Signs of Distress and Cheer in the Twinkies Season

So for the first time since 2001, I am greeting a baseball post-season without a team to cheer for. The Minnesota Twins, after three straight American League Central Division championships, finished third this year behind the early peaking White Sox and the late surging Indians. It was a season mirred with injuries, inconsistent play by young players, and lack of run scoring. The Twins will now have the 'benefit' of an extra month to figure out how to improve the team for 2006. It is easy to forgive a team whose entire payroll is less than one-fifth that of the Yankees, but their continued success the last three years and the sucess of the Indians (with an even smaller payroll) shows that you cannot just fall back on the easy excuses. So here, as I see it are the most encouraging and and discouraging factors from the 2005 season.

5 Most Encouraging things from the 2005 Season

1. The Starting Four. Johan Santana followed his first Cy Young Year by leading the AMerican League in ERA again and leading the major league in Strikeouts again. If the rest of his team had provided a bit more run support, there would not be any question of him repeating. As is, with Santana's 16-7, Bartolo Colon's 20 wins doesn't make him feel too secure. Brad Radke had another excellent season ruined by poor run support but his ERA was around 4 the whole year, he hit 200 innings and almost always got through the 6th inning. Carlos Silva had an excellent year despite some injuries and managed a 3.44 ERA with a 9-8 record (and poor run support). Number 4 started Kyle Lohse turned in an excellent second half, salvaging a season and bringing his ERA down to 4.18 and win total up to 9. THis is good because it either a) gives the Twins confidence in the talented but streaky young pitcher or b) makes him good enough to trade and actually get something back for.

2. Behind the Mask. Joe Mauer was everything advertised in his true rookie year. He called great games as a catcher and lead the team in batting average .294 and on base percentage and even stole 13 bases (as a cather!). His back-up, Mike Redmond, an off-season pickup from the Marlins, was always there when you needed him and even hit .311. No one misses Henry Blanco and his below the Mendoza line average.

3. Getting to the End of the Game. The bullpen had another great year for the Twinkies. Joe Nathan proved last year was not a fluke with 43 saves and 94 ks in 70 innings. Juan Rincon (2.45, 75 games) had another solid year as the set up man and youngster Jesse Crain (2.71, 75 games) leap frogged JC Romero (3.47, 68 games) for the 7th inning though they both had solid years. Rookie Matt Guerrier (3.39, 43 games) proved far more dependable in the bullpen than he ever was as a starter in the minor league system. And Terry Mullholland (4.27, 43 games) at 90 years old was even better than last year in his roll on the clean up crew.

4. The New Pitcher. September call up Scott Baker, seemingly part of every preseason trade deal the Twins didn't make, showed why they didn't want to get rid of him. 9 starts, 3-2 record, 3.35 ERA and opponents batting .241. He looks sure fire to make the rotation next year as the number 4 or 5 spot.

5. Gardy Goes On. You can't list the good qualities of the Twins without a shout-out to manager Ron Gardenhire, who, despite not winning the division for the first time, kept the team together through all the trials and pulled out the above .500 season when there seemed to be nothing to play for. Gardenhire can make monsters out of mice so I am sure he and #1 general manager Terry Ryan will come up with something to help us next year.

5 Most Discouraging Things about the 2005 season.

1. The Infield. After years of having one of the most dependable in baseball, the Twins returned only Luis Rivas for 2005, and he was in the minors by July. How bad were they? By the end of the year, they stillhadn't definitively decided on a starter at second or short and Cuddyer was starting at third by default. Morneau at first seemed to be starting based on his potential, but that was all it was. Instead of the promised first 30 hr season by a Twin since Kent Hrbek, Morneau gave us 17 and a batting average under .240.

2. The Outfield. The trio and their back up all had dissapointing seasons. Jacque Jones may have lead the Twins in HRs, but his average slipped even further away from the .300 it was 2002-03, down to .249. He's a free agent this season, don't expect to see him in a Twins uniform next year. Shannon Stewart had a disappointing season, finishing at .274, his first below .300 since 1998. More importantly, his OBA, the reason the Twins got him, dropped 60 points. Lew Ford the DH and fill in guy had a break out season in 2004. In 2005 he just looked broke, batting .264 with only 7 hrs. And Torii Hunter, fan favorite and most important member of the team, went down with an injury in July. But even at the time he was only batting .269.

3. Joe Mays. This man and his 8.5 million dollar salary gets a spot all to himself. Back in 2001 he went 17-13 with a 3.16 ERA. The Twins rewarded him with a four year contract (despite his 5.56 ERA the year before). He followed with a 4-8, 5.38 season the ended halfway with an injury. He came back in 2003 and was so bad - 8-8, 6.30 - that he was dropped from the rotation. He then was paid 8.5 million to have TOmmy John Surgery and not play for a year. And then came this year as the 5th starter, 6-10, 5.65, and dropped from the rotation. The Twins have the option on him for 2006. Its too bad they don't have the option of getting some of their wasted money back.

4. The Minor League System. Other than the aforementioned Scott Baker, after years of being able to deliver whatever the Twins needed when they needed it, Rochester and New Britain looked poorly equipped to help this year, maybe even 'tapped out.' Luis Rodriguez, Francisco Liriano, Jason Bartlett, Dave Gassner, Terry Tiffee, Travis Bowyer, Michael Ryan, and Brent Abernathy never seemed to get it together in the bigs. The lone success, 30 year old major league debuter Glen Williams, hit .425 in 40 ABs before a season ending injury.

5. The Cleveland Indians. They're young, they're cheap, and they look like the team of the future in the AL Central. THat's bad news for the Twin who have a lot of rebuilding to do.