What a list! Morneau at first tweaks his back, Punto at short steps on a ball, Crede at third gets his hand drilled (not to mention comes back from two years of back stuff), Delmon’s shoulder is sore in left, Gomez in center has his back stiffen up, Cuddyer in right gets a cyst on the hand he didn’t hurt last year, Mauer the catcher is sore and hoping the drugs keep working when he starts doing real work, Baker misses his Opening Day start with shoulder soreness. It’s enough to make you forget that Nathan backed out of the WBC with a shoulder twinge, which I suspect was a $1 announcement made from a penny’s worth of hurt. (Don’t get me wrong. If that was the workplace version of staying home with a cold so your coworkers don’t get the crud, I’m fine with it.)

That’s quite the list, huh?

My optimistic assumption that most of the owies will shake out and folks will be at 100 percent or so come Monday when the games are for you and the batting order won’t be improv. But a season that made me nervous enough without Mauer ready to go on Opening Day is now, to me, certifiably scary. And I don’t scare very often.

This is one of those times when I totally want to be wrong, but I keep thinking about how Cleveland’s season broke down last year largely because of the injuries to Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez. Playing much of the season without your regular three-four hitters is a pretty good running start toward underperformance

Like I said, I want my fears to be unfounded.

I mean, even if the Twins were 100 percent (or 95 percent) healthy headed into the season, there would be enough questions that I wouldn’t be telling you, “Oh, yeah, this team is going to the postseason.” Does it bother anyone else that so many of the preseason predicters put the Twins at the top of the AL Central? My take is they are a solid team in a division in which three other teams (Cleveland, Chicago and Detroit) have the potential to be much better than expected. I simply can’t envision a scenario where Kansas City finished higher than third, not when the Royals are the latest team to fall for Sidney Ponson while their allegedly promising younger pitchers get sent back to Triple-A.

Did I say I really want my fears to be unfounded?

We’re a long way from the opening of spring training, where the only issue seemed to be the construction of the pitching staff in that gap between the starters and Nathan. I’m still not sure of that answer, but so many more questions have come up that the bullpen competition has been conducted with less of a spotlight. Last I recall, Jesse Crain was striking out four straight “Italians,” including Nick Punto, at the WBC.

In good health, I’d have picked the Twins for second. Under current conditions, it feels a sporting event that would be off the books at a casino because of multiple uncertainties. That being said, a division title won’t shock me.

In looking for good news — and this is a stretch — the spring has forced Gardy to be creative and reflective in putting together his batting orders on a daily basis. Given that he was planning to go into the season with four outfielder for three spots, Joe Crede likely needing time off to keep his back in good shape and middle infielders who have the potential to play themselves onto the bench, the lineup juggling is something that Gardy would be doing under any circumstance.

Give me 10 minutes and I can give you 10 batting orders that would make some sense. This isn’t just slide-Redmond-into-the-three-spot stuff.

(Speaking of juggling, if knuckleball pitchers are supposed to be more effective indoors, should R.A. Dickey start Game 3 or 4 at the Dome instead of Game 5 in Chicago? That way, if his starting services continue to be needed, his next two starts would also be at the Dome.)

The really good news is that real baseball starts on Monday. We can watch and listen whenever we can, as opposed to when the broadcast outlets decide to offer the games. Following-by-internet makes a better last resort than only choice. Me ‘n’ Ms. Baseball will be in Section 220 on Monday night. (I’ll also be on MPR’s Midday at noon on Monday for our traditional Opening Day show.)

I’m nervous, uncertain and a bit fearful — and  I love it (after reading Joe C’s Morneau post) I’m OK with it.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 3rd, 2009 at 2:08 pm and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.