Twenty-five games into the 2008 MLB Season, the Twins have an 11 and 14 record. With a young starting rotation and several new position players, this is about what you might expect. I don't expect any major changes to this team during the course of the season, so I think the club will continue to scuffle along in roughly the same way through the rest of year.
The biggest development thus far is not a positive one. After arriving late for spring training and not being ready to start the season with the club, Francisco Liriano made three poor starts for the Twins. He struggled badly with his control, gave up 13 earned runs in just over ten innings and lost all three decisions. This prompted the organization to send him to the minors. Hopefully, Liriano will be able to pull himself together and get back to the form he showed in 2006.
Another negative has been the rash of injuries suffered by the team. Michael Cuddyer dislocated a finger in the forth game of the season and had to go on the 15-day disabled list. Adam Everett's sore shoulder has landed him on the DL as well. Kevin Slowey injured the bicep on his pitching arm in the forth inning of his first start and has been on the disabled list ever since. Scott Baker and Carlos Gomez have also suffered minor injuries but have thus far been able to stayed with the club.
There has been some good news. The injury to Everett has given Matt Tolbert the opportunity to play and he's done well. He's appeared in 19 games and is hitting .300 while only committing one error. Rookie Nick Blackburn has pitched well so far. In five starts he has a 1 and 1 record with a 3.45 ERA. Blackburn has struck out 15 batters while only allowing four walks.
Otherwise the team is performing more or less as anticipated. No team in the American League Central has really taken off so the Twins are just three and a half games out despite posting a losing record. However, wins and loses will not be the most important factors for this team this year. What's going to be important is how well will the young players develop over the course of the season.
