February 18, 2008

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
CFCarlos Gomez
DHJason Kubel
CJoe Mauer
LFDelmon Young
1BJustin Morneau
RFMichael Cuddyer
3BMike Lamb
2BBrendan Harris
SSAdam Everet
Bench
OFCraig Monroe
INFNick Punto
CMike Redmond
OFJason Pridie
INFMatt Tolbert
Rotation
1Scott Baker
2Boof Bonser
3Livan Hernandez
4Francisco Liriano
5Kevin Slowey
Bullpen
LRMatt Guerrier
LRJuan Rincon
MRJesse Crain
MRDennys Reyes
SUPat Neshek
CLJoe 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.

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