It has been a long, long time since the Twins have had a presence in the middle of their lineup. In fact, no Twin has hit thirty homeruns in a season since Kirby in 1986. Hopefully, that streak will soon come to an end. Why, you may ask? Well, Justin Morneau is a presence. In Triple A this year, he hit 13 homeruns in 138 at bats. That does not impress you? Ok, well before he was promoted there he hit six homeruns in 79 at bats in Double A. Add those to the three he has already hit with the Twins and Justin Morneau has hit twenty-two homeruns already this season. Now that is impressive.
The very worst thing that could happen for Justin Morneau's future, and possibly the future of the team, is for him to stagnate this year due to a lack of playing time. No matter what else he does the rest of this season, Ron Gardenhire's number one priority should be to make sure that Morneau never sits two games in a row or three times in a week. I realize that I am asking a lot because there are more polished players like Flounder sitting around ready to mash left-handed pitchers, but Morneau needs regular playing time. Sadly, in the past couple of weeks he has been platooned and seen his playing time decrease. This boggles my mind! Why, on earth, would the Twins promote him and stick him in the clean-up spot in his first Major League game only to sour on him after less than a month? Play him! Michael Cuddyer has already been unfairly jerked around, the last thing the Twins need is another prospect that fails to meet his very high potential.
Even if Morneau sits fairly often the rest of the year, I hope that you all will get to know him because he is the Twins starting first baseman in 2004. While he definitely does not possess the defensive wizardry of Doug Mispelling, his offense will more than make up for the loss. We are talking about a player with the chance to be the next Jason Giambi.
It has been a long, long time since the Twins have had a presence in the middle of their lineup. That bears repeated which is why it was repeated. Sadly, I feel as if Morneau will be underappreciated by the Twins here as being a dropoff from Doug rather than an enormous improvement over any offensive player the Twins have had in a decade. The guy is only twenty-two, let's be very patient and wait until he pays enormous dividends in the not too distant future.
Lastly, Morneau is the second Canadian on the roster. I am sure that he and Corey Koskie have some very interesting conversations. Probably about Strange Brew.
Updated July 29, 2003
Justin has been sent back down to the Triple A team in Rochester. He has struggled lately and has received limited playing time. Frankly, it is the best decision for the future of both Morneau and the franchise. He should not just be sitting around on the bench (which is what he has been doing). He is very young, and the team has been stunting his growth. Hopefully, he can get himself straightened out and will return in September and will stick.