The Twins come into this season with two former MVPs, an increased payroll, and a new stadium. Expectations are as high as they have been in quite some time. Instead of figuring out how to fill roles vacated by Johan Santana or Torii Hunter like years past, the Twins showed aggressiveness in free agency.

Up until Joe Nathan’s (potentially) devastating injury, the Twins looked like the preseason favorite to win the almighty AL Central. Let’s take a look at the reasons why.

Minnesota Twins 2010 Preview: Infield

The Twins traded for former All-Star JJ Hardy in exchange for Carlos Gomez. Gomez was a huge fan favorite and a great energy guy, but it is hard to keep a guy around who weighs more than his batting average. Hardy has friends within the Twins organization and is looking to return to his All Star form and solidify the shortstop position.

Orlando Hudson was a great free agent pickup, signing a one year contract. Everything I’ve read about Hudson is that he has an infectious personality and never stops talking. Sounds like a great teammate to me.

Justin Morneau is healthy and back at first base, looking for his fourth 30 HR season in the past five years and a return to the AL MVP ballot. While the team didn’t show signs of a devastating collapse when he went down last year with a back injury, he is still a cornerstone of this team.

Third base is a huge question mark. Brendan Harris is slotted to fill the position for now. The Twins have a good prospect in Danny Valencia, but they are convinced he isn’t ready yet. Harris is a decent fielder, but not someone who is an everyday player on a World Series contending team. If the Twins are to make a trade this year, I think it will be to lock up the hot corner spot.

There is also this guy named Joe Mauer at the catcher spot. I don’t know much about him but apparently he swings a good bat. He has been compared to something called a Jonny Bench, whatever that is. He is definitely a player to watch this year.

Minnesota Twins 2010 Preview: Outfield

Denard Span is a name you NEED to get used to.

This is a guy who was stuck in the Twins farm club finally got called up a few years ago as an injury replacement and played so well that he convinced management to keep him around. He has developed into a solid leadoff hitter as well as one of the most versatile outfielders in the league, playing all three positions last year before settling in center for this season. He recently signed a 5-year extension.

Delmon Young and Michael Cuddyer will fill the rest of the outfield. Young is trying to prove why the Twins have kept him around, and he made a good case for himself after having a big role at the end of the season after the Morneau injury. Cuddyer showed signs of why he got a multi-year contract extension after a big 2006, leading the team in home runs last year with 32. He also stepped up last year after the Morneau injury, filling in at first place.

Minnesota Twins 2010 Preview: Pitching

Really Joe? WHY!?

The Twins came into Spring Training with four of the five starting spots filled. Fransisco Liriano and Glen Perkins were set to compete for the final spot, but so far it hasn’t been much of a competition.

Liriano had great outings in the Dominican winter league and has continued that hot streak, and with Nathan being hurt, word of Liriano filling that closing spot was starting to form. Unfortunately Perkins hasn’t shown he can fill the role of a starter, meaning the Twins will have to look elsewhere for a replacement.

Projected Batting Order

1. CF Denard Span
.311 BA, .392 OBP, .415 SLG, 8 HR, 68 RBI in 2009
2. 2B Orlando Hudson
.283 BA, .357 OBP, .417 SLG, 9 HR, 62 RBI in 2009
3. C Joe Mauer
.365 BA, .444 OBP, .587 SLG, 28 HR, 96 RBI in 2009
4. 1B Justin Morneau
.274 BA, .363 OBP, .516 SLG, 30 HR, 100 RBI in 2009
5. DH Jason Kubel
.300 BA, .369 OBP, .539 SLG, 28 HR, 103 RBI in 2009
6. RF Michael Cuddyer
.276 BA, .342 OBP, .520 SLG, 32 HR, 94 RBI in 2009
7. LF Delmon Young
.284 BA, .308 OBP, .425 SLG, 12 HR, 60 RBI in 2009
8. SS J.J. Hardy
.229 BA, .302 OBP, .357 SLG, 11 HR, 47 RBI in 2009
9. 3B Brendan Harris
.261 BA, .310 OBP, .362 SLG, 6 HR, 37 RBI in 2009

