Minnesota Twins Daily Clips

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

 Miguel Sano and trending in opposite directions. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 1  Twins coach Rudy Hernandez puts new meaning in 'behind the scenes'. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 2  ‘Nothing falls’ in front of Twins’ talented young outfield. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 3  Inbox: When might Berrios, Park get callup? MLB (Bollinger) p. 4  Wetmore: Two of Twins’ most important players have opposite problems right now. ESPN 1500 (Wetmore) p. 5  From worst to first: Santana leads Twins’ hurlers to top of MLB. FOX Sports (Staff) p. 7  Preview: Twins at Tigers. FOX Sports (Associated Press) p. 8  Twins Want Visitors' Clubhouse at Comerica Park Fumigated. Deadline Detroit (Staff) p. 9  The Twins Are Only Four or Five Away. The Ringer (Baumann) p. 9

Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton trending in opposite directions Chris Miller | Star Tribune | April 10, 2017

Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton have been the two poster children for the Twins for the past couple of years (yep, there are still a few versions of this photo in our system from last year's season preview), and after the team's 5-1 start they are now the talk of the Twins offense.

Sano on the positive side, Buxton not so much.

Sano, after Sunday, was second in the major leagues in RBI with eight, one behind of Texas; and second in (.850) and OPS (1.308) to Marlins J.T. Realmuto. Sano's two-run lined into the wind in the Twins' 4-1 victory at Chicago on Sunday put an exclamation mark on his strong start.

There's no way to sugarcoat Buxton's rough start -- 2-for-26 with 14 . Even in 21st century , where it's tolerable to flirt with 200 strikeouts in a season, Buxton is on pace for, well, 378. That's not going to happen, but he is off to an excruciatingly painful beginning at the plate. With five rally-killing catches in center field, however, he has demonstrated his value ... and his teammates and insist he'll break out of his slump soon.

We'll see.

(It should be noted that Sano had two errors at third base in Saturday's loss in Chicago, which gives him a .50 points below his slugging percentage ... so as dependable as Buxton is patrolling center, his buddy at third is trending in the opposite direction.)

The Twins are off today, traveling to Detroit as soon as their hotel rooms are ready for a three-game series against the Tigers that starts tomorrow.

Finally: Phil Miller had the hidden nugget at the end of his postgame blog yesterday ... the Twins have won two road games, something they couldn't say last year until May 12.

Twins coach Rudy Hernandez puts new meaning in 'behind the scenes' Phil Miller | Star Tribune | April 11, 2017

DETROIT – The Twins are off to their best start in seven years. They’re in first place in the Central, own the best record in the entire American League, and have the second-largest run differential in the game.

And Rudy Hernandez has witnessed none of it.

That’s weird, since Hernandez is a member of ’s coaching staff, and has been for all three seasons of Molitor’s tenure. But the Twins decided to expand their coaching staff to eight members last winter, despite a major league rule that limits teams to seven coaches in the dugout during games.

After much discussion, Molitor and the front office decided that meant Hernandez, the assistant hitting coach who has been a member of the organization for 17 seasons, would work from the clubhouse or batting cages once the first pitch is thrown.

“It’s strange. I don’t know why one more coach [matters], but I live with it,” said Hernandez, a former Appalachian League Manager of the Year with the Twins’ rookie-level team in Elizabethton, Tenn. “Rules are rules.”

That’s Molitor’s position, too, and he speaks from experience. While serving as a roving minor league instructor for the Twins, he once met the major league team on a road trip and sat, in uniform, in the dugout as a game began. “And we got a phone call — during the game — that I couldn’t watch from the dugout. So somebody’s watching somewhere,” Molitor said. “A guard came up [from the clubhouse] and said they got a call about it.”

Hernandez has been in the dugout the past two seasons and got used to having regular consultations with players during games. So it wasn’t easy, Molitor said, to tell him that his post was changing, though not his job.

“We had conversations about how to best utilize our spots in the dugout,” Molitor said. “Rudy’s a very high-valued guy here. The conversation I had with him was about how, systemically, it was going to change, but basically he’s in the same position.”

That position entails working during early batting practice on refining mechanics and game-planning for the opposing pitchers — tasks that haven’t changed. But the Twins have discovered that having a coach in the clubhouse isn’t exile; increasingly, it’s an advantage.

