Twins: Five things to know
Outlook | Cactus/Grapefruit League stops FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Five things to know about the Minnesota Twins:
1. Two key things to know about the Twins this year: They're moving into brand new Target Field, the regular-season grand opening coming on April 12 against the Boston Red Sox. It will be the first championship season pitch thrown outdoors in Minnesota since Sept. 30, 1981, in old Metropolitan Stadium. Fun fact about Target Field: It will have the smallest amount of foul territory in the majors. Second key thing to know about the Twins: They will enter the regular season with a club record $96 million payroll.
2. Secret weapon No. 1: Left-hander Francisco Liriano. The first four spots in the Twins' rotation are set with Scott Baker, Carl Pavano, Nick Blackburn and Kevin Slowey. The fifth spot right now essentially is a battle between Liriano and left-hander Brian Duensing. The Twins are quietly excited about Liriano, who is three years removed from Tommy John ligament transfer surgery and went 3-1 with an 0.49 ERA in seven playoff starts for Escogido in the Dominican Republic Winter League. He is again throwing his slider with confidence. "He feels so much better now [than he did a year ago]," Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson says. "He's got bite on his slider. I gauge the lateness of his pitches, and he's starting to get late movement, arm strength and speed."
3. Secret weapon No. 2: Reliever Pat Neshek. He's back from Tommy John surgery, which limited him to 15 games in 2008 and forced him to miss the entire 2009 season and, so far, so good. If Neshek and his funky sidearm delivery are effective, it will really boost the Twins' bullpen. "You forget how funky and tough he is until we saw it [this spring]," Anderson says. "You need different looks in the pen, and he brings that." Neshek made 74 appearances in '07, going 7-2 with a 2.94 ERA while holding opposing batters to a .183 average.
4. Hold your breath, but everything is in place for a breakout year from left fielder Delmon Young (.284, 12 homers and 60 RBI in 108 games last year). He lost 29 pounds over the winter and his attitude this spring has been noticeably improved. Upon reporting so skinny, he cracked that he knew he needed to drop weight when the Twins re-signed Pavano because he knew he'd have to run down more balls in the outfield. Following a nice running catch in a Grapefruit League game this spring, he quipped that with his extra weight last year, he would have missed it by 10 yards. "He's turned into a really fun guy," manager Ron Gardenhire says. "I hope he has a hell of a year, because he deserves it. He's worked really hard."
5. Glenn Perkins effectively has pitched his way out of the Twins' plans after a controversial shoulder injury last summer that turned into an ugly situation. Perkins sought a second and third opinion, and many Twins' players thought he quit on them. The club removed him from the disabled list at the end of August and optioned him to Triple-A Rochester, and Perkins responded by filing a grievance for lost service time. Though that eventually was settled, Perkins declined the club's invitation to appear at the season-end Metrodome celebration and Perkins has not exactly been given a rousing welcome back in the clubhouse this spring.
