After numerous anti-Gardenhire, depressing rants, in many ways this team remainds me of the 1991 Twins. It’s a player by player type of break down. Bear with me.
The Twins, of course, had the core group in town that had been successful for many years. Some were appreciated, some were under appreciated, maybe a few were even overrated. You had:
The popular home town hero: Kent Hrbek/Joe Mauer
The popular, long time outfielder: Kirby Puckett/Michael Cuddyer
The leadoff hitter having a very down year: Dan Gladden/Denard Span
The outfielder who had a breakout year after geting regular playing time: Shane Mack/Delmon Young
But then there were the holes that needed to be filled. For example:
A middle of the lineup power hitting DH: Chili Davis/Jim Thome
Someone to fill a long thorny infield position: Mike Pagliarulo/Orlando Hudson
A dynamic rookie to fill another problem infield position: Chuck Knoblauch/Danny Valencia
And don’t forget the pitching staff!
Some new additions bolstered the relief corps: Steve Bedrosian and Carl Willis/Matt Capps and Brian Fuentes
The young pitcher who may end up having the best year of his career: Kevin Tapani/Brian Duensing
The pitcher so brilliant early in his career, but needed to be monitored for injury later: Scott Erickson/Francisco Liriano
And of course, the ace with the mustache: Jack Morris/Carl Pavano
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