“He’s priceless. He’s up here watching the game on video, so he’s got a good idea about how guys are being pitched, whether pitchers are hitting their locations, where guys are missing,” said hitting coach James Rowson. “I see things from the dugout angle, low and from the side, but he’s got the best view, on video. So between innings, I often come back to the clubhouse and we talk about what we’re seeing. He’s got notes on pitch sequences, things like that. It’s good information.”

The players utilize it, too. In the modern game, video is always available to see previous at-bats, but now there’s a coach stationed at the monitor, charting pitches and ready to offer advice.

“It’s different that he’s not [in the dubout], but it’s a blessing for me to be able to come in here and talk to him during the game,” said , who is slowly adjusting to all the free time that his new role as allows him. “I like to come see my at-bats, and it’s great to have Rudy there to bounce things off of.”

After the fifth inning, Hernandez often meets the Twins’ bench players by the batting cage — directly behind the dugout at Target Field, or sometimes in more distant locations in other ballparks — to throw them some pitches so they’re loose in case they’re called upon to pinch- or enter the game defensively.

“I’m getting used to it. I was always outside, but I’m learning to focus on this,” said Hernandez, whose 51st birthday was observed Sunday, complete with a birthday candle stuck in a bagel and an off-key version of “Happy Birthday,” by fellow Venezuelan . “I’m still helping the hitters. And when they come to you, you know they want your help.”

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‘Nothing falls’ in front of Twins’ talented young outfield Mike Berardino | Pioneer Press | April 10, 2017

A nickname has been elusive for the Twins’ talented young outfield, but a mission statement already has been delivered.

“Nothing falls but the rain.”

That’s what Byron Buxton has been saying on behalf of the group, including in right field and in left, as the Twins raced out to a surprising 5-1 start in the season’s opening week.

“That’s his line, not my line,” first-year Twins coach Jeff Pickler said with a laugh. “I’m not big on one-liners. I think Byron brought that with him from -A, and it’s a good one. If they want to embrace that, I think that’s great.”

Not even a 2-for-26 start at the plate has knocked Buxton off course in center field, where he took away a pair of hits with diving catches on Opening Day against the , and then added two more grabs as he crashed into the wall in the first inning against the last Friday.

Kepler, who was disappointed with his defense in a seven- rookie season, raced into the corner to make a diving grab later that same night, and Rosario has corralled multiple shots to the warning track and the wall.

“It’s fun playing out there,” Buxton said. “I’m very blessed to have those two by my side. To go out there every day with them, that makes me a lot more comfortable out there. With the competitiveness we’ve got to want to make those types of plays, the sky’s the limit. We just want to stay aggressive.”

Pickler, a former Triple-A infielder and scout who is coaching outfielders for the first time, likes what he has seen in the early going. Along with nearly airtight defense in the infield and behind the plate, the Twins’ outfielders are making life much more enjoyable for the pitching staff.

“They’re having fun, they’re playing free, they’re engaged with one another,” Pickler said. “Byron’s doing a great job of communicating east and west. It’s six games in. We’ve got a long road to go, but they’re getting after it.”

IMPROVING CHANCES, LIMITING RISK

Improved defensive positioning has had much to do with igniting the Twins’ nightly highlight show in this would-be Bermuda Glove Triangle, where hits mysteriously disappear.

Twins manager Paul Molitor made it clear during the month-long coaching search that followed Butch Davis’ November dismissal that he wanted to see his outfielders do a better job of taking away potential hits. In particular, it was time to play shallower as the division-rival Royals and even last year’s White Sox, who had in right field, have done to great effect.

“Kansas City’s done it for years,” Molitor said. “When you look around, you see teams that seem to be in the right places, whoever it is that might be up there. There’s a lot of outs.”

With the benefit of spray charts, video and Statcast data, the Twins made a renewed commitment to catching the ball under the new front- office combination of Derek Falvey and Thad Levine. The addition of Pickler to the coaching staff in December provided a fresh perspective and a new voice for a youthful group of outfield starters.

Rosario, at 25, is the elder statesman. Kepler is 24, Buxton 23.

“Having players that were eager to take it to the next level and wanted to hear new things and were willing to try new things, that was probably as big a reason for where we are today as anything else,” Pickler said. “I’m excited for the group because they put in a lot of work in and to have some of the fruits of their labor pay off early on helps us see that maybe we’re heading in a good direction.”

