Twins vs All-stars

With only one position player from the Twins historically good first half offensive making the all-star game this year, I got to wondering how the Twins 2019 starting lineup would fare if playing against AL all-star starting lineup. Of course Polanco would have to play all time offense and would be a push but how about the rest of the team? Here’s a look at stats position by position. While it’s clear the all-star starters would have the upper hand, the Twins as a team would be only 69 points behind in OPS and 20 points behind in Slugging. Those would be pretty evenly matched offenses and by the numbers, the Twins should really have had 2 more starters on the team. But who cares about an exhibition game. Pretty cool that the Twins have been fielding a near All-Star caliber lineup top to bottom this year. Let's enjoy it!

Jason Marquis: No ace but fills a need

Let's face it. Everyone would love for the Twins to have found an ace up there sleeve that they could have played next year in their starting rotation, but was never realistically going to happen and it might be for the best. I don't know much about Jason Marquis except for the few articles I've been reading on him since he signed with the Twins, but he obviously is not a flashy pitcher who will rack up the Ks and strike fear into opposing teams. Once you get past that however, I think Twins fans need to take a look at the positive things Jason does bring to the 2012 Twins' team.

• He's been seen as an innings machine in the past. With Carl Pavano being the only Twins starter to throw over 200 innings last year, it was an obvious need to find someone who is likely to reach that accomplishment. The best thing about this is it keeps the bullpen fresher so in a way the Twins just upgraded their bullpen by finding a way to have them throw less innings.
• The bullpen is also upgraded due to the fact that Brian Duensing will be moved from their from the starting rotation. He likely will be an improvement over a lot of the pitchers who were their last season.
• Marquis is also a guy that sounds like a good character guy. Of course this is overstated often about players and we have no way to know how true it is, but he sounds to be a student of the game (very important for pitching) and one who gives 100% playing through pain at times and not making excuses. Last years team lacked leadership some have hinted and you want people like this in any business or team. I'm fairly comfortable saying that Jason will be good in the clubhouse and especially for the younger pitchers.
• The price is right. I don't like the Twins self imposed salary crap more then anyone else but given the financial constraints they were working in, they didn't have cash to spend on a huge strikeout starting pitcher. 3 million for one year won't break the bank and let's be honest. A lot of things have to break right for the Twins to be in contention this year. It's not the time to tie up a lot of money in a long term deal for a pitcher. That would likely handicap them moving forward.

Pitching is always a tricky thing to predict. Unless you have Johan Santana or Mariano Rivera it's hard to know what you are going to get. Francisco Liriano is still the Twins best shot at a true ace and while I highly doubt that will happen, he was actually a pretty decent pitcher in 2010. Who knows how things will shake out this year but I'm actually more confident in Jason Marquis at this point so that itself is a good thing. Let's cut the guy a little slack. This could tern out to be another unspectacular but useful signing.

Jason Kubel...the next David Ortiz?

It now sounds official that Jason Kubel has signed a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Reports are saying he has a two year 15 million deal. I'm not real knowledgeable in analyzing numbers to say if a player is worth a certain amount but this is one player that I think the Twins will regret loosing in much the same manor as when they lot Ortiz.

I've heard a lot of people talk about how Kubel is just an average outfielder and should be easy to replace. I think the problem is average is not always as easy to find as some would think. Also consider that Kubel was likely one of the best hitters on the team. Despite his injury shortened year in 2011, he still managed to show that he had the most power on the team (outside of Jim Thome of course) and he could hit for a decent average too. I know the Twins didn't especially like his defense and Target field is certainly a better place for someone with a little more speed but Kubel has continued to improve offensively each year and I can definitely see him putting up some huge numbers for Arizona. For a Twins team that is short on power, loosing him is a tough pill to swallow. Yeah they get a draft pick and yes they did sign Josh Willingham but to me loosing both Cuddyer and Kubel makes that pickup a net loss. Not to mention it gives the team less depth. The argument can be made that they should use the money saved to go after pitching and that's fair but it's pretty sad that this team has decided it "has to cut salary" and as a result failed to bring back one of Cuddyer or Kubel.

In all fairness I suspect that Kubel wanted out as Target Field was not kind to his numbers which will look even better in Arizona. Get ready in a year or two to hear about the one that got away this year. It won't be Cuddyer or Nathan. People will be talking about Jason Kubel (the new Ortiz) and say "Remember when he used to play in Minnesota..sure would be nice to have someone like that on the team."

Twins 2012 season outlook

Baseball is a funny game. In 2011 the Minnesota Twins ended up a single loss short of 100 (63-99) which has many fans, writers and bloggers thinking that the stars will have to all align just right for the Twins to have any chance of fielding a playoff caliber team in 2012. And of course it's hard to argue that point. So far the moves the Twins have made have been small ones and while most people seem to think they are good ones, you would be crazy to think that signing Jamey Carroll will turn the Twins into a 90 win team.

