The Twins have been brutal to watch this summer. They are much like the Vikings under Mike Tice: below average payroll, lack of quality depth throughout the roster, a shoddy defense (this would be comparable to the Twins pitching staff) but, they have stars (Moss/Vikings vs. Mauer/Twins) on the squad that you just can't help not watch.
Even with the up and down season they have had thus far...the Twins are only a mere 4 games out of first place with plenty of head to head games versus the slumping division leader, Detroit Tigers. Here's what I'm looking forward to (some of my opinions for not only the rest of this season, but looking towards next season as well):
* Play Jose Morales...you don't even have to play him, just let him DH and get some quality at-bats. I wasn't a believer in him early (because I remember when Redmond was batting a surprising .320 or so a couple years back and fans were clamoring for him to be in the lineup more as well), but he deepens the lineup especially when you can use him over Redmond.
* Will the Ewing Theory (Bill Simmons reference that team may actually play better without their best player...addition by subtraction) play out for the rest of the season with the Twins playing without Justin Morneau...and how does this effect a former MVP winner, with the the last three years having him collapse during the stretch runs.
* Who actually steps up this year on the pitching staff during this final stretch? Could Brian Duensing really be a playoff starter if somehow we managed to squeak in? Not to overwhelm you even more, but who the hell is our starting pitching rotation next year: Pavano (do we re-sign him), Baker, Blackburn, Duensing, Slowey, Perkins, Liriano, Swarzak, etc...could you even be confident to lock in three of the above as sure things?
* Is Carlos Gomez just going to be a defensive replacement/pinch runner in the late innings? Is Alexi Casilla in that same role? Granted they have both struggled mightily this year...but, we are not even a year removed when these two players were key components to our run the year before.
* Joe Nathan is scaring me (I know he is prone to bad stretches here and there...but, still he seems less confident with his fastball)...he hasn't quite bottomed out like Brad Lidge in Philadelphia, but this is another reason to bolster up the bullpen even more for next year in case he collapses just like pretty much everyone else did in that Twins bullpen this year.
* Let Orlando Cabrera walk after the season. Trade one of your young mediocre pitchers and a mid-level prospect over to the Brewers for J.J. Hardy.
* Does Joe Mauer get an MVP award for the remarkable season he's had offensively? I doubt it...but, no other full-time catcher will come close to the numbers he's put up this year...I'm not even sure he can match this godly performance.
SBG
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