DanFordWasThe Man

It's an interesting exercise, and it does provide an indicator of the depth of a team's overall loss of win potential due to injuries. But as others have noted, there are a lot variables that make it pretty limiting. The quality of back-up options, being one of them. Another, where the injuries are located on the roster. Loosing 3-4 of your starters may only add up to 5-6 of WAR, but the effect is greater than if the injuries were more evenly spread out over the roster position-wise.

True. While we have a lot of very passionate fans, I would have to agree Minnesotans as a group tend to care about a ton of other things in life more than baseball. On the other hand, Josh Donaldson doesn't care that much about anything else other than Josh Donaldson.

Emmanuel Rodriquez started slow last year, but finished strong. What if he just doesn't like the cold? Whether it's the cold, or just the time to get the timing kicked in, Em has a recent history of starting a bit tepid, but turning it on come June and beyond to make the year end numbers one Twin fans can dream and drool on. One only has to look at the middle of June last year to see this pattern. On June 15th, he was batting .197/.352/.380 Not horrible, but not top prospect levels, either. But the year earlier, down in Florida, aka the Sunshine State, he was batting .272/.492/.551 on June 8th, before his season was cut short. This season in Wichita (in a generally warmer league) he's off to a red hot start, batting .409 with a 1.441 OPS as I type this. Yes, I know, it's a SS. But something to watch. As is he, for sure.