With the help of special assistants and , Pickler used a marathon spring training to incorporate a variety of new drills and terminologies meant to help improve the jumps, reads and routes of Twins outfielders.

First-step quickness has been a particular point of emphasis, along with proper technique when attempting diving catches. There’s also a newfound freedom to take more chances on 50/50 balls in the air, which is essential to producing web gems. 3

“When you’re focused on technique and you’re focused on your jumps and getting reads, chances aren’t as risky as people think they are because you’re doing things the right way,” Pickler said. “Diving for a ball the right way and making sure we can create glove angles and presenting a calm glove when we arrive at the baseball, all those things encourage them to take chances. It isn’t as risky when you’re playing fundamental baseball.”

SEARCH FOR PRECISION

Fox Sports North cameras have caught Kepler and his fellow outfielders reaching into their back pockets during stoppages in play and quickly studying laminated 3-by-5 index cards.

Pickler, 41, prepares these for each of his outfielders, including backups Robbie Grossman and , at the start of each series. Contained within is a sort of cheat sheet for where to play opposing hitters, depending on the handedness of the Twins’ .

Score, situation and count come into play as well, but those parts are mostly left to the instincts of the players roaming the grassy expanse.

“One thing we wanted to do, in addition to having these guys feeling comfortable playing shallower, was just get a little more precision for them to understand language and where we want them to be,” Molitor said. “I remember I used to have (a printed reminder) way back when after I moved to the outfield. The infielders are a little bit easier to move from a coaching standpoint than outfielders. The distance makes it a little bit harder to get precision.”

A lasting, jarring image from last season was Davis standing at the dugout railing and waving Oswaldo Arcia to move back into no-doubles mode last May against the . Arcia, an average defender on his best day, incredibly wound up halfway onto the warning track, remaining there for several pitches with Jose Bautista at the plate.

Those days, it seems, are gone.

“I told them, ‘Listen, I don’t have a great memory and I’m not the smartest guy in the world, so trying to remember all that stuff is not easy,’ “ Pickler said. “It’s just kind of a reminder. By the time you get to the second or third game of the series, they pretty much know where to go, but it keeps me from having to signal out there hitter to hitter and it seems to be pretty convenient for them.”

Pickler surmised “most teams” in the majors are using some form of a card system for outfield positioning.

“I don’t think it’s anything revolutionary,” he said. “I try to keep it not too in-depth. We want to maintain the athlete part of this.”

And the fun as well.

Inbox: When might Berrios, Park get callup? Rhett Bollinger | MLB | April 10, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins are off to a surprising start, with an American League-best 5-1 record.

They've received competent starting pitching -- outside of a shaky first Major League start from lefty Adalberto Mejia -- while the defense has stood out, especially the outfield. Miguel Sano, and Jason Castro have carried the offense, while Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario and are off to slow starts.

It's incredibly early in the season, but it's still an encouraging start for Minnesota after last season. Questions, however, always remain, and that leads us to the first Twins Inbox of the regular season.

@RhettBollinger berrios and park, what would trigger their recall?

The Twins went with 13 pitchers to open the year, essentially as insurance with not fully stretched out, coming off thoracic outlet syndrome and Mejia being a rookie. But Santiago and Hughes each went five innings, and with two off-days early in the year, the hasn't been taxed, even with Mejia's short start.

Jose Berrios pitched well in Triple-A Rochester's opener, tossing six scoreless with seven strikeouts, but Mejia is expected to get at least a few more starts to show what he can do. 4

As for ByungHo Park, he'd be considered a top candidate to be called up as the club's designated hitter, but would need to be added to the 40- man roster. Kennys Vargas has the advantage of being on the 40-man, while former Rockies Ben Paulsen has homered in each of Rochester's first three games. So Minnesota has options at DH, and it's just a matter of when the club wants to get back down to 12 pitchers, which could be soon if the rotation continues to hold up.

@RhettBollinger Why is Mauer still batting in the upper part of the ?

Mauer clearly hasn't been the elite hitter he was prior to his concussion in 2013, but he's still adept at getting on base, as he was second on the team with a .363 on-base percentage last season. He was also batting .284/.384/.417 last year before sustaining his quad strain in mid-August that led him to start only 20 of the final 43 games.

Mauer is off to a bit of a slow start this season and he could be moved down in the order against lefties, but he remains one of the club's best on-base threats.