Projected Pitching Rotation

1. Scott Baker
15-9, 4.37 ERA in 2009
2. Carl Pavano
14-12, 5.10 ERA in 2009
3. Nick Blackburn
11-11, 4.03 ERA in 2009
4. Kevin Slowey
10-3, 4.86 ERA in 2009
5. Francisco Liriano
5-13, 5.80 ERA in 2009

Site-wide, the excuse is simple: we need more baseball writers. (So contact us if you want to cover baseball! We’d love to have you.)

But that dearth of baseball coverage is about to change because October is here, which means it’s playoff time. And just like last season, the playoffs kick off with a one-game playoff tie-breaker to decide the AL Central.

Say what you will about the overall level play in the AL Central, but it routinely gives us the most hotly contested division race in all of Major League Baseball. 

Last year it was the White Sox and Twins duking it out for a 163rd game. This year, it’s the Tigers and Twins. Here is everything you need to know:

Twins-Tigers One-Game Playoff Preview

• Twins-Tigers Date: Tuesday, October 6th
• Twins-Tigers Time: 5:07 ET
• Twins-Tigers TV: TBS
• Twins-Tigers Location: The Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Twins-Tigers Odds: Twins -1.5
• Twins-Tigers Over-Under: 8.5
• Twins-Tigers Pitching Matchup: Rick Porcello (14-9) v Scott Baker (15-9)
• StubHub: Twins-Tigers One Game Playoff Tie-breaker Tickets as low as $56
• RazorGator: Twins-Tigers One Game Playoff Tie-breaker Tickets as low as $63
• TicketsNow: Twins-Tigers One Game Playoff Tie-breaker Tickets as low as $59

Rick Porcello v the Twins

Tigers rookie Rick Porcello won’t turn 22 until December of this year, yet the young phenom is taking the mound for the Tigers’ most important game of the season. It’s been an up-and-down rookie year for Porcello, who was terrible in April, fantastic in May, terrible again in June and July, and then very solid in 12 starts during August and September.

Overall for the season, Porcello is 14-9 with a 4.04 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 81 Ks, and 50 BBs over 30 starts and 165 innings. Detroit has done a very good job of not wearing Porcello down in his first big league season, part of the reason why he came down the stretch with a strong 5-2 record and an ERA right around 3.20 during the season’s final two months.

Porcello has pitched decently well overall against Minnesota. He is only 1-2 in four starts, but his ERA against the Twins is a very solid 3.09. The peripheral numbers, however, aren’t quite as good (1.41 WHIP, .299 BAA) and Porcello did not fare well in his two starts in the Metrodome: 0-2, 6.30 ERA.

The Twins that have given Porcello the most trouble are Jason Kubel (8-11) and Delmon Young (4-9). Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau both hit .250 or worse against Porcello, but both have homered. Joe Mauer went only 1-9 against Porcello this season. The Twins did not steal a base off Porcello this year.

Scott Baker v the Tigers

Scott Baker, always one of my personal favorites from a fantasy perspective because of his low WHIP and solid K/BB numbers, started off the season terribly. In three April starts, Baker had an ERA of 9.82 and went 0-3. Over the next five months, Baker alternated between 4.00+ and 3.00+ ERAs and finished the season with decent numbers: 15-9, 4.36 ERA, 1.19 WHIP. 

Baker’s Achilles’ heel is the longball: he gave up 27 on the year.

Unfortunately for Twins fans, Detroit is one of the teams that rocked Baker the hardest this year. In four starts against the Tigers, Baker went 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA and a WHIP of 1.70. On a positive note though, he only gave up two home runs to the Tigers in 20 innings of work.

