For Sale/Rent - 2011 Minnesota Twins: Gently Used, Abused, Need a Good Home

When the Twins finally get their Opening Day starting 9 back on the field, whether that's June 1, June 15, or July 1, it may be too late to make a serious run at another AL Central title. To be sure, there are many parties at fault: the front office, the on-the-field manager and coaches, the trainers, and the players themselves, most of whom, with the exception of Jason Kubel and Glen Perkins, repeatedly have failed to play consistent, professional level baseball.

Statistics indicate that, even if the Twins were to play out the 2011 season at a pace to win 90 games, they would end up with a record right around .500, which will not be good enough for any kind of postseason berth. Unfortunately, it will soon be time to consider shopping some of our players before the July 31 trade deadline, even some that have made great contributions over the last several years. Players such as Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel and Jim Thome will be free agents after 2011, and could play important roles on a team that is in a playoff hunt. The Twins, in return, could get prospects with a potential high return. Make no mistake, I do not like to think about losing veterans, but this is what losing teams with high payrolls do. My main concern is not so much which players become available; rather, I worry about who is making the decisions.

General Manager Bill Smith left this team, on Opening Day 2011, without a major league level shortstop, and with a bullpen that, in polite terms, could best be described as weak and unproven. It wasn't so much that he left the bullpen/shortstop situations that way, it was that he actually created the problem, by failing to resign any one of Jesse Crain, Matt Guerrier, or Jon Rauch, and trading oft-injured, but reliable when healthy, shortstop JJ Hardy, for parts. In the offseason Smith failed completely to upgrade starting pitching, an area that has painfully been exposed in every recent playoff series. And as has become glaringly clear, Smith failed to retain a catcher to fill in for Joe Mauer when he is injured, disabled, or simply tired, despite the fact that, only one year ago, the organization had two such players who could have filled the role, only to be dealt away. Further, from a management standpoint, Smith and the front office have given the impression that Mauer himself, and not the organization, is dictating the "terms and conditions" of his rehabilitation, leading some to question who is running the ship.

Undoubtedly, the Twins have been victimized by a lethal combination of bad luck, compounded in the form of a series of injuries to starting MLB players; this string of bad luck underscores the fact that the roster is incredibly shallow. Nearly every offseason decision has, in the span of less than two months, come back to bite the Twins, and has exposed weaknesses in the farm system and in the ability of the front office to make trades and personnel decisions that benefit the Twins on the field, not just financially. For the record, I have supported certain of Smith's decisions, including not making a significant effort to resign Torii Hunter, and I applauded the "drive" at the trade deadline in 2009 that resulted in Orlando Cabrera and Carl Pavano. No doubt the Twins would not have won the division that year without the push from the front office. And I also supported the Mauer contract, under the reasoning of "what else was he supposed to do???" But in many other deals, including the bungling of the purported Johan Santana trade to the Red Sox, he has left me wondering what the hell is going on with this organization and its method of valuing talent?

If the Twins end up becoming sellers at the deadline for the first time in a decade, the first move they need to make is in-house: I do not want Bill Smith, who bears ultimate responsibility for the quality and depth of the talent at all levels of the organization, making the call on who stays, who goes, and at what price. He has made too many significant errors in his short tenure.

Baltimore Game 4 . . . 2 Days Late

I made it to Camden Yards for the final game of the Twins-Orioles series. Because the Orioles have been so bad in recent years, tickets are easy to come by. We ended up sitting 2 rows above the Twins dugout, and were surrounded (mostly) by Twins fans, many from Minnesota. It was a very friendly group, and it was awesome to hear this section yelling the Twins players' nicknames (Koobs, Cuddy, etc.). It was also neat to see media "personalities" and Twins' heroes Bert Blyleven and Tim Laudner in the Twins' dugout chatting up players and doing their homework before the game.

For those that have never been, Camden Yards is an excellent stadium, one of the best places to watch a ballgame. We arrived early for batting practice, and a few guys, including Cuddyer, Thome and Valencia, did not disappoint. Similarly, the Twins did not disappoint. Scott Baker was dealing all night long. His fastball was lively, and there were only a few well struck balls against him. In fact, he was so dominant that I never felt that the game was in jeopardy with him on the mound, despite the Twins' small lead.

