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Trevor Plouffe needs to send Danny Valencia a thank-you card—perhaps some flowers or a box of chocolates as well. 

Two years ago, Valencia broke into the Twins‘ starting lineup at midseason. He finished with a .311 batting average and seven home runs in 85 games.

The Twins had finally found a long-term solution at third base, something they had been trying to do since the departure of Corey Koskie following the 2004 season.

Oh, how fleeting success can be. If not for the struggles that Valencia had to open the season, causing his demotion to Rochester, Plouffe might still be the Twins’ utility player, coming off the bench for an occasional start at one of five positions.

On Friday, in the opener of a three-game series against the Brewers, Plouffe went 2-for-4, hitting two more home runs. That gives him 14 on the season to lead the Twins.

Over the last 30 days, no one has hit more home runs than Plouffe, leading the majors with 12. The White Sox‘ Adam Dunn is second with 11, followed by Jose Bautista and Carlos Gonzalez with 10.   

After a slow start to the season when he was coming off the bench, Plouffe was struggling to hit his weight. During his power surge, he is hitting .321, raising his season average to .240.

Manager Ron Gardenhire and the Twins staff obviously saw something in Plouffe to stick with him.

Instead of being the Twins’ utility player, he has entrenched himself as the third baseman, hitting home runs at a Jim Thome pace.

Thome, who is eighth all-time with 607 career home runs, has averaged 13.7 at-bats per home run over 22 seasons. While in Minnesota, he hit 37, jacking them at a rate of one every 13 at-bats.

Plouffe is averaging a home run every 10.4 at-bats for the season.

Dunn, who leads the majors with 23 home runs, is averaging one every 9.7 at-bats, and the Rangers‘ Josh Hamilton, who is having an MVP-type season, averages one every 10.6 at-bats. That’s pretty good company to be associated with this season.

Even though Plouffe only has 146 at-bats this season and is unlikely to continue to hit at such a pace, that won’t stop us from projecting how many home runs he might hit for the season.

Plouffe has played in 44 of 63 games this season—only 70 percent of the Twins’ games. This percentage will increase with his recent success and insertion into the starting lineup.

In those games, he has averaged 3.3 at-bats. Projecting that Plouffe will play in at least 82 of the Twins’ final 99 games this season, that would give him 126 games played for the season with 415 at-bats. At his current pace, that projects to approximately 40 home runs on the season.

Only two players in the franchise history of the Minnesota Twins/Washington Senators have hit at least 40 home runs in a season. Harmon Killebrew, who owns nine of the top 10 single-season marks for home runs in Minnesota, did it seven times. In the other two seasons, he fell just short, hitting 39 home runs. 

The last time Killebrew hit at least 40 home runs was in 1970, when he led the Twins with 41.

It is an extreme stretch, and unfair to Plouffe, to compare him to Killebrew.

By the time Killebrew was 26, the same age as Plouffe this season, he was in his ninth major-league season and on his way to leading the league in home runs with his third 40-plus season in 1962.

Plouffe hasn’t even completed his first season as a starter, but if he can continue to produce at the plate, he might finally be the player the Twins have been looking for to take over third base. 

Perhaps he could send Valencia an autographed baseball, thanking him for the opportunity to be the everyday third baseman and the chance to make history for the Twins.

Then again, with only 11 Twins ever to hit at least 30 homers in a season, the odds are stacked against Plouffe; after all, he’s only played 23 games at third base.

But none of that will stop us from dreaming of the chance for a 40-home run season.

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When your favorite team stinks, it leads to a heated discussion over who should be the “best of the worst” and be the representative for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

The rule requiring that one player from every team must be in the event has lead to healthy debate and getting somebody like Ron Coomer to rub elbows with people who deserve to be there.

With the Minnesota Twins stuck at the bottom of the American League Central with a 24-35 record, the debate has opened as to whom should represent the team in Kansas City on July 10.

In my mind, there are three players that have the credentials to be put on the All-Star roster.

The first player, and most likely the front-runner, is Josh Willingham. “The Willinghammer” is currently second among American League outfielders in OPS (.969) behind Josh Hamilton. His .289 average is third on the team behind Ben Revere and Joe Mauer

Willingham has also provided several clutch hits for the Twins and has become the first Twin to solve the mystery of Target Field as he’s hit eight of his 12 bombs at the Twins’ home ballpark. For a team that has had it’s fair share of weird excuses, Willingham has been a pure power hitter.

The second candidate for the Twins could be their closer, Matt Capps. Capps is not a fan favorite in Minnesota, but he’s been having a solid season outside of a couple bad outings.

