The Twins are on the clock to get better now
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by user Leslie Monteiro
On Friday afternoon, Tigers manager Jim Leyland criticized the Twin Cities media for writing off the Twins and for being hard on them. He talked about how it is a long season and the Twins have accomplished so much that they deserved the benefit of the doubt.
It was a great gesture by Leyland, but the truth of the matter is that it is easy to throw bouquets and give moral support at the other team when this is not his problem.
Thankfully, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire and Twins general manager Terry Ryan did not listen to Leyland's coachspeak.
They had a long meeting on Saturday afternoon with former Twins manager Tom Kelly, who is now a special assistant to the GM, about what can be done to solve the team's problems.
There is a sense of urgency now because if things do not get better, this is going to be a very long year.
The Twins shook things up on Sunday. They designated Sidney Ponson for assignment after Saturday's horrible performance against the Detroit Tigers.
This was an easy move to make because he was awful in all of his outings in spring training and in the regular season.
Getting rid of Ponson was the first step, but there are more things that need to happen right now for this team to get back on track.
They need to avoid injuries, make a trade, and start executing properly.
Injuries have played a big role for this team's problems.
Rondell White, Joe Mauer, Michael Cuddyer, and Luis Castillo have had injuries.
These guys need to find a way to stay healthy.
It is time for a fresh face when it comes to the hitters.
It is time to put an end to the piranhas once in for all. Their 15 minutes of fame were over in October when they stunk in the playoffs.
There is a reason why Nick Punto, Josh Rabe, Luis Rodriguez, and Jason Tyner are fringe players.
They are hit-or-miss at the plate. They are automatic outs for the other team. They got hot in the summer last year, but anyone that thought they would keep this up was being unrealistic if anyone looked at their track record over the years.
The Twins calling up Garrett Jones was a good start to shake up this anemic offense.
Who knows what he can do, but can he be any worse than the rest of the role players that they got on the team.
A trade should happen for the Twins to improve their offense.
Wtth the Reds demoting Edwin Encarnacion to the minors and with the Reds needing a reliever badly, how about trading Juan Rincon for him.
Rincon is a setup man, but he can be replaced by Pat Neshek or Glen Perkins.
When a team's offense is that hideous, that team has to give up something.
Encarnacion would be an upgrade over Punto. The days of watching Punto play should be over.
Jason Kubel should be demoted. He looks lost on the field and he does not seem to have that desire to play better.
He had a hideous series against the Chicago White Sox last week. He did a horrible job of bunting. He struck out by hacking at Bobby Jenks's pitches that were not even strikes.
Finally, he ran to third when a Twins hitter hit the ball to the third baseman.
This is simply unacceptable and there has to be some consequences.
A team can not tolerate mental mistakes like that.
This team needs to find a way to improve internally.
They need to take better at-bats.
They need to start playing defense better. They make great catches, but they are doing a horrible job throwing the ball to the infielders. They need to know how to steal bases.
This is something that they did not do against the White Sox, which is why they lost the series to them last week.
They have not played great baseball since Opening Week. They have been lousy.
They have been fortunate to win their fair share of games. They should be thankful that they are 5 games out because in reality, they should be 10 games out with the way they have played.
Sooner or later, their luck will run out.
There is no guarantee that lightning will strike twice when it comes to last year's feat.
This team needs to make it happen right now.
