Get to know ’em? What for?

I am a Twins fan. There’s been a lot of talk over this four-way trade and what the Twins got out of it. Was it worth it? Should we be emotional over losing a player who was batting .238 so far this season? I think so. Some might argue that this makes me a “Mientkiewicz fan” and not a “Twins fan” or a fan of the organization. People can argue that all they want, but they’re wrong. Here’s why:Remember back in 2001 when those clever marketing/advertising geniuses bombarded us with ads about the Twins? They had emerging talent by the boatload, back when some people were still saying, “Doug who?” “Get to know ’em,” they said. A great ploy to get casual fans enamored with the young players, and those players certainly endeared themselves to us. The Twins drew nearly 800,000 more people to the Metrodome over the previous year’s attendance. True, the team did perform in a vastly superior manner over the 2000 season. But improved enough to draw that many people? Remember, this is a team that utterly collapsed in the second half of 2001.

The real story here is the complete success of that “Get to know ’em” campaign of 2001. Casual fans, new fans, old fans- everyone embraced the gutty, plucky crew. The unbridled emotions of A.J. Pierzynski. The flashy fielding of Torii Hunter. The quick speed of Cristian Guzman and Luis Rivas. The moderate power of Corey Koskie and Jacque Jones. Didn’t know how to spell or even pronounce Mientkiewicz? The “Get to know ’em” crew came up with a catchy tune for that, too.

Were they selling tickets?

Yes.

But they were also selling promises.

They begged us to become attached to these players. They personalized them for us, convinced us that with this group of youngsters, we would not be disappointed. All we had to do was invite them into our homes and our hearts, cheer them on from our couches or poor Metrodome seating with as much passion as those players showed us on the field. But these days, passion isn’t rewarded. Baseball is a game of numbers, and whether you’re talking about dollars or percentage points, those numbers do matter. Sorry, Doug.

The loss of Doug Mientkiewicz isn’t the beginning- the break up of this family started last year with the trading of Pierzynski and Milton, and the departure of Guardado and Hawkins. New pieces filter in and the family will be reformed, but it’s difficult to recover from a broken home. Someday we might remember this moment when we were sitting in befuddlement or joy, grim understanding or sorrow at the trade of Mientkiewicz, saying to ourselves, “Justin who?” It just might be, three years from now, Justin Jones will prove his hype and worth, and Mientkiewicz will be a distant memory.

“Doug who?”

No, this isn’t the beginning, but it’s also not nearly the end.