Time to worry?
The Twins have now lost 6 of their last 8 games and find themselves as the most outscored team in baseball with a -29 run differential. Problems exist in all facets of the game for the Twins--inconsistent offense, poor starting pitching and atrocious bullpen work so far.
ERA's rise and fall quickly in April, but at this point the team ERA is 5.19 with Glen Perkins, Jesse Crain and Joe Nathan being the only guys under 5. Thursday night's seventh inning implosion in which Craig Breslow and R.A. Dickey failed to record an out through 5 batters was particularly ugly.
For the most part the Twins are just going to need to ride out the storm. Joe Mauer is expected to return in late April, which should provide a little more consistency to the offense. There's not much they can do with the starting rotation, but I think that will be fine, in time. In the bullpen, they could call up Jose Mijares to provide a bit of help, but that will only go so far. I have a feeling the team will struggle in that area all year. If they happen to find themselves in contention come mid-summer, trading for an upper-tier reliever has to be at the top of Bill Smith's list.
As bad as the Twins have been, they're only 2 games behind a 3-way tie for first between Kansas City, Chicago and Detroit.
Topics: Minnesota Twins, Joe Nathan, Craig Breslow, R.A. Dickey, Jesse Crain, Glen Perkins, Joe Mauer, Jose Mijares
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hhmmmApr 17, 2009 03:36:13 PM
Starting to wonder if these boys are going to wake up and play some baseball. The starting pitching has not been to bad but the bullpen has been terrible. Starting to not want to watch after the 5th or 6th inning.
KrisApr 17, 2009 06:15:39 PM
sdenfeld, The Twins are in a weaker division, so a poor two weeks isn't enough to write them off in my book. Obviously if they keep this up, contention will be a funny word :)
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Apr 17, 2009 11:47:27 AM
"If they happen to find themselves in contention come mid-summer, trading for an upper-tier reliever has to be at the top of Bill Smith's list."
I hope that is supposed to be a joke, because that's really funny in two ways. Contention? Ha. Trading for a player at the deadline? Ha Ha. This is the Twins we're talking about!