I've Got a Bad Feeling About This

Yippee! The Twins finally spent money this off-season! Super! We got some players most baseball lovers have actually heard of! J.J. Hardy! Jim Thome! Orlando Hudson! It's great to be a Twins fan. There is one thing we forgot though... the outfield. The Twins have 3 outfielders on their active roster. These three are Denard Span,Delmon Young, and Micheal Cuddyer. We also have Jason Kubel, however he is listed as a DH.


That makes me scared, very scared. Micheal Cuddyer has missed many games over the last few seasons with a bevy of injuries. This places Jason Kubel in right field. That is a massive liability. What if Denard Span gets injured? That is as, if not more, scary, as we do not have another player who can play center field. This places Nick Punto or whoever else we can round up in center, which leaves Brendan Harris or Matt Tolbert at the starting third baseman, full time. I'm not saying Punto should be the starting third baseman, but I really don't have the greatest faith in any of the three on their own.


This leads us to finding another outfielder. We are currently projected to have 13 or 12 pitchers, pending Joe Nathan (which looks bleak.) Either way, that's borderline for too many early in the season. We need another outfielder on the roster. But our options are limited. We picked up Jacque Jones, who will be thirty-five this year, and plays right field and can probably play left when called upon. We also have the biggest thing in the farm system waiting to come up in centerfielder Ben Revere who will be 21. As a wild card we also have Rene Tosoni, a right fielder, who will be 23, who just might have a shot.


Any of the three could be brought up if Cuddyer or Young go down. But what if Denard gets injured? Jacque Jones will not be able to play, as Young, Cuddyer, and Kubel will not play center, and neither can Jones. Tosoni can play center, but I don't know if anyone wants to put it in his hands. This leaves Ben Revere, who has the skills to do it, but at 21, I'm not positive he is ready.


Any way you look at it, it's not a great situation. If worse comes to worse, we could go into the free agent pool, as 28 year old RF/LF Wili Mo Pena and 36 year old all around OF Darin Erstad are left without a team, but neither would fill the void left by Denard Span. But who knows? I sure don't.