Kuzul

With spring training just starting up, optimism about the upcoming season is at its highest. There is not a better time to make predictions about the upcoming season, which should be a great one.

The American League MVP award is awarded annually to the player who is considered most valuable to his team throughout the year. Recent recipients of the award include Josh Hamilton and Joe Mauer.

In anticipation for the 2011 season, I have decided to rank the five American League preseason MVP favorites.

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With catchers and pitchers reporting to camp and spring training just around the corner, anticipation for the baseball season is at its highest. With the season a little more than a month away, it is the perfect time to make predictions for the 2011 MLB season.

The defending AL Central Champion Minnesota Twins have many questions going into the 2011 season. The offseason has had its ups and downs, and two of their biggest stars are coming off major injuries.

The Twins’ biggest question is their bullpen. Last year, the Twins’ bullpen was one of the best in the American League with an ERA of 3.49, fourth in the league. During the offseason, however, the Twins lost Brian Fuentes, Jesse Crain, Jon Rauch and Matt Guerrier to free agency. Those four players combined to pitch for over 200 innings out of the pen.

Another question for the bullpen is closer Joe Nathan. When healthy, Nathan has been one of the best closers in baseball, but he is 36 and coming off of Tommy John surgery, which did not allow him to play last year. On the bright side, Matt Capps should be one of the best set-up men in the majors.

The Twins’ rotation is almost identical to last year’s, which put together the fifth-best ERA in the American League but struggled with consistency, especially Francisco Liriano and Scott Baker.

Carl Pavano and his mustache, along with Brian Duensing, were the two bright spots in the rotation. Pavano put together All-Star numbers and has developed into the team’s ace, but he has been vulnerable to injuries, and at age 35, isn’t getting any younger. I believe the key to the rotation this year will be the continuing development of Liriano into an ace for the future.

Last year, the Twins were fifth in the American League in runs scored, but they lost second baseman Orlando Hudson, and All-Star first baseman Justin Morneau is coming off a lingering concussion that caused him to miss most of the second half of the season. Morneau will likely not repeat the MVP season he was having before his injury.

The Twins signed Japanese star Tsuyoshi Nishioka (good luck trying to pronounce his name), who has a lot of upside offensively and defensively but has never played a Major League Baseball game. All-Star catcher Joe Mauer, is one of the best hitting catchers of all time, but he has struggled with injuries on and off throughout his career.

Former first overall pick Delmon Young had a solid season, batting just under .300 with 112 RBIs. The resigning of Thome made sure they will have a power source in 2011.

AL Manager of the Year Ron Gardenhire and the Twins’ small-ball style will keep them in the division race all year, but I see them finishing behind the long ball happy Chicago White Sox in the Central. Though I do not have them winning the division, I feel that they have a great shot at an American League Wild Card spot. 

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Minnesota Twins pitchers and catchers are set to report to Fort Myers in less than two weeks!

The start of spring training means that the warm spring weather cannot be far behind.

After the type of winter that has pounded most of the country this year, I know I can be counted among many who cannot wait for the snow to melt away!

With every spring training there comes a renewed hope. Hope that this will be the year, the year the Minnesota Twins turn the corner from being a consistent AL Central division winner and make it to the next round of the play offs. 

It’s been 20 years since the Twins last won the World Series, and with the new smell still hovering over Target Field, the question is has the team done enough to make their fourth World Series appearance and possibly win a third World Series Championship?

As the team gets ready to open spring training here are some questions that will need to be answered.

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The Minnesota Twins won the American League Central last season despite injuries to some of their biggest stars.

Joe Nathan, an All-Star closer, was lost after a significant tear in the ulnar collateral ligament forced him into Tommy John surgery last March.

From 2004-2009, Nathan was one of the most dominating closers in all of baseball. Nathan’s 246 saves over six seasons are the most in the majors during that span.

The 36-year-old Nathan is in the final season of a four year, $47 million dollar contract that pays him $11.25 million this season with a club option for $12.5 million for 2012.

Nathan is expecting to start back up from where he left off in 2009, as the Twins‘ closer.

“My mind-set right now is that I’m closing and getting ready for the season. That’s my plan. We’ll see how it goes. There’s always going to be a question mark,” said Nathan.

Another big question mark is the health of 2006 AL MVP Justin Morneau.

Morneau missed the second half of the 2010 season after suffering a concussion July 7 in Toronto while sliding into second base.

General manager of the Twins Bill Smith spoke on the health of Joe Nathan to a local ESPN radio affiliate in Minneapolis: “It’s still a work in progress. He is not 100 percent, but I’ve talked to his doctors, I’ve talked to him. He’s getting better all the time, he’s doing very good workouts.”

Morneau still hasn’t been cleared to fly on an airplane and was given instructions to stay in Arizona and to skip the annual “Twinsfest” this past weekend in Minnesota.

Michael Cuddyer has filled in for Morneau the last two playoff runs for the Twins, and with Jim Thome re-signing two weeks ago, Jason Kubel could shift to RF should Morneau not be ready to go.

The Twins will be hoping that Morneau will be manning first base for them come April. Last season, before the concussion, he was hitting .345 with 18 HR and 56 RBI in only 81 games played.

