Time To Give Twins Management Their Due

The 2008 Twins Season was bumping along much as I had anticipated until about two weeks ago.  Then this young team went on a tear and won 13 of 15 games.  I was shocked.  Despite an inexperienced rotation, a slew of new position players and Michael Cuddyer being injured for much of the year, the Twins have played fantastic baseball during the second half of June.  Now, half way through their schedule, you've got to say that this team is in the mix in the AL Central.  Wasn't this suppose to be a rebuilding year?  I think you've got to give a lot of credit to the Twins management for somehow putting together a competitive team.

Let's talk about the challenges the new GM has faced regarding player personnel.  Over the winter the Twins lost the best starting pitcher in the game (Johan Santana), an all-star center fielder (Torii Hunter) and a serviceable, veteran starting pitcher (Carlos Silva).  During Spring training, it became pretty clear that Francisco Liriano wasn't ready to return to the rotation just yet.  He's continuing to work his way back at AAA Rochester.  And once the season started, other problems emerged.  There were injuries to key guys like Cuddyer, Punto and Neshek, who's out for the year with an elbow injury.  Baker and Slowey have also missed starts but now appear to be back on track.  Then some guys the organization was counting on haven't measured up.  Boof Bonser has been demoted to the bullpen after getting hit hard as a starter.  Neither Adam Everett or Mike Lamb have hit well.  Juan Rincon, once one of the best set up men in the game, was released after being ineffective. 

Yet every time some one falls by the wayside, the Twins are able to plug some one in to do the job, most of them from the farm system.  Alexi Casilla has come up from triple A and played great after Everett couldn't hit and Matt Tolbert got injured.  Brian Buscher is doing a good job at third base after Lamb was unable hit consistently.  But most of all it's been the young starting pitchers who've picked up the slack.  Nick Blackburn, Kevin Slowey and Glen Perkins, none of whom were guaranteed a roster spot coming out of Spring Training, have been terrific.  They've provided quality starts, taking pressure off the bullpen.

Ron Gardenhire and his coaches deserve a lot of credit as well.  They've managed to bring this young team together in a remarkably short period of time.  Even though they have five new position players and several pitchers who weren't with the club last year, these guys are playing as a team.  Their defense was a little shaky at the beginning of the year but, with the exception of Delmon Young in left field, they seem to have ironed out most of the problems.  Also, despite lacking power, the line up has managed to scratch across enough runs with a combination of speed and clutch hitting.  If things continue like this until the end of the season, Gardenhire could get some serious consideration for Manager of the Year.

So as the All Star Game approaches there's lot of reason for optimism.   Who would have imagined at the beginning of the season that come July we might be thinking of aquiring a big bat for a playoff run rather than off-loading veteran players to contending clubs?  Perhaps that kind of talk is a bit premature but thanks to the way this young team has been managed, we can entertain such thoughts.