Year four is now in the books with the Twins, and we've now completed our first winning season. We spent some time in contention for the division, but in the end we came up short, despite going 17-11 in September and October.
But this year wasn't really about winning it all, although I would have gladly taken it. This year was about taking another step forward, and putting those 100 loss teams in the rear view mirror. We got to take a closer look at Jon Bland this year, and he rewarded us with a 4.8 WAR season. Centerfielder Pedro Valles had a 4.0 WAR season. In just over half a season Juan Carlos Torrez produced 1.6 WAR.
Of course all of our young players didn't produce. Scott Frazier hit just .178 with negative 0.8 WAR. Luis Vazquez hit .202 with negative .5 WAR. They are young though, and we'll see if they can play a little bit better next year.
Rich Harden has been truly tremendous for us, going 21-6 with a 2.23 ERA and 9.2 WAR. We saw a lot of youth in the rotation too with Cano, Ewing, Arce, and Herrera all making starts.
I haven't taken spent much time putting together our plan for next year yet. That'll come next, but I expect that we'll contend next year, and I'm willing to make the moves necessary to push us over the edge.
Minnesota Twins - 65-97 (.401) 35 GB
2013 - Minnesota Twins - 54-108 (.333) 45 GB (Season Score - 1)
2014 - Minnesota Twins - 53-109 (.327) 40 GB (Season Score - 1)
2015 - Minnesota Twins - 78-85 (.479) 14 1/2 GB (Season Score - 44)
2016 - Minnesota Twins - 82-80 (.506) 7 GB (Season Score - 49)
