At the quarter mark of the Minnesota Twins season I have
been pleased with the play of Brian Dozier, Kurt Suzuki, Josmil Pinto, Eduardo
Escobar, and Phil Hughes. I have been disappointed with the play of Joe Mauer,
Pedro Florimon, Jason Kubel, Aaron Hicks, Kevin Correia, and Mike Pelfrey. I
have been mystified by the Twins handling of Jason Bartlett and Oswaldo Arcia.
Dozier has proved to be one of the best 2nd
basemen in the league this year. Dozier has reached base 76 times as of this
writing, and scored 40 runs which means he scored more than half the time he
got on base which is amazing. Dozier’s defense is better than his offense –
which has been very good – meaning Dozer is very worry of all-star
consideration. Dozier is also one of the nicest Twins I have ever met. I hope
he has continued success.
Suzuki, Pinto, and Escobar have exceeded my expectations.
Suzuki offensive revival and strong work with the pitching staff has made
people forget that the catcher spot was suppose to be a weakness after Joe
Mauer moved to 1st base. Pinto has spent more time DHing than
catching because of Suzuki’s strong play, but Pinto has proved he can hit and
draw walks. Escobar has emerged from light hitting utility player to
offensively strong starting shortstop. I doubt Escobar can keep it up, but
every game he can give promising prospect Danny Santana to work on developing his
game is worthwhile.
The most impressive player for me so far this season has
been Phil Hughes. I previously wrote about my belief that Hughes could have a
good year. We now see that Hughes is the best starter the Twins have. He leads
Twins starters in several categories. Hughes is the kind of starter we have
needed for the last few years. I hope he can continue to have quality outings.
Sadly two other starters (Correia and Pelfrey) have not
faired as well. Hughes, Ricky Nolasco, Kyle Gibson, and Samuel Deduno have
pitched well enough to take four of the five starting spots in the Twins
rotation. With prospects Alex Meyer, Logan Darnell, and Trevor May starting to
show promise at the Twins top minor league team, it could make Correia and
Pelfrey very expended.
Kubel started out hot, and has now gone cold. He has been
wildly inconsistent the last two years; it now looks like he will make it the
last three years. Florimon started out cold and lost his job to Escobar. Mauer
has been hurt and not producing like a superstar player should. Hicks seems to lack
the drive to succeed. Hicks got called out in the media by the Twins organization
which tells us how bad things have gotten with him. Part of Hicks is problem is
that the Twins decided to keep Jason Bartlett out of spring training because
they felt they needed his leadership. To keep Bartlett (who was not on the 40 man roster
and not an experienced center fielder), the Twins had to release Hicks backup
Alex Presley. Bartlett’s
“leadership” was shown when he started off the season in a slump, got hurt, and
then retired. This left the Twins with no solid alternative to Hicks in
centerfield meaning Hicks can’t demoted and has to continue to stay with the
major league team and struggle.
Another bizarre decision the Twins made involved Oswaldo
Arcia. Arcia made the team out of spring training and played four games before
being injured. Upon recovering from the injury Arcia was sent on a rehab stint
in the minors. He hit well there and when the assignment was up the Twins demoted
him back to minors rather than bring him back to he major league team. Now the
team says it will bring Arcia back soon. Why not bring him back right away? Next
time he gets hurt do you think he will be eager to tell anyone after not getting
his old job back even though all he did to lose it was get hurt? If there had
been other issues why did he make the team out of spring training?
With top prospects Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano hurt and not
likely to make the major leagues, things to look forward to are the arrival of
pitching prospect Alex Meyer and the emergence of power hitting prospect Kennys
Vargas. I also look forward to the all the players on the Twins improving their
play and the Twins finishing with a winning record this season.
