I can’t help but wait to see the words “Santana Traded to [insert team here]” on the front page of the StarTribune in the next couple of days.  At this point, it seems inevitable to me that the Cy-Young award winning pitcher will soon be leaving the friendly confines of the Metrodome for either Yankee or Fenway stadiums.

If Santana’s days as a Twin truly are numbered I am forced to look into the future to see what our lineup will likely be like without the best pitcher in baseball.  So as I look into my crystal ball, I see the following lineup next season:

Castilla

Mauer

Young

Cuddyer

Morneau

Boucher (or third baseman to be named later)

DH (either Kubel or possibly Monroe if he isn’t released)

CF (to be named later)

Harris

It is very apparent that with any trade for Santana that we address 3b and/or CF.  If I was a betting man (which I am) I would think that we’ll fill the CF spot with CoCo Crisp.  With that we’ll likely also get Jon Lester out of the deal….  Lester will be a very servicable pitcher who will fit in nicely next to Boof, Baker, Slowey and Perkins.  While our pitching rotation will be very young and inexperienced, I believe that we will have the pieces necessary to be compeditive.  CoCo is a good option at CF because he has a VERY user friendly contract for the upcoming years with 4.75M and 5.75M in 2008 and 2009.  That will allow the Twins to work a longer term contract with him if needed or bring up someone from the Minors to replace him in the new stadium. 

When all is said and done, our offense should be much more effective/powerful and even with the loss of Santana we still have 4 other pitchers who will be able to let us compete. 

It’s official.  The sun has set on Torii Hunter and the Minnesota Twins.  The 7-time Gold Glove winner will be leaving the not so friendly confines of the H.H.H. Metrodome in exchange for Edison Field in Sunny and traffic congested Anaheim California!  Some of the reactions in the blog-o-sphere have been negative towards Torii and the Twins for not making something happen.  A few thoughts:

• Torii’s new deal is rediculous.  His other suiters offered him 4 and 5 year deals in the 65-80 million dollar range.  The Angels came out of left field (yes, just like the movie) and swooped in with their 5 year contract worth 90 million.  This contract has an option for a 6th year and includes a NO TRADE CLAUSE! Wow!  He couldn’t turn that down….  Baseball is a very fickle business and afterall……he has to feed his family!  [somewhere Latrell Spreewell is sitting in his manion…..wondering what’s for dinner].
• The Twins are also not fools.  They were not about to budge from their 3 year, 40 million dollar deal.  Personally, I wish that they would have gone to 4 years and around 55 million.  That might have been a risk on their part but I am wondering if Torii would have been more inclined to stay with such a deal.
• This certainly made a splash in the free agent market….  Now guys like Mike Cameron, Andru Jones and even Aaron Rowand will certainly get their cash….
• I have little faith that we’ll have anybody decent patrolling the Dome next summer.  We might be able to make a trade for CoCo Crisp but….. he won’t be Torii.
• I also forsee the Twins dumping Santana this year (or even this offseason).  After all, Torii left and we won’t get anything more than a first round draft pick next year for him.  The Twins will likely learn from this mistake and make a monster trade to get prospects and sluggers for him.  After all, if we sign Santana we’ll still lose every 5th game byt he score of 2-1 or 3-2 due to our lack of production.

While this season comes to a close, there is much speculation regarding the future of several current Twins….  Will Santana be traded?  Will the Twins resign Hunter?  One question that is just starting to surface….  Will Barry Bonds land in Minnesota?

Barry has publically stated that he wants to play for 1 or 2 more years.  While everyone in baseball knows that Barry is past his prime playing days, the popular consensus is that he can still see and more importantly hit the ball.  Since his days in left field are likely over, it only make sense that he makes his way out of the friendly confines of AT&T ballpark and to the roster of an American League team in need.

