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Twins Fail To Land Japanese Pitcher

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According to the great Joe Christensen of the Star Tribune, the Twins attempted to bid for Japanese starting pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma - but were outbid by the Athletics.

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The Twins made a bid to sign Japanese starting pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma, General Manager Bill Smith said today, but according to FoxSports.com, the winning bid went to Oakland.

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According to an ESPN.com ranking mentioned in a MLB Trade Rumors post linked to from Christensen's story, Iwakuma was the seventh-best starter available on the market this year. Oakland will still need to agree to contract terms with the pitcher in order to sign him.

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The Twins already have five starters for next year - Francisco Liriano, Kevin Slowey, Scott Baker, Brian Duensing, and Nick Blackburn - so this brings up a few questions:

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  1. Which of the starters are the Twins looking to dump?
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  3. Do the Twins have more money to spend next year than we assumed? They are, after all, attempting to buy free agents from overseas.
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  5. If they do, is there still a chance they'll offer arbitration to Carl Pavano, even though if he accepted, it could cost the team north of $10 million?
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It's shaping up to be an interesting off-season - and I'm starting to wonder if everything we assumed is wrong.

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Photographs by Micah Taylor, clairity, and Fibonacci Blue used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.