The Twins are making a mistake

I have railed continuously on the Twins and their offense. Ever since Terry Ryan skipped town and Bill Smith arrived, (not to mention the help of a lot of money) things have changed for the better offensively. Of course, where Ryan excelled, defense, the Twins have languished. I understand and appreciate both of these aspects of baseball fairly well from a statistical standpoint.
I don't understand pitching as well, but I do understand how it relates to the defense behind you, or rather, how defense affects pitching. With that introduction, I am fully confident in saying that the Twins are making a terrible mistake with their rotation.
I have long stated that Scott Baker is terribly underrated by the Twins, thanks in large part to the fact that his pitching style doesn't jive well with the team defense. His FIP, a fielding independent pitching, is on par with Carl Pavano and over his career was demonstrably better than Brad Radke. Radke and Baker were and are both fly ball pitchers (though Baker is slightly more so) and Baker has been MORE consistent, actually, than Radke ever was in his career, thought Radke had better individual seasons. The difference? Torii Hunter. Jacque Jones. When they left, Scott Baker's numbers started to skyrocket, but the numbers HE could control didn't get any worse. Things like his batting average for balls in play went way up, especially last year in the cavernous outfield at Target Field, with Jason Kubel designated to try to chase things down. But I'm not here to talk about Baker, because he has a spot in the rotation.
No, I'm here to talk about Kevin Slowey, who was cost a spot in the rotation for many of the same reasons that Baker's numbers are suffering. Slowey FIP is very similar to Bakers, except for a tough season in 2009 (even though he was 10-3, proving that W-L isn't a good measure of a pitcher) but he never had the benefit of pitching with Hunter in the outfield, so his classic numbers have never been as good as Baker's. The difference is that Slowey has better control but is more skewed towards a flyball pitcher, which compounds hings for him with the miserable outfield in Minnesota. His BABIP has always been way higher than league average thanks to the flyball issue, and he looks a lot worse than he performs.
Of course, now he is out of a spot in the Twins rotation, and the Twins are looking, perhaps, to trade him. While this is certainly the best for Slowey (and perhaps the best the Twins if there are no plans to improve the outfield defense) I would like to see the Twins do something to improve his value, other than putting him in the bullpen. Sure, the team may suffer, but at least scouts will see what he can do. I feel like he will be traded for a lot less than he is worth, and then succeed on a team that can play the outfield and everyone will sour on the Twins front office.
And really, who are we keeping in the rotation ahead of him? Nick Blackburn and Brian Duensing wouldn't start for many other teams in the league. Blackburn has the contract, and I'm sure the team feels beholden to starting him. He doesn't strike anyone out, his control got away from him as walks are concerned as well last season, and when people do hit him, they hit him hard. Duensing is much more acceptable for a strictly baseball perspective. He actually puts together the same kind of FIP as Baker and Slowey, but throws to a lot more ground balls, which is the way to succeed in Minnesota. Still, he is bound to regress this year, as he outperformed that FIP by a full run, and his walks are bound to catch up with him eventually.
To conclude, the Twins are making a mistake having Slowey in the bullpen. In the long run, trading him is likely the only scenario that makes sense, because with the Twins outfield geared towards offense, he won't succeed here. Still, it would be nice if we weren't counting on Nick Blackburn as a long term solution in his stead. How to fix it short term? Maybe have Ben Revere on the roster for a month or two, have him play when Slowey is on the mound. I don't know if this is feasible though, but there has to be something.

Perfection

I still recall the game I went to, almost two years ago. Minnesota Twins pitcher Scott Baker took a perfect game against the Kansas City Royals into the ninth inning, before he walked John Buck and then the moment earned Mike Sweeney a new nickname* when he singled to center field. But for the first 8 innings, it was magical.

*"Stupid Mike Sweeney!". We like Mike Sweeney, but crushed our hopes of seeing a no-hitter. It's an endearing nickname.

As most people are aware, the Twins and Chicago White Sox are pretty bitter rivals. Thus, Victoria Times writer Steve hates the Twins, and I hate the White Sox. Fact of life.

Nevertheless on Tuesday night at the Metrodome, I watched Buehrle attempt to make history by being the first pitcher to pitch back-to-back perfect games. Alas, little Alexi Casilla thwarted those plans by walking. Since Buehrle had not had to pitch from the stretch for 45 consecutive batters, it seems to frazzle him a bit, and the Twins took advantage and went on to score 5 runs in the next 2/3 of an inning before Buehrle was removed from the game. To be fair, one of the hits in the seventh inning should’ve been a double play. As fans of baseball, we were stunned when the second baseman broke for the bag, rather than fielding the slow ground ball hit between first and second. In the sixth inning, Joe Mauer’s ground-rule double probably should’ve been caught. Incidentally, that’s the only misplay that the White Sox are allowed to blame on the Metrodome’s weirdness.

As an aside, I think the White Sox have a mental block in regards to the Metrodome (I understand. The Twins have one in Yankee Stadium, and kinda against the Yankees in general). Many of the problems the White Sox (mostly Ozzie Guillen) blame on the Metrodome happen anywhere. Buehrle complained about the bloop hits. Bloop hits happen anywhere. Balls fall in between fielders no matter what stadium you’re playing in. The Metrodome might have a slight advantage on ground balls moving faster through the infield, but that can work against them too (the Twins are pros at hitting into double-plays. Inning-ending, rally-killing double plays are a specialty). (Another aside: My friend and I wondered why the Twins didn’t try bunting earlier in the game. Sure, Buehrle is a good fielder, but they weren’t getting on base anyway.) The poor fielding Monday night were on throws and catches. There’s not much artificial turf can do about that, as far as I’m concerned. (In fact, I could argue that it would make it easier, because there are much fewer weird bounces on uniform surfaces.)

Back on topic, I was ecstatic when the perfect game was broken up, and even happier when the no-hitter was removed from the equation. There was relief when the shut-out was eliminated, too.

And when Buehrle was removed in the seventh inning, I stood to applaud him. I know there were plenty of people applauding in sarcasm—a “Thanks for the runs!” tribute—but mine was sincere. I never cheer when an opponent leaves, even if he’s given us ten runs. In fact, I’m disappointed, ‘cause I’d rather he stay in the game and give up more runs. Buehrle deserved praise; he put himself in the recordbooks. He retired 45 consecutive batters. He was masterful. As a fan of the sport, I have to honor that, sworn enemy or not. Players don’t often get standing ovations in their opponents stadiums, but sometimes, life calls for it.

I tip my cap to Mark Buehrle. It wasn’t easy what he did. It was magical.
He may play for an evil team, but that was impressive.



(I take great joy in the fact that Scott Baker, a long-time favorite of mine, had a better box score line than Buehrle—not to take anything away from Buehrle, though. )

The post where Steve makes a "Brokeback Mountain" joke in the comments

Scott Baker looks like Jake Gyllenhaal, right? I'm not the only one that thinks so am I? Unfortunately, all the pictures on the interwebs involve him grimacing as he pitches or covering his face with a hat or towel. There are no pictures of Jake Gyllenhaal doing anything but staring deep into your soul. But seriously, next time he's on the hill, take a look.
Maybe they swapped places since they look so much alike. That would certainly explain Baker's slow start. It would also go a long way towards explaining Rendition

Scott Baker resigns for 4 years.

Good news for the Twins, as Scott Baker looks to be with the team for a few more years, likely taking the lead at the front end of the rotation for the duration. Best news? He seems to have solved all of his, uh... support issues.