And Baker was pretty solid at home, with his 4.55 ERA not really jiving with lower peripheral numbers across the board (1.07 WHIP, .240 BAA, fewer home runs allowed). It looks like Baker was the victim of some bad luck in his home park.

The Tigers hitters that hit Baker the hardest this year were: Miguel Cabrera (4-11, HR); Magglio Ordonez (6-11); Marcus Thames (3-8, HR). Baker did do a nice job of keeping Curtis Granderson off the basepaths (1-11) and holding Brandon Inge in check (1-8).

Twins-Tigers Prediction

I can’t go in any direction but with the Twins.

I’ve long said that if I was not a White Sox fan, and could choose any other MLB team to root for, I’d choose Minnesota. I admire how they play, their scrappiness, and the fact that regardless of the circumstances they always seem to end up in the thick of the AL Central race.

The Twins are the team that comes into tomorrow’s game with the momentum and without either team having a significant edge in terms of starting pitching, I’m going with the team that does the best job of shutting the door at the end.

For that important job, the Twins get to call on Joe Nathan, perhaps one of the most under appreciated players in Major League Baseball over the last decade.

Here is the most important stat I could dig up about this game: in 50 lifetime appearances against Detroit, Joe Nathan is 2-1 with 30 saves, a 1.60 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, .147 BAA…and he has never blown a save against the Tigers.

I’m convinced.

I don’t think the Twins win by more than a run, as the spread indicates, but who cares? Nathan shuts the door in the 9th and the Twins move onto the playoffs.

Twins-Tigers one-game playoff pick: Minnesota Twins 4 | Detroit Tigers 3

**********

* – Joe Nathan photo credit: Eric Miller, Reuters via MinnPost.com

But it also means something else: it’s time to dole out some midseason awards.

Since our primary focus here at Midwest Sports Fans is, well, the Midwest, I am going to focus my award giving to just the Central divisions of the American and National League. Let’s get right to it.

NL Central 1st Half MVP: Albert Pujols, and I really don’t need to say anything else about it. His name itself is becoming hyperbole. I want to see a new version of “The Most Interesting Man in the World” commercials featuring Pujols. They could be called “The Most Dominating Presence in Baseball” and include lines like “he once struck out, just to see what it felt like” and “he’s seen less pitches than the World Cup, yet his goatee alone has hit more home runs than Ryan Ludwick.” Albert Pujols is amazing and is not just the NL Central MVP, but the MLB MVP for the first half of 2009.

AL Central 1st Half MVP: This one is not so clear cut. Let’s take a look at a few of the candidates (stats as of July 9th):

• Joe Mauer, Twins: 60 G, 224 AB, .388 BA, 15 HR, 47 RBI, 48 R, 1.118 OPS
• Justin Morneau, Twins: 84 G, 319 AB, .317 BA, 21 HR, 69 RBI, 56 R, .984 OPS
• Jermaine Dye, White Sox: 77 G, 276 AB, .297 BA, 20 HR, 54 RBI, 51 R, .940 OPS
• Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals: 10-5, 2.12 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 129 K, 29 BB

Obviously I really want to say JD, or even Scott Podsednik, and I think there is an argument to be made for them as their value has been highlighted by the injury to Carlos Quentin, but I have a hard time giving it to anyone other than Justin Morneau or Joe Mauer with the impressive stats both have racked up.

It certainly isn’t Zack Greinke, whose team becomes more irrelevant with each passing week. If his ERA was still 1.00, then maybe. But he hasn’t been as lights-out recently, which is to be expected since he isn’t the greatest pitcher in the history of mankind and all beings, as some have suggested.

While everyone is salivating over Mauer, and don’t get me wrong — he has been great since returning from injury, Morneau has been producing at a high level for 24 more games and over the span of almost 100 more ABs than Mauer. Plus, batting average is an overrated stat, so Mauer gets no bonus points from me because he’s making everyone dream about .400. Both are great candidates, and by the end of the year such a difference in games won’t be so magnified, but right now I have to go with Morneau, who has been the most consistent run producer in the division over the course of the entire first half.

