FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — One by one, Michael Cuddyer has watched the teammates he grew up with in the Minnesota Twins organization head out the door.
It started in 2005, when Doug Mientkiewicz (ment-KAY’-vich), Corey Koskie and Cristian Guzman left. Then Torii Hunter and Johan Santana departed in 2008. Finally this offseason, Matt Guerrier (guh-REER’), Jesse Crain and Nick Punto signed elsewhere.
Now Cuddyer is the only one left from a group of players that turned the team from a perennial doormat into the dominant team of the AL Central with six division titles in the last nine seasons.
Cuddyer says he has had to introduce himself to more new faces this spring than he can remember. And he has become the unquestioned leader of the clubhouse.