@RhettBollinger Greene or McKay first overall?

The Twins have the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 Draft on June 12, but it's still too early to say who they'll take. Southern California high school phenom Hunter Greene remains a top candidate, but Louisville left-hander/first baseman Brendan McKay is quickly rising up Draft boards. Chief baseball officer Derek Falvey saw Greene in person on Friday, witnessing him strike out 12 batters, while reportedly hitting 100 mph on the gun. Falvey has also seen McKay as well. With more than two months to go until the Draft, however, much can change. But it's still worth keeping an eye on those two.

@RhettBollinger Do the twins still have dance parties after a win?

The tradition started by Torii Hunter in 2015 remains alive at Target Field after wins, as the strobe lights were still going off as the media entered the clubhouse after their Opening Day win.

@RhettBollinger what game does @TC_00 get a shot at redemption?

One of my greatest athletic accomplishments is beating the powerful TC Bear in a home run derby at Target Field last year, and I'm ready for a rematch whenever the bear wants.

Wetmore: Two of Twins’ most important players have opposite problems right now Derek Wetmore | ESPN 1500 | April 10, 2017

Each game in a baseball season has its own story. When I stepped back from the day-to-day happenings on Monday morning, the thing that struck me about this early stretch of the season involves two of their most important players.

Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton basically have the opposite problem right now.

That’s not to say it’s unexpected, but for me it’s the biggest theme for the Twins after one week, since it has longer-term significance. Sano has been an offensive force and he’s muddied things in the field. Buxton has been a terrific centerfielder through one week, making several rangy and diving catches. He’s been a mess at the plate, though, finally compelling manager Paul Molitor to drop him down in the batting order Saturday and Sunday.

Sano

The big man is hitting .350/.458/.850 with 2 home runs and a triple. He’s also shown an ability to open the throttle on the bases when he’s needed to motor around to score or nab an extra base. He has 7 runs and 8 RBIs after 6 games. And we’ll see if this trend continues, but he’s walking more often than he has in the past (16.7 %) and striking out less often (29.2%). It’s very early, so mark that down as something to monitor rather than a definitive statement that he’s improved in those areas.

His defense has been another story. The White Sox failed to execute a squeeze play with a runner on third base Saturday, and he was hung out to dry between third base and home. Sano and Jason Castro should have had an easy out, except that Sano ran the runner too far to the plate and couldn’t catch up to him by himself, so at the last moment, he tried in vain to flip the ball to Castro for a hero tag. The exchange was dropped, the run scored, and it’s hard to blame Castro. 5

Sano also has been charged with two errors at third base and maybe could have been tagged with another in the opening series against the Royals when he botched a ground ball out of a defensive shift. Last year, it was dropped popups that drove Sano crazy and probably disturbed his employer, too. He still has the tools to be a good fielder, I believe, but if he can’t handle routine ground balls and catch easy popups like every other Major Leaguer, then it could be a long season for Sano at third base.

Buxton

Buxton has helped save the runs just by tracking down fly balls that other outfielders might not catch, and that includes some highlight reel- worthy grabs. He’s got incredible speed and a strong, accurate arm. The tools are there to be a Gold Glover in centerfield.

His offense has been a different story.

So far, only everyday player has swung and missed more often than Buxton. He’s got an incredibly high 26.2% swinging strike rate, according to FanGraphs.com. That’s lousy even by Buxton’s standards, since his career swing-and-miss rate is about 15%. And that’s compounded, perhaps, because he’s swinging more frequently than he has in the past, including chasing about 45% of pitches outside the , according to PITCHf/x data.

Now, Buxton doesn’t have to be turn-of-the-century Barry Bonds with the bat to add value to the Twins. His speed and defense reduce the requirements of his offense. He can still be a positive contributor without hitting too much. But he’s got to hit at least a little bit.

Through six games he’s dropped from third in the batting order to eighth, and he’s hitting just .077/.111/.115. He has 14 strikeouts in just 26 plate appearance.

And to be clear, it’s not the utter lack of numbers that’s concerning. Plenty of players could experience a slump in the first week, have a lousy batting line, and we would shrug it off as statistical noise without any significant meaning.

Take a look at how he’s getting out, though, and it paints a concerning pitcher. He’s striking out in more than half his plate appearances. He’s swung through 10 , 10 breaking balls, and eight . Eventually Buxton needs to do two things better than he’s doing right now: 1) identify pitches and the plan opposing pitchers have; and 2) make contact more often.

