The Twins have the worst record in major league baseball. Their pitching staff is a mess, particularly the starting rotation, which has a cumulative ERA above 7.00. they have lost one of their best three starters for the season, and the guy with the best stuff, Liriano, has been terrible in his starts. The bullpen isn’t much better, especially since it is “anchored” by a closer who hasn’t pitched consistently well in two years and just might not have enough stuff to succeed as a closer.

The team has not been great on offense, primarily because they have failed repeatedly at getting big hits with runners in scoring position. They have been dramatically outhomered again this year. As with any team going bad, the Twins don’t seem to be getting any breaks or lucky bounces.

Some of these things will get better. The Twins will have some games where they get the bounces and umpire’s calls. There is no reason to believe that they will continue to fail with runners in scoring position. I suppose that the pitching staff will improve or at the very worst, it pretty much can’t get worse.

What to be optimistic about? Well, there are some things that bode for better days. I don’t think it will make the 2012 Twins a winner, but it may make them more watchable this summer and provide meaningful trade pieces at the trade deadline.

The new guys: Jamey Carroll hasn’t hit much, but he has provided better-than-expected defense at shortstop and has shown a good eye despite having few base hits. He remains a guy who could move to a utility role or be traded at the deadline. Ryan Doumit also has not hit much, but hitting never has been the problem for him. While I am no expert on catching fundamentals, Doumit doesn’t appear to be a bad defender and he has demonstrated a very good throwing arm. Doumit has also shown versatility by starting a handful of games in the outfield. Jared Burton has been, on balance, the best reliever on the team, given that he has performed well in high leverage situations. Finally, Josh Willingham has been outstanding as a hitter. He isn’t a good outfielder, but he plays hard and has shown himself to be a power threat, even in Target Field.

Health: While the health of the pitching staff has been poor, the Twins haven’t suffered any disabling injuries among the position players. Span, Mauer, and Morneau all have been available. Span and Mauer have returned to pre-injury productivity, while Morneau has shown flashes of his former self. I don’t know if the culture has changed, but the position players are playing.

Defense: I mentioned that new guys Carroll and Doumit have at least reached expectations, if not exceeded them. Willingham isn’t a good outfielder, but he makes up for it with his hitting. On balance the defense is definitely improved from 2011, especially up the middle.

I’ve been a Twins fan since they moved from Washington. There is always reason to hope and something to cheer for, even in the lean years. This season has started out as poorly as 2011 finished, but there are still players to cheer for, even if it may mean they get traded. I expect improvement which may net some new warm bodies to follow in the future.

With most of the Twins’ starting lineup pretty much decided (of course there is that huge caveat of assuming that everyone will be healthy), there has been much talk about the outfield alignment. Ben Revere is probably the Twins best center fielder, Span has been excellent playing the corners and Willingham has played almost exclusively as a left fielder. So, of course, Gardenhire says the OF would be Revere-Span-Willingham (L-R). Is this insanity, it is Gardy being Gardy, coddling his “guys”, or does it make sense?

Let’s first look at the five outfielders who figure to make the team and start games in the outfield. Five, you say? I’m assuming Doumit will start some games in the outfield, both to get his bat in the lineup to move Morneau or Willingham to DH. Willingham has played a grand total of 35 games in right field, all in 2009. His rep is as a below-average LF with an average at best arm. I suppose he could play right and not be a disaster, but I doubt it makes the team better defensively. Span has been exclusively a CF since ’09, he was having a pretty good defensive year there until he ran into injuries. Revere showed great range in either left or center and, of course, perhaps the worst throwing arm in MLB. It would seem to be folly to play him in right field. He would figure to be a plus defender at either left or center, despite the weak wing. Doumit has played 60 games in the outfield, all of them in right. He played 18 games in right in 2010. I doubt Doumit is a plus defender and I would suspect that if he does start games in the outfield, it will be in right. The fifth outfielder is Trevor Plouffe. Plouffe played a handful of games in the outfield last year and has been talked up by both the front office and the field staff. Plouffe started 9 games in right and only 2 in left. While Willingham is no great shakes as a defender, he would probably be ranked as the third best defender unless Plouffe has made huge strides since last year. That would mean that the Twins’ best defensive OF would be Willingham, Span and Revere. If they are going to play 140 games with those three as the starters, it would make sense that Willingham could stay in left, Revere in center and Span being moved to right field.

I don’t think there is great confidence that the three mentioned will be starting that many games. Plouffe may be as much as a 50/50 shot to be a starting corner outfielder–then the configuration would be easy–Willingham in left, Span in center, and Plouffe in right. Doumit for either of the two corners would leave Span in center and move Plouffe to left if Doumit replaced Willingham. Revere would certainly be rated as a better defender than anyone but Span, so it would figure if he’s a fourth outfielder, he would be a defensive replacement for Willingham or Plouffe if the Twins ever have a lead. If he replaced Plouffe, again it would figure to move Span to right with Revere in center.

So, why not start Revere in center and Span in right with Willingham staying where he is comfortable? I don’t think they need to address this in the first week of spring training, but if appears that Revere and Span will be starting together a lot–more than half the time, it makes sense to put them where they most benefit the team. Regardless, it probably is in the best interest of the team to have all the outfielders prepared to play more than one position.