Hero of the game: Jim Thome. I haven't seen him play, in person, since he played for the Cleveland Indians. I suppose we have both aged. It was pretty cool to see home run # 591 from about 50 feet away. Although it wasn't hit quite as far as his home run earlier this year at Target Field, this was a well struck baseball, reaching the bleachers in center field; most importantly, it got the Twins on the board early in the game, something which has been lacking in 2011. Later in the game, Thome delivered a single with runners in scoring position - - again, another statistic in which the Twins have been lagging. Michael Cuddyer hit a no-doubter to straight-away left field, Matt Capps pitched well in the ninth, and I think Alexi Casilla even singled and scored somewhere in there (on Thome's single), so it was a pretty good game, and, most importantly, a Twins' victory.

It's great to write about the Twins, and to listen to the games on the radio, or watch the games on tv, but the best thing of all is live, outdoor baseball. Further, on a personal level, I connected with a childhood friend and fellow Minnesota native who now lives "in the beltway," so it was a great opportunity to share baseball with another Twins fan.

Finally, Baltimore being the home of my childhood hero, Cal Ripken, Jr., I had to get a picture with his plaque on Eutaw Street.

Brief Observations

Well, the first full week of Twins baseball has come and gone. I expected more than a dismal 3-6 start, notwithstanding that most of those games were against the Blue Jays and the Yankees. Luckily, the Twins have 153 games to turn the season around, and they head down to Tampa Bay to play a team that also is struggling. I have confidence that, in the next week, the Twins will turn things around. Here are a few quick thoughts on these first 9 games:

1. Jim Thome can still hit the ball really, really far. Those that were likening re-signing Thome to the Vikings' re-signing of Favre were, and continue to be, out to lunch. Gardy will use Thome appropriately, rest him sufficiently, and Thome will stick to his vigorous stretching and training program to ensure that his body can withstand another year of baseball. Between yesterday's home run (that was hit much farther than the purported 440 foot measurement), and his drive off the top of the center field fence at Yankee Stadium, I feel confident in stating that he'll hit #600 by the middle of July.

2. Aside from the unusually high number of walks issued, Twins pitchers haven't been all that bad. I'm not saying they have been good. But, they have kept the team in the game. All it would have taken Saturday or Sunday against Oakland is one small rally, and our pitchers would not have been in the loss column. The bullpen also has been decent. Twins pitchers will start exhibiting command over the strike zone (for pete's sake, it's taught from day 1 in Twins instructional league), and things will begin to fall into place.

3. How long does Alexi Casilla have before he loses his starting job? If this were New York, Gardy would be asked each day about Casilla's potential timeline and a list of replacements. Thankfully for Casilla, he probably has longer to wear out his welcome than he would if he were playing elsewhere. Between his failure to drive in the runner from third with no outs on Saturday, the error that scored the only run of the game, and generally pathetic plate appearances, Casilla needs to turn it around. I'm not expecting big things out of the 9-hole, but I am expecting major league level play, which we have yet to see from him with any consistency.

4. Morneau has been reaching base. Justin is making contact, and ripped a nice double down the first base line yesterday. Compared to last weekend at Toronto, he looks much more comfortable at the plate. I think by the end of the month, we're going to be seeing the Justin of old. A welcome sign; a remarkable recovery.

5. Joe Mauer needs to step up. Sure, it's early in the season; sure, he has hit several balls hard that happened to be grounders; sure, there's often no one on base in front of him; sure, he had relatively few at-bats in spring training. I don't care. We saw a great (see also: rare) display of Pauer (which is the word I use to describe when Joe hits the ball with authority in the air) yesterday when Mauer slugged a liner off the wall in right-center. It would have been a home run in some parks. We need more of that. I know, his swing naturally produces grounders and line drives. That's great and everything, but it is nice to know that Mauer can still pull the ball with authority. And, given the fact that many teams have been busting him inside, he's going to need to do that this season to be successful.

The boys have a day off today, then down to Tampa. Time to wake up and start hitting the ball hard.