For the Minnesota Twins, the hits just keep on coming.
Twins Lose Sluggers Jason Kubel And Jim Thome To DL
Metaphorically.
Literally, the Twins rank last in the American League in runs, walks, and on-base percentage; and next-to-last in doubles, batting average, slugging average ... and hits.
With Justin Morneau and (especially) Delmon Young struggling terribly all spring, and with Joe Mauer disabled for most of the campaign, the Twins' only potent hitters have been Jason Kubel and -- when he's been healthy enough to play -- Jim Thome, in hot pursuit of his 600th home run.
Well, you can cross Kubel and Thome off the list for a while. Today, news from Joe Christensen that both of the Twins’ lefty-hitting sluggers are going on the Disabled List:
Confirmed: Thome (strained quad) and Kubel (sprained left foot) are both going on the DL.
This is usually the space in which we might speculate about Thome’s and Kubel’s replacements, but what’s the point?
1. The Twins are 17-37.
2. The Twins certainly don’t have anyone at hand who’s remotely capable of replacing Thome’s or Kubel’s production. Let alone both.
Minnesota seemingly entered this season with five excellent hitters; or at the least, five hitters with the real potential for excellent seasons. At the moment, they're down to zero, with only Denard Span offering even the faintest of hopes.
The funny thing is that the Twins will, at some point soon, probably start winning some games, if only because it’s almost impossible to keep losing as many as they’ve been losing. But if management hasn’t already started thinking seriously about 2012, now is absolutely the time to do that. Because it’s really hard to win games if you don’t score any runs.
For more on Kubel and Thome, please visit team blog Twinkie Town.
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