FORT MYERS, Fla.—The Twins got to Yankee Stadium for an October play-in game, and while they ran head-on into the Yankee bullpen, “it had real meaning to us players and to every one of us who grew up in the area,” says Joe Mauer. And instead of patting themselves on the back, from James Pohlad to Derek Falvey and Thad Levine to a Hall of Fame manager who played in three World Series and grew up in St. Paul like Paul Molitor, it was, in Molitor’s words, “a start.”
They signed Logan Morrison, who hit 38 homers for the Rays, this week. They traded for Jake Odorizzi when Ervin Santana was declared out for at least a month. They went and signed relievers Addison Reed and Fernando Rodney, and while no one overtly talks like it’s 1991 all over again, “what we’ve tried to do with ownership’s generous blessing is keep getting better,” says Falvey. They were in on Yu Darvish. They may not yet be finished.
And they are, for the future because of their young players, and 2018. Are they claiming this is their shot? No. The American League has Houston, New York, Boston and Cleveland as the front four, with teams like the Blue Jays and Angels vying for the passing lane.
Those young players are really good, too, and when you’re in their spring training it seems as if all talk leads to Byron Buxton. His defensive metrics are off the charts, from Statcast to Fangraphs. His acceleration is the best. He hit .300 in the second half of the season. “His thirst for knowledge, his constant seeking of information, his attention to detail and his work ethic make him really unusual,” says Torii Hunter, the 24 year old Buxton’s mentor. “His ceiling is so high he reminds me of another kid that broke in when I was playing with him—Mike Trout. Mike was more polished coming in, but Buxton picks up things really quickly. He’s like Trout in that he has no ego and takes suggestions.”
Hunter has been a mentor everywhere he’s gone, which includes home. His son Torii, Jr. was a three year starter at Notre Dame as a wide receiver, graduated in three years, but in his junior season suffered a concussion and thought about baseball. “Football is rougher,” father told son. “But baseball is harder. It is really hard to play.” Torii, Jr. signed with the Angels and was rated the fastest baserunner in the organization.
When J.D. Martinez had his Red Sox press conference Monday morning, he singled out Hunter as a mentor after being released by the Astros and signing with the Tigers.
“I have a long way to go,” says the humble Buxton. “I have a lot to learn. But this game is great, and I just try to get better every day.”
“Look at our outfield, and you see a whole lot of talent that’s just coming into it’s own,” says Twins coach Jeff Pickler. Eddie Rosario moved to left field and hit 27 homers. Max Kepler has a Paul O’Neill toolbox.
Then move into the infield and there’s Brian Dozier’s 34 homers, an emerging Jorge Polanco and, of course, the beast that is Miguel Sano. Sano hit 28 homers in 114 games last season, and Pickler believes “his mobility for a man his size—between 280 and 290 pounds—is vastly underrated. He makes the plays on the balls in front of him really well, and he works.” What the team doesn’t know is what will happen with a harassment charge leveled against him this winter.
They hope to get Santana back at the end of April. Odorizzi may have a poor groundball rate, but his home park will be tough on lefthanded power. They are strong believers that this is the breakout season for Jose Berrios, they have Kyle Gibson, Phil Hughes has looked very different following his surgery and they have Adalberto Mejia and kids like Stephen Gonsalves and Fernando Romero coming.
For Molitor, this could be his third winning season in the last four years, this “is a team that’s fun to manage because it is learning and because of the kids makeup they thirst for the learning.”
The Twin-Cities rank somewhere around 15th in market size, their payroll may well end up over $130M, but no one drones on about the rocky ledges of the world of the Red Sox, Yankee and Dodger payrolls. The Twins are playing, and come those beautiful summer days along the Mississippi, when baseball seems right, their fans will have a team they can dream on.
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Five observations from a week in The Fort:
- After their first few exhibition games, one of the Red Sox coaches said, “the two best things I’m seeing right now are Brian Johnson and Blake Swihart. They can be really important to us.”
Johnson has been troubled by injuries the last couple of years after going 13-3 between Portland and Pawtucket in 2014 and seeming certain to get into the Boston rotation. He’s been troubled by injuries since, but this spring at 27 looked like the man who blew through the organization. He faced the Orioles Sunday for two innings, with two strikeouts, nothing else. His fastball, which was in the 87-88 range last season, was 91-92, he had his old 4-5 curveball repertoire. “His fastball plays, especially up in the zone, because he’s so tough to pick up,” says one Red Sox coach. “He has the bite back on his curveballs, he uses every part of the zone, and he can read hitters and their swings, probably because he was a very good hitter (cleanup hitter) at Florida.” Johnson will be groomed this spring as a starter (they need a fifth starter the first time around the rotation) and reliever. He’s also out of options, so there will be scouts in to see him. Since they plan to cut back on starters’ innings, the Red Sox likely will need two or three swing starters out of the pen or in Pawtuket, so Johnson could be important.
- Swihart tore up his ankles playing left field in 2016. He was never embraced by John Farrell. But his ankles regained their strength at the turn of this year, he is running the way he did when he circled Citi Field in 14.8 seconds on what was thought to be an inside-the-park homer. With the ankles regained, the ball has been jumping off his bat from both sides of the plate as never before.
Right now he is getting a lot of work behind the plate, but he’s also working at first base and left field, and eventually the club thinks he can be a Ben Zobrist who can catch, and could see time working at second and third base. Swihart is also out of options, but Alex Cora wants versatility and Swihart seems to interest the manager.
- Carson Smith is throwing like the guy for whom they traded two years ago, then got hurt. “(Tyler) Thornburg is throwing better than he ever did last season,” says one coach. “Having those two guys, Joe Kelly and some of the young big arms is going to be something to watch.” Smith held righthanders to a .170 average with a 60-12 strikeout-walk ratio in 2015 in Seattle, while in 2016 Thornburg dominated hitters on both sides of the plate with Milwaukee. Lefties had a .130/.223/.190 with a 45-11 strikeout-walk ratio. “Having a power reliever that gets hitters on the opposite side of the plate is like having two pitchers,” says one Sox coach. Ask the Yankees. Dellin Betances, Chad Green and David Robertson all get lefthanded hitters out better than righties.
- Derek Lowe has been working with Rick Porcello, and Porcello thinks it is paying benefits. They worked on the grip on his sinker. But, more important, Lowe noticed that Porcello’s feet sometimes move and get out of line as he pushes off the rubber, which could be a reason he sometimes makes what he accountably always calls “a really bad pitch.” In working with Lowe, Porcello realized that out of the stretch he never looked down at his foot to see if it were in its proper place. “I can’t believe I never realized this.” By the way, Porcello won the Cy Young Award in 2016.
- Pre-Martinez, my favorite batting practice group is when Hanley Ramirez, Rafael Devers, and Andrew Benintendi are together. Their abilities to create backspin on balls they drive in the air is remarkable. “They all stay behind the ball and square them up,” says hitting coach Tim Hyers. “It’s clear Hanley was hurt last year. Devers has unbelievable power for a kid 21. And Benintendi has one of the most natural short swings in the game.”