There's been a lot of talk about what to upgrade on the Twins but one thing that the Twins also need to consider is making a decision on who to start between Gomez and Young.  They're both still very young (23) which is the average age at AA, however Gomez just played his 2nd full major league season and Young his 3rd.  They both still have tons of potential even though they haven't become the players we hoped they would just yet. 

It' been said many times here and elsewhere that it has not helped either of them to be sitting on the bench.  For the players sake and for the Twins sake they need to decide on one and send the other away.  It's a tough decision as whoever they ship away could come back to haunt them because both have all star ceilings (remember I said ceiling, not what I expect). 

I really don't have a ton of time to break everything down statistically so I'll leave that up to anyone who feels the initiative to do so.  I just felt like this was a debate that could/should take place in its own fanpost.  My personal opinion is to keep Gomez.  He already is a great defender and if he never develops offensively he'll at least give us great defense.  Gomez also allows the Twins to use Span at a corner which improves the defense and allows the Twins to not have to worry about at 4th/5th OF being able to play Center as Span can still slide over there as needed.  Gomez might not be the better hitter yet, but he does appear to be working on his patience as his walk rate went up 2.5% while his K rate went down 3% (Delmons both went the other direction).  He never got a consistent shot at starting this year and my hope would be that he would improve those numbers even more in the future as a result of everyday play.  So now it's your turn what do you think and why?

With the Twins headed to Target Field in 2010, they should focus on fixing and filling the glaring holes that they have on their team.  With the burden of the dome off their backs, Target Field will bring in additional revenue for the Twins to use in the upcoming years, but for this offseason, why not spend a little more then your payroll?  The Twins managed to sneak away with the Central Division in Game 163, but they lacked fire power in the NY series (again!), going 3 and out.  The Twins must fix their needs this offseason in order to bring October Baseball into Target Field in its opening year.

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So, the Yankees are ALCS champs.  Again.  Aren't we all thrilled? 

I personally now have zero interest in watching baseball any longer.  I could not care less about either team playing in the World Series.  As much as I would like to see the Yankees lose, I really don't want to see the Phillies win either.  Such a quandry, right?  Anyway, now that it's determined who will be playing in the World Series (for all the glory, etc etc), where do your loyalties lie?  The Evil Empire or the Other East Coast Team?  Do you even care anymore?  And why, Angels, whyyyy?!  :(

P.S.  How much do you miss Twins baseball already?  It's only a couple weeks into the offseason and I'm already jonesin' for some Baby J, Cuddy, and Big Game Blackbeard.

I love our Twins, I love the TC logo, and TC Bear.  I will miss the dome, but embrace Target Field (Not to be mistaken for Target Center...Geniuses).  I long for many more seasons of the M n M boys, because frankly just M boy is kind of boring, but as a Twins fan, I am used to being let down, and I am afraid to say it, but this offseason is going to be no different.

If the Pohlad family are good for anything, it's proving that they can get by on the cheap with this organization.  They have won numerous Division titles on low budget teams.  Why should this offseason be any different?  They proved that with just a tweak in house and adding a low risk veteran they can make an improbable push and win yet another division pennant.  The problem is that many Minnesota fans are saying, "enough is enough."  Why should we settle for "One-and-Done's" when other teams are continuously getting better.  We need to go out and at least add a strong pitcher.  I hear Lackey is going to be available, and hell, I'd be satisfied with a Bedard or Harden.  We need to solidify the middle infield.  Valencia at Third sounds nice for next year, and lets pair him next to Tejada, and put Casilla back at second.  He may not be any better than Punto, but at least he has an upside.  I'm tired of giving Punto chance after chance to waiver around the Mendoza line, and never come up clutch.  Casilla didn't play well, but at least he could improve.  Punto is going nowhere fast, but yet Gardy's affection for mediocre utility players with below average bats (Which is what he was), continues to pencil him in somewhere.  Maybe after Mauer leaves, and trots off into the sunset to fade into the crowd in NY or LA we can try Punto behind the plate.  At least catchers aren't expected to produce with the bat.  Tejada may be a pipe dream, but it would be nice.  People continue to talk about trading for the likes of an Uggla, or a JJ Hardy, but we really don't have much to offer a team that we can afford to give up.  Sure we could dump off a starting pitcher, but look how well that worked for us in the Garza deal.  I'd rather get something for Gomez and potentially Crain or Liriano, but I don't see us snagging a starting second basemen or shortstop above what we have now.  Maybe JJ Hardy would come for that, but Uggla?  No way.  We need to shore up one of those spots; however, maybe putting some money into a free agent second basemen like Orlando Hudson isn't a bad idea.  We have a few SS's that could platoon with Harris and Punto at short, or maybe we resign Cabrera, making our infield look a little better at the plate, even if Cabrera is an adventure in the field.  I would like the looks of a Vilencia, Cabrera, Hudson, Morneau infield, or maybe a Vilencia, Tejada, Casilla/Cabrera, Morneau.  I don't care who or what as long as they are an upgrade, and can cause us to be rid of Punto. 

