I think I'm gonna do it

You can ask any of my friends and they'll all tell you I'm not a betting man. In the last year I've put money on exactly one sports bet that I'm currently winning, the under on the Wolves winning 30, but I think its time to make another, much riskier bet. I know I’m a twins fan and I’m probably being a homer, but I’m putting 20 bucks on them to win the world series now. On March 1st.

I look at it this way. This team made it to the playoffs last year. Yeah, just a one game series, but it was bonus baseball. Hear me out on this one. When I say this team I mean THIS team. Same rotation, same outfield plus a healthy Cuddy and same infield plus Joe Crede. You can say his back will give. I will argue that the contract gives the Twins incentive to drop him early. Something they didn’t do with previous veterans who didn’t belong. If his back gives we just go back to the platoon, if not we got a guy who was once an all-star, once a silver slugger and a good fielder.

And this rotation? Now they have an entire season under their belts. Now they won’t be intimidated or caught off guard and we get a full season of Liriano. If Liriano had gotten 2 more of Hernandez’ starts last season we would have beat the White Sox outright and gone up against a clone in the Devil Rays... It would have been interested. Now the whole team is back plus one and a specialty role or two.

The only thing that makes me weary is the bullpen. It could use a shot in the arm (rimshot). Somebody is going to have to step up with Neshek out once again. Mijares could be the guy to step up, but that could just as easily go south. My feeling is that if we can't get someone to step up in the bullpen we'll still be in a good despite the weakness and come trade time we'll find ourselves in the perfect position to pick up that big name reliever for once instead of stand idly by.

This team really could turn into a steam roller and it would be so poetic to do it in the final season at the dome with a hometown kid as the hero and a team made almost entirely out of the farm system just after their owner has died. It would be beautiful and I think it could happen.

Something good finally happens to the Twins

Justin Morneau and Micheal Cuddayer have signed long term deals with the Twins ensuring that we will not have another Hunter/Santana debacle on our hands. Morneau's contract is said to be 6 years long and worth about $80 million while Cuddayer's is 3 years and about $23 million. I think I would have liked them to put another year on Cuddy's contract, but if they move him to center like Gardy (bat-shit crazily) said might happen three years would probably be a better deal for the team to have the 4th year option.

I am really starting to like Bill Smith as the general manager of this team. I don't know about his ability to get the prospects in trades that Terry Ryan always seemed to find but he was willing to trade pitching for batting and now he's signed two very good baseball players to contracts before they got a whiff of free agency. Terry Ryan would be sitting with his thumb up his ass going over the Johan trade offers with a fine toothed comb and too busy to ensure that two of the best players on the club stay here in Minnesota.

Now all Smith has to do to pull off the trifecta of GM brilliance is get the Mets, Red Sox and Yankees back into a bidding war. Get me Lester and Elsbury. Get me Hughs, Kennedy and Cabrerra. Get me a couple players from the Mets that Terry Ryan approves of. Honestly I have no clue about any of the players being offered by the Mets and that scares me, but I didn't know who Joe Nathan, Boof Bonser and Fransisco Liriano were when I was unsure about making Mauer the every day starter (still not sure about how that will play out).

The Star Tribune told me about the contracts.