The Fergus Falls Daily Journal

Twins pitching and outlook

By Tom Grout

March 28, 2008

4 comments

I had an old friend who I talked a lot of baseball with over the years who, when evaluating how a team was going to do, said that it all comes down to pitching. With the improved offense this year the Twins may sink or swim with their pitching.

The Twins lost two starters and a guy who started the tail end of the season. We all know that we lost the best pitcher in baseball in Johan Santana and this is the guy the Twins will miss the most. It is very hard to replace a two time Cy Young award winner. Carlos Silva and Matt Garza are the other two that are missing this season. Their loss isn’t quite so great.

So let’s start off and look at the starters which, except for one, are relatively young.

Livan Hernandez-Livan is the except for one mentioned before. He is also the reason we will not miss Carlos Silva. They are similar pitchers as neither one is the team “ace” but will get you a lot of innings. He won’t awe inspire you with his speed but he will razzle dazzle you with the slow stuff. When he is on he will be fun to watch, when he is off if will be difficult. But I am glad we have him because he is a veteran that has pretty much done it all and hopefully be a good example for the young staff to watch.

Boof Bonser-Boof did what the coaching staff wanted him to do was to lose weight. He looks like a new Boof. I think Boof is a good pitcher, I like the way he approaches a game and he is very coach able unlike Garza. I look for good things from Bonser.

Scott Baker-I was real excited about Baker this year. I thought he pitched very good last year but his illness this spring has me a little concerned. Apparently he pitched well the other day but I have also heard he may start the year on the DL. If he comes back healthy I think he is very capable of being the “Ace” of the staff.

Kevin Slowey-I like this kid. He just goes right after guys with a lot of confidence. With that aggressiveness he will give up some hits and home runs but I think he will be just fine this year.

Francisco Liriano-It’s well known that Liriano is coming back from Tommy John surgery so his spring training has been a little up and down. He hasn’t had any arm problems this spring so that is the positive thing. I have seen him pitch a couple of times this spring and as far as I am concerned, he looks better than what the Twins have started with in the past so I am optimistic that he will have a decent year. He may start out the season in the minors to build up his arm strength. If he can come close to what he did in 2006 the Twins could surprise some people.

Nick Blackburn-Blackburn will make the team if Liriano or Baker can’t. He came up through the system fast last year and, according to the guys in the know, could be a sleeper on the staff. The guy throws strikes and that is important no matter what league you are in.

The bullpen is thought to be the strongest part of the team. With the signing of Joe Nathan it stabilizes the staff even more.

Joe Nathan-Nathan signed his extension which is a good thing. It doesn’t necessarily mean he will stay here throughout the contract but for now he is still here and is one of the best closers in baseball. So that is a good thing.

Pat Neshek-With his side armed/underhand delivery Neshek almost made the All Star team last year. He faded toward the tale end of the season only because he was over worked. That shouldn’t happen this year so Neshek is in for another good season.

Juan Rincon-Rincon didn’t have a great season last year but claims he figured on why this past winter. He has pitched decent this spring so hopefully it will continue throughout the 2008 season.

Jesse Crain-Crain will be interesting to watch as he is coming off shoulder surgery. He hasn’t really pitched much this spring but when he has he has looked pretty good. If he can stay healthy this season he, along with Rincon, will help keep Neshek fresh which would be huge.

Denny Reyes-If you have a son and you want him to play baseball, make him a left handed pitcher. The quickest way to the big leagues is by being a left handed relief pitcher and as Reyes and others have proven, it can be a long career. If Denny can throw strikes he will be fine.

Matt Guerrier-Matt has not had a good spring. Sometimes a person can read too much into spring training numbers or too little. He is a veteran so I will give him a break as he was one of the better guys out of the pen last year.

Brian Bass-Bass has pitched for a few organizations and it looks like he made the team as a long reliever. With the Twins young starting staff, he could see a lot of action. So what I am saying is, if Bass is pitching a lot the Twins are in trouble.

Overall the pitching staff will be as good as the young starters will carry them. With young pitchers if could go either way, good or bad. The good thing is that the Twins do have some depth at this position. The have Humber, Duensing, Mulvey and others down in the minors who could fill in at both starter and reliever if any one of the above pitchers get hurt or get bombed.

Whether they want to admit it or not, the Twins are in a building process. They have young starting pitching and young position players who are tied up for a few years. They also have enough veterans that should make the season an entertaining one. If the Twins can play .500 baseball for the season I would say it would be a success. I also would not be surprised that they will accomplish at least that.

As far as contending for the division, the Tigers and Indians look pretty good on paper. The Tigers really loaded up but they are on the older side and some of their players had career years last year. Their pitching staff isn’t all that much better than the Twins so who knows I guess. The Indians, to me anyway, may be the team to beat but they have some flaws too. You don’t win games on paper so anything can happen. But if you are looking for a prediction here it is: 1. Cleveland 2. Detroit 3. Minnesota 4.Chicago 5. Kansas City