Is it Opening Day tomorrow?

With the exception of Scott Baker's recent trip the DL, the 2011 Minnesota Twins as of tomorrow will be at "full strength" as far as the 25 man roster is concerned - basically for the first time all year!  This morning on KFAN, P.A. had Seth Stohs on talking about how potentially potent this lineup could be with everyone back.  Currently 9.5 games behind division leading Detroit with 45 games to play, I am not quite ready to relinquish hope of a comeback just yet.  Once again, we have 9 games left with Detroit, 9 with Cleveland, and 6 with the White Sox.  On Friday our lineup will quickly turn from a lineup filled with Repko, Butera, Hughes, Plouffe, and Dinkleman; to a lineup that is truly "stacked" on paper.  Let's take a look at the possibilities!


First of all, let's look at facing an opposing right-hander.  Here's the way I would stack this lineup.
1. Denard Span - CF
2. Alexi Casilla - SS
3. Joe Mauer - C
4. Justin Morneau - 1B
5. Michael Cuddyer - 2B
6. Jason Kubel - RF
7. Jim Thome - DH
8. Danny Valencia - 3B
9. Ben Revere - LF

If you throw Delmon out in LF here, Valencia can hit 9th with Young 8th, and now our lineup is even more explosive.  Revere in LF gives him a good matchup against a righty, his speed puts pressure on the defenses, and he is a better defender than Delmon.  Delmon, although his splits against righties and lefties are pretty close, he strikes out every 5.07 at-bats vs. RH, as opposed to every 6.85 at bats vs LH.  I'll take speed, defense, and the ability to put the ball in play against the right-handers.

Although Nishioka has struggled more against the right-handers this year, he looks much more comfortable hitting from the right side, so I'll take Cuddy's lack of defense and Thome's bat over Nishioka against the RH - not every day - but on a regular basis.

When the Twins face the lefty, let's go this way:
1. Denard Span - CF
2. Alexi Casilla - 2B
3. Joe Mauer - C
4. Michael Cuddyer - RF
5. Justin Morneau - 1B
6. Delmon Young - LF
7. Jason Kubel - DH
8. Danny Valencia - 3B
9. Tsuyoshi Nishioka - SS

We now have Revere and Thome coming off the bench for pinch-hitting, speed, and defense.  Nishioka gets to hit from the right side so he's not pulling himself off every pitch.  Delmon gets in there to mash on left-handed pitching.  Cuddyer can go back into the outfield where he's obviously more comfortable.

Tolbert and Butera will also be around for defensive replacements and to give guys a day off.  If Butera catches, Mauer and Cuddyer can move around to give other guys days off as well.

These lineups look pretty solid to me, with options off the bench in both cases.  A lot of our ability to make a run will depend on how well Blackburn, Slowey, Duensing, Liriano, and Pavano throw on any given night; but hopefully a lineup that is finally at full strength will help make up for a few less-than-quality starts and buy us some extra wins down the stretch.

What do you think about who to sit, who to start, where to put guys in the lineup?

Side note: Congratulations to Joe Nathan on becoming the Twins record-holder for career saves last night.  I'm glad he could do it in front of the home crowd.  Next up: Jim Thome #600.