What They Need: Minnesota Twins – Power, POWER!
Joe Mauer got a little MVP love from the BBWA
Before the 2008 season, a common grievance among Twinkie faithful was how little they got in Johan Santana trade, and almost lost in the gloominess were the contracts to Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. And while in a perfect world, the Twins would’ve kept their former Ace, things didn’t turn out so bad after all. They did challenge for the pennant with a young and agile team, and both of their young stars were among the top four in AL MVP voting.
Think about it, the Twins needed to win one more game than the White Sox won to go to the playoffs. Had they let Livan Hernandez go sooner, had Liriano been available earlier, had Carlos Gomez been a little more patient at the plate, had Delmon Young hit two percentage points higher; they might have gone to the playoffs. Sure all of that is in the past, but the key to 2009 is the realistic possibility of all these scenarios coming together because there’s a core group of players that already produce good numbers.
The Twins were quick, they stole 102 bases, and they were on base a lot, putting up a .340 OBP, both good for fifth in the AL; they had the third best batting average, and scored and produced more runs than the White Sox did. So what do they need?
Well, there was a noticeable absence of power. As much as it’s true that the White Sox rely on home runs to win, the Twins didn’t make it over the hump due to the dearth of long balls: they hit a measly 111, good for dead last in the AL.
Lots of running, but no long ball.
Lest we think 2008 was a fluke, the Twins have been in home run cellar-ville for the past four seasons. Last time they hit more than 150 home runs was 2004, and guess who won the division that year…
The good news: The Twins are on the case. They’ve been looking to upgrade the left side of the infield, giving Adrian Beltre some consideration and being mentioned as possible destinations for Garrett Atkins if the Rockies decide to trade him, but all signs point to Casey Blake as their choice at third, and Orlando Cabrera as a possible upgrade at short.
As far as pitching is concerned, their starters were relatively stable, with all five regulars earning double-digit wins; now that Francisco Liriano is healthy, one full season of his services will only improve their rotation. If anything, they might need one or two more bullpen arms to pitch in the sixth and seventh innings before turning the ball over to Dennys Reyes and Joe Nathan.
Now, the million-dollar question is (quite literally), can the Twins afford bigger moves? In a word, no. Frugality is the Twins’ game, and they’ve come close to mastering it, going to the playoffs four times since 2002. Yes, there is a new stadium being built, but it’ll be ready for the 2010 season, so until then, don’t expect anything more than what we’ve already used to from the Twinkies.
Soon enough Twins fans, soon enough...
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:57 pm
[...] November 23 – Minnesota Twins [...]
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November 24th, 2008 at 3:15 am
Ok, maybe I’m slow…but if they scored more runs than the White Sox last year, how is more power going to help? If they are scoring more runs than the White Sox wouldn’t it be smarter to focus on defense or pitching, not scoring EVEN more runs than the Sox?
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November 24th, 2008 at 9:27 am
True, Justin. But they already have good pitching and good defense. And they don’t have to necessarily score more runs than the White Sox if we’re going to see a repeat performance like this year. Keep in mind they missed out of the playoffs by a game. A marginal improvement would’ve sufficed – besides, the White Sox lead the league in home runs, which is an indication that a team that can field a more balanced team, could win the division.
I think the Twins are a home-run hitting third baseman away from that.
But let’s not forget about the Tigers or the Indians. Overall, the AL Central was a mediocre division, so it’s obviously hard to tell what 2009 will be like.
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November 24th, 2008 at 9:53 am
I caught myself plainly stating that the Twins have the defense with out checking into it… so I did.
They were fourth in errors committed. Tied with the Sox. So, arguably, no, they didn’t have the defense.
Brian Buschner played 60 games at third and Mike Lamb played 51. Buschner had a lower fielding percentage than Adrian Beltre and Casey Blake. While Lamb had the best fielding percentage out of the four, he signed with the Brewers.
While the Twins didn’t have better defensive numbers than the White Sox, signing a player like Blake (which hasn’t happened) would arguably improve their defense.
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November 24th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Alejandro,
I wouldn’t be so quick to judge the Twins defense on errors alone. They play in a bigger ballpark and on turf where fielding is more difficult. Their defensive outfield especially Gomez in center was superior to the Sox.
I agree with you on the power. When the Twins get out of that dome in a smaller stadium they are going to need guys to hit home runs. They most likely won’t be able to manufacture runs like they have inside of that dome.
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February 7th, 2009 at 10:42 am
[...] Crede, the roster is pretty much set. A couple of months ago, I wrote in my What They Need that the Twins were a few very realistic scenarios away from going to the playoffs in 2008. Scenarios that involved many of the young players they still have. But the need then, as [...]
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