I didn't get to watch or listen to this game at all, as I was working until midnight at my former job as part of a consulting gig I offered to take on until I can transfer all the knowledge I amassed during my tenure there. I have very limited internet access at my new job, so I won't be able to post tomorrow, so I wanted to get something up.
I checked in a couple times during the game and was surprised to see they scored 6 runs. I was less surprised that they lost anyway thanks to their craptastic bullpen. As I can't give a whole lot more than that on the game, I thought I'd start a post which may be early to talk about the 2012 Twins (who I sincerly hope earn their W back).
I think part of the big problem they're going to have next year is that the there is a very thin crop of middle infielders, which I still think is their most glaring need. I don't mind having Plouffe, Nishioka, Casilla, or Hughes manning those spots occasionally, but we basically have four guys who should be backups as the starters. And the depth beyond that is... well, I don't consider that depth. It's too bad Jose Reyes has probably played himself into a $100+ million deal. We could sign a Type A free agent without surrendering a pick!
I'm assuming that Span & Revere are for sure in the outfield. I'm guessing one of Cuddyer or Kubel will be back. I'm thinking Tosoni & Benson will be in the mix at some point. I don't have a lot of concerns here other than Cuddyer getting a giant albatross of a contract.
The starting pitching was clearly exposed this year, and who knows what they'll ride into next year with. The bullpen is, um, less than adequate. I'm hoping they can restructure something to lock up Nathan for another couple of years. I hope Neck Fat isn't a disaster again. I hope Perkins continues to be lights out. I would like Duensing back into the 'pen. After that, I hope they can find someone on the scrap heap and not pay them outrageous sums of money.
I think right now outside of Mauer, Morneau, Span, and Valencia, I don't know who I'd be too attached to on the roster to carry over into next year. I think next year's team is going to look vastly different. I hope there is a front office shakeup. Any chance they can go hire Andrew Friedmann to overhaul the team? I just don't want them to think everything will be fine when they're healthy. This team had horrible health and was unlucky... but there were a crapload of problems beyond that.
What are your thoughts on what next year's team will look like? Thinking about a better roster next year is about all I have left.
I'm hoping for an offseason visit to the Twins by The Bobs.
I wouldn't mind a front office shakeup, but I don't expect it. It doesn't seem like the Twins' way. If your mindset is to come up with a way to excuse this season there are ways to do it: it's the first bad season we've had for a long time; we've had a ton of injuries, often to key people (Mauer, Morneau, Baker, etc.); players we expected to take a step up unexpectedly took a step backward (Valencia, Liriano, Mijares).
I also don't expect major changes to the roster, just because I don't see how it happens. I don't see that they have substantial assets to trade, they don't sign big name free agents, and they don't have a lot of major-league-ready talent in the minors. If next year's team is going to be better, I think that, for the most part, it's going to have to happen with the guys we've already got.
There is money coming off the books, so I think we see someone new coming in. Hopefully not Milton Bradley and Carlos Zambrano. Mauer is enough of a troublemaker already.
It really shouldn't take major changes to make this club competitive in a weak division. Full, productive seasons from Mauer, Kubel and Morneau would go a long way toward making the offense (more) competent. Getting some fool to take Nick Blackburn off our hands would go a long way toward pulling the starting rotation towards average (Blackie is a whopping -30.5 pRAA over the last two seasons; by that stat, he has been the worst starter in the AL this year).
Removing Blac_burn from the rotation may be addition by subtraction, but the FO would still need to spend some bling-blang for the Twins to be competitive.