Confusion Reigning Supreme in Twins Land

By S. Hanson

As the Twins organization gears up for a weekend walk down memory lane to the glory days of ’87 current Twins fans are a little confused by management strategy, if it in fact exists.

The Twins, those masters of picking up talent from the waiver wire, have scooped up a Yankee reject today in infielder Chris Basak. Chris Basak is a 28 year old AAA infielder who is batting .254 this year. Once again the Twins have added to their farm system a player with proven ability to hit around .250 or less – at the minor league level. Just a week or two ago the Twins inked a couple of Korean high schoolers that are hitting below .250 in high school. Inking a contract with the Twins will not magically turn them into offensive gems for any future Twins major league team.

Then there is the Twins strategy in signing and then re-signing Rondell White. Rondell White who was to have been the answer to the Twins DH question. The puzzle here is the patience the Twins have exhibited towards White’s performance. The Twins’ sad willingness to wait for performance of any kind from White and his inability to fill the aching hole of DH for which he was originally signed, is confusing. His poor fielding when in left field to get a better batting average into the line up can make your eyes cross if you then go on to consider Nick Punto.

Nick Punto is the Twins slick fielding, speedy, third baseman with an average which has been hovering around .200 all season long. Nick Punto, who hasn’t been able to lay down even a sacrifice bunt when the team has needed one desperately. Nick Punto, the every day third baseman was seemingly headed to the bench when the Twins finally called up Buscher from the minors to add a little offensive kick to the line up. But then the Twins just kept putting Punto in the lineup, at shortstop, at second, then spelling the just called up Buscher, Punto hardly missed a game. It seems the Twins will even create a new infield position just to ensure that Punto’s Mendoza line-hugging bat will stay in the lineup on a daily basis.

The Twins emphasis on speed is good. The problem with speedy base runners is that they first have to be on base for the speed to make any difference. You can’t steal first, after all. Second, someone else also needs to get hits behind him in order to score. Yes, you need hits in order to score, because the numbers of players who have managed to steal home successfully is very small, as in minute. The Twins can’t count on a strategy of stealing home. You can steal second, you can steal third, but to score, you still need to get hits in the bigs.

The Twins organization may have lost their way in all of the marketing who-haw surrounding the 20th anniversary of those unlikely heroes, the ’87 Twins. In looking back at those glory days, management seems to be blinded by the past. Looking to today and the future needs of the team, Twins management sees a light at the end of the tunnel and is not recognizing that it is the on rushing engine of time. The engine of time which is bearing away the Twins marquee players Santana, Nathan, and Hunter just as inexorably as it is pulling the empty train of hitting talent which is the Twins current farm system.

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