Minnesota Twins at the All-Star Break

It's my birthday today - another year wiser, I know!

My birthday usually falls around Major League Baseball's All-Star Break. With another American League win yesterday, I thought I'd look at the Minnesota Twins' progress at the break.

Although he tailed off a bit in the last few weeks, Joe Mauer's AL-leading batting average and career high 15 home runs shows how much the team missed him in April. First sacker Justin Morneau is on pace for a 40-homer season and another .300 batting average, and power production from OF/DH Jason Kubel, 3B Joe Crede and RF Michael Cuddyer have keep the Twins in most of their games.

Brendan Harris has been playing his heart out at shortstop, and OF Denard Span has been contributing nicely since his return from the disabled list after an inner ear infection.

Starting pitcher Nick Blackburn should, in my opinon, be the ace of this staff - he's been putting in more and more quality starts lately, and has been one of the most consistent pitchers on the staff. Kevin Slowey has done well, and even callup Anthony Swarzak has been impressive in most of his outings.

In the bullpen, Matt Guerrier and Jose Mijares have consistently done well, and closer Joe Nathan has continued to show why he's one of the best in baseball. Newcomer RA Dickey has also done well most of the time in long relief.

Those are the highlights, now on to the lowlights:

1. Delmon Young continues to show why he's doesn't belong in the big leagues. He strikes out too often and only has 3 home runs - not the type of numbers the team had in mind when they traded for him. His outfield play has been inconsistent too.

2. Nick Punto is slumping at the plate again - he's terrific defensively, but his offensive shortcomings really show why the team would be better trading or signing an experienced second baseman, and putting Punto in the utility infielder's role.

3. Jesse Crain was atrocious in the bullpen before being demoted to Class AAA Rochester, and free agent signee Luis Ayala was another free agent signing mistake by the team. I found myself cringing far too often when I watched him pitch.

4. Scott Baker, the supposed ace of the pitching staff, has been less than impressive this year. He's giving up way too many homers, and hasn't had the consistency the ace of a staff is expected to have.

5. Francisco Liriano has to adjust to the fact that he's not the hard-throwing lefty he was before Tommy John surgery on his arm. He seems to get really flustered when things aren't going well for him on the mound, and just gets himself into trouble. He needs to trust his stuff if he's going to stay in the rotation.

6. Center fielder Carlos Gomez, like Delmon Young, has also shown this year that he's a not-ready-for-prime-time player. He swings at just about everything at the plate, and pouts and sulks in the dugout when things aren't going his way. He had a great game against Chisox hurler Mark Buehrle before the break, but he's not as good a hitter as he thinks he is. I can see why manager Ron Gardenhire has put him in a lot of games as a late-inning defensive replacement.

7. The Twins have a weak bench. Backup catcher Mike Redmond's batting average has been in the .220's lately, which is about 30-40 points higher than infielders Alexi Casilla, Matt Tolbert and Brian Buscher. They don't really have any experienced players in the minors that can supply the pop or timely hitting right now, either.

For a team that's one game above .500 and four games back of the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers, I think my assessment of the team is fair. I've been a fan of the Twins for a long time, and of course I want to see them do better. They can be very fun to watch during the race to the playoffs.

To improve this team, I think they need to get an established second baseman, like Freddy Sanchez of the Pirates, in exchange for Young, Gomez and/or some minor leaguers. I think the starting rotation is good, we just need to have a more consistent second half from Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Glen Perkins, and Francisco Liriano. The bullpen is pretty solid, but they were over-used by necessity in the first couple of months.

Here's to a hopefully more productive second half of theseason for the Twins!