I was reading Joe Posnanski's blog this morning and he fleetingly mentioned that Minnesota was tearing it up again this year, and again he could not figure out why (must be the manager). So I took a look at their roster and it really compares pretty evenly to the Reds'. There really ain't much on that team that grabs you, but they have won 44 games. With Brendan Harris and Mike Lamb on the left side of the infield and a pitching staff that has two pitchers with an ERA under 4 (Slowey has a 3.96, Baker sports a 3.57). So how do the Twins win while the Reds don't? And how can I prove that without burning the rest of my Saturday?

1) Morneau and Mauer pound the ball. Again, not having OMG OPSes (133 and 135 respectively) but lines of .309-.368-.489 and .326-.411-.446 can do wonders in the middle of a lineup.

2) Defense. The outfield of Young-Gomez-Cuddyer can really move, and Brendan Harris is not mucking things up as much as I myself would think. Mauer would be my MVP and the GM's philosophy seems to be "fielding doesn't slump". Yes, it's a team of mediocre hitters, but they do save runs that the pitching staff would give up otherwise.

3) Bullpen doesn't give up inherited runs. Big deal here...theres a huge difference between giving up a 2 run inning and a 4 run inning. What're the odds that Dennys Reyes would end up being a dominant LOOGY?

Anyone else have any ideas? I think the most interesting thing about the Twins is that the following players have large roles on the team AND are over 30:

• Livan Hernandez (33) SP
  
• Joe Nathan (33) Closer
  
• Dennys Reyes (31) LOOGY
  
• Craig Monroe (31) Sometime DH/righty off the bench
  
• Mike Lamb (32) 3b

No aging vets and nobody who I would consider irreplacable besides Nathan.

I'm damn impressed by the Twins and I go on record saying that I think Krivsky should not have been fired. He seemed to have a plan and was moving towards it. He was reshaping the Reds in the mold of the Twins (Pitching, defense, a couple of mashers) and was on the right track, I think. And then he was fired and we're stuck with this tapioca abortion of a lineup now. It's worth noting, I believe, that the bullpen can now be considered "fixed". I think I trusted Krivsky a lot more than I did any of the other GMs that have been around recently, and even if he rubbed some people the wrong way, I liked the way the org was progressing. Let's see what Jocketty can do.