Hey Mr. Smith: Sign Joe Crede!!!

With the start of Spring Training approaching in less than a week, the Minnesota Twins have yet to fill their hole at third base. If you told me before the off-season that the Twins wouldn't have addressed this issue at this point, I would probably think it would be to a lack of quality third basemen available on the free agent market. Yet, that is not the case because one very good third baseman is still available: Joe Crede. The former White Sox third baseman has absolutely killed the Twins over the years with his monster home runs and stellar defense. While it's true that back problems have limited him over the past couple years, he had surgery in the off-season and is reportedly ready to go. I'm not going to go into any statistical analysis because the bottom line is this: a healthy Joe Crede is substantially better than a platoon of Brian Buscher and Brendan Harris at third base. Crede is a perfect fit for the Twins because he is a right handed power bat and plays gold glove caliber defense. He hit 17 home runs in 97 games last year and made the AL All-Star team. When healthy, he is legitimate 30 HR guy. The Twins have shown a reluctance to offer a contract to Crede thus far because of concerns over his health. They say he is only at 75%. Even if he is only at 75% the Twins should sign him. It is not a big risk at all considering they are well under their payroll of last year and they have a decent backup option with the Buscher/Harris platoon. Anyone who says Crede isn't better than that platoon is absolutely crazy and probably hasn't watched him play. It would be a risky signing if you didn't have a backup plan, but the Twins do. It seems that everyone always says that the Twins are one bat short. This is the chance to get that bat and go from AL Central contenders to World Series contenders. Do the deal, Mr. Smith. Sign Joe Crede!