Ryan Doumit gives the Twins depth behind the plate. Photo: Jeanine Leech/Icon SMI
The Minnesota Twins finished the 2011 season 63-99, fifth in the AL Central and last overall in the American League. Injuries devastated the team as the limped to the finish with a 13-43 over the last two months of the year.
The offense played poorly with Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Denard Span much less than 100%. Fourteen position players. The offense only produced a 3.9 bWAR, while the pitching came in at 9.5 bWAR. All in all, it was a team effort to lose nearly 100 games.
The Twins acquired the following players during the off-season:
- Jamey Carroll, inf
- Ryan Doumit, c
- Jeff Gray, p
- Matt Maloney, p
- Jason Marquis, p
- Darin Mastroianni, of
- Josh Willingham, of
- Joel Zumaya, p
Two of those moves aren’t really meant to improve the team. Willingham and Zumaya simply replace departed veterans. Jason Marquis should give them a little more depth in the rotation, although he hasn’t come close to 160 innings his last two seasons. Ryan Doumit makes sense if the Twins are going to reduce Mauer’s time behind the plate to reduce his chance of an injury.
What the team really needs is to get healthy again. Better seasons from Mauer, Morneau, Span, and Francisco Liriano will do more to put them into contention than any of the players acquired over the winter.