My other concern is our Outfield.  It's a good concern, but a concern nonetheless.  We have Cuddy, Span, Gomez, and Young all outfielders, as well as Kubel who will probably stay predominately DH again, as he should.  Cuddy is obvious at right field, that makes perfect sense, and if we keep Gomez, and he can be semi consistent, even if he's only hitting .230 or .240, he would be center field, and then we would have Span in left, leaving Delmon Young the odd man out.  Some people are ok with this, and think we should trade him, coming off a hot end of the season.  I couldn't deny that is an intriguing idea, but I don't think the market for a slow, limpy, clumsy left fielder is that high, especially one with mediocre hitting abilities.  I say we either A) Trade Morneau (OMG) and put Cuddy at first, leaving Young in his natural right field, or B) Trade Cuddy (Slight OMG) and put you guessed it, Young in his natural right field.  Young played right all through out his career in Tampa Bay, and then he gets here and we throw him in left.  Doesn't make sense to me.  Let me look back to my two aforementioned trade scenarios for a minute.  Trade one was getting rid of M n M number two Justin Morneau, which is a sickening thought, but he has a high value, which would bring us potentially a starting pitcher, or a good relief pitcher and some prospects, and would free up some money.  Cuddy showed that at least for a short time, he could play first more than serviceable.  I was impressed, and like I stated before we could get a decent amount for Morneau.  The other deal, which makes much more sense, is trade away Michael Cuddyer who still has some high value, which would net us either a solid position player and a prospect or two or a strong pitcher and a prospect or two, or a few prospects.  I would hate to see him go, but we need to cut something in order to position ourselves for a strong season next year.  Especially when you have Detroit, Chicago, and Kansas City all sporting solid to extremely good starting rotations. 

As a Minnesotan, I'm tired of falling victim to the "Middling infielder at low cost,"  or "Veteran arm to add some leadership," scenario that this team is pulling.  It's a scam to say we brought in Ramon Ortiz, or Livan Hernandez for any other reason than to save some coins.  Come on Twins, open things up a bit.  Let's see a strong offseason, not a boring one.

Baseball has a big problem.  One that threatens the credibility of the game. 

No, it's not steroids, nor runaway contracts, nor mal distributed team revenue, though each of these is bad enough.

Baseball's biggest problem right now is tying its post-season schedule directly and unalteringly to T.V. network requirements.  In other words, games can only be played (or must be played) when the TV network decides.

This phenomenon has completely changed the post-season vis-a-vis how teams are built and compete during the regular season.  And, it demeans, diminishes and degrades baseball as a sport.  Furthermore, it is fundamentally unfair to the players who are expected to perform at peak levels as professionals.

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According to MLB.com, Mike Redmond is determined to try his hand in the free agent market this winter in hopes of continuing to play somewhere in major league baseball.  I am not in any position to analyze his worth over Morales or Butera or Ramos so I'll leave that to the heavy lifters here on this site.

Apparently Redmond brought a lot of good energy to the clubhouse, and every team needs some veteran leadership.  In addition, it sounds like Redmond is interested in coaching and might be an effective coach for the organization, so it might be beneficial to keep him around.  Nonetheless, I find it hard to believe he is worth keeping after a season where he "batted a career-low .237 with two doubles, seven RBIs and a .588 OPS in 135 at-bats. He also threw out only five of 40 runners while behind the plate."  

No matter how raw Morales is, its hard to imagine he wouldn't be a significant upgrade over that.

They need to somehow find a way to trade for Brandon Webb who is in the last year of his contract and the Diamondbacks are looking to trade him anyway, trade one of the three perkins/gomez/liriano for JJ Hardy to fill the much needed shortstop vacancy, and finally they need to trade for 2nd baseman Dan Uggla which the Marlins are looking to cut some salary and of course trying to get even younger. Let Pavano go as well as Cabrera which would make their team look like this:

STARTING LINEUP:

C- MAUER (12.5) 1B- MORNEAU (14) 2B- UGGLA (5-7) 

SS- HARDY (4-5) 3B- PUNTO (4) LF- YOUNG (2.5)

CF- SPAN (440k) RF- CUDDYER (8.5) DH- KUBEL (4.1)

BENCH:

C- MORALES (440k) INF- TOLBERT (440k) INF- HARRIS (1) OUT- PRIDIE (440k)

STARTERS:

SP- WEBB (8.5) SP- BAKER (3) SP- SLOWEY (440k) SP- BLACKBURN (440k) SP- DUENSING (440k)

BULLPEN:

RP- MANSHIP (440k) RP- GUERRIER (2.5) RP- RAUCH (2.9) RP- MAHAY (1.5) RP- MIJARES (440k) 

RP- CRAIN (2) CL- NATHAN (11.25) 

That totals about (90-93) million 

That is with trading Liriano, Perkins, Gomez, along with a few prospects to get those UGGLA, HARDY, AND WEBB.

