Twins

It's amazing that the Twins early this season will look a LOT like the Twins from last season. We'll have ONE different person in the lineup (Hunter) and one different regular starter (Santana). Basically we will have a few different fill-in bench players and bullpen guys, but what we HAD before is what we still have.

Predictions? Our pitching, which was awful, should be a tad better. Our hitting and ability to score runs should stay great. And our defense, which was as bad as anyone's, got a little worse.

I'll miss the two guys named Chris. Both Pamalee and Colabello were removed from the 40-man roster to make room for the new guys.

Our hope this year is that pitchers like Nolasco, Santana, and Pelfrey will return to their once former "greatness" OR, at very least become cagey veterans, and that Hughes will once again look like the Cy Young candidate he was last year. And that at least one of the young guy options becomes a superstar this season.

That's a lot to hope for. Maybe the combination of new managers and coaches will really click with this roster. Maybe guys like Vargas and Plouffe will have the banner years we've always dreamed of. Maybe Mauer will redevelop his swing and become an MVP candidate again as well.

And if we aren't better, there's a couple guys in the minors we can still wait for a little longer.

It's baseball. We're allowed to think this way in the off-season.