Twins Notes

With a wireless router in place and mlb.tv back on my mind, it is time to gear up for a feverish pennant race, especially for the two Wild Cards. Unfortunately, the Twins chose this time to get ice cold at the plate, losing three straight to Toronto while totaling one run in the series, and dropping four of their last six, only winning two one-run games that could have broken the other way. Looking outside of the bubble, it does not help that the rest of the AL contenders have been having good weeks, and have gained substantial ground during the Twins offensive swoon. I recently fingered Luis Castillo as part of the problem, but he has not been the worst culprit of late, going 14 for his last 32 in the last week. With only one XBH (a triple), it is an empty average, but I will take an empty .438 any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Torii Hunter has homered just once since returning form the DL, and since power is at the center of his repertoire, his whole line has suffered to the tune of a .306 OBP. And while getting hit by pitches, like he did painfully tonight against Brandon League of the Blue Jays, is one way to make runs instead of outs, nearly breaking bones in his hand is not the ideal situation. Also, the dramatic home run off of Zumaya aside, the red hot Justin Morneau has cooled this week, hitting only .207/.281/.483. The .483 slugging, we will take, the overall Rob Deer-esque batting line… not so much. And with the magic dust starting to rub off of Tyner and Rabe (.637 and .200 OPS for the week, respectively), it is no wonder the Twins have struggled to score runs, and have lost several games. It would be easy to blame the loss of Francisco Liriano, almost too easy. Instead, shift your attention to the batter’s box for a moment and notice that the miserable offensive performance against the Blue Jays is symptomatic of a recent cold spell by some of the hitters who made the team so hot after the All-Star Break.

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Speaking of Liriano, it is hard to find a silver lining in the black cloud hanging over the Twins season of late, but remember that the reason he is so exciting is not primarily that he helped get the team back into contention in a loaded AL Central this year; it is because he pairs with Johan Santana to give the team an instantly viable power rotation to go with young hitters like Mauer and Morneau for several years to come, making several more years of contention a realistic goal. My initial reaction to Liriano’s elbow stiffness was actually one of relief, as I assumed the Twins had decided to skip him to put a cap on his work load, a la the Tigers recent handling of their own phenom, Justin Verlander. Unfortunately, the diagnosis was not so simple, and continues to confuse as MRIs one and two did not conclusively indicate Liriano’s exact problem. The most recent reports say that he has a strained UCL, the tendon infamous for Tommy John surgery, though a strain is not enough to merit the full blown ligament replacement. As part of a related, cascading injury, Liriano has experienced some forearm stiffness related to altered mechanics in his shoulder that compensate for his sore elbow. Getting him some rest now, even if it means giving up on him (and possibly the team, by extension) for the rest of the season, is worth it for the next four or five years when Liriano promises to be cheap and great in the Minnesota rotation. The more vexing issue, of course, is the potentiality that Liriano has only begun to have serious arm problems that will continue into the future. Since his arm problem compares most closely to Victor Zambrano and Brandon Webb, you can see that there is a clear continuum from abject pessimism to a more rosy prognosis. Liriano is better than Zambrano to start, but that will not matter if he, like Zambrano, spends month after month on the shelf with elbow problems. On the other hand, Webb recovered cleanly and has been the best pitcher in his league this season. The front office does not determine body chemistry or pain tolerance, but I still commend the Twins for their cautious treatment of their star so far, and hope that it continues.

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The Twins completed one small move last week that made some sense without receiving much press. Mike Redmond inked a two-year extension with a club option for 2009 to remain Joe Mauer’s backup and insurance policy, and perhaps cement himself as the club’s best backup no. 3 hitter. Redmond came out of the gates on fire this year, hitting over .400 for the first month of the season, and he has kept up a very impressive.349 batting average in 126 plate appearances. The strong plate discipline he showed as a younger player in Florida- 26 BBs in 273 PAs in 1999- has dried up into a single unintentional walk. Still, a backup catcher with a .900 OPS is a healthy bit of usefulness. At 35, Redmond is at the age when most starting catcher either start or complete a pretty rapid performance decline, but Redmond’s workload does not approach that of a Jason Varkitek or a Mike Piazza with no season over 85 games behind the plate. Like many other older career backup catchers, such as Greg Zaun, Redmond should be able to continue his level of production for a couple more years, and with the third option year, the Twins have some security in case he does hit a wall. With the state of catchers in the system ready to ascend, Redmond’s extension makes more sense, because Chris Heintz is next on the list at .280/.321/.380 for Rochester, and no free agent is likely to come along with the combination of affordability and passability that Redmond gives the Twins when they rest the gem of the franchise. Altogether, a solid decision.

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One other recent move that flew under the radar was the addition of Erubial Durazo to the Rochester Red Wing roster. Durazo missed time with Oakland last year, lost out on the Texas DH job to Phil Nevin in spring training due to a persistent WBC injury, then spent time in the Yankees’ system before trying to find some major league playing time. The Twins already have a lefty-heavy lineup, so there is not a lot of room for an immobile player who has to DH and duplicates other skills. However, if they can squeeze him on the roster after the September expansion, he could provide some much needed DH help against righty pitchers. He knows how to get on base, walking his way to a .400 OBP in 17 games at Rochester, and every indication is that he would help the team more than Josh Rabe or Jason Tyner in a DH capacity for a few games here or there. He will not be the difference between the postseason and third place, of course, but he could make a small, positive difference down the stretch.