On the plus side, last week witnessed the Twins debuts of Pedro Florimon and Matt Carson. Both played well this weekend, but neither is likely to be more than a role player for the Twins over the long run. Alas, that’s the best news in this edition of TWIT, because the Twins are stuck in a heavy malaise.

Coming up this week: three games in Oakland against the 65-55 Athletics and four games in the sweltering Texas heat against the Rangers, who are currently 70-50. Since the Twins’ top two hottest both pitched this weekend, they’ll be sending the dregs of the rotation to face the A’s, so that series could be a bloodbath. Scott Diamond and Samuel Deduno will both pitch in the Ranger series, but Texas is always a strong hitting club. In short, the Twins will be lucky to come out of this week with more than a pair of victories.

If everyone on the Twins had hit like Joe Mauer last week, it would have been a good week. Unfortunately, only Mauer hit like Mauer. Photo by Steven Bisig-US PRESSWIRE

Twins Goals for the Week Ahead:

1. Score Some Runs! You know how many runs the Twins scored in Seattle? Six. Sure, the Mariners are a decent pitching team, but it’s not as if the Twins ran into Felix Hernandez. No, instead they were stymied by such pitching legends as Hisashi Iwakuma and Blake Beavan. Can they manage a few hits against the great Dan Straily in Oakland? Stay tuned.

2. Make a Decision on Span. Denard Span injured himself over a week ago in a game against Tampa. He’s been “day to day” since then. He’s already missed more than half the time he would need to spend on the 15 day Disabled List, and the Twins have been prevented from calling up another hitter (like Chris Parmelee). Yes, things are going exactly according to the plans of Twins head trainer Dr. Nick Riviera.

3. Make a Rotation Change. Aside from Diamond, who is a consistent starter, and Deduno, who is inexplicably effective, the Twins’ starters have been getting knocked around lately. It’s time to shorten the leash. The next time a Twins’ starter has a bad start, they should consider promoting Esmerling Vasquez or Liam Hendriks from AAA.

Weekly Winners:

Joe Mauer. Mauer was the best hitter on a slumping team this week, going 8-24 (.333) with a home run. He even stole a base, once again proving that he can do it all.

Deduno. Deduno raked in a win on Monday, and he would have won on Sunday if the Twins were capable of scoring. He notched two quality starts and pitched a total of 13 innings with five earned runs (3.46 ERA). He also walked 11 batters in those 13 innings, which leaves us wondering how exactly he manages to not get shelled every start.

Jared Burton. It was tough to find winners this week. Burton pitched a scoreless inning in a tight game on Saturday, and he didn’t do anything to mess up the rest of the week, so he makes the list.

Weekly Worst:

Nick Blackburn. Friday was another discouraging start for Blackburn, who dug a two run hole in the first inning and went on to allow five in the loss. He finished the game with an ERA of 7.39. If he were to end his season today, that number would tie him with Jim Deshaies (1994) for the worst ERA ever by a Twins’ pitcher with at least 80 innings pitched.

Trevor Plouffe. Hopefully Plouffe is just suffering the after-effects of his thumb injury and he’ll snap out of it soon. But whatever the cause, he has been ice cold at the plate. Last week, Plouffe was just 1 for 22.

Alexi Casilla. Brian Dozier was demoted, but the team still managed to bench Casilla two games this weekend, another sign that they don’t have much confidence in Casilla for the future. He went 2 for 14 at the plate.

Weekly Worst:

Wilkin Ramirez, Darin Mastroianni, and Ben Revere are ready for battle. Photo by Andrew Weber-US PRESSWIRE

Who is in Fort Myers?

On the 40 man roster, Joe Benson, Ben Revere, Denard Span, Rene Tosoni, and Josh Willingham are the guys with Major League experience. New addition Darin Mastroianni has MLB experience too: three at bats worth. Oswaldo Arcia is also on the 40 man roster, but he’s not Major League ready. The only non-roster invitees listed as outfielders are Matt Carson and Wilkin Ramirez, but several others including Brian Dinkelman have played outfield before.

Span and Willingham are the veterans of the bunch. When healthy, Span is almost guaranteed a .370 on-base percentage and 30 steals, and his center field defense is well above average. Willingham can also get on base, and he is the team’s last, best hope for right-handed power this year. Revere showed some flashes of brilliance last year, but his general lack of experience showed in his low OBP (.310). Tosoni and Benson were minor league fill-ins in 2011, and both have another step or two to take. Down in the minors, Arcia is the wave of the future. He needs to build on his promising 2010 and put his injury-riddled 2011 in the past.

Is there a battle?

The starters are set, but there are plenty of things that need sorting out. Does Plouffe, who is out of options, deserve a permanent roster slot? If so, is he a candidate to platoon with Revere in left field? Can Revere get on base enough to make his blazing speed an asset? Can Willingham make the transition from left to right? If not, is Revere’s arm too big of a liability to play right? Is Mastroianni the next Lew Ford? Has Span fully recovered from his concussions? Will Benson’s awesome hair ever become as popular as Joe Mauer’s sideburns?

That is an awfully long list of questions to answer in one month, so yes, some battling is bound to break out.

How does this battle compare?

As mentioned above, a single battle probably is not going to capture the entire essence of this competition. Thus, we’ll have to use the entire Spanish-American War as a comparison.

The Spanish-American War answered a plethora of questions of its own, such as: is America strong enough to defeat a European power? Who blew up my battleship? Who gets to own Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico? And what happens if you give Teddy Roosevelt weapons and turn him loose on a battlefield?

The most important lasting effect of that war is that it marked the transition of the United States from a young nation that could barely solve its own problems to a world power. We can only hope that Revere, Benson, or some other young player will emerge this spring in the same way.

Who will win?

As I mentioned above, the starters are already set, so it’s just a question of which positions they will play. Early indications favor Revere in left, Span in center, and Willingham in right. The Twins seem inclined to hang on to Plouffe, and since he’s out of options that will require them to keep him on the roster as a bench player. Doumit will also see time in the outfield when he isn’t catching or designated hitting. That leaves Mastroianni as the odd man out. With only four bench slots (at least one of which will be filled by the third string catcher), the Twins probably will not have room for another backup outfielder. Thus, Mastroianni might find himself on waivers again.

They run the gamut from young prospects who haven’t seen AA to grizzled MLB veterans. Among them are some hard-throwing pitchers, free swinging hitters, and stout defenders. And their personal stories are just as interesting. Almost all of them are struggling with some sort of adversity, whether it is a lack of opportunity, lack of respect, or, in one case, problems with drug addiction. Quite a few of them are former Tigers, some were once drafted by the Twins, and one of them is the nephew of a reality TV star.

But the thing we really want to know about them is which ones will play for the Twins this year. Unfortunately, all of these players have one built-in disadvantage in trying to make the Majors: they are not on the 40 man roster. In order to call any of these guys up, the Twins would need to place a player on waivers or the 60 day Disabled List. Those types of transactions do happen over the course of a season, but it can be a big impediment for a non-roster player. (more…)