I hope Breslow stays on for next year. He ate up innings when asked and was a LOOGY when asked. I find that kind of valuable. I think Dennys Reyes will not be back next year.

1. Denard Span: I can’t wait to see Span play an entire season. It’ll be interesting to see what they do with the outfield. He should be a great leadoff guy for years to come.

2. Alexi Casilla: He’s a great number two guy to go before Mauer, and with his young age provides some stability up the middle for a long time to come.

3. Nick Blackburn: He might not be an ace as you said, but how easy was it to forget the guy was a rookie this season? What a remarkable year (and finish) for Black’s first year.

4. Scott Baker: I think Baker could be part of a solid one-two punch with Franchise. He could be the Radke-Santana punch, and proved to be a big-game pitcher.

5. Francisco Liriano: This was year one from Tommy John. They say year two is when they are 100% back and sometimes even better. Watch out, this guy might just be back!

6. Jason Kubel: He still struck out more than I’d like to see, but he provided the team with some much needed power and stepped up big on several occasions. I’ll take him anyday at DH.

7. Kevin Slowey: I think Slowey reallt emerged this season, and he is a very solid three guy that can be counted on for a big game.

8. Glen Perkins: Perk fell off a little at the end, but it was expected after moving from the bullpen. I love him as a backend of the rotation guy.

9. Carlos Gomez: Go-Go will only get better, and that is scary for other teams. He should become better at stealing, and when he moved to the nine spot really excelled. He has some power too.

10. Delmon Young: People thought he was bad this year, but he really wasn’t. He hit somewhere near .300 with a good number of RBI’s and decent power. He just turned 23, and he improved big time at the plate as the months passed.

11. Jose Mijares: Awesome is all I can say. This kid is going to be a great lefty for us, and he throws hard. He showed me that he can be a guy that faces right-handers too.

12. Craig Breslow: Waiver pickup? Wow! This guy along with Mijares better be the two lefties in ’09.

13. Buscher: I don’t like him as a starting 3B, but he is a great backup. I’d like to see a big addition at third.

I’m very depressed and sad that it’s over, but that a future!

What about LNP?

Kubel needs to find a way to lay off that slider thrown at his back foot. He is such a sucker for that pitch you can see it coming a mile away.

And what to do with Gomez? It is so clear that when he is anxious he is an automatic out. The oppo team announcers just laugh.

Span- He completely blew me away. Until June I figured the best he’d be would be trade bait or a banjo-hitting 4th OF in the mold of Jason Tyner.

Mijares- What a way to nail the audition for Reyes’s old job. Thanks for the supplemental 1st round pick next year.

Buscher- He’s basically a cheaper version of what Lamb should have been this year. The Twins have been without a decent 3rd baseman for so long, I’m perfectly happy with a Buscher/Harris platoon at 3rd.

Gomez- I don’t like the idea of AAA, his defense is too important what with Blackburn being our only ground ball pitcher. Plus his at bats got a lot better in August and September.

Young- Not quite the power I was hoping for, but like Gomez, he got a lot better as the year went on. If he can learn to take better routes to fly balls the Twins will have the best defensive OF in the game next year, and it wouldn’t be terribly close.

I would like to see us bring in a 3B and a SS. Keep Harris and Buscher for a dynamite bench. Do we have any talent coming up in the system to fill these spots?

are minor ones.

Kubel: An Ortiz in the making? C’mon, your love affair with this guy has you out of your mind CMath. Kubel is servicable at DH, no more. Ortiz flashed quite a bit more during the few moments he had when he wasn’t constantly injured for the Twins. Kubel is two years out from his “knee” problems. He has been “healthy” all season, and did a fine job. Not an outstanding job. He is no David Ortiz.

Gomez: he is so young, I think it is possible that he can develop into more than just a #9 hitter. However, if Span and Casilla can keep up their ends then I will be more than happy to see Gomez stay at 9 and we will see some truly ferocious piranhas here pretty soon.

Look even if he did have the talent to be an Ortiz, the Twins would never be able to develop it. The organization doesn’t focus on making those types of hitters. Had Ortiz remained he would never have been the force that he became even without being next to Manny.

Oops, hit return a couple of times and the post was empty. I was going to do a Player A and Player B analysis:

Player A:
Age 26 412 AB 112 H 32 2B 20 HR 75 RBI .272 /.339/.500

Player B:
Age 26 463 AB 126 H 22 2B 5 3B 20 HR 78 RBI .272 /.335/.471

Player A was Ortiz in 2002. Player B was Kubel in 2008. Ortiz hit more doubles, but otherwise, their numbers are strikingly similar. I won’t say this means Kubel will have an Ortiz-like career. As some of you have mentioned, there are way too many bvariables to make a prediction like that (Manny, Boston, etc.). But I did say I thought he could have some semblance of an Ortiz-like career.

The listing above seems pretty optimistic. You don’t think any of the above will be worse next year? My vote would be for Blackburn, Breslow, and Buscher to all be significantly worse next year. I’m not sure I can name someone who I think will be a lot better. Liriano and Cuddyer I suppose.

Span is a guy who gives the appearance that he can be a good fielder at all three OF positions. Cuddyer is okay in right (not great range, but a big accurate arm), Gomez is a fine CF, and Young…well, he should get better. The best alignment, to me, will be Span (lf), Gomez (cf), and Cuddyer (rf). I see Span starting 30-50 games at each of the outfield spots with Cuddyer also playing some first base and Kubel getting an occasional start at a corner, all of this predicated on good performances by all and no major injuries. Keeping all five OFs covers for regressions, injuries etc.

IMHO Cuddyer is a better hitter and a better fielder than Delmon Young right now. Delmon has a very good to great upside, but he is a long way from it yet. A healthy productive Cuddyer will help the Twins’ lineup more than Beltre. I’m not saying the ’06 Cuddyer, but maybe split the difference from ’06 and ’07.

I don’t know why Casilla dropped off—injury, regression to the mean, fatigue—but he certainly did. He completed about 2/3 of a season as a second baseman. It wasn’t great in the end, but he was worlds better than his rookie season of ’07.

If the Twins want to contend next year (and I am sure they do) I don’t think they can afford the risk of moving Casilla to short, where he may or may not thrive and have an unknown quantity at second. Casilla was comfortable and reasonably focused at second. If he is left alone, I think he will be a fine everyday player.