My Minnesota Twins are 12-26, last place in the American League Central. Of course some of this can be attributed to the fact that Joe Mauer has only played 9 games and Justin Morneau just hasn't turned it on after his concussion last year. Some more can be attributed to the fact that Francisco Liriano, even with his no-hitter hasn't done very well either.
If you remember correctly, meaning you've read my blog, I took some flak for suggesting that the Twins were not going to have a very good season and openly questioning GM Bill Smith's move this off-season. So we'll begin looking at some of the comments that people made to me and show where I'm right and where I'm wrong.
1. "Young is not nearly as terrible as you make him out to be, he broke out last year, lost weight, and will continue to get better, oh and he's 24 with what, 4 years of experience already? Bartlett couldn't stay healthy and Garza has continued to be a headache, but a good player, ill give him that."
What is people's fascination with Delmon Young? I don't get it. He's played 19 games this year because he missed some time with an oblique injury (can we start him on the Twins calling players injury prone train yet?). Since returning from the injury, so far, he is 1-12 with seven strikeouts. In 69 at-bats he has yet to hit his first home run. His slash line is .203/.250/.246. He's done a remarkable thing so far, his on-base percentage is higher than his slugging percentage. Impressive indeed. He's hitting a higher percentage of groundballs than usual, while lowering the percentage of line drives he has hit. His batting average will improve as his BABIP is .255 and last year it was a .312 (and the years before it was .338) so it's possible he improves for the rest of the season. Meanwhile, Jason Bartlett who can't stay healthy, has played in 34 games with a slash line of .254/.307/.297 and is likely to improve that batting average as well for the rest of the season. While Matt Garza is 2-4 with a pedestrian 4.17 ERA, he is likely to improve his ERA when his FIP starts to match up with his ERA more.
We're going to play one of Rob Neyer's old favorite games. The Player A game. The players are all free agent relievers the Twins had on the team last year.
Player A: 101 ERA+, .764 WHIP, 6.9 H/9, 1.5 HR/9, 5.4 K/9, 0 BB/9. Performance in save situations: 0-2 9 games, 5 saves, 1.138 WHIP, 3.7 K/9, ERA 6.52
Player B: 147 ERA+, .900 WHIP, 5.4 H/9, 1.6 HR/9, 4.9 K/9, 2.7 BB/9. Performance in save situations: 0-1, 6 Games, 5 saves, .800 WHIP, 5.4 K/9, 5.40 ERA
Player C: 90 ERA+, 1.2 WHIP, 7.4 H/9, 0.5 HR/9, 6.9 K/9, 3.4 BB/9. Performance in save situations: 1-1, 11 games, 9 saves, .973 WHIP, 9.5 K/9, 2.92 ERA
Player D: 143 ERA+, .911 WHIP, 4.8 H/9, 0.5 HR/9, 10.1 K/9, 3.4 BB/9. Performance in save situations: 0-0, 5 Games, .667 WHIP, 10.5 K/9, 0.00 ERA.
Player A: Matt Capps
Player B: Jon Rauch
Player C: Brian Fuentes
Player D: Jesse Crain
Not shown on my blog, but the same commenter said that Jesse Crain cannot pitch to left-handers, as well as can't perform in save situations. In 2011, left-handers against Crain have gone .115/.233/.115 while against Capps: .242/.265/.455. In 2010, left-handers went .196/.281/.333 against Crain (remember he can't pitch to left-handers) while against Capps they went .248/.301/.353.
Drew Butera who the Twins are using as backup catcher (well with Mauer's injury and his injury history it's more like a starter) has managed to put up a -18 OPS+, that's a negative sign. Butera might be putting up the worst numbers in the league. Meanwhile, Wilson Ramos who was so expendable in the Matt Capps trade is putting up a slash line of .267/.333/.419, while not spectacular is so much better than Butera's numbers that I do not even have to comment on it.
Finally, my favorite player double play combination Alexei Casilla and Tsuyoshi Nishioka/Luke Hughes. I'll concede that J.J. Hardy isn't really healthy this year but in his 12 games he has put up a slash line of .325/.386/.550 and has out homered the Casilla, Nishioka, Hughes combination (although Trevor Plouffe has been doing pretty well). Nishioka's leg was broken by Nick Swisher in an effort to break up the double play, so I guess I will lay off of him. Nishioka was supposed to be an international star...I don't think that's working out.
This is what my commenter friend said: "Hardy is oft injured and costing $5m, Nishioka and Casilla are not injury prone, potential international stars (which is good for the team in every way), both play solid D at 2 positions, bring speed and combined cost less than Hardy (and I'm even a Hardy fan, that's a smart move)"
Somehow, I doubt that Casilla is an international star. He's not a star on any level. Casilla's OPS+ is a 42. I do not think I have to say anymore.
The 2011 Twins have three players with an OPS+ of over 100, Denard Span (101), Jason Kubel (145), and Trevor Plouffe (183).
It's an embarassing team right now, until Mauer gets back, until Morneau starts hitting again, Liriano pitches well again, and more players start playing better, basically. Handing out starting positions to Butera, Casilla, and Young and handing Capps a $7 million dollar contract is a recipe for disaster and we're seeing it unfold.
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