NL Central 1st Half Cy Young: I see two primary contenders: Adam Wainwright of St. Louis and Yovani Gallardo of Milwaukee. Here are the stats:

• Yovani Gallardo, Brewers: 8-6, 109.2 innings, 2.95 ERA, 120 K, 51 BB
• Adam Wainwright, Cardinals: 9-5, 122.1 innings, 3.09 ERA, 110 K, 45 BB

Pretty damn close based on the numbers (and you could probably throw Ryan Franklin in the mix here too, who has been great as the Cardinals’ closer). My first instinct when comparing Gallardo and Wainwright is to go with the guy pitching for the team in first place, but it’s hard to use team record as a tie-breaker considering the Cardinals are only one game up on the Brewers in the standings. Or is it? With two pitchers this close, sometimes it comes right down to head-to-head battles.

Thus far in 2009, Wainwright has absolutely dominated Milwaukee. He is 2-0 in two starts against the Brewers, going 15.1 innings and giving up just a single run while striking out 18. Gallardo, on the other hand, has struggled somewhat against his team’s primary competition for the division title. Despite having a better overall ERA and WHIP than Wainwright, Gallardo is 0-1 against St. Louis. Sure, he pitched 8 innings of shutout ball while only giving up 2 hits in the teams’ May 25th battle, so you can’t blame him for the no decision there, but that game was not head-to-head against Wainwright like the July 7th game was. In that battle, Gallardo lasted only five innings and gave up four runs in a 5-0 loss for the Brew Crew.

So maybe that one game difference for the Cardinals is the difference between Wainwright and Gallardo. I’m giving the 1st half Cy Young for the NL Central to Adam Wainwright.

AL Central 1st Half Cy Young: Lots of legit contenders here. Let’s list them out with stats:

• Mark Buehrle, White Sox: 9-2, 3.14 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 114.2 innings, 65 K, 25 BB
• Joe Nathan, Twins: 0-1, 1.13 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 33.1 innings, 22 saves, 43 K, 7 BB
• Justin Verlander, Tigers: 9-4, 3.59 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 115.1 innings, 141 K, 35 BB
• Edwin Jackson, Tigers: 6-4, 2.59 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 114.2 innings, 93 K, 33 BB
• Zack Greinke, Royals: 10-5, 2.12 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 127.1 innings, 129 K, 29 BB
• Fausto Carmona, Indians: 2-6, 7.42 ERA, 1.81 WHIP, 60.2 innings, 36 K, 41 BB

If we were giving this out to the pitcher who has been the most generous to opposing hitters and teams, Fausto Carmona would win in a landslide. And yes, this is the same Fausto Carmona that went 19-8 with a 3.06 ERA in 2007. But obviously I only listed Carmona here to throw more salt in the multitude of open wounds Cleveland’s start has given its fans. More on him later.

Back to the subject at hand. Zack Greinke obviously has the best numbers, but I just don’t believe in handing out awards to players whose teams are not in the playoff race. There is a different level of pressure when your team is expected to win and when games are meaningful. If the award were Most Outstanding Pitcher, it’s Greinke by a landslide. It’s not, and it clearly states in the fine print of my own personal Cy Young and MVP criteria that last place teams (Cleveland sucks so bad they don’t count anymore) cannot have Cy Young or MVP winners, so we’ll let Willy Wonka tell Zack Greinke what he’s won:

(By the way, credit goes to Hugging Harold Reynolds for tweeting that video yesterday. I hadn’t seen that in forever, but always loved Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Charlie Bucket is a golden god.)

Honestly, I can’t find a whole lot to separate Buehrle, Verlander, and Jackson. All three have had excellent seasons. I’d give the edge to Buehrle because he owns the Tigers and Verlander sucks against the White Sox, and both have more wins than Jackson, but it’s really splitting hairs between those three.

