Jonathan Drayer

On June 10th 2003, Justin Morneau picked up a base hit in his first at bat in his big leauge debut against the Colorado Rockies at the Metrodome. ast foward to August 30th, 2013 in Arlington, Texas. Morneau hit the eventual game winning home run into the second deck off of Cy Young candidate Yu Darvish. His 221st homer with the Twins. That homer moved him past Tony Oliva for 3rd on the all-time home run list. That would be his last hit in a Twins uniform after 11 seasons with the club. I say that because I believe Morneau won't return to the Twins next year even though he's a free agent this winter. In 2006, I was really upset with Justin and the team in the first two months of the season. Morneau was inconsistant at the plate by hitting around .230-.240 at the time and the team was well under .500. Then Morneau and the Twins turned it on in the final four months of the year. He finished his 2006 year by hitting .321 with 34 HRs, 130 RBI to help lead the Twins to a 96 win season and clinching the division on the final day. That performance gave him the biggest individual award any player could recieve, the American Leauge MVP. In 2008 he had a second place finish in the MVP behind Boston second baseman Dustin Pedoria. When I look back at Morneau's 11 year run with the Twins, I think of two things. First, he had a great career with Twins. In 1278 games he had 1318 hits, 669 runs scored, 221 HRs, 860 RBI, 289 doubles, 501 walks. Splits of .287/.347/.485, giving him an OPS of .832 during his time. He picked up 4 All-Star selections, 2 Silver Slugger Awards and of course the MVP. Plus he improved his defense every year at first base. But the second thought that comes to mind, and it has been for the last few years is what if?. What if in 2009 Morneau doesn't miss the final month of the season? His bat in the lineup and glove in the field would have helped the Twins in the ALDS against the Yankees. What if he didnt hit his head on John McDonald's knee sliding into 2nd to miss 81 games in 2010? He was hitting .345 with 18 HRs and 56 RBI with a .437 OBP, a .613 SLG, giving him an OPS of 1.055 in the first 81 games he played. He not only could have helped the Twins in the postseason, he could have had a chance at a second AL MVP in five years. What if he didn't pile up all those injuries in 2011? He only played in 69 games and had just 4 HRs and 30 RBI that season. Maybe he adds another 15-20 homers and 45-50 RBI to the stat sheet. Morneau will go into the Twins Hall of Fame one day at Target Field. Still all the time he missed between 2009-2011 might have cost him a spot in Cooperstown New York. I believe he could've had more than 300 HRs and 1,000 RBI with the Twins, along with a couple more All-Star apperances and maybe a couple more Silver Slugger awards. It was a roller coaster run with Morneau with some pretty big downs, but the ups were really big and really rewarding. He was a true professional on and off the field, a great community man, and became a leader in the clubhouse. Thanks for the memories 33.

It looks like Miguel Sano will be on a plane back to the Dominican Republic instead of a flight to Target Field in a few days. GM Terry Ryan said earlier today that Sano will not likely get the September call that so many Twins fans wanted badly. I have talked to a number Twins fans I know the past couple weeks and they all came up with the same answer to my question, "Whould you go to Target Field if Sano wasn't here in September?" Answer: NO!!!!!!!! Thats just the people I talked to and by the number of tweets and facebook comments I've seen in the hours after the announcement that their are many more people joining the club. The Twins will have 17 home games in the month of September and if Sano got the call, that would get fans to go to the games even on sundays when the Vikings play and just watch the Vikes on their phones instead of at home. The call would have no doubt given the Twins sell-out crowds in all 17 of those home games to give fans a little glimpse of what to expect in the years to come. Instead, there will be crowds of 15,000 (even though they will announce a crowd of 29,000 or so) at Target Field to wrap up another nightmare season. You will see nothing but empty seats when you watch the Twins on TV for the rest of the year. Oh wait, those same fans that tweeted and posted facebook comments also said that they wouldn't even watch the Twins. I wanted to see Sano up here just like everyone else and its a bummer, but I understand that Ryan and the Twins don't want to start the clock on Sano. Still, for a frustrated Twins Territory, all they want to know is when the time will come. Thats just my thought, let me know what you think.

The Twins are heading toward their third straight 90 loss season and frustration is at an all-time high for fans in Twins Territory. Starting pitching is poor, bad free agent moves as well as trades, and just a lack of fundemental play that made the Twins a power in the AL Central in the 2000s. But with that frustration comes hope for the fan base that better days are just around the corner at Target Field Of course it starts with the Twins stacked farm system lead by #1 overall prospect Byron Buxton and #3 overall prospect Miguel Sano. These two young men are looked at by scouts and fans as the players that will lead the Twins to not just division titles, but World Series titles. Buxton is a 5 tool player who has dominated the minors this year by hitting .335 with 12HRs, 76 RBI, 19 doubles, 18 triples and 53 stolen bases. Back in 2009 at 15 years old, Miguel Sano was labeled by scouts in the Dominican Republic as the "Once in a Generation Star." Now at age 20, Sano is by far the best power hitting prospect in baseball by hitting 33 HRs this year. 16 at High-A Ft. Myers of the Florida State League and 17 at Double-A New Britain of the Eastern League, both are known as pitcher friendly leauges. While Buxton and Sano are deserving of the praise they have recieved, to me the next generation of Twins baseball will be make or break with the pitchers. We love it when the lineup puts runs on the board, but without great pitching you won't be playing baseball in late October. Twins have a number of promising pitching prospects. Kohl Stewart, Alex Meyer, Trevor May, JO Berrios, and Felix Jorge. All of them have the tools to be starting pitchers for the Twins in the future and that has been by far the #1 issue with the big league club the last three years. Right now the Twins are tough to watch, but Im excited for the future as are other baseball experts and writers. In an interview about a month ago, Buster Olney of ESPN said that a number of scouts believe that three years from now the Twins will be in the same position the St. Louis Cardinals are in now. Two years ago, the Cardinals won the World Series. Last year the Cards went to the NLCS, and now this year are leading the NL Central and in position to make another run. That just shows how good and promising this farm system is. I will have more to say about the Twins the rest of the year into the winter meetings and spring training, but for now those are my thoughts, let me know about your thoughts.