Enemy Lines

an opposing team's scout sizes up the Twins

"Talentwise the Twins are fine. The most interesting thing will be to see how differently they play under a new manager. They won a lot of games on discipline, little ball and being overaggressive, but I'm not sure that will be the case with Ron Gardenhire. Will Torii Hunter think he needs to hit 30 homers? Will Doug Mientkiewicz and Jacque Jones stay in a disciplined-aggressiveness mode or start playing fancy-Joe baseball? So far I haven't really seen the same club as last year....

If you can get to this team in the sixth or seventh inning, they're in trouble. The top four starters—Brad Radke, Eric Milton, Joe Mays and Rick Reed—will have to average seven innings per game. If any four can do it, it's those four. Reed will have a better year than last season; not being a stuff guy, he had to learn the hitters....

The catching will be solid. A.J. Pierzynski and backup Tom Prince may be the best catching tandem in the league. A year from now Pierzynski will be an every-day player. He has soft hands and hits well in the clutch. That's a sign of a real quality player....

This is a plus defensive club in the infield. They're plus-plus at first, third and short, and Luis Rivas is no slouch at second. They're a built-for-turf team....

Cristian Guzman's arm is sound, and he'll be back for a full season. He's a good turf hitter and has quick feet, a quick release and a solid to above-average arm....

Brian Buchanan is a plus runner for a big man, but he's an adequate outfielder at best."