My 1st half AL Central Cy Young goes to Joe Nathan, who has just be out-of-this-world awesome. The Twins’ pitchers (other than Nick Blackburn, who is having a very good yet under-the-radar season) have struggled this season. Francisco Liriano, Scott Baker, and Kevin Slowey have all dealt with injuries and bouts of ineffectiveness. The one constant (throughout all the years Ray, has been baseball) has been Joe Nathan at the back end of the bullpen making sure that when the Twins do have a late lead, they do not surrender it.

I’m not a huge proponent of giving Cy Youngs to closers who typically pitch less than a third of the amount of innings a top-line starter does, but Joe Nathan has given up only 18 hits in 33.1 innings and is 22-24 in save opportunities. He has been beyond dominant and there is no way the Twins would be as close to first place as they are without him. It’s a competitive field, but Nathan is the choice.

NL Central Manager of the 1st Half: Tony LaRussa, and I don’t think it’s close. Ken Macha has done a nice job in Milwaukee keeping the Brewers in the race without C.C. Sabathia or Ben Sheets, but LaRussa has the Cardinals in first place with one legit hitter in his lineup. Yes, that hitter is the great Pujols, but look at the rest of the team’s offensive stats. Putrid. And it’s not like their pitching has been lights out. Ryan Franklin has been a revelation in the bullpen, and getting Chris Carpenter back has helped, but this is still a rotation that counts on guys like Kyle Lohse, Joel Piniero, and Todd Wellemeyer. That LaRussa has the Cardinals in first place is a testament to his managerial genius (and to Pujols’ utter dominance, of course).

AL Central Manager of the 1st Half: I really want to say Ozzie Guillen, and I think that he’s done a great job, but my vote goes to Jimmy Leyland of Detroit. It’s not just that the Tigers are in first place, it’s that they’ve been able to rebound from last season’s disappointment with a far less potent offensive attack and without the benefit of an above-average bullpen. Leyland has navigated his way through the struggles of Dontrelle Willis and Armando Gallarraga, plus had to deal with Magglio Ordonez’s sharp decline. Leyland essentially has a lineup with only three hitters who have been consistent producers (Miguel Cabrera, Brandon Inge, Curtis Granderson), yet there the Tigers sit, a couple games up and eight games over .500.

2009 has been an excellent rebound season for Detroit, and Leyland deserves credit as the man steering the ship. He also deserves credit for having one of the most hilarious old school baseball cards ever. The hat, the mustache, the sunburned face…I’m not sure if he’s at Spring Training, a train conductor, or working at a carnival.

And with that, let’s transition into a few “alternative” awards for the first half.

NL Central Least Valuable Player of the 1st Half: Milton Bradley wins this one. Signed in the offseason after putting up terrific numbers in Texas, The Angry One has only gotten 203 ABs so far this season and hasn’t done much with them. He’s hitting .236 and, even worse, is slugging only .374. Ouch. Plus, he is being his usual distracting self and getting into public pissing matches with his manager when he’s not forgetting how many outs there are in an inning. Like most things having to do with the Cubs, you just get the feeling that this is not going to end well.

AL Central Least Valuable Player of the 1st Half: Fausto Carmona of the Indians. We touched on his stats above, and they really say it all. This guy has just gone straight downhill since 2007 and the Indians have to be wondering if he’ll ever be able to recapture the ability that made him appear to be one of the bright young pitching stars in the big leagues. Despite a rough 2008, a lot was expected out of Carmona this year. Well, the Indians have gotten a lot out of him…it’s just all been bad.

AL/NL Central Worst Manager of the 1st Half: Hands down Eric Wedge. You need look no further than this site, where our very own AJ Kaufman calls for Wedge’s head in pretty much every article he writes. The Indians were expected to contend for the AL Central crown, yet they are 13.5 games out and 19 games under .500 already.

