Do you ever get a strange feeling, and you can't put your finger on what it is? Well lately I've had a strange feeling every time on I turn on the Twins game. It's a feeling I haven't had in a while, what is that feeling you ask? Well, it started on Friday night. I turned on the game and I thought to myself, I think the Twins are going to win. Then it happened again on Saturday, then Sunday and then once again tonight. I don't know why, and it is an unfamiliar feeling. Maybe it has to do with the fact that during the summer months the Twins have a winning record. Maybe it's because I think the Twins actually believe they are going to win everytime they step onto the field. Whatever it is I like it. It's a feeling I haven't felt in two years. I actually think the Twins are going to win.

After tonight's game I have a renewed faith in this team. No, I don't think they are going to go on to some magical run and make the playoffs, but I think the future is beginning to look a little bit brighter for this team. The offense which was touted as being able to score runs going into the season is coming around and actually starting to look stronger heading into the last third of the season. The entire lineup is under the team's control going into next season and some salaries are coming off the books next season. I hope the Front Office is starting to feel this same feeling I am having and are beginning to butter up the Pohlad's for some extra cash to spend this offseason. Assuming no major trades are made involving the lineup this offseason, I believe this lineup along with some quality starting pitching can contend in the Central. One top of the rotation starter and middle of the rotation guy instantly brings respectability back to this club. Two new arms, Diamond, Gibson, and rounding out the 5th starter spot with Blackburn or Deduno doesn't looks that bad. Yeah, something definately feels different.

With the Twins pitching staff seemingly dwindling by the day I started to think about what the Twins could do to bolster it or what could they have done to prevent this. Then I remembered reading a rumor about a trade the Twins were looking at after the 2007 season. If you recall this is the off-season Johan Santana was traded for Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra. The rumored trade that Bill Smith supposedly turned down because there weren't enough pieces was Johan Santana to the Dodgers for rookie Matt Kemp and 19 year old phenom Clayton Kershaw. Here are some of the articles I looked up confirming I wasn't imagining I read these things 5 years ago. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/clayton_kershaw/page/5/ and http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/...na_to_dodgers/ . Now these were only rumors but if you remember the steam Johan had back then it isn't unreasonable to think this was true. Additionally, there were also the Clay Bucholz and Jacoby Ellsbury rumors and the Melky Cabrera Phil Hughes rumors. Either way all of them would have been better than the actual trade that happened.

This was all 5 years ago and no one can see into the future and we can't go back and change things now, but just this one trade would have this team in a completely different situation today. My timeline shows the Twins turned Johan Santana into the following:

Johan Santana >Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra | Carlos Gomez > JJ Hardy | > JJ Hardy for Jim Hoey | >Mulvey, Humber and Hoey all left the Twins for nothing in return. So using the baseball version of the discounted cash flow method 1 Johan Santana in 2007 = 1 Deolis Guerra in 2012 if you use Bill Smith's trade investment logic. Oy!

Recently JJ Hardy came out and mentioned that some of his success at the plate last season was due to going back to what he does naturally, which is pulling the ball. The Twins wanted Hardy to go to the opposite field. Hardy mentioned his first BP session with the Twins back in 2010, "My first round of BP with the Twins, I was trying to (pull the ball), and Rod Carew and those guys call me over and say, `That's not we want. We want line drives the other way,"' Hardy said. "So that was my approach for the Twins." In 2011 he changed his approach at the plate and instead of hitting line drives to right field, he was allowed to pull and drive the ball all over the field. Hardy hit 30 homeruns along with 80 RBI last season with the Orioles. Some might say that his success was due to being healthy after dealing with a problematic wrist in his 1 year stint with the Twins, but the jump in production sticks out.

What exactly is the "Twins Way"? Here's my take on it in good old fashioned dictionary form!

The Twins Way
Noun
1. "Producing" runs without the need of homeruns
2. Getting on base by any means
3. Using fundamentals at the plate and on the base paths. - Taking the extra base, hitting the ball to the opposite field to advance runners
4. Playing as a team and not being afraid to sacrifice yourself for the better good of the team

In theory this is an excellent approach to scoring runs. It sounds simple enough, get on base move the guy over and find another base hit in there somewhere and you have yourself a run. A fatal flaw in this theory was exposed last year. If you do not have players to get on base consistently at the top of the order a slap single to right field from the middle of the order will be just a 2 out single rendered meaningless.

