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Miller's camping trip
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Dropped off a two-liter bottle of Diet Pepsi to Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire the other day.
Told him that's the size the New York Yankees are handing out at their camp.
Waited around long enough to see if I could learn any new curse words right there in the manager's office.
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| Ron Gardenhire and the Twins find ways to win with less.(AP) |
See, the Minnesota clubhouse this spring is stocked with miniature eight-ounce soft drink cans so comically small that Gardenhire is joking the Twins can't afford anything larger.
At least, I think they've been jokes. Maybe not. Though the Twins' $54 million payroll is stunningly large compared to what it was a few years ago, it wasn't enough to allow them to keep together the nucleus of consecutive AL Central Division championship teams.
So, while the two monsters that met in the AL Championship Series swelled their payrolls even more in a maniacal race to get the upper hand, the Twins were forced to go down Oakland's path and re-tool a winner.
They lost free-agent closer Eddie Guardado (to Seattle) and set-up man LaTroy Hawkins (Chicago Cubs). They traded away pitcher Eric Milton (Philadelphia) and catcher A.J. Pierzynski (San Francisco). They said farewell to supersub Denny Hocking (Colorado).
You bet Gardenhire watched the moves Boston and the Yankees were making this winter while he was watching his own team shrink like those soft-drink cans.
"But that's baseball," he said. "Mr. Steinbrenner chooses to go get players like that, and that's the way he does it. I think it's incredible you're able to go out and make a trade like that (Alex Rodriguez). It's unbelievable, and I think everyone in baseball agrees. But that's the way he does things -- if he wants something, he goes out and gets it."
Meanwhile, this was Minnesota's winter to step into Oakland's shoes.
"We had a difficult winter," general manager Terry Ryan said. "We had some tough decisions. We had to sever with some popular players in the clubhouse. Regardless of what the players think, it isn't easy to sever with players you have."
Ryan's plan was to keep Guardado and Hawkins, but first he had to move some salaries. The shortened version is this: The timing got all screwed up.
Hawkins agreed to terms with the Cubs on Dec. 2. Ryan shipped Milton to Philadelphia on Dec. 3. The Twins never even got to the point where they offered a cent to Hawkins. He agreed with the Cubs before he knew Ryan had the Milton deal in place to help clear room to try to bring Hawkins and Guardado back.
Then the Twins re-signed outfielder Shannon Stewart on Dec. 8, beating a midnight deadline by just a few hours ... and Guardado, reading that as a sign that the outfielder was a higher priority than him, signed with Seattle the next day.
"As soon as we were eliminated by the Yankees (last October), I knew we were going to be in for a difficult fall and winter," Ryan said. "Because in markets like ours, the payroll eventually is going to cease to elevate."
While developing the group that won consecutive AL Central titles, the Twins' payroll went from $16 million to $21 million to $47 million to, finally, roughly $58 million last year.
But who do you think owner Carl Pohlad is, Steinbrenner? You would never know that Pohlad is as wealthy as The Boss because there is a limit with him. While Steinbrenner will do whatever it takes to field a winner, Pohlad will do whatever it takes to position himself for more of Steinbrenner's revenue sharing money.
But enough with that. I should ease up on Pohlad. Why, it's been two whole years since he volunteered his team for contraction, dollar signs dancing in his pupils the whole time.
The point is, you'll never hear statements like that from these Twins, because they're too busy reading up on The Little Engine That Could.
"We know what we have to do around here," Gardenhire said. "We have to prepare the guys who are here in the clubhouse, and fill the holes.
"We've got a lot of good kids working their tails off."
Phenom Joe Mauer, who will replace Pierzynski behind the plate, is one -- assuming he has a good spring. The first thing he will learn in this camp, though, is that there is no such thing as a sense of entitlement -- whether you're talking about the payroll or a job. Though the Twins are high on him and fully expect the Minnesota native to win the job, they say they will not hand it to him this spring. He must earn it.
"A left-handed hitting catcher, if he responds, and every indication we've seen since he's been in this organization gives you the confidence that he'll be able to do that," Ryan said. "His work ethic, his talent ... not only does he have the hands and feet and arm to catch, he has the bat and he respects the game."
Standbys such as Torii Hunter, Jacque Jones, Corey Koskie, Doug Mientkiewicz and Cristian Guzman are back. The Twins will spend the spring figuring out their pitching -- in addition to Hawkins and Guardado, they lost starters Milton, Kenny Rogers and Rick Reed. Johan Santana will move from the pen to the rotation full-time, and Carlos Silva -- acquired from Philadelphia in the Milton trade -- and free agent Rick Helling likely will join Brad Radke and Kyle Lohse to fill it out.
Joe Nathan, acquired from San Francisco in the Pierzynski deal, is the leader to emerge as the club's closer, though the Twins also will give J.C. Romero, coming off a down year, and Juan Rincon a chance.
Though Hawkins and Guardado were popular, Ryan is determined that Minnesota can live without them. Nothing personal -- it's just that in the Twins' position, they simply can't plan on keeping every important player for life. Besides, while nothing against those two, it's difficult to be a team leader from the bullpen.
"As you go through this thing and an organization evolves, you're going to lose good players," Ryan said. "That's why it is vital to keep the flow of good players (from the minors). Oakland has done a better job than anybody. They've stepped up. They haven't whined about it. And I'm not going to whine about it.
"If you're going to work for Oakland, or the Royals, or the Pirates or the Brewers, you have to be prepared for it because there are going to be people who want your players when they become arbitration-eligible. For the most part, we've been able to retain our players."
And those they don't retain, well, in this business, you're not going to succeed if you take everything personally.
"The only thing that happened with Eddie is that now we don't have to lock the valuable boxes," Gardenhire joked about one of his all-time favorite players. "Before, when he was here, we'd always have to lock them up."
It's a time-tested theory that you sometimes must laugh to keep from crying and, in Minnesota's case, it's worked very well.
Meanwhile, as they prepare to do battle with the league's Big Gulps for another summer and, possibly, again into October, one of the few guarantees in baseball is this: The Twins, as usual, will remain thirsty the whole way through.
Miller's previous camp stops: Red Sox in Fort Myers | Yankees in Tampa | Astros in Kissimmee | Phillies in Clearwater | Red Sox in Fort Myers
