Kuzul

For years under the direction of Tom Kelly, we constantly heard that the baseball season was a marathon and not a sprint.

“Take it one game at a time” was the mantra constantly repeated to the players, media and fans during Kelly’s tenure as manager from 1986 to 2001.

In 1991, Ron Gardenhire became the Twins third base coach, a position he held until Kelly retired following the 2001 season. While Gardenhire has a little more fire to his managerial style than Kelly, he espouses the same philosophy.

While Kelly is the Minnesota Twins all-time leader with 1,140 wins as manager, over 16 years he only had five seasons with a record better than .500, and only two division titles. Kelly made the most of those two post-season appearances, winning the World Series in 1987 and 1991.

Gardenhire has been able to run the marathon with a little more success than Kelly, winning six division titles in nine years. Currently 286 wins behind Kelly, Gardenhire has a solid chance to surpass him by the end of the 2014 season.

Unlike Kelly, Gardenhire’s success ends after game 162. In six tries, Gardenhire has only made it beyond the divisional round of the playoffs once.

In the two seasons Kelly won the World Series, he had teams that were better suited for a seven-game sprint, than the marathon of a 162 game season.

The best example of this would be in 1987, when, with only 85 wins the Twins would earn the distinction of having the fewest regular-season victories of any World Series Champion up to that time.

That year, pitching coach Dick Such struggled to find five pitchers for the starting rotation. The Twins would start 12 different pitchers that season with only four of them making at least 20 starts.

Once the postseason began, Kelly was forced to go with a three-man pitching rotation—Frank Viola, Bert Blyleven, and Les Straker.

Blyleven was the veteran of the staff, leading the team with 37 starts and 267 inning pitched. Viola was the ace of the staff, going 17-10 with a team-leading 2.90 ERA. Straker was the best of the rest. He only went 8-10 in the regular season with a 4.37 ERA.

The three-man rotation allowed Kelly to pitch Viola three times in the seven-game 1987 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.  Viola would go 2-1, winning the first and last games of the series.

While the rotation was better in 1991, the Twins still had their best pitcher start three games in the World Series. Like Viola, Jack Morris would go 2-1 and win the crucial seventh game of the World Series in a dramatic 10-inning complete game, 1-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

What Gardenhire and the Twins are missing is that one pitcher who can carry the team over a seven-game series. 

Gardenhire was unable to take advantage when he did have such a pitcher in Johan Santana.

Between 2003 and 2007, Santana would go 82-35 with a 2.92 ERA. Over that span, the Gardenhire-led Twins were 2-9 in the ALDS.

The closest thing the Twins have to a dominant pitcher this season might be Scott Baker, who leads the team with an 8-6 record and a 3.01 ERA.

Baker was struggling to just make the starting rotation at the beginning of the year. To consider him the ace of the staff shows how poorly the Twins starters have been this year.

Even if Gardenhire can work his magic and get the Twins to their seventh division title in 10 season—which appears unlikely at nine games back and 10 games under .500—he doesn’t have the horsepower to make it any further.

With the current starting rotation consisting of five number three or four starters at best, the Twins have no chance of making it out of the ALDS.

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The New York Yankees have the highest payroll in baseball. Not surprisingly they have the highest-paid player in baseball in Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod will be paid $32 million for the 2011 season. That’s only $4.1 less than the entire Kansas City Royals team will be paid.

Does the production at the plate justify the investment?

I rated the performance so far this season for the highest-paid fielder from each major league team. The resulting ranking was based on offensive production—hits, runs, RBI and games played. The data was normalized for the salary of each player and then scored. 

Some readers may find the ranking unfair because the data was not averaged on a per-game basis and would lower the ranking of any player that has been on the disabled list. While injuries are a part of the game, the salary is still being paid and the player is not producing.

Here’s a look at how the top-paid fielders from each team stack up.

The results are through July 1st, marking the approximate halfway point of the season.

Who’s getting their money’s worth, and what teams should be asking for a refund?

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There’s no doubt that 2010-2011 has been extremely disappointing for Minnesota sports fans. 

The Timberwolves again failed to hit 20 wins, the Wild missed the playoffs yet again, and the Vikings look to be in a free fall after being within one 14-men in the huddle penalty from the Super Bowl only 18 months ago.

