Minnesota Twins: A Merciful Conclusion

Well the Twins season is coming to a merciful close.  Ughhhh......as I reflect on the season I had optimism. If you look back to my pre-season outlook, all that had to go wrong went wrong and than some.  Injuries, sophomore slumps, pitching woes and lack of consistency all brought doom to the beleaguered Twins.  

In baseball pitching is the name of the game, the Twins failed miserably.  As far as starting pitching goes, Phil Hughes looked off from the get go and got injured.  Kyle Gibson is at times effective but so inconsistent.  Ervin Santana didn't get many wins but his E.R.A of 3.53 was good and at this point looks like the only starter with any value.  Jose Berrios is hopefully breaking in, his command of pitches is awful but his strike out numbers offer a ray of hope.  Tyler Duffey has MLB breaking ball, but if he can't find a fastball his career is limited.

The overworked bullpen has been average at best and horrible at worst.  As predicted , Glen Perkins broke down in the first 2 weeks of the season and his career is in jeopardy.  Kevin Jepsen forgot how to pitch which led to his release.  Trevor May has been inconsistent and injury prone.  Brandon Kintzler has been the lone bright spot filling in effectively as closer.  Michael Tonkin and Ryan Pressly offered some quality innings but were consistently inconsistent.

In the field, the outfield was a concern of mine and was legitimized.  Miguel Sano was a predictable disaster out there and struggled with injuries.  He has legit power but needs to wash off this season and see what next year brings.  Word has it, his work ethic is mediocre at best, which may be a concern.  Byron Buxton wasn't ready for MLB pitching, but he can play defense.  Hopefully next year brings more maturity and improvement at the plate.  Left fielder Eddie Rosario has to prove he can be more disciplined at the plate or he'll be out of a job.  Robbie Grossman is a journeyman outfielder who can hit a little, but doesn't provide much defense.  Max Kepler showed flashes of promise and flashes of futility, big for Max next year to show he can be consistent.

The infield offered some rays of hope, Brian Dozier caught absolute fire in second half and cranked 40+  homers for the 1st time since  Harmon Killebrew did it many moons ago.  Jorge Polanco has shown some signs of being the future as shortstop.  Joe Mauer got off to a good start, faded and has been ordinary once again, he's starting to present himself as a veteran playing out the tail end of his career.   1 more year of ol' Joe-Joe and we'll see what happens.  Trevor Plouffe was injury prone, when healthy he's a nice accessory player at 3rd base, but is likely expendable.  Kurt Suzuki was consistent at catcher but his .268 batting average and 8 home runs are about at the top of what you'll get from him as a soon to be 33 year old catcher.

The Twins have to find some starting pitching, it just really is that simple.  Can they turn things around next season??  I have my doubts but it's possible if they can add some pitching pieces.