No, not "Freebird." No, what you want to hear are the magic words - pitchers and catchers report. Now that we are past Valentine's Day, the first trickles of news begin to come from Florida and Arizona. And hope continues to spring eternal.
Of course, around here we tend to follow two squads, the Twins and the Brewers. Last year was a magical ride for the TC Men and a disappointment for the True Blue Brew Crew. So where do we stand as we begin the new year? Let's talk first about the Twins.
Terry Ryan is the difference maker for the Twins organization. A proud cheesehead from Janesville, WI, Ryan has quietly proved to be one of the best baseball men in the world. Ten years ago, both the Twins and the Brewers were a mess. Ten years on, the Twins are considered a model franchise with a cavalcade of young stars, while the Brewers are an enigmatic group with a lot of individual talent but little sense of direction. The difference is Ryan. During the offseason Ryan has been quietly locking up some of the key position players for the Twins, with the key signing being the 4 year contract for Joe Mauer, the reigning batting champion. The Twins have kept their core players intact from last season.
The problem is pitching. The Twins have the best starting pitcher in baseball, Johan Santana. After that, not so much. The Twins were hoping that rookie sensation Francisco Liriano would be a second dominant lefty in their rotation, but we won't see Liriano until 2008 following his "Tommy John" surgery. With Brad Radke retired, the remaining pitchers are somewhat less inspiring. The likely number two is Carlos Silva, who had a fine 2005 season but was a bit of a kerosene merchant last year. Silva has good stuff, especially his hard sinking fastball, but he is injury prone and overweight. On the bright side, he's not a drunk and hasn't been in trouble with the law. The Twins apparently decided that they needed someone with that profile, so they are taking a flier on Sidney Ponson, who, like Silva, has been a successful major league pitcher, but whose career has been slowly circling the bowl the last few seasons because of his indifferent conditioning and behavioral issues. If Ponson could straighten up and fly right, he would be a guy who could give you 200+ innings and 12-15 victories. That's exactly what the Twins need, but I wouldn't count on it. The next pitcher in line is Boof Bonser, yet another portly righthander. Bonser pitched extremely well down the stretch for the Twins and would be an ideal number four starter. The problem is, he'll likely have to be the number two or three guy. Bonser throws well enough, but what I especially admired was his tough-minded approach to pitching. He does not back down. The final acquisition was Ramon Ortiz, who comes over from the hapless Washington Nationals. Ortiz has also had success at the major league level, but got cuffed around pretty good last year. If the Twins can get 8-10 wins out of him, that would be plenty. Meanwhile, there is a cavalcade of pitchers waiting in the wings - Matt Garza, Scott Baker, Glen Perkins, Kevin Slowey and J. D. Durbin. All have promise, but none has had more than intermittent success at the major league level. It would be a very good thing if one of these gentlemen emerges in spring training; Garza is the best bet.
Otherwise, the Twins are looking pretty good. They could probably use another power bat, especially from the right side, but the general lineup should be solid. There aren't any real good power prospects in the Twins system right now, so any help they receive will have to come from outside the organization.
Can the Twins win the division again? Sure. Will it be difficult? Oh yeah. The Tigers are the reigning AL Champions and still have better pitching and have added Gary Sheffield to their growing list of high-priced sluggers. The White Sox, only one year removed from winning the World Series, continue to have a potent starting lineup and rock-solid pitching. The Indians have an excellent young team, including a budding superstar in Grady Sizemore, but appear to lack pitching. It is pretty easy to imagine the AL Central having four teams that win 90 games this year. I suspect the Twins will be one of them, but it won't be easy.
We'll talk about that Brew Crew in the coming days.
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