It would seem that things couldn’t get any worse.

But hope springs eternal and the time is right for baseball, the one constant within the Minnesota sports landscape. 

With the new stadium smell still hovering over Target Field the expectations have been the greatest for the local nine. What was supposed to be a season full of hope appears to be falling in line with all of the other professional teams as the Twins are in the midst of the single greatest turnaround in franchise history—the problem is this turnaround is in the negative direction.

Taking a look as what has transpired for the Twins since they were last swept by the New York Yankees in the divisional round of the playoffs it might be all that surprising that the team is struggling.  

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There’s the old adage “you get what you pay for.”

Another one may be “past performance does not guarantee future results”—a disclaimer that anyone who has ever invested in any kind of annuity has heard.  

Professional sports teams often sign players to ridiculous contracts based on past performance in hopes of significant future results.

Across Major League Baseball, there are currently 76 players who will be paid at least $10 million in 2011. This represents 10.1 percent of all roster spots available across the 30 major-league clubs.

There are currently seven teams in Major League Baseball without at least one player making $10 million in 2011. Their combined record as of May 13 was 128-137—a .483 winning percentage.

In 2011, the most surprising of these teams has been the Tampa Bay Rays, who are currently leading the AL East.

Certainly, if you get what you pay for, the record of the top seven teams with the most players making at least $10 million, the combined record should be much higher.

Surprisingly, the combined record for these teams is 129-133 (.492 winning percentage), which is only slightly better.

Not surprising is the fact the Yankees lead this group with nine players, followed by Boston and Philadelphia with eight.

The surprise on this end might be the inclusion of the Minnesota Twins, who will pay four players at least $10 million and have the worst record in baseball.

For those players who don’t hit their weight, they should follow the example of Lymon Bostock.

After playing three years with the Minnesota Twins, Bostock signed a free-agent contract with the California Angels for the 1978 season.

In April of that year, Bostock hit only .150 and attempted to return his salary to the team, saying he had not earned it. The Angels refused, so Bostock donated his April salary to charity.

After looking over the highest paid players of 2011 here are 10, in ascending order of salary, who should look to make some charitable contributions.

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The Minnesota Twins have the worst record in baseball. No surprise, at 10.5 games back of the division-leading Cleveland Indians, this also gives the greatest deficit of any team.

Can the Twins really be this bad? Sure, they have had several players out of the lineup.

Former MVP and All-Star catcher Joe Mauer, left fielder Delmon Young and slugger Jim Thome are all on the disabled list and have not been able to contribute like they did last year.

Yet the Twins’ starting rotation is pretty much in intact from last season, and while they lost Jon Rauch, Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier, the end of the bullpen still has closer Matt Capps and the return of Joe Nathan.

Perhaps this is just one big sophomore jinx as the Minnesota Twins, in only their third homestand of the season, are playing in their second season at Target Field.

I looked over the Twins roster and found several “sophomores” who are playing their second season with Minnesota. 

In all cases, it would appear this is a double-sophomore jinx.

Here are seven “sophomores” that are not performing to their 2010 levels.

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The Minnesota Twins have just matched their season best with a three-game winning streak after their two-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox moved the Twins from the basement of the AL Central. Now they find themselves only 1.5 games behind the Detroit Tigers, their next opponent when the team makes its return to Target Field next week.

Believe it or not, as bad as the Twins have been so far this year, there is hope.

Looking back a mere 20 years ago to 1991, the last time the Twins won the World Series, there are some similarities to the 2011 Twins.

The 1991 Twins started the season 4-10, finding themselves in seventh, and last, place in the AL West. They finished the month at 9-11, but still looking up at five teams in the division. By the end of May, they would only go 14-14 and be stuck in fifth place.

When the calendar turned to June, something clicked and the Twins pulled off the improbable: a franchise record 15-game winning streak. The run is even more improbable by today’s standards since it included a three-game sweep of the Yankees at the Metrodome.

On June 16th, after completing a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians, the Twins found themselves perched atop the division with a half-game lead, leapfrogging four teams in the process and finishing June with a 22-6 record.

Incredibly, the Twins would never relinquish their hold on first place, winning the division by eight games. 

