MINNEAPOLIS -- With four more losses, the Minnesota Twins will be losers of 90 games for the fourth straight season. It's been a fall from grace for a team that won the American League Central division six times in a nine-year span.
Yet while 2014 has been another lost season in the Twin Cities, this year's 90-plus losses have a different feel than what took place from 2011-13. The wins haven't been nearly as frequent as Twins fans would have liked, but Minnesota has been more competitive than it was in the past few seasons.
"Guys were trying. I'm not saying they weren't trying. But we were overloaded an awful lot," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said of the team's previous three 96-plus loss seasons. "We compete pretty doggone good now. I think you guys have all seen that. We're in most of the games. If one thing goes one way or the other and we get a hit here or whatever, we win a ball game. We always feel like we have a chance."
A big reason for that belief in Minnesota's dugout that the Twins always have a chance has been the offense, which has arguably been better than most people expected. Entering Monday's game against Detroit, Minnesota is sixth in all of baseball in runs scored (652), eighth in on-base percentage (.322) and 13th in slugging percentage (.388).
The flip side of that, though, has been the woes of the Twins pitching staff. Minnesota's pitchers have the third-worst overall ERA in baseball (4.60), and no starting rotation in the league has a higher ERA than the Twins (5.08). Minnesota's starting pitchers held that same distinction last year when their ERA of 5.26 was easily the worst in baseball.
Amid everything that's happened for Minnesota this season, there's been one trend that lends to the belief that 2014 has been a step in the right direction in at least some regard. That would be the encouraging play of some of the Twins' young players, guys who figure to be a part of the future in Minnesota. As this team continues to look toward the future, players like Danny Santana, Oswaldo Arcia and Kennys Vargas are showing that the future has started to arrive.
If not for Chicago first baseman Jose Abreu, Santana might be a frontrunner for the American League Rookie of the Year. The infielder-turned-center-fielder has batted .316 in 89 games and proved that his hot start to his big-league career wasn't necessarily a fluke. And he's adjusted well to his new center-field position after coming up through the minors as a shortstop.
Arcia, who like Santana is still just 23 years old, debuted with Minnesota last year and flashed some power potential when he hit 14 home runs in 97 games as a rookie. His sophomore campaign has seen a slight uptick in most of his numbers, including his 17 homers and 51 RBI in 92 games. And he's coming on strong at the end of the season, too, to put a cap on his second year in the majors. Since Aug. 1, Arcia has hit 10 homers and driven in 31 RBI while batting .248 in 36 games. That batting average has jumped to .289 in 12 games so far in September as Arcia continues to figure things out at the major-league level.
And there's Vargas, who debuted on his 24th birthday on Aug. 1 and has been one of the Twins' top hitters since then. In his first 41 games in the majors, Vargas has batted .285 with seven home runs and 35 RBI. And he did all of that after making the jump from Double-A New Britain to the majors.
The late months of the 2014 season have also been an audition of sorts for Trevor May, a 24-year-old right-handed pitcher who was one of the Twins' top pitching prospects entering the season. May debuted on Aug. 9 in what was a forgettable first game of his career. He walked seven batters and allowed four runs in just two innings. Since then, though, he's taken steps -- albeit small steps at times -- in the right direction. On Sunday against Chicago, May had the best outing of his brief big-league career when he struck out 10 White Sox batters and didn't issue a walk in six innings.
The Twins will finish well behind the pack in the American League Central for the fourth straight year and could very well finish last in the division. As Minnesota looks to climb out of the cellar next year, many things will have to change and improve. Unlike the last few seasons, though, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel as some of the team's younger players have provided glimpses of hope.
"They believe in each other out there a lot more. You're always playing for something," Gardenhire said. "You're playing for a job and a spot, and a lot of these guys want to show that. There's a lot at stake always in the big leagues."
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