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2009 Twins season in review - Morneau, Cuddyer, and Kubel
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Note: This is the fourth installment in a ten-part series analyzing the Twins' 2009 season. Previous entries looked at the Twins' starting pitching, relief pitching, and closer's performances.
The Minnesota had plenty of questions going into the 2009 season, but the middle of the order was likely not one of them. The experienced middle of the order looked to nicely compliment the relative inexperience at the top (Denard Span) and the question marks at the bottom (Nick Punto, Alexi Casilla, Carlos Gomez).
During the 2009 season, the Twins received tremendous production from the middle of their order. Justin Morneau's season went pretty much as expected before a bout with an inner ear infection and later a stress fracture in his back derailed his season in mid-August. Still, the 2006 American League MVP had a fine season by any stretch, hitting .274/.363/.516 with 31 doubles, 30 HR, and 100 RBI. Still, his season featured an unfortunate "what might have been?" aspect.
After the August 15 game against Cleveland at the Metrodome, Morneau was sitting at .301/.388/.562 for the season with 28 homers and 94 RBI. With six weeks remaining in the season, he was looking like a strong American League MVP candidate, to go along with his win in 2006. After taking an 0-3 in the Cleveland series finale, Morneau and the Twins embarked on a long western road trip still trying to stay in the AL Central race. Little did Twins' fans realize was that Morneau's season was basically over when he got on that plane.
Beginning with an 0-2 performance in Texas on August 17, in which Morneau took himself out after the second at-bat with dizziness and ended up missing a week, the Twins' first baseman was mired in a slump which saw him finish 7-67 (.104) with 2 HR and 6 RBI the rest of the way. His season was shut down for good after the September 12 game with Oakland because of the back injury. Prior to the injury being made public, whispers of another late-season Morneau slump were present among Twins Territory. Many suggested that Morneau's 3-26 (.115) finish to the 2008 season was a major reason why the Twins came up one game short. Still, Morneau likely played through tremendous pain well before the back injury became public and deserves credit for wanting to battle while in excruciating pain.
Of course, the Twins rallied after losing Morneau, thanks to the efforts of Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel, and overtook Detroit for the Central Division title in the tiebreaker game. Still, Morneau's presence in the lineup was missed during the streak of good baseball the Twins played in his absence. Also not to be forgotten was Morneau's .318/.365/.557, 5 HR and 18 RBI month of April, in which the Twins were missing Joe Mauer from the lineup.
Cuddyer's 2009 performance represented a great comeback from an injury-plagued and disappointing 2008 season. After signing a three-year, $24M contract in the preceding winter, Cuddyer was limited to just 71 games in 2008 and hit a disappointing .249/.330/.369 with 3 HR and 36 RBI. Entering the 2009 season at age 30, the 1997 first-rounder faced a career at a crossroads.
Cuddyer responded strongly, hitting .276/.342/.520 with 34 doubles, 7 triples, 32 homers, and 94 RBI in 153 games. Fans will remember his cycle against Milwaukee on May 22, but will also remember the .282/.321/.563 line he put up in the month of September. During that month which saw the Twins play inspired baseball and win the division, Cuddyer stepped in at first base for the injured Morneau and knocked out 8 HR and batted in 24 runs to lead the offense. His strong performance in September over-shadowed the slow .224/.318/.316 April showing, and was one reason why the Twins were in the position they were at the end of the season.
The Twins expected a lot out of Kubel at the start of the 2009 season, and the left-handed slugger delivered. Kubel broke out in 2008 and hit .272/.335/.471 with 20 HR and 78 RBI in 141 games. He established himself as the team's third-best hitter after Mauer and Morneau, and the Twins believed they had their everyday DH and occasional left-fielder for the foreseeable future. The Twins rewarded Kubel by avoiding arbitration with him prior to the 2009 season and signing him to a two-year, $7.2M contract.
Kubel responded by producing a season which caught the eyes of many national observers. While splitting his time between LF and DH before finishing the season as the every-day right-fielder after Morneau's injury forced Cuddyer to first base, Kubel hit .300/.369/.539 with 35 doubles, 28 HR, and 103 RBI. Yes, he struck out 106 times in 514 at-bats, but Kubel showed signs of becoming the hitter the Twins always believed he would be before severely injuring his knee while playing in the 2004 Arizona Fall League.
Kubel was especially good during the regular season's final two weeks. With the Twins embarking on a crucial 10-game road trip, playing the equivalent of elimination games along the way, Kubel was 15-52 (.288) with 5 HR and 16 RBI in the season's final 14 regular season games. His two homers in the season's final regular season game against Kansas City got the Twins going and cemented their berth in the tiebreaker game. In game #163, his solo shot against Detroit cut the Tigers' lead to 3-2 and pumped some life into an otherwise-quiet Metrodome.
The Twins' three sluggers each ranked among the top 20 in the American League in on-base percentage, behind league-leader Mauer. Morneau (#19), Cuddyer (#15), and Kubel (#8) established themselves in 2009 as legitimate power threats in the middle of the Twins' order.
The Twins received significant production from the middle of their order in 2009. The trio of Morneau, Cuddyer, and Kubel gave the Twins plenty of punch in the middle of the order and nice compliments to hitters at the top of the order (read Mauer and Span) setting the table for the bashers. The trio protected each other in the lineup and kept Morneau from being an automatic intentional walk in late-inning situations. Plus, Cuddyer's and Kubel's performance after Morneau's injury carried the Twins to the division title when all appeared lost. With all three returning next season, there is little reason to believe the Twins cannot expect similar production from the middle of the order in the new ballpark.
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