Target Field is a beautiful home ballpark. Ron Gardenhire is a very very good manager. Joe Mauer is the best offensive catcher in the game. Fransisco Liriano is on many people’s
This is a very cool sign at the Twins home stadium (Target Field)
top 10 starters lists. Delmon Young realized his potential last year. And Carl Pavano has one of the best mustaches in the game. Whats not to like about this team this year? Maybe the fact that they have failed to win the AL Pennant since 1991 despite making the playoffs six times since 2002. Maybe their name (How manly do they feel being called the Twins? Like come on, every warm blooded American man thinks hot chicks before Minnesota. But, I’m sure Jason Kubel does not mind – dude is a man’s man). We know they’ll be good this year; they always are. How good though?Projected Lineup:
- Alexi Casilla (SS)
- Tsuyoshi Nishioka (2B)
- Joe Mauer (C)
- Justin Morneau (1B)
- Delmon Young (LF)
- Jason Kubel (DH)
- Michael Cuddyer (RF)
- Danny Valencia (3B)
- Denard Span (CF)
Projected Rotation:
- Francisco Liriano
- Carl Pavano
- Scott Baker
- Brian Duensing
- Kevin Slowey
Strengths:
Hitting: Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Delmon Young create a dangerous middle of the order. The Twins always play fundamentally sound baseball and with the power/talent of these three, this offense can be really good. Even if Japanese import Nishioka struggles in his first year, the Twins have plenty of speed in the lineup (Alexi Casilla has stolen 45 bases in a year, while Denard Span has 30 SB potential). The lineup has great balance and these guys will produce runs every night in Target Field.
Back end of the ‘Pen: Joe Nathan and Matt Capps are established Major League closers. A good problem faces Rod Gardenhire this year as he decides which guy to put in the closer role. Matt Capps had 42 saves with a 2.47 ERA while Nathan is coming off Tommy John surgery. Before that, Nathan was considered one of the game’s top closers (career 2.75 ERA and had at least 36 saves per year from 2004-09). Nathan has pitched three times this spring and has said “I’ll be ready for April 1st.” I bet he can’t wait to pitch in Target Field.
Target Field: Target Field is beautiful and the guys love playing there. It does not make much sense for it to be an open field. Its very cold in Minnesota and there’s likely still snow on the field by Opening Day. Its pretty though.
Weaknesses:
Pitching Depth: As deep as this lineup is, the pitching rotation is equally as undeep (Its my blog. I can say undeep if I want and yes, I know shallow is the opposite of deep but, it doesn’t fit my analogy). Scott Baker, Brian Duensing, and Kevin Slowey are pretty decent Major League starters but, if this team were to have a weakness, it would be these guys. Baker has a career 4.32 ERA, Duensing pitched very well but in his first full year as a starter has questions, and Slowey has a career .280 BAA. Couple this with Liriano’s injury problems, the Twins could have problems.
Where’s Brooklyn?: This team is just not as good without Brooklyn Decker. I mean she’s really attractive and this team should trade for her. She would make them better, for sure.
I mean how would she not make this team better.... Woah.
Storylines:
Liriano: Francisco Liriano has one of the game’s toughest sliders and is among the top SP when healthy. However, he has had injuries in the past and already sat out two weeks this spring with elbow soreness. If Liriano goes down, the pitching takes a serious hit. I’m not convinced Pavano is as good as he was last year and if he becomes the team’s number one, the Twins could suffer.
Morneau’s Mind: Dude is still suffering from concussion symptoms after his July 7th collision. Morneau played in his first game March 8th and seems more than a month off from playing everyday. With all the talk in the NFL of taking care of concussions, Morneau has to take his time coming back. The Twins’ success this season could depend on his health and production.
Target Field: Is Target Field going to suffer any sort of Sophomore slump? It’ll be interesting to see how it performs in year two.
Prediction:
94-68, 1st Place, Al Central. The Twins ran away with the division last year even after Morneau’s injury. I expect little less than that from them this year. The Twins have a very good team on paper, and Gardenhire always gets the best out of his players. Barring any crazy storylines (like Target field’s Sophomore slump) , this team will play in October and likely lose before the World Series because of a lack of top end starting pitching. Same story, new year for the Twins.
BOLD Predictions:
- Joe Mauer will regress further. He had only 9 HR a year ago but look for his average to drop to .310. When we’re talking about a catcher’s average dropping to .310, he’s really good.
- Danny Valencia will have a big year. I expect 24 HR and a .305 BA this year. He will move up the lineup and have a major impact (similar to Delmon Young last year).
- Delmon Young will slow down. 95 RBIs is realistic but he will have 18 HRs and a .270 BA.
- Francisco Liriano to the Yankees for Ivan Nova, Manny Banuelos, and Andrew Brackman. Liriano gets hurt in his first start for the Yankees and only pitches 65 innings in pinstripes.
And Now For Something Completely Different:
Since we’re powering through blogs after our Canada trip, look for less links/opinions the next few days.
That said, the end of the St. John’s game was disgusting.I hate that officials get the raw end of the stick so often but, there should be some system wherein they can make the right calls. Everytime.
Keep up with your current events.
Third Graders can shoot really really well. Sometimes.
How to remember stuff.
As always feel free to email us at offthebench@offthebenchbaseball.com
-Sean Morash