Usually a guy like Barry would likely be snapped up by one of the big market teams like the Yankees, Red Sox or White Sox.  This situation is somewhat different though.  All of those teams have their DH and are not looking to pay for a guy who will ride the bench.  After reviewing the current AL rosters it appears that the following teams are NOT in need of Barry’s services:

Red Sox:  Big Papi
Yankees:  Giambi
White Sox:  Thome
Tigers:  Sheff
Indians: Hafner
Angels:  This is typically platooned by Garrett Anderson and Vlad
Orioles:  The DH is also platooned by Aufrey Huff and Kevin Millar
Blue Jays:  Frank Thomas

That leaves the following squads with immediate DH needs:
Royals, Mariners, Devil Rays, Rangers, Athletics and our beloved Twins

In my opinion, the Royals would never make a move…  They are happy living at the bottom of the AL Central.  The Blue Jays could make a move considering that they are in a constant battle to overcome the evil empires of Boston and New York.  The Devil Rays are horrible and would not bring in a guy like Bonds (because even Barry wouldn’t bring in ticket sales to that God forsaken stadium). 

That leaves the Mariners, Rangers and Twins as contenders.

As I see it, this is a three team race.  The Twins might have a slight advantage in that they are still considered “playoff contenders”.  With better situational hitting, next year they could be back in the mix in the AL Central.

So….  What would the fans of Minneapolis and St. Paul think about Bonds?  I’m not sure.  Personally, I would love to see him play DH and hit his 20 Homeruns and 80 RBIs.  The second reason i’d love to see him would be because of what he would do to the rest of the lineup.  Put Cuddy in the clean up spot and Bonds at fifth…  All of a sudden Cuddy will see GREAT pitches.  Think of this lineup:

Bartlett
Mauer
Morneau
Cuddy
Bonds
Hunter (i’m praying that they find a way)
Left Fielder
Third Baseman
Castilla

I’d take that.

With this season coming to a close, I can’t help but think about the future of Torii Hunter.  Over the past 10 seasons, Torii has been a rock in centerfield.  With his acrobatic catches, robbed homeruns and mile-wide smile I must admit that I have come very attached to this player.  To me and dare I say thousands of other Twins fans, Torii has become the Kirby of present day.  His enthusiasm and love for the game, his teammates and the communities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, we could not have asked for more from him as a player.

As the season comes to a close (finally!), we will soon know the fate of our beloved centerfielder.  The Twins have 2 weeks after the end of the regular season in which they can sign him to a contract without the fear of him being stolen by another team (read New York, Chicago, Boston, Texas).  Once Torii hits the free market he will likely be commanding deals of 5 years in excess of 70 million for that time. 

Terry Ryan and the rest of the Twins front office have held the stance that there is no negotiation during the season on any of its players.  Terry has since moved on, but that decision will likely put the last nail in the coffin.  That decision will likely put more buts in the Metrodome seats once a year when the Twins play the teams like the Rangers, Sox or Yanks.

Torii has publicly stated that he’d love to finish his career as a Twin.  He even indicated that he might offer a home-town discount if the Twins would come to the negotiation table.  The Twins have thus far called his bluff. 

This truly is a sad time to be a Twins fan.  With a good, young core of ballplayers, losing a 6-time Gold Glove centerfielder will not be something that can be replaced.  No disrespect for Denard Span……but he’s no Torii Hunter!

Only time will tell if the Twins will be able to sign Torii.  As a blogger and more importantly an avid Twins fan, I will keep hoping that a miracle can happen at 34 Puckett Place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8KgXoqcOtw

The baseball trip is over.  I was able to navigate my way up and down the entire state of California.  5 stadiums and Las Vegas… All in 9 days!  What a whirlwind.  One of the best baseball trips to date.  A few quick notes about the stadiums.

1.  AT&T Park is better in person than on TV.  The view from the right field seats is breathtaking.  Picture this…. McCovey Cove and the Bay Bridge.  The only downside…  Barry didn’t get a hit. 

2.  We have always been complaining about the Metrodome.  Let me tell you all that we have it good here in Minneapolis.  Outside of the fact that McAfee Collusium is open air the place is a certified DUMP.  The only way in (via the B.A.R.T.) was through an elevated caged in (with barbed wire) bridge.  Once inside the stadium it had NO atmosphere.  It’s hard to cheer for a team when no one is sitting within 10 rows of you….(we were sitting lower deck about 20 rows up from the first base baggie).  The metrodome has the plaza, bars, famous daves, etc.  McAfee has NONE of this.  Next to Tropicana Field…this place is the worst in baseball.

