While it’s rare for the Twins to make a
major mid-season acquisition, the recent signing of 30-year-old slugger, Kendrys Morales,
gives Twins fans hope that his bat and veteran leadership can spark the team in
a similar way that Orlando Cabrera did in 2009.
Regarded as one of the better offensive teams in Twins
history, 2009 featured career-years by Joe Mauer (.365 BA, 523 at-bats) and many Twins, although they struggled up
the middle with sub-par seasons by SS Nick Punto (.228 BA, 359 at-bats) and 2B
Alexi Castilla (.202 BA in 228 at-bats).
On July 31, 2009, the Twins acquired the 34-year-old Cabrera
from the Oakland A’s for a lower-level minor league prospect. The team was
52-51, and in third place in the AL Central, two games behind the Detroit
Tigers. After the trade, the team improved to 35-25 down the stretch, edging
the Tigers for the AL Central at the end of the year.
Individually, Cabrera hit .289 with 5 home runs and 36 RBIs
in 242 at-bats. Solid yet unspectacular numbers, while his leadership and energy
down the stretch may have been more of a boost than the numbers themselves.
While the 2014 Twins aren’t quite as strong as 2009,
they are still hovering around a .500 record and only 3.5 games behind the
Detroit Tigers. Morales is also a much more potent offensive threat than
Cabrara was, and there are nearly 100 more games to play.
Morales has a 162-game average of 27 home runs, 90 RBI and .281 BA.
If the current Twins team can improve down the stretch in a
similar way as the 2014 team, there may be an outside shot that postseason
baseball returns to Minnesota.
