Another version of Good Twin, Bad Twin, and a Thought on June 29th.

Good Twin: Denard Span becomes the first player since Rafael Furcal in 2002 to hit three triples in one game. Span was all over Target Field tonight going 4-4 with two runs and five RBIs. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Bad Twin: Justin Morneau looked confused tonight with three ugly strikeouts. Morneau was 1-5 and left three runners on base. But at least Justin Bieber, who was performing next door at the Target Center, likes him.

Thought: Although the Twins regained first place in the AL Central with their defeat against the Detroit Tigers, Cliff Lee pitched his third consecutive complete game for the Seattle Mariners defeating the mighty New York Yankees. Just saying.

A few links here on a Sunday night that I wanted to pass along.

MVB.com – Liriano’s Winter has Twins Excited

If you haven’t heard yet, Francisco Liriano had an amazing outing Thursday night in the Dominican Winter League striking out 10 batters in just five innings and allowing just one hit. Liriano has a 0.49 ERA in 37 innings this winter and apparently has a fastball that is topping off at 95-96 mph.

Twins fans are smart enough to be cautiously optimistic about Liriano’s performance this winter. Granted the Dominican Winter League is not the AL Central, but Liriano is competing for the number five spot in the rotation and has the potential to pitch like a number one ace.

ESPN.com – Morneau to Carry the Torch

Justin Morneau was selected as one of the elite Canadians to carry the Olympic torch on its way to Vancouver for the upcoming winter games. The best part of this story, Morneau joins other Canadian celebs including Steve Nash, Sidney Crosby, and of course Shania Twain. Can’t believe Jesse Crain isn’t on that list?

Curve For a Strike – Get to Know ‘Em: Twins MVB

Twins blogger, Topper Anton, is doing a great series interviewing and introducing various members of the Twins blogging community. You get to learn a little more about some of the great Twins bloggers. This week I was honored to be highlighted in Topper’s column. Learn a bit more about Twins MVB.

Monday morning Twins notes…

1. Great series for the Twins to win two of three from the first place Tigers at the Metrodome. Not only did they win the series, but they did so after a 16 inning heartbreak loss on Friday night. If Michael Cuddyer gets a hit with the bases loaded the Twins win Friday and sweep the series. Nonetheless, I have no doubt that the Central division is set for a dogfight in the second half of the season. I don’t see either of these two teams running away with the division and for the third year in a row the division may not be determined until the final day of the season. NOTICE: I said “two teams” because I do not consider the White Sox and contenders in this division.

2. Even worse than the Friday night loss was the placement of Kevin Slowey on the DL. After two consecutive starts going just three innings, it was clear something was wrong with Slowey. Let’s hope Slowey can heal over the next week and over the All-Star break and be ready to regain his form in the second half of the year. Anthony Swarzak was called up to take Slowey’s spot in the rotation.

3. For the fourth year in a row the Twins will send three All-Stars to the Midsummer Classic. Congratulations to Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan. No surprises on these three and all are very deserving. Mauer will be playing in his third ASG and his second start voted in by the fans. Morneau will be playing in his third ASG as well but has mentioned that he may not defend his Home Run Derby title. Justin did the derby in San Francisco and in New York and has said he’d like to just enjoy it and use the time to rest. Finally, Joe Nathan will participating in his fourth ASG and continues to be one of the best and most under appreciated closer in the big leagues. Congrats boys! (picture courtesy of MLB.com)

Typically, TwinsMVB.com has always been a very positive outlook blog. I’ll always love the Twins no matter what and I’m a glass half full kind of guy. The last couple posts from my good friends Mitch and Dain have been quite honest and frank about some of the holes in this 2009 Twins roster. So it would seem that I should be hear to say why everything is going to be ok and that the Twins are going to come out on top right? Not so fast…

The Twins just went 3-3 in a six game homestand against the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Houston Astros. The Pirates are in last the N.L. Central with a 31-38 record while the Astros are in 5th with a 32-35 record. After the homestand the Twins set one game below .500 at 35-36 and currently trail the Detroit Tigers by four games in the A.L. Central.

