Regardless of how it ends, '08 a success

The Twins had a management makeover in the fall of 1986. Jerry Bell became team president. Andy MacPhail was elevated to general manager. He brought in Bob Gebhard as his right-hand man. MacPhail convinced owner Carl Pohlad to go with Tom Kelly as the manager, after the 36-year-old directed the final 23 games of the '86 season.

Eleven months later, the Twins were the champions of North American baseball. Late on the night after Game 7 was won, Gebhard said:

"We were just trying to get organized, and we won the World Series."

The Twins had a makeover that was less dramatic in the fall of 2007. Terry Ryan, MacPhail's successor and the GM for 13 seasons, tired of that grind and went into a secondary role. Bill Smith, Ryan's longtime assistant, became the GM, and there were other promotions in the baseball operation.

Tonight, the Twins open a last-chance series with the Chicago White Sox. They enter as long shots to reach the postseason. And, if they were to beat these odds, the Twins would enter the playoffs as the eighth choice in the Las Vegas sports books to win a World Series.

We can put the chances at around 2 percent that a Twins official will have the opportunity to repeat Gebhard's wonderful quote late next month.

Yet, it would be valid for someone at 34 Kirby Puckett Place to say this morning: "We were just trying to get organized, and we still were in the playoff race in the final week."

In some ways, being a contender has occurred accidentally in the first year of the Smith administration.

In defense of the Twins' remodeled brain trust, it was taking over as the team was on the cusp of losing Johan Santana, the only two-time Cy Young Award winner in franchise history, and Torii Hunter, a cornerstone of the lineup through four division titles.

The Twins needed a replacement for Hunter in center field, so they acquired prospect Carlos Gomez as the key player in a Santana trade. They needed a righthanded bat to replace Hunter and gave much to acquire Delmon Young from Tampa Bay.

It's only speculation there were better deals available for Santana. And Billy's boys can't be blamed for the erroneous assumption they were getting a clutch hitter in Young, since he had driven in 93 runs as a Tampa Bay rookie.

Neither trade was key in making the Twins surprising contenders -- nor were Livan Hernandez, Mike Lamb, Craig Monroe and Adam Everett, the players who were supposed to be veteran reinforcements.

Hernandez did win 10 games, so he wasn't a complete bust. Everett still is around as a bench player.

Beyond the flops in Cleveland and Detroit, what happened to allow the Twins to have a jab-thrower's chance entering the final six-game homestand was the arrival of assets that were not envisioned at season's start.

Alexi Casilla landed as the second baseman on May 19. Denard Span became the right fielder on June 30. They have been 1-2 in the order, in front of the marvelous duo, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, since Casilla returned from a thumb injury on Aug. 21.

Have you finally found the long-term answer to the first two places in order?

"We hope so," manager Ron Gardenhire said over the weekend. "Everything we've seen from Denard as a leadoff hitter has been positive. We just have to make sure Lexi doesn't get carried away ... that he takes the same approach when we see him next spring."

The Twins also stumbled into the makings of a rotation with five pitchers ages 24 through 26: Kevin Slowey, Scott Baker, Francisco Liriano, Nick Blackburn and Glen Perkins.

The first three are entrenched. Blackburn and Perkins will enter 2009 as favorites, although both have wobbled enough down the stretch that a prospect such as Anthony Swarzak could push one aside.

There are other things for Smith's group to address this offseason -- with reworking the bullpen at the top of the list. The Twins can't count on comebacks from this year's failures. They need two or three new arms in front of closer Joe Nathan.

Overall, it has been a season when the Twins were able to organize a few things while contending to the final week, and that makes 2008 a success.

Patrick Reusse can be heard weekdays on AM-1500 KSTP at 6:45 and 7:45 a.m. and 4:40 p.m. • preusse@startribune.com