Micheal Cuddyer=young????

Buster Olney does a pretty good job over at ESPN but I'm wondering about this list a little. He seems to have lost his reference point to what a "young" player is. On his blog today he lists ten "Young players on the rise." Of the 10 I believe that there are only 3 that I would consider young. And our Cuddy bear seems to have been here for a long time, and how you would consider him at 27 young in the MLB and Rafael Furcal at 29 is definitely not young for baseball. I guess when I think young i think a younger then 24, that is young for sports. I mean if you consider this, Amare Stoudemire is 24 and has been in the NBA for 5 years and I wouldn't consider him young, maybe baseball is completely different and I am totally wrong. But anyway here are the 10 and their ages:


1. Howie Kendrick-23 young
2. Bobby Crosby-27 not young
3. Brandon Phillips-25 losing youngness
4. Robinson Cano-24 young
5. Rafael Furcal-29 not young
6. Rocco Baldelli-25
7. Chris Young-27 not young
8. Kevin Kouzmanoff-25 not young
9. Ryan Zimmerman-22 young

10. Michael Cuddyer-27 not young

"Before last season, Cuddyer was more renowned as a guy who couldn't lock down a position. But he established himself as the right fielder last year, playing 142 games there, and more importantly, established himself as the right-handed hitter who could create some solid balance between left-handed hitting teammates Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, hitting .284 with 109 RBIs.

In recent years, the Twins' starting pitching and bullpen has always been the anchor for this team. But in 2007, the middle of the Minnesota lineup may be most pivotal in determining whether the Twins will be contenders in late September again. The Twins are thin in starting pitching and have rotation issues to sort out behind Johan Santana, and desperately need Cuddyer and others to hit in a big way, particularly early in the year."

Go twins