Thursday, June 22, 2006
The Future Looks Bright
I'm not exactly sure where to begin, since I have about a million Twins-related things to talk about.
Maybe I wasn't jinxing the team when I titled a recent post Turnaround time for the Twins? Of course, with the White Sox and Tigers continuing to play so well, a playoff berth this year is still unlikely. Regardless, having the young core of this team gell and play decent baseball is a win-win situation.
Maybe Ron Gardenhire heard all the Twins' bloggers calling for his head, or maybe Terry Ryan just shortened his leash. It makes you wonder, though. If the Twins had started the season with Bartlett at SS, anyone but Batista at 3B, and Liriano in the rotation (all moves many of us considered painfully obvious), would there be a 3-way race for the division right now? Maybe not quite, since Radke, Silva, Crain, and others got off to such a horrendous start. I guarantee the team wouldn't be 11 1/2 games behind Detroit, however.
The other major mistakes?
Gardy hasn't all of a sudden become a smart manager, though. What was Lohse doing pitching in an important situation last night?
It sounds like Torii Hunter wants to remain with the team- he's mentioned wanting to play in the new ballpark. While I previously endorsed trading him this year, I've changed my opinion. He does remain a player whose trade value is probably much higher than he's actually worth, and I don't want to see the Twins paying him his $12 million option next year.
However, he's the one Twin that all the little kids look up to, he still plays very good defense in center, and he brings some emotion to a team with a lot of mellow young dudes (Mauer, Morneau, Santana, etc.). Oh yeah- he get a big hit every now and then, too. If they can restructure an affordable deal with him, and if he promises to never throw a punch at Morneau again, I'd be in favor of holding onto Torii. Who's our other CF option? Ford? Way too inconsistent. Denard Span's hitting decently in AA, but he may never make the leap.
I had jotted down a bunch more Johan Santana stats the other day, marvelling at how well he's pitched, and what an incredible season he may end up having. Most of these numbers, jotted on various scraps of paper, don't make sense to me anymore, but there are a few interesting things. In his past 11 starts, look what he's done:
79 IP / 60 H / 7 BB / 91 K / 20 ER / 2.28 ERA / .848 WHIP
That's 10.37 strikeouts/ 9 innings pitched, and only .78 BB/9 IP! If he can keep that walk rate low, there's no telling what he can do.
Right now, Santana is on pace for stats very similar to his '04 and '05 seasons. However, he seems to have heated up earlier this year. In 2004 and 2005, his numbers from July onward are absolutely sick:
1.63 ERA * .838 WHIP * 13.48 K/9IP * 1.92 BB/9IP
If he stays true to form, and finishes strong, his 2006 totals will be absolutely incredible. Of course, if he doesn't lead the league in victories, John Kruk won't think he deserves the Cy Young Award.
A couple things that will be fun to watch:
Clemens vs. Liriano, obviously.
Torii Hunter is 0-23 with 13 Ks vs. the Rockett in his career. It would be nice to see him jack one!
Mauer vs. Prior this weekend. Although Prior may have helped the Twins win a World Series, it's safe to say that we made the right pick.
Maybe I wasn't jinxing the team when I titled a recent post Turnaround time for the Twins? Of course, with the White Sox and Tigers continuing to play so well, a playoff berth this year is still unlikely. Regardless, having the young core of this team gell and play decent baseball is a win-win situation.
Maybe Ron Gardenhire heard all the Twins' bloggers calling for his head, or maybe Terry Ryan just shortened his leash. It makes you wonder, though. If the Twins had started the season with Bartlett at SS, anyone but Batista at 3B, and Liriano in the rotation (all moves many of us considered painfully obvious), would there be a 3-way race for the division right now? Maybe not quite, since Radke, Silva, Crain, and others got off to such a horrendous start. I guarantee the team wouldn't be 11 1/2 games behind Detroit, however.
The other major mistakes?
- Offering Lohse arbitration (he actually had some trade value this off-season!)
- Continuing to jerk around Kubel and Cuddyer. Gardy is so crazy. He often prefers crappy veterans like Juan Castro to talented young players. But then he'll give someone like Kubel an incredibly important at-bat in the playoffs. Kubel was coming off major knee surgery, and most people assumed he'd start the season in AAA. Meanwhile, Cuddyer tore the cover off the ball in spring training. So Gardy annoints Kubel the starting RF, and Cuddyer gets a total of 4 starts and 22 plate appearances in the first 14 games of the season. It's amazing that Bartlett, Cuddyer, and Kubel are all doing so well, after the way Gardy's messed with their confidence over the past few years.
"I'll talk to Shannon about it," Gardenhire said. "But we're looking to probably to DH him and maybe spot play [in left field] here and there when he comes back to protect him, before he hurts himself out on the AstroTurf."Stewart has been a defensive liability in the outfield for 2 1/2 seasons now. Add to that his injury history, and it's been a no-brainer for a while now.