3.  Not far above McAfee….Dodger Stadium was a piece of crap.  Yea, it’s in the hills.  Yea, it has “history”.  Yea, I saw Danny Devito at the game.  All those things aside this is also a very old, delapitated dump. 

4.  PetCo Ballpark….  This park ranks #1 in my book.  PNC in Pittsburgh is not far behind but this definitely grabs the #1 spot.  The ammenities, the food/beer selection, the friendly ushers who will let you go right down to the field to take pictures.  All that and it’s on the water in San Diego makes this the best park around.  Let’s hope that we can create the atmosphere with a new Twins Stadium that is here.  Simply Amazing.

5.  Angels Stadium in Anahiem….  Very middle of the pack.  The fans were RABID.  Outside of that it felt very much like it was in Orange County…  People taking their time and not really caring about much of anything.

Now on to some Twins talk….

1.  Closed Circuit to Rondell White…. RETIRE.  You’ve had a great run but we really would have been better off if you would have retired last year.  To say that you’re going to retire after this season is a HUGE slap in the face of the Twins.  We have needed a DH all year and you’ve give us nothing.  We could have used your million in other ways.

2.  Alexi Castilli….  Young and talented.  Not good in the field.  He looks like a shaky Jason Bartlett…..  Scary.  Hopefully by next year he can take strides to becoming the leadoff hitter that we need.  I love the pop in his bat. 

3.  Twins Offense:  Diseased.  Morneau is NOT MVP material.  Hunter is slumping and we have to GET RID OF Jason Tyner.  He’s a great backup outfielder but when a .270 slap hitter is our DH that is a huge problem.

4.  I love that we brought up 3rd baseman Brian Buscher.  He definitely has some pop in his bat.  He makes solid contact but looks uneasy at the plate.  That will come with time.  He was in AA earlier this year so i’m not surprised by this.  Still a HUGE upgrade over Nicky “Nails” Punto. 

I’m out.

Today is the start of my annual pilgrimage that I affectionatly refer to as the “Big Trip”.  Each year, myself and 4 other guys head out on the road.  We map out a week and a half long road trip where we travel from baseball stadium to baseball stadium.  This year we’ll be living it up in California!  We’ll be flying to LA and from there driving 1400 miles up and back down the coast of California.  A quick overview of our agenda…

July 27: The Big A (OC style)

July 29: McCovey Cove and Bonds.  We’ll be sitting about half way up in center field.  Here’s hoping that I catch the record breaking ball

July 30:  The A’s…. least exciting stop on our trip.  The only plus here is that they will be playing Detroit….  Let the heckling begin!
August 1: I’m kind of a big deal in San Diego.  I’ll be rooting for Khalil Green and building a sand castle in centerfield!

August 2:  It’s Bonds time….this time at the home of the Dodger Dog!  Kobayashi…I will own you!

August 3-5:  Vegas Baby!  No games but we’ll be living it up and making it rain!

My hope is to periodically post a few pictures to this site.  Let’s hope that we don’t have any issues getting a WIFI connection in Cali….  Along with posting pictures i’ll be texting my thoughts on the game LIVE from each of the stadiums…  Want to participate?  Check out FanChatter to get involved.

It’s getting to be that time of year again.  We are about one third of the way through the schedule and the Twins record sits at 34-33.  This season can be summed up with one word:  Inconsitency. 

The Twins have shown inconsistency in hitting, pitching, fielding, base running.  All aspects of the game have been hit or miss.  It’s not as if one player is struggling.  It’s that all players are struggling all the time.  Sure there are guys who are statistically doing well.  Morneau, Hunter and Cuddyer come to mind.  That being said, they also have games where they completely disappear.  There is talk that the Twins need to trade for a third baseman that can hit.  I agree but I wonder whether that will make a difference

The pitching staff has been horribly inconsistent.  Santana is still striking out the side but he’s also given up the big inning and has been unable to keep the ball down in the strike zone.  Boof Bonser will have a game where he looks all world and is unbeatable.  The next game he’ll be mediocre at best.  Silva has been about as contant a factor as any of our pitchers.  Even he had a horrible last start. 