Gonna be heading to the airport at 5am tomorrow, so will try to get something out this afternoon.  As of now, we all are aware of the minor league manager changes announced this week.  Tom Nieto fresh off his playoff season in New Britain is moving up to Rochester.  Jeff Smith off two wonderful winning seasons in Ft. Myers moves up to New Britain with Jake Mauer moving across the parking lot from the GCL Twins to the Miracle.  The managers in Elizabethton and Beloit appear to be staying put.  No announcement that I have seen on who will take over the GCL Twins...but my best guess is that it will be local favorite Tommy Watkins (I have no knowledge that this will happen, merely a guess).

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So we have at last arrived at the point the dome will be deflated and filled with water to become the world's largest swimming pool and ice rink (during winter), but I am not a dome-basher and never have been, so it is with some sadness that I think about the dome disappearing from the baseball world.

Immediately, I hear incredulous cries of, "What? Have you lost your last ounce of sense?" Baseball was meant to be played on grass and in places where the natural elements can be felt enveloping the lucky fan who attends. To this I say, "BAH!" One man's trash is another's treasure.

I went to few Twins games as a lad. My father worked long hours and baseball games were a bit extravagant in his mind, but I did manage to get to a couple of games at the Old Met. I went with some lads from our church once and saw Tony-O tie the game up in the 9th with a home run down the right field line (only to realize that the organizers had only planned on staying 9 innings and we had to leave--that was crushing). I also saw a mammoth home run to deep left field (where I seemed to be seating the few times I managed to get to a game) by the Killebrew. It was going to land right in the aisle about 5 rows below me and I thought, “I am going to play the bounce and glove that sucker,” but alas, a hotdog vendor with an empty plastic container caught the ball in his container. I was a bit miffed to see that happen, but hotdog vendors are part of baseball. Those were the fond memories, but there were also some memories I don’t look back at with fondenss.

When I was older, I went to a Vikings game and sat in right field in the bleachers; it was so cold, I really couldn't feel my fingers or my bum. The Vikings won, but it was miserable to be there really. Of course the drunk behind us helped us freeze our keesters by dumping a large quantity of Hamm's beer on us and our wooden slats. It's all part of the game and fun--aaaahhh, NO, sorry! (I also got slivers where the sun doesn't shine, but I suppose that the new ballpark will have plasti-seats, so that part will be OK.) And, lest you think, "Ahhh we're talking baseball here sonny," I also attended a Twins' night game at the Old Met in mid-September. It was so cold that we had to sit on our hands and we could see our breath. And, speaking of outdoor parks in general, I took a trip to Oakland to watch the A's play the Twins at the Coliseum. The expected heavy thunderstorms that were supposed to ruin the game, never materialized until the middle of the night. They cancelled the game hours before the game even started, so my trip to Oakland was washed out without any rain falling!

 Enter the Dome. I went there often with a pal of mine to watch the Twins play. Man we saw some great games; we never cared if it was raining, sunny or snowing. Sure the PA system is campy and echoes all over the park; sure the baggie in right field looks, ahhh, baggie or a giant blue bicycle uniform. Sure Kong hit the ceiling with the mystery ball. It was all part of the charm to me.

I also loved to feel that whoosh of air as one passed through the entry way. It was like entering a different kingdom. The field was always green and had that bounce, which I thought was great. Fenway has the Monster and outfielders have difficulty playing the carom off that wall. Wrigley has the wind and high-sun, both of which give fielders fits at times, and the Dome has that puffy grey ceiling. “Don’t take your eye off the ball Willie Wilson because you might just lose it and have it bounce over your head.” And, the dome has the baggie and its line-drive-deadening effect and crazy bounces too, but they could be mastered with a bit of practice.

 Of course the number one reason I love the Dome is that the Twins won their only two World Series within the confines of that Dome. Minnesota professional sports teams have only those two championships. The name Gene Larkin is known simply because of a fly ball hit to left field inside that dome! And Frankie V. played his sweetest music so he could go to Disneyland (and shortly thereafter to the arch enemy’s camp), inside that Dome. I have to associate the historical names of the great teams with the Dome as that is where I saw those players excel: Brunansky, Hrbek, Gagne, Aguilera, Blyleven (yes, even he), Gaetti, Gladden and of course, Kirby. Kirby was a Domer. He played half of all of his games under the Teflon. He didn’t complain about it, he took advantage of it.

So it is with a bit of sadness for me that games will no longer be played in the Dome. I have tons of great memories that came about inside that giant popover that I will never forget them. Additionally, I will never have a chance to take my Japanese wife to a dome game. She’s always wanted to go but that chance is lost. For the few of us who loved the Dome, we will miss her. And to her I say, "Thanks for the memories." And mark my words, someone, somewhere next year when everyone is full of love and joy for the new stadium is going to slip up and say, “You know I think that one might have gotten through at the Dome.”

Tonight we will close out the infield with a look at the top ten third basemen in the organization.  Like the middle infield spots, third base is another position of immediate need for the Twins.  Is there someone in the organization who can be expected to fill that spot in 2010?

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