The Twins will need to do more than this to win a American League Central in '09. The Tigers and Indians had a tough '08 and I'm expecting them to win more games. The AL Central is up for grabs - White Sox, Tigers, Indians or Twins. Sorry Royals fans.If I were Bill Smith or Ron Gardenhire, I'd play these folks every day. I'll follow up with pitching and relief pitching in a different blog.
Batting/Field:
CF - Denard Span. He's better than Hunter. The guy covers so much ground in the OF.
2B - Alexi Casilla. He needs to work on being less sloppy in the field.
C - Joe Mauer
1B - Justin Morneau
RF - Michael Cuddyer
DH - Delmon Young. Don't trade him yet. You never know if Gomez, Span or Cuddyer will get injured. Or acquire a power hitter.
SS - Orlando Cabrera. He seems like a good Twins fit but I wish he had more hitting power. Please no Nick Punto (he's a utility player, not a starting SS).
3B - Brendan Harris. I like him. He seems to always get clutch hits. Casey Blake is a Twins Killer but I don't expect him to do much as a Twin.
LF - Carlos Gomez. I moved him from CF to LF because Span is a better player. Gomez makes me a little nervous in the field. I don't know if he plays LF but he's young enough to learn...
There are really no surprises but there are 3 keys:
- Acquire a reliable starting SS
- Keep Go-Go, Span and Cuddyer in the OF. Don't trade Delmon!
- Let Harris play.
1 comment:
Been lurking for awhile and haven't had time to post with school being so busy. Anyways, thought I'd throw in my two cents about the Twins. It's a long one...
CF - Span He's proved he's an everyday player.
2B - Casilla
C - Mauer
1B - Morneau
RF - Cuddyer
DH - Kubel/Young
SS - Punto I don't like him here, but they're giving him 4 million reasons why he'll be an everyday player.
3B - TBD. This is the spot up for debate. You can put Buscher/Harris/or a minor leaguer like Valencia here. Valencia's probably not here until 2010 at the earliest though.
LF - Gomez/Young
Punto and Casilla could swap positions. Depends on how Gardy wants to use them. Casilla was brought up as a SS. You've also got Tolbert in the utility role now that you've given Punto the everyday job at SS.
Agree with you that you don't trade Delmon. He's only 22. BUT, if you do want an experienced 3B or power hitting 3B, you've got to give up something and he's probably the trading chip out there. He'll platoon with Kubel at DH and Gomez in LF.
3B is the major question mark. You've got to find someone who can produce. Obviously the guys they wanted at the Winter Mtgs were asking for too much or the trades were too one-sided.
As far as the rotation and pen:
Rotation stays the same as it was last year.
Righties: Blackburn, Baker, Slowey
Lefties: Liriano, Perkins
Pen is going to be the major question mark since we've lost Neshek again and Reyes won't be back.
Righties: Crain, Guerrier, Nathan
Lefties: Mijares
Now you fill in the spaces, will Humber make the team? He doesn't have any options left and cannot get sent down. Does Bonser stay with the team or is he traded for more pen help? Do Korecky or Duensing, or both come up from Rochester this year to fill holes? They took Jason Jones in the Rule 5 as a possible long reliever but he's got to stay up the entire year. Are they willing to do that?
Another long off-season where I don't see them spending much and if they do, it's once again on no-names or washed up vets. Hope they surprise me though.
Long enough? :)
Myles
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