Top 10 Positives for the Twins' 2014 Season

[stringer bell]

It's another losing season for our favorite team. I submit that there is some reason for optimism and things will get better next year. Still, finding ten positives took some thought.

 

 

10) Use of data to execute overshifts and other positioning adjustments. The Twins are moving in the right direction although they have lagged behind many MLB teams.

 

9) With top prospects on the horizon, the team looks to have the players to form a solid bench in future years--Parmelee, Nuñez, and perhaps Escobar.

 

8) Graduation to the big leagues of prospects Kennys Vargas and Trevor May. Most likely for good although either could be optioned the rest of this month or next year.

 

7) Brian Dozier has proven that last year's power surge was not a fluke. He has shown that he is at least an above-average player and is a borderline All-Star.

 

6) Trevor Plouffe has improved to be marginally above average both as a hitter and fielder.

 

5) Phil Hughes has proven to be a solid starter and a bargain at $8M per year and the Twins have him for two more years.

 

4) Eduardo Escobar has shown himself to be a capable starting shortstop. Eduardo Nuñez has shown himself a capable backup and the best option at short may be in center field, making shortstop no longer a critical issue. Prospect Jorge Polanco has had a solid year. Pedro Florimon might never get another at-bat for the Twins!

 

3) Kurt Suzuki is a great free-agent pickup. He earned an All-Star selection and has rendered the no-Mauer backstop era a non-issue.

 

2) Kyle Gibson, while inconsistent, has shown that he's at least a functional big-league starter, probably more than that.

 

1) Danny Santana has saved the team's bacon by playing center field. He has been a huge surprise and a spark plug as the leadoff hitter. All from a guy who hasn't ever put up boxcar numbers in the minors.

[TheLeviathan]

I'd add that the bullpen continues to be no joke. They looked primed for serious regression but have held up pretty well.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Parmelee has been major league average this year. Plouffe has been slightly above that. I don't see either filling a bench role, especially if they continue to improve. There's going to be a need in LF I suspect, so one of them may end up filling in there. I suspect the other gets traded for a decent prospect.

[Brandon]

Depth of the Teams prospects.  I looked at Shane's top 50 list and believe that 20-30 re likely to make the majors at some point.  Will they all succeed?  who knows but it will be fun to watch. 

[DocBauer]

Great list Stringer. And a couple good responses as well.

 

Not going to post a full list as you already covered 6 of my list. But I'd add the following:

 

A) Nolasco. Maybe not yet, but by all reports thus far he's not facing anything serious and will offer a payoff starting next season. But more than that, his signing, and Hughes', even Pelfrey to a degree, and the signing of Morales shows a shift in the FO to go out and make things happen.

 

The pure competitiveness of the Twins this season has been much better, regardless of final record. We haven't been...gosh I hate to say it...but we haven't been an embarrassment this season.

 

C) Pohlad's comments a few weeks back. I don't know if the Twins are going to make huge moves this offseason or not, personnel or management, but him voicing his frustrations gives the impression he wants the Twins to rebound. And along with my point of actually going out and being aggressive in the last FA period leads me to believe that he will probably, hopefully, not be a meddling owner, he is impatient, and perhaps ready to move further forward.

 

D) September. This, flat out, might be the first September in 4 years where there is something fun and hopeful to watch in September with promotions and auditions.

 

E) Meyer and May. I know, they aren't truly MLer's...YET...but May will be tonight. And despite the heartbreaking seasons of Sano and Buxton, these two have shown and teased the kind of talent and ability to enthuse the Twins nation.

[Paul Pleiss]

Don't forget we also got beer robots curtesy of the ASG

[Brock Beauchamp]

The first two months were a treat. The middle two months were painful. The last two months look to be intriguing as the kids get to play.

 

Overall, I'm moderately happy with the season. The team looks like they'll finish 5-8 wins better than 2013. A solid improvement but not spectacular.

 

Super positives:

- Danny Santana - what the hell, kid. Didn't anybody tell you that you weren't supposed to hit?

- Eduardo Escobar - doubles machine with a decent glove.

 

Positives:

- Hughes. Quite good but I expected him to be pretty good.

- Plouffe. He's a competent starter now.

- Suzuki. Great season, still question whether it can be done again.

[mnfireman]

How about actual returns on trades. The kid they got for Butera was a decent prospect, then he was flipped for Nunez. Millone for Fuld, a waiver wire pickup, looks to maybe work out ok. A decent prospect for Willingham, who would have walked in FA this off-season. Anything for Correia, who also would have been a FA after the season.

We could also say that the front office bungled the CF/OF and SS situations earlier in the year by losing Mastro and Presley and playing Hicks and Florimon, but that misplay turned into Fuld and Schafer, which seems ok now. But more importantly it got Santana to the bigs and Escobar and Nunez have held their own at SS and super utility.

[Otto von Ballpark]

3) Kurt Suzuki is a great free-agent pickup. He earned an All-Star selection and has rendered the no-Mauer backstop era a non-issue.

 

2) Kyle Gibson, while inconsistent, has shown that he's at least a functional big-league starter, probably more than that.

Not sure if Suzuki has solved the catcher position beyond this season (which seems to be your suggestion), but he's definitely made the position a surprising strength this year.

 

And I can't help but think Gibson's probably just a "functional big-league starter" and only possibly more, but that's still huge to the Twins, given how few of those we've had recently!

 

Pretty much fully agreed on your #1 and #4-10.  Not sure if Escobar is a good bet to start long-term at short, but overall our future at the position looks a lot brighter now than it did a year ago.  As does 2B, 3B, CF, the bench, and the rotation.

[DaveW]

Parmelee has been major league average this year. Plouffe has been slightly above that. I don't see either filling a bench role, especially if they continue to improve. There's going to be a need in LF I suspect, so one of them may end up filling in there. I suspect the other gets traded for a decent prospect.

 

I keep seeing you say this in other threads and it doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever.

 

How has Parmelee been major league average this year at all? He currently sports a .695 OPS  (94 OPS+), and a .306 OBP, he has a -0.1 fWAR this year and a -0.6 bWAR this year. Ranking 104 out of 125 OF with 200 PA this year (fWAR)

He doesn't provide much value at all defensively and doesn't even come close to hitting enough to justify anything close to every day at bats, no real versatility. 

[Otto von Ballpark]

I'd add that the bullpen continues to be no joke. They looked primed for serious regression but have held up pretty well.

Just looked, and it seems you're right.  The peripherals still aren't there (poor rankings in FIP and xFIP), but we're still outperforming that in ERA.