The Fat Lady is Singing

The 2009 Minnesota Twins are done. After getting pounded by the Kansas City Royals, I am convinced of this. What a giant disappointment. We came into this year with hopes of not only winning the division but hopefully competing for a world series. What went wrong along the way?
We were worried about having room for all of our outfielders. Well if you put two of them in AAA where they belong, then we'd have an open spot. Yes Gomez is great at defense, but when you bat .230 and drive in 26 runs, then you better be winning gold gloves. I would have a hard time finding room for Delmon Young on my softball team. He has 233 at bats with 11, yes 11 extra base hits.
The Twins are moving into the new stadium next year with possibly the worst pitching staff in the American League. Let's think to 2010. Your ace is Scott Baker. That is your ace. If he was on the Tigers, he'd be a set up guy. Blackburn is decent and might end up being a good #2 or #3 pitcher on a good staff. Slowey improved this year, but now will be coming off of a season ending injury. Liriano is a shell of his former self. So unless he figures something out, his career is over. And hopefully nobody tells Perkins that the Twins are moving to the outdoor stadium. I'm sick of Perkins claiming he's injured every time he gets shelled. If Mauer is in the home run derby, next year, he should let Perkins pitch to him, and ask him to try.
The bullpen is an absolute joke with the exception of Nathan. Yes we'll get Neshek back, but he's coming off of major injury and wasn't exactly lights out when he left.
What this really comes down to is the Twins over evaluation of their talent. They overvalue their players and won't trade their so called prospects. Where are these prospects? They won't mortgage their future for a rent a player. What are they expecting? Are these prospects going to lead us to the playoffs next year. I'm done believing that every young player is going to get better. Casilla is a joke. Punto isn't even a major leaguer. Stop over valuing defense. Screw the defense. Where has defense gotten us. To the playoffs yes, winning a world series no. Billy Smith has made bad decision after bad decision. Where are the players we got for Johan Santana? We'd have been better off letting him play out the last year of his contract, just like he did with Tori Hunter. We traded prospects for Delmon Young, the problem was we traded the only good ones we had.
The bottom line is the Twins promised us that this kind of frugal, cheap, approach with the new stadium. So they better go out and find some pitching this off season, because it's too late for 2009. The Twins will finish .500 at best. My guess is 80-82 about 12 games out of first. We'll have to listen the them talk about injuries, and scheduling. Take some accountability and figure out Billy Smith.
If I were Joe Mauer, I'd be counting the days until I could leave this lousy team and play for teams like the Yankees or Red Sox, that expect to win the world series, not just hope to make the playoffs. Mauer you can sign a 10 year 200 million dollar contract. Come back here when you're 37ish, and move to 3rd base. Then finish your career here, show us your 2 or 3 world series rings, and then retire a champion. If you stay here, you'll be on that list of best players to never win a championship. We'll love you either way. Follow Garnett, Ortiz, Santana, Hunter, Gaborik, and Moss, and go somewhere where winning is priority #1. And that isn't here, because this is Twins Territory.