I know it was only six games and really the Twins were in every single game and with a few more bounces the other way could have gone 5-1; however, maybe it’s time we face it and come to grips that the Twins are just a .500 club. They have never been more than one game above the .500 mark all season and can’t seem to make any win streak of more than two games.

Despite all of this many players are having outstanding seasons especially on the offensive side. Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are locks as 2009 All-Stars and Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer are putting up solid seasons as well. With Kevin Slowey and Nick Blackburn pitching strong and Scott Baker starting to turn things around this club seems too talented to hover just above or below .500. But let’s face it… it’s the first full day of summer and this team is really starting to feel like nothing more than a .500 club.

Let’s just be glad that touch above .500 might be enough to win this division.

I honestly didn’t think things could get any worse for me this week. I watched my beloved Twins lose to the hated Yankees in walk-off fashion not once, but three times.  I had to endure another Twins loss last night while listening to Oral Hershiser drool over every member of the Yankees roster. I watched the Twins continue to struggle last night against the White Sox and to top it off, I got a haircut and now I look like I am twelve (don’t ever tell someone with scissors to use their discretion when trimming your sideburns[1]).Thankfully, I have had a Sheppard to guide me and my fellow Twins fans through the darkness. His name is Joe Mauer.

Mauer has been sensational so far in his first month back in the lineup. Joe is batting .406 with 7 HR’s and 18 RBI’s (that’s in 17 games). To put this in perspective, last season Mauer hit .328 with 9 HR’s and 85 RBI’s (and was in the conversation for MVP). It is very difficult to tell where he will wind up at the end of this season, but if he keeps this up ESPN projects that Mauer is on pace to hit .406 with 57 HR’s and 147 RBI’s.

Of course this is highly unlikely and I am not arguing that Joe Mauer is going to hit over 50 HR’s, or even 35. What I am saying is that Joe has clearly gotten better with the stick, and these days a big bat demands a big contract.

Joe’s contract is up at the end of the 2010 season. This season (2009) Joe is due to collect $10.5 million from the Twins. In 2008, when Mauer hit .328 with 9 HR’s and 85 RBI’s he raked in about $6.25 million. So what is it going to take for the Twins to keep their All-Star Catcher?                  

Across the AL Central in Detroit, Miguel Cabrera (the same age as Mauer)  hit .281 with 37 HR’s and 127 RBI’s last season. Cabrera is set to make about $152 million over 8 years. In the National League, Albert Pujols hit .357 with 37 HR’s and 116 RBI’s last season and is inked in at $100 million over 7 years.  Sitting right next to Joe in the dugout, Justin Morneau hit .300 last season with 23 HR’s and 129 RBI’s. Justin recently signed a 6 year, $80 million deal (with $6 million in signing bonus).

When considering what Joe Mauer is capable of doing at the plate (not to mention his glove) and based on what we have seen so far this season, I don’t think it’s unrealistic for Joe to finish the season hitting .330 with 20 HR’s and 100 RBI’s. If this is the case I would expect Mauer to attract somewhere in the ballpark of 6 years /$100 million, or maybe more. Fortunately, the Twins current payroll is $65.2 million, which is about $20 million shy of what the Twins have said they are willing to spend.

Keep in mind that there will be players who are eligible for arbitration next year (Liriano and Slowey), but regardless of the situation, signing Joe Mauer needs to be a priority this season for the Twins despite any policies of not negotiating contracts during the season. It would be a shame if the Twins thought they would get a “hometown discount,” and wound up losing one of the greatest catchers of all time.

Joe’s market really depends on how healthy he can stay over the course of this season and if he can continue to hit the ball like he is. If he can do both of these things, there is no question in my mind that Joe will cash in. The question is where?

Great win for the Twins last night as the team improves to 2-1 on the season. Justin Morneau picked up his first hit of the season on a monster two run homerun off of former Twin Carlos Silva. Morneau had three RBI’s on the night and Denard Span hit a two run homerun of his own. Kevin Slowey struggled to settle into the game, but did manage to fight through six innings and picked up his first win of the season. A tip of the hat goes to the bullpen which pitched three really great scoreless innings, including Joe Nathan picking up his first save of the season and his 200th career save. Only Nathan and Twins legend Rick Aguilera have recorded 200 saves in a Twins uniform.

