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March 16, 2008

Every Given Sunday

Competing with the Kids

by John Perrotto

Gone is Johan Santana, two-time Cy Young Award winner and considered by many to be the best pitcher in baseball. Gone is Torii Hunter, seven-time Gold Glove-winning center fielder, team leader and face of the franchise. Gone also is Carlos Silva, an unspectacular pitcher, but one who can be counted upon to pitch his share of innings.

Considering all that the Minnesota Twins lost during the offseason, it is easy to discount their chances of being a contender in the strong AL Central this season. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, for his part, isn’t making any predictions or concessions. "I’ll let other people decide if they think we can contend in our division this season," Gardenhire said. "We obviously lost some very key players, but I also like the players we still have on this team. We have talent. We have guys who can play the game. The one thing I do know is I’ll take the team I have now and go into this season feeling good about what we can do. Whether we’ll be good enough to be a contender, only time will tell, but I do know that we aren’t conceding this season. We’re playing to win just like we do every other season."

Minnesota has been winning quite a bit since 2001, when it broke a streak of eight consecutive losing seasons by finishing second in the AL Central with an 85-77 record. A year later, Minnesota won the first of four division titles in the next five years, before falling back below .500 and into third place last season with a 79-83 mark.

Coming off of a losing season and losing three key players would seem to make this the perfect time for the Twins to rebuild. Although they will be relying upon a bevy of young starting pitchers, the Twins nevertheless believe they still have enough talent to be competitive. While Santana (6.5 SNLVAR last season) is gone after having been traded to the Mets in the offseason and Silva (5.0) left for Seattle as a free agent, the Twins feel they can make up for the loss of their two top starters with their depth and youthful talent. The Twins are encouraged that left-hander Franciscio Liriano has returned after missing all of last season recovering from reconstructive elbow surgery. Liriano had 4.7 SNLVAR in 2006, when he was one of the most promising young pitchers in baseball. Beyond Liriano, for additional young talent the Twins have right-handers Scott Baker (3.1), Kevin Slowey (0.9), and Nick Blackburn (0.0), and left-hander Glen Perkins battling for two rotation spots. The righties split last season between the major and minor leagues, while Perkins lost much of the season to injury. All four face the prospect of moving back and forth between the big leagues and Triple-A Rochester. The Twins will also have right-handed prospects Philip Humber and Kevin Mulvey, acquired from the Mets in Santana trade, waiting in reserve at Rochester.

For more experienced hands in the rotation, the Twins are counting on right-handers Boof Bonser and Livan Hernandez. Bonser lost his spot in the rotation in the second half of last season when he struggled to put up a 2.4 SNLVAR. However, he lost 30 pounds over the winter, and has looked sharp this spring while moving back into a regular starting role. Minnesota added veteran innings-eater Hernandez as a free agent to stabilize the otherwise relatively young rotation, one that isn’t ready to provide Gardenhire with a lot of innings. Hernandez had a 3.1 SNLVAR for Arizona a year ago.