AL/NL Central Manager with the most potential to give his kids truly awful awesome names: Eric Wedge. If he had any sense of humor he would name his kids Orange, Potato, and Cheese. No such luck though. As it is, he and his wife named their kids Ava and Dalton Cash. Oh well.

Come to think of it though, Dalton Cash Wedge is a pretty sweet and unique name. The kid is either going be a scrappy middle infielder/#2 hitter in the majors or the lead actor in his generation’s version of Dawson’s Creek. Well done Eric. (See, we don’t always criticize you on Midwest Sports Fans.)

AL/NL Central Quote of the 1st Half: This one is easy and goes to (who else?) Ozzie Guillen. And there were a few of them, all of which were gloriously derogatory towards the team from the North Side.

“But one thing about Wrigley Field, I puke every time I go there. That’s just to be honest. And if Cub fans don’t like the way I talk about Wrigley Field, it’s just Wrigley Field. I don’t say anything about the fans or anything now. But Wrigley Field, they got to respect my opinion. That’s the way I feel…I don’t care if they hate me. They don’t feed my kids. If they hate me, that’s cool.”

That’s just a great quote, although the part about Ozzie not talking about Cubs fans may not be entirely true. Ozzie also had this gem:

“…our fans are not stupid like Cubs fans.”

AL/NL Central Home Run Call of the Year: Hawk Harrelson, two days ago. Hell yeah!

That’s all I’ve got. Sorry for not even mentioning your teams Reds, Astros, and Pirates fans…they’ve all been pretty uninteresting so far this year, at least as far as I’m concerned. But feel free to add your own midseason awards in the comments.

The White Sox bring out the brooms again tonight, and then play the Twins in a pivotal pre-All Star Break series. As Hawk might say, I loooove baseball.

* – Jim Leyland baseball card image credit: Vinewood Sports Cards

* – Albert Pujols photo credit: Urban Shocker

But seeing as how this blog is based in the U.S., we figured why not start out with Team USA for an analysis.

At the bottom of this post you can see the complete 2009 World Baseball Classic roster for Team USA. My initial thoughts are that it is not that imposing of a team, and that Team USA could have a rough ride trying to make it out of the second round. (Remember, Team USA failed to make the final cut in 2006.)

Some quick hit reactions:

• Jake Peavy is one of the best pitchers in the world and a great ace, but there is nothing imposing behind him. Roy Oswalt has declined for the last few years and Ted Lilly and Jeremy Guthrie aren’t scaring anyone.
• Team USA appears to have an outstanding bullpen. I assume that White Sox-killer Joe Nathan will close, and there are plenty of capable arms to bridge the 7th and 8th innings. If Team USA can get leads, they could be in good shape to told them.
• Brian McCann is about as good as it gets at catcher.
• The left side of the infield will be outstanding when David Wright and Jimmy Rollins are playing. With Derek Jeter and Chipper Jones out there, Team USA instantly gets much older. Something tells me that Wright and Rollins will get the majority of the playing time, especially with Jeter already nicked up this spring and Chipper seemingly always hurt.
• Ryan Braun is a monster and Grady Sizemore, despite my abject hatred for him, is an excellent center fielder. But Curtis Granderson and Brad Hawpe? Is that really the best we can do? Granderson picked it up in the second half last year and was tremendous in 2008, so I can let than pick slide. But Team USA knows that it can’t take Coors Field with it to the WBC right? I am hoping that Hawpe ends up becoming a seldom-used bench player.

Anyway, I’m under the gun and about to leave so this post has to be short and sweet. Below is the complete breakdown of the Team USA 2009 World Baseball Classic roster. I’ll be back later tonight and tomorrow with breakdowns of the other nations’ rosters.

Follow the link and use your web navigational skills view the complete 2009 World Baseball Classic rosters for all 16 nations participating.