Soul Patrol 2.0

Remember the early aughts when the Twins won back-to-back AL Central Division Championships?  I sure do.  It was an exciting time watching the Twins win the ALDS against the Oakland A’s in 2002 (and even more fun watching them win in the movie Moneyball).

In 2003, the Twins sent OF Bobby Kielty to Toronto for Shannon Stewart which gave us an outfield of Jacque Jones, Torii Hunter and Shannon Stewart.  They called themselves the Soul Patrol and had t-shirts made to unite the brotherhood (I have proof after talking with former-Twin Josh Rabe).

Nils brought up the point about how in the future we could have another Soul Patrol and this time without a dome over our heads and grass under out feet.

Here are four guys who could possibly be apart of Soul Patrol 2.0.

-Denard Span: He’s the candidate who most likely won’t be apart of this group.  He has been rumored in trades and to have payroll flexibility and bring in some pitching, Terry Ryan could easily move him this winter.  

-Ben Revere: Ben is still under team control for many seasons and he has done just fine in his first real full season.  He has a 2.7 (according to FanGraphs) WAR with just a few games remaining in 2012 and he can play all three outfield spots.

-Aaron Hicks: After being drafted 14th overall in 2008, Hicks has finally put together a season in which he showed he might be ready for the Show.  In AA New Britain, He played in 129 games and hit .286 with an outstanding .384 OBP.  He can steal some bases (74 percent) and has some gap power (21 doubles, 11 triples and 13 homers).  He could be Span’s replacement in center until...

-Bryon Buxton: ...until Buxton makes his way to Target Field.  This won’t be for another few years (unless the planets align and the the angels sing) but after being drafted just this season, Baseball America has him ranked as the number one prospect in both the Appy League and GCL.  He could be a five-tool guy and bring the excitement back to Minnesota baseball.

Having any mix of these four in the spacious outfield of Target Field would be fun to watch and it would be even better if they had Soul Patrol t-shirts.

(Note: They are called Soul Patrol because all are African-American, if you didn’t know...)