Puckett's Pond » Jason Kipnis

A Royal Disappointment

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:34:20 +0000

The Twins will end their 2011 campaign on Wednesday against the Kansas City Royals, and they will probably do it with 100 losses. The Twins will end the season as the last place team in the American League Central, a spot normally occupied for the Kansas City Royals and the Cleveland Indians. Being in last place is not all bad, it does, after all, lead to high draft picks. Both the Royals and the Indians have taken advantage of these draft picks and their teams are trending upwards, thanks to young guys like Eric Hosmer and Jason Kipnis. The Twins, however, are trending downwards, having enjoyed recent success and thus, do not have a stable full of young kids ready to teak the Major Leagues by storm.

Maybe the 2011 Twins were snake bit by injury, and maybe even while they were healthy the star players underperformed. But even if the Twins had stayed healthy and performed up to their lofty preseason expectations, did anyone really think that a playoff rotation that included Francisco Liriano, Carl Pavano, Nick Blackburn, and Scott Baker or Brian Duensing really compete against the power hitting line ups that the New York Yankees, Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox (if they don’t choke against the Orioles) are throwing out there? Pitch to contact isn’t going to work even with the best defense (Tsuyoshi Nishioka not withstanding) when the other team has home run power in six of its nine line up spots.

Because the Twins have enjoyed so much regular season success their Minor League Affiliates are a little thin on star power. Sure, there are plenty of middle of the rotation starters and lots of young outfielders with “potential,” but there are no Bryce Harper type guys out there. No future Johan Santana types either, and the Twins’ best pitching prospect, Kyle Gibson, just had Tommy John surgery and is AT LEAST a year away from pitching for the Twins. (more…)

Friday Links

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:36:33 +0000

Last night I was hanging out with the Knuckleballs folks during their Twins Game Chat, as I so often do, and I offered everyone a free beer if Francisco Liriano went 7 innings. Confidence in Frankie was so low that several individuals offered to drive to Southwestern Wisconsin to claim their drink. After a shaky first inning, thanks to a Tsuyoshi Nishioka error and Liriano’s own ability to cover home on a wild ptich, the Royals led the Twins 2-0, Liriano had thrown 23 pitches and I figured my beers were safe. But the baseball gods were thirsty, and the next thing I knew Trevor Plouffe had spotted Francisco Liriano a 4-3 lead and Liriano made good throwing 7 complete innings and leading the Twins to victory. So if you’re looking for that free beer, I’ll be at the Rockin’ Rewey Fireworks on Saturday night, and the beers will be waiting.

And now, on to the links. (more…)

Central Processing: Would a 2B Please Stand Up?

Wally Fish — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 03:59:08 +0000

In the process of picking my nominees for the AL Central’s All-Division Team, I came to an surprising conclusion. There is no real established or long-term talent at second base. In fact, the cast of characters is lacking. You would think that among the five teams in the division, one of them would have a viable everyday player at the position that didn’t have one or more significant question marks.

Enter the first ever edition of Central Processing to appear on Puckett’s Pond. What follows is a run down of all the likely 2B options for the White Sox, Indians, Tigers, Royals and our Minnesota Twins.

I will also provide my justification for listing Tsuyoshi Nishioka as the 2B on my AL Central All-Division roster. Of course by the time you get to that point in this article, the justification will be relatively self-evident. (more…)