November 2006 Archives

It's no secret to Twins fans that the team needs another starting pitcher next season with Francisco Liriano undergoing rehab, Brad Radke retiring and Carlos Silva coming off a terrible year. Unfortunately, I'm starting to run out of hope that they'll land the type of pitcher they need.

I couldn't believe it when I loaded up the home page of ESPN.com and saw Justin Morneau had been named the 2006 AL MVP. There's definitely plenty of room for argument (even within the Twins roster), but it's still pretty satisfying that the Twins have the AL MVP, Cy Young (Santana) and Batting Champion (Mauer).

Francisco Liriano has decided to undergo Tommy John surgery after months of questioning whether strength training was an effective option. Liriano will have the procedure done on Monday and will then immediately begin on what's expected to be 18 months of rehab. The chances of him returning during 2007 is virtually zero and even when he returns in 2008 there may be questions marks as to how effective he will be.

Here's a tough question: Who will be in the Twins rotation when the Twins break camp to begin the 2007 season next spring. Yes, I know that's five months away, but that's what makes it difficult, and fun.

MLB's globalization efforts are turning baseball into a year event. March brought us the World Baseball Classic and November will see the inaugural Japan All-Star Series featuring a team of MLB "All-Stars" against Japan's best players. Taking a look at the MLB roster, it's clear that the term All-Star might be an exaggeration, but what more can you expect after a long regular season has just ended?