MN Sports Blog

The Good:

Justin Morneau: Morneau has been on an absolute tear this season and even more so in the month of May: .400 AVG/ 6 HR/ 19 RBI .496 OBP. Morneau currently leads the league in hitting with a .377 AVG overall.

Denard Span: Span didn’t get off to the start most had hoped for but he has been turning it on as of late with a .353 AVG in May with 10 RBI and 10 stolen bases. Span was hitting just .211 in April with 9 RBI and 6 stolen bases. He also improved his on base percentage to .403 from .339 in April.

Nick Blackburn: After a brutal start in April (1-1 with a 6.85 ERA) he has been on fire in the month of May going 5-0 with a 2.65 ERA.

Team batting AVG: .283 – 4th in MLB

63 doubles – T-1st in MLB

12 Errors – Fewest in MLB

16-12 in May with a current five game win streak

15 wins by starters

The Bad:

Joe Mauer – Mauer is hitting “just” .293 in May with 1 HR and 11 RBI versus .414 in May of ’09 with 11 HR and 32 RBI.

Jim Thome – .217 AVG in May with just 7 RBI and 1 HR. Although he lacks the plate appearances and opportunities he is still disappointing so far this year in the power and run production.

Francisco Liriano – Liriano was the AL Pitcher of the Month in April going 3-0 with a microscopic .93 ERA in April but is 2-3 with a 5.15 ERA in May.

Jon Rauch – 7-for-8 saves with a 4.09 ERA in May vs. 1.80 ERA in April going 6-for-7 in saves. Rauch was fantastic in April but the saves have gotten a little more nerve racking ever since.

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Jon Rauch inherited the closer’s job this season when Joe Nathan went out with surgery and that seemed to dampen the Twins hopes as well as the fans hopes. Rauch wasn’t even the immediate choice for Gardy as he weighed the options. When he was actually named the starter people began to wonder how effective he could really be and how interesting the ninth inning would now be all season long.

Rauch has quieted those who doubted him by nailing down his first six saves in a row while giving up just one earned run in that span and striking out four. There have been a few hiccups for Rauch this year but he has only two blown saves in 12 chances while picking up just the one victory. If Rauch continues at least the pace he’s on there should be no one that can say he was less than remarkable given the role he was thrust in to.

The Twins start a three game series with the New York Yankees tonight which will hopefully lead to some more save opportunities for Rauch that may prove to be a huge test for Rauch’s success and composure.

To sum up the stat lines of Jon Rauch ’10 versus Joe Nathan’s ’09 numbers through the same number of appearances in 2009 it looks like this:

Jon Rauch: 17 IP, 17 Hits, 5 ER, 13 Strikeouts, 10 Saves and a 2.65 ERA

Joe Nathan: 15.2 IP, 13 Hits, 5 ER, 16 Strikeouts, 6 Saves and a 2.87 ERA

Jon Rauch 2010

Joe Nathan 2009

Minnesota Sports Blog

The ninth inning for the Minnesota Twins will get a little more interesting in 2010. Joe Nathan is set to undergo season ending Tommy John surgery following a throwing session with Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson.

“It didn’t go like we hoped. We knew it was a long shot, but I think this will clear my head. There definitely was no gray area. It was definitely on the dark side. We know now that we’re going to need to go in and have some surgery done and get this thing taken care of.”

The news is obviously devastating to Twins fans and the organization who had one of the their most aggressive off seasons in recent memory. The Twins were in a position to have a very strong lineup to open the 2010 season in Target Field but now they’ve been blindsided by this injury that has left most scratching their heads trying to figure out a replacement.

Nathan has been one of the best closers in the game leading the entire league with 246 saves since 2004. He went 2-2 with a 2.10 ERA with a career high 47 saves. Nathan struggled in the postseason, to say the least, against the New York Yankees with a 9.00 ERA and a very costly throwing error.

The Twins have fairly limited options within the organization for Nathan’s replacement. Jon Rauch is a likely candidate with the most closing experience. Over his career Rauch has 26 saves but also 27 blown saves with an ERA of 3.79. Rauch came over to the Twins last season and was solid with a 1.79 ERA over 17 games.

The Twins also have semi-candidates in Matt Guerrier and Pat Neshek but Neshek is coming off of surgery himself and Guerrier has less than overpowering stuff. In the ultimate worst case scenario that no Twins fan wants to see would be Jesse Crain taking the hill with the game on the line.

The most irresponsible notion for a potential closer is Francisco Liriano. Liriano was dominant in the Dominican league and absolutely solid this spring. Liriano owns a 2.70 ERA for the spring over 10 innings with 16 strikeouts. He was already struggling to regain his focus and confidence as the Twins potential fifth starter and then throw in the idea of him being a closer candidate when clearly he doesn’t have the mental prowess to handle high pressure situations.

The fact that the Twins even acknowledge the idea of Liriano as a closer is simply irresponsible. Besides the fact that he has shown the inability to handle high pressure situations, he has been dominating hitters all off-season as a starter. Liriano is the best available option for a starting role in a rotation that is fairly lacking in shut down type of stuff.

One thing to keep Twins fans optimistic though is that is has been confirmed by the Star Tribune that the Twins have been heavily scouting Padres closer Heath Bell. The downside is that the Twins would likely have to give up a fair number of prospects for a temporary closer should Nathan return next season and beyond.

Heath Bell 2009 Stats

ESPN Chicago has reported that Rich Harden has been claimed off of waivers. Conflicting reports suggest that an AL team, rumored to be Minnesota, while another suggests it was an NL team. If the Minnesota Twins claimed Harden off of waivers from the Chicago Cubs it would be an unfamiliar move for a traditionally stagnant front office that typically shies away from making impressive moves.

Harden would be the veteran the Twins desperately need (and no, Pavano is not that veteran). The incredibly young starting rotation has been inconsistent at best this season with even Scott Baker being a question mark each start.

Harden is 8-7 with a 3.99 ERA this year with the Cubs with 143 strikeouts.

UPDATE: ESPN Chicago says that sources have confirmed that the Minnesota Twins have claimed Rich Harden. The two clubs have until Monday to make a deal.

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