Credit: Charles LeClaire-USPRESSWIRE

The Pittsburgh Pirate’s recent contract extension with Andrew McCutchen demonstrates their commitment to turning their baseball club around.  That they were willing to let Ryan Doumit leave town, probably says more about their frustration with his inability to stay healthy (has only played more than 81 games in 3 of his 7 Major League seasons), than it does with Doumit’s ability.  Doumit, along with Josh Willingham, is part of a pair of free agent acquisitions that the Twins hope will replace the offensive void left by the departed outfield/DH combo of Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel. While neither Doumit or Willingham is a perfect replacement for either Cuddyer of Kubel, the two new Twins will provide manager Ron Gardenhire with the defensive flexibility of Michael Cuddyer and offensive power of Jason Kubel.  Doumit’s role on the Twins will likely be to serve as the regular DH while also giving Mauer a rest behind the plate, or serving as a late inning pinch hitter in games he does not start.

Defensively, Doumit leaves something to be desired.  He’s below average as a catcher and at 1B (where he is hesitant to play in 2012, per recent commentsfrom Ron Gardenhire), and while he’s not as bad as an outfielder, he’s still -2 runs worse than average by Total Zone ratings.  Offesnively Doumit is coming off his best season since 2008, earning 1.5 Offensive Wins Above Replacement, despite just 236 plate appearances.  Doumit is a career .271/.334/.442 (BA/OBP/SLG) hitter, and he’s been slightly better over his past 4 seasons, posting an OPS+ of 111.  While he will not generally hit for a high average, due in part to a 17.2% career K rate, Doumit has drawn walks in almost 8% of his plate appearances since 2009, putting him on base more than 1/3 of the time.  When he does make contact, more 34% of his hits are for extra bases.  (more…)

Last year’s squad was filled with on-base-challenged players. The lack of base runners was a significant factor in the Twins’ failure to score runs and thus, to win games. Fortunately, it looks like the numbers will improve big time in 2012.

First, let’s grimace at how bad the story was in 2011. In the modern MLB, a .300 OBP is pretty much a bare minimum for an everyday player. Ideally, if a player can’t get on base 30% of the time, he should never stay in the Majors long enough to reach 100 PAs, unless he is an Ozzie-Smith-Level defensive superstar. The Twins had not one, not two, but nine players with at least 100 plate appearances who failed to achieve a .300 OBP, and none of them were Ozzies. In descending order, they were: Danny Valencia (.294), Luke Hughes (.288), Justin Morneau (.285), Tsuyoshi Nishioka (.278), Rene Tosoni (.275), Jason Repko (.270), Matt Tolbert (.252), Rene Rivera (.211), and Drew Butera (.210). The Twins finished with the worst record in the AL, while the League Champion Texas Rangers had ZERO players with 100 PAs and an OBP under .300. Somehow, I don’t think that was a coincidence.

Okay, that was depressing. But the good news is that the on-base situation is virtually guaranteed to get better in 2012. Here’s why: (more…)

#7: Michael Cuddyer‘s Trip to the All Star Game

Usually, when a team only sends one player to the All Star Game, it isn’t a good thing. Oftentimes, this means that the team is terrible, and the All Star manager has to scrape the bottom of the barrel to fulfill the requirement of selecting one All Star from every team in the league. The Twins certainly were terrible in 2011. But while Michael Cuddyer did not have the impressive numbers of some of the other AL All Stars, he was definitely not a bottom of the barrel pick.

Cuddyer’s selection to the All Star team can be seen as a sort of Lifetime Achievement award. True, he put up a solid .298/.369/.474 line in the first half, with a team leading 13 homers. But the honor of being chosen had as much to do with Cuddyer’s years of dedication and dependability as it did with his 2011 stat line. It was all the more poignant that the recognition came in what might well have been Cuddyer’s last year with the team.

As is usually the case with the All Star Game, the game itself (a 5-1 loss for the AL) was far less exciting than the hype surrounding it. This was true for Cuddyer as well. He entered the game in the seventh as a defensive replacement at first base. In the ninth inning, he had his only at bat, which resulted in a flyout to right field.

#6: 20th Anniversary of the Greatest. Baseball. Team. Ever! (more…)