After getting no-hit by Jared Weaver and swept by scuffling Angel’s, manager Ron Gardenhire looked tired and dejected as he declared it was a “terrible day for Twins baseball.”
Although the team overall looks decent on paper, they have come out of the gate with a Major League worst 6-18 record. Meanwhile, there looks to be little help in AAA Rochester, where the club has hit poorly, with only a marginally better record at 9-16.
Perhaps most perplexing is that the roster has remained relatively healthy, minus a season-ending injury to top-tier starter, Scott Baker, and several day-to-day injuries. Additionally, newcomers have preformed reasonably well overall. Josh Willimgham has been scolding the ball, hitting .325 with a team-leading 5 home runs. Jamey Carroll hasn’t hit well, but has made up for it by solidifying infield defense and maintaining a respectable on-base percentage, while Ryan Doumit has showed better-than-expected defense at catcher. Additionally, Jared Burton and Jeff Gray have so far proven to be bargains in a much-improved bullpen.
It seems changes may need to be made, particularly in what has been an atrocious starting rotation. Liam Hendriks looked promising early on, but it now appears he may need more seasoning in the minor leagues. Anthony Swarzak, Matt Maloney and Brian Duensing were all starting pitchers last year, and would be able to pitch respectably as No. 5 starters. Maloney recently drew ire for holding runners poorly, and had one terrible outing that ballooned his ERA.
The “core four” in the starting rotation are Carl Pavano, Nick Blackburn, Jason Marquis and Francisco Liriano. None has pitched consistently yet, but they are all veterans with multi-million dollar contracts. Pavano may have the most trade value, but the team would certainly wait until late in the year to trade their default “Ace.”
The Twins have held steady with 13 pitchers, a huge number for most teams. They recently promoted third catcher, Drew Butera, at the expense of little-used backup third baseman, Sean Burroughs. This comes shortly after losing 2B/3B infielder, Luke Hughes, to waivers, leaving only Trevor Plouffe as a super-utility infielder. Plouffe needs playing time and has high potential, but may be struggling to adjust to his role while only batting 4-for-36 (.111 BA). And with Danny Valencia needing to take time off with a sore back, it left the team with a predicament if something happened to another infielder. Drew Butera would likely need to play 3B in an emergency.
Meanwhile, it seems that the team may have rushed 1B Chris Parmelee, who is hitting only .220 in 59 at-bats, with a ridiculously low total of two RBI’s. It seems he might be entering a sophomore slump, common among young hitters once pitchers stop throwing them fastballs. The team also found out the hard way that newcomer, Clete Thomas, has major holes in hits swing, with 16 strikeouts and no walks in only 28 at-bats. One wonders if switching Burroughs to first base and keeping Ben Revere in the outfield would have made a difference over the past couple weeks.
Perhaps the best thing the team needs now in a change of pace, so hopefully a weekend at his daughter’s graduation will cool down Ron Garenhire, and the team will be able to loosen up under interim manager, Scott Ullger, in Seattle. The good news is that the Twins have had a very tough early schedule, and the American League Central as a whole has been very marginal to start the year, with the young Cleveland Indians leading the pack at 12-10.
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