Changes Afloat

Shortly after the finish of a disappointing 2005 season, changes are taking place in the Twins organization.

The most exciting of these changes is the fact that the Twins have finally cut ties with under-performing second baseman Luis Rivas. For four years, Rivas has been doing essentially nothing while starting at second base for the Twins, and it seems that finally the team has gotten the hint and gotten rid of him.

Also cut were outfielder Mike Ryan and second baseman Brent Abernathy. The team will make an effort to bring back Abernathy, who was decent in his stint filling in at second for the team this year; they will not pursue Ryan, who was mediocre at best in trying to fill the left-handed bench bat role for the Twins.

On a sadder note, it was announced yesterday that third-base coach Al Newman will be leaving the team to become an advance scout for the Diamondbacks. Newmy was with the organization for 19 years and it will be sad to see him go. I respected him as a guy who would tell it like it was, which made him different from a lot of other guys in the organization, namely Gardenhire.