Another surprise season by the Twins shook up the NL Central and were one more win away from winning the division in a one game playoff against the Chicago White Sox. Sadly, they lost out and their season was over, but they had plenty of bright spots in the 2008 season. Such as Justin Morneau, who really turned up his game in the latter half of the year, and should’ve won the AL MVP award for the second straight year, but got screwed over by some faulty judges. Who just had to vote and make the winner a Boston Red Sox. It’s really sad how voting for this award comes down to favorites, and as soon as a Yankee or Red Sox player are on the ballot, they have to get serious consideration and win.
Anyways, back to the Twins, and their star slugger Justin Morneau. Yes, he should’ve won the MVP award, but he is a good Canadian kid and doesn’t need accolades like that to boost his image or career. He does all that on the playing field, and posted a solid 2008, where he smoked 23 homeruns and batted in 129 RBI. Morneau is just too important to this lineup, that without him the Twins would not have achieved so much success the past four years. With Morneau in the lineup the Twins are a solid, gritty group, which can grind out games, which led to their success.
Along with Morneau, the Twins employee some other solid bats, as in catcher Joe Mauer, who shows unprecedented power for a player in his position. Out of all the players on the Twins’ roster, you have got to believe that Mauer’s bat is the most vital. We all know what Morneau is capable of doing, but Mauer provides that secondary run support, and can easily lead the team in hits and batting average. If Morneau and Mauer are on their games, which is a certainty, the Twins will do all right.
There are three young players on the Twins right now, two are sophomores, Denard Span and Carlos Gomez, and the other will be entering his fourth year in the Big’s, Delmon Young.
If Span can post the number’s he put up last year, which were six homeruns and 47 RBI, the Twins would take it, because he is better in the outfield. Carlos Gomez will be the starting centre fielder and right now is still learning the power game, but he can drive in runs and is more a of a gap to gap type hitter. The Twins wouldn’t mind that from him, and could place him in the leadoff spot with confidence. As for Young, he needs to produce a twenty homerun season, something he has yet do in his career. Young needs to be more consistent in what he does, because he was up and down all year and hit ten homeruns with 69 RBI. These young three bats will get playing time, but they have to make the most of it, if they want to contend in the division.
The Twins also have Jason Kubel, who has been an under the radar player, and has seen his number’s improve since joining the Twins as a rookie in 2006. If he can get off to a hot start and keep that up throughout the season, he can easily bat behind Morneau or Mauer, and posting 25 homeruns should be within reach.
The Twins brought in Joe Crede in the off season to solidify their needs at third base, and picked up an excellent player. Defensively he is very good, so no worries there. If he can get rolling offensively like he did with the White Sox, he will ease the pressure on Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer.
Pitching has always seemed to be the problem for the Twins, but somehow they find a way to get the most out of their starting rotation and over achieve. If you were to look at the Twins’ pitching, only two names would jump out at you, which are starting pitcher Francisco Liriano and closer Joe Nathan. Besides those two pitchers, the Twins are weak in pitching and that is one point that always holds them back. Every off season, nothing is done by Twins management to fix that problem.
Starting pitching will hurt the Twins as the season progresses, and the chances of the Twins making the playoffs, or even to force another one game are slim. Even Liriano, who is the ace on the staff, had an off year last season when he went 6-4 in fourteen starts. Then there’s Boof Bonser, who shown he cannot post a winning season at all. Jeff Baker had an awesome season with an 11-4 record, but before that he was just coasting along with at or below five hundred record. So, who knows if he’ll produce that type of season again?
In the bullpen, the Twins have veteran arms in there, and did a pretty decent job of holding and relieving their starting pitchers. Of course, Joe Nathan is the anchor in that bullpen, and is one of the best closer’s in the game.
Overall, the Twins have proved over and over again, if you just play the game right, you can win. They’ll need to do that again this season, because starting pitching may hold them back. Justin Morneau needs to post another MVP type season, again, if the Twins even want to sniff a playoff race.
POSITIVE --> NO DOUBT IT’S JUSTIN MORNEAU AND POWER CATCHER JOE MAUER.
NEGATIVE --> STARTING PITCHING IS WEAK.
X-FACTOR --> THAT’S A NO BRAINER, JUSTIN MORNEAU.
SLEEPER PICK --> JASON KUBEL HAS QUIETLY IMPROVED HIS NUMBERS SINCE HIS ROOKIE YEAR IN 2006.
PREDICTION --> DON’T SEE THE TWINS QUALIFYING FOR THE PLAYOFFS. DIVISION IS TOO TOUGH, AND WILL HAVE TO CONTEND WITH THE TIGERS AND WHITE SOX, AND BOTH TEAMS HAVE BETTER OFFENSES, AND BARELY BETTER PITCHING.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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