Twins: Non-Johan Issues
While we all hold our collective breath a little longer on the fate of Cy Santana, let's look at some other Twins issues right now.
- The lineup will be massively different from last year, especially now that we've signed the left half of the Astros infield. Only 4 of the starting 9 hitters from '07 will be in the Opening Day batting order. That's a lot of change. Obviously Young is an upgrade over whoever was at DH (I'm assuming Kubel moves to DH and Young's in left); although no standout, Lamb's a large improvement at third - his plate production increase over Punto more than compensates for his crummy defense; Everett's pretty much a wash from Bartlett in my eyes; I'm not sure what's going to happen at 2B, but it's probably going to be slightly less offense than Castillo in his prime, but negligible over what he'll do in reality next year; and CF will be a downgrade unless the Big Trade fixes it. Overall, I'd say we've slightly upgraded the offense thus far, but there's still work to do.
- Pitching's obviously downgraded, especially if Santana's gone. I'm concerned about Neshek's second half, needing a closer, and Liriano's health, mostly. But Rincon's fallen apart, we need Baker and the other young guys to step up, and we need a future stud gained via the Santana trade to work out. Lot of question marks here. I haven't been this concerned about our pitching since Scott Erickson left.
- I'm not in love with the Everett and Lamb signings, but I do like that Smith is at least getting guys in free agency who aren't total bargain bin washups. I actually think Lamb will produce pretty well in the Dome and his numbers could increase as an everyday starter. We all knew well in advance that RonDL, Batista, etc. would not work, but at least here, there's a chance.
- As a fan it will take a while to get used to all the new faces. We really have sort of blown up the team outside of the foundation of M, M and Cuddy. It will feel even more brand-new if and when Johan goes, obviously. 2008 will be interesting, regardless of success level.
4 Comments:
Alshouse...great observations about next year's lineup. I guess it was so awful outside of M&M, Cuddy and Torii this year that I hardly paid attention to who was out there. You have to imagine it couldn't be any worse than last year (especially with the Punto to Lamb upgrade at 3rd). Can we throw Punto back at 2nd base? Who is our LF? Assuming Cuddy in RF, Morneau at 1st, Mauer catching and D. Young in Center.
December 19, 2007 at 6:27 PM
The Twins certainly are not going to miss Bartlett and Punto at the plate. You know what would be huge? If Kubel could turn the corner the way Cuddy did. I was so ready for the Twins to give up on that guy and then BAM, he has his break out season. MCA I know Kubel is your boy, or at least the only one who defended him last year when we were ripping him. Any predictions who will be the next Lew Ford, the young guy short on talent but somehow gets it done? Pitching definitely hinges on the young guys. Someone always seems to come through in the bullpen. It seems so long ago that JC Romero was the stud. I think Jan said it, we lose I lot more 8-5 games this year rather than 3-1.
December 20, 2007 at 7:56 AM
Great point on Cuddy - I had given up on him before '06, too. It's now or never for Kubel. I've thought he was underused and misused in the past, but he's got a full season of regular starts under his belt now, so no excuses. If he doesn't hit a respectable .285 with 20 homers and 75-80 RBI this year, we should cut him loose.
I don't know on young guys with marginal talent stepping it up - our prospects are pretty light right now in terms of bats, so I'm not familiar with any of them.
Part of Smith's plan seems to be to get away from relying on 2 or 3 of those guys to keep us competitive. When they failed, like this past season, we were miserable. So, go sign Everett and Lamb, who you can count on for at least a baseline of production, and cut bait on Tyner and Ford and the like. Our bench will look like major leaguers this year.
I think we start the year with Young in left. For center you've got Span, Monroe or whoever we get in a Johan trade before you have to move Young over there.
December 20, 2007 at 10:15 AM
Biggest issue is going to be pitching. Now that Silva is looking to sign with the Mariners (and be their #2 guy behind Hernandez, which is a bigger comment on the M's than it is on the Twins) and that we are with out Garza and most likely Santana, we could be in trouble. I'm not worried on Neshek. I think it took hitters a while to figure him out but he is most likely going to be moved to closer when we deal Nathan (which I am putting at 4:1 odds right now.)
Weird to see 5 new faces in that lineup. I have never liked Kubel. It was his year to take a step forward this year, now we are going to be saying the same thing coming out of spring training. I hate his mug too, just smarmy. Denard Span in CF? Man alive that is a void huh? That is why I was so upset when Spidey left; he could swing at as many high heat pitches as he wanted since I knew he wasn't losing us a game by his play in CF.
Seriously, how do we feel about Everret and Lamb? MCA is positive, generally speaking. Why was Houston so ready to let them go? I am happy that I no longer have to keep hoping that the 2006 version of Punto comes back. He is better served as a utility guy anyway.
Right now, assuming Santana stays just because it is so quiet, I'd say we win 85 games? Am I on crack?
December 20, 2007 at 12:50 PM
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