Previewing the Twins

Hey, so, it’s time for baseball previews. It’s 2 days before that whole tournament selection thing happens, so we’re going to go ahead and do 2 posts on the Twins before hand. After that, we go to the division by division thing. Make sense? All right then.

As I see it, the Twins lineup should look like this for ’08, if I’m the manager. I’m not, in case you haven’t been paying attention. That’s still Ron Gardenhire. I digress. The lineup will be as follows (if I have my way).

CF Carlos Gomez
C Joe Mauer
LF Delmon Young
1b Justin Morneau
RF Michael Cuddyer
3b Mike Lamb
DH Jason Kubel
2b Brendan Harris
SS Adam Everett

I’m sure we’ll see ample doses of Nick Punto playing the middle infield. An Everett to Punto double play tandem would be ferocious on defense, if atrocious on offense. At the very least, slapping Harris in there will give some semblance of an offensive threat playing in the middle infield.
I suspect, though, that even the offensively ignorant Ron Gardenhire will agree that this is a good defensive lineup, good enough that we can afford to plop Harris in at second, knowing that we’re going to be solid everywhere else (who am I kidding. We’re seeing Punto 130 games this year). And that was why I started with Punto and Harris, to assert that defense will not be the primary issue with this roster. It’s very good.
Offensively, there are a few question marks, but at this point, nobody who is truly frustrating. The top if the lineup consists of three guys who aren’t yet 25. Gomez, Mauer and Young are all pretty quick and will be able to move around the bases at every opportunity. If, that is, they can get aboard. Gomez is yet to prove himself above AA, and needs to learn a little plate patience, despite anything Ron Gardenhire tells him. When he’s on base though, he’s an absolute speed demon and will always be able to move up bases.
Last year, opposing pitchers seemed to figure Joe Mauer out, and his average and walk rate dropped. He’s a smart, thoughtful player, however, and will likely bounce back this year and in the future. I anticipate he will once again be hitting above .300 this year.
Young is still, well, young. He is impulsive and still developing his skills. If he plays to his potential, he’ll be a huge middle of the order bat, but I don’t know that the Twins are the right system for developing power bats. Additionally, he had more at bats than any other player in the league last year, and I have to wonder if fatigue could be a concern.
The middle of the lineup, with Morneau, Cuddyer and Lamb will be the most consistent and reliable trio. The veteran presence will keep more explosive elements of the roster in check, and will keep the Twins boat from capsizing too early. Expect a fairly consistent 270-310 average across the board.
If the Twins expect to win this year, they need Justin Morneau to bounce back from a bit of a regression last year. Perhaps with his contract taken care of, he’ll feel OK with playing like his MVP self.
Cuddyer has been the most consistent player on the roster for a couple of years now. Sure, he isn’t garnering the attention of the greater baseball world, but Twins fans know that he is indispensable fir the Twins.
Mike Lamb, along with new shortstop Adam Everett were additions from the Astros. The Astros have been a solid squad for the past few years, and generally speaking, we know what to expect from both Lamb and Everett. As long as we aren’t expecting either to be stars, but rather capable role players, we’re going to be pleasantly surprised.
The last of the order is full of those role players. Kubel may be well served by splitting time with Craig Monroe, who certainly needs to figure out that whole “plate patience” thing in order to be as effective as he can be. Kubel needs to not be constantly hurt.

So, thats about it for the batting order. Tomorrow, we’ll look at the pitchers.