Dear Santa: An Open Letter from Minnesota Twins Fans

It’s been a long, rough offseason for the Minnesota Twins. We’re hoping some St. Nick magic brings good news heading into Spring Training.

Dear Santa:

We need to have a small chat. Being a Minnesota Twins fan isn’t for the faint of heart lately. We have stuck with our team through the good and the bad. We’ve suffered through 103 loss seasons. We’ve watched our ace get suspended for 80 games. Lately it feels like constant injury issues at every position. We definitely deserve a spot on the nice list.

Yes, I know we went from worst to first in a dramatic, historic turnaround and that was great! We really appreciated that! But that also wasn’t very nice because that got our hopes up and then we got coal in our stockings again this season.

So what have we earned this year? Well, first on our list is pitching. Starting, bullpen, closer, we’re not picky here. We just need a guy (or guys) who are durable and might actually see some regular season action. And don’t misunderstand me; we have some good pitchers already on our roster. But when Addison Reed has a 4.50 ERA, goes 1-6 and gives up 11 homers, something is off. If he’s on the naughty list, just say the word and we’ll figure out how to get him off of it.

Now, and this is very important, we’re fine with Jose Berrios. He could give up a few less homers, but now I feel like we’re just getting greedy. Oh, but Drew Pomeranz is still out there, unsigned. Maybe Rudolph could put in a good word for the Twins. I’m sure we can talk Thad Levine into leaving some carrots or something out for him.

Next on the Christmas list is hitting. If you hadn’t noticed or if your elves didn’t tell you, the Twins struggled at the plate (and everywhere else) last year. Byron Buxton is a little angry right now at not being called up in September. If you don’t mind giving him some new batting gloves or spikes or something that would be great. And Miguel Sano might need a new lucky bat. He only hit .199 last season and had 13 home runs, which really isn’t like him.

Losing Joe Mauer and Paul Molitor were blows to the Twins, but it’s not all bad in the Twin Cities.

Even though this letter has been a lot of doom and gloom, we do have some things that we’re thankful for. Jonathan Schoop came to town recently and it was kind of like Christmas came early. We needed a new second baseman since Brian Dozier moved to a warmer climate.

CJ Cron is here too and he hit 30 home runs with the Rays last year. We’re really going to miss Joe but 30 home runs sounds awfully good. And of course, Rocco Baldelli is an interesting pick for the new Twins’ skipper. He’s a baby by managerial standards at 37. But he’s a former player and he brings something that the Twins suddenly lack; age and experience. Plus, have you seen his eyes?

Well Santa, I think you get our drift. You’re probably asking why we’re not pitching these ideas to the baseball gods instead of you. I’ve tried everything from asking nicely to asking not so nicely to sacrificing Yankees jerseys on Opening Day. Nothing seems to work so we’re going a new route this year. Thanks for listening and don’t eat too many cookies!

XOXO,

Minnesota Twins Fans