3/30/08

3/30/08

Here we are on the eve of the 2008 Minnesota Twins season opener and no matter or successfully or poorly the previous season ended this time of year seems to be just exciting as the one before. The off-season may have been the most tumultuous of any I can remember. Sitting at my parent’s breakfast table on the morning of Thanksgiving we had SportsCenter on in the background when I heard what I eventually knew would be coming. Torii Hunter had signed with the Anaheim Angels making him the richest Angel in their team history. The Twins didn’t want to offer Hunter the length of contract he was looking for (minimum of 5 years). I was secretly hoping the Twins wouldn’t give him 5 years. He will be turning 33 in July and he is definitely losing a step in the outfield, although he probably had his best year at the plate in ’07. How about this for some irony…We will be kicking off the season as Hunter and the Angels come to town starting tomorrow evening. Hunter is a class act dude and I’m sure the Minnesota fans will let him know it.

A few days later things heated up again when they shipped Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett to Tampa Bay for Delmon Young, Brendan Harris and prospect Jason Pridie. Matt Garza in my opinion seemed a little bit a of a head case and although Bartlett had his best year in ’07, the prize we got in return for those two should turn out to be a steal. Delmon Young, whom I guess could be considered a little temperamental himself (minor league bat throwing incident at umpire) is a former #1 overall draft pick. He will start the season in left field and will help comprise the 3 riflemen in the outfield with Michael Cuddyer and Carlos Gomez.

Finally, in late January the Twins did what small market teams in all sports end up doing with superstars. They lose them to free agency, or in this case, trade him for a slew of prospects. This never sits well with the hometown of the departed superstar. Radio talkshows and national sportscasts were ripping the Twins and Bill Smith for not getting more for Santana. You see, everyone knew the Twins had no chance of re-signing Santana but at the same time he is considered by some as the best pitcher in some time. That means the Twins should get a lot in return for Santana right? Guess again!! At a few points in the off season the Yankees, Red Sox and Mets were all proposing different deals, with the Red Sox and Yankees seemingly trying to raise the stakes hoping the other team wouldn’t outbid them and virtually cinch a spot in the World Series. In the end it was the Mets who won the bidding by dealing the Twins 4 prospect and then signing Santana to a whopping 6 year, $137.5 million contract. The following names are whom the Twins received. (In Caps Lock and Bold Print….because they will be known as the players who are expected to equal the talent of the best pitcher in Twins history) CF CARLOS GOMEZ, P PHILIP HUMBER, P DEOLIS GUERRA, P KEVIN MULVEY. By the way, only Gomez will start the season on the 25 man roster.

The Twins did make one positive move just last week as they inked Joe Nathan to a long term contract. I’m not sure how much we’ll need Nathan if the season goes as projected, but there aren’t many teams in the league that can say they have a “sure thing” in the 9th.

So with tomorrow being the day where all teams are tied for first, I have no reason but to have optimism for the season. By the way, if the weather forecast for tomorrow is any indication of how the season will go (6-8 inches of snow!!!), lets hope we’re not spending the entire season shoveling ourselves out of the basement. GO TWINS!!!