MY CHRISTMAS WISH LIST (TWINS-RELATED)
Dear Santa,
I'm sure you're really busy this time of year, and I'm sure you way too many requests from Pirates fans and Royals fans and the like to give me much thought, but just in case you had enough time for people up in Twins Territory, I thought I'd give you a little checklist of things I'd like to see. Where to start?
1. I'd really, really, appreciate the front office hiring someone proficient in sabermetrics. They don't need to listen to him all the time, but at least check it out? It seems like every other team in baseball is at least venturing slightly into advanced metric stats and taking those into account when making decisions, why can't we? Perhaps if we had such a person they could help point out how Nick Blackburn isn't really a ground-ball pitcher and is due for significant regression, or how picking a pitcher simply because they have a low ERA and lots of innings under their belt doesn't always tell the whole story...
2. I miss J.J. Hardy. Can you undo this, Santa? I know it hasn't been a long time, and I know we have to say goodbye sometimes, but I was just kind of getting familiar with having him around. It was kind of nice to feel confident whenever a ball was hit to the left side of the infield. And it was really nice to see the 9th spot in the order roll around and not groan. Please help Alexi Casilla not suck too badly.
3. I'd really like for Jim Thome to mash his 600th tater in a Twins uniform. I know he might not be the the thing this team needs next season, but I can be a little selfish with one of the 25 roster spots, and I chose being selfish for Jim Jam.
4. Help Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan come back feeling 100% better. They are important pieces of our team and I'm scared to go into a season not knowing how well they'll perform. Morneau still not feeling 100% scares me, in fact it really really wigs me out. And at this point I'm kind of just expecting the worst from Nathan. If the two of them survive a full season on our roster without any significant setbacks, that will be a true miracle, and I could go for one of those.
5. Bless our farm system. It seems like every year that we do well, someone from the minors needs to step up. I don't really care who it is this year, but I am very excited that you've given us gifts like Kyle Gibson, David Bromberg, Deolis Guerra, Joe Benson, and Ben Revere, all of whom are probably very close to being unwrapped. Can't we just take a peek early? No, no, I know, that will spoil it.
6. Magically transport me to Minnesota so that I can get season tickets and enjoy my team all the time. It's tough living in New York sometimes, and knowing that if I want to see a baseball game on a random day that I either have to suffer through the pain of the Bronx, or sit out in Queens watching Johan in another uniform. When I can't get back to Minnesota, please help me make arrangements to roadtrip it up to nearby places like Toronto and Boston this year when our boys go there.
7. World Series? Please?
