FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
In a stunning move this weekend, Twins GM Terry Ryan put in a request with Bud Selig to switch to the National League."I was speaking to Tony LaRussa, and he mentioned that during interleague play it was a real burden to find someone to write in as DH. And I was like, tell me about it! And that got me thinking."
The move makes a certain amount of sense, as finding a traditional player to fill the DH role has not been a priority for the Twins. The Twins' competition has spent their offseasons signing big names to DH, including Jim Thome last year and now Gary Sheffield for the Tigers. "I wanted to play for the Twins," said Thome. "But they told me they just wouldn't know what to do with a real DH."
"Other clubs might like those big flashy players that hit lots of home runs and drive people in and generally help increase your odds of scoring more runs than the other team, and thus, winning," said Ryan, "but we find it all rather…immodest. It's so much more interesting to try to win when you don't waste a line-up spot with a real RBI guy. Plus, a lot of teams don't realize that it's a great way to get another back-up utility outfielder's bat in the line up.
But Ryan seemed very excited about the idea of using that extra spot for a pitcher. "It's just so much more interesting when you've got one guy in there who's total dead weight. We've tried to bring some of that over here, but there's really more opportunities for that in the NL.
"Anyway," Ryan added, "I think we could get the same production out of most of our pitchers as we have at the DH spot, so that would be a real advantage for us."