Two guys could present problems. Span feels he earned “captain of the outfield” and has showed reluctance to moving around as he did in 2008-9. Willingham, while a new guy here, is a 33 year old veteran, if he balks at or botches right field, then Gardenhire’s hand would be forced. Willingham has so far been the good soldier, but it is early. If Gardenhire is really going to be the new sheriff, he needs to put the best interests of the team ahead of “comfort”. We shall see how it pans out.

Perhaps my favorite memory of Zumaya was a late game matchup he had against Justin Morneau when Morneau sent a 99MPH fastball into the stands. This kicked off an impressive offensive outburst from Justin that has since made him one of my favorite players.

That said, the news that the Twins signed Zumaya to an 800K deal with an additional 900K in incentives is largely a good thing, but it does come with its risks.

The big risk is obviously his health. He didn’t pitch in 2011. He pitched 38 innings in 2010, 31 in 2009, 23 in 2008, and 33 in 2007. During those times, he’s spent quite a bit of time on the DL. You’d think by his injury history that he has been playing for a number of years, but sadly he’s only going to be 27 in 2012. He has had some odd fractures compounded by having screws that were overtighted and eventually needing replacing. That said, at only 800k guaranteed, this alone isn’t a bad risk. His other risk might be a clubhouse risk as he managed to hurt himself during the World Series by playing too much Guitar Hero in the clubhouse. While we hope that this was simply a youthful mistake, it could also be a sign of a “me first” attitude that Gardy so much despises. Only time will tell here.

Obviously the reward is quite high too. For his MLB career, Zumaya averages a strike out per inning, a 1.35 WHIP, and a 3.05 ERA. On the downside, his K/BB ratio is a measly 1.84. That said, during his last season in 2010, his walk rate had dropped considerably walking only 2.58/9 compared to his career mark of 4.89/9.

Should he be healthy, he will join Perkins as the late inning shut down relievers to setup Matt Capps. With Duensing taking care of lefties. If the Twins end up repeating their awful 2011 season, a healthy Zumaya could be flipped for a decent prospect at the deadline.

In all, while somewhat risky, this signing is a good move, and the type of low risk/high reward move that the Twins should be making. If the rumors are true that the Twins are also pursuing Oswalt, this will prove to have been a fairly good offseason for Terry Ryan.

I confess to being a big Michael Cuddyer fan. He is my favorite Twin of all time. I liked his potential when he had a big year in New Britain. I thought his righthanded bat would be a big factor in the Twins success when he played in the ’02 playoffs and pulled for him to get regular playing time until 2006, when he took over the right field job. All-in-all he has been a fine ballplayer, ranking in or near the Twins all-time top ten in almost every offensive category except stolen bases.

Cuddyer’s performances on the field were crucial in the Twins’ huge comeback in 2006. He had a big month of September in 2009 which propelled the team to one of the implausible regular season comebacks I have ever seen. He has gotten his hits in postseason. He was the best player for the Twins this year and one of the very few that kept playing hard and playing hurt when the road turned from uphill to impossible in 2011. Much was made of his versatility, but he only played three positions last year and was a stopgap at best as a second baseman. The point was that he put the team first and played out of position without complaint so that the team had a better chance to win.

I hoped that the Twins would find a way to re-sign the veteran, but getting Josh Willingham (a comparable player) for millions less, the adjustments of Class A Free Agency compensation and Cuddyer’s own reluctance to accept a pay cut after a good year ended his career with the Twins. He got a great offer from Colorado which made leaving Minnesota that much easier.

By all accounts, Cuddyer is a great guy off the field. I don’t know that—I’ve never met the man—but it does fit with his on-field personality. I know that Cuddyer always gave 100% effort on the field. It has been said that Cuddyer always appreciated his chance to play major league baseball and it has shown on the field. While “playing the game the right way” has become a cliché I will miss seeing Cuddyer run out hard on comebackers and routine grounders. I will miss seeing him relish the chance to go in hard to second and break up a double play giving hard high-fives after hitting a homer.

Someone else will probably assume Cuddyer’s role. There are a lot of players in the minors who look like they will eventually be better hitters and fielders than #5. For now, I will miss a guy who did a good job playing the game and who gave his all on the field.

Watching the Twins this season, we all got the feeling that, even in the midst of an awful, awful display of baseball, one individual performance stood out. This one player did things with the bat that we couldn’t believe. He posted numbers that were so out of the ordinary that they couldn’t be ignored. Obviously, I’m talking about Drew Butera.

As the season is officially over, I figured it was time to put his amazing season in historical perspective. Since Drew was given around 250 plate appearances, I decided to check out how he stacked up against the worst the last ten seasons had to offer. I came away shocked.  Drew Butera did not post the lowest OPS in baseball this year among players with 250 plate appearances. Let me repeat: Drew Butera did not post the lowest OPS in baseball this year among players with 250 plate appearances.

Drew Butera had posted an OPS 80 points lower than anyone in the last ten years with that many opportunities. Yet somehow, Reid Brignac, on a playoff team, undercut him. 

For your entertainment, I also listed a few notably terrible seasons of other Twins I ran across. Note that in 2007, the season where most of the collective disdain for Punto was developed, his OPS was 113 points higher than Butera’s 2011 number.

What did this research offer in terms of real solutions for the 2012 Minnesota Twins? It’s pretty simple. Acquire Reid Brignac at all costs. He’s the only one that can stop Drew Butera.