This afternoon the Twins and Mariners conclude their series at the Metrodome. Southpaws Glen Perkins and Jarrod Washburn will pitching for their respective clubs.

MVB around the World Wide Interweb!

For a little Twins talk head over to www.MNGameNight.com and listen to yours truly and the Seth Stohs from www.sethspeaks.net. We chatted about last night’s game, the AL Central, the upcoming series in Chicago, and general topics around Major League Baseball.

Also catch some AL Central predictions over at Jeff Parker’s www.royallyspeaking.com. You’ll find a representative blogger of each team in the division.

Let’s hope the Twins can take a 3-1 series win this afternoon!

Seth Stohs of www.sethspeaks.net has organized a get together for bloggers, Twins fans, Twins bloggers, and fans of Twins bloggers!

I wanted to post this today so that the dedicated readers of Twins MVB could attend the event and represent our site. Unfortunately, I am out of town this weekend and cannot attend. So if you’re a MVB reader, show up and give the blog a shout out.

The event is occuring during Saturday’s World Baseball Classic match between team USA and team Canada. As a Twins fan, be on the look out for Justin Morneau and Jesse Crain for team Canada. Team USA will notably be missing Joe Nathan. Remember three years ago Morneau and the neighbors to the north upset the stars and stripes. Here’s the details…

WHAT: Twins Blogger Get Together

WHERE: Buffalo Wild Wings in Roseville, MN

WHEN: 1:00 pm (game time)

WHO: Twins bloggers and their readers.

I think it’ll be a great time if you just want to watch some baseball with some fellow fans, and if you read this blog I’m sure you read some of the even better Twins blogs. You’ll be able to meet Seth Stohs, John Bonnes, Nick Nelson, and many more! Wish I could be there. Have a great time and go USA!

Quiet week on the Twins front here on the back end of the holiday season. I know the Twins front office always takes off the week of Christmas and doesn’t come back until the new year so don’t expect any significant Twins news until we ring in 2009.

On that note, LaVelle Neal III examines the list of potential Twins who will participate in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. We know that Justin Morneau and now Joe Nathan are locks to participate for Canada and the U.S. Neal guesses that Joe Mauer could play this year after declining in the 2006 competition. It appears that Francisco Liriano and Luke Hughes could also be playing for the Dominican Republic and Australia respectively.

As a baseball fan I certainly enjoy watching more baseball and not having to wait until April, but I must admit I wasn’t enamored by the innaugural tournament in 06. I loved the country pride and I thought the country’s respective colors and uniforms were pretty cool. I even enjoyed seeing the U.S. lose and America noticing the rest of the talent around the world but I just didn’t get hooked. I must admit it does throw a wrench in the spring training schedule and you have to worry about the injury history with players like Mauer and Liriano, or the overwork of players like Nathan or Morneau who is coming off a 163 game season.

All in all I am excited for the WBC and hopefully we’ll have a competitive tournament with few injuries.

The Case for Morneau

Here it is, as promised. My case for why Justin Morneau is the MVP of the Twins, hands down over Sideburns Joe. Not only is he the MVP of the Twins, he indeed was the AL MVP in 2006 and earned 2nd place this magical season of ought-eight. Statistics are, of course, heavily considered in choosing an MVP, though the subjective is what truly determines the MVP. That is why you won’t find much number crunching here. The MVP selection is always surrounded by controversy save the very few unanimous choices – the way it should be due to the fact that most seasons any one of four or five guys could carry the crown. Alas, we are not discussing THE MVP, just the Twins MVP. It’s Justin.

