Spring training has started, in case you haven’t noticed, and I certainly hope that you all have. And there is a palpable excitement in the cold, northern air heading into this season.
The Central Division Champion Twins will play in new digs this year, and as much as I desperately wish that I had a partial season ticket package, it won’t happen, and I’ll just have to figure out how to catch more than a handful of games outside this summer. Though my only knock on the joint is that I still believe it should have been built on the river and not in the shadow of the garbage burning plant, but hey…I don’t run the city, I guess.
There’s a little less than a month until the season starts. Less than a month until all teams start back at zero and hope for a pennant is high and fresh in every team’s fans’ minds.
The Twins really have us hardcore fans excited: signings during the off season have me believing that this is one of the best Twins teams I’ve ever seen. Of course, the season needs to play out for me to see if I’m anywhere near right, but considering that I’ll hold up the ‘92 team as the gold standard, this team certainly holds the same promise, if not more.
First off, they’re young, but not completely inexperienced. Second, they can hit the heck out of the ball. Third, our bullpen is back and much stronger than last season. And fourth, they’ll be playing to a full house at home for every single game. For a team that gets juiced off of the home crowd, you’ve got to start thinking that 50-60 wins at home could very well be possible, which only puts them 20-30 games out from a .500 record.
Detroit can’t possibly be as strong as last season. Granderson’s gone to the Yankees, replaced by, of all people, Johnny Damon. And there just isn’t the buzz around them that there was last year. The White Sox are trying to come back, but I’ve said it before: they always struggle to piece together a winner. And I don’t think they’ve got the pieces there this season.
Of course, there’s the Mauer extravaganza that’s going to hang over much of the season, unless they get him signed before they break camp this spring. And I certainly hope so. But I’m torn here: on the one hand, he is, without question, the best hitter and one of the best catchers in baseball. But will he be worth every penny that any team pays him? That’s tough…The one claim of contract terms that were discussed in the media frenzy makes some sense: $27-30 million for 10 years. More than A-Rod, and surely he’s worth that, at least for the first 3-5 years of the contract, because he shouldn’t really hit his prime for another couple of years.
What’s refreshing, though, is seeing that this team isn’t afraid to open the pocketbook a little right now. After years of fielding a team that had more players making the minimum than making over a million dollars, it’s really nice to think that this team–the Minnesota Twins of 2010–will have one of the league’s best hitting lineups from leadoff to the 6th guy in the order. Young, Hardy, Thome, Kubel, Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer and Span. Yeah, I know…8 guys, but they all can’t be on the same field at the same time. At most, 7 of these guys can be out there at once. But this is a good thing: they’ll still be fresh and strong by the end of the season, just when we need them to play every day if needed.
But spring training means two things: baseball season and spring are right around the corner. The intoxicating smell of cut grass, hot dogs and beer are just weeks away. Watching the sky darken during the course of the game is coming very soon. Seeing a baseball hit in a pro baseball game in Minnesota either getting blown out or blown in, because there’s actually wind. And watching the standings every single day to see where the team stands.
It should be a great season, and I’m really looking forward to this one.
See you tomorrow.