Mom and dad took the Minnesota Twins "out to the farm" on Wednesday night, as they were mathematically eliminated from the American League wild-card race. So let's remember the Twins' 2012 season and probably never speak of it again …
What went right
Through the team's first 142 games, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau have appeared in a combined 249 games. Mauer also has a chance to set a career high in plate appearances. Through 131 games, he's gotten 569 plate appearances. In 2008, he had 633.
What went wrong
Twins starters went 37-66 with a league-worst 5.45 ERA -- and that's with half their games in what's assumed to be a pitcher's park. The only team whose starters put up a worse ERA was the Rockies, and we all know their excuse. The bullpen was a bit better, putting up a 3.80 ERA (but a league-worst 4.37 xFIP). The offense had its issues but was still sixth in the AL in runs (632), fifth in on-base percentage (.329) and fifth in OPS+ (102). No matter what the offense did, the starters rarely gave them a chance.
MVP: Josh Willingham may have been the steal of last season's free-agent pool. The 33-year-old outfielder signed a three-year, $21 million deal with the Twins and has given them almost that much production in one season. Entering Wednesday's game, he was hitting .261/.367/.451 with 33 home runs and 102 RBI -- he's even slugged better at home than on the road (.628 vs. .438) and hit 20 of those homers at Target Field.
LVP: Pick a starter, any starter (well, except Scott Diamond). Only two of the 12 pitchers to start for the Twins this season had an ERA+ better than 100 (league average) -- Diamond and Sam Deduno. Francisco Liriano (3-10, 5.31), Nick Blackburn (4-9, 7.39), Cole De Vries (5-5, 4.11) and Liam Hendricks (0-7, 6.20) all struggled.
MLB Free agents to be: RHP Carl Pavano, RHP Scott Baker ($9.25 million club option), RHP Matt Capps ($6 million player option)
Game plan heading into the offseason
The "what went wrong" section pretty much tells you all you need to know about their offseason focus -- the Twins need starting pitching. The free- agent market isn't exactly stacked. The best chance may be to trade one of its redundant outfielders, Denard Span or Ben Revere (or both). Neither is going to bring back Cy Young, but it wouldn't take Cy Young to upgrade Minnesota's rotation.
Ridiculously premature prediction for 2013
Mauer will look handsome in national commercials, Ron Gardenhire will tell some funny stories, something deep fried that shouldn't be deep fried will be on sale at the concession stands and Target Field will present a beautiful setting for baseball. In other words, same as it ever was. The Twins haven't gone three seasons without seeing the playoffs since ending a 10-year playoff drought in 2002, but that streak looks like it will end in 2013.
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