Baseball Is Back!

Hey everyone, sorry about the short hiatus on posting. I've had quite a few things to keep me busy (mostly work and school) and next weekend I won't be able to post either, as I'll be leaving for Milwaukee to look at a couple schools.

Anyways, baseball if back and it feels so good to say that. We can start forgetting about the cold (haha yeah right), well at least start focusing our attention on the 2008 baseball season. This off-season was thought to have a lot of changes under its sleeve, and it certainly did not disappoint in that area. The Twins lost several important pieces to their franchises success such as Johan Santana, Torii Hunter, and Carlos Silva. The team did not take that big of a setback though, and signed/traded for a few players that are going to help us a lot not only this season, but for possibly the better part of the next decade. Those players include Delmon Young, Carlos Gomez, and Brendan Harris.

The Twins offense looks drastically different from 2007, and I have to say that it definitely made a change for the better. Besides the additions of Young and Harris, the team also added third baseman Mike Lamb and designated hitter/outfielder Craig Monroe. Everyone knows that third base and DH were the teams 'weak' spots in '07, so adding better hitters to those two positions is going to help out a lot. And when I say 'better' I mean, way better.

Here's a look at what the Twins opening day roster may look like if the season started today:

Lineup
CF	Carlos Gomez
DH	Jason Kubel
C	Joe Mauer
LF	Delmon Young
1B	Justin Morneau
RF	Michael Cuddyer
3B	Mike Lamb
2B	Brendan Harris
SS	Adam Everet
Bench
OF	Craig Monroe
INF	Nick Punto
C	Mike Redmond
OF	Jason Pridie
INF	Matt Tolbert
Rotation
1	Scott Baker
2	Boof Bonser
3	Livan Hernandez
4	Francisco Liriano
5	Kevin Slowey
Bullpen
LR	Matt Guerrier
LR	Juan Rincon
MR	Jesse Crain
MR	Dennys Reyes
SU	Pat Neshek
CL	Joe Nathan

Obviously, my projections are all arguable and there will likely be a small change in the exact roster by the time the season opens up.

Some of those changes could be based on some 'competitions' that we're going to be having in Spring Training, and that's where most of this weeks posts will look at. Tomorrow, I'm going to be looking at the competition at second base, Wednesday I'm going to be looking at the competition at center field, and Thursday I'll be looking at the competition in the rotation. So make sure to come back and check those out.