Easier written than done, I’m guessing.

A few other quick-hit themes:

-The starting pitching has been OK and Ervin Santana has been good. You’d like to see Twins starters getting deeper into games, but so far they’ve been (mostly) good at preventing runs and handing things over to the bullpen, which has been pretty good in holding leads.

-Adalberto Mejia had a short start and eyes will be on that spot in the starting rotation. For what it’s worth, J.O. Berrios posted good numbers in his 6-inning outing for Triple-A Rochester and was named pitcher of the week.

-Jorge Polanco and Jason Castro are off to good starts offensively. The bigger question about Polanco is his glove (and arm) at , but Castro’s is advertised as a big contributor behind the plate.

-To paraphrase the late former Vikings head coach Dennis Green, the outfield defense is what we thought it would be. Buxton, in particular has been excellent, and Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario have been strong defensive contributors as well.

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From worst to first: Santana leads Twins’ hurlers to top of MLB Staff | FOX Sports | April 10, 2017

According to Ervin Santana’s , the are following some simple advice from an all-time great pitcher. And it’s working.

@ErvinSantana_54 Just take the ball and throw it where you want to. Throw strikes. Home plate don't move. #SatchelPaige#SMELLBASEBALL

Santana’s #SMELLBASEBALL mentality has led the Twins’ hurlers to the top of after one week of play.

Sure, there are 156 games to go. But after the 2016 pitching staff finished dead last in the American League in many statistical categories, the league-leading 2.04 earned-run average through six games has Twins fans ecstatic.

TOP TEAM ERA IN MLB, 2017

TEAM GP ERA Twins 6 2.04 Astros 7 2.83 White Sox 5 3.00 Reds 6 3.06 Dodgers 7 3.10

Santana has been incredible in his first two starts. The right-handed veteran posted a 0.69 ERA with seven strikeouts and has given up only four hits in 13 innings.

No. 54’s dominance on the hill dates further than Opening Day. Since his Sept. 12 start against Detroit, a game that ended in a 4-2 Twins loss despite Santana allowing only one and three hits, he ranks fourth among big-league starters with a 1.50 ERA.

TOP ERA IN MLB SINCE SEPT. 12, 2016

PITCHER W-L IP SO BB ERA Collin McHugh, Astros 3-0 27 1/3 22 8 1.32 , Tigers 3-1 34 48 10 1.32 Aaron Sanchez, Blue Jays 2-0 26 27 11 1.38 Ervin Santana, Twins 2-1 36 31 13 1.50 Alex Reyes, Cardinals 3-0 22 1/3 22 13 1.61 Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers 2-2 38 36 2 1.66

Last season, Twins’ relievers got off to a rough start and failed to convert any of their three save opportunities in the first six games. A walk-off hit in the ninth inning by ’ (now with the Nationals) on Opening Day started the bullpen’s year on the wrong foot. Minnesota dropped to 0-6 when the Royals scored two runs off an injured in the 9th inning and won it in extras on Trevor May’s wild pitch.

This year has been a different story. Closer Brandon Kintzler hasn’t allowed a run in 4 1/3 and is perfect through three save chances.

In fact, the Twins’ bullpen didn’t allow a run for the first four games of the year. The White Sox managed three runs off the ‘pen in the Twins’ 6- 2 loss on Saturday and added another on Sunday. However, allowing four measly runs is much improved from the 11 runs and 25 hits given up in 19 2/3 innings through six games last season.

YEAR-TO-YEAR COMPARISON: TWINS BULLPEN (FIRST 6 GAMES)

YEAR W-L (TEAM) IP H ER BB SO AVG S ERA 2017 5-1 22 1/3 16 4 9 23 .200 3/3 1.61 2016 0-6 19 2/3 25 11 12 23 .309 0/3 5.03

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Again, it’s only been a week. But the combination of a promising pitching staff and suffocating defense should add up to a fun summer at Target Field.

Preview: Twins at Tigers Associated Press | FOX Sports | April 11, 2017

DETROIT — The may find the Minnesota Twins a bit tougher to deal with this season than last.

Detroit beat up on Minnesota the same way that Cleveland handled Detroit, with the Tigers taking 15 of 19 games from the Twins in 2016.