Gardy hasn't all of a sudden become a smart manager, though. What was Lohse doing pitching in an important situation last night?
It sounds like Torii Hunter wants to remain with the team- he's mentioned wanting to play in the new ballpark. While I previously endorsed trading him this year, I've changed my opinion. He does remain a player whose trade value is probably much higher than he's actually worth, and I don't want to see the Twins paying him his $12 million option next year.
However, he's the one Twin that all the little kids look up to, he still plays very good defense in center, and he brings some emotion to a team with a lot of mellow young dudes (Mauer, Morneau, Santana, etc.). Oh yeah- he get a big hit every now and then, too. If they can restructure an affordable deal with him, and if he promises to never throw a punch at Morneau again, I'd be in favor of holding onto Torii. Who's our other CF option? Ford? Way too inconsistent. Denard Span's hitting decently in AA, but he may never make the leap.
I had jotted down a bunch more Johan Santana stats the other day, marvelling at how well he's pitched, and what an incredible season he may end up having. Most of these numbers, jotted on various scraps of paper, don't make sense to me anymore, but there are a few interesting things. In his past 11 starts, look what he's done:
79 IP / 60 H / 7 BB / 91 K / 20 ER / 2.28 ERA / .848 WHIP
That's 10.37 strikeouts/ 9 innings pitched, and only .78 BB/9 IP! If he can keep that walk rate low, there's no telling what he can do.
Right now, Santana is on pace for stats very similar to his '04 and '05 seasons. However, he seems to have heated up earlier this year. In 2004 and 2005, his numbers from July onward are absolutely sick:
1.63 ERA * .838 WHIP * 13.48 K/9IP * 1.92 BB/9IP
If he stays true to form, and finishes strong, his 2006 totals will be absolutely incredible. Of course, if he doesn't lead the league in victories, John Kruk won't think he deserves the Cy Young Award.
A couple things that will be fun to watch:
Clemens vs. Liriano, obviously.
Torii Hunter is 0-23 with 13 Ks vs. the Rockett in his career. It would be nice to see him jack one!
Mauer vs. Prior this weekend. Although Prior may have helped the Twins win a World Series, it's safe to say that we made the right pick.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Santana's place in history
Johan Santana recorded his 1000th career strikeout Tuesday night, becoming the sixth Twin to reach that milestone. Any guesses at the other 5? I'll provide the answer at the end of this post.
From the MLB.com recap of the game:
It took Santana 948 innings to get to the 1000 strikeout milestone, while it took Blyleven 1160 innings. In other words, Santana struck out 1.05 batters/inning (9.49/9IP), while Blyleven struck out .862/inning (7.76/9IP).
Santana is starting to creep up the lists of all-time Twins records, both single-season, and career. I think Walter Johnson's single-season ERA records are safe, though. (Why can't baseball-reference.com sepearate Senators and Twins stats?)
One ridiculous stat difference I noticed while researching this is complete games (CGs). Blyleven had 25 CGs in 1973, and he averaged 17 Cgs between 1971 & 1978. To put this in perspective, Roy Halladay led the AL with 5 CGs last year. The last time pitcher had at least 10 CGs was Randy Johnson in 1999 (12).
Twins Strikeout Leaders
Bert Blyleven 2035
Camilo Pascual 1885
Jim Kaat 1851
Brad Radke 1384
Frank Viola 1214
Johan Santana 1005
From the MLB.com recap of the game:
Dominant outings aren't anything new for Santana, but against the Red Sox, the Twins ace was historic. Santana became the sixth Twins pitcher to record 1,000 strikeouts. His was the second fastest to the number, accomplishing the feat in his 198th appearance. Bert Blyleven is the only Twins pitcher to reach 1,000 career K's faster, as he did it in his 170th outing.Bad grammar aside (I'm assuming she meant to say "he was the second fastest to reach the number"), why does it make sense to use appearances to judge who K'd 1000 batters first? It's not Johan's fault that the Twins used him in relief 76 times between 2000 and 2003, compared to 42 starts. Blyleven had a grand total of 2 relief appearances, both during his rookie year.
It took Santana 948 innings to get to the 1000 strikeout milestone, while it took Blyleven 1160 innings. In other words, Santana struck out 1.05 batters/inning (9.49/9IP), while Blyleven struck out .862/inning (7.76/9IP).
Santana is starting to creep up the lists of all-time Twins records, both single-season, and career. I think Walter Johnson's single-season ERA records are safe, though. (Why can't baseball-reference.com sepearate Senators and Twins stats?)
One ridiculous stat difference I noticed while researching this is complete games (CGs). Blyleven had 25 CGs in 1973, and he averaged 17 Cgs between 1971 & 1978. To put this in perspective, Roy Halladay led the AL with 5 CGs last year. The last time pitcher had at least 10 CGs was Randy Johnson in 1999 (12).