When asked about the Twins troubles, Gardy continues with the party line….  He throws out the old cliche of “We’re battling” and “We haven’t played together as a team”.  Yep, Gardy I would say that is about right.  The Twins have NOT played together as a team and their series to series ups and downs would point that out.  Losing two of three to the Nats and Brewers is not a good way to catch the Indians and Tigers.  Those are the teams that we need to beat.

In the next three weeks the Twins will go through what might be arguably the toughest stretch of their schedule.  The Twins will play at the Mets, Yankees, Detroit and a host of other teams that are over the .500 mark. 

This stretch of games will be the ultimate test as to whether the Twins think that they can contend.  With the inconsistent play that has plagued them thus far, they could easily drop to 10 or more games behind the Indians and Tigers if they continue down the same path.

I guess that we’ll have to wait and see.  I’m trying to be optimistic but I just don’t like our chances.

This is not exactly what I was thinking of prior to the start of the second and final round of interleague play.  The American League once again dominated interleague.  The one exception was the Twins horrible performance over the weekend against the perennial National League doormat – the Nationals. 

This was to be a series that would jumpstart our season.  After all, we had Silva and Santana on the mound.  We should have won at least two of three from the hapless Nats.  Last year at this time we were in roughly the same position.  A year ago today, the Twins were 28-34 and were 11.5 games out of first place.  This year we’re only slightly better while sitting at 30-31 and a mere 7.0 games behind the first place Indians.  Last year interleague play put the Twins onto a role that would carry them all the way to the playoffs…  The Nats were supposed to be that team that started the ball rolling…  So much for that idea!

The Twins decided NOT to show up this weekend.  Silva had his worst game of the year.  Santana was outshined by a former Twin, Levale Speigner, who was only mediocre at Triple-A Rochester.  The Twins bats continue to look as if they are on life support.  Morneau went 0-5 yesterday and went 3-13 during the series.The Twins start a three game series at home tomorrow against the Atlanta Braves.  The Braves haven’t visited the Metrodome since interleague play in 2002. Odds and Ends:

• Ty Wiggington has been a name thrown around in a possible trade with the Twins.  We need a productive third baseman and the Devil Rays are in need of young pitchers.  Sounds like a trade made in heaven. 
• Twins GM Terry Ryan stated that money is no object when making mid-season acquisitions….  Why don’t I believe that????
• Scott Baker had his spot in the pitching rotation skipped in favor of Kevin Slowey.  This was done to keep Santana on a regular 5 day rotation.
• The Twins continue to destroy last year’s attendance numbers despite their sorry record.  The Twins have drawn 814,874 fans with an average of 27,162.  That is almost 4,000 more fans per game than last year.  At this pace the club should draw more than 2.2 million this year.

In a move that Ron Gardenhire hopes will jump start our offense, it appears that Gardy will put Joe Mauer second in the batting order once he returns for the homestand that starts this Friday.  Over the past few years, it has been no secret that Joe is able to get on base.  Over the past two years Joe’s OBP is .429 and .446.  His career OBP is .402. 

Gardy has been hesitant to put Joe second in the order.  The unofficial rule of thumb is states that the best batter on the team should bat third.  The problem is that most batting orders don’t have a black hole called Punto or Cirillo batting right before.  Now that Joe should finally crack the lineup this is a perfect time to make a change.  Gardy seems ready to do whatever necessary to jumpstart the club.  Currently the Twins are sitting at 28-29 and look nothing like the team that they were last year.  The piranhas have lost their appetite and the only hitters to show up this year are Morneau, Cuddy and Hunter.  The new order will now look like this:

Castillo/Mauer/Cuddyer/Morneau/Hunter/Kubel/DH/Bartlett/Punto

The fans, the media and the analysts have been clamoring for this move for quite some time.  Moving Joe will allow Castillo and Mauer to likely be on base prior to having the big sticks step to the plate.  Personally I think that this change will give the Twins something that they have rarely had all year…..  Early inning leads. 

Let’s hope for the best and thank God that today is the last day of our West Coast death trip.  Bring on the National League!