CaseinTHEface: The Case for Twins Strategy

2006 Opening Day Preview

I'm Back!

Sorry to everyone who reads my blog, I've been out lately not and have not posted in a while.  Now that the season has started I should get back to posting on a more regular basis although probably not every day. 

Twins vs. Blue Jays

Though I have plenty of thoughts on the Twins opening day roster, I will limit this post to putting out a preview of this game.  No doubt this game should be exciting and the nation will be watching as the American League's top two pitchers coming into the season face off.  Roy Halladay was on a torrid pace last season and would have made a serious bid for the Cy Young had he not been struck by a line drive.   Halladay not only has the stuff to win Cy Young awards but he also rivals our own Carlos Silva in efficiency.  He throws strikes and he gets outs (unlike Silva though Halladay can ring of the K's too).  As far as tonight's game is concerned I think the Twins will fall short.  There are a lot of factors at work here and will try to break them down.  While Santana is amazing he does start slow and the past two years his 1st halves have just been slightly above average.  On the other hand though, Santana should be ahead of schedule as he was revving it up early in the WBC for Venezuela just a couple weeks ago.  This could bring a mix of good and bad news as the season progresses.  Does this mean that Santana can be more dominating in the first half? And similarly if he is can he still keep up the same form throughout the season? We will see.  Santana shouldn't get hit particularly hard tonight, although watch out for Vernon Wells who had a big game against Santana in their last meeting and overall had a whopping .673 SLG versus lefties last year (ouch!).   Santana will go 6 IP with 3 ER's and 4 R's overall.  As far as Halladay is concerned, watch out opening day lineup!  Halladay for tonight will put in serious doubt in the minds of Twins fans that the offense is improved from last year.  However, we should not be concerned as yet.  For Halladay the line should be 7 IP, 3H, 1 ER and 8k's.  Tonight's final score will be 4-2, Blue Jays on top.

2006 Regular Season Projected Standings

For now I will not do more than project how the divisions will finish come season end and a brief reason why.  At this time I will not make projections for wild card's and the playoff picture.

American League Central

The Central has suddenly jump to the forefront of MLB after the successes of last season.  The White Sox dominated all of baseball by almost winning 100 games during the season and then going a combined 11-1 throughout the playoffs and World Series.  The Indians were also legitimate contenders for the Wild Card spot going into the last week of the regular season.  The Twins, a distant 3rd in the division, still managed to mount the 5th straight winning season.  So for now, the eyes are focused in the Central, but in my mind that should change as the season goes on.

1. Chicago

2. Minnesota

3. Tigers

4. Cleveland

5. Kansas City

Chicago-

As they clearly stated last year, Chicago boast one of the best and deepest rotations in baseball.  Despite not having anyone with absolutely dominating stuff, all their pitchers have the potential to be 15 W, 200 IP guys.  Mark Buerhle is easily one of the most underrated pitchers in the league (I guess there's no thrill in writing about guys whose fastball only clocks in the mid to upper 80's).  The problem with the Chicago is that their offense still looks anemic even with the addition of Thome.  I mean has anyone noticed that they really don't have a .300 hitter on their roster? They will continue to win games on timely homeruns but they should drop more one-run ball games this year.  Still they will top the central.

Minnesota-

I'm not yet willing to rule the Twins out of the Wild Card race, but it seems the management is still unwilling to make the necessary moves and decisions to seal the deal.  The team has a ton of potential with their pitching depth but I'm not convinced with the offense yet (and the management of the offense, cough... cough).  But as always, we will sit and wait.

Tigers-

This is my "Nobodies going to see them coming" pick.  Their rotation is very underrated.  Rogers is getting better with age and he should put up solid numbers if he can avoid the DL and beating up camera guys.  Bonderman is poised for a break out, and Verlander is ready to prove his worth.  The on other side, their offense has a really good mix of upcoming talent and veteran leadership, I think they'll produce.  The thing that is going to make this team interesting though is their bullpen.  They had some good arms to begin with, but now that Zumaya is being added into that mix, this crew could be really good.  It'll be interesting to see who will be the closer though come September.

Cleveland-

What! 4th! This guy must be nuts!  Sorry guys, but last season was fun and all but you drop two legitimate pitchers and haven't made up for it.  On top of that I believe Cliff Lee is vastly overrated and could be set for a pounding.  As far as Sabathia is concerned he's got to figure things out, he's getting a little too old to continue talking about realizing his full potential.  The offense for this team will continue to be fun to watch but I also think they could get hit with the injury bug, we will see.  The other reason I have them falling to 4th in the division is the bullpen, while this was a strong suit of their last year, in should deteriorate as the season goes on.  Wickman will not last as the closer past June.

Kansas City-

Joe Mays is there number two started... need I say more?  Sorry it's not that bad.  This season they did their best considering the money they had, and instead of trying to lure in one big name star they got a bunch of second tier veterans.  They will not be as horrible as last year but anything they do this year will mean nothing especially when there's 4 teams in the division that should finish above 500.

American League East

The question for this division is no longer who has the best offense, but rather whose pitching staff is more mentally capable of shrugging off regular beatings by division rivals.  Analyst this year talked about Randy Johnson and how he can bounce back from last years numbers even at his age, and how it was surprising how he game up so many homers and yadda, yadda, yadda.  You know why he gave up so many homeruns, look at the division!  It will only get worse for Johnson and any other pitcher in this division.  It's all about homeruns and high octane offenses, any pitcher not named Halladay will accomplish a major feat in not having an ERA above 4. 

1. New York

2. Toronto

3. Boston

4. Baltimore

5. Tamba Bay

New York-

Top to bottom, the Yankee lineup resembles more an All-Star team more than anything else.  The only good news for opposing pitchers is that these All-Stars will continue to have bouts of laziness just because they can, but down the stretch (as always) they will turn up the juice and mash their way into the playoffs.  Oh by the way, their back end of the rotation seems better coming into the year.

Toronto-

As far as pitching staffs are concerned, this is probably the best in the league including the bullpen.  Halladay (if healthy) could actually make a bid for the first 25 Win season, the likes of which we don't see much in the American League.  The full success of the club will somewhat hinge on how much consistency they can bet out of the inconsistent Burnett.  But I also think the back of their rotation will continue to be sneaky good.  As far as offense is concerned there is a high ceiling for this group.  There's is a good mix of high-power, high-average potential, just depends on how well they put it all together.

Boston-

Yes Schilling looked good the other night... whatever.  Schilling might make comeback player of the year, and while he's probably one of the mentally toughest pitchers in the game, he is old and is body might not handle 200 innings anymore.  As far as Beckett is concerned, bringing in a fastball pitcher who throws in the mid-90's is a recipe for an inflated ERA.  Most hitters in this division, consider that meat.  Anyways, this rotation just seems as weak as it turned out to be last year.  As far as the offense is concerned it's still the Big-Papi and Manny show, but has anyone considered what happens if one of these guys goes down?  Just putting it out there.  Anyways, putting them at third in this division is not a complete loss however as they should still finish several games over .500.

Baltimore-

It says a lot about your team when your number one guy had a 4.90 ERA but still managed a 15-12 record.  The Orioles rotation last year experienced some of the worst of the inflated ERA syndrome in the division.  The bad news for Baltimore is while there are a good deal of reasons for optimism in Berdard, Cabrera and Chris Ray, their success will be limited for the time being in this division.  Will see if Leo Mazzone can work some wonders for these guys.  On the other side their offense will also continue to be high powered with Tejada, Mora and others.

Devil Rays-

Everybody admits now that they are real fun to watch, for half the game anyways... Watching their pitchers is a formula for mental weariness, but there are definitely some fun hitters.  On top of that, this team can easily lead the league in SB's as they have plenty of speedsters.  For now, they will remain at the bottom of the division.

American League West

Ah the west... Is it finally time for Billy Beane's Athletics?  Probably.  The Athletics go into the season as the team to beat and have made a curious amount of moves that have not involved letting players move on to bigger and better contracts.  Though only four teams there appears to be a good chance of squeezing two playoff teams out of the division.

1. Oakland

2. California, Anaheim, Los Angeles... whatever!

3. Seattle

4. Texas

Oakland-

All the right things seem to finally be falling into place for Oakland.  They have one of the best rotations in baseball, a formidable lineup and  a good defense.  Their two main question marks will be their bullpen and their ability to avoid injury.  Despite their overwhelming amount of youth, the A's got hit hard with the injury bug last year so we'll see what happens, seems Gary Sheffield is already trying to answer that question for them.  Anyways, I usually don't like going with the popular picks, but I think Oakland will come out on top especially to Harden, Haren and Blanton improving on last years performances.  I also see Thomas desperately trying to out-slug is replacement in Chicago for pride's sake.

Los Angeles-

At this point I'm unwilling to rule them out of the playoff picture.  There offense might continue to be semi-anemic but I like their willingness to commit to some rising talent instead of throwing money out for a big name bopper.  Even without a left-hander, this rotation looks to be very good.  Yes Colon is overrated but Lackey, Weaver and Escobar are seriously underrated, so I see no issue.  For anyone who plays fantasy ball, they'll recognize that all 5 of the Angels starters were drafted plus F-Rod and Shields, that says a lot.  The Angels should be there all the way down the stretch.

Seattle-

Seattle's not ready to contend but I think there are some definite positives coming into the year.  They have an improved rotation with the addition of Washburn and of course all eyes will be on King Felix.  And while they didn't make any serious offensive changes they should be a bit better than last year, I can't imagine Beltre doing what he did last year.  And it appears Seattle was the only team smart enough to take a chance on Roberto Pentagine (the name you've been reading about and http://twins.mostvaluablenetwork.com for some time now).

Texas-

While Texas is hoping that Milwood and Eaton will be their saviors, so far that appears not to be the case.  This team just fails time in and time out to get the right pitchers.  Because of Eaton's injury they went out and traded with the Phillies for Tejeda I believe it is.  If they were smart they would have upped their offer and asked Phillie for Ryan Madson who looks like a very good ground-ball pitcher in the making.  Anyways as long as they continue to but too much emphasis on the power, don't expect them to do anything.  How much longer I they going to wait before they ask the Twins for Carlos Silva?

Anyone Interested in Fantasy Baseball?

This is my first go with Fantasy Baseball, I had a lot of fun scouting players and their particular fantasy talents.  I find that I now know too many baseball players for my own good, but oh well.  I'm in a 10 team Rotisserie League, unfortunately we had a couple guys pull out at the last minute to make for the normal 12 but oh well.  Better players for me.  Anyways here's my group.

C Kenji Johjima                                          SP Roy Halladay

1B Derrek Lee                                             SP John Lackey

2B Luis Castillo                                           RP Billy Wagner

3B Eric Chavez                                            RP Huston Street

SS Jose Reyes                                             P Kelvim Escobar

OF Hideki Matsui                                        P Oliver Perez

OF Willy Teveras                                         P Chris Ray

OF Torii Hunter                                          BN Aaron Harang

Util Adam Dunn                                          BN Daniel Cabrera

BN Mark Ellis (2B/SS)                                  DL Kerry Wood

BN Kevin Mench (OF)

BN Edwin Encarnacion (3B)

If anyone has and advice, inside information or ways to make my team better I'd be much interested to hear as this is all new territory for me, however they seem like a pretty good bunch. 

End of an Era? Part 2

The Bradke Effect

Walking out of the ondeck circle, you stroll lightly to the batters box. With your back foot you dig your spot into the dirt and proceed with your little pre-pitch quirks. Finally when your finished you look up and find that a man is staring at you from a little more than 60 feet away. His eyes don’t impose fear, but they don’t retain any fear either. If you’re Alex Rodriguez or Manny Ramirez and you’re looking for some sign of respect stepping in to the box, don’t count on it. Just a calm tranquility resides in those eyes, whether he’s just struck the previous batter out on a filthy change-up or given up a mammoth three-run homerun into the right field upper deck. Then it begins, the set, the signature high leg kick and then the flowing, effortless delivery. All is steady, all is calm, because it’s Brad Radke. And now your panicking because you don’t know the pitch but you know it’s a strike and you hate pitchers who always throw first pitch strikes. Brad’s arsenal is by no means overpowering but that’s exactly what he wants you to believe. He has a fastball that ranges between the upper 80’s and lower 90’s. He also has a curve and a slider, but it’s his changeup that makes Brad a threat. While Brad’s changeup does not have the same speed differential as that of Johan Santana, he’s still able to throw his without changing his arm speed. So bottom line, your going to look foolish if you don’t know it’s coming before he starts his wind up. It’s Brad’s changeup that allows him to strikeout 100 plus hitters a year, and it’s his changeup that keeps hitters honest against his less than impressive fastball. The other reason that Brad has stayed so effective over the years is his control. Not only does he throw all his pitches for strikes but he locates his fastball with utter precision, hitting corners at will.

The Brad Radke Story

Brad was actually born just a bit east of the Wisconsin, Minnesota border in Eau Claire. He was drafted in 1991 in the 8^th round as the 207^th overall pick by the Minnesota Twins. Once in the Twins system Brad moved up steadily showing the same skills that he has been recognized by his entire life. He stayed consistent and his control was phenomenal. After going 12-9 with a 2.66ERA in 1994 for the Twins AA affiliate, at the meager age of 22 and without a single start at the major league level, Brad became a starter for the Minnesota Twins in 1995. After an unimpressive start in 1995, Brad continued to make improvements and in his second year by lowering his ERA by 86 points and nearly doubling his strikeouts from the year before. Though I couldn’t tell you for certain, but I’m sure this was the point where he found his changeup. Then in 1997 the chance the Twins took on this young Wisconsin native paid its dividends.  Brad Radke became the first 20 game winner since the glory days of 1991, more impressive was the fact that he did it in a season where the team only won 68 games. After 1997 Brad continued to pitch well, although not nearly as dominant as he had the year before. More importantly though, he remained consistent and durable, posting more than 200 innings each year. With the exception of 1997 Brad’s record reflected the struggles of the ball club. He continued to post double digits in both wins and loses, but he would not accumulate more wins than loses until the team’s resurgence beginning in 2001. Then in 2002, Brad experienced his first major injury and was out throughout the middle part of the season. Still, Brad proved his worth. Because, it was Brad who ended the famous Oakland 20 game winning streak with a 6 hit shutout on September 6^th and it was Brad who threw 3 postseason games giving up a mere 4 earned runs, in route to a 2-1 record.  In 2003, Brad got back to his form posting a 14-10 record with a somewhat unimpressive 4.49ERA. The following year something came over Brad. Though he only posted an 11-8 record, Brad Radke had a career best 3.48 ERA. This was of course, masked by Johan Santana’s amazing second half run and consequent Cy Young performance. It was in 2004 that we first ran across the term low run support in our every day discussion of Brad Radke. In 2004 Brad recorded only 19 decisions in 34 starts, then again in 2005 he earned 21 decisions in 31 starts posting an ugly 9-12 record.

Supporting your Veteran

In analyzing what has happened to Brad over the past couple of years, we do not have to look much farther than Johan Santana. Since the emergence of Johan, Brad’s overall support in all facets of the game have diminished greatly. Despite the inability of the Twins offense to get Santana a consecutive Cy Young award, the mentality of Twins hitters when Santana is on the mound is that they have the best chance of winning. That used to be the mentality with Brad on the mound. The change in that mentality hit it’s peak in 2004, but was also very apparent last year. In 2005, Brad had 8 starts where he took on a loss when giving up 3 earned runs or less. He also had 4 no decisions in games where he gave up 3 earned runs or less. Though Brad finished with a 4.04 ERA in 2005, he had a very respectable 3.71 ERA coming into September when his sore shoulder got the best of him. The other group that has fallen off in terms of support is the coaching staff. For years, Brad was this team’s ace. And when your team’s ace is struggling you don’t pull him out of the game at the first sign of trouble. There’s a certain amount of trust involved in understanding that your best pitcher has the stuff to get himself out of certain situations. Granted there is a line there, but as the manager you want to convey to your pitcher that you are confident enough to stick with him when it counts. With Ron Gardenhire that confidence has been visibly dissipating as he has more and more often taken Brad out of games during the middle of an inning. Yes I understand that the Twins have developed a truly sensational bullpen over the years with true skills in getting out of sticky situations, but a manager must also recognize the message he’s giving to his starting pitcher, his former ace Brad Radke. Unsurprisingly the last group which has supported Brad less and less is the fan base. This becomes quite clear however as Johan Santana has not only become the team's best pitcher, but the most loved pitcher by the fans.  These things seem to go hand in hand and consequently no fault of Brad's.

Brad at His Best

• The biggest thing that has stood out for me over the past couple of years is that I haven't recognize Brad as a big game pitcher.  Most of this understanding has come from viewing Brad against teams like the Yankees in the playoffs.  In 2004, Brad was absolutely shelled by the Yankees to the tune of 5 runs and 3 homeruns.  However, through my research this is a miscontrued perception on my part.  Over the years Brad has proven time in and time out that he is in fact a big game pitcher. Even with his poor showing in 2004, Brad has a career 3.19ERA in the post-season, much better than his career season ERA of 4.22.  Brad was also absolutely instrumental in the success of the Twins in 2002, overcoming his midseason injury to pitch 3 great games in the playoff, including a dissapointing loss to the angels in which he pitched 7 and 2/3 innings giving up only 2 earned runs.  Where I have gotten confused is while Brad is a big game pitcher, he is not an All-Star pitcher like Johan.  This becomes evident when talking about the star-studed offense that the Yankees come out with every year and his single apperance in the 1998 All-Star game where he also struggled. 
• While Brad has been greatly overshadowed as a pitcher since the emergence of Johan Santana, he has actually become more successful with the precense of Johan in the the rotation.  Since Brad and Johan have become 1 and 2 in the rotation in 2004, Brad has put up season ERA's of 3.48 in 2004 and 3.71 in 2005 before his shoulder soreness took effect in September.  Similarly, Johan has developed into the most devasting second half pitcher in the game.  Since 2003, Johan has a 30-3 record with a 1.90ERA.  Radke has shown that when Johan is at his best so is he, posting a 18-8 record with a 3.52 ERA throughout the same period.  Because of these facts, I'd officially like to take back my previous statements saying that Silva should start behind Johan in 2006, Brad should.  When sports casters discuss lethal one two punches, Johan and Brad should be near the top of that list. 
• For anyone who has watch Brad over the years, they'll admit that it's best to show up late to the ballpark or watch a 30 minute program on tv before watching a game when Brad pitches.  Brad has become notorious for giving up runs and homeruns in the first two innings of any game.  While he tends to be a very slow starter, Brad always settles in.  I seriously would like to sit down with Brad and discuss if this is a strategy of his.  Because, if it is apart of his game, in some odd manner it does work as he can consistently can go through the 3rd-6th innings with minimal trouble and often more.  Brad is at his best though when he can limit the amount of damage done in the first couple of innings.  Homeruns alone wont necessarily tell the story.  Brad will probably always give up a lot of homeruns, but as long as he can continue to limit the amount of homeruns with runners on-base he will remain successful.
• Finally, Brad has made a name for himself as one of the best control pitchers in the game.  Yes he can throw all his pitches for strikes but he also refuses to allow hitters to get free passes.  Brad has never given up more than 57 walks in a season and since 2000 has never granted more than 28 free passes.  For Brad this is a true key to success because he does tend to give up a lot of hits throughout the season.  Limiting free passes keeps runners of the basebaths and as a result limits runs.  Simple fact of baseball, if nobody gets on base, you can't score runs.

Brad's 2006 Outlook

With the durability and consistently Brad has shown throughout his career, pitchers in his position at the meager age of 33 (yes 33) would be looking for a long term contract to provide some security as the aging process begins to take it's toll.  However, that is not the story with Brad.  Brad has actually been contemplating retirement for quite a few years now, and unless things change, he plans on retiring after the completion of the 2006 season.  While this fact is surprising to most, it becomes less so when you understand the man.  Brad doesn't fascinate and attract fans with a charasmatic personality or a driving competitive edge like Johan for instance.  Instead, Brad is a quiet duty pitcher.  You wont see Brad pumping his fist after striking out the side in the 8th inning, but you will see Brad quietly focused in the corner of the duguot focusing on the duty at hand.  As a duty pitcher Brad is increasingly intuned to his need on the team.  With many young pitchers on their way up, Brad might not feel the need coming into 2007.  Similarly with a new ace now fully developed, Brad not feel as necessary as he has in the past.  Then of course there's a team element to the equation.  Brad has always felt at home in a Minnesota Twins uniform.  I highly doubt Brad would ever play for another team with the possible exception of the Milwakee Brewers.  Still over the past two seasons, Brad has been shown a significant decrease in teamate support in the form of runs.  Whether this is subconcious or concious remains unclear, but I would assume it's in the back of Brad's mind.  On the same note, Brad has been with this team longer than anyone else and with the exception of Torii Hunter is the only won who remembers the darker days in Minnesota Twins history.  Even though Brad is only 33, he must feel old with the abundunce of youth on this team.  On that same note, Brad last year for the first time experienced the first effects of old age.  Though Brad battled an injury in 2002, for the first time last year he felt the effects of age in the soreness of his shoulder that almost limited him to less than 200 innings for the first time since his rookie year (not counting the injury season).  If the Twins organization desires Brad to stay around past 2006, their will have to be a joint effort on all sides to remind Brad why he's so important to this club.  This will have to come in the support that I discussed earlier in this posting.  In my mind, while I do greatly desire to see more and more of our young talent develope, at the same time I recognize the importance of someone like Brad on a pitching staff.  Brad is consistent, loyal and an obvious veteran who has been there and done that.  What sways me to the side of wanting Brad to stick around is that he is still improving.  He has reach that age in his career where talent is dissapating, but knowledge is taking over.  For me that transition is fasinating to watch.  Please don't say it's over yet faithfull Bradke.

 

The End of an Era? Part 1

My Torii Experience

I met Torii once back when he still owned his home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. It was a pretty normal summer morning except for the fact that I had just dragged myself out of bed at an uncharacteristic 5:00 am that morning. See I work in the produce department at the Golden Valley Byerly’s and we get there about 6:00 am to start getting things ready, much like a bakery would. But since I’m part-time, I normally work during the afternoon and the night, and on this rare occasion I had showed up the same time as the managers. After about 2 hours in to the job, I was just starting to wake up and then suddenly I woke up in a hurry. I had seen Torii in our store several times, just not face to face. This morning he startled me though, because he appeared around a corner suddenly less then 10 feet away from me with his wife. This, of course, was the perfect time for someone like Torii to come in because at 8:00 am on a weekday morning, there aren’t a lot of people in the store.

“Oh… Hey Torii,” I said somewhat startled and surprised.

“Hey how’s it going?” he replied.

In hindsight I should’ve been reaching for something for him to autograph but like I said it was still early for me and I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly; plus all I had in front of me was a big pile of oranges. I’m glad though, that I didn’t bother him too much, because I’m sure he just wanted to get out of the house and start a day of normally.  “It’s going, it’s going. You?” was all I could come up with.

“Ah, man I’m just tired”

“Yeah, late night uh” I said, referring to the fact that they had gone quite a few extra innings the night before.

“Yeah (pointing at his wife) she kept me up all night.”

“Ah…” (I faked a look that I understood, but really, I was just surprised that he had just shared that information with me).

 

 

The Torii Hunter Story

Over this past off-season there was a ton of speculation that Torii was going to be traded. On the one hand there were the guys like the Yankee reporters claiming that Torii would find his way into pinstripes for 2006 because he’s the best candidate to fill their gap in CF. I remember one particularly annoying reporter saying that one potential trade could involve Torii for Carl Pavano. This being a completely ignorant and pompous claim, assuming the Yankees can just dump their trash for an All-Star center fielder like Torii Hunter. Plus like we really need more pitching… Anyways, on the other hand there was the blogging community. Many men, who I greatly respect, talked about how overrated Torii was as a centerfielder and how replaceable his offensive capabilities are. I hope this little tribute proves otherwise.  See, it was through that little encounter that I had, that one can really understand the type of guy Torii is. Torii speaks his mind. He is honest and upfront and while you might not want to hear, at least you know where he stands.

The biggest reason why I consider Torii to be so vital to this ball club is that he his name has become synonymous with Twins success.  In 2001, in Torri’s first full year as a starter, the Twins finished above .500 for the first time since 1992. While Torii had already established himself as the Twins starter in centerfield before 2002, his breakthrough also marked the beginning of a new era for the Minnesota Twins. In 2002 Torii was the first Twin to be a starter in the All Star game since Kirby Puckett started in CF in 1995. Having already hit 20 HR’s, Torii also got the full All Star treatment by participating in the annual Homerun Derby. However, it was in the first inning in that game that Torii captured the hearts of Minnesotans and fans everywhere. The nation watched as Torii ran to the wall, leapt up and stole a homerun from Barry Bonds. One minute we stared awe struck, the next minute we laughed as Barry came rushing out into the outfield to hoist Torii onto his shoulders. I was still pretty young when I witnessed that spectacle, but surprisingly that moment holds more significance to me now. In my mind Torri’s catch demonstrated a small triumph over something that has destroyed baseball. See while Torii’s out there playing his heart out basically living his dream, guys like Bonds, expect fans to respect what they do. They expect us to believe as they lightly flail their arms at the baseball and effortlessly hit homeruns, they expect us to believe that their consistent injuries are just due to old age, they expect us to believe that they just need to lose 30 lbs in one off-season to take pressure of their precious knees. Well I don’t buy it anymore and anyone who wants to call me out on my claims, feel free to do so. After the All-Star game the Twins rallied out of their decade long slump and made the playoffs for the first time since 1991, winning the division in the process. That year the Twins established themselves as a legit, beating Oakland in the first round, a team that had won 102 games in the regular season. Granted, the Twins folded to the soon to be World Series champions in the Anaheim Angels, but there were definite reasons to be optimistic for the future. In 2003, the Twins again won the Central Division title. However after a masterful game 1 by emerging Johan Santana, the Twins lost three games in a row to the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs. The Twins in 2004 defended their division title for a second time. This time however, a much more seasoned team was coming up against those “Damn Yankees”. In my mind 2004 was the year that the Twins truly had the ability to take it to the next level. After game 1, the Twins appeared poised to do so as Santana this time shut out the Yankees. Game 2 was another story though. The starting pitchers were Brad Radke and John Lieber. That day Brad reminded us that while he may be a big game pitcher, he is not an All-Star pitcher, giving up homeruns to Jeter, Sheffield and Rodriguez. Still the Twins fought back and in the eight inning beat up Tom Gordon and more importantly kept the rally going scoring two runs to tie the game against the cornerstone of the Yankee machine: Mariano Rivera. No closer has more defiantly destroyed the hopes of the opposition then Rivera. After the eighth, the game was tied and destined to go to extra innings as Rivera calmed the situation and Joe Nathan strolled onto the mound for the Twins. Finally in the 12^th, Torii Hunter came to the plate and made Tanyon Sturtze pay dearly for his mistake of throwing him a high fastball. He had hoisted the Twins hopes on his shoulders and hit a shot over the fence of Yankee Stadium.  Minnesota fans everywhere cheered as Torii rounded the bases, breaking the back of the evil empire that would soon find themselves down two games to none in a best of three series. However, as you all know that was not the end of that day as a coach made a poor decision on the new hero who only wanted to be able win it for his team and its loyal fans. But that’s a story for another day. After that major disappointed finishing 2004, 2005 brought its own new challenges. New faces were abundant, but expectations were very high as some predicted to see Minnesota in the World Series. By midseason, Torii was desperately trying to give hope to a team struggling to keep up with the red hot White Sox. Torii had had an amazing June at the plate but on July 29^th, Torii tried to do too much. Ironically, former teammate David Ortiz had hit a shot into the awkward juncture in centerfield and in an attempt to make a miraculous catch, Torii busted up his ankle. While the Twins hopes of defending their division title were fading, Torri’s injury marked the end of any attempted comeback. Still the 2005 Twins managed to still finish above .500 for the 5th consecutive season. 

The Real Torii Hunter

Torii’s breakout year in 2002 drove the Minnesota Twins to their first of three division titles, and his injury this past season marked the end of that streak. Obviously Torii is not single-handedly responsible for the Twins success, but I find this fact to be quite telling of who Torii is to this team. See after his very successful season in 2002, the organization was thrilled with Torii’s playmaking ability in CF. But what they were hoping they had found was that guy who could change games with his bat. As much as they wanted Torii to be that guy, Torii subconsciously declared that he would not be that guy. After the first half of 2002, Torii had already hit 20 HR, yet he only managed to hit 9 more the rest of the season, failing to become the first Twin to hit 30HR’s since 1987. Similarly Torii proved he was not a clean-up hitter as he has shown that he is much more productive from the 5 spot. See as much as we’ve needed that game changing ability at the plate, Torii has proven time in and time out that he is a game saver, not a game changer. This fact becomes most apparent when we start talking about all the homeruns and doubles he saves while playing in the outfield. Further, even though Torii has become so intrinsically tied with Twins success he is at his best when others on the team are struggling.

Watching Torii at the plate can sometimes be very frustrating. Torii has proven that he is one of the best hitting centerfielders in the game, but still there is much too be desired. Mainly, he is not a big average hitter. Torii hit .289 in 2002 but after that he has basically developed into a .270 hitter. Secondly, Torii is very much a hacker. As much as you may want to change that, you probably can’t. It just has too much to do on how he was raised. Torii was not only pursuing a dream to become a major leaguer, he was also pursuing a dream in which he could right some of the wrongs in his family. He wanted to be able to support his parents and his siblings. He wasn’t going to be able to do that by watching pitches go by at the plate, he had to accomplish that by swinging his bat. So yes Torii will strikeout more than 100 times in a full season, and no he will not accumulate a very high on-base percentage. Finally, Torii has a tendency to be very streaky. Torii has some very good months but he also has some very bad months, the good thing though is that he tends to be very reliable down the stretch. While he may be somewhat frustrating, he has proven to be very inspiring with his bat. As I mentioned before, Torii is not a game changer, but a game saver. He is the same at the plate as he is on the field in that respect. Over the past couple of years, Torii is at his best inspiring teammates to not give up. He is out there saving the team, keeping them around .500 in any given month as opposed to letting them fall below that mark. Similarly, he has very much become a big game hitter. While other teammates are bowing before teams like the Yankees and the Angels (both teams we had lost to in the playoffs), Torii is out there trying to inspire confidence. In looking at teams that the Twins have played somewhat regularly over the past three years, Torri has put up some of his best marks against the Yankees (.302BA) and the Angels (.284BA). On the same note Torii is a lifetime .304 hitter in the playoffs with a .522 SLG percentage. For the Twins in 2006, Torii will remain vital as the teams only proven power threat from the right side of the plate, so losing him would be quite damaging.

Defensively, there’s no disrespecting Torii’s game. Not only has he proven that he has the talent to make game saving catches, every day he has also proven that he is willing to give it is all, often times sacrificing himself for the team. Some may say that Torii is reckless in CF and that he doesn’t consider the after effects of what happens if and when he injures himself. But considering the way he has conducted himself, I think it’s a true testament that he’s only had two major injuries over the past seven years. I think it’s also a testament to how well he’s familiar with his abilities. Sure you might notice that Torii will make a catch look a lot better than it is with a dive or a jump. But as I’ve mentioned before with this, for anyone who’s actually played baseball, often times it’s much safer to plan on making a jump or a dive as opposed to not and then falling unexpectedly. Torii has already declared that despite his most recent ankle injury he will not change the way he plays baseball. And I know for a fact that slowing down is not the way he approaches life, so I did not expect that to happen anyways. I look forward to again watching Torii crashing into walls and diving into the turf to make the catch. Thank you Spiderman for making every pop-fly and line-drive to centerfield into something to cheer about.

Torii has also established himself as a very good base stealer. While the Twins have seen a good deal of speed talent on the team in such guys like Luis Rivas and Christian Guzman, nobody but Torii has developed any kind of skill on the base paths. See while Rivas and Guzman were lazily sitting around wasting their natural born talent, Torii was taking the lead learning how to get good jumps of pitchers. In 2006, yes Torii might lose a step because of his ankle injury, but I think that he will emerged as a 30 SB threat because of the knowledge and skill he’s developed. This aspect of his game proves hands down, the leadership he implores on this team.

As far as Torii’s clubhouse presence, after his absence in the second half of 2005, there is no doubt in my mind that he was sorely missed. Yes there was the incident with Justin Morneau, but in all sincerity we, the fan base, had no business knowing about that. Little (yes little) incidents like that happen all the time and nobody ever hears about it because it stays in the clubhouse. As I mentioned before, Torii speaks his mind, and unfortunately he may have gone too far with Morneau. To me that’s a testament to his role when he’s in the clubhouse. He is the most vocal player in there, keeping guys’ heads up or calling them out when necessary. While he may inspire on the diamond, his role as a leader behind the scenes is even more vital to this team. After last year, this team’s mentality was on a serious low. Prospects had not lived up to expectations, and veterans were struggling to make up any difference. All said, this team was projected to go deep in to the playoffs; instead they struggled to stay above .500. Torii will be instrumental in 2006 to leading these guys back to a winning mentality, because frankly that’s what he’s known during his time in Minnesota. Sure he witnessed some of the trials of the late 90’s but his emergence as a regular in 2001 marked the first winning season since 1992, and his emergence as star marked the emergence of the Twins as a force in the American League Central. Torii has said that in 2006 he will be back with a vengeance, so I look forward to opening day. As many have pointed out, 2006 could be Torii’s final year with the Twins. His contract calls for a 12 million dollar option for 2007, and with the Twins there are always budget concerns. Torii has already voiced a strong desire to play his entire career in Minnesota and I personally believe that he would be willing to restructure his contract if the organization makes the commitment to him. If Torii returns to his status as one of the leaders of this club, I think the best option for the Twins would be to make a new contract with Torii by midseason as they did with Johan last year. Figures I can’t be sure of, but somewhere in the ballpark of a 4 year deal with an average of 9 million is by no means unreasonable considering Hunter’s contributions to this team. Agree or disagree, you cannot ignore what his presence means to the Minnesota Twins and its fans.

Other Stuff:

• I know I said I'd post my thoughts and predictions for the other divisions, but this post took me a lot longer than I planned on but I will be posting some of that soon.
• Looking ahead to April, I am of course excited to see two Cy Young hopefuls battling it out opening day.  Johan tends to start out the season slow, so I might give the edge to Halladay, but should be an amazing matchup so we will see.  Personally I'm more excited that the Twins have a change to welcome A.J. Burnett American League style.  Personally, I believe he's a jerk who plays when he wants to, obviously now he'll want to.  The Twins have had a good deal of success against hard throwing righties, so we we'll see!
• This End of an Era? deal has a couple of parts and then I'll get into some of the players of the new era so I hope you enjoy it!