Minnesota Twins' Biggest Weakness So Far In 2016

By Nick Vorholt

You never want to make excuses for a MLB team, but the Minnesota Twins have had a heck of a 2016 to date. While closer Glen Perkins and top starter Phil Hughes are still on the DL, they have lost starts for every starting pitching except for Ricky Nolasco.  At the halfway point of 2016 the biggest weakness so far this season for the Twins has been their pitching.

The Twins have the worst pitching in the American League. They have an ERA over 5.00 and a WHIP over 1.40. This has been their problem since the injuries started to mount early in the season.  The Twins have the fewest saves and the fewest save opportunities in all of baseball.  That is not a shock as they have the fewest wins in all of baseball so far.  What may be a surprise is that they have the worst save conversion rate in the AL.  Only the Cincinnati Reds have a worst save percentage and it just cost their pitching coach his job.  So far only former closer Kevin Jepsen has lost his position with the Twins.

This team has done it together at least. The best starter is Erwin Santana.  His ERA is 4.50 and is nearly a run better than the next best starter. The bullpen has seen improvement where Brandon Kintzler has taken the bull by the horns as closer with an ERA just over 2.00 to date. The bullpen has slowly stabilized after being the worst in the AL by far early in the season. They’re still the worst now, but they are only worse than the Oakland Athletics by a little bit.

It takes a ton of cooperation for a pitching staff to be this bad. They have had injuries to a talented bunch and the youngsters didn’t deliver. Hopefully, they can get healthy before the end of the season or 2017 may not be much better.

 

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