Todd- At 5-9 and 160 lbs. Ben Revere will never be more than a .300 hitter who hits singles and doubles. He is a quick Jason Kubel with no power. Unless he morphs in to Kirby Puckett the Twins will continue to fashion the worst power hitting outfield in MLB. Span, Gomez, Young, Cuddyer and possibly Revere. Revere is also a lefty and Lord knows the Twins need right handed hitting. Morneau, Maurer, Kubel, Span, the core of the team all struggle against good lefties.
Bill Smith is way in over his head. You credit Smith for winning or almost winning the division the last 2 years. I'm sorry to see you have drunk the Kool-Aid. The AL Central was the weakest this year in all of baseball. The players who carried the team the last 2 years were acquired prior to Smith getting the job. You can't give him credit for any of these players. The ones he brought here were disasters until he hit it lucky with Pavano and to some extent, Cabrera.
Yes the Twins are cheap. Yes they did overpay Punto whom I am convinced has a picture somewhere of Gardenhire and a farm animal, that is the only reason he plays. You mention his ALDS batting average. Good for him. What about his hitting barely .200 for most of the season and being ranked DEAD LAST among AL infielders when it comes to all batting categories.
I bet the Yankee pitchers absolutely trembled when they looked in the dugout and saw Casilla, Tolbert, Buscher, Redmond and Morrales on the bench.
Gardo is 2-12 in the post season since 2002. He is the most overrated manager in baseball.
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