Know Thyself: Who the Minnesota Twins Really Are

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

In honor of the recent birthday of one of the greatest men ever to be in any way affiliated with sports, John Wooden, it seems appropriate to use his words to start off a piece about myth and reality.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

That’s good advice, for anyone at anytime, but especially for the Minnesota Twins this offseason.

You see, the Twins have a reputation based largely on three things: being light hitting, pitching well and playing good defense, and the abhorrent “doing the little things right”.

At times, these things have been true.

The 2001 and 2002 teams were fairly outstanding defensively, ranking third and fourth in Park Adjusted Defensive Efficiency respectively.

Perennial Cy Young candidate Johan Santana led a rotation of starters who could produce solid outings, but who were nowhere near as outstanding as their master.

Doing the little things has always been somewhat of a myth, usually encompassing things like baserunning, hitting with RISP, and, for some reason, bunting. The 2006 team, the side Ozzie Guillen named the Piranhas, was the king of the little things (never mind that was the year the Twins had three legitimate MVP candidates in Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau [the actual winner], and Johan Santana) and it pulled them into the playoffs.

Some of these aren’t far from reality, but others are no more true than the average middle school rumor.

Reputation: Light hitting

Character: Offensive Powerhouse

Sometimes you surprise yourself when researching pieces, and this is one of those times. Sure, I knew Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer had keyed an offense that was vastly improved from the days of Ron Coomer, offensive juggernaut. And I certainly knew that this year they were supported by Denard Span, Jason Kubel, and Michael Cuddyer.

What I didn’t know was that it all added up to 5.01 runs per game, good for fifth best in baseball. After years of struggling to get someone to hit 30 HR, the Twins had two this year (Cuddyer and Morneau) plus two more within shouting distance (Mauer had 28 and Kubel jacked 27).

As a team, the Twins ranked in the top five in batting average and on-base percentage, as well as in the top 10 for slugging percentage and OPS. They even ranked 10th in isolated power, ahead of such mashers as St. Louis and both Chicago clubs. Perhaps they aren’t as home run dependent as the White Sox clubs of early this decade (their Guillen Number is still below league average), but the days of needing to get five hits and a walk to key a big inning are long gone.

So, as much consternation as there was and still is over the fact that the Twins’ middle infield is...offensively suspect (to put it generously), the Twins seem to score runs just fine as is.

Can they improve? Easily.

Should they? Only after addressing other, more pressing issues.

Reputation: Good Pitching and Great Defense

Character: The pitching has been better, the defense has hardly been worse

In 2008, the Twins had just seven pitchers make a start for them all season. Given that five is really the minimum, that’s a staggeringly low number of starters, and a testament to how a healthy rotation can be critical to a team’s success.

Call 2009 a rather abrupt regression to the mean. 11 pitchers made at least one start due to injury (Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Francisco Liriano, Glen Perkins) or ineffectiveness (Perkins, Liriano, Anthony Swarzak, Armando Gabino, et c.) and it took months for the Twins to find a combination that was effective to even three places.

Since the departure of Johan Santana, the Twins have been looking for a true ace. Scott Baker has assumed the mantle, but isn’t the power arm that pitchers like Tim Lincecum, Justin Verlander, and emerging flamethrower Josh Johnson are. Baker still makes his fielders do plenty of work, striking out just a hair over seven hitters per nine innings.

Francisco Liriano clearly still has the talent to take over where Santana left off, but after a promising end to the 2008 season, he appears to have regressed. Some feel his arm isn’t fully back from his surgery, others feel it’s a mental or confidence issue.

Whatever it is, Liriano was wildly ineffective this season, save a few starts in which he seemed back to his dominant self. The Twins can’t plan on him being back to form any time soon, but that doesn’t mean they need to give up on him.

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