YourHouseIsMyHouse

The conclusion of the Twins-Red Sox series marks the 1/4 point of the 2013 MLB season. Minnesota has truly had a strange and unexpected season thus far, but, as we all know, small sample sizes can have that effect! Should we be more surprised at how well the Twins have performed as a team? Or at whom has performed? Some of the success stories from last year have faded and at the same time unproven players are exceeding expectations. Let's see how our roster fares! Catcher: Joe Mauer Significant Stats: .349/.431/.500 2 HRs, 13 RBI, 24 R, 15 2B, 55%CS, 35K Mauer is a good player. Who knew? His Batting Average is the 3rd best in the American League and his On Base Percentage is 2nd to Miguel Cabrera (of all people). What's new though, or has been re-newed, is his elite defense behind home plate. Mauer has been very effective at framing pitches and it's plainly observable during ball games. Joe is throwing out 55% of baserunners which is over double the league average of 25% for MLB catchers. Mauer is also sitting at 2.0 WAR and I believe that puts him on pace for 8.0 wins above replacement for the season after some advanced formulas and algorithms on my behalf. He's even besting rival, Buster Posey (1.7), in that regard. Despite the positives, Mauer went through a tough stretch and is striking out a lot more than usual. Grade: A- First Base: Justin Morneau Significant Stats: .297/.333/.412 2HRs, 28 RBI, 18 R, 24Ks Morneau is hitting the ball well, but not very hard. He' #7 in Batting Average for starting first baseman, but his OPS ranks him #17. The RBI production does put him on pace for over 100, so without the power he's still been able to do his job in the cleanup spot. His discipline looks better with strikeouts in 16.2% of his ABs; although, Morneau can't restrain himself from the slider low and away. I've personally enjoyed his defense as well, especially since there's always the occasional errant, rushed throw from shortstop, Pedro Florimon. Grade: B+ Second Base: Brian Dozier Significant Stats: .217/.258/.288 1HR, 3SB, 3 CS, It's great to see Brian Dozier getting a second chance. He looks much better at second base this season and Dozier has even amassed .6 dWAR from his new home. His range factor is the highest for all second baseman too. Unfortunately, he's not hitting. To make matters worse, Gardenhire continually bats him at the top of the lineup. Dozier's base running hasn't been enough of an advantage to keep him up there either. Maybe he'd find more success batting lower and the team would as well, but that's completely opinionated thinking. While Dozier's been above replacement level so far, it doesn't look like he'll be much of a serviceable starter. For the time being though, he's cheap and doesn't kill us much. Grade: D+ Third Base: Trevor Plouffe Significant Stats: .242/.311/.425 4HRs, 15 RBI, 16 R, .944Fld% Plouffe's bat has been an advantage at third base, but as I'm sure you're familiar, his glove has not. He's been below average and who knows if we'll see improvement. This year, he hasn't caught fire just yet with the bat. If he does, expect everyone to swoon to him(including myself). He's really sort of in the neutral zone, so something it wouldn't take much to push him either way. I personally like having him as a stopgap solution at 3B for now. Grade: C+ Shortstop: Pedro Florimon, Jr. Significant Stats: .247/.314/.377 2HRs, 4SBs, .975Fld% Pedro Florimon doesn't get the appreciation he deserves. Albeit, maybe he hasn't deserved it just yet.

He's not talking about the Pence trade to the Giants. He's talking about when Pence was traded to the Phillies from Houston. That netted the Astros Jarred Cosart and Jonathan Singleton who were both widely considered top 50 prospects at the time. They got another pitcher as part of the deal too.

Fantastic day as always!

I enjoy these reads. Please continue posting them because they're great!

I don't think Albers is anything either, but we all thought the same thing about Cole De Vries last season. They would both be the same age at the time of their callup. Plus, Albers has a fantastic record of success in the minor leagues. Much better than Cole De Vries, in fact.

He's some kind of player.

I thought the same thing with Andy Dalton, but look how that worked out. Different sport, but still.

I would expect that teams didn't plan as much for him as they did with Doc Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, and Joe Blanton. He had an advantage with his youth because it makes you more of a mystery man. Hitters had not had experience against him and that weighs in the pitcher's favor. Worley's Road WHIP has also been very high the past two years with a 1.42 in 2011 an a 1.359 WHIP in 2012. Quite simply, he's never been a good pitcher away from Citizen's Bell Park. His 2012 away ERA of 2.98 is a tad misleading with a high WHIP. The transition from the NL to the AL is also difficult on some pitchers. Losing the pitcher as a batter gives the pitcher more legitimate hitters to pitch against (usually). Worley's overall 4.20 ERA last year was pretty unlucky though (.352 Babip), so there was a bit of legitimacy to thinking he could improve on his numbers last season. There are a few things considered here, but none that I see as significant. The reason why he's regressed wasn't hugely predictable given the stats. It's more of an issue of him losing it and lacking a 3rd pitch.

That's a good question. I'd say 1 Tavaras/Miller 2 Machado/Bundy 3 Goldschmidt/Skaggs 4 Sano/Buxton 5 Profar/Olt 6 Zunino/Walker

To play devil's advocate, it's not called a rotaytion. There's not even a 'y' in it. A ROTatiOn (roto) makes more sense. I agree with your last statement. Runs batted ins are a pet peeve of mine too. Thankfully all the bloggers here use RBI correctly as plural and singular. Just saw yesterday in the newspaper that they added the dreaded 's' though.

Sickels wrote this gem about Byron yesterday. It has quite a bit of material that you only get from an in-person view. He says in the article that he'd probably have him as a top 10 prospect now; top 5 after some graduations. Must read for fans who have not been able to watch him play like myself. Prospect Report: Byron Buxton, OF, Minnesota Twins - Minor League Ball

There's nothing that makes me think Bryant is on that level. He's on par with Frazier, Stewart, and Meadows as the 2nd tier.

CF Buxsy LF Hicksy C Mauersy 3B (Miggy) Sano RF Arcy 1B Walky DH (Travy) Harrison SS Polanco 2B (Eddie) Rosario Jorge Polanco kind of ruins it.

Buxton had a monster game May 12th, but the past two days he's gone 1-7 with a walk, 4 runs, and 2 stolen bases. His OPS for the last 10 games is only .708.

The Twins are the worst fielding team in the AL? Considering they are #6 for Fielding % in the entire MLB, that's surprising and questionable.

Nate Roberts with the Miracle now, huh. That team is so scary now.

I think it's a bit unfortunate. There isn't anyone with a significant amount of speed that can be used in that spot besides Hicks who would be better at leadoff. Arcia would be a good #2 if he can do what he's capable of. He's got the contact skills, a little bit of pop, and is only a below average runner. He'll also draw more walks when pitchers start respecting him.

Gardy cannot keep batting Brian Dozier and his .267 OBP as the leadoff hitter. It's been said before, but the only viable leadoff option for the team is starting to look like Joe Mauer. The Twins should be giving the most ABs to the best batters on the team. By pushing Dozier back, Mauer would have the same guys batting ahead of him as far as RBI situations go anyway. I feel the Twins have a slightly better chance to win by doing this. What are your thoughts about how the Twins are handling the leadoff role? 1. Mauer 2. Arcia 3. Willingham 4. Morneau 5. Plouffe 6. Doumit 7. Dozier 8. Hicks 9. Florimon

Pure skepticism as far as I'm concerned. Very few of us have seen Schmoe pitch much since his recent signing out of Cocomo.

Pelfrey's sinker was fantastic last start, so much that he was using it exclusively against a few batters. He'll need to continue from last time to establish some ground in the rotation. Worley has been the worst starter for sure.

He's got no chance as a starter and we have plenty of long relief options that are much better. At best, he's a LOOGY. Hernandez could probably do whatever Tyler Robertson was supposed to.

I want Kohl Stewart. I think he's got some of the best upside in the draft and we need pitching prospects at the lower levels to "reload". It will only take 1-2 years before May, Meyer, and Gibson are up and Berrios (maybe Baxendale and Duffey) would be the only good pitcher we have. Not only does it satisfy positional need (the last thing you draft for), he's definitely one of the best talents available. A 18 year old who throws 96 with good looking out pitch (that isn't the famed Twins changeup) just seems to good to pass up.

We were talking about predictions. The OP posting who would've thunk that we'd be good this year based on last year's results. Last year Jamey Carroll was extremely productive and it was predictable that he wouldn't be this season based on a lessoned role. I'm saying not having 2012 Carroll on the 2013 team hurts the Twins. In the same way, we lost 2012 Denard Span. Also, the Twins are back to .500. Who would've thunk the offense would explode like this?

I'm about as pissed as Gardy, but at Gardy not Hicks. Nothing is wrong with that and he has got to go if he's going to constantly pick on and bully our younger players for petty things. Gardenfire please

Gibson pitched great, but he did it against the Mud Hens. It takes a little value away that he was practically pitching against a AA team.