Twins musing... | TwinsFanatic!'s Blog

(Originally posted on an ESPN message board by me. It was a response to some of the things people were saying about Livan and Monroe when they were cut on Liriano's call-up.)

Give Livan some credit. He did just fine. His smoke and mirrors worked for quite awhile, got some quality starts, and then faded down the stretch. His experience was invaluably important during the season for our young staff, and I'm glad that they signed the guy. Liriano garnered a lot of confidence in his AAA ball and should be ready to anchor the staff.

Sure, Monroe wasn't the best signing in the world. But. he has come through in the clutch several times this season. Remember his game-tying HR with two-outs in the ninth against KC? His great series against Boston? He was never good for the starting line-up, but when he PH, he did some valuable things. I don't know about this Ruiz guy, he sounds like an upgrade over Monroe for sure. But don't through the guy under the bus. He made some valuable contributions.

And for the new lineup, Casilla is out for the season. At least, it defeintly looks to be that way. So, he's gone unfortunatly. Buscher has been solid and Punto/Harris have played well for us this year. Gomez/Young/Span have been an incredible outfield. So now we have the Cuddyer complex. I think the guy should platoon at third/outfield. He has great capabilites in the outfield, has played third base in his carrer, and is the right-handed power bat that the Twins want. He can take Gomez/Span/Young place (since they should get a day off every once in awhile) and then play for Buscher sometimes too. And then on some days, he could of course be the DH when he is required. I firmly believe this is a good quandry for the Twins to be having.

And on a side note, Lamb and Everett need to go too. I had positive things to say about both Livan and Craig, however the other two have had absolutly no redeeming qualities. Lamb may have had a walk-off single, but it was a pretty lucky bloop single. And also, Boof is out of options, for those people who believe that he should go to the minors. He is more valuable to the team than Livan, since he still has an upside. His strike-out stuff is still the best on the entire team(as evidence by he was first on the team in K's long after his demotion). Twins need to keep him around, and craft him into a reliever, since I believe he could really be a good one, mainly because of his strike-out stuff. Phenonmial relievers are the relievers who can consistenly stirke people out, in my humble opioion. Thus, I think having him in the bullpen other than Livan makes a lot more sense at this point in time.