John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State under Eisenhower’s administration, had a phrase for a change of direction during the Cold War. He called it an agonizing reappraisal. I’ve used his term before in describing the Minnesota sports scene, but it never has been more appropriate when wondering what to do about the Minnesota Twins.
One could dwell on the reasons for this bad season and take general manager Bill Smith to task. We could go on and on about the pitching, middle infield and the lack of production from some of the regulars. We are looking at the end result of decisions made by Smith and by player injuries, but now the important question is what to do for the future.
The team has not hit well, defended well, or pitched well. That leaves a lot of room for improvement. First of all, let’s look at two players that likely will stay with the team, Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer. While they were supposed to be the heart of the team, neither has performed up to expectations. Previous thinking was that the two were fixtures and that they would always be Minnesota Twins and end their career with the club. There has been very little thought of trading the two MVPs. Should the team reconsider and put them on the market there would be little response to the oft-injured Morneau and the very high-salaried enigma that is Joe Mauer.
It is almost certain that Mauer and Morneau will be with the team next year. How they will perform in 2012 is in the laps of the gods and Mauer and Morneau. Let’s assume that they will perform to their average. That would be good enough and may help the Twins to once again be contenders. However when looking at this year’s version of the Twins they need more than average years from the M and M boys.
As usual, improvement boils down to money. Morneau and Mauer combined salaries totaled $40 million for this year. That’s more than 40% of this year’s payroll. That doesn’t leave much for the Twins to revamp the team. Keeping that in mind, let’s first look at third base. They have reasonably priced Danny Valencia who has disappointed this year after a fine rookie year. Although adept at driving in runs, even though hitting only .244, his biggest letdown came at the defensive end. He has not played well consistently, but you could call him an adequate third baseman and given his low salary and the Twins’ need at other positions, he will have to do. So, we have a catcher and first and third basemen.
Next up is shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka. Nishioka joins the group where much was expected and little given. You could forgive his lack of hitting if he was superb defensively. He is not and has much to learn about being a major league shortstop. What are Bill Smith and Ron Gardenhire to do? My suggestion is to cut the cord. Let’s not go through another year of Nishioka at shortstop. How about the $5 million spent for the right to negotiate with Nishoka and the $3 million salary this year? Walk away and chalk it up to international relations. Try to negotiate Nishioka’s next year salary and look for a decent hitting, good fielding, shortstop. There are a number out there as the Twins proved when they got Cabrera in 2009 and Hardy last year.
That is half the position players, but there is a lot more to do next week.
