Apr 12, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA: Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer (7) and left fielder Josh Willingham (16) wait to congratulate designated hitter Justin Morneau (not pictured) for hitting a home run in the eighth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Target Field. The Twins won 10-9. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-US PRESSWIRE

In 2006, the Kansas City Royals were represented by former Twin Mark Redman in the annual All-Star game. The team went on to finish the season with 100 losses and without a contributor who deserved being called an All-Star (Redman finished the season with double-digit losses and a 5.71 ERA). However, due to MLB requiring a representative from each club at the midsummer classic, Mark Redman (who also gave KC a WAR value of just 1.6 that year), can forever brag to passerby that he is an MLB All-Star. On an unsurprising note, he was not called on to pitch in that game.

This year, the Twins are again hoping to avoid replicating the Royals’ 100-loss ’06 season, and I think they will. I also think they’ll send a player to Kansas City who represents the true meaning and makeup of an All-Star far better than Redman did. Below is a quick look at some of the team’s candidates for that spot (and make no mistake, a 30-43 team probably only deserves and will receive one All-Star nod):

• Josh Willingham – Arguably the team’s MVP through the first half of 2012, Willingham (he needs a nickname from the Minnesota faithful…how about “Killingham”?) is hitting .275/.388/.542 with 15 HRs and 49 RBIs. He’s easily on pace to post a 30-HR/100-RBI season, something Twins fans rarely see. He’s most deserving for his first All-Star selection.
• Joe Mauer – Probably the best hitting catcher of all time, Joseph Patrick Mauer has quietly surged to the forefront of the pack leading the league in batting average. He also owns an OPS over .850, so there could be valid arguments made for Mauer to receive his fifth career All-Star selection and back up Mike Napoli in Kansas City. Napoli’s a fan selection who statistically doesn’t deserve to start, and Matt Wieters and A.J. Pierzynski are the only other AL backstops who have had decent years so far. As I analyze these numbers and write, I’m starting to think there’s no reason Mauer and Willingham do not make the squad.
• Scott Diamond – Hands down Minnesota’s most reliable starter so far, Diamond leads the club’s starters in wins, ERA, and WHIP, and has pitched a quality start 70% of his outings. While his numbers look great on a club with horrendous starting pitching, they may not look All-Star worthy when stacked against the rest of the AL, especially since most starters have under their belts 5 or more starts than this May call-up.
• Matt Capps – Kudos to Capps for following up a rough 2011 season (when he was often a scapegoat for the team’s struggles) with a stellar half-season, in which he has converted all but one save opportunity, has an ERA under 3.50, and a miniscule WHIP, walk rate, and gopher ball rate. Still, he’s currently on the DL and a long shot for a second selection to the big game.
• Glen Perkins – Perkins is another member of a bullpen that’s performed much better than the previous year’s. His numbers are a bit down from last season’s, though his K/9 rate is up and among the top 10 among qualified AL relievers. Non-closing relievers aren’t often chosen for the AL squad, so don’t expect to see Perkins in one of those ugly “American” jerseys.
• Jared Burton – The veteran reliever has been a nice feel-good storyline in 2012, bouncing back from two injury-riddled seasons with the Reds to be a superb right-handed setup man. He has a WHIP under 1.00, an ERA under 3.00, and more than serviceable K/9 and BB/9 rates. But are they All-Star stats that will land him in KC? Probably not.

Any day now the league will unveil the full All-Star rosters and there will be a Twin on it. I hope it’s Willingham; he’s put in the work and often carried this offense and ball club on his shoulders through much of the spring and now into June. He deserves a trip to Missouri as a first-time All-Star. I also hope Mauer is chosen; it would be a positive response to the negative criticism surrounding him regarding his injury history, contract, and lack of power. Regardless of all that, he is the best pure hitting  catcher in the game, if not among all position players. After horrendous team-wide pitching the first few weeks of the year, I am glad to be able to include these four pitchers on this list. With Alex Burnett and Brian Duensing also contributing, they’re a good sign that the team’s pitching can eventually turn it around.

Visits to the mound have become all too common with the Twins struggling pitching. They'll try to pitch better against the Rays. Photo by Anthony Gruppuso-US PRESSWIRE

The Matchups:

Friday, April 20, 6:10 p.m. CDT: RHP Liam Hendriks vs. LHP Matt Moore

Saturday, April 21, 6:10 p.m.: RHP Carl Pavano vs. RHP James Shields

Sunday, April 22, 12:40 p.m.: LHP Francisco Liriano vs. RHP Jeff Niemann

The Hendriks vs. Moore matchup will be uncharted territory; both pitchers made their debuts late last year, and neither has ever faced any member of the opposing team.

Rays hitter Sean Rodriguez has hit quite well against both Liriano and Pavano. He has a 1.125 OPS against Pavano and a 1.025 against Liriano, albeit in only 8 plate appearances versus each. Denard Span has owned Niemann (8 for 18 with a double and a triple), but he cannot hit Shields (just 2 for 20).

The Weather:

The weather is pretty much irrelevant for this series, as the Rays play in a domed stadium. But if you are curious, it looks like a weekend of typical Florida weather: warm and humid. Temperatures should hover around 80, and there is a chance of thunderstorms on Saturday and Sunday, which should probably make us grateful for the aforementioned dome.

The Head to Head:

Minnesota owns a .536 winning percentage against the Rays, the highest against any American League team. But that percentage was built over just 110 games, since the Rays did not exist prior to 1998. The Twins beat up on the Rays for years when they were a perennial last place team – in 2003 and 2005, the Twins swept the season series. But the Rays have become a very good team in recent years, and things have started to even out. The last time Minnesota won the season series was in 2006. Last season, the Rays won seven of the 10 meetings.

