Twins Cornering the Market on Ex-Astros

One day after signing Adam Everett to be the club's new shortstop, the Twins today signed veteran corner infielder Mike Lamb to a two-year deal with an option for 2010 (not sure yet whether the option is a team option, player option, or mutual option -- but the best bet is that it's a team option). Lamb immediately moves to the front of the line for the Twins starting 3B job, although the Twins don't seem interested in just handing Lamb the job and other players will likely get a thorough look in Spring Training.

Lamb is not the most dynamic player in the world, but considering the market for third basemen, this isn't a terrible signing. Lamb has actually put up relatively solid numbers over the course of his career -- he has a career .281 batting average with 68 homers (he's averaged about 12 a year for the past 4 years when he gets around 300 at-bats). That production would be a dramatic improvement over what the Twins got from their third basemen last year (how sad is that!?!).

The thing that puzzles me here is the decision to sign Lamb to a mutli-year deal. That more than anything else strongly suggests that the Twins plan to have Lamb starting, because there doesn't seem to be any other reason to lock him up essentially for the next three years. Until I see the financials on the deal, though, I can't really say whether I think this is a good deal, a bad deal, or a "shrug-your-shoulders" deal. Right now, I'm leaning towards an optimistic shrug. There's nothing wrong with Lamb, and he should put up 10-15 homers and a .280-.285 batting average next season. It's not great, but I'd take it -- especially if the Twins solid production out of Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, Young, and Kubel.