Any hopes the Twins have of being a competitive team this season and beyond begin with first baseman Justin Morneau and catcher Joe Mauer, two former American League MVP’s who might just have copies on their nightstands of Reverend Robert Schuller’s book Tough Times Never Last But Tough People Do.

The Twins are short on talent throughout the organization and if the “M&M Boys” don’t produce as in the past, Minnesota is in trouble.  No, Morneau and Mauer can’t carry the team to the post-season alone but when they play like All-Stars the Twins are much more productive at the plate and in the field.  And their production eases the physical and mental burdens on teammates.

Last summer Morneau was approaching career numbers when he suffered his now famous concussion.  He was batting .345 with 18 home runs and 56 RBI.

His recovery from the concussion was slow and there was uncertainty about his return to the team.  Although Morneau has played in 43 games, he has struggled with his hitting and even at times in the field.  A career .283 hitter, he’s batting .230 with two home runs and 13 RBI.

This spring Morneau is so frustrated he has probably made his baseball life worse than it needs to be.  He badly wants to be a leader for the Twins and bail out a ballclub with a 16-32 record, the worst in the big leagues.

Want a picture of a guy trying too hard?  Grab a camera and point it at the 30-year-old Morneau who in his best season (2006) hit .321 with 34 home runs and 130 RBI, and won the AL MVP award.  Trying to recover from the long layoff from the concussion meant regaining his timing at the plate and in the field.  And Morneau was hit by the flu bug this spring and lost weight.  Now he even has a sore neck, no doubt a repository of his tension.

The mental weight of trying to carry his team has been a setback, too, and one that can best be cured by this prescription: “Chill out a bit, young fella.”

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Mauer’s woes have included the flu, too, along with bumps and bruises, and that not so well-known condition referred to by the Twins’ organization as “bilateral leg weakness.”  Overall diagnosis: the 28-year-old catcher has been a physical wreck this spring after off-season knee surgery.

 

Mauer has experienced lots of hurts during his eight year major league career.  This season is the second in three he has been placed on the disabled list in April.  He hasn’t played since April 12 this year, appearing in just nine games so far.

 

Don’t be surprised if management asks the Twins’ $184 million man to come by the office for an exit interview after this season that includes a suggestion to buy an outfielder’s glove.  Yes, Mauer wants only to catch but the club needs his offense in every game and the organization’s investment is way too rich not to have him on the field.

 

Mauer is a three-time batting champion who should still have his peak years as a hitter ahead of him.  How can the Twins afford to risk unnecessary injury to Mauer by keeping him at catcher, baseball’s most punishing position?

 

The suggestion here is to send Mauer to right field and move Jason Kubel to left.  Mauer is athletic and his powerful arm will be an improvement over Kubel who actually is an underrated outfielder.

 

Outfielder-infielder Michael Cuddyer, 32, is in the last year of his reported $10.5   million contract.  At his age and price tag, it’s not difficult to imagine this is Cuddyer’s last season in Minneapolis.  Also, opening up the outfield roster would be a potential Delmon Young trade. The Twins’ regular left fielder has been consistently inconsistent offensively since coming here from Tampa Bay and his fielding is average(let’s be nice) at best.

 

Ideally, the Twins would be able to trade both Cuddyer and Young while improving their talent-poor bullpen, or acquire middle infielders, or a catcher, who can both hit and field.  Such additions would fit on a foundation of the resurrected “M&M Boys.”

 

 

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If the Twins’ starting pitchers continue to struggle and right-hander Kyle Gibson makes more progress at AAA Rochester, he seems a cinch to be promoted to Minnesota this year.  Gibson, 23, has a record of 2-3 with a 3.80 ERA.  He’s impressed with 49 strikeouts in 47.1 innings.

Another highly publicized Twins’ prospect, switch hitting outfielder Aaron Hicks, is only batting .224 against right-handed pitching but hitting .290 versus lefties.  Overall, Hicks, 21, is batting .250 for the Fort Myers Class A team.

Former Twins’ pitcher Jim Perry, elected this year to the Twins Hall of Fame, will be honored during a ceremony at Target Field on June 11.  Perry is fourth in career wins for the franchise with 128, trailing Jim Kaat (189), Bert Blyleven (149) and Brad Radke (148).

The recently adjourned legislative session didn’t result in approval for allowing the Gophers to serve alcohol in premium seating areas at TCF Bank Stadium, Williams Arena and Mariucci Arena.  Some legislators want alcohol available to all fans or none at all, but common practice at college venues is to restrict alcoholic beverages to premium areas such as suites and thereby eliminate access by students.  The no-alcohol policy has cost the Gophers’ athletic department millions of dollars.

Richard “Pinky” McNamara, who played football for the Gophers in the mid-1950s, was a great supporter of that sport including at Hastings High School and the Minnesota High School All-Star Football Game.  McNamara, who passed away this week after a long battle with Alzheimer’s, was part of a group including Bud Grant, Verne Gagne, Paul Giel, Billy Bye and Bobby Cox that for years had a summer get-together at Bay Lake.

Author Jim Holden emailed that not only is the Rochester Mayo tennis team going to the State Tournament but team member Ingrid Neel will become only the third girl ever to play in the Minnesota boys’ tournament, according to his research.  He wrote that Neel is the No. 1 ranked 12-year-old girl in the country.  Holden is the author of Tennis in the Northland, a comprehensive history of boys’ high school tennis in Minnesota.

Junior third baseman Bryan Lippincott from Concordia University, St. Paul leads the Capital One Academic All-America® Baseball Teams selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.  Lippincott won the Academic All-America® of the Year award in the College Division comprised of NCAA Division II, III and the NAIA. A Finance major with a 4.00 GPA, Lippincott ranks among the NCAA Division II leaders through 34 games with a .434 batting average.  His career college average is .406.

 

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