This is purely unscientific. We have not read other coverage yet. We don’t have any sources except for the voices in our head. If Michael Cuddyer had jarred that ball loose (and really, you can see by that picture he wasn’t too far off), we’d be talking about Game 1. Instead, here are some thoughts about the Twins going into next season and their biggest offseason issues:

1) Logjam in the outfield. There are five capable outfielders if you count Jason Kubel. One of them has to go. Which one? That’s the intriguing part. Cuddyer makes a ton of money and is coming off an injury-plagued season. His trade value is very low. Not a good pick. Kubel is progressing and might be even better at the plate next year. Plus, he’s proven he can function as a DH. Not a good pick. So that leaves Denard Span, Carlos Gomez and Delmon Young. Gomez had flashes of brilliance, but he’s very young. They could solve the logjam temporarily by having him start the year in the minors to work on some things, but he’s valuable enough in centerfield and functional enough at the plate that it might not be the best solution. Span is a prototypical leadoff hitter, and he’ll be cheap for several years. Personality-wise, Young seems like the misfit. But he hardly had a bad year and is still young. He could become a 20-HR, .300 bat as early as next year. And it would be tough to give up on him after giving up so much to get him. So what do you do?

2) Left side of the infield: We’re not convinced Brian Buscher can sustain his nice 2008 numbers. We also do not like Nick Punto as an everyday player at short. The Twins need to upgrade here with one new starter at either short (preferably short). Then they need to decide what to do with the Harris, Punto, Buscher, Tolbert conglomerate. Keeping one more than they need around might not be a bad idea, just in case Alexi Casilla takes a step back.

3) Bullpen: Hope for the healthy return of Pat Neshek, sign a reliable right-hander who could pitch the seventh or eighth, and hope Mijares is as good as he showed these past couple weeks. If those three things happen, a weakness becomes a strength again. With a better bullpen down the stretch, the Twins would have won the AL Central this past year. But let’s not dwell.

Anything else? Your overall thoughts? A very special Q&A is coming up next …

Fasola-link! Day in the life of a sports editor. No, really.

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