From reading posts this weekend it seems the issue that most people have with the Twins Way is coaching staff's insistence on driving the ball the opposite way. If the Twins truly are having hitters with the ability to drive the ball over the fence instead push the ball to the opposite way I too have a problem with it. However, I don't think that is entirely the case. To be a complete hitter, driving the outside pitch the other way is key to be being a successfull hitter. I also have a firm belief in letting power hitters swing away and not worry about going the other way. It is harder to hit the ball out of the park going oppo and the Twins have little power as it is right now. By making it even more difficult and forcing the Twins Way issue on it's power hitters the Twins could be looking at another power outage similar to last year.

My changes to the Twins Way:
I'm sure you all are excited to hear some guy you don't know who has no coaching experience or blogging experience tell you how I would fix the Twins Way. But hear goes nothing:

1) As bad as it sounds I would tell Rod Carew he is no longer the "special hitting assistant" or whatever his title is. The approaches he seems to be teaching would work wonderful for every hitter if they had the bat control and limited power that he had in his prime. That being said, I don't know if any player besides Ichiro has the bat control of Rod Carew. He could put the ball where he wanted it when he wanted it whenever he wanted to. That was a skill you just can't teach and his teaching methods are tailored to having that type of ability.

2) Continue to teach "driving the ball" to the opposite field. But ease up on it. Some players should be doing more of it, while some less of it in my honest opinion. According to Hardy it sounds as if the coaching staff was so into going the other way that if a player rolls over an outside pitch they get an earful. That sort of "nagging" can lead to a loss of confidence and eventually a player being afraid to pull the pitches he should.

3) Continue to play small ball with small ball players. Each player on the team needs a role. Span and Carroll need to be table setters. Get on base by any means. Span and Carroll know they are limited in the power department so they should be driving the ball to the opposite field any way to get on base for the middle of the lineup. Mauer, Morneau, Willingham and Valencia need to be the power. Let them grip it and rip it. Mauer will do his thing regardless but a healthy Morneau and Willingham should be able to hammer the ball to all fields and hit it out of the park hopefully with runners on base. (If I remember correctly I don't think the Twins had a 3-run homer until late May last season.) The back side of the order again should be in small ball Twins Way mode. Doumit has some power and should be allowed to roll over a pitch from time to time while the Casilla and Revere should be leadoff hitters at the bottom of the order and use their speed to get on base and create chaos on the basepaths.

I believe in the Twins Way as a template, not as an end all be all way to run an offense. Let me know if you agree or have your own opinions on this.

Recently JJ Hardy came out and mentioned that some of his success at the plate last season was due to going back to what he does naturally, which is pulling the ball. The Twins wanted Hardy to go to the opposite field. Hardy mentioned his first BP session with the Twins back in 2010, "My first round of BP with the Twins, I was trying to (pull the ball), and Rod Carew and those guys call me over and say, `That's not we want. We want line drives the other way,"' Hardy said. "So that was my approach for the Twins." In 2011 he changed his approach at the plate and instead of hitting line drives to right field, he was allowed to pull and drive the ball all over the field. Hardy hit 30 homeruns along with 80 RBI last season with the Orioles. Some might say that his success was due to being healthy after dealing with a problematic wrist in his 1 year stint with the Twins, but the jump in production sticks out.

What exactly is the "Twins Way"? Here's my take on it in good old fashioned dictionary form!

The Twins Way
Noun
1. "Producing" runs without the need of homeruns
2. Getting on base by any means
3. Using fundamentals at the plate and on the base paths. - Taking the extra base, hitting the ball to the opposite field to advance runners
4. Playing as a team and not being afraid to sacrifice yourself for the better good of the team

In theory this is an excellent approach to scoring runs. It sounds simple enough, get on base move the guy over and find another base hit in there somewhere and you have yourself a run. A fatal flaw in this theory was exposed last year. If you do not have players to get on base consistently at the top of the order a slap single to right field from the middle of the order will be just a 2 out single rendered meaningless.

