The Minnesota Twins are 41-48, 7 games below .500 and 6.5 games behind the first place Detroit Tigers.  The Twins will start the 2nd half with a 12 game home stand against Kansas City, Cleveland, and Detroit.  Those 12 games could very well determine the rest of the 2011 season.  If the twins can go 8-4, and pick up a couple of games against the Indians and the Tigers they could find themselves only 4 games out of first place, with a real shot at winning the division through the final third of the season.

It is an old story, but the Twins have certainly had their share of injuries through the first half of the season, with only 2 players (Michael Cuddyer and Danny Valencia) notching more than 300 plate appearances.  In fact, from their opening day line up, three players have failed to reach even 200 plate appearances.

Let’s look back and pick out the Twin’s most valuable players up through the All-Star Break.  Baseball is a game of pitching, hitting, and fielding, so there where I’ll look to make my decisions.   (more…)