twinsfan
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Kenny Rosenthal had an article on the Twins today in The Athletic.
In discussions of this season’s most disappointing clubs, the Mets, Padres and Cardinals all receive prominent mention. The Mariners also merit inclusion. The White Sox, of course.
Uh, and don’t forget the Twins.
Yes, the Twins “lead” the AL Central, but they are two games under .500 for the first time since the end of the 2022 season. The Guardians trail them by only one game, the Tigers four, the White Sox 4 1/2.
It’s all rather disheartening for the Twins, considering they rank fourth in the majors in rotation ERA and 10th in bullpen ERA. And it’s certainly fair to ask whether a shakeup of some kind is in order.
The problem is determining who is most to blame.
Chief baseball officer Derek Falvey assembled a $153.7 million Opening Day payroll, the highest in club history but only the 17th highest in the majors. He got the pitching right. The hitting is a major disappointment.
Manager Rocco Baldelli is under contract through at least 2025, but presides over a team with a laid-back culture and seeming lack of urgency. Hitting coach David Popkins is a favorite of shortstop Carlos Correa’s, but the Twins’ strikeout rate is the highest in the majors and the team ranks 20th in runs per game.
One way to snap the club to attention without disrupting the leadership would be to part with struggling right fielder Max Kepler, who is batting .192 with a .650 OPS and earning $8.5 million in the final guaranteed year of his contract. The Twins, though, continue to believe Kepler has upside, even though he is now 30.
Finally, let’s not overlook the Twins’ stars, who almost certainly must produce for the team to win. Byron Buxton is a full-time DH batting .209 with a .741 OPS, with Baldelli continuing to say he is not healthy enough to play center field. Correa has been hot of late and is still only batting .219 with a .710 OPS.
Even the Twins’ pitching is starting to falter, perhaps in part because the club’s margin for error is so thin. The team ERA was 3.48 in March-April and 3.45 in May. In June, it’s 4.70.
As I wrote last month in a column about managers’ statuses, one rival executive, granted anonymity so he could speak freely, said his club’s preseason projections had the Twins as the team with the easiest path to a division title.
That still might be the case, given the pathetic state of the AL Central. The Guardians took a hit Tuesday when right-hander Triston McKenzie went on the injured list with a UCL sprain, an issue that figures to keep him out at least a month. But at some point, the Twins need to play better. Or else start confronting the hard questions that grow more pointed each day.
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