| Well, this has been a bit of an experience. The team has flopped, and since I discovered that over-rated old veterans just were not getting it done, a definite trend towards the youth has begun. In the fire sale of 2002, multiple players were shown the door in favor of prospects, which could be a very good or a very bad thing, depending on your perspective. Overall, I have tried to act with best intentions, but sometimes bad things happen and with the Twins, that was often every game. Lineup Not much happening here--the leading HR hitter was Ryan Minor with 21. The general idea was to try to steal bases and do some stuff on the basepaths, but that didn't seem to work out well at all. The biggest offensive hole was at catcher, where the average was somewhere around .240, which obviously was hurtful. Bench A bit sketchy, especially this year. Hocking can play multiple positions, but can't hit worth a damn. Encarnacion strikes out far too much, but should improve next year. Other than those two, the bench hardly warrants mention. Defense The defense was fairly solid at times, keyed by Mark Grace's one error at first (until unexplicably, the sim moveed him to DH). Vizcaino and Minor each made 20+ errors, but finished with fielding percentages over .970, so that was to be expected. Rotation Dreadful, absolutely dreadful. When the leading winer finishes with less than 10 wins, something's wrong. Still Thomson could improve with some run support. Bullpen If the rotation was bad, the pen was worse, with myriads of blown leads that lead to an IBC record 113 losses. In a word, UGGH! Minors Could be strong in retrospect 20 years from now. 3B Tracy was named Texas League player of the year, Wood, Patterson and Hodges tore up their respective leagues, and Restovich was named "Edmonton Trapper of the Year" in the PCL. This is a solid core that should be ready by 2004 along with other young, maturing players. Strengths/weaknesses No strengths, except a decent minor league system. Weaknesses, well most everything. Over/under (who overperformed, who underperformed) Over-Jason Tyner (hit .280 in sim, was demoted in mid-May in real life) Under-Sidney Ponson (2-11, 6+ ERA in sim, 8-7 4.09 ERA in bigs) What you feel you did right or wrong NOt much went right, but the system of building for tomorrow could reap benefits or years of heartache) The Future... Next year will also suck, but in 2004, contention is a slight possibility. |
| MINNESOTA TWINS *NOTE - This analysis is strictly the opinion of the Red Sox GM, and was done as objectively as possible and strictly for the fun of it |
| GM Andrew Howard RECORD 49-113 5th AL Central |
| Lineup 2B Eric Young CF Jason Tyner RF Bobby Kielty DH Lyle Overbay LF Alex Ochoa 1B Mark Grace 3B Ryan Minor C AJ Hinch SS Jose Vizcaino Rotations John Thomson Sidney Ponson Chris George Jake Westbrook Mike Maroth |
| Bullpen Ryan Drese Johan Santana Nate Cornejo Shawn Sedlacek Matt Anderson (DL) Ryan Kohlmeier(closer) Bench Denny Hocking Larry Bigbie Ramon Castro Juan Encarnacion Karim Garcia |
| Minors Enrique Calero-P Mike Restovich-OF John Patterson-P Trey Hodges-P Chad Tracy-3B Wilton Veras-3B Tim Hummel-2B Jose Castillo-SS/2B Mike Wood-P |
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