Twins Preview '09

After an offseaon that featured the multi billionaire owner dying, the biggest free agent signing in years of a past his prime guy who hasn't played a full season in 2 years, and Nick Punto still being a shitty baseball player, it's time for my gut reaction preview of each position.

Starting pitching - B+

If Franchise Liriano returns to 2006 form, this could easily be an A-. But we have to assume that youngsters Baker, Blackburn, Slowey and Perkins won't get as lucky as they did last year. I could easily see 2 of these guys having below average to very shitty seasons, given their lack of electric stuff. Ok, that was depressing. Let's downgrade this to a B-.

Relief Pitching - This group scares the shit out of me and single handedly cost us the playoffs last year (not in the final game itself, but in the many collapses throughout the season, including the unforgettable game when Nathan threw a routine play at 3rd base into the bullpen and allowed the Oakland A's to score 2 in the bottom of the 9th. Fuck that pissed me off.) Nathan needs to stop hyperventilating on the mound and needs to bring back the heat. I think his fastball is down to a very hittable 90-92 mph. Let's go with a C- for this group.

1st Base - Justin Morneau. He'd be an A+ if he weren't Canadian. A.

2nd Base - Alexi Casilla, which sounds like a girls name, is surprisingly not terrible. He can steal and field. Brendan Harris improved his .185 average in the second half of the season. I'll go with a B-.

SS - Nick Punto with Harris as a backup. A good glove will only get you so far. Punto will hit .217 this year, with 12 RBI's, 7 SB's and 1 homer in 450 AB's. D-.

3rd base - Was I the only Twins fan not that excited by the Joe Crede signing? Would starting a younger Brian Buscher with 500% more upside be that bad? Oh well, we know Crede's back will only last a few months and Buscher will get the starting nod. Both of them are decent hitters that play good defense. It would be awesome if Crede started taking HGH and steroids again. B.

Outfield - We actually have a good problem in that we have 4 outfielders trying for 3 spots. Carlos Gomez, who may break Rickey Henderson's record someday, will also break the record for "Most shitty at bats attempting to bunt for an infield single". Michael Cuddyer is back healthy again (allegedly). Denard Span is really fast and really good. He's like Gomez, except he can hit and doesn't make shitty plays in the outfield. And finally there is Delmon Young, who once hit an umpire with a bat. I say Young sits and the rest start. Nobody in this group will have the power stats, but they can hit, score runs and play great defense (except when Gomez slides and gives up inside the parkers). B+.

DH - Jason Kubbel - Looks like one of the bad guy from one of those James Bond movies in the 70's. A decent hitter. I give him a solid B.

Catcher - Mauer. Or as one blogger on here named appropriately named him "Butt Stink". Great hitter for average. Power numbers suck because he would rather have his swing look pretty than swing for fences. Led league last year in "grounders hit to 2nd basemen to cause inning ending double plays." There is a lot of hate for sideburn Joe, but the bottom line is, if he were your catcher, you would take him in a second. A-.

Generic-ass Team prediction. 91-71 and lose 1-0 to Cleveland in a one-game tie-breaker.

I don't think we have enough talent (or did enough in the off-season) to take the next step. I think our young pitchers pitched out of their ass last year. I see too many teams catching on to their amazing "over the plate" pitch.

Disappointment

When I begged to be added to contribute to this blog, Juicelaw was posting something nearly every 30 minutes and was not bashful of posting cool words like the word "FUCK" throughout the day at work. However, now he has taken a new position at a stuffy law firm (see picture), and understandably so, is a bit nervous of checking, much less contributing to the blog throughout the day in fear that someone might write the word FUCK in giant letters and cost him his job. I respect his position, but it is very disappointing for someone like me who hardly ever has clients any more, doesn't have an office internet policy and likes to frequent the blog in search of Juice's patented comedy and sarcasm. Like I said, I understand, but I am deeply disappointed.

