I like this option as this eliminates the need to hope for some midseason trade of one or more of these guys and the fear of having these guys in unproductive times for multiple years. If there was a way to get Cuddyer and Kubel to resign for one year and a total of 16-20 million, that would be one thing. Not going to happen, though. I like the idea of replacing Cuddyer and Kubel with the likes of Bobby Abreu/Johnny Damon and Ty Wigginton/Brad Haupe (Wigginton via trade) on one year deals for likely about the same production given some kind of platoon. Likely cost is 10 million for this year only.

to be continued: