My contention is that I don’t see any reason why it can’t be as good as it was in 2010. Tsuyoshi Nishioka probably won’t be the next Ichiro Suzuki. As Aaron suggests, his offensive numbers may indeed come to parallel those of former Twin Jason Bartlett. But where is this skepticism of his defense coming from? I’ve seen a handful of Twins spring training games and I’ve seen Nishioka make very good plays in every one of them. In fact, I would go as far as to suggest that Nishioka’s glove is not only superior to that of either JJ Hardy or Orlando Hudson, but quite a bit better.

O-Dawg was one of those players who would make a dazzling defensive play one inning and then boot a routine grounder the next inning. He did that time and time again last year. Hardy, too, was capable of making Web Gem plays in the hole, while also being capable of screwing up easy double plays (which he did several times last year).

In short, if we’re skeptical of anyone on the Twins infield, it should be Alexi Casilla, not Nishioka. Casilla, in his handful of stints as a Twins starter, has shown to be a gifted but often times lazy infielder. From a defensive standpoint, he sort of reminds me of Luis Rivas in that there are many instances where Casilla just doesn’t seem to give it 100%. Also like Rivas, he doesn’t seem to CARE that he’s not giving it 100%. That will need to change if he’s going to last the whole year on a Ron Gardenhire team.

The only other major defensive question mark is obviously left field. Span in center is superb and Cuddyer’s cannon arm in right usually makes up for his lack of overall speed. But Delmon Young and/or Jason Kubel leaves us wanting. If Delmon can replicate his numbers from 2010, I think most Twins fans will be more than willing to overlook his defensive awkwardness (for lack of a better term). Kubel, as Aaron mentioned, is playing for his next contract, so hopefully he’ll have a little more pep in his step.

In all, middle relief is the biggest question mark for the Twins. Personally, I’m not worried at all offensively or defensively.

I’m worried about the bullpen, but I think Gardy and Rick Anderson are very good at giving the relievers the best chance to be successful (favorable match-ups, don’t require a lot of outs).

I think the offense will be on the upswing. A lot of guys had down years and Morneau missing the stretch didn’t help our power numbers. I think Valencia, Kubel, Cuddyer, Mauer and Span are all capable of having better years. I think the hitters will get used to hitting at Target Field this season (not the best reason, just a unproven theory).

The rotation has depth, but will it have results?

I think the addition of speed in the line-up and increased power, along with the addition of Gibson will lead to 92-96 wins.

Meanwhile, the Giants had a payroll within a few hundred thousand of Minnesota’s last year, and they won the Series.

I love the Twins, and I hope they do well. But they have problems and it’s a cop-out to chalk them up to financial inequities. We’re talking about a team who just extended a manager with a 6-21 post-season record.

With the increased payroll and new stadium from last year, the stakes have been officially raised for the Twins. In Minnesota, a growing number of fans are concerned this team is content with making the playoffs. Since 1991, the Twins have been a playoff disaster, and now the fans are expecting a pennant at least with the increased resources. Unfortunately, the virtually unlimited resources of teams like the Yanks and Red Sox will continue to make that goal extremely difficult.

That said, after reading Gleeman’s blurb about Nishi and looking at his Japanese stats more carefully, I see how stupid my original comment was. Hey, at least I admit it

Coming off an impressive rookie campaign, how does Valencia’s track record suggest he’ll be anything other than solid? His minor league stats aren’t phenomenal, but it seems odd to say in the same breath that Nishioka’s stats in Japan won’t translate to similar MLB production, but that Danny Valencia’s minor league stats are somehow a more accurate measure of his potential than last year’s rookie stats.