Twins Notes

-Carlos Gomez has 25 bunt singles this year. He has more bunt singles than any other team in the major leagues. Houston has 24 on the year. The Twins lead the majors with 50 bunt singles. Gomez, Span, and Casilla are some of the fastest players in baseball.

-Scouts have been saying that Justin Morneau has the potential to become one of the greatest players ever to play baseball. Since July 7, Morneau has hit safely in 17 of 20 games, is batting .380 with 10 doubles, 17 runs, 17 walks, six home runs and 21 RBI. In those 20 games, he has a .494 on-base percentage and a .775 slugging percentage. In the Chicago series, Morneau hit .357 with two homers and 10 RBI. He was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer in the fifth inning in last Thursday night's 10-6 victory over Chicago.

-Francisco Liriano, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Nick Blackburn, and Glen Perkins could be the Minnesota Twins starting five for years to come. The young 5 man rotation is the envy of the league. It reminds me of what Atlanta assembled in the early 90's with Glavine, Smoltz, Avery, and Maddux.

Liriano had a 2.16 ERA in 2006, Blackburn has a 3.56 ERA, Baker -3.86, Slowey - 4.21, Perkins - 4.38. They are all 26 or younger. Liriano is still just 24. Just imagine if the Twins had kept Santana and Garza... Santana/Liriano/Garza/Baker/Blackburn would be the best rotation in the majors.

A look ahead: 2010 Minnesota Twins

In 2010 the Twins new ballpark will open. This will be a huge day for the Twins shall be getting out of the Metrodome, perhaps the worst baseball ballpark in MLB. The Twins aren’t necessarily rebuilding but they are regrouping, trying to be a World Series caliber team. It’s not a bad idea, most this team is really young especially the core. Only Michael Cuddyer and Joe Nathan are over 27. So the 2008 Twins are kind of like the beta 2010 Twins. Here is what the 2010 Twins might look like on opening day:

C Joe Mauer
1B Justin Morneau
2B Alexi Casilla
SS Trevor Plouffe
3B Danny Valencia
LF Delmon Young
CF Carlos Gomez
RF Michael Cuddyer
DH Jason Kubel

SP Francisco Liriano
SP Scott Baker
SP Kevin Slowey
SP Phil Humber
SP Deolis Guerra

CL Joe Nathan

And the lineup:

CF Gomez
C Mauer
LF Young
1B Morneau
RF Cuddyer
DH Kubel
3B Valencia
SS Plouffe
2B Casilla

All of those guys have great potential. Only Joe Nathan and perhaps Michael Cuddyer have reached their ceiling. Casilla and Gomez could combine for over 100 SB. Mauer/Young/Morneau/Cuddyer/Kubel will be one of the best middle of the lineup combinations. Valencia and Plouffe have great offensive potential as well. Valencia will be the best Twins 3B since Koskie and Plouffe will have the most extra-base hits for a Twins shortstop in a long long time.


And the rotation, well it could be amazing. Liriano could end up being the best pitcher on the planet (yes, better than Santana), Baker has the potential to rack up high strikeout totals and low walks issued, Slowey reminds many of Greg Maddux and Brad Radke due to his command and deception, Humber was the #3 pick in his draft for a reason, and Deolis Guerra should be ready for the rotation around this time and will help anchor the top of the rotation for a very long time.

This post comes at a bad time. 2008 just started, I know. The Twins could be very good this year. But they are more likely to disappoint. So if the season gets to be rough then we can just look 2 years to the future and therein lies great hope and potential.