As spring training approaches, there is one question on the mind of Minnesota Twin fans: Will first baseman Justin Morneau be ready for Opening Day?
GM Bill Smith believes so.
“I have April 1 circled,” Smith said Tuesday in an interview with CBSSports.com’s Danny Knobler. “That’s the day we’re targeting.”
While that’s seems very optimistic, Smith did add that Morneau’s rehab was a “work in progress.”
“We have pledged patience, and we only want him to go when he’s ready,” Smith said. “If that’s March 1, April 1 or July 1, that’s what it will be. We only want him to go through this one time. We don’t want this to become a roller coaster.”
Here is my take on this: Morneau won’t be ready for Opening Day.
Concussions are the most unpredictable injury in sports—they come and go and, in some cases, (like with former New York Jets WR Al Toon) they never go away.
Morneau has been out since last July with his concussion. That was seven months ago—why should I believe anything is going to change in the next two or three months?
I hope Morneau is ready for Opening Day because the Twins and baseball will be better off with him in the lineup. Nobody wants to see the game’s best players not in the lineup.
What I find somewhat funny about this whole situation is that the Twins have played so well in Morneau’s absence the last two years, I almost feel like Morneau has become undervalued as a player.
The guy won an MVP award, misses the ALDS against the New York Yankees the last two years, and it was like ho-hum. However, when Mark Teixeira went down in the ALCS against the Texas Rangers, Yankee fans acted like Chicken Little.
The Twins will be AL Central contenders even without Morneau. But they would be World Series contenders with him in the lineup.
Let’s hope the latter is the case.
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