Thread: Not Too Shabby

Since that dud first series in Baltimore, the Twins are now 4-5. They won a series against a pretty good Angels team, got swept by the Rangers who have basically been unstoppable, and are now guaranteed at least a split against the Yankees in New York.

Considering how bad they've looked at times, that's pretty good. Offense is looking legit. Really wish they had more pitching.

Originally Posted by Nick Nelson

Since that dud first series in Baltimore, the Twins are now 4-5. They won a series against a pretty good Angels team, got swept by the Rangers who have basically been unstoppable, and are now guaranteed at least a split against the Yankees in New York.

Considering how bad they've looked at times, that's pretty good. Offense is looking legit. Really wish they had more pitching.

Should have at least won one game against the Rangers, Perkins was clearly not himself, and they seemed to have left 30+ people on base over that series.

Offense will be fine, and could be one of the better ones in the league if everyone stays somewhat healthy. Pitching.....errr....will be interesting to say the least. Blackburn getting healthy, and Liriano pulling his head out of his ass would be a nice start to getting the rotation in a place where people could count on them.

Harrison Ford is 1/4 Jewish...Not too shabby!

Yes, pitching will be the ruin of this team with mere 'serviceable' starters and one of the worst bullpens in recent memory.

Don't need great pitching, Capps and sp can get the job done.

This was a nice win. Real happy to see Marquis get a W after what he's been through with his daughter, and thrilled to see Justin Morneau look like, well, Justin Morneau.

The bats are coming alive, but yeah, it's hard to see how we have enough pitching to really go anywhere. Being at best average defensively doesn't exactly help that cause either.

This team is at least 1 top-of-the-rotation starter and 1 quality arm in the bullpen away from being truly dangerous but I think a 15-20 win improvement over last year and a second-place finish in a weak division are achievable.

Getting Liriano straightened out could honestly be the difference this season. The difference between him being dominant every fifth day and him being absolutely horrible (and chewing up the bullpen) could be huge. I'll admit, I have almost no faith he'll turn it around, but boy, it seems like this team is THIS close.

Originally Posted by John Bonnes

Getting Liriano straightened out could honestly be the difference this season. The difference between him being dominant every fifth day and him being absolutely horrible (and chewing up the bullpen) could be huge. I'll admit, I have almost no faith he'll turn it around, but boy, it seems like this team is THIS close.

John, I'm new to this and Ive respected your posts until reading this one. This team is NOT close. At best, this team is ANNOYING in that on a good day, they may string enough hits to beat a real team. This team has three very good full time players and no good pitchers. Thinking that Liriano could "Straighten out" is like thinking that (insert absurd comparison here).

Originally Posted by TwinsFanLV

(insert absurd comparison here).

There is no way I will pass this by without giving it a shot!!!

(Justin Morneau is the Carnival Barker of Canadian Power)
(Jamey Carroll is the Orangle Julius of 38 Year old Shortstops)
(Josh Willingham is the Beagle of Journeyman Power Hitters)
(Joe Mauer is the Steve Buscemi of Baseball)

OK... I tried and failed.

Originally Posted by TwinsFanLV

John, I'm new to this and Ive respected your posts until reading this one. This team is NOT close. At best, this team is ANNOYING in that on a good day, they may string enough hits to beat a real team. This team has three very good full time players and no good pitchers. Thinking that Liriano could "Straighten out" is like thinking that (insert absurd comparison here).

The offense will be better than last year, probably a lot better. The defense will be better because they have competent defenders through the middle of the field. I think there are way too many question marks to consider the Twins "this close", but there is more talent there than TwinsFanLV is saying. I know that it is almost unknowable who will pitch well and who will wash out. The Twins look to have a bunch of 4th and 5th starters in their rotation and unknows in the bullpen. However, given good health to the back end of the 'pen, I think there are some guys who can step in and be proficient--Burton looks like he might be pretty good, Maloney had a nice spring and despite a high ERA, his WHIP is good, Waldrop looked pretty good in the spring and Burnett has been very good so far in low leverage situations. Will all of the new guys come through? Really doubtful, but there is also some help at Rochester, so I think the bullpen will be OK.

Although we trail the Tiger's by 5 games already, we are only 2 out of the wild card race. I hope I can repeat that in July.

Originally Posted by John Bonnes

Getting Liriano straightened out could honestly be the difference this season. The difference between him being dominant every fifth day and him being absolutely horrible (and chewing up the bullpen) could be huge. I'll admit, I have almost no faith he'll turn it around, but boy, it seems like this team is THIS close.

I love the Twins, too, but I can't see this team as "this close" either. I think the offense classifies as "this close", assuming this close means being a playoff-ready offense. But even if Liriano got straightened out - and that seems like a big if right now - what else is getting us close? Baker is out, Blackburn is ache-y and even if he weren't, the improvements he seemed to be making would turn him into a #2-3 pitcher at best (compared to the #4-5 that he historically has been). Pavano is an innings eater and nice to have around, but also not a true #1. Hendriks? Swarzak? I just don't see where they are close on the pitching side.

Hendriks was solid in his debut, hopefully he can keep that up

A pitching staff of:
Pavano-Blackburn-Hendriks-Marquis-Diamond and Swarzak, Manship, Burnett, Duensing, Liriano, Perkins, Capps might be able to be good enough. Maybe Bowden and Slama are involved too.

Originally Posted by shanewahl

A pitching staff of:
Pavano-Blackburn-Hendriks-Marquis-Diamond and Swarzak, Manship, Burnett, Duensing, Liriano, Perkins, Capps might be able to be good enough. Maybe Bowden and Slama are involved too.

The problem with that rotation is that the best case scenario you have 1 #3 and 4 #4's. I think Hendriks can become a #2/#3 guy eventually, but he's still pretty young/raw.

I think they'd have a hell of a time catching the Tigers no matter what, but who knows, maybe if a few teams struggle they could stay in the WC #2 hunt for a while.

I'm going to be contrarian on the offense. Despite a few outbursts, the offense this year has been pathetic. There is only 1 team in the league that has scored fewer runs than the Twins so far, the budget strapped A's. They are still extremely vulnerable to lefties, as they have been it seems forever. Isn't it strange to see lefties that have no pedigree coming into high leverage situations over and over again, like you've seen against the Twins (Ross, Rapada, Boone)? The Twins need another guy that can hit lefties in the top part of their order to keep teams honest. At least Gardenhire FINALLY put a RH between Mauer and Morneau, it's been good to watch the Yankees burn through a couple guys early as they deal with that, something not too common against the Twins over the few years.

Originally Posted by whydidnt

I'm going to be contrarian on the offense. Despite a few outbursts, the offense this year has been pathetic. There is only 1 team in the league that has scored fewer runs than the Twins so far, the budget strapped A's. They are still extremely vulnerable to lefties, as they have been it seems forever. Isn't it strange to see lefties that have no pedigree coming into high leverage situations over and over again, like you've seen against the Twins (Ross, Rapada, Boone)? The Twins need another guy that can hit lefties in the top part of their order to keep teams honest. At least Gardenhire FINALLY put a RH between Mauer and Morneau, it's been good to watch the Yankees burn through a couple guys early as they deal with that, something not too common against the Twins over the few years.

All good points. However, if Mauer and Morneau continue to hit like this, I think the rest of the lineup will hit. And the cool thing about Willingham as the "new guy" is that he seems to be the one guy that can swim across the current and hit even if nobody else is.

I'd love to see them take this series from the Yankees tonight. But let's not get too excited if they do. This Yankees club has issues of their own - their core is getting old, Kuroda has not figured it out this year so far, and Hughes has been mostly terrible as a starter.

Pretty much all of the individual players are hitting (in terms of OPS+) average or way above average (with the exception of Doumit and Valencia). This leads me to believe that if they're scoring fewer runs that other teams it's because they have an unsustainably low BA with runners in scoring position. I was at the game where they must have stranded 15 runners. At this early point I would look more at the individual hitting prowess we're seeing rather than the number of runs scored.

The interesting thing so far is that they're hitting with one runner on.
1st: .278/.309/.444
2nd: .406/.486/.750
3rd: .455 /.538/.455

The trouble so far has come with multiple runners on. 0 For 7 With bases loaded, 1 run has scored. 2nd & 3rd: 9 Plate appearances, 2 runs scored, 1 hit (probably both runs on it). So on, etc. Unsustainably low is right.

Originally Posted by SpiritofVodkaDave

Should have at least won one game against the Rangers, Perkins was clearly not himself, and they seemed to have left 30+ people on base over that series.

Offense will be fine, and could be one of the better ones in the league if everyone stays somewhat healthy. Pitching.....errr....will be interesting to say the least. Blackburn getting healthy, and Liriano pulling his head out of his ass would be a nice start to getting the rotation in a place where people could count on them.

Considering that they left 15 guys on base for Saturday's game, 30 is probably not to far off.