In fact, Tampa now has a winning record against the Twins in Tampa, 27-25. The Twins will have a chance to even that out this weekend.

The Story:

The Twins played some exciting games in New York, and their hitting came alive. Justin Morneau slammed three home runs during the series, and Josh Willingham extended his season opening hitting streak to 13 games. Even Ryan Doumit, who had struggled to start the season, snapped out of his funk with a home run in the series finale. Overall, the Twins enter this series third in the AL with a .266 batting average. This is a team that can hit.

Twins starters now have a 6.52 ERA – 50 earned runs allowed in 69 innings pitched! Through 13 games, the Twins have received just two quality starts: one from Hendriks last Sunday, and one from Pavano the next night. The bullpen clocks in at a more respectable 3.98 in 43 innings. Alex Burnett and Jared Burton gave the team some promising outings this week, and the return of Glen Perkins bolsters the ‘pen. The relief corps still cannot be considered a strength, but so far it is far from the weakness it was last season. But the abysmal starting pitching cannot continue, or the bullpen will quickly find itself overworked.

Surprisingly, Tampa, a team built on dominant pitching, has struggled on the mound as well. Their 5.35 team ERA is almost as bad as the Twins’ 5.54 (only Boston is worse than these two teams in the American League, at 6.20). Starters Shields and Jeremy Hellickson have been solid, but the Rays have received some truly scary performances from their bullpen. At the plate, Carlos Pena has gotten off to a hot start with a .333/.458/.604 line. He’ll probably maintain the power numbers, but Pena is never going to hit over .300 for a full season. He’d be lucky to top .240. Tampa enters the series having just taken two of three from the division-rival Blue Jays. Earlier in the week they were swept by Boston.

The Bottom Line:

The Rays are a great team, but they’re struggling a bit, especially on the mound. If the Twins’ starters can somehow remember how to pitch, Minnesota could come away with a series victory, which would make this a succesful road trip.

Former Red Matt Maloney is one of the early winners in the Twins bullpen battler. Photo by Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

Another day, another four relief pitchers on the mound. Even with about three dozen pitchers in Fort Myers, we’re getting plenty of opportunities to watch (or listen to) their performances. Most of those pitchers are fighting for bullpen slots, so let’s have a quick recap on the bullpen situation. Right-handed closer Matt Capps and lefties Glen Perkins and Brian Duensing are probably guaranteed slots. The Twins usually like to carry 12 relievers on the roster, so that means there should be space left for one more lefty and three righties.

It’s starting to look like the lefty slot will go to Matt Maloney. The 28 year old shut down the Marlins for the last two innings to pick up the win Saturday, allowing just a ninth inning single to Aaron Rowand before a game-ending double play. With two punchouts in that effort, he now has eight in 7.1 scoreless innings. Maloney has some big league experience with the Reds, and that will be another plus. True, his numbers with the Reds were hardly inspiring (5.40 career ERA), but he has been a little better as a reliever than as a starter, racking up 7.9 K/9 and a somewhat lower 4.88 ERA out of the ‘pen. The numbers also hint that he’d make a decent LOOGY: lefties have a batting average .68 points lower against Maloney than right-handed hitters.

Kyle Waldrop has been impressive as well, matching Maloney’s 0.00 ERA through four innings. Parker Hageman of Twins Daily analyzed Waldrop’s mechanics earlier this week and concluded that his high release point makes Waldrop a potentially effective pitcher in the mold of Jon Rauch (but with a better sinker). Waldrop will never be a strikeout threat – he whiffed just 5.0 per nine at AAA last year – but he has to be near the top of the list of contenders so far this spring. Interestingly, Waldrop came from the first round of the 2004 draft, the same round where Minnesota selected Glen Perkins and Trevor Plouffe. The Twins had five picks in the first and supplemental rounds (Jay Rainville and Matt Fox were the others), but until very recently that draft was looking like a complete bust. Now we might wonder if they’re all just late bloomers. If Waldrop and Plouffe could have a breakout season in 2012 as Perkins did in 2011, the 2004 draft starts looking a lot better.

If the season began today, I have to believe that Maloney and Waldrop would win jobs. The rest of the contenders do not stand out as starkly, though there are a few who have done well. Casey Fein has allowed just one baserunner in 3.1 innings. Jeff Manship lowered his ERA to 1.69 Saturday, and he has eight strikeouts. Jared Burton was lights out until running into some trouble Friday. And Luis Perdomo has impressed some with his blazing fastball.

Several other relievers have been roughed up, and they’ll need to turn it around quickly if they want to win a spot. Alex Burnett, Terry Doyle, and Jason Bulger all have WHIPs over 3.00, which is the kind of comically exaggerated stat you can only find in Spring Training or Little League. Bulger has actually settled down in his last couple of outings, but he still has an ERA of 22.50. Anthony Swarzak, whose performance as a long reliever and spot starter in 2011 made him an early favorite for a bullpen slot, has been hit hard as well.

The good news for those players is that we still have a couple more weeks of Spring Training, so there’s time to turn it around. The same cannot be said for Tyler Robertson, Deolis Guerra, Lester Oliveros, Scott Diamond, or Aaron Thompson, who were cut and sent to the minor league camp earlier this week. More cuts are sure to follow soon, so we’ll have a little better idea of what the Twins bullpen will look like after that.