Power: Past, Present and Future

On Monday night, Jim Thome became the eighth player in baseball history to reach 600 home runs. It was a long time coming for the future Hall of Fame slugger, who debuted in the majors and hit his first career home run back in 1991.

Since then, Thome has averaged 29 homers per year, topping out with 52 in 2002. During that same span, the Twins have had only three players hit more than 29 bombs in a session (Justin Morneau three times, Michael Cuddyer and Torii Hunter once apiece). In only five of the past 20 years have the Twins' top two home runs hitters combined to go deep 52 times.

It's oddly fitting that Thome would reach this rare and awe-inspiring milestone while playing for an organization that has been so starved for home runs over his entire career.

We've long admired his majestic bombs from afar, while he was hitting 445 of them with the division-rival Indians and White Sox. And over the past two years, we've had the pleasure of observing one of baseball's great all-time power hitters from up close. To say Thome has stood out from the pack during his time in Minnesota, despite aging into his 40s, would be an understatement.

Fans have grown tired of hearing Twins' hitters pile up excuses for their lack of long-ball success in the home yard, but Thome has experienced no such issues. Twenty-one of his 36 dingers over the past two years have come at Target Field, and he completely owns the park's leader board; five of the six longest home runs hit by a Twin in the young stadium belong to Thome, according to ESPN Home Run Tracker.

That Thome has been so successful at an age where even the great all-time power hitters have generally fizzled out is incredible, but one has to wonder how much is left in the tank, especially in light of all the back problems.

Whether or not Thome chooses to continue his career after this season, he'll turn 41 in 10 days and it seems safe to say that he's at least nearing the end of his lengthy reign as one of the game's foremost slugging machines.

When he's gone, it isn't clear who will carry the torch as Minnesota's top bopper. I wrote last week about the organization's gloomy power outlook, with no legitimate home run threats in the high minors and with the future statuses of players like Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer in doubt (either due to health or expiring contracts). Trevor Plouffe leads the organization in homers this year, and it's not clear whether Ron Gardenhire will ever find a defensive position where he's comfortable playing him regularly.

It would seem that the Twins' next true beacon of hope might be Miguel Sano, who is currently 18 and playing rookie ball in Elizabethton. Signed out of the Dominican Republic with a hefty bonus after the 2009 season, Sano is already starting to fulfill his immense power-hitting potential, as he's launched 13 home runs in 51 games this year in the Appalachian League. More than half of Sano's hits have gone for extra bases, aiding a .589 slugging percentage.

Sano has had his issues with plate discipline, but to be pounding the ball like this -- at an age where power is typically an undeveloped tool -- is exciting. When Thome was playing rookie ball at 18 (all the way back in 1989), he hit zero home runs with a .296 slugging percentage in 55 games.

Sano has the type of raw power and potential that makes some analysts believe he could one day sit beside Thome on Target Field's all-time distance leader board. But he is of course only 18 years old (allegedly), and we'll have to wait a long time before that could become a reality.

For now, we'll have to simply appreciate the exceedingly rare specimen that Thome is, especially if this is his swan song.

Jim Thome, the long-time Twin killer, retiring as a Twin after reaching an historical milestone the very same year that Harmon Killeberew -- a legend in his own image -- passed on.

Oddly fitting.

A Split and a Big Splash

The Twins pulled off an exhilarating win in the first half of yesterday's doubleheader and nearly managed an improbable comeback after falling behind 5-0 in the nightcap, but ended up falling just short in the latter game and now find themselves two games behind the Tigers, just as they were when they began playing yesterday.

That's not all bad. A sweep in yesterday's doubleheader would have been great, but the Twins still did what they needed to do by getting one win on the day. Now the real work lies ahead. They need victories tonight and tomorrow afternoon to pull even with the Tigers before coming home for a final series against the Royals at the Metrodome.

The pitching match-ups work out favorably for the Twins in these next two games. They have arguably their two best starters going in Carl Pavano and Scott Baker, while the Tigers will counter with their two worst starters in Eddie Bonine and Nate Robertson. All things considered, the Twins are in relatively good shape for a team that sits two full games out of first place with only five left to play. If they can even things up against the Tigers by the end of this series, you'd have to like their chances to finish the season in at least a tie for first place, particularly in light of the news that Jake Peavy has had his next start pushed back to Friday, the first game of Chicago's final series with the Tigers.

So now it's up to Pavano and Baker to suppress the Tigers lineup for two games, and for the Twins' hitters to take care of business against a pair of very beatable starters.

Yesterday's games were both closely contested and had the feel of postseason baseball, and the intensity surrounding those contests distracted somewhat from a piece of off-the-field news that is actually quite significant: the Twins on the verge of signing Dominican prospect Miguel Angel Sano. The Twins have been connected with Sano frequently over the past several months but have never publicly been painted as leading candidates to sign him, so the news comes as a shock to many who have followed the situation (and, apparently, by the Pirates, who have long been viewed as the front-runners to end up with him).

Inking Sano is a big deal. A shortstop by trade who will likely transition to third base or the outfield once he joins the pro ranks, he is widely viewed as the top Latin American prospect and boasts massive offensive upside. The Twins reportedly will sign him for a $3.15 million bonus, which ranks as the highest given to any international player this season and the second-highest bonus ever given to a Dominican prospect (behind only Michael Ynoa, who received $4.25 million from the A's last year). It's also the highest signing bonus the Twins have ever handed to any prospect not named Joe Mauer. Given that they haven't historically been big players on the international market, this aggressive move represents a very encouraging trend when combined with the numerous other big-money international signings the Twins have already made this year.

There is risk involved with this move. The main reason many other teams backed off on Sano is because there is some uncertainly about his actual age. He claims to be 16, but his mature physique has caused some to question whether or not that is true, and tests to confirm his age have come back inconclusive. Even if Sano is 16, handing a $3.15 million contract to a kid of that age whose value as a prospect is based so much on projectability can be a perilous venture.

With that being said, the Twins have been on Sano for some time and are always pretty protective with their funds, so one has to believe they've done their homework and are confident in the legitimacy of Sano's age and ability. If he does end up signing, he will instantly become one of the organization's most promising prospects.

The signing of Sano has the Twins' long-term future looking a whole lot brighter. We'll know more about how their short-term future looks after tonight's game. Let's get 'er done, Pavano.