I had hoped that a winter would be enough for the putrescent miasma of the Twins' 2011 season to dissipate, but unfortunately it seems that things are picking up for 2012 right where they left off. Joel Zumaya's Twins career is over, and his career overall is potentially over as well - right now he's saying he may hang it up. Justin Morneau is being realistic about his head injuries, which can't be a good sign. Most Twins writers, online at least, are dogpiling on Terry Ryan for signing Zumaya in the first place. After a week of spring training, the depression's back in a big way around Twins Territory.
Being the bright ray of sunshine that I am, I thought I'd try to lighten things up a little bit. Below, a list of a few things that we can all be positive about.
- If you missed out on Saturday's single-game ticket sale, don't worry - you won't be shut out of Target Field this year. There will be good seats available early and often, both from the club box office and from various secondary sources.
- Francisco Liriano hasn't walked anybody in, like, a month.
- In a year in which the team is cutting payroll, Alexi Casilla got a raise. Clearly, there's hope for all of us at our own jobs.
- In the same way: Drew Butera.
- In an era when things we once took for granted seem to change almost daily, we can know this: no matter what happens, Joe Mauer will not act outwardly excited in any way. A smile is all you'll ever get. It's a constant in a chaotic world, and we need that.
- As we can see from the picture above, there's a real chance that Carl Pavano is bringing the Pavstache back.
- Zumaya's injury, while sort of tragic, opens the door - again - for any of the team's nineteen Triple-A relievers. Pick a favorite! It's like racing turtles at the county fair!
- No matter how bad things get, Otis Nixon and Denny Hocking will never again roam the same outfield for Minnesota.
- In the same way: we'll likely never again have to sit there uncomfortably while Carl Pavano cusses out Trevor Plouffe for somehow turning a routine grounder to short into a runner on first.
- At some point this year, I bet Ben Revere will hit a home run, and we'll all get to point fingers and laugh at the opposing pitcher. There's every chance the umpires will stop the game so we can all pelt that pitcher with garbage.
There. Are we cheerful yet? (Surely you have something to be positive about - leave it in the comments.)