The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Twins (Last Week: -1).  Won Sunday to take the series at Kansas City.  But the midweek sweep at Chicago probably was the official deathknell (although the real deathknell probably happened Opening Day).    They were outscored by a combined score of 26-10.

Because of that, apparently, the Twinks finally pulled the trigger and traded Francisco Liriano to the White Sox.  There goes the man who was the heir apparent to Johan Santana.  Although he had turned it up the last several starts, and his slider may be the last most devastating pitch by a Twins starter, the consistency and unsteadiness gave fans blueballs.  It's sad that he had to be traded, but I understand.

What I don't quite get is that Liriano was traded to a division rival.  It doesn't really matter at this point, but why would you want to trade within the division and give him the opportunity to haunt his old team 12 to 18 times a year?  And you can probably guess that he'll, like, have a complete-game three-hitter the first time he plays the team.  That's what usually happens.

At least the club has soundly pounded Cleveland the past two nights, 11-0 and 12-5.  This weekend, at least, the young pitchers Scott Diamond and Samuel Deduno point to a brighter future.  After playing Cleveland Sunday, they host ... the White Sox!  I have a feeling that Liriano's first meeting with his old organization won't come this series.  They visit Boston for four next weekend.

#-2: Timberwolves (Re-Entry!).  I didn't think the Woofie Dogs' offseason was important enough to merit a summer entry, but I was hanging out with a fellow alumni club member on Wednesday and we were talking about the team.  He supported the moves because he said there was a lot of dead weight David Kahn and Rick Adelman had to move.

My argument was what they replaced that dead weight with: More dead weight.  Who did they part with?

• Michael Beasley (he's with Phoenix)
• Anthony Randolph
• Martell Webster
• Wayne Ellington (traded to Memphis)
• Wesley Johnson (traded to ... Phoenix?  I don't know)

I don't know if this is a positive, but I understand why they're no longer on the team.  Now, who have the team added?

• Brandon Roy
• Greg Stiemsma
• Chase Bundinger
• Alexey Shved
• Andrei Kirilenko

This is basically rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.  Sure, Roy can give you 10 to 15 minutes if his knees hold up, and maybe Budinger is a star waiting to happen, and maybe Kirilenko will give you defense and a perimeter shot reminiscent of his play almost a decade ago, when he was a Top 20 NBA player.  But maybe not.  And right now you have an abundant but not deep small guard roster and a bunch of 3-4 tweeners that can further marginalize Derrick Williams.

The future is bright, but it's at least a season away.  Kahn and Adelman are acting like they're only a piece away.  Are you kidding me?  I guess revamping your bench isn't that big of a deal when the main guys are Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio, but I don't like the attitude that they have to win now.  Because they won't.  Win later, conserve as much cash as you can, and if you don't win this upcoming season, that's OK, because that means you'll have a high draft pick next year ... right?