The 2007 Major League Baseball season officially starts tonight.  The Twins will kick off the season by opening at home against the Baltimore Orioles. 

I’ve been trying my best not to get wrapped up in speculation prior to the season starting.  Now that the season officially starts, I thought it time to fire up the old laptop and start writing about my favorite team.

A few things worry me about the 2007 team.  First of all, i’m not sold (yet) on the starting pitching rotation.  It’s been well documented that we have the best pitcher in baseball on our staff (in fact MLB might do well to rename the Cy Young award to pay homage to Johan Santana).  I’m honestly worried about three starters on our team…..  I’m worried about Ponson, Boof and scared to death by Silva. 

I’ll start with Boof.  He’s young and while he has some experience he certainly is not as dependable as I would like.  I like what he does on the mound but I fear that in a pressure situation he’ll find a way to give up a game or make a critical error.  He has all the tools to be a quality pitcher but his inexperience in my eyes is what makes him risky.  I would have no issues with him if he was our 4th or 5th guy but when he’s slotted as 3rd in the rotation my palms get a little sweaty.

Now to Ponson….  He had a shaky start to Spring Training but he has seemed to turn it around.  He’s been fairly solid this spring.  He has a modest 4.29 ERA which isn’t great but the key is that he has yet to give up a homerun in 21 innings.  That makes me believe he could be a solid 4th starter in our rotation.  Let’s hope that his “wine with dinner” doesn’t cause him to make local or national headlines.  That last thing we need in the clubhouse is a guy who could cause a distraction.

Last but not least, the guy i’m most worried about is Carlos Silva.  To say that he’s been bad this spring is an understatement.  In 21 innings he’s given up 21 runs (only 20 earned)…  Somehow he beat out Garza for the last spot in the rotation.  He has been struggling with location on every one of  his pitches.  His slider doesn’t slide.  His changeup isn’t slow enough and he is struggling to be precise with his fastball.  The inability to throw those pitches well will make him nothing more than batting practice on his April 10th start against the Yankees.  A word to the wise for all you Twins fans…. Don’t watch that game in HD.  It will be painful enough.  There is no need to make it worse on ourselves by watching Carlos sweating bullets in HD.

(closed circuit to Ron Gardenhire….  Just because Silva is Santana’s best friend doesn’t mean that he should have taken the 5th spot in the rotation.  If he falters as all make sure and send him down to AAA.)

On to better subjects.  Mauer and Morneau can now officially be called the “M&M boys”.  I figure that once you win  the AL MVP and the batting championship those sort of nicknames are well deserved.

*** On a sad note, the Twins announced yesterday that legendary announcer Herb Carneal died at age 83 from congestive heart failure.  Herb had been fighting CHF for some time and my thoughts and prayers are with his family.  The Twins have dedicated the 2007 season in his name***