--C Joe Mauer's two batting titles have made him a star at the plate, but the All-Star has now been honored for his brilliance behind the plate, too. 

He didn't enjoy being at the epicenter of baseball's trade market last winter, so Bill Smith understandably kept a much lower profile at this year's general manager meetings in Southern California. 

--C Joe Mauer's two batting titles have made him a star at the plate, but the All-Star has now been honored for his brilliance behind the plate, too. 

He didn't enjoy being at the epicenter of baseball's trade market last winter, so Bill Smith understandably kept a much lower profile at this year's general manager meetings in Southern California. 

--C Joe Mauer's two batting titles have made him a star at the plate, but the All-Star has now been honored for his brilliance behind the plate, too. 

--RHP Pat Neshek, out since May with a torn tendon in his pitching elbow, was removed from the 60-day disabled list and restored to the Twins' 40-man roster. 

A year after doing a near-total overhaul of their roster, and obsessing for four months over a Johan Santana trade, the Twins enter the offseason with far less work to do on a team that nearly won the AL Central. 

The comparison consumed much of the offseason in 2006, and it has returned for an encore in 2008. 

--RHP Pat Neshek, out since May with a torn tendon in his pitching elbow, was removed from the 60-day disabled list and restored to the Twins' 40-man roster. 

A year after doing a near-total overhaul of their roster, and obsessing for four months over a Johan Santana trade, the Twins enter the offseason with far less work to do on a team that nearly won the AL Central. 

--RHP Pat Neshek, out since May with a torn tendon in his pitching elbow, was removed from the 60-day disabled list and restored to the Twins' 40-man roster. 

A year after doing a near-total overhaul of their roster, and obsessing for four months over a Johan Santana trade, the Twins enter the offseason with far less work to do on a team that nearly won the AL Central. 

--RHP Pat Neshek, out since May with a torn tendon in his pitching elbow, was removed from the 60-day disabled list and restored to the Twins' 40-man roster. 

A year after doing a near-total overhaul of their roster, and obsessing for four months over a Johan Santana trade, the Twins enter the offseason with far less work to do on a team that nearly won the AL Central. 

The comparison consumed much of the offseason in 2006, and it has returned for an encore in 2008.