Minnesota Twins Early-Season Progress Report: Offense

Believe it or not, the season is already over 10 percent done.

The Twins have now played 18 of their allotted 162 games, and while the sample size is still small, we've started to see trends form.

As one locked into the horrors of academia, I'm strongly tied to the idea of progress reports all along the year's journey. Here, then, without further adieu are the grades for the Minnesota Twins offense over the first marking period. 

C Joe Mauer: B

Mauer is sitting right around .300, probably a little lower than the Twins would like given that he hasn’t shown much power. His nine RBI put him on pace to be a little better than last year, but he will need to get a few more extra-base hits if he hopes to slug anywhere near the .977 OPS he put up last year.

He has grounded into four double plays so far this year, which he will need to stop doing if the Twins are going to go anywhere this year.

Mauer has been decent behind the plate, throwing out only one-third of runners so far, but that rate should rise as the season progresses.

1B Justin Morneau: B+

Morneau is the major source of power on this team, which makes it all the more important that he has broken out of his early season power slump.

As of right now, he is tied for second in the American League with five home runs, and he is tied for fifth in RBI. His defense at first has been solid as always, which gives him a leg up over many of the first basemen in the league.

His .258 average is a bit worrisome, but he has been one of the most efficient hitters on the team, hitting .667 with RISP.

2B Brendan Harris: B+

In one of the biggest surprises of the young season, Brendan Harris has been the most productive piece of the Delmon Young/Matt Garza trade. Harris leads the team in average and OBP, and has played passable defense.

He has four errors on the season, but that’s only one more than “defensive specialist” Adam Everett, and Harris has been an asset with the bat, which makes him an improvement from last year’s second base platoon.

SS Adam Everett: F

Adam Everett is in the major leagues for one reason: Defense.

So far this year Everett has committed three errors in his nine games, which might be excusable if he wasn’t also hitting under .200. As it stands, Everett is in the lead in the "Worst Free Agent Signing of the Year" race.

He has been injured; he was just placed on the DL today, so that may explain much of his stiffness. But he has still been extremely ineffective at the plate and in the field.

3B Mike Lamb: D

The yin to Everett’s yang, Lamb was brought in to bring a real bat to 3B after Twins fans suffered through a year of Nick Punto, even at the expense of his glove.

His glove, however, hasn’t been the problem. His zone rating isn’t great, but he has made the plays in his zone that he should have made.

The bat has been Lamb’s downfall so far this year. He is hitting a horrid .154, the lowest of any regular (Mike Redmond has yet to record a hit in 6 ABs).

Lamb is in danger of losing his job to Gardy’s favorite scrapper, Nick Punto, or to recent call-up Brian Buscher, who has hit the ball well in AAA. Time off may help Lamb get his bat back on track, but if it doesn’t, the Twins should be looking to deal Lamb ASAP, as he has no long-term value to the team.

LF Delmon Young: D

If Harris is the biggest surprise, then Delmon has to be one of the biggest disappointments.

Young has hit a mediocre .250, but has shown basically no power. Only three of his hits have gone for extra bases, and none of them was a homerun.

He has shown some speed on the base paths, and he has played well on defense, but he hasn’t shown the improvements at the plate that the coaches were hoping he would show. His plate discipline is still suspect at best, and he has struck out almost the same amount of times as he has reached base.

Unlike Lamb, I’m willing to wait on Delmon. The power will come, the discipline will too, hopefully. But it may not be this year.

Young is the same age as Carlos Gomez, but his success in Tampa last year has raised his expectations significantly. Both players possess Buckets O’ Talent®, Young probably more so than Gomez. But it may take time to see the full array of those skills.

CF Carlos Gomez: B-

The centerpiece to the universally panned Johan Santana trade, Gomez entered spring training with a heavy burden to bear. Not only was he taking over for one of the most popular Twins in recent memory, he was also part of the deal which sent the best product the Twins farm system ever created away from the Twin Cities.

If there is a set of circumstances in which one would NOT want to enter the big leagues, those have got to be pretty close to them.

Gomez was one of the Twins top performers early in the season, but has cooled off substantially since then. He is hitting a passable .260, but is only getting on base at a .278 clip, large because (like Delmon Young) Gomez doesn’t seem to believe in walks.

Gomez has so much to offer in terms of potential, and he is so exciting to watch, that it is tempting to give him a pass. Truth be told, however, if he wants to remain a leadoff hitter and take all the opportunities to steal that affords, he needs to get on base more often.

I have a feeling as he gets a better feeling for AL pitching, his BA will creep up towards .300, he may not get there, but .280 is a more realistic end of the year result. Even if he stays near .260, he needs to select better pitches to hit and to draw more walks.

RF Jason Kubel: B-

Its sad when one player has to fail or get hurt for another to succeed, but without Michael Cuddyer’s injury, it is possible Kubel would not have gotten the chance to he needed to prove that he was an everyday player.

Kubel is second on the team in home runs, second in RBI, and third in OPS. He’s been striking out too much, and, like the rest of his outfield mates, walking far too little.

His defense has been solid, and the combination of a poor showing from Craig Monroe and his own successes has changed Ron Gardenhire’s attitude about him.

Hopefully, he will get his average up and continue to show the power he showed in the minors (before his injury). He needs to show that he should be on the roster everyday, and while it seems that he has won his playing time, Cuddyer is starting his rehab and a poorly timed slump from Kubel could land him back on the bench.

DH Craig Monroe: D

Designated Drivers, by definition, drive. The logic should be, then, that Designated Hitters hit. Not so for the Twins.

Craig Monroe is hitting .182, with just two doubles and no homeruns. That’s not the kind of production the team should be getting out of the DH spot in the lineup. Much like a year ago, the supposed best hitter in the lineup is the equivalent of a dead spot.

Monroe is hitting better now, but only marginally so. He may well be the odd man out once Cuddyer comes back.

Gardy loves the idea of a platoon of Monroe and Kubel, and Kubel hasn’t shown enough against right-handers to dissuade Gardy of that. But if Monroe continues to flounder or if Kubel gets hot, it may be enough to push Monroe to the bench

Super Sub Matt Tolbert: A-

Tolbert has been a huge addition to the team for two reasons.

First, he has played extremely well, better than I thought he was even capable of playing. He has appeared in 15 games, and is hitting .400 with a .905 OPS, neither of which will last through regular playing time, but both of which have helped the team immensely.

He has defended reasonably well at three positions, used his speed well on the bases, and done a lot of little things well. Tolbert should be seeing more playing time than he is, and hopefully with Everett going down, he will.

The second thing he has done to help the team is help Gardy overcome his undying love for Nick Punto. Punto is a good guy to have on the team, but the more he is on the field, the worse off the team is. Tolbert has the scrappiness that Gardy craves, but he can do a lot more good for the team than Punto can.