On another note, I just got a letter from a bigshot attorney in a big town close to here. One of those "it was a pleasure to meet you at the CLE the other day, if you are ever interested in going to lunch" type of letters. I think (hope) he is possibly trying to recruit me to his firm. Either that or he is gay and is trying to seduce me. As long as I get a different job, I'm gay, umm, I mean game.

My on base percentage is now .982 in our slow-pitch co-ed league and my batting average is roughly .850. First game I was 1-2 with a single and reached on an error. Second game I was 3-3 with a single, inside the park home run, a triple and 5 RBIs. That's right boys, GLORY DAYS. And yes, I understand how sad my athletic career has become that I have to brag about slow-pitch softball on an internet blog.

Butt-stink really choked in the clutch last night. What were the odds that he would ground out to the shortstop to end the game? 1:1?

High & Tight

LaVelle E. Neal is the Tom Hardicourt of the Minnesota Twins. Or is he the Anthony Witrado? Either way he seems neither as ornery nor as ignorant as either of those guys. I haven't (so far) found the need to post any complaints about him because he covers the Twins in an objective way (he's a White Sox fan, I believe, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr). Anyways, in his most recent blog entry he talks about pitching inside and the fact that the Twins pitchers don't do it. Mostly, he blames the lack of bean balls and brush backs on inexperience, but he did add this juicy note that I'm sure Dietz would enjoy.

Ultimately, it’s up to the pitcher to throw the right pitches where they can be the most effective. But the coaching staff has to get it out of him.

The catcher does too. There were some pitches the coaching staff thought Joe Mauer could have called differently on Friday, especially when Nick Blackburn kept firing first pitch fastballs in the fifth inning. And the catcher can influence the pitcher to throw inside more.

Great. It's Butt Stink's fault that the pitchers don't throw inside and only throw fastballs. I wish no one would have ever stated this in print because it will only give credence to the argument that our home town hero isn't everything he is cracked up to be. Now I will have to spend more endless hours fending off the Butt Stink bashing that occurs within the friendly confines of the Metrodome, Emma's Bar or Our House. I almost wish I wouldn't have read it. Boo, information technology!!!

P.S. I write this post as I listen to Otis Redding singing "Nobody Knows You (When You're Down & Out). This should be the song that Rick Anderson plays during all of his pitchers' side sessions.

I Knew It!!!

I have been an avid reader of Aaron Gleeman for about a year now. He is, more or less, what I would like to be. A blogger that has achieved notoriety by intelligently discussing the Minnesota Twins and baseball, amongst other topics. He has even used his blogging credibility to get jobs at RotoAuthority.com and MSNBC.com. I usually turn to him to get some insight on the Twins, that I otherwise wouldn't get from espn, the star tribune, Dick & Bert or Dietz. This was the case again tonight when I came across this little nugget:

After collecting multiple hits in each of the past three games, Joe Mauer now leads the AL with a .336 batting average. He also ranks fourth in the league with a .406 on-base percentage and only Kurt Suzuki has logged more innings behind the plate. For all the silly, Dan Barreiro-style talk about Mauer not coming through in the clutch or not making a huge impact because of a lack of power, Mauer ranks third among AL hitters in Win Probability Added, trailing only Manny Ramirez and Josh Hamilton.

Once you adjust for catcher being the worst-hitting position in baseball and throw in his considerable defensive value, a WPA-based analysis likely shows Mauer as the league's most valuable position player thus far. Some homers would certainly be nice, but anyone complaining about a player hitting .330 and getting on base at a .400 clip while playing the most physically demanding, least-offensive position is merely doing a fine job showing how little they really know about baseball.

I knew Butt Stink was having a great season and I knew he was being vastly undervalued. It's time for people to quit worrying about Mauer's home run total and start appreciating his unique (for the Twins) ability to get on base. Too many people (and too many major leaguers) don't seem to realize that the most important aspect of hitting is not getting out. It doesn't matter if this happens by home run or by walk, although home runs are obviously better. Butt Stink seems to get this, I just wish that the fine people at KFAN, and the like, would calm down and realize the caliber of player the Twins have at catcher.

