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All things considered, the Minnesota Twins had a great offseason. They locked up Carl Pavano (a stable No. 3 or No. 4 starter) for another year. They (hopefully) shored up the shortstop position with former all-start J.J. Hardy. Taking a page from the book of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” they signed notorious Twin-killer Jim Thome. And to top it all off, they won the bidding war for second baseman Orlando Hudson (career .778 OPS, 2.9 WAR in ‘09).

Outside of re-signing 2009 American League Most Valuable Player (and future Hall of Famer) Joe Mauer to an extension, they’ve done a fine job this winter.

However, the best move the Twins made this offseason was the player they didn’t sign: former backup catcher Mike Redmond. (Note: Redmond got a one-year contract worth $850,000 from the Cleveland Indians.)

In recent years, Red Dog became a clubhouse and fan favorite for the Twins. He was known for his good quotes and curious habit of walking around the clubhouse naked, you know, to lighten the mood.

I don’t get it either.

His contract with the Twins ended in 2009, and in years past, the team would’ve probably picked him up for one or two years at a reasonable price, and (inexplicably) found him 150 plate appearances. Not this year.

This year, things are different. The Twins’ front office has been more aggressive than I’ve seen in my lifetime, and that aggressiveness led them to consider actual baseball talent over someone being a “good clubhouse guy.” I don’t mean to rip Redmond. He seems like a nice guy. I’d love to talk baseball with him over a pint of Summit. But facts are facts: he slugged .289 last year and his OPS+ was 57.

Redmond is the kind of nice, likeable guy you want on your team, but he’s not the kind of player who helps you win a World Series. Besides, the Twins have Jose Morales (98 OPS+ last year in 134 plate appearances in ‘09) as a superior option at backup catcher.

The aggressive approach the Twins have taken this year has been amazing for Twins fans. There were years when the Twins never would’ve even got involved in talks with players like Hudson or Thome. They were deemed out of our league. We tried to fill holes in the lineup with C-level free agents like Tony Batista or Mike Lamb. No longer.

By not re-signing Redmond the Twins rid themselves of a below-average player, but more important, the non-signing signals a shift in the organization’s mindset; by not settling on Redmond, the Twins are saying to their fans and the rest of the American League, “We no longer just happy to be here. We’re here to compete with the big boys. We’re here to win.”

It’s the statement Twins fans have waited to hear for a long time.

(Statistics courtesy of fangraphs.com and baseball-reference.com)