Rob Neyer is the new Baseball editor at SB Nation, and he is right in the middle of a 30 part series where he asks important questions about every team in Major League Baseball. Today, he got to the Minnesota Twins, and he had two big questions. But unfortunately, he didn't have very much in the way of answers.
1. Will Justin Morneau recover from his concussion in time for Opening Day?
and
2. Are the Twins really serious about trading Francisco Liriano, their best pitcher?
Unfortunately, the answer to both questions is Reply hazy, try again later.
Not definite answers,but he does try his best to get into it. He also tries to figure out who will be lining up in the middle of the infield for the Twins, now that J.J. hardy and Orlando Hudson have moved on. But he reaches this conclusion.
Again, if Morneau and Liriano are doing their things for six months, maybe it won't matter who's turning the double plays. But if one of those fellows hits a snag, it might matter quite a lot. And the Twins, who usually seem to know what they're doing, are taking a fairly big gamble with the most important chunk of the diamond.
The double-play combo is important, because a team always needs to be strong up the middle. But Neyer is right, the Twins will be successful if they can get good production out of Morneau and Liriano. Assuming, that is, they both are part of the organization (and physically able to play) this year.