More Fun Facts about the Worst Offense in Baseball

by Bobomojo on Apr 13, 2011 9:01 AM EDT in By the Numbers

Some Twins hitters have blamed their poor start on the switch to new, shorter bats.

Last night, the Minnesota Twins offense exploded, torching Royals pitchers for four (4!) runs over 10 innings. The offensive barrage marked the third time this season the Twins have scored more than three runs in a game, which, I'm guessing, could be some sort of record.

Yes, friends, the Minnesota Twins are currently sporting the worst offense in baseball. By a pretty considerable margin. Thankfully, we've managed to scrape together four wins in our first ten games, despite our scuffling offense.

Yesterday, BeefMaster (here) and Adam (here) gave us some great examples of just how pitiful the Twins offense has been this season. Unfortunately for you, dear readers, I had been working on a list of my own.

So, at the risk of beating a dead horse, I present more fun facts about the worst offense in baseball:

Even after the team's prodigious hitting display Tuesday night, Twins hitters are still batting a combined .228/.279/.296. Pretty terrible, right? Consider this:

The 1899 Cleveland Spiders are widely considered the worst team in baseball history. This is a team that was so bad - and drew so few fans - opposing teams refused to travel to Cleveland to play them (they played just 16 home games that season) They finished the year with 20 wins and 134 losses, a record for futility that has lasted more than a century. In that 20-win season, Cleveland, as a team, hit .253/.299/.305. That's good for a 605 OPS. That's 30 points higher than the current OPS of the 2011 Twins.

Last season, 149 players accumulated enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. Of those 149 players, just one - Orioles shortstop Cesar Izturis - posted an OPS worse than the 575 mark currently held by the 2011 Twins.

In seven seasons with the Twins, the gritty Nick Punto hit .248/.323/.324. Right now, the Twins would kill for that type of production. Nick's career OPS as a Twin was 72 points higher than the hometown nine's current production.

In his ill-fated 2008 stint with the Twins, Mike Lamb hit .233/.276/.322. Even that would be an improvement over the 2011 Twins.

The Twins are on pace to score 454 runs this season. The last time a team scored that few runs in a season? The strike-shortened 1981 campaign. Even in the strike-shortened 1994 season, with teams playing 114 games or so, no squad scored fewer than 466 runs.

With 3 homers in 10 games, the Twins, as a team, are on pace to hit 49 homeruns in 2011. Last season, Jose Bautista hit 54.

Admittedly, none of this means much, other than to reinforce just how pitiful the Twins offense has been in the early going this season. We know we're just 6% of the way through the season, and we know the core of the lineup will see better days (soon, hopefully). And, again, the Twins have won four games already, a pretty impressive feat considering the fact they're scoring less than three runs a game.

But, boy, have the bats been dismal so far. And to think: we don't even have the pine trees to blame anymore.

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Charles Barkley says

“The Twins hitters are terable” lol

"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have"
Thomas Jefferson

by RileysCannibalJct on Apr 13, 2011 9:07 AM EDT reply actions

Charles Barkley can't even hit a golf ball 200 yards

I consistantly drive between 280-320 yrds

"Well Played Mauer"

Big fan of Juerys Familia and his repitoire

by SteveHoffmanSlowey on Apr 13, 2011 5:10 PM EDT up reply actions

Ugly

Congratulations, compared to the other two lists you mentioned, your list is the most depressing.

No, I didn't spell Maurer wrong. But I do get asked if I'm related to Joe a lot.

by Maurer Power on Apr 13, 2011 9:31 AM EDT reply actions

At some point

someone has to bring this back to Gardy. I think he’s a good manager and I’m glad he’s the Twins skipper. But, you’ve got to take the good with the bad, and let’s face it: I don’t know what the Twins did in Florida for 5 weeks, but, they are not ready to play baseball right now. The don’t start games well. They aren’t taking walks. Their pitchers are walking batters four and five a game. Someone has to take responsibility and get the team ready to play, and that should be Gardy’s job. They. Just. Are. Not. Ready. To. Play.

by Old Twins Cap on Apr 13, 2011 10:02 AM EDT reply actions

Or maybe Vavra

since he is the hitting coach.

by Cody_3_twins on Apr 13, 2011 10:15 AM EDT up reply actions

+1000

I am not impressed with this guy at all. Never have been. He has taken a bunch of good hitters and made them into GIDP machines.

This would be a good place to start. There are plenty of other guys that have been in the Twins system that could do a better job than him.

by bf4mvp on Apr 13, 2011 11:07 AM EDT up reply actions

well i could be wrong

but that’s how i feel. It seems like we go through a lot of dry spells, like Delmon, and maybe he deserves some credit for his turn around last season, but when they struggle who else can you blame, it’s the coaches job. But today has been a better sign. I just hope we’re not so loyal so that no coach is touchable if it was neccesary

by Cody_3_twins on Apr 13, 2011 2:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Yep.

If. Only. He. Had. Told. The. Doctors. To. Get. Morneau. Out. There. Sooner. And. Fixed. Cuddyer’s. Wart. And. Replaced. Mauer’s. Knees. With. Hinges. From. The. Hardware. Store. We. Would. Be. Doing. Great. Too. Late. Now. The Season. Is. Over. Sell. Now. Rebuild. For. 2.0.1.2. Fire. Gardy. !!!.