From reading posts this weekend it seems the issue that most people have with the Twins Way is coaching staff's insistence on driving the ball the opposite way. If the Twins truly are having hitters with the ability to drive the ball over the fence instead push the ball to the opposite way I too have a problem with it. However, I don't think that is entirely the case. To be a complete hitter, driving the outside pitch the other way is key to be being a successfull hitter. I also have a firm belief in letting power hitters swing away and not worry about going the other way. It is harder to hit the ball out of the park going oppo and the Twins have little power as it is right now. By making it even more difficult and forcing the Twins Way issue on it's power hitters the Twins could be looking at another power outage similar to last year.

My changes to the Twins Way:
I'm sure you all are excited to hear some guy you don't know who has no coaching experience or blogging experience tell you how I would fix the Twins Way. But hear goes nothing:

1) As bad as it sounds I would tell Rod Carew he is no longer the "special hitting assistant" or whatever his title is. The approaches he seems to be teaching would work wonderful for every hitter if they had the bat control and limited power that he had in his prime. That being said, I don't know if any player besides Ichiro has the bat control of Rod Carew. He could put the ball where he wanted it when he wanted it whenever he wanted to. That was a skill you just can't teach and his teaching methods are tailored to having that type of ability.

2) Continue to teach "driving the ball" to the opposite field. But ease up on it. Some players should be doing more of it, while some less of it in my honest opinion. According to Hardy it sounds as if the coaching staff was so into going the other way that if a player rolls over an outside pitch they get an earful. That sort of "nagging" can lead to a loss of confidence and eventually a player being afraid to pull the pitches he should.

3) Continue to play small ball with small ball players. Each player on the team needs a role. Span and Carroll need to be table setters. Get on base by any means. Span and Carroll know they are limited in the power department so they should be driving the ball to the opposite field any way to get on base for the middle of the lineup. Mauer, Morneau, Willingham and Valencia need to be the power. Let them grip it and rip it. Mauer will do his thing regardless but a healthy Morneau and Willingham should be able to hammer the ball to all fields and hit it out of the park hopefully with runners on base. (If I remember correctly I don't think the Twins had a 3-run homer until late May last season.) The back side of the order again should be in small ball Twins Way mode. Doumit has some power and should be allowed to roll over a pitch from time to time while the Casilla and Revere should be leadoff hitters at the bottom of the order and use their speed to get on base and create chaos on the basepaths.

I believe in the Twins Way as a template, not as an end all be all way to run an offense. Let me know if you agree or have your own opinions on this.

With all of the doom and gloom surrounding Justin Morneau's quotes this morning, I thought we could go back to happier time when the Twins were perennial Central Division Champs. I'll examine the '02, '03, '04, '06, '09 and '10 Division Champion teams everyday over the next week to determine which team was the best of the bunch. Today let's start by taking a look at the '02 Twins.

2002: The year it all started. Coming out of a strong 2001 campaign that saw them finish 2nd to the Cleveland Indians, the Twins had a young team ready to take the next step. The team was carried by a pitching staff that was lead by Rick Reed of all people after string of injuries to starters Joe Mays, Eric Milton and Brad Radke. Fifth starter Kyle Lohse had his best year as a starter for the Twins and Johan Santana, after starting the year in the bullpen, came on to start 14 games and established himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball. The lineup consisted of mostly homegrown stars such as Torii Hunter, Doug Mientkiewicz, Jacque Jones, Corey Koskie and AJ Pierzynski.

This young team was built around defense, pitching and what was later known in these parts as playing "small ball". The 2002 team had three all-stars that in Eddie Guardado making it in his first year as a closer, AJ Pierzynski and Torii Hunter. These young Twins started the season out winning heating up along with the summer going 45-36 at the midway point and enjoyng a 5 game lead in the division. They ended the season with a sweep of the the Chicago White Sox finishing up the season 94-67 and easily won the Central by 13.5 games. leading up to their first playoff series since winning the World Series in 1991.



