Twins April Notes I

-Twins finished the month 13-14, giving up 122 runs and scoring only 102 runs but this was good enough (at time of publishing) for second place in the American League Central Division.

-The Twins rank 27th in the majors in scoring runs, 28th in OPS, 28th in home runs and 11th in batting average (once again showing the weakness of using batting average as a proxy for offensive production).

-The Twins rank 16th in runs allowed, 17th in ERA, they have surrendered the fewest walks in the majors while also ranking 25th in strikeouts. Their team WHIP ranks a very good 11th in the majors. Despite the troubles so far the Twins should see an improvement in the pitching department.

-The bullpen was the 11th best in the majors in not allowing runs and ranks 10th in ERA. The Twins starters on the other hand rank 25th in ERA and 19th in OPS allowed. The Twins poor starting pitching numbers reflect the poor performance of Francisco Liriano, who was terrible in three starts, and Livan Hernandez, a washed up veteran with a bloating ERA. The two are responsible for a third of the Twins starts. The other Twins starters are above average.

-I can only hope the Twins decide to raid their AAA affiliate for some pitching. Brian Duensing, Glen Perkins and Kevin Mulvey are dominating International League hitters. All three are starters.

-The Twins are well balanced, offensively they are anemic against both right and left handed pitchers, though they do better against righties.

Here is the Twins ideal lineup against Right Handers:

Craig Monroe, DH
Brendan Harris, 2B
Matt Tolbert, SS
Delmon Young, RF
Joe Mauer, C
Denard Span, CF (Now in minors)
Jason Kubel, LF
Justin Morneau, 1B
Nick Punto, 3B

“Ideal” lineups normally just rank players in descending order by OPS. Denard Span was sent back down to the minors and so was Brian Buscher, who would otherwise have been in this lineup. Thus, Carlos Gomez would have to take CF and he would take over the #9 spot. There is also a sample size question, so this lineup shouldn’t be seen as definitive. Craig Monroe isn't going to rank on top of any OPS list by the time the season is over and Cuddyer should be in the lineup if only for his arm in right field.

Against southpaws here is how the lineup would look if it were ideal:

Michael Cuddyer, RF
Carlos Gomez, CF
Mike Redmond, C
Joe Mauer, DH
Justin Morneau, 1B
Matt Tolbert, 3B
Nick Punto, SS
Brendan Harris, 2B
Jason Kubel, LF