Capps is 14-for-15 in save opportunities this season and has boasted an opponent average of .233. Although Capps has made several games interesting late, he’s done his job well and could be rewarded with a trip to Kansas City.

Finally, there’s the pitcher that’s lead the Twins to a better stretch of play recently in Scott Diamond. The Twins acquired Diamond prior to the 2010 season and stashed him in Triple-A for a couple of seasons.

After making seven starts for the Twins last year (1-5, 5.08 ERA), Diamond made adjustments and is arguably their best pitcher with a record of 5-1 in seven starts.

No rookie pitcher has had a better start to their career than Diamond has, as his 1.61 ERA is a franchise-low for a rookie pitcher. Diamond has also cut down on the runners he’s let on base total including walking just four batters in 44.1 innings entering Tuesday.

While the Twins haven’t set the world on fire in the first half of the season, it’s safe to say that they’ll be sending somebody more qualified than Coomer was when he made his 1999 All-Star appearance. If it’s up to you, who would you choose to represent the Twins in the All-Star game?

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For the Minnesota Twins, things are stating to look up. With their win over the Cubs on Saturday, they won their fourth consecutive series—an impressive feat considering they have only one seven-series all season.

Granted this success comes at the expense of Cleveland, Kansas City, Oakland and the Cubs. With the exception of the Cubs, all of these teams still have a better record than the Twins.

The single-biggest reason for the Twins turnaround can be pinpointed to one player—starting pitcher Scott Diamond.

Before Diamond joined the rotation, the Twins were the last team in baseball to win their 10th game of the season, taking 25 games to achieve the mark. With his win over the Cubs on Saturday, the last team in baseball still trying to get to 20 wins, Diamond now leads the Twins with a 5-1 record and a 1.61 ERA.

Before Diamond (BD) the Twins were 7-21, winning only one of nine series. After Diamond joined the rotation (AD) they are 17-13 winning six of their last 11 series.

Diamond has stepped in and provided the kind of leadership the Twins have been waiting for from fellow left-hander, Francisco Liriano for the past five seasons. he has become Minnesota’s stopper, with the Twins winning six of his seven starts since taking his first turn in the rotation on May 8th, a 5-0 win over the Angels.

At one time the worst team in baseball, the Twins have won eight of their last 10 games and find themselves just one-half game behind the Royals and only 2.5 games behind the disappointing Tigers in the AL Central standings.

The Twins have passed the Cubs and Padres for the worst record and currently have the same record as the Rockies, the same number of wins as the Royals and just a half game behind the Astros.

OK, so they still have a long way to, but as I stated at the beginning, things are starting to look up.

Diamond’s lift to the starting pitching has had a ripple effect through the team.

Twins starters were 5-17 with a 6.75 ERA BD, compared to 11-10 and a 5.28 ERA AD.

In the 28 games BD, the Twins scored 96 runs averaging 3.4 runs per game. The problem is they allowed their opponents to score 158 runs, an 5.6 runs per game average.

In the 30 games AD, they have averaged almost two more runs per contest, scoring 160 runs for a 5.3 average. Their runs allowed has dropped by more than a full run per game to a 4.4 average. 

In 1991, the Twins found themselves in a similar situation. They finished the month of May in fifth place, 5.5 games behind in the AL West. When the calendar turned to June, they rattled off 15 straight wins on their way to a 22-6 mark that propelled them to first place in the division.

This season, at the start of June, the Twins were five games back and in fifth place in the AL Central. With the sixth win of the month they have already matched their win total in April.

In 1991, it was Jack Morris who led Twins starters going 6-0 in June. So far this year, Diamond is 2-0 in June.

While it’s a nice dream to think about the Twins catching the rest of the AL Central, the truth is, in 1991 the Twins along with a solid month from Morris, had Scott Erickson go 5-1 and Kevin Tapani add another three wins that June.

Diamond might have some help from P.J. Walters who joined the rotation in May. Walters is 2-1 in six starts with a 4.42 ERA, and the Twins are 4-2 in his starts.

After Walters, there’s no other Twins starter with a winning record. The next closest is Cole DeVries with a 1-1 record in three starts with a 4.20 ERA. Unfortunately, the Twins sent him back to Rochester.

Whatever Diamond is doing to be effective it’s contagious—after all Nick Blackburn is 2-0 in his three starts AD, all wins for the Twins. 

If he can turn Blackburn into a winner, then anything is possible.

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It’s a bird, it’s a plane—it’s Brian Dozier.