That being said I think many people are forgetting something. As recently as 2010 the Twins actually won 94 games (94-68) and that team features many of the same players who were part of the 2011 disaster. I started thinking about this the other day and wondered if maybe the Twins are closer to being a contender then most people are giving them credit for. So what were the big differences between 2010 and 211?

• Health -- Everyone on the 2011 Twins team seemed to be injured at some point. While Justin Morneau was injured for much of 2010, he was joined on the DL by Joe Mauer and pretty much everyone else in 2011.
• Bullpen -- It went from one of the best to one of the worst. This is the area that really did change personnel wise between the two years. I fully believe the front office would have made some trades to improve it in 2011 but the team got off to such a terrible start that they never had a chance.
• Depth -- The Twins just didn't have any young players that could step in and play at a major league level in 2011 and this hurt them.
• Starters -- While the group of starters was basically the same, they sure looked like a different group. Especially Francisco Liriano who showed glimpses of being an ace in 2010 and looked like a guy who could loose his rotation spot in 2011.
• Defense -- Blame it on the lack of depth perhaps which was showcased due to the injuries but it's hard to defend the 2011 defense. Really it wasn't spectacular in 2010 either but it was at least average.

So looking at this list a few things are obvious. As most people have correctly stated, the Twins need their star players to stay healthy. This takes some luck but can probably be said of any team that is not the Yankees. Next the Twins need more depth and this is the issue they've seemingly been addressing the most this off-season. Finally they need better pitching. The bullpen needs to be improved (still waiting on that) but more then that they need their core starting pitchers who will remain mostly the same as the past few years, to bounce back. Someone needs to have a big season in that rotation.

So I guess the in a way stars kind of do have to align but they've done it before and I for one wouldn't be surprised to see that happen. This main group has done it before and looking back over the past several seasons, 2011 seems to be the year that is unusual. For sure they still need some pitching help but so far I'm impressed with the minor improvements they've made. Don't be shocked it this team can return to being a contender without any big moves.

Too many outfielders: A good problem for the Twins

Denard Span has created a nice problem for the Minnesota Twins. He’s played so well since last being called up to the majors that when Michael Cuddyer get's off the disabled list the Twins will have some tough decisions to make on who get’s to play in the outfield.

Span has easily been one of the biggest reasons for the teams recent success. He’s been an on base machine and has really been taking good at bats now at the top of the line up. Additionally he’s played spectacular defense taking away plenty of hits and saving some big runs. Watching a game with Detroit announcers a few weeks back they raved on and on about how much ground the Twins cover in the outfield between Span and Carlos Gomez. On one ball hit to the gap they actually declared it a double and then Span ended up catching it. Needless to say only a fool would send him back down to the minors and it’s becoming very apparent that he needs to be in the starting lineup.

The problem is that the lineup could really use another good right-handed bat with some pop and Cuddyer fits that bill nicely when he’s healthy. He’ll definitely be starting again which means somebody is out of a starting job. Some have suggested that Delmon Young should be the odd man out but he has actually been hitting well now despite a rough start to the season and like Cuddyer provides a right handed bat that can drive the ball. The more realistic option that has been discussed would be demoting Gomez in center field. He’s struggled big time lately and could use more work in the minors. The issue is that he’s arguably can have the biggest impact on the team if he works through his offensive slump and as stated above having him and Sapn in the outfield means not much hits the ground. Of course the other option is to use Cuddyer at DH but there’s not much time for him there as Jason Kubel and Craig Monroe are already splitting time there.

Some people have also suggested that the Twins try to trade one of their outfielders but I don’t see that as likely. All of the them are young and don’t have much of a track record so I doubt they’d get much back. Cuddyer is the exception but having been injured most of the year he’s not going anywhere either. The truth is I think they are better off with all of them anyway.

So what’s my solution? It’s actually pretty simple. Shift Cuddyer back to third base for the rest of the season. Contrary to popular opinion he never was quite that bad over there when they played him there previously and I can’t imagine he’ll be any worse defensively then Mike Lamb. This would solve a lot of problems as it would give the Twins an upgrade offensively at third with a canon of an arm and in my opinion fields the best possible lineup. Cuddyer probably prefers to play right field but he seems like a team player who would do what’s necessary for the betterment of team. Of course injuries happen and if someone get’s hurt then he’s ready to step in. It’s not like Brian Buscher has done that bad of job at third but somebody has to go to the bench. It’s definitely a good problem to have and with all these guys being so young sure makes the future exciting to think about.