A Pitch for '06

It wasn't that bad of a week for the Twins, considering how things had been going, but if they think that winning a couple cheap ones and throwing in an inexplicable 12-0 rout means they can start talking about the playoffs agian, (which they did after Saturday's lame, 4-3 win) they might want to slow down.
The Twins won't make the playoffs this year, but I guess it would be nice to see them at least finish over .500 to keep their streak of winning seasons alive (this year would make 5 straight).
But that really doesn't matter, so, being that most Twins fans are now treating the season's final two months more like an extended spring training, or at least, an audition to make a case for next year's roster, I'll take a look at who should, and who should not, be on the Twins roster next year.
Starting with the pitchers: (btw, this is not what I think the Twins will do, it's what I would like to see them do)

Locks - Santana, Radke, Silva, Nathan, Rincon, Baker
For a team that has a league-best 3.70 ERA, you might think that there would be more pitchers that I'd be insistent on bringing back, but with so many great arms in the minors, the Twins have a lot of options.
Santana is obvious, though it'd be nice to see him get back to even close to Cy-Young form next year (his ERA was 2.61 last year, this year it's 3.68)
Radke, again, has gotten screwed by his team. A 3.71 ERA and a 7-10 record. This has been going on so long that I'm starting to think he'd be better off if he signed somewhere else. He's had so many 12-15 seasons because he didnt' get any runs, that if he'd played his whole career for the Yankees or Texas or some other team that could hit, he'd be closing in on 200 career wins.
The Twins, however, would not be better off. Radke will be back, and he's at the age where alot of off-speed pitchers hit their prime.
Silva has been the staff ace this year. They need to lock him up.
Nathan has been lights-out again, save for one bad week, and Rincon has recovered nicely from the steroid thing.
As for Baker, he's ready. I don't care how they make room for him, they just have to do it. Either that or trade him for a hitter. Having all this great pitching talent doesn't do any damn good if you sit on it.
Not-so fast - Crain, Liriano, Mays,
Mays would be more effective on grass - in the dome he'll always be inconsistent because there'll be days where all the ground balls get through the holes. Plus he makes over 7 million a year. He's made a nice comeback from the year off, but I'd let him go.
Crain was looking like the best young reliever in baseball back in May, but even then his strikeout numbers were scarily low. Now that's catching up with him. His ERA is 2.98, but considering it was 0.65 a couple months ago, that's not impressive.
In 49 innings he has only 17 K's and 19 walks. I'm not saying he should go to the minors, he shouldn't. But maybe the Twins should take the 'untouchable' tag off of him when it comes to trades. They could get alot for him, they should at least listen.
Liriano has been so goddamn nasty in AAA, (he's given up something like 18 hits in 55 innings with 70 K's) that fans are losing patience. They want to see this guy, especially since he's the reason the Twins didn't pick up Alfonso Soriano.
But there's still a big gap between AAA and the bigs, and the Twins steadfastly insist that he's not ready.
I'd still like to see him called up to pitch out of the bullpen for a couple weeks to get his feet wet, and then we'll see. But I don't think he'll be in the rotation to start next year.
Don't give up yet - Lohse
Everyone's favorite whipping boy, but Lohse has had a nice year. His ERA is a very respectable 4.38, not a heck of a lot worse than Santana and Radke. I still wouldn't rule out a move to the bullpen, but he's still relatively cheap (under 3 million) and could get a decent return in a trade.
Don't forget -Gassner, Guerrier, Travis Bowyer, Boof Bonser
Granted it's been mostly mop-up duty, but Guerrier has posted a 2.93 ERA in 43 innings this year. Apparently he's not totally worthless. Gassner has been hurt since his early season call-up, but he showed promise. If Crain fizzles, Bowyer is a righty with a high-90's fastball who could fill his role. The Twins once viewed Crain as the eventual successor to Nathan, they now look at Bowyer. Bonser has had a nice year in AAA, and might get a September callup.
Get the hell outta here - Romero, Mulholland
Teams are always looking for lefties (hence Mulholland's continued ability to get a paycheck) and they're always reluctant to give up on a lefty with good stuff (hence Romero's continued presence in Minnestota).
But it's time. Mulholland was a nice story, a good guy who had a great career and hoped to get a WS ring with the Twins. I would've loved to see him do that, but it wasn't meant to be. SO long, Terry.
As for JC, don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.
He's got great stuff, but he's a chickenshit. Can't stomach pressure situations. To tell the truth, if I had to bring back one of these guys, I think I'd take Mulholland.
There's the pitchers. We'll see if Terry and Gardy see things anywhere close to how I do.
Next time I'll do the position players.