Over The Baggy

Notebook Dump (08.25.08)

Game: Twinks 3, Angels 5

Box Score

Record: 74-56, half-game back

Streak: Two losses

The Quote: "You never want to drop the last two games but I feel like we battled them every game. They are one of the best teams in the league -- record-wise, talent-wise, lineup-wise. ... It's good for us to see that we can definitely play with a team like this for nine innings for four straight days." - Kevin Slowey.

* One move that calls for questioning was Gardenhire allowing Dennys Reyes to face Mark Teixiera in the 8th inning. The obvious decision was to bring in Craig Breslow or Dennys Reyes to turn Teixeria around to his slightly weaker side (.290/.410/.471 as a right-handed batting average). Reyes has been the "hotter hand" if you will over Breslow. In the month of August had yet to give up an earned run in his 8.1 innings of work, striking out 11 and posting an .182/.229/.182 average against. Breslow, however, had the better average against versus right-handed batters: .224/.338/.239 vs. .276/.354/.397. Gardenhire chose Reyes. Reyes worked ahead of Teixeira, 0-1, with a 90 mph fastball on the outside corner. The portly lefty threw Teixeira the indentical pitch which he drove to right field for a double to start the inning and he would eventually score the tying run after Reyes was pulled in place of Jesse Crain.

* In order to recall Alexi Casilla from his rehab stint, the Twins outrighted Brian Bass to Rochester. With Bass's recent minor league pedigree coupled with the Twins lack of bullpen options, it was not at surprising that Bass was included on the roster and used liberally as the long-relief/mop-up pitcher. After throwing 838.1 innings in the minor leagues with a 4.34 era, the Twins decided that Bass - who lacked options and would have needed to pass through waivers in order to assigned to AAA after spring training - would be a solid candidate to work innings that did not qualify for either Crain, Rincon, Reyes, Guerrier or Neshek. Bass

month	appearances	innings	walk %	strikeout %	home runs	avg/obp/slg	era	groundball %	% of relief innings worked
April	7	17.1	7.5%	10%	4	.288/.350/.575	4.67	63%	20.3%
May	10	16.1	10%	10%	3	.329/.400/.514	6.61	55%	17.6%
June	12	18.1	4.3%	11.5%	2	.246/.290/.338	2.45	55%	21.2%
July	10	10.2	8%	12%	2	.348/.400/.630	6.75	72%	15.6%
August	5	5.2	2.9%	8.3%	0	.348/.375/.435	4.76	70%	8.4%
Totals	44	68.1	7.2%	10.5%	11	.303/.360/.502	4.87	61%	17.5%

As you can determine from the month-to-month breakdown, Bass's performance was ineffective at best. When the 2008 season concludes and analysts descend onto the data attempting to explain why the Minnesota Twins did or did not make the postseason, one area will be criticized more than all the others: the bullpen. The front office addressed needs pertaining to defense (Adam Everett), power (Delmon Young, Craig Monroe), the starting rotation (Livan Hernandez), and the ability to hit left-handed pitching (Monroe, Brendan Harris) during the winter but the make-up of the bullpen was neglected and overlooked entirely. While no one could have predicted a disasterous injury to Pat Neshek early in the year, yet there were signs of cracks in the foundation:

1) Both Pat Neshek and Matt Guerrier were given an early offseason when they were ultimately shut down due to overusage.

2) Juan Rincon had a third straight season in which his peripheral numbers declined. (Though the difference between 2006 and 2007 did not provide much reason to show concern, his velocity had shown a steady drop since 2005 along with his strikeout rates.)

3) Jesse Crain would be shut down for the entirety of the season in mid-May of 2007.

Brian Bass, with his lack of options and his 2007 season in Rochester where he tossed 103 innings with a 3.48 era, entered as the only new member of the relief staff. The Twins were hopeful that Bass would continue his development in the major leagues after his strikeout rate increased from 11.6% in 2006 to 18.8% in 2007. Bass began the season working extremely low leverage innings but begin to experience more challenging innings as Neshek and Rincon both disappeared from the the roster. In June, it appeared that the 26-year-old Bass had turned a corner posting lows in walk rates (4.3%), home runs allowed (2) and batting average against, on-base percentage and slugging in 18 innings of work. The Twins went 17-11 on the month, thanks to one of the bullpen's best months (3.21 era) and Bass handled 21% of the relief innings that month. The team's relievers regressed in July as indicated by the 5.21 era and Bass, like his brethern, contributed to that with a 6.75 era in 10 appearances in his least amount of innings worked (15.6%) since the season began. The August 4th game at Seattle possibly sealed his fate. After Glen Perkins had gone six solid innings, the lefty hit a wall, culmanting in a grand slam to Raul Ibanez that brought the Mariners within one run. Bass came on only to give up a double to Adrian Beltre followed by a single to Jose Lopez to knot the game at six a piece. Lopez later scored when Guerrier gave up a single to Jeff Clement and Bass was branded with the loss.

* In order to make room for Bass in Rochester the Twins released Casey Daigle, one of the few offseason spring training invitees, from the organization. Daigle, in 44 relief appearances in AAA, went 1-5 with a 3.78 era, striking out 65 batters in 69 innings of work. Of course, the most disappointing part of this move is that Daigle's wife and Olympian hottie Jenny Finch will not be making an appearance at the Metrodome. Boo-urns.

* One of the questions that came up during Sunday's Twins broadcast was what is the likelihood of Denard Span winning the Rookie of the Year award? Bert Blyleven touted Tampa Bay Ray third baseman, Evan Longoria, suggesting he was the obvious winner. The sentiment across the mainstream media seems to favor him as well. Cearly Evan Longoria has the spotlight thanks to an All-Star as well as a Home Run Derby appearance, but the fact that the Rays are heading from Worst to First is providing him with additional accolades whenever writers attempt to find an explanation. Longoria has done well producing ridiculously high power numbers (.255 isolated slugging average) and has driven in many (71) batting 5th in a very good Rays lineup while Span has sparked the Twins offense as the leadoff hitter with his on base percentaged indicates (.398).

	plate appearances	hits	xbh	home runs	avg/obp/slg	rc/9	win probability added
E. Longoria	381	106	51	22	.278/.352/.533	6.8	0.75
D. Span	207	66	20	3	.319/.398/.469	7.1	1.18

* The Twins are keeping a close eye on Hernandez's Colorado performance as they will be responsible for his contractual bonuses which take effect after he tosses 160 innings. Fortunately, Tracy Ringolsby reported that the Rockies are considering replacing Livan Hernandez after his third start. When the Rockies agreed to take on his contract, they were hoping to add a pitcher that would give the bullpen a rest. Instead, in Hernandez's three starts, the bullpen has pitched more innings than Livan (14 innings to 12 innings). "He has pitched better in the past, and we need him to pitch better to keep him in the rotation," manager Clint Hurdle said. "We got him to eat innings, but the bullpen has worked quite a few innings (in Hernandez's three starts)." Hernandez has posted a 15.32 era in those three starts as opponents have hit .424/.469/.661 in that duration adding Game Scores of 5, 29 and 23.