Twins make a bold move -- for once -- in landing Thome

The addition of Jim Thome was typical for the Twins in that they found him in the bargain basement. It also was unique as an indicator that the hometown nine might aspire to being more than an AL Central Division contender in 2010.

The Twins went through a streak of eight consecutive losing seasons that ran through 2000. Since then, they have five Central titles and eight winning seasons in nine years.

When they finally surpassed .500 again in 2001, manager Tom Kelly's most relied-on pinch hitter was Denny Hocking. Since then, Ron Gardenhire has had such loaded guns in his dugout as Jose Offerman, Matt LeCroy, Michael Ryan, Luis Rodriguez, Jeff Cirillo, Mike Lamb, Brian Buscher and Jose Morales.

Generally, the Twins have been satisfied to piece together a lineup, and then take the leftover slap hitters and slew foots and call it a bench. And the veterans they tried were busts:

Offerman was a goofball in 2004 (and remains so, having been banned from the Dominican Winter League for punching an umpire). Cirillo was a stiff in 2007. And Lamb was worse -- a costly stiff -- in 2008.

Jason Kubel hit three home runs as a pinch hitter last season. Those came in only six at-bats, since he was a regular -- and will be again in 2010. More often, Gardenhire's option as a pinch hitter was Buscher or Morales.

Bringing in Thome as an extra player is a complete departure from the way the Twins have done business in the 2000s, and for well before that. Dave Winfield (1993) and Paul Molitor (1995) were veterans of tremendous status, but they came in the offseason as regulars, not extra pieces.

Once Carlos Gomez was traded to Milwaukee, Gardenhire had three true outfielders: Delmon Young in left, Denard Span in center and Michael Cuddyer in right.

And, with no minor league outfielder (Jason Pridie included) considered a potential asset for this season, Gardenhire was left in a position where he would be writing Young's name in the lineup 150 times.

There would be those 15-20 games where Joe Mauer would DH and Kubel would play a corner in the outfield, but basically Young would be a constant presence. He remained too much of an enigma to be handed that responsibility, not with his tradition of swinging horrendously for the first half of the schedule and explaining it as being a "slow starter."

There's now an option for Gardenhire, if Young were to show up with his hitter's mind as muddled as it was for nearly four months of last season. In such a case, Kubel can play left two or three times a week, with Thome as the DH and Young grabbing some bench.

Throw in Mauer's occasional starts as a DH against a righthander, and that also will put Kubel in left field. He could wind up playing out there 50 times, unless Young comes out of spring training with a hitting approach that allows him to drive the ball.

What's the surprise here is the Twins always have talked about a need for speed and defense in reserve, and now they will have a four-man bench that includes a guy who will need a pinch runner any time he draws a walk or hits a non-home run in the late innings.

Costwise, Thome is business as usual for the Twins. Rosterwise, it's a bold move for a team that has found out five times in recent seasons that a bench consisting of leftovers creates a sizable disadvantage in tight October games.

All Twins followers probably can agree that, with two victories in the past 18 playoff games, it was past time for an adjustment.