But Minnesota seems to possess a better rotation this year, and some of the younger Twins are off to good starts on offense.

The atmosphere around the team to date is more like the bounce that marked the Twins in 2015, when the club was a season-long surprise, than the dismal campaign they endured last year.

Minnesota brings a 5-1 record into the three-game series with Detroit (4-2), which took three of four from the short-handed .

An erratic bullpen has marked the Tigers’ first six games of the season, and the team made a move to change that Monday. The Tigers purchased the contract of hot prospect right-hander Joe Jimenez from Toledo and optioned right-hander Bruce Rondon to the Triple-A team.

Rondon was underperforming and overweight. In three games, he had a 40.50 ERA.

“You might catch lightning in a bottle,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said of the reliever swap. “I caution you on thinking that this is some type of answer. This is a young kid with a big arm who is still developing.

“He’s going to have to develop a , he’s going to have to get better. These are big league hitters. A lot of them have been hitting at this level for almost a decade. If you think you’re going to call a guy up who throws 97 and all of a sudden he’s going to dominate hitters, then chances are you’re going to be wrong.

“To expect this guy to be would be unfair to the kid. And we certainly wouldn’t put him in a position to try to be Mariano Rivera. He’s going to be down in the pen. We’re going to start him easy. Putting undue pressure on him is not going to help him go forward.

“This is an imperfect situation, but we don’t live in a perfect world.”

Jimenez has an upper-90s and a that rates as excellent, but his slider is in need of work.

Left-hander will make his sixth start against Minnesota for Detroit on Tuesday. He holds a 3-1 record and 3.94 career ERA versus the Twins. Boyd lost his first start of the season, to the Chicago White Sox.

Minnesota will go with left-hander Hector Santiago, who is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in one start.

Santiago has a decent 3.50 career ERA against Detroit but only a 2-5 record. He has started 10 games against the Tigers and relieved seven times.

Santiago pitched against Detroit as a Los Angeles Angel and for Minnesota last season, going 1-1 with a 6.62 ERA in three starts.

The Twins have been getting good outfield defense this season, but center fielder Byron Buxton is off to a slow start at the plate with just two hits.

Twins Miguel Sano, who struggled in his second year in the majors, is hitting .350/.458/.850 with two home runs, two doubles, a triple and eight RBIs in six games.

“It’s been a great start,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “He seems to be seeing the ball well. He expands (the strike zone) occasionally, but he’s making guys throw him strikes. He’s had some really good battles with two strikes.”

Four of Sano’s seven hits came on two-strike pitches, although he has fanned seven times in 24 plate appearances. 8

“I’ve been working hard to hit with two strikes,” Sano said. “I’ve been working a lot with a tee. I’m trying to put the ball in play.”

Twins Want Visitors' Clubhouse at Comerica Park Fumigated Staff | Deadline Sports | April 10, 2017

Some Boston Red Sox players were battling the flu during their visit to Comerica Park.

So, Red Sox General Manager Dave Dombrowski tells the New England Sports Network that the Minnesota Twins, who arrive in Detroit on Tuesday, asked Comerica Park to fumigate the visitors' clubhouse.

Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said he hadn't taken any precautions to keep the Red Sox bug from spreading to the Tigers, reports MLive.

"No kissing the other players," he jokes. "We don't want to transmit any infections."

The Twins Are Only Four or Five Pitchers Away Michael Baumann | The Ringer | April 10, 2017

The Minnesota Twins have the best record and run differential in the American League. Sure, it’s been only a week, but it’s worth celebrating because this team is a lot of fun and I have no idea how long it’s going to last.

Looking back on it, the difference between the 2000s Twins and 2010s Twins is jarring. Minnesota had a nice run from 2002 to 2010, winning six division titles in nine years, despite a consistently noncompetitive payroll. Seemingly every year, the Twins would win about 90 games, then get waxed by the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs — you could set your watch by it. Since 2011, however, Minnesota’s lost 90 games five times in six years, peaking above .500 with a surprising 83–79 record only in 2015. So is this 5–1 start, by a cumulative score of 30–13, an aberration or a return to the glory days?

Well, let’s just say it’s too early for Minnesota folk rock giants Trampled by Turtles to start a 2017 concept album, but the blueprint looks familiar.

Right now, the Twins are building around a homegrown core of All-Star Brian Dozier, Costco-sized third baