FanPost

Twins need better performance from [starting] staff


Was thinking of making this a fanshot as I suspect most of you have already seen the article written by Kelly Theiser over on MLB .com: here, but I figured its been a couple of days since we had a fanpost and there is likely a lot of things to discuss regarding the starting pitching. The article, while fairly well written, had such an obvious topic I couldn't help but comment.

I for one, thought the Twins were set for SP last offseason with 5 strong candidates for a season's rotation. Not that all five were likely to be above average pitchers, but amongst the five, on any given night we had a possible #2 type pitcher taking the mound. Sure none of them are ace material and never will be, but 5 solid consistent #2-#3 pitchers can win a lot of games in the regular season.

However, by the end of May it was looking bad. Even though the Twins starters weren't doing terrible overall, none of them seemed to be able to get through 5 or 6 innings and the bullpen was being taxed. I suspect no one needs a reminder about what that level of exposure meant.

Kevin Slowey, was at one point 10 -2 and -deservedly or not - a legitimate contender for the All Star game when he was DL'd. Those of you who have a skeptic's eye might note that his numbers didn't appear to be sustainable, and that his inflated record included a heavy dose of luck.

Baker and Blackburn are about identical on the year according to "wins above replacement" and "runs above replacement" with both being tied in WAR at 2.2 (also tied at 2.2: Matt Garza) and Blackburn holding a slight edge in RAR at 22.2 over Baker's 21.9. I suspect it has been somewhat merciful for us fans that the two of them have struggled at different times (Baker early; Blackburn lately) so that we always had someone who we could look forward to. I am not sure that either of them is a solid #2 slot pitcher at this point.

And then there are Perkins and Liriano. Y'all might be able to figure out which one is performing worse than the other, but I can't. After tonight's shellacking I'm inclined to say Liriano. Then again, Liriano has been a little more consistent in giving us short outings where he leaves the team trailing...but still in it. And Perkins; for every gem he pitches (and he's had a couple of 8 inning 1 run games), he has had a horrible start where he gets pulled in the first through 4th inning having completely demoralized his team and the fans.

Anyway, according to Ms. Theiser, the starters have been inconsistent, have taken a collective step back from last year, and have had too many short outings where they have pitched 100+ pitches before the 7th inning, even on "good" nights. Some suggest too many innings pitched last year (yep, its in the article); another factor cited is the intentional team philosophy of pitching to contact which has lead to the rotation having "allowed an AL-high 689 hits and the 88 home runs they've given up rank second in the AL." Ouch.