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Heading into the 2013 season, Minnesota Twins’ fans knew what to expect: a decent lineup and a shaky—at best—pitching staff; however, there was a silver-lining for all their troubles: there was talent and hope coming through the minors. Under that premise, the Twins and their fans were already looking toward the future and were banking on things getting better; but after watching this season progress, I am beginning to wonder, are things really going to get better and is the future still bright for this franchise?
There are two things the Twins can hang their hat on right now that sets them apart from any other franchise and their names are Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano. These two youngsters provide the type of upside and talent that could make the M&M boys of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau blush. Both are rated among the top prospects in all of baseball and both have immense offensive and defensive skills that could make them bona fide all-stars one day and perhaps even superstars, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves quite yet. What makes them even more valuable to this franchise is that they have marketability and the team is going to need that following, what looks to be, another near-100 loss season this year. The Twins also have other solid positional players in their system like Eddie Rosario and Danny Santana, but they also are a few years away from being in the majors regularly. So with all of the promise that Buxton and Sano bring to the table, how can the future not be bright for the Twins’ organization? The answer is simple: because there isn’t enough pitching.
If you look at the Twins’ current problems, it lies in their pitching. The bullpen has been a nice surprise this season, but the starting rotation has been just as abysmal as expected. The Twins went out and acquired Vance Worley, Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey to stabilize a rotation that ranked among the league’s worst in 2012; so far in 2013, nothing has gotten better and the overall picture looks even more murky than before. Worley struggled with his command, got demoted, got injured and is now trying to work his way back from injury. Correia and Pelfrey have been as advertised: innings eaters with little to no upside.
There was supposed to be hope on the farm, pitching wise, with prospects like Trevor May, Alex Meyer, J.O. Berrios, Andrew Albers, Kyle Gibson and recently drafted Kohl Stewart. Although most of these prospects were at the lower levels of the minors, they provided the glimpse of hope for the future that the team needed. Meyer was supposed to be the prized, young arm that had dominant “ace potential”, but has been hampered by injuries and has posted a 3-3 record with a 3.69 ERA, 1.311 WHIP, 4.0 BB/9 and 10.8 SO/9 over 61 innings in 11 starts for Double-A. He very well could become the dominant pitcher the team is in need of, but the injury concerns and high walk totals do cause concern. May, Berrios and Albers have all posted good numbers this season, but none of them have been overly dominant at their respective levels which makes you wonder if they ever can dominate their respective levels and contribute in the majors. Stewart is still getting his feet under him after being drafted and Gibson is now at the majors now and we have seen that he still has a lot to work on.
If you put all of those factors into consideration, the future rotation of the Twins still looks uncertain and very shaky. Are there still areas for optimism around the organization? Absolutely, but much of that optimism is centered in the lineup and not in the rotation. Meyer, Stewart and Berrios still give the Twins the best chance of finding three “top-end” starters who could improve the rotation, but none look like sure things as of now; so, is the future still bright for the Twins? I would say the answer to that is yes because the team will continue to get top draft picks due to their down performances and there is enough talent in the minors now that is better than what the team has in the majors now; however, although the future may be brighter, there are clouds building on the horizon—injuries, ineffectiveness and untapped potential—that could easily move in and change all of that.
Brian Wille is a Minnesota Twins writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @BeeWill15 or “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