Not much has brought excitement to Minnesota Twins fans this season, but the arrival of Brian Dozier might just shine a light of hope. Dozier made his major league debut on Monday for the Twins, going 1-for-4 at the plate while starting at shortstop.

Brian Dozier has been hyped in Twins Territory since last year and the failed Tsuyoshi Nishioka experiment. Now, Dozier is the starting shortstop for the Twins, when last year at this time he was playing for the Single-A Fort Myers Miracle.

This season was Dozier’s only exposure to Triple-A ball. In 28 games with the Rochester Red Wings, Dozier hit .276 with 12 RBI. Respectable numbers, and it really can’t get a whole lot worse than what the Twins already have playing on the big league squad.

Dozier’s call-up results in the move of Jamey Carroll from short to (at the moment) second base. In fact, Carroll has played 555 games at second compared to only 225 at short. Carroll has also played 225 games at third, which means that Carroll may find himself flipping back and forth between the two bases while manager Ron Gardenhire tries to figure out who is the lesser of two evils: Alexi Casilla or Danny Valencia.

This call-up isn’t going to save the Twins, by any means. The Twins are still 7-21 and a last-place team—they might be in cellar for a while. Dozier does give the Twins a little bit of hope, though. If he succeeds, Twins fans might be able to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Brian Dozier isn’t Superman, maybe Jimmy Olson—or at least Krypto the Superdog.

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Justin Morneau is the Minnesota Twins‘ first baseman. The problem is over the past two seasons he only played 133 games at first—that’s only 10 more games than he played at the position in all of 2009.

Between 2006 and 2008, Morneau was an iron man for the Twins. Over those three seasons he averaged 149.7 games at first, and in 2008 he appeared in all 163 games the team played.

Then came that fateful day in Toronto—July 7th, 2010.

The play was a routine slide into second base to break up a double play when Morneau took a knee to the head. He came out of the game and Michael Cuddyer would replace him at first base. He did not play again that season and has been struggling since to return to the form that had his name in consideration for a second American League MVP. 

At the time he was leading the Twins with a .345 average, 18 home runs and 56 RBIs. 

In a report from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Morneau is feeling better than he has in quite some time. The problem is the results are not yet showing up in the box score.  This spring he has the second most at-bats for the Twins with 37 through Friday, March 23rd. The problem is he is only hitting .108 with four hits in 12 games.

Manager Ron Gardenhire is not planning on playing Morneau at first over the remaining Grapefruit League schedule, opting to use the opportunity to assess what other options he has in case Morneau is unable to go come opening day.

Gardenhire’s main option over the last two seasons to replace Morneau has been Cuddyer, who is now with the Colorado Rockies.

All is not lost. The Twins have plenty of options if needed, some that could even provide a boost to their lineup. 

Here are the top five options.

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Since 2002, the Minnesota Twins have made of habit of having their prospects making some sort of impact on Major League Baseball. While not all of them have panned out (and what team has?), there are always some diamonds in the rough that not only help the major league club but become household names across baseball.

Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and even former Twin Matt Garza have made an impact around Major League Baseball during their careers. But with the Twins in rebuilding mode, they’ll need to look to a new wave of prospects to revive the struggling franchise.

Here is a list of Twins prospects that can not only make the Major Leagues by 2015 but excel enough to become well-known across Major League Baseball.

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This will be the third season for the Minnesota Twins at their new home, Target Field.

Many argue that it has more disadvantages than advantages for the hometown heroes, but that is simply because the Twins weren’t used to the new digs. That and their lineup last season was decimated by injuries.

This year, however, the advantages of Target Field will be abundant, and it is going to give Twins fans something to cheer about.

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A quick look at the Twins‘ projected starting lineup for 2012 poses one serious question: where will the runs come from?

So far this spring that question remains unanswered.

With only eight spring games played so far, there is plenty of time for things to fall into place. However, the results so far are not creating a lot of excitement for the upcoming season at Target Field, and it looks like the three-year-old ballpark will once again be the biggest draw for Minnesotans this season.

In their eight games the Twins have only scored 22 runs. At a time when supposedly the hitters are  ahead of the pitchers, Minnesota is averaging less than three runs a game. At the same time they have been yielding 4.5 runs per game. 

So far the 34 players the Twins have used this spring have a total of  only 19 RBI. The projected starting lineup, with Ryan Doumit as the designated hitter, has only seven of them. Compare that to former Twins Michael Cuddyer with the Rockies and Delmon Young with the Tigers, who have combined for nine.

