Laying It On The Line

Is it happening? Is the Great White Hope from Canada finally starting to turn it around? I hope so. Two homers in three games makes it sound like he’s starting to figure it out. Maybe SBG had it right when he said Morneau should stay up and figure out his problems in the big leagues. I was a proponent of him getting some confidence in AAA but hey, I’ve been wrong before.

Anyway, let’s hope the Twins as a whole are starting to turn things around.

Edgardo Alfonzo. Hmmm . . .

The St. Paul Pioneer Press has a rumor about maybe switching Jacque Jones and Edgardo Alfonzo. Now, I like Jacque as well as the next guy, but we have another outfielder that could easily take his place (Lew Ford).

The thing I like the most about Alfonzo (no it’s not that he’s currently hitting .308) is that he has played second base in his career. If you look at his career stats you see that he has played quite a bit of second. He has played second 535 games out of 1406 in his career. Yes he has been at third the last couple years but maybe . . .

Alfonzo doesn’t have a ton of pop in his bat (only two homers in 219 AB’s) but he may be another “get on base” type guy. If Morneau really is breaking out of his slump having a couple guys on base before Lil Harmon would be pretty nice.

Hopefully Terry Ryan can pull of some deals that accomplish two things for the Twins. First, they can’t deplete the minor league rosters and second, any trades should be for guys that can hit the ball out of the park.

Just my thoughts.

Guess what? Aaron Gleeman seems to think Kevin Youkilis would be a better acquisition as well. See, I have good ideas every now and then.

Let’s hope we see more celebrations in the future.

The Twins finally won a game tonight when they beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 with two runs in the ninth inning. This is the eighth of the last ten games that have been decided by one run. This tells me that the Twins pitchers are doing their jobs, but they aren’t getting any run support. If you look at the stats of the Twins hitters, you’ll see that this is true.

Since the All-Star Break, the Twins hitting has been terrible.

As you can see, the guys the Twins need to depend on to get to the playoffs just aren’t pulling their own weight. Boone, Punto, Hunter and Morneau are all hitting below 0.150.

Over on the Dickie Thon Twins forum there is talk about which player on the active roster will be sent down when Scott Baker is brought up for the upcoming Detroit series. Quite a few people are suggesting that either Michael Ryan or Luis Rodriguez. In my mind someone that should also be on the short list is Justin Morneau.

Now, I’m a huge Morneau fan. I honestly feel that he’ll eventually be the next Harmon Killebrew. However, he’s not there yet. I feel the biggest problem is that he’s lost confidence. He’s just going up swinging for the fences on just about every pitch. Maybe some time down in AAA would help him find his swing and get him ready for a potential late season drive. Obviously Gardenhire is ok with playing Cuddyer at first. Maybe this would be the best for the time being.

The recent trend makes you wonder when Terry Ryan will work his magic and bring in another player that can potentially help. I’ve heard rumors of JC Romero being traded to Boston for Bill Mueller. I’m definitely in favor of this trade (if for no other reason than to get Romero off the squad).

I doubt Mueller would be the answer to all the Twins problems, but maybe he can help solidify the lineup. This year he’s hitting .281 which is just a tad below his career average of .291. With the pitchers the Twins have in the minors, replacing Romero would be no problem.

Another Red Sock that I would be interested in is Kevin Youkilis. Once described as the “Greek God of Walks”, a guy that gets on base regularly would be absolutely fantastic. I’m getting pretty tired of Twins hitters swinging and missing. A little discipline would be nice.

There’s definitely despair in the Twins Territory right now. Hopefully the Twins can get back on track and push to the playoffs. It looks like the White Sox have the AL Central firmly in their grasps, but the wild card is still up in the air. We still have a chance.

PLEASE!!! PLEASE!!! PLEASE!!! PLEASE!!!

Alright, left handed power relievers may be next to gold in the MLB. However, I get an ulcer every time Romero is on the mound. I would love the Twins to trade him for some more offense. I’m not sure Bill Mueller is the best option (how about Youkilis?), but I’d have a lot easier time watching games without Romero. Please Mr. Ryan, make a trade!!!