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New ballpark sparks questions for Twins in 2010

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 | Print Entry

It's not that anyone ever liked the place. Few seats were positioned directly at the pitcher and hitter, and the sight lines never seemed right. A baggy? Players covering their heads after losing pop flies in the great mainsail in the sky? At its worst it was, as Dave Lemonds once said, like playing with marbles in a bathtub.

Morneau

Mauer

In the '80s, businesses bought up tickets to keep the Twins in Minneapolis, and in the 21st century, owner Carl Pohlad agreed to have them contracted. That said, we may never have had two consecutive nights of pure drama greater than Games 6 and 7 of the 1991 World Series, or had our hearing more impaired than in the 1987 World Series or watched a small-market team come up with more stars from Bert Blyleven to Frank Viola, Kirby Puckett to Kent Hrbek to Justin Morneau to Joe Mauer.

Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire have taught and managed a particular Twins way, and the front office handed down from Andy MacPhail to Terry Ryan to Bill Smith has operated consistently, with unusual respect and deference to the scouting and development people in the field.

No one knows if there'll be ice on the Mississippi River when Target Field opens on April 12, or if snow will be blowing off the plains if the Twins make the World Series sometime in the future.

"I just hope we're talking about the Minnesota weather come the World Series," laughed Smith.

As if the weather hasn't been a problem in Philadelphia, Boston and other places in the days on either side of Halloween, or snow hasn't been a problem in Cleveland, Colorado, Boston, Chicago or New York over the years.

What the Twins really don't know is how much they'll miss the Hubert H. Humphrey BaggyDome in terms of having the biggest home-field advantage in the American League. They were 49-33 in the (No Smoking) Metrodome in 2009, 38-43 on the road; it's hard to forget when the Tigers' Don Kelly lost a fly ball because of the Metrodome roof in the heat of the AL Central race in September. It's not just that the Twins hit 20 more home runs at home or had a plus-47 OPS point differential; it was the adjustment opponents had to make coming into the Metrodome for a series, to the lights, to the turf, to the roof, to Eiffel Tower steps leading down to the dugouts.

Since the Twins were rebuilt back into power in 2001, they were 439-290 at home, 354-375 on the road. In nine years, they were an average of 18 games a year over .500 at home and two games a year under .500 on the road.

In those nine years, the Minnesota Twins have been very successful, averaging 88 wins a season, which happens to be three more victories than they had the first year they won the World Series in 1987. That reminds us that the Twins won all four of their home games in that World Series. And that for all the memories Puckett and Jack Morris left us in the '91 World Series, they won all four games they played in the Metrodome and lost the three games they played on the road in Atlanta.

How much did home-field advantage contribute to the Twins' winning the AL Central this past season? They were 12-7 against the Tigers, including winning two of three games in September in Minnesota. The Twins also beat the Tigers 6-5 in the one-game playoff on Oct. 6 to advance to the postseason. The home-field advantage may have helped the momentum that saw them come from seven games back in September, winning 19 of their last 27 games. The turf, however, probably didn't help Mauer lead the league in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, batting average and OPS. As we celebrate Mauer this winter, remember that he hit just one infield popup the entire season. Talk about a line-drive machine …

"There is no question that we're leaving behind a distinct home-field advantage," said Smith. "We're going to have to figure out how we build a home-field advantage at Target Field."

Smith candidly said, "No one is really going to know what does and doesn't fly until we see how the winds play. That's the way it was at the new Yankee Stadium. It's true of any new outdoor park."

Wrigley Field and Fenway Park are like split personalities, depending on which way the winds blow.

"The dimensions [of Target Field and the Metrodome] are essentially the same," said Smith. "It's a little shorter in left-center field, and, again, we have to see how the wind plays. It's still going to be a left-handed-hitters' park in terms of power."

So it's good that Mauer, Morneau and Jason Kubel sit in the middle of the order. Leadoff batter Denard Span batted .311 with a .392 on base percentage, and his home (.325/.402)/road (.298/.381) split was not alarming.

Michael Cuddyer also broke out with 32 homers, but one of Smith's offseason goals is to get more balanced.

Young

Hardy

"We think J.J. Hardy helps us there, and he helps us because he's a solid shortstop," said Smith, who acquired Hardy from the Brewers in exchange for outfielder Carlos Gomez on Nov. 6. "We also hope that what we saw in Delmon Young carries over. He made a lot of improvement in his plate discipline."

Indeed, Young batted .300 with an .824 OPS after the All-Star break. As for the defense, The Hardball Times' defensive metrics rated Minnesota's middle-infield defense the worst in the majors, which may or may not have been worsened by the field at the Metrodome.

The second- and third-base situations are not yet resolved, with Nick Punto, Alexi Casilla, Matt Tolbert and Brendan Harris in the mix.

The Twins may re-sign Carl Pavano, but even then the Scott Baker/Kevin Slowey/Nick Blackburn/Brian Duensing starting rotation with dreams of the one-time promising Francisco Liriano remain an uncertain staff.

"They're young, and they can improve," said Smith of the Twins' rotation.

The Twins do benefit from their division. They were the only team in the AL Central that scored more runs than they allowed, and the division as a whole was 76-110 against the AL East, 78-96 against the AL West.
So the Twins will have time to figure out the winds at Target Field and patch together the pitching in hopes of being a contender once again in 2010. How much they will eventually miss the BaggyDome remains to be seen.