Make It Sports

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My name is John. I created this site for anyone that loves sports or the only thing that interests them is sports. I have a challenge in my life and that is if something is not a sport I have a hard time concentrating on it. I believe that that is true about a lot of things we do. We all know that baseball, basketball, football, hockey, swimming, skiing (and the list goes on and on) are all considered sports. Then there is that other list of activities that we do that can also be called sports, those that people can argue are not, such as NASCAR, dog and horse racing, swimsuit modeling, pool, fishing, Frisbee golf and golf; well, this list can go on and on also! My grandmother has a bird, or should I say "birdie" (no pun intended) when someone says golf is a sport and, frankly, my dad does also. I guess my point is anything that is competitive can be considered a sport and anything can be competitive. My sister makes school work competitive and does very well with that concept.

My site is aimed at sports, with the right argument almost anything can be a sport!

The spring of 2008 has been a spring of streaks and also one full of position battles. With the team 11-9 going in to the only off day during the spring they still have yet to find a starter at their two open fielding positions - center field and second base. And they are also looking to fill the last spot in the pitching rotation.

The three man race in center has been and still is a three horse race with Carlos Gomez, Denard Span, and Josh Pridie all going the distance. None of them have made a huge jump ahead and all three of them have strengths in fielding, hitting and base running but they have showed weakness at all three as well. In my opinion the man to replace 2-time All-Star and 7-time Gold Glove winner Torii Hunter should be the 23-year-old Span. Most people thought Span would be ready to replace Hunter - if Hunter happened to be traded around the trading deadline last season - after being tagged as the Twins top prospect right before the 2007 Twins Fest. My main worry is that of Spans’ lack of MLB experience but other than that and the lack of power numbers the last few years he is a better pick for the job in my mind. There has been a lot of talk about newly acquired 22 year old Gomez being manager Ron Gardenhire’s pick to be the opening day center fielder. As most of you know Gomez was the centerpiece of the Johan Santana trade to the New York Mets earlier this year. And as for Pridie, he is the dark horse in this race - no MLB experience, no number one prospect tag - so he will most likely find himself in AAA Rochester as an outfielder - an all around outfielder, not just a center fielder. Any way you slice it, their center fielder will be the lead off batter as well.

So now we find ourselves watching an even closer race at second base between last year’s third base bust Nick Punto and newly acquired Brendon Harris. If the Twins break camp with Nick Punto as their second baseman they definitely will be looking to protect their young and unproven pitching staff. Punto is very close to being the best defensive player the Twins have but don’t expect a lot from him at the plate as he’s a career .245 hitter with an average of 2 homeruns a season. If the Twins decide to go with Brendon Harris they will be looking to be closer to an American League style team - or one that is offense based - as Harris is a career .286 hitter and has the potential of 15-20 homeruns per season.

Photos by D. Ackerman

Photos by John Baumer

Remember the 2007 Twins were a great defensive team with struggles at the plate and most of their defensive successes last year could have been attributed to veteran pitchers Johan Santana and Carlos Silva and, of course, the best defensive Centerfielder in the game, Torii Hunter, all of whom are now gone. With the young pitching staff I guess Nick Punto would be your best pick but considering the Twins play in the American League and they need really need offense my pick is for more power and a better average. Teaching better glove work is much easier then teaching power hitting.

As for the latter months of the 2008 season, or when ever Adam Everett hurts himself, look for young Matt Tolbert to be called up out of Rochester and brought into the lineup here in Minnesota. With the pitching staff it looks as if the Twins might bring Francisco Liriano north with them on March 30th. This may be a costly move on their part as they made a similar mistake a few years back with another young pitcher - remember Joe Mays and just look where he is at now! So, in my mind, the Twins pitching staff should be as follows: opening day starter, Lavin Hernadez; game two starter, Scott Baker; game three starter, Boof Bonser; game four starter, Kevin Sloey; and the fifth starter should be Phil Humber. I feel Liriano should start his first four games down in AAA Rochester - pitching five innings in his first start and throwing into the seventh inning by the fourth start. He should make his ‘08 Twins debut at the beginning of May from the bullpen thus showing he can pitch to big league hitters again. This would make his first start for the Twins some time around the Boston or Colorado series. As for the Bullpen - well, why mess with the long relievers Matt Guerrier and Glen Perkins (remember Perkins will be sporting the number 15 jersey instead of number 60 this season.) Juan Rincon and Jesse Crain should be the middle relievers, leaving Pat Neshek as the set-up man to closer Joe Nathan - who recently agreed to a 2 year contract extension. If they chose to bring a 12th pitcher north it should be Denis Reyes or Nick Blackburn.