Twins Strikeout Leaders
Bert Blyleven 2035
Camilo Pascual 1885
Jim Kaat 1851
Brad Radke 1384
Frank Viola 1214
Johan Santana 1005
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Turnaround time for the Twins?
I've been slacking on this blog, but there hasn't been much to write about. I don't give a crap about the NBA (sorry, Dirk!), I haven't caught World Cup fever, and the Twins have been uninspiring, to say the least. Steve put a link to this site on his new blog, however, so I feel compelled to post, in order to welcome the thousands of his fans that will suddenly find themselves transported to Bang the Drum Slowly.
Jen and I thought about attending the Twins-Red Sox game last night. Santana vs. Schilling had the makings of a classic pitcher's duel, and, thanks to the completely ridiculous unbalanced schedule (and interleague play), Boston's baseball club will only be making this one appearance in the Twin Cities this year. (Barring a playoff matchup between the two teams, of course.) I'll be going to the game Thursday, and two June evenings in a week stuck inside the Dome just seemed like too much, so we passed.
Santana K'd 13 Red Sox in 8 innings, and his only mistake was a solo shot to Jason Varitek. Meanwhile, Cuddyer connected for a solo homer off of Schilling, leaving the game knotted at 1. After Nathan and Rincon held the Red Sox scoreless into the 12th inning, Jesse Crain gave up a run. Nick Punto made a fantastic, diving stop of a grounder up the middle, and flipped it to Castillo. The throw to first was barely late, allowing the run to score.
In the bottom of the ninth, Joe Mauer led off the inning with his 2nd strikeout of the game. [This is only the 5th 2-K game of the season for Mauer, who had gone an amazing 16 consecutive games without a strikeout before Sunday's game.] Cuddyer got hit by a pitch, Justin Morneau doubled, and Torii Hunter was intentionally walked. This brought up Jason Kubel.
Strike looking.
Ball.
Foul.
Ball.
Foul.
Ball.
Grand Slam. Twins win 5-2. (This clip and a few others from the game can be viewed here. Click on the "350K" next to "Kubel's walk-off slam" near the top of the page.)
This is one of those games that seems like it could provide a spark that the team needs. Of course, I would have said the same thing after their big come-from-behind, extra-innings victory over the Angels on April 19. The reality is that the Twins have a lot of ground to make up. Even if the Tigers or White Sox drop off their current pace, the Twins would still be contending with the Beasts of the AL East for the wild card berth.
The funny thing about the Twins' situation is that I think they need to be giving playing time to their young players, to help develop them. At the same time, players like Kubel, Liriano, and Bartlett are significant upgrades over the players Gardy and Ryan have been sending out there.
So the Twins can build for the future, while simultaneously giving it their all this year.
Jen and I thought about attending the Twins-Red Sox game last night. Santana vs. Schilling had the makings of a classic pitcher's duel, and, thanks to the completely ridiculous unbalanced schedule (and interleague play), Boston's baseball club will only be making this one appearance in the Twin Cities this year. (Barring a playoff matchup between the two teams, of course.) I'll be going to the game Thursday, and two June evenings in a week stuck inside the Dome just seemed like too much, so we passed.
Santana K'd 13 Red Sox in 8 innings, and his only mistake was a solo shot to Jason Varitek. Meanwhile, Cuddyer connected for a solo homer off of Schilling, leaving the game knotted at 1. After Nathan and Rincon held the Red Sox scoreless into the 12th inning, Jesse Crain gave up a run. Nick Punto made a fantastic, diving stop of a grounder up the middle, and flipped it to Castillo. The throw to first was barely late, allowing the run to score.
In the bottom of the ninth, Joe Mauer led off the inning with his 2nd strikeout of the game. [This is only the 5th 2-K game of the season for Mauer, who had gone an amazing 16 consecutive games without a strikeout before Sunday's game.] Cuddyer got hit by a pitch, Justin Morneau doubled, and Torii Hunter was intentionally walked. This brought up Jason Kubel.
Strike looking.
Ball.
Foul.
Ball.
Foul.
Ball.
Grand Slam. Twins win 5-2. (This clip and a few others from the game can be viewed here. Click on the "350K" next to "Kubel's walk-off slam" near the top of the page.)
This is one of those games that seems like it could provide a spark that the team needs. Of course, I would have said the same thing after their big come-from-behind, extra-innings victory over the Angels on April 19. The reality is that the Twins have a lot of ground to make up. Even if the Tigers or White Sox drop off their current pace, the Twins would still be contending with the Beasts of the AL East for the wild card berth.
The funny thing about the Twins' situation is that I think they need to be giving playing time to their young players, to help develop them. At the same time, players like Kubel, Liriano, and Bartlett are significant upgrades over the players Gardy and Ryan have been sending out there.
So the Twins can build for the future, while simultaneously giving it their all this year.