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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.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Jim Thome came to an agreement to return to the Minnesota Twins for another season, Friday. The slugger agreed to a one-year, $3 million contract which is double what he made in his first season with Minnesota.

Thome played a vital role last year with the Twins and was thrust into a starting role because of a season-ending injury to Justin Morneau. Originally, Thome was brought to the Twin Cities to be a left-handed pinch hitter off the bench, and to have spot duty as the team’s designated hitter.

Instead, Thome ended up being a a key contributor to the Twins throughout the season and made the most out of the increased playing time. Thome hit a staggering 25 home runs in just 276 plate appearances, drove in 59 runs and hit a respectable .283, the highest batting average he’s finished with since 2006.

The 40-year-old was simply terrific last season, but with Morneau set to return from a concussion where does Thome fit with this year’s club? That’s an interesting question, to say the least.

When Morneau went down it forced a domino effect on the starting lineup. Starting right fielder Michael Cuddyer took Morneau’s spot at first while DH Jason Kubel moved out to RF, leaving Thome the DH spot. The problem with getting Thome significant at-bats is Kubel.

Kubel is also a left-hander, who has power and is best suited for the DH role. Last season, Kubel finished with 21 home runs, a .249 batting average and 92 RBI. The Twins are high on Kubel even though he hit seven fewer home runs and his average dropped .51 points from two seasons ago.

It’s never a bad problem to have two left-handed power hitters that you can always rely on in the DH spot, but it does cause Ron Gardenhire to make a tough choice every night. With the Twins’ roster as is, Thome’s role isn’t set in stone; all the Twins knew is that they had to have the guy back, so they brought him back. Even if that meant overpaying for his services a little bit.

There are also some other things that need to be taken into consideration when looking at Thome’s role. For one, last season he stayed relatively healthy minus some back troubles towards the end of the season, will he be able to do it again? Secondly, there’s just no way he replicates last year’s production. Finally, he’s just 11 home runs shy of 600.

So while Thome has an aging body working against him and Kubel—a younger, similar player fighting for at bats—he’s going to get enough opportunities to reach the milestone 600 home runs.  

Thome wasn’t just brought back to contribute on the field, either. The veteran is a fan favorite and a clubhouse leader who the younger players look up to. How great would it be to go to the ballpark every day and get tips from one of the greatest sluggers of all time?

When last season ended and Thome announced his intentions of playing another season it was widely believed he would return to the Twins. After some flirtation with the Texas Rangers, he ultimately turned down a more lucrative offer to remain in Minnesota.

It’s a good fit for both sides as Thome looks to join the 600 club. This will likely be the slugger’s last season and when he leaves the game, he will certainly be missed. For Twins fans, they’ll have the luxury of knowing that they’ll get to see more massive homers and possibly a piece of history, too.

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Even with the exodus of such players as C.C. Sabathia, Curtis Granderson, and Zack Greinke the past few seasons, the AL Central certainly has no shortage of talent. Some of those star players simply don’t get the attention they would playing in either of the Eastern divisions.

This division has sorely lacked parity the past few seasons, with a sizable gap existing between the top three teams and the bottom two, and this list reflects that. Whereas the Tigers, Twins, and White Sox combine for 20 representatives on the list, the Indians and Royals combine for just 5.

Before we get started, two star players not on the list who I admittedly had no idea where to place on this list given their rash of injuries recently; Cleveland’s Grady Sizemore and Chicago’s Jake Peavy. Both obviously have the talent to rank on the list; it’s hard to know exactly where they stand given the trouble they’ve had staying on the field lately.

Without further ado, the best players in the AL Central. Enjoy.

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The Minnesota Twins are coming off a banner season.

They won their sixth American League Central title since 2002, opened Target Field, which ESPN named the “best fan experience in all of sports,” and set an attendance record of over three million fans.

So what will define 2011 for Minnesota Twins fans?

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  With all the talk about the 2011 Minnesota Twins, I decided to take a very early look at the 2012 Minnesota Twins and what kind of lineup they could have. Joe Mauer signed his 8 year/$184M contract extension last spring because this is his team and he wants to win a World Series in a Twins uniform. What players will be around him in 2012 and do they have enough talent around him and in the farm system to get him a ring? I’ll share my thoughts on what players will make up their 2012 batting lineup.

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In 2010 the Minnesota Twins may have found their long term answer at third base in Danny Valencia.

Valencia joined the team in June and established himself as the everyday third baseman playing in 85 games and hitting  .311—third best on the team. 

With Justin Morneau on the opposite corner of the infield the Twins could have a very formidable twosome guarding the lines at Target Field. 

I took a look back over the Twins’ history and, surprisingly, found only seven sets of corner infielders that ever played together for more than a single season.

The expectations for the corner infielders, much like that of the corner outfielders, are to be home run threats and to drive in runs. 

I combined the offensive and defensive statistics for the seven combinations and ranked them.

Batting average, slugging percentage, the combined RBI average, and longevity were taken into account to arrive at the final ranking.

Hopefully 2011 will be the start of the next great corner infield tandem of Valencia and Morneau. 

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