Stadium Talk

The Twins stadium bill has passed, but the debate certainly hasn’t. There’s talk of legal challeges, which sound like they have no chance. There’s also been a lot of talk about getting a roof on the stadium. That obviously would involve $100 million or so and the two main funding ideas I’ve heard are:

1. Maybe Pohlad will pitch in more of his own cash. That’d be super, but I don’t see that happening.
2. An additional tax on rural counties who would benefit most from a roof. Since the legislative session has ended, I’m not sure how this can realistically be done before stadium plans have to be finalized.

I’m somewhat indifferent as to whether the stadium has a roof or not. It’d be super in April and October, but the rest of the year I’d rather have the opennes of a roofless ballpark. Regardless of what happens, anything is better than what we currently have.

There has also been speculation of what the new stadium might be called. Like most fans, I’d like to see Puckett’s name on the field, but when it comes to corporate sponsors I like the sound of 3M Park.

Stewart on DL

Stewart has been placed on the DL and I don’t think this is such a bad thing. The Twins season is about as done as a season can be in the month of May, so I definitly like the chance of seeing Jason Kubel, a part of the Twins future, get regular playing time at the major league level. Anyone is better defensively (both in range and in throwing) than Stewart has been. Stewart’s bat also isn’t as great as it used to be.

Another opportunity this brings up is that maybe Gardenhire will actually slide Luis Castillo into the leadoff spot where he belongs. Even when Stewart has been out this week, Gardy has opted to bat Lew Ford leadoff so as to not disrupt the rest of the lineup, I presume. Now that Stewart’s departure is more long-term, now is as good a time as any to change things up.

Jason Bartlett

Poor Jason Bartlett must be wondering how much lower Juan Castro’s .225 batting average must drop before he gets a chance. Jason is batting a healthy .325 at Rochester with 18 doubles. Both have 6 errors, but Bartlett has done it in more playing time than Castro and likely on lower quality fields than Castro has been playing on. It’s time for Gardenhire to set his “leadership” requirement aside and call up the player that clearly has earned his right to play for the Twins.