"Don't take life for granted, because tomorrow isn't promised to any one of us." -Kirby Puckett
RT @RonGarde You can Tweet that. Just Tweet it. You don't even have to write it. Just fire it through the Internet.

by less cowbell, more 'neau on Apr 13, 2011 10:16 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Clarification

If. Only. He. Had. Told. The. Doctors. To. Get. Morneau. Out. There. Sooner. And. Fixed. Cuddyer’s. Wart. And. Replaced. Mauer’s. Knees. With. Hinges. From. My. Local. Hardware. Store. We. Would. Be. Doing. Great. Too. Late. Now. The Season. Is. Over. Sell. Now. Rebuild. For. 2.0.1.2. Fire. Gardy. !!!.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Apr 13, 2011 10:33 AM EDT up reply actions 2 recs

clap. clap. clap.

by DavidRF on Apr 13, 2011 10:49 AM EDT up reply actions

&Nice clapping, David.&

(worst video quality ever on that link, btw)

by Luke in MN on Apr 13, 2011 10:58 AM EDT up reply actions

sarcasm fail. I can never remember what it is.

by Luke in MN on Apr 13, 2011 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions

Ooh, so close.

@s. :)

"Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose; it's how drunk you get." -Home Simpson
Tweet me! @jessicann713

by fischean on Apr 13, 2011 11:23 AM EDT up reply actions

Nice beehive hairdo smiley.

by less cowbell, more 'neau on Apr 13, 2011 4:10 PM EDT up reply actions

The @ sign

Like this, genius.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Apr 13, 2011 11:28 AM EDT up reply actions

Gaah!

Way to make a timely post, BeefMaster.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Apr 13, 2011 11:28 AM EDT up reply actions

No, I want sarcasm; you’re obviously using it for emphasis there.

by Luke in MN on Apr 13, 2011 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions

...

Of course I was.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Apr 13, 2011 12:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Who would you replace him with?

Obviously, they are going to hit better. However, I do think the offense is going to have its problems all season, and I’m much more inclined to indict the front office for that. A big problem which should have been foreseen is that left handers are going to give them major problems. Their best right handed hitters just aren’t that good, and they are so lefty heavy. Starting left handers in the top 3 spots in the batting order against left handed starters is not good.

A related problem is that they dispensed with a professional (not great, but established) middle infield for guys about whom you had no real idea if they would hit. (And in Casilla’s case, you could be pretty sure he wouldn’t). That previous middle infield also hit right handed.

They left a LOT of questions in the off-season. Hopefully, enough of them will be answered positively.

The Wolves are like the worst meal you've ever had--terrible while you're eating it and even worse later.

by Eric in Madison on Apr 13, 2011 10:35 AM EDT up reply actions

On the plus side, I'm guessing we're close to leading the league in wins per run scored.

Could be much worse given the hitting we’ve had. Luckily the pitchers—especially the bullpen—have been holding things together.

by Luke in MN on Apr 13, 2011 10:14 AM EDT reply actions

Bullpen looks great in the early going

And that was one my bigger concerns. The starting pitching has not been too shabby either and it’s early. I feel like things are going to turn around quickly for the offense. I mean, based on this article, they can hardly get worse, right? (knock on wood)

by dctwin on Apr 13, 2011 10:19 AM EDT up reply actions

The other thing is that hitting is what you worry about least in small samples.

If our pitching had been off to this terrible a start I’d be much more concerned.

by Luke in MN on Apr 13, 2011 10:15 AM EDT reply actions

Agree. 100%.

Mauer will hit. Morneau will hit. Cuddyer will hit. Delmon will hit.

If our rotation and bullpen were in shambles, I wouldn’t be nearly as convinced they’d bounce back.

by Bobomojo on Apr 13, 2011 10:29 AM EDT up reply actions

It's the infield

Are you confident Valencia, Casilla and Nishioka will hit? Will they field?

by DJL44 on Apr 13, 2011 12:16 PM EDT up reply actions

On the plus side.

Burnett has a 0.00 ERA and should be a Cy Young winner for sure.

by less cowbell, more 'neau on Apr 13, 2011 10:22 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Dusty Hughes

won himself a gold glove last night. Hell, give him the Cy Young too

by Cody_3_twins on Apr 13, 2011 10:35 AM EDT up reply actions

on the plus plus side

Capps has been great. And Gardy is using him correctly.

by clutterheart on Apr 13, 2011 11:17 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Awesome bullpen usage by Gardy yesterday and this season so far.

by Luke in MN on Apr 13, 2011 11:51 AM EDT up reply actions

Somethng he generally does very well I think.

(Except not using his best reliever in tie games on the road…the obvious mistake many managers make).

You have to dole out some credit to Gardenhire for consistently putting together effective bullpens and getting good work from most of the guys out there.

The Wolves are like the worst meal you've ever had--terrible while you're eating it and even worse later.

by Eric in Madison on Apr 13, 2011 11:56 AM EDT up reply actions

It is Very Early

Cuddy put together a 4-hit game and more than doubled his average. If he were to get four hits today, he would be over .300.

The lack of power, to me, is more concerning. Delmon, Kubel, Morneau and Cuddyer have combined for zero homers and just a few doubles. This team usually seems to be power-challenged, but this year they’ve been outhomered by more than 4-1. I suppose if they go on a spree it will all be forgotten.

by Alexi Casilla All-Star on Apr 13, 2011 10:46 AM EDT reply actions