Puckett's Pond » David Ortiz

Negative Nancy

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 06:05:53 +0000

Apparently this baseball blogger has been pretty negative on Twitter lately, as Adam Krueger of The Bat Shatters pointed out to me yesterday morning.

In an effort to turn this frown upside down, here are 10 reasons to look forward to the 2012 version of the Minnesota Twins (in reverse countdown order, of course).

10. Tsuyoshi Nishioka is not going to be the opening day starter at shortstop. Hopefully he will not be the opening day at second base or anywhere else either. In Nishioka’s inaugural MLB season he hitt just .226 and slugged just slightly better than that at .249. This after a 2010 season that saw Nishioka win the batting title in the Japan Pacific League where he hit .346 and slugged .482. Over his career in the JPL Nishioka struck out about 3 times for every 2 walks, but in his first season against Major League pitching he struck out 102 times and walked only 36. His replacement is likely to be recently signed Jamey Carroll, whose veteran leadership and consistency at short stop will help anchor the middle infield in 2012.

9. After a sophomore slump in 2011 Danny Valencia will be much improved in 2012. In 2010 Danny Valencia played just 85 games after being called up during the early part of the year, but he made the most of his appearance with a .351 on base percentage and an OPS+ of 119 (100 is league average). In 2011 Valencia came back to earth hitting just .246 with an on base percentage on the wrong side of .300. His OPS+ dropped 33 points to 86, and that doesn’t factor in his lack of success in the field. After fielding 97.3% of all balls hit his way in 2010 (good for 6 runs above average), Valencia could only handle 94.9% of the action at the hot corner costing his team 18 runs compared to an average third basemen. The real Danny Valencia probably lies in between the 2010 and 2011 versions, and a slash line of .285/.310/.405 would not be surprising. (more…)

Former Twins with World Series Rings

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 22:20:52 +0000

Sometime next spring, Nick Punto and Kyle Lohse will receive World Series rings. If there were any justice in this world, they would each have a double handful of them from when they played on the Twins. Instead, they had to earn theirs with the Cardinals.

Punto was a useful utility guy for the Cards when he wasn’t hurt this season, compiling a .388 on-base percentage and playing his usual stellar defense. His performance at the plate wasn’t so solid in the playoffs. In 15 postseason games (six each in the World Series and LCS, and three in the NLDS), Punto went six for 35 (.171) with three RBI. While he played in all but one game of the World Series, he only collected three hits (all singles), but he walked five times, leading to a bizarre .214/.421/.214 slash line.

Like Punto, Lohse played well during the season but wasn’t as good in the postseason. He was 14-8 with a 3.39 ERA in the first 162 games. In the postseason he was 0-2 with a 7.81 ERA. In 12.2 innings pitched, he gave up 18 hits and 11 earned runs. Lohse made one World Series start, in Game 3. Lohse breezed through three innings, but he couldn’t get an out in the fourth. He faced four men, and three came around to score in the biggest slugfest of the World Series, a 16-7 Cards win.

Lohse and Punto are the latest Twins to win a championship, but they’re not the only ones. The 2010 Giants and the 2009 Yankees somehow managed to win it all without the help of any former Twins. But most of the other championship teams this century have had at least one:

2008 Phillies

J.C. Romero was a very important bullpen arm for this squad. In 59 regular season innings, he struck out 52 and earned a respectable 2.75 ERA. Romero made it into four of the five World Series games, and he didn’t allow a single run in 4.2 innings versus the Rays. In the process he notched two wins. (more…)

What Could Have Been

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 01:30:29 +0000

Every MLB team makes some mistakes. And every team suffers devastating injuries on occasion. Even though some of these misfortunes cause fans to cry into their beers, it’s a part of the game that cannot be completely avoided. Still, sometimes it is interesting to think about how things might have turned out differently.

Despite the largely successful on-field product the Twins produced over the last decade, they have had more than their fair share of misfortunes as well. With a little more luck (or better planning) the hometown team could own a couple more World Series trophies instead of an embarrassing 12 game playoff losing streak. They might be making another playoff run right now instead of competing for next year’s top draft pick.

Here’s a look at a few of the biggest What-Ifs for the Twins in the last decade:

What if David Ortiz Re-Signed?

Ortiz was a promising young hitter, but he never quite put it together with the Twins. Knee injuries took away from his playing time seemingly every year. Still, he hit 20 homers for the 2002 Twins, and was definitely a player on the rise. The Twins, who at that time were still a penny-pinching small market club, chose to let Ortiz walk away and sign with Boston that offseason. Ortiz immediately made that decision appear foolish by becoming one of the game’s premier power hitters. He hit 31 homers in 2003, 41 in 2004, 47 in 2005, and an astounding 54 in 2006. (more…)