The Twins took on the American League West Champion Oakland A's, winning the series in dramatic 5 game fashion. A series clinching Home Run by AJ Pierzynski followed by his now famous bat flip and "Booya!" sent the Twins onto the ALCS to face the Anaheim Angels. Unfortunately the Twins ran into the magic of the Rally Monkey and Power of Adam Kennedy and lost the series 4-1 after winning the first game, getting a gem of an outing from Joe Mays. Even though they lost this series the team would later prove this wasn't a fluke season and would go on to win the division five of the next eight season.

This morning the Wall Street Journal decided to talk a little baseball (yay!). They dove into each teams offseason activities and ranked them based on their collective expected WAR (from Fangraphs.com) from acquisitions and losses. They didn't include promotions from within the organizations or demotions within the organizations expected or otherwise except in the case of the Mariner's Montero.

According to WSJ the Twins came in 6th place this off-season with net WAR increase of 4.4. Unsurprisingly the Angels came ranked best with a WAR increase of 13.3.

I don't believe in WAR being the end all be all of a players value, however, this is a nice little rating system to show how each team fared this off-season using some quick and dirty evaluations.

Here is the Article:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...LE_Video_Third

This offseason it seemed as though the Twins were losing free agents and not replacing them. Cuddyer, Kubel and Nathan come to mind right away. But in reality were the Twins picking up a different kind of free agent? These free agents I speak of are the guys already on the roster that can make significant impacts simply by returning to form and staying healthy. During the dismal 99 loss campaign of 2011 the Twins lost two former MVP's (Mauer and Morneau), their spark plug lead off hitter (Span) as well as a starting pitcher (Baker) to injuries.

What looked like your average "guy getting thrown out at home trying to stretch a triple into an inside the park homerun" turn into a mess for Denard Span. Span's head whiplashed back causing a concussion with symptoms that just wouldn't subside. The Twin's leadoff hitter and centerfielder missed 92 games in 2011 mostly due to "concussion-like symptoms" (a phrase all too familiar with Twins fans). When healthy, Span patrols the Target Field outfield providing surprisingly good range. On offense while his numbers have been down compared to his first two years in the league, Span provides speed on the basepaths as well as a guy who can put the ball in play and when playing at his best reaching base at a high rate. The Twins missed his consistency last year and will welcome his addition to the lineup with open arms.

When Scott Baker went down last season he was on his way to best season as a big leaguer. The intangibles that he always seemed to be lacking, such as confidence and persistence seemed to be very present. When Baker took the mound the Twins could expect a quality start at the very least and a lights out performance when everything was clicking. Then came the elbow troubles and the steam he had built up was gone. Coming into 2012 Baker claims everything is feeling great and his arm is ready for the season. Having a healthy Baker in the middle of the rotation will do wonders for a staff that was anything but consistent last season. If his elbow is healty and holds up I look for him to regain the confidence he brought to the mound last season providing the Twins with a guy who can be counted on to every 5th day.

While it would be nice to pick up splashy free agents such as the in-division foe Tigers did with Prince Fielder, that really isn't the Twins' way of doing business. However, when healthy, Justin Morneau is just as qualified at manning first base as Prince Fielder is. Defensively Morneau has the edge, while offensively Morneau can produce nearly as well. Back behind the plate Joe Mauer playing catcher is automatically an improvement over what was behind the plate last year. Drew Butera is a fine defensive replacement but is no where near being a competent major league hitter. Mauer, who had a plethora of issues last season ranging from bilateral leg weakness to walking pneumonia appears to be in shape coming into camp and hopefully ready to return to form. Expecting the Mauer from his 2009 MVP season is asking quite a bit playing in the pitcher friendly Target Field, but a return to the guy with the +.400 on base percentage and WAR in the 6-7 range isn't out of the realm of possibilities. That being said, these are big 'if's'. There is no way to know if an awkward slide will trigger another Justin Morneau concussion or if Joe Mauer's body can stand up to the demands of catching in a 162 game season.

I for one am an optimist when it comes to this ball club and if these players can play to their abilities I expect them to be competitive in 2012. If they don't and the injuries continue to haunt them it could be a long season for this ball club. But just like every other team starting spring training, they are 0-0 and have high hopes for this season. Here's hoping this offseason strategy pays off.