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Minnesota Twins
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com Darlings for much of the 2001 season, darn near dead in the offseason, the Minnesota Twins eek into 2002 with a new lease on their baseball life. Even if it is, essentially, the same old life. Of course, that's not all bad. The small-revenue Twins spent much of last season confounding the baseball world, holding off the big, bad Cleveland Indians for first place in the American League Central. A second-half swan dive splattered the Twins, but they still were a respectable 85-77, six games behind the Indians. The contraction fiasco muddled their future as a franchise and handcuffed them this offseason -- Bud Selig ought to give them some kind of dispensation -- keeping the Twins from making almost any moves. But the good news is that this is a pretty good team as is. As with all good teams, it all starts with pitching. The big three starters -- Brad Radke, Joe Mays and Eric Milton -- are the best top-of-rotation in the Central and challenge the best in baseball. Radke (15-11, 3.94 ERA in 2001), Mays (17-13, 3.16) and Milton (15-7, 4.32) all went more than 220 innings apiece last year. Closer LaTroy Hawkins (28 saves in 37 opportunities) was shaky, but Eddie Guardado saved 12 in 14 opportunities. The staff, as a whole, is good enough to keep this team in the pennant race. The problem for the Twins last year was the heat in the second half. They hit .280 before the break in going 55-32 (leading Cleveland by five games), but slipped to .264 afterward (going 30-45). An injury to Cristian Guzman crippled them, the trade of steady outfielder Matt Lawton further hurt them -- even the starting pitching went south, with Radke, Mays and Milton going 18-19 in 46 starts after the break. The Twins play their park as well as anybody in the game, banging the ball into the turf, taking the extra base, moving runners over. They don't have a big banger -- no one hit 30 homers on this team in 2001 -- but they have speed and smarts. First baseman Doug Mientkiewicz (.306 with a .387 on-base percentage), shortstop Guzman (.302, 25 stolen bases), third baseman Corey Koskie (26 homers, 103 RBIs, 27 stolen bases) and second baseman Luis Rivas (31 stolen bases) can give opponents the hives. The challenge for the Twins, now that they know they'll be playing the 2002 season, is finding a way to avoid another second-half dive. If they can do that, the Twins will be a team to be reckoned with. And that's not such a bad baseball life after all. Up for grabs: Any big swingers are welcome on the Twins, so the best thing Brian Buchanan can do to hold onto a spot in right field is develop a little more power. In 69 games last season, he had 10 homers, and his .487 slugging percentage put him behind only Koskie among regulars. If Buchanan can improve on those numbers even a little, he could win the spot. If not, the young buck awaits … Spring chicken: Power-hitting Michael Cuddyer smacked 30 homers in Class AA last season. He probably won't be ready to step into right field on Opening Day. But he'll get plenty of chances to take the big swings at spring training.
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