Posted by Dan Wade on Friday, February 5, 2010 at 11:17 am

After Game 163, I went on Marty Andrade’s podcast and said what I’d been thinking for a long time: We’ve judged Bill Smith too quickly.

His first winter on the job, he was essentially handed something of a crisis in the making. Torii Hunter was asking for an unholy sum of money and Johan Santana was already out the door. The Garza-for-Young swap was an unnecessary move, and one that hasn’t turned out well, but if we judged all GMs by their worst moments, the pantheon of good GMs would be very small indeed.

Since the beginning of the 2009 season, you’d be hard-pressed to find a GM that has done a better job of preparing his team to win now without completely mortgaging that team’s future. Since July, the Twins have added Orlando Cabrera and Carl Pavano, both of whom played a key role in the team’s playoff run; Miguel Angel Sano (Jean) and Max Kepler, the top Dominican and European prospects, respectively; and J.J. Hardy, Jim Thome, Clay Condrey, and most recently, Orlando Hudson.

For years, Twins fans could hibernate through the hot-stove season and miss very little—it’s hard to get excited about Ramon Ortiz and Rondell White when that’s all the team does in four months.

This week was simply the culmination of what was already one of the most productive offseasons in team history. Joe Mauer’s extension may not be a done deal, but it is clearly in the works, then came word Thursday that Hudson, thought to be nearing a deal with the Washington Nationals, was in fact close to signing with the Twins.

Rumors flew all day that a deal was done, that it was pending, that he was looking at Cleveland, but finally, at around 10 pm CST, the word went out that the deal was officially completed.

Celebrate, Twins fans, not only did you get the player you wanted, you got the player your team needed most.

Hudson, who was a favorite of many fans last offseason as well, fits the Twins remaining needs to a T. His career OBP of .348 bests Orlando Cabrera’s .313 mark with the Twins last season and throttles Brendan Harris’ .242 OBP he put up when batting in the second spot in the order.

That was one of the major criteria used to judge any signing by the Twins after they acquired Thome: Would this hitter be able to provide a high OBP in the second slot? This is critical, because with Joe Mauer showing more power than he did in previous years, as well as top years from Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel at the heart of the order, the Twins needed a second hitter beside Denard Span to create RBI opportunities for those producers later in the lineup.

Thankfully, Hudson does exactly that, and as a switch-hitter, he doesn’t contribute to the Twins’ overwhelming tilt to the left. Hudson posted the ninth highest VORP among second baseman, despite being benched at the end of the season in favor of what Joe Torre perceived to be the hot hand. When his defense is included, Hudson was a 5.4 win player, which would have tied him for second on the Twins in 2009.

As with investments, past success is no guarantee of future results, but the Twins have acquired a player who could potentially be a key part of a team that goes deep into the playoffs without giving up anything other than money, and given that they are paying him about half of his original asking price, they’re hardly doing that.

I must confess a certain level of surprise that this deal actually happened. The Twins’ payroll, even before adding Hudson was over $90 million, almost 1/3rd higher than it had been in 2009. Hudson’s asking price was $9 million, and while he wasn’t going to get that in this market, he wasn’t advertizing a price cut either. I foresaw both parties looking interested, but getting hamstrung by the monetary concerns in negotiations. It’s a credit to Smith and his staff that they didn’t try to wait Hudson out and see how low they could drive the price, as they did with Joe Crede last year. Such a strategy works if you’re the only one bidding, but Hudson made it clear that he had no aversion to signing with the hapless Nats, as long as he was making what he deemed to be a fair sum.

Signing one player seldom makes a huge difference for a team, but the Twins are at the point where a 1-2 win increase is worth a lot to them, as it can be the difference between winning the AL Central and a whole lot of golf in the offseason. If paying for Hudson took them a bit over their expected budget, then it was money well spent.

Smith has a long career ahead of him, which means not only more time to make smart moves, but also more time to make mistakes. One thing ought to be clear from the last eight months: Smith is savvier than a lot of people, both within Minnesota and outside of it, gave him credit for.

