We are one month into the replay of 2004, and it is time to see how things are going on for the Twins and the wider MLB at May 1.
As you can see, the AL is certainly interesting so far. We are leading the Wild Card by .5 a game over the Tigers and the Indians, and are a couple of games back in the Central behind the Chi Sox. One thing to keep in mind is that we are in the era of the unbalanced schedule, as Houston is not in the NL, and we are going to play more divisional games than the A's and Angels. Boston has been a house of fire, as in this version of the world Nomar doesn't get hurt and miss a good chunk of the season. The AL Central is the toughest division in baseball right now, as 4 teams are very much in the hunt. In the AL West, the A's and the Big Three have set the pace over the Angels.
The story that intrigues me the most is the Yankees. They are 8 games back of Boston, and are a few games back in the Wild Card. The only player that is on the DL currently is Chien-Ming Wang. With all due respect to Wang, this is a couple of years before he broke out in real life. The biggest problems with the Yankees is that they are not getting much help from some of their major acquisitions. A-Rod is hitting .200, and the Yankees did not want that when they stole him from the Red Sox. Their major pitching acquisions of Cuban defector Jose Contreras, Kevin Brown, and Javier Vasquez have been dreadful. The lowest ERA for a Yankee starter is Mike Mussina at 4.54. Brown is 1-3 in 5 starts with a 4.55 ERA, Vasquez is 0-3 in 6 starts with an ERA of 7.39, and Contreras has been downright awful in 2 starts with an ERA of 11.88. That bullpen is going to be overtaxed. I'm curious to see what the Yankee brass does to address their issues.
Now, we move onto the National League.
The divisional races in the East and Central have been about what you would have figured. One thing to keep in mind about the Astros is that in real life, Carlos Beltran was traded to the Astros until late June, and Jimy Williams hasn't been fired as of this stage. The big surprise is in the NL West. The Padres are tied in the divisional and Wild Card with the Dodgers, and this is something that differs from real life. In real life, the Giants were fighting the Dodgers all year, but they clearly need to get it in gear to deal with the Padres. For the Padres, Phil Nevin and Ryan Klesko have been RBI producing fools, and Trevor Hoffman has 10 saves and an ERA of under 1.
Here is how the Twins are looking, with a look at a couple of prospects,
As you can see, the Twins have had a rough start with the starting pitching, and it might mean bringing up Liriano before I am ready to. Jacque Jones also has been struggling, and I will want to revisit if giving Lew Ford a shot will work out. Joe Mauer has struggled, but he obviously has been hurt. All in all, I think that there is room for improvement, and am going to need to look at some things. Next update will be on June 1 of the season.