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June Swoon
- Wade
We're gonna win, Twins. We're gonna... suck.
Gaah. I'm slowly becoming a grown-up. So, I'm attempting to break the link between the Twins' performance and my outlook on life. That being said, how could any Twins fan (mature or not) be anything but melancholy after being swept by the Seattle Mariners over the last few days? And make that swept with a capital "S"-- the Twinks were outscored 30-13 over the four games. Brad Radke and Kenny Rogers apparently got drunk before coming out to pitch on Thursday and Sunday, respectively.
This ugly series happens after the team had been showing great promise-- they had not lost a series since April 25-27 against the White Sox. Earlier this week the Twins had swept a 2-game series against Oakland, and had taken two of three from the A's and Mariners last week. They looked like they weren't just the benefactor of a soft division. Clutch hitting, power, and solid starting pitching led the Twins to 19-9 record in May, their best May since 1990. So we, the collective rubes, began to get a little cocky. Maybe the Twins were that way too.
Hopefully this is just a bit of a let-down after the prior month's success. I had actually expected the Twins to do poorly during this homestand-- their success against Oakland was a nice surprise. But what happens if the team continues to falter? What does this team need to do in order to compete with the other AL division leaders like the Mariners and Yankees? Let's look at some moves...
- Trade Mientkiewicz to Montreal for Jose Vidro. This trade makes sense for so many reasons. First, Montreal needs to cut salary. They're currently platooning Jeff Liefer and Wil Cordero at first, so they could use an upgrade like Doogie. From the Twins' perspective, they need a second baseman who is more reliable at the plate and in the field, and Luis Rivas isn't cutting it. Plus, the team is bursting with talent in the minor leagues at first-- Todd Sears and Justin Morneau are nearly ready for the majors (some could argue Sears is ready now.)
There's no arguing that Mientkiewicz is a great fielder. However, is that fielding worth having a non-power threat at first? The team already sacrifices power for fielding at third with Corey Koskie. Doogie has already complained about not being appreciated, and is a free agent at the end of the season. Sure he hit .300 for a month in 2001; what have you done for us lately?
- Bench Cristian Guzman for Chris Gomez. I'm not a big OPS guy, but you'd like to think you'd get better than 575 out of your #2 hitter. After a great start out of the gate in the late 90s, Guzy is making Twins fans long for Pat Mears. He's featuring a 4:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and there's no way to capture his lack of clutch hitting this year. (Well, I'm sure those swingers over at Baseball Prospectus have a way. I wonder if they're going to name all of their new metrics after former Royals infielders, like PECOTA. Like, "What's his SEITZER rating?" Or "Do you know what his STILLWELL average is?" I'm rambling.)
Guzy's premise was that he was in the lineup for his glove, and he's been a horribly erratic fielder this year. Benching him for Gomez (who, by the way, is swinging a hot bat) might send a message.
- Trade Rick Reed for a small ham sandwich. We really don't want to be paying a 37-year-old junkballer $8 million, do we? Especially one who hurts his neck because he whips his head around so often to see his pitches fly out of the ballpark. Especially with Uncle Milty coming off the DL, and Johan Santana waiting for his chance in the bullpen. It was a nice run, Reeder, but your value just isn't as high anymore. And I love ham.
Well, I guess I'll just sit back and wait for Terry Ryan to call me. Hey, I'm only two years younger than Theo Epstein!!
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feedback. Maybe we'll even run your letters in future Gambits. 'The Daily Gambit' is updated every weekday.
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