The Average Fan: What is their Perception of the Twins?

I like Patrick Reusse and I’m not ashamed of that. Every night before I go to bed I listen to SportsTalk starring him and Joe Soucheray because they do and don’t talk about sports. It’s like me in a nutshell, but a couple decades down the road. I understand that there’s a good portion of the public that don’t always agree with Reusse, but I beg you to stay with me here.

On 1500ESPN’s website, Reusse writes a P.J.R. column with those letters standing for Patrick James Reusse. These columns usually result in a ‘no punches pulled’ take on something which I absolutely adore. The latest edition came out on Tuesday morning with the title “There’s strong perception that the Twins aren’t trying”.

That’s a strong take, which I can’t help but finding myself somewhat agreeing upon. Reusse compares the Pohlads to ever other owner in this state and by comparing them it looks obviously that the Twins, at the very least, are trying the least.

It’s hard to point a finger at a whole organization and say, “Hey, you’re not giving an effort. You’re not trying at all.”

That’s what has happened to the Twins. People have stopped caring. It’s gone from agony to empathy and as much as the former stings, the latter is something that is so very hard to get out of.

I never thought I’d not give a flying leap about the Twins, but it happened. By the end of this past season, I didn’t watch a single game. I’d get alerts on my phone saying the Twins were losing by a remarkable margin and then flip over just to catch a glimpse of the glorious dumpster fire.

I do care about the Twins, though. It was kind of like the Twins and I were taking a break.  I flirted with some other teams, but when the feelings started to get strong I couldn’t get the Twins off of my mind. That’s me though.

What about the fans who aren’t as tied to the Twins as I am? I know they are lost for a while, but what gets those fans back… A winning record? A playoff run? A playoff series win?

We have a good glimpse at what this team could be. A lot of people are excited about Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton, as they should be, but to the general public this team may not appear to be trying. The one’s reading this are the ones who will stick with the Twins through hell and high water.

The Twins have a tough job building this team back up to contention, but will also have to build up a fan base again.

Time to Say Goodbye to Josh Willingham

The local Twins beat writers just can’t catch a break. Peter Gammons, the man behind the news of Justin Morneau being put on waivers, reported on his Twitter account this morning that 2012 AL Silver Slugger winner Josh Willingham has also been placed on waivers by the Minnesota Twins.

“With Josh Willingham on waivers, AL teams see an interesting stretch run bat” -@pgammo

It’s time to say goodbye, folks.

Willingham would be a great DH for any American League team looking for a push during this pennant chase, much better than Justin Morneau, in my opinion.

Of course, Willingham can also play the outfield, but is just a step above the statue of Delmon Young in left field. Throw in the bum knee that Willingham has had this season, it makes him a little tougher to deal.

There is one major difference between Morneau and Willingham in the trading game. Morneau is a free agent at the end of this current season, Willingham is a free agent at the end of the 2014 season. That essentially one-year, $7 million contract could be an attraction for some teams.

The fact of the matter is the Twins outfield is getting very tight, very quickly or at least Twins fans hope that it is.

By the end of next season, fans should be seeing a starting outfield of Oswaldo Arcia, Byron Buxton and Aaron Hicks. Sure, Willingham could be the Twins’ DH, but if you can get a good deal for Willingham you must pull the trigger.

The DH spot can filled by a lot of others already. If Morneau is resigned, Trevor Plouffe if he is still around with the imminent arrival of Miguel Sano, Chris Colabello, or really a million other possibilities.

I’m not saying trade Willingham just to trade him. If you are only getting an offer of a bucket of balls and a family pass to the Water Park of America, pass on it, but if you get an offer of a couple prospects and those prospects hopefully being a pitcher or two, you must pull the trigger.

It’s all just a waiting game now and, or as Freddie Mercury would say, we're just waiting for the hammer to fall.

The good side of Miguel Sano's pimping

The Twins need a lot of things. We can all agree on that. One thing they defiantly need is a lot more dingers or home runs for you old folk.

If you follow me on Twitter, looking at my followers number it doesn’t look like you do, I stumbled across a rare interesting thought about Miguel Sano.

As you may or may not have stumbled across by now, Miguel Sano slammed a home run a long ways on Tuesday and ‘pimped’ it. Stood in the box for a loooong time and it also took a looooong time for him to trot around the base path. For that pimping Sano has been benched ever since.

(Mr. Patrick Reusse wrote a nice blog post about this.)

The thought tha hit me was this: Lost in all of this Sano pimping a home run business is the fact that the #MNTwins finally have a guy who can hit #dingers on command.

Who on the this current Twins team do we really trust to smack a slam-a-jamma anytime he steps up to the plate? Willingham? Plouffe? Arcia? Jamey Carroll?

Sano is only 20. He’s literally (but not literally)  a college kid.

If I could hit a ball a mile, I know I’d do the same exact thing. Hell, I’d skip around the bases backwards, but I’m weird.

Maybe the Twins just need a little pimping as well.