After Game 163, I went on Marty Andrade’s podcast and said what I’d been thinking for a long time: We’ve judged Bill Smith too quickly.

His first winter on the job, he was essentially handed something of a crisis in the making. Torii Hunter was asking for an unholy sum of money and Johan Santana was already out the door. The Garza-for-Young swap was an unnecessary move, and one that hasn’t turned out well, but if we judged all GMs by their worst moments, the pantheon of good GMs would be very small indeed.

Since the beginning of the 2009 season, you’d be hard-pressed to find a GM that has done a better job of preparing his team to win now without completely mortgaging that team’s future. Since July, the Twins have added Orlando Cabrera and Carl Pavano, both of whom played a key role in the team’s playoff run; Miguel Angel Sano (Jean) and Max Kepler, the top Dominican and European prospects, respectively; and J.J. Hardy, Jim Thome, Clay Condrey, and most recently, Orlando Hudson.

For years, Twins fans could hibernate through the hot-stove season and miss very little—it’s hard to get excited about Ramon Ortiz and Rondell White when that’s all the team does in four months.

This week was simply the culmination of what was already one of the most productive offseasons in team history. Joe Mauer’s extension may not be a done deal, but it is clearly in the works, then came word Thursday that Hudson, thought to be nearing a deal with the Washington Nationals, was in fact close to signing with the Twins.

Rumors flew all day that a deal was done, that it was pending, that he was looking at Cleveland, but finally, at around 10 pm CST, the word went out that the deal was officially completed.

Celebrate, Twins fans, not only did you get the player you wanted, you got the player your team needed most.

Hudson, who was a favorite of many fans last offseason as well, fits the Twins remaining needs to a T. His career OBP of .348 bests Orlando Cabrera’s .313 mark with the Twins last season and throttles Brendan Harris’ .242 OBP he put up when batting in the second spot in the order.

That was one of the major criteria used to judge any signing by the Twins after they acquired Thome: Would this hitter be able to provide a high OBP in the second slot? This is critical, because with Joe Mauer showing more power than he did in previous years, as well as top years from Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel at the heart of the order, the Twins needed a second hitter beside Denard Span to create RBI opportunities for those producers later in the lineup.

Thankfully, Hudson does exactly that, and as a switch-hitter, he doesn’t contribute to the Twins’ overwhelming tilt to the left. Hudson posted the ninth highest VORP among second baseman, despite being benched at the end of the season in favor of what Joe Torre perceived to be the hot hand. When his defense is included, Hudson was a 5.4 win player, which would have tied him for second on the Twins in 2009.

As with investments, past success is no guarantee of future results, but the Twins have acquired a player who could potentially be a key part of a team that goes deep into the playoffs without giving up anything other than money, and given that they are paying him about half of his original asking price, they’re hardly doing that.

I must confess a certain level of surprise that this deal actually happened. The Twins’ payroll, even before adding Hudson was over $90 million, almost 1/3rd higher than it had been in 2009. Hudson’s asking price was $9 million, and while he wasn’t going to get that in this market, he wasn’t advertizing a price cut either. I foresaw both parties looking interested, but getting hamstrung by the monetary concerns in negotiations. It’s a credit to Smith and his staff that they didn’t try to wait Hudson out and see how low they could drive the price, as they did with Joe Crede last year. Such a strategy works if you’re the only one bidding, but Hudson made it clear that he had no aversion to signing with the hapless Nats, as long as he was making what he deemed to be a fair sum.

Signing one player seldom makes a huge difference for a team, but the Twins are at the point where a 1-2 win increase is worth a lot to them, as it can be the difference between winning the AL Central and a whole lot of golf in the offseason. If paying for Hudson took them a bit over their expected budget, then it was money well spent.

Smith has a long career ahead of him, which means not only more time to make smart moves, but also more time to make mistakes. One thing ought to be clear from the last eight months: Smith is savvier than a lot of people, both within Minnesota and outside of it, gave him credit for.

Orlando Hudson photo courtesy of www.picapp.com