The Offseason

Spring training approaches and the offseason winds down. The Twins quietly assembled some new faces in the infield. On paper at least, an infield of Harris, Hardy, and Hudson looks downright serviceable. Alas, the only reason to keep Gardy from benching them is his quest to have a roster consisting solely of scrappy infielders. He can't start Tolbert, Punto, and Casilla in the outfield if any of them are playing in the infield. (I can't remember- Did I publicly suggest Delmon Young play second base? Or did I just think it? Either way, it's less ridiculous than any of those options in the outfield). The backup catcher departed and they gave veteran slugger Jim Thome a chance. Undoubtedly, the most positive outcome of the winter was that they didn't sign Chone Figgins. I love it when I'm wrong about the Twins. It just seemed so dumb that it was inevitable. On the flip side, they only have a month a half left to release Nick Punto before the season opens. This at least buys me time to decide how bold of an ultimatum I dare issue in the event that he starts the opener- heck any game- at Target Field. Maybe Gardy thinks that by playing Punto, then Punto will never become a manager who obsessively plays lousy utility infielders.