There are a lot of reasons why the Twins were one run away from the playoffs. As I think back to my opening day expectations that would have been a rather daring, yet charming belief. I was truly anticipating something resembling more of a Minnesota Timberwolves campaign. Honestly. And I was okay with it. After seven/eight years of high expectations and mild to extreme disappointment, I was ready to lower my guard and simply sit back and enjoy the game of baseball and some young, developing talent. But no, the Twins surprised and were right in the mix because of several factors. I will list them as such; first the factors NECESSARY as a bare minimum for the pennant run:

1) The first half pitching by Livan Hernandez. Without him carrying the load for the young pitching staff the Twins would not have made it to June with a respectable record. I recall our starting five having about 15 combined wins after the first 60 games. Thank you Livo.

2) The failure of the Lamb/Harris/Everett infield allowed the Twins to utilize Alexi Casilla early on in the season and he produced more RBIs than me in the backyard baseball season of ‘89. Casilla was absolutely on fire. He carried the offensive spark that was missing from Mauer, Young, Cuddyer, et al. Much like the failed Castro/Batista experiment in ‘06 that allowed Bartlett and Punto to flourish, Casilla ushered in the ‘08 version.

3) Thank goodness Cuddyer got hurt because Denard Span saved this team as well. Cuddy wasn’t doing much of anything in that #3 spot initially, then 5 or 6 or wherever he hit. Span was tearing it up in AAA, deserved to be on the team from day one, and when he got his second call-up he did not blink. Speed, production, defense, he did it all. 

4) Joe Mauer. Hey, just cause he’s not the MVP doesn’t mean he isn’t extremely valuable. That’s an understatement. Another batting title certainly is hard to overlook, especially considering he did it as a catcher. He played more this year and stayed healthy which was key to the team’s success. A gold glove as well to add to the nonexistence of a running game for opponents thanks to Joe. He deserves a good chunk of the credit for the success of #5 below as well, although he has to split that with Rick Anderson and the aforementioned Hernandez.

5) The Staff of youngins who pitched out of their minds. Slowey, Blackburn, Perkins, Liriano, and Baker. These guys are pure filth. I don’t know how the Twins consistently develop such good young pitching. Although they really need to stop giving up the long ball.

6) Go-go. Yeah he helped too. Despite all his strikeouts and stretches of ugly baseball, the kid was a spark at times and played his butt off all season. 

So there it is, six NECESSARY components to the value of the team. But they alone, are not SUFFICIENT to explain the pennant run. That would be Mr. MVP. Take away any one of those six pieces and the Twins still can compete. Don’t believe me? They proved it. Harris and Punto filled in for Casilla when he was hurt or struggling. On countless at bats Gomez might as well have walked up to the plate and told the ump, “45,000 people know that I won’t come within four feet of the ball these next three pitches, so can I just sit down?” but the Twins still found ways to win. The staff had off days, the bullpen or offense picked them up. And yes, even when Mauer’s line read “4-3. 4-3. 4-6-3. 4-3″ the team stayed alive. And that is because of the first baseman.

This team simply would have been nowhere near the top without Morneau. Gardy didn’t think so either. The Canadian found his way into all 163 games. Morneau had 47 doubles. Mauer had 44 extra-base hits combined. Pitchers gave Mauer stuff to hit because they didn’t want to face the MVP. Morneau had no legitimate threat behind him. Most of the time hurlers were licking their chops to get at Kubel or Delmon. That’s the cake: Morneau put up a .300 average, 129 RBIs (44 more than Mauer), and 23 HR with pitchers trying to avoid him all season. Not to mention the much improved defense from the once awkward first sacker.

Next year I’ll take Justin to prove it again.

An exciting opportunity took place last night as I made a guest podcast experience on Seth Stohs‘ Podcast. Check out Seth’s blog here to listen to yours truly as well as author Tom Swift and Twins’ Prospect Nick Papasan.

I highly recommend checking out the Seth’s upcoming book release of the  Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2009. Seth is not only a fantastic contributor to the Twins blogging community but is the number one resource in my opinion when it comes to the Twins minor league system. Seth has tirelessly worked to put together this 77 page handbook with over 175 player profiles and a foreword by Twins pitcher, Pat Neshek. It’s a great holiday gift for any casual or intense Twins fan!