Middle Infield preview

The main question with the middle infielders is can Bartlett. Can he keep playing at the same level he played at for ½ of a season last year. His numbers will probably drop of some but mix in the fact that plays good defense, he doesn’t have to be platooned and there are no players behind him at his position he will probably get a lot of playing time again.

I hope he gets some days off this year. Last season he played in the Twins last 99 games after being called up. He seemed to tire dramatically dropping off to .228/.259/.267 in September.


He played good defense, displaying great range and had a Zone Rating of .865, among the league leaders. His FRAA was low but should improve. His fielding percentage was slightly below average, but it should improve. At least it was better than that slug, Juan Castro.

This is probably Castillo’s last season with the Twins with Casilla waiting in the wings. Castillo had a down year last year with the glove and the bat. His OBP dropped over 30 points from the previous season and his great fielding dropped dramatically. He had a FRAA against average of +7 the previous 2 seasons but with the Twins last season it was -7. I know I felt like he lost a step in the field and running the bases.

He had a nagging injury most of the season so an improvement is probably this season.

The backups are probably Punto at short and Luis Rodriguez at second. Casilla will probably start the season in the minors.

Clutch hitting

Is clutch hitting a myth? Id Derek Jeter a clutch hitter. Most "baseball" people, like managers and coaches will say a definate yes. Remember these are the same people who think Juan Pierre is a good lead-off hitter.

Read this article on clutch hitting.

The infield corners: preview.

Justin Morneau is the reigning MVP so firstbase is obviously a strong position for the Twins. Justin had a breakout season last year. It seemed to come out of nowhere. We all expected him to be a good hitter after taking over for Doug M. But he did not do so well taking over for him.

Justin’s defense was better than advertised, though he doesn’t seem to pick ‘em as well as Douggie did. His offense struggled. He only batted .208 last April and his offense picked up slowly until June & July when he had an OPS over 1.100!!! His power cooled off the last 2 months but he still was hitting well.

I expect another great year out of him. His defense is improving and he is now a legitimate threat to hit a homerun any time is at the plate. No Twin could claim that since the late ‘80s.

Third is manned by the spunky Punto. Some claim that to play 3rd he needs to hit for power. But I don’t agree. I just want the thirdbaseman to play good defense and add something to the team offensively, either with power or by getting on base.

And for most of the season Nick did a great job of providing offense by getting on base at a .400 clip. But he faltered badly in September with a line of .252/.266/.294. Those are Jaun Castro type numbers. Punto ended up with an OBP of .352. That is not that good for a player with no power.

Hopefully he won’t wear down this year. I think the signing of Cirillo should help. Cirillo will probably be DH much of the time vs lefties but he should get some time spelling Punto.

It would be a great platoon since Punto had an AVG and OBP 50 points higher against righthanders and Cirillo has hit over .400 against lefthanders the last couple years.


Punto could probably use more rest this year and Cirillo should fill in that position but I have a feeling that Cirillo will be DH more than playing third.

2007 Twins Preview: Catchers

The Twins are back and so am I. This year my musings may be a little sparse. I am busier, at work and at home, than I was last year. But I hope to add some original material and keep the blog up to date on standings, game lines, inane commentary, injuries and other Twins’ issues.

I plan on doing a team overview and an AL Central overview. My first step is to look over the Twins position by position starting with Catcher.

The Twins are obviously doing well at the Catcher position. They have an MVP candidate and batting champ in Mauer and very capable veteran back-up in Redmond.

Redmond had a batting average only 6 points less than Mauer’s. But for him to be valuable as a hitter he has to hit that well since he doesn’t do any of the secondary things a hitter needs to do like walk and hit for extra-bases. With that being said he is a better than capable back-up. He is fine defensively, throwing out 1/3 of all base-stealers last year with no errors which is about his career norm.

He is a perfect back-up for Mauer since he is a .332 vs lefties over last 3 years and hit .447 against them last year. Now if we can get Gardy to start platooning him against the tough lefties it would make Mauer a better hitter.

In my eyes Mauer was the MVP last year. But that was already discussed, so I won’t re-hash it.

He has a little speed, a great eye, has some pop in his bat and plays excellent defense. He probably won’t hit .347 again but as he gets older he will likely walk more and hit more homeruns. I look for another great season out of Mauer but the Plexi-glass Principle states that he will come down to earth a bit.

The Twins should still have one of the best Catching tandems in the baseball. Last year the Twins catchers were 3 in OPS but were way ahead of everyone else in OBP, the single most important stat to determine run production.

Mauer and Redmond will continue to be a quality catching tandem. They would be even better if Gardy would learn to platoon them better.