State of the Twins

Amazingly, Juice stole my idea. I won't let that stop me from recapping what has been a pleasant start to the season for the Minnesota Twins. I will preface this by saying that if I had written this five days ago, I would have been a lot more negative. I'm glad I waited. Here goes.

The Twins currently stand in first place in the AL Central. This is a tremendous surprise. The beginning of the season has been filled with a lot of disappointments, mixed with a lot of intrigue, with little to be excited about. That is until recently. The Twins now stand at 16-14 and are coming off homestand in which they swept all five games from the White Sox and Tigers. All this has happened with only three starting pitchers and an offense that would finish fourth in the River Falls Lower Division Men's Softball League.* Color me pickled tink.

*League play for Emma's Bar begins on Tuesday, May 6 at Hoffman Park in River Falls, WI. Bring your tubas!!!

The Lineup: It has been pretty bad so far as the Twins are 13th in the American League in runs scored, T-13th in home runs, 14th in on-base percentage and 10th in slugging percentage. On the plus side we are 3rd in batting average (.266, sooooooooo good!!!) and 3rd in steals. Carlos Gomez has been fun to watch, but needs to get a clue at the plate and quit swinging at sliders in the dirt. He seems to be getting a little better of late, as he has only 2 strike outs in his last 6 games after wearing the golden sombrero in Oakland. Joe Mauer (from here on, Butt Stink) has been very good, especially during the Twins recent surge. He would be even better if Abner Doubleday hadn't invented the second basemen. Justin Morneau is third in the A.L. in home runs and 13th in slugging, which pleases me. In fact, when I recently cast my all star vote, I chose him on merit and not on my usual Twins bias. The rest of the lineup has been more or less horrendous with a few glimmers of hope (Brendan Harris, Jason Kubel, Matt Tolbert) and a few flops (Delmon Young hits like Chuck Knoblauch).

The Rotation: We have three starters!!!. There names are Livan Hernandez, Boof Bonser and Nick Blackburn. I'm not sure why, but this seems ominous. These guys have been doing fine so far, but I am extremely skeptical that they will keep up this level of success. Combine this with the disaster that is Francisco Liriano and the fact that Scott Baker has the face and body of an eight-year-old boy and there isn't that much hope for the Twins pitching to get much better. The good news is that Twins' starters do have been generally effective and Kevin Slowey is about to return from the disabled list on Thursday; not to mention the plethora of options there are in the minor leagues. Basically, so far so good, but we need some help.

The Bullpen: This has always been the trademark of all recent Twins' teams. It is a major reason for the success of the starting rotation and their record in close games. This year, however, there have been a few meltdowns (the whole series at Detroit). This is a little disconcerting, especially considering the current status of the rotation. I think that these meltdowns are merely aberrations based on the bullpens performance in the rest of the games. Joe Nathan continues to prove that he is the best closer in baseball (11/11 saves, 1 ER) and I bet he is reminding Brewers fans that they maybe should have tried to trade for him during the offseason before he got his new deal. Oh well, they all can' be Eric Gagne.

Coaching: I think that Ron Gardenhire is one of the best game managers in baseball. He knows how to use a pitching staff and he isn't afraid to be aggressive on offense. I just have one bone to pick. QUIT PLAYING NICK PUNTO!!! He isn't good. I don't quite understand the infatuation. I know he tries hard and makes nice defensive plays, but he hits like he's batting from the wrong side of the plate and he's a switch hitter. Let's just relegate him to pinch runner and defensive replacement for Mike Lamb and leave the hitting to the less experienced Matt Tolbert. On a side note, Gardy might be looking over his shoulder a little bit due to the phenomenal job Scott Ulger did while managing in his absence.

Overall, I am super excited just because the Twins are in first place. I bought season tickets this year with the realization that I was going to watch a young team struggle and learn while losing a lot of games. Every day that they are in first place makes every game I attend way more riviting just because of the allure of a potential pennant race. I just hope the mathemeticians have it right and we stick to our, as of now, projected record of 87-75 and the rest of the division continues plays under .500 baseball. But as someone once said, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.