After losing in 6 games the Twins return a large chunk of their team from last year. The only significant losses were Mike McCollough to retirement and Jason Lock.
The Cornerstone of this team is still the rotation.
# Name Age ERA W-L WHIP CG Shutout End 97 Amador Ramirez 22 3.21 23-6 1.09 16 2 10 8 Johnnie Maselli 25 3.00 23-5 1.16 16 5 9 53 Jeffrey McCarthy 33 3.64 17-7 1.18 14 1 9 74 Jacob Dexter 20 4.91 17-12 1.29 14 1 9 77 Joshua Gehring 32 5.14 11-14 1.47 8 2 8
Dexter needs to take the next step and secure my confidence that he can do it from April til October and be that 4th arm in a series. Gehring is in the rotation because I don't want to over tax my rotation and have them get tired. Will probably be a little faster with the hook considering playoffs they all seem to get gassed and it cost me games.
Opening Day Lineup returns almost intact. The loss of the DH made Olson movable as he went to CF to fill the loss of Jason Lock.
Pos # Name Age BA OBP HR RBI Runs SB 1 SS 39 Val Hunt 28 .291 .403 15 86 115 46 2 2b 91 Daniel Wade 33 .320 .379 10 117 115 45 3 RF 8 Emilio Lizardo 28 .306 .403 27 118 139 76 4 1B 71 Jon St. John 24 .316 .385 21 131 114 23 5 3B 73 Justin Hickmon 27 .290 .357 8 65 65 1 6 CF 50 Earle Olson 25 .268 .411 20 83 104 16 7 CA 45 Douglas Blair 32 .322 .376 15 106 92 28 8 LF 59 Carl Ruvalcaba 29 .322 .355 8 78 86 2
Lineup was one of the best last year and hopefully with another year under a lot of guys belts it will be even more prolific this year. Olson could be a wild card if he takes that next step. And Justin Hickmon is my Edwin Encarncion.
Bullpen= Easiest job in baseball last year was being a reliever for the Minnesota Twins. Going to put a little more pressure on them so they are better prepaired for the postseason.
The pen is going to be a more fluid situation than last year, hope to get a couple more arms via trade to compete.
# Name Age App ERA Whip W-L Saves 26 RHP Ramon Omara 26 50 2.79 1.16 4-4 38 62 RHP Robert Ward 36 48 3.33 1.16 6-2 29 Chi Cubs 91 LHP Robert Sanchez 32 10 9.35 1.73 0-1 0 Lefty Spec 98 RHP Lloyd McCarville 28 19 2.55 1.13 5-1 1 76 LHP Harold Richardson 26 3 1.98 0.80 0-0 0 83 LHP Frank Alaniz 30 21 2.55 1.14 1-1 2 AAA stats 28 RHP David Braud 22 27GS 5.51 1.50 8-8 0 AAA
Bench: Is yet to be finalized. I will post after scrap session is done.
Feel free to throw out thoughts of the Twins.