The long ball has consistently been a problem with Minnesota, and so far the team has hit only two spring training home runs—neither by any projected starter in the lineup. Young by himself has already hit two for the Tigers.

An argument can be made that spring training doesn’t mean a whole lot, and that the results can be thrown out once the regular season opens.

However, a quick scan of the records for the American League Central teams so far aligns pretty close to how I expect the division to finish in 2012.

The Tigers have the best record this spring at 6-1, followed by Kansas City at 4-3, the Twins at 3-5, Cleveland at 2-4 and the White Sox bringing up the rear at 1-4. 

There are some bright spots, however.

Second baseman Alexi Casilla is hitting .455 this spring, after struggling last year in Grapefruit League play, batting only .200. That struggle carried over into the season and he only hit .260 in 97 games.

With Casilla’s strong spring, it means Tsuyoshi Nishioka is left battling for the Twins’ utility infielder role. Nishioka, who leads the team with 18 at-bats this spring, is hitting .278.

Center fielder Denard Span looks to be fully recovered from concussion symptoms that kept him out of the lineup for a good portion for the season in 2011. So far in four games he’s batting .500. 

And while Justin Morneau is struggling with only one hit in eight at-bats, his likely successor at first base, Chris Parmelee, is batting .300 in four games, with one of the two home runs the Twins have hit.

Perhaps the brightest spot so far this spring is the fact that catcher Joe Mauer has played in four games and appears fully recovered from bilateral leg weakness that limited  him to only eight games in all of spring training last season. 

While the Twins will be improved over their 99-loss season from 2011, they still have a long way to go to get back to the 94-win season of 2010.

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The Minnesota Twins lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, FL this afternoon.

The pitching staff for the Twins was solid, allowing three runs on nine hits and three walks. Jason Marquis started the game for the Twins and had a much better outing than his last start. He went three innings, giving up three hits, walking two and allowing one earned run.

It was much improved from his 1.2 inning outing against the Red Sox on the 5th.

The story, however, remains the Minnesota Twins bats. After only managing five hits yesterday against the Tampa Bay Rays, they only got six in today’s contest. Jamey Carroll, Joe Mauer and Ryan Doumit combined to go 1-for-8 at the plate with two strikeouts.

If the Twins hope to be competitive this season those three will need to do better than that.

Glen Perkins, with the ink still drying on his contract extension, had another beautiful outing for the Twins. He worked one inning, faced three batters and struck out two. It is very possible to believe that if Twins closer Matt Capps struggles like he did last year, Perkins will be the Twins new closer.

Matt Capps worked an inning today and struck out two. Unfortunately, he also allowed two hits, one of which was a home run. The only nice thing is that the home run came with the bases empty.

Capps has been struggling some this spring, allowing far too many hits.

Next up for the Twins is a trip to McKechnie Field in Bradenton, FL to play the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates have given up five or more runs in four of their six games this spring, so it’s hopefully an opportunity for the Twins to get their offense going.

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Minnesota, we have a problem. 

With just ten days before their first spring training game of the year, the Minnesota Twins have already encountered a major issue:  Joel Zumaya is injured.

After throwing this morning, Zumaya experienced discomfort in his throwing arm, according the CBS’s Jon Heyman. ESPN’s Phil Mackey later confirmed that Zumaya was bothered in his right arm and will get an MRI either tomorrow or Monday morning. 

The Twins signed Zumaya to a one-year deal just over a month ago and an injury to his arm is the last thing they wanted to see. After appearing in 62 games for the Tigers in 2006, Zumaya has failed to appear in more than 31 games since then, primarily due to injuries.

In 2007, he missed 96 games after getting surgery on a ruptured tendon in his middle finger. Then in 2008, he missed 72 games after right shoulder surgery. A stress fracture later that season cost him another 41 games.

Zumaya missed 74 games in 2009 with another shoulder surgery. Two elbow surgeries over the last two seasons have kept him out of over 200 games, including all of last season.

The addition of Zumaya to the Twins’ bullpen was thought to be a good move if he could stay healthy, which doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. As of now, Minnesota has only a few quality relievers in their bullpen, with Matt Capps as their closer. Long-time closer Joe Nathan is now with the Texas Ranger and won’t be there to aid the struggling bullpen.

Having five surgeries on his right arm over the last five seasons is not what you want to see in a pitcher—and a sixth surgery may not be far off. Even at just 27, retirement may be the smartest course of action for the right-handed flame-thrower.

To say that the Twins are in trouble before their first spring training game is an understatement.

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