New Season, New Hope Twins

[Slyder]

After finishing in fourth for the first time since 2006 and closest to the division lead since 2005 (19 games), there is some sense of new hope that had long been lost to most Twins seasons before they begin.

The Team said goodbye to a few people but will be even younger than last year as they hope to see many of the spects start to pay off for them in their area of need... Pitching.

No big deals this offseason because not a lot of people fit the qualifications set forth by third year GM Slyder. "I wanted to do a deal we have 5 OFs who have experience starting and are all under 30. But no one was looking to give up pitching or upgrades to the Corner Infield we needed. Its not a problem if we go into the season with an access at one position since we are still rebuilding."

The Lineup Returns with 7 starters that were there on opening day last year.
Going into Spring Training not all 25 roster spots are set so anything can happen with Spring Training.
Those that are set in stone on the roster are...
Lineup
1 Josh Anderson CF
2 Jose Morales 2b
3 Michael Parker RF
4 Brian Hastings 3b
5 Ron Acuna DH
6 Matthew Rehkop LF
7 Randall Simon 1b
8 Rob Bowen C
9 Matt Moses SS

Bench
Javier Hernandez C
Angelo Fermin MI
Juan Piniella OF

Pitchers:
Last year was an improvement from the whole staff but still there were too many holes at the end of games. Gone are the stop gaps and the youth are beginning to fill the foundation of this staff.

Probable Rotation:
1 Kyle Snyder
2 Pedro Liriano
3 A.J. Burnett
4 Ryan Freierbend
5

Probable Relievers:
John Riedling
Beyong An
Nate Cornejo
Pedro Orozco
Joseph Akridge

A huge Spring Training could make a bunch of players, among those hoping to impress are:
Milo Kotter (#2 overall pick in 2010)
Alex Morabito (#1 overall pick in 2011)
Ralph Lubin (25 yr old who has shown some promise just needs to make contact)
Michael Buck (needs to tap his potential soon)
Donald Degroat (acquired last year, former 2nd round pick needs control)
Guillermo Robledo (3.86 ERA at AAA last year after a slow start and a short visit to AA to fix problems he was having)
Anthony Thornton (another young pitcher trying to crack the 25 man roster)

[Slyder]

Any Thoughts on the 1 time preninal doormat of the AL?

[General]

Hoping for 3rd this year?

[Slyder]

Hoping for 3rd this year?

Yep. maybe I will get real lucky and have the youth play huge and get second.

[Slyder]

Updating a story from yesterdays Minneapolis Times- The Minnesota Twins have decided upon their final spots for the start of the year. With Spring Training being cut short this year, they have decided to go with more stop gaps until after they see how everyone does during ST then reassess afterwards.

The staff will be filled out by offseason additions John Riedling and Nate Cornejo. In a surprise move Noah Lowry (once expected to close games will be starting in the 4th slot and bumping Freierbend to #5 hoping to slowly bring him along vs other teams #5s. Do expect changes to be made as the season goes on.

Rotation:
1 Snyder
2 Liriano
3 Burnett
4 Lowry
5 Freierbend

Middle Relief
1 Riedling
2 An
3 Sullivan
4 Cornejo

Setup
1 Akridge
2

Closer
Orozco

any other thoughts or predictions from the peanut gallery