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Hi, John here! Finally baseball is back!!!! My family lives for The Minnesota Twins Baseball. At least three of four of us live for Twins Baseball. Between my sister, dad and I one of us are watching a twins game every night they are on. I even have my young sister playing fantasy baseball. She’s 13!

It has been an interesting off season for the Twins! Well, let’s start by saying goodbye to Carl. In his early years as the Twins owner he did everything right! The Twins won two titles in 4 years. he kept Kirby Puckett (my personal favorite Twin ever) as a Twin by giving him a great multi-year contract. And, Carl tried to surround Kirby in 1996 with talent such as Paul Molitor, Rick Aguilera and Chuck Knoblauch hoping that would bring on another championship.

After Kirby lost his eyesight to glaucoma Carl was not the same person when acquiring and keeping players. I will not spend a lot of time on this but I do think he could have done better even with a fair amount of trips to the playoffs but after 2000 we just never quite made it. We started a decade that resembles the Atlanta Braves of the 1990’s.

None the less… Thank you, Carl Pohlad!

Now let’s spend a little time on Joe Mauer - our home town wonder. Joe had a kidney surgery for an obstruction that appeared to have gone well and everyone thought that he would be back 100 percent and ready to go on February 14. That has not happened. Joe still has discomfort in his lower back, he has not picked up a bat all spring and concerns that he will not be ready for opening day are growing. Joe is going in for a “magnetic resonance arthrogram”, a test that puts dye in the body, in the hopes that they can figure out what is causing his pain. GET BETTER JOE! The Twins and we, the fans, need you.

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

Now I want to spend a little time on 2009 spring training and what I think might happen. To start off I want to spend a little time talking about two players that I expect are going to have break out seasons this year if they stay healthy. My dad and I had a little thing going last year because in the spring he said Jason Kublel was the least respected Twin on the team. I told him how good Delmon Young was and that the trade of shortstop Jason Bartlett and pitcher Mat Garza was a great trade. My dad disagreed and for the first part of the season, I was starting to think he might have been right.

The areas where there are no questions, if health is not an issue this year, are the M&M boys. But they are the only absolutes. The catcher will be Joe Mauer and 1st base will be handled by Justin Morneau and that is pretty much it for the position players. Everything else is going to be up for grabs or, to be more precise, should be. Our disagreement led to a season long rivalry. Dad expected a little more out of Kubel than what he was able to produce and I expected a lot more from Delmon Young for the first half of the season.

Kubel improved in home runs from 2007 to 2008 while his batting average stayed the same. Young, on the other hand, did not show what Minnesota and it’s fans had expected from him, until after the All-Star break. Delmon also has to take the game a little more seriously. He made some costly mental errors in the outfield.

If Kubel stays healthy, I believe he will hit around .285 and hit 30 home runs; I believe that Kubel if given more playing time would give Morneau much stronger competition for the team home run title. That would be great news for the Twins If Kubel stays healthy, I believe he will hit around .285 and hit 30 home runs; I believe that Kubel if given more playing time would give Morneau much stronger competition for the team home run title. That would be great news for the Twins

Photos by D. Ackerman

Photos by John Baumer

If Young does, what I believe he his is capable of this year, he will mature as a regular fielder and not commit so many errors. Young’s home run count should get up to 20 to 25 with both Morneau and Kubel batting ahead of him.

Let’s pop out to the outfield and see what’s in store for the Twins out there.

The Twins have 4/5 outfielders with Kubel being 5; and I do not expect him to be playing that much outfield. Then there is the other four: Delmon Young, Calos Gomez, Denard Span and Michael Cuddyer. This is tough! I know that Gardenhire has only committed to one guaranteed spot in the outfield, and it is Cuddyer!

I agree that the other three all need to earn a spot, but I think that Cuddyer’s spot shouldn’t have any guarantees either. He has been injured a lot, while Young and Span have shown that they can produce and produce well In the big leagues. With Span making a surprise jump from the minors. Span has the potential to be the best lead off batter we have had since Chuck Knoblauch and, quite frankly, Gomez, with a little more maturity, has an even stronger upside potential . However, just because the Twins messed up with Santana and Hunter last year does not mean Gomez should be learning his skills in the Majors. He still may need to do that in the minor leagues but if he shows consistency, I think Cuddyer could and should become the odd man out really fast.

As I told my dad last year he needed to acclimate to the team! Young did that in the first half of the season last year and was one of our best in the second half. Delmon will be just fine and an All Star for the Twins soon.

Actually the entire outfield could end up in an Allstar game one time or another.

Now the infield is a mess but not the same mess. I can not believe that we got rid of Jason Bartlett last year. My dad was distraught when he heard about the Twins trading him and Garza away, and obviously he was correct. Most baseball people, and Tampa Bay itself, gives him a lot of the credit for their trip to the World Series. That is all I wanted to say..it is off my chest.

Like I said above, 1st base is solid there are few 1st basemen in baseball that are as good as Morneau , at least till August. But he is only slightly above average in September and October. If he could play the same type of game in those months, he would be the best in the AL, and few could argue.

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