The Twins starting rotations between 1991 and 2011 also have a similar look. Each opened the season with two left-handed and three right-handed starters. 

In June 1991, the Twins were led by a 36 year-old veteran pitcher, Jack Morris who would win six starts that month on his way to an 18-12 record.

Morris was the ace of the staff, but another young right-hander would lead the team in victories. That season Scott Erickson would go 20-8 with a 3.18 ERA.

In 2011, the Twins have 35 year-old Carl Pavano anchoring their pitching staff. Last season Pavano led the Twins with a 17-11 record and a 3.75 ERA. So far this season he is 2-3 with a 5.84 ERA. Pavano will find his stride and put up similar numbers to last season.  

The 2011 Twins also have their own right-handed starter by the name of Scott. 

After having to battle his way into the starting rotation as the fifth starter, Scott Baker now finds himself with a 2-2 record and a 2.97 ERA, second best in the rotation to Brian Duensing’s 2.91 ERA.

Over his last four starts Baker is 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA and a 0.953 WHIP, with 25 strikeouts and only four walks. He currently leads the Twins starters with 34 strikeouts.

There may be another similarity that today’s Twins fans hopes does not hold true for the remainder of the season.

In 1991, the Twins starting rotation included left-hander Allan Anderson. During their 15-game winning streak, Anderson would win three starts, but for the season, he would only win five games and post the starting staff’s highest ERA at 4.96.

Currently, left-hander Francisco Liriano, whose no-hitter against the White Sox started the current three-game winning streak, also owns the worst ERA of any starter at 6.61.

The starting rotation in 1991 included right-hander Kevin Tapani who led the rotation with a 2.99 ERA while going 16-9 in 34 starts.

In 1991 Morris, Erickson and Tapani would combine to go 54-29 with a 3.23 ERA.

If Liriano can turn around his slow start and provide some consistency, and Duensing, who has pitched four quality starts in his five appearances, continues to contribute, the 2011 Twins rotation appears to have as much talent to match that of 1991.

Here’s hoping that history repeats itself at some point in 2011 to propel the Twins to another first place finish on their way to another World Series championship.

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The Minnesota Twins are doing a poor job of protecting the investment they made in catcher Joe Mauer. 

The eight-year, $184 million extension Mauer signed with the Twins last season places him fourth among the highest-paid position players in Major League Baseball.  

Mauer, who will turn 28 on April 19th, has a trophy case full of accolades that positions him on the precipice as one of the all-time great catchers when accounting for both his offensive and defensive abilities: three batting titles, three Gold Gloves, four Silver Slugger awards and an American League MVP leave no doubt that Mauer is not only one of baseball’s best catchers, but one of its best players.

The problem is the toll the catching position takes on the body, and the effect it has on the longevity of a player’s career.

Having already missed one of the team’s first seven games puts Mauer on pace to play only about 138 games—missing 15 percent of the schedule.

Here are five reasons the Twins need to find another position for Joe Mauer.

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Opening Day for the Minnesota Twins is only a week away.

On Wednesday Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire had the first glimpse of what his Opening Day lineup would look like as right fielder Michael Cuddyer finally made his spring debut with the major league club after three minor league games. 

Two of the up-and-coming stars for the Twins from 2010 have picked up right where they left off—third baseman Danny Valencia is hitting .340 and right fielder Delmon Young is hitting .424 this spring—and Minnesota’s biggest acquisition, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, has a .357 batting average and appears ready to face major league pitching.

All’s well in Twins’ Territory—right?

Maybe not. Here are the biggest questions facing the Minnesota Twins as they look to win their third consecutive AL Central Division title.

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For the Minnesota Twins this spring there are only two battles remaining. While Scott Baker and Kevin Slowey are battling for the last spot in the starting rotation, there is also the battle to replace Nick Punto as the utility infielder.

At this point I am not including the bullpen, as there will more than likely be a year-long battle with a revolving door to the bullpen as the Twins tinker with the relief corp.

For the utility infielder role it would appear Luke Hughes is leading that competition. The problem is he still may not make the trip north to Toronto when the Twins open the season April 1st.

Hughes, who has been in the Twins organization since 2002, signing as an amateur free agent when he was 18 years old from Perth, Australia, leads the Twins in at-bats and home runs this spring.

Hughes hit a home run in his first major league at-bat when he made his debut with the Twins on April 28th last season at third base.

He only had seven plate appearances and two hits in a two-game stint with the Twins before being sent back to Triple-A Rochester. The problem for the eight-year veteran of the Twins minor league system is that his main position has been third base, a position that the Twins filled last June with the call-up of Danny Valencia. 

Hughes’ main competition is Matt Tolbert, who has played every position in the infield and even has one appearance in the outfield in parts of three major league seasons with the Twins. 

So far this spring Hughes leads the Twins with 30 at-bats, three home runs and 10 RBI. His .333 batting average is 106 points higher than that of Tolbert, who has five singles in 22 at-bats.

However, Tolbert appears to readily fit the versatile, switch-hitting, lack of power mold that Punto filled for manager Ron Gardenhire and the Twins for the previous seven seasons. 

The downside for Hughes, while he has played over 200 games at both third and second base in the minors, he has not played shortstop at any level since 2006.

Tolbert may also hold an edge because of Gardenhire’s desire to improve the speed of the Twins. Tolbert has 14 stolen bases in 18 attempts for the Twins and was 54 of 75 over seven seasons in the Twins farm system, while Hughes is 31 of 46 over eight seasons and 598 games.

The signing of Tsuyoshi Nishioka and the promotion of Alexi Casilla will provide an upgrade in speed to the starting lineup, the question will be what Gardenhire values more coming off the bench—speed or power.

While Tolbert’s .281 minor-league batting average is better than Hughes’ at .270, Tolbert has hit only .246 for the Twins with just three home runs in 398 at-bats.

Hughes already owns one major-league home run and averaged a home run every 38.7 at-bats. While not great, it is much better than Tolbert’s average of one every 132.7 at-bats for the Twins. 

While I would like to see Hughes get the nod as the utility infielder role, the more likely outcome will be to send him to Triple-A Rochester in order to get more consistent playing time and perhaps some work at shortstop in order to groom him as a potential utility infielder.

His path to the majors took a hit when Valencia emerged at the Twins third baseman, now it will take a change in positions or organizations for him to get a shot. 

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The Minnesota Twins are hoping that history repeats itself with their Rule 5 draft pick Scott Diamond whom they selected from the Atlanta Braves. 

It was 11 seasons ago when the Twins received another left handed starting pitcher as a Rule 5 draft pick from the Houston Astros. 

Within five seasons, Johan Santana would win the American League Cy Young Award in 2004 and again two years later.

In his eight seasons in Minnesota Santana would compile a 93-44 record with a 3.22 ERA while averaging 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings.

From 2004 when he emerged as a full time starter in the Twins rotation until he was traded to the New York Mets following the 2007 season, Santana was the most dominant pitcher in the American League.

His 70 wins, 134 starts and 983 strikeouts were tops in the league, while his 2.89 ERA was second and his 9.70 strikeouts per nine innings were third.

Yes, the Twins called that one right. 

Can they do it again?

I compared the minor league careers of Santana and Diamond to see what answers that may provide as Diamond looks to make his mark as a member of the Minnesota bullpen in 2011.

For both pitchers they were selected after completing only three seasons in the minor leagues.

Both are left handed pitchers that were groomed to start in the minors.

Incredibly, Santana would not pitch above class A before making the Twins major league roster in 2000. In 1999, Santana’s last minor league season with Houston, he would start 26 games going 8-8 with a 4.66 ERA. In 160.1 innings he would strikeout 150 batters—an average of 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. Including an 11 game stint at class AAA in 2002 for the Twins, Santana would have a 1.38 WHIP.

In 2010, Diamond finished the season making 10 starts at AAA Gwinnett in the International League for the Atlanta Braves. Between AA and AAA he had an 8-7 record with a 3.46 ERA in 158.2 innings and averaged seven strikeouts per nine innings, and a 1.37 WHIP. 

Not a bad comparison for Diamond considering he was pitching one level from the majors.

The key now is to be patient and let manger Ron Gardenhire and pitching coach Rick Anderson work their magic. The plan will be to bring Diamond along slowly, putting him in situations that will make him successful in 2011.

With any luck Twins fans will be getting a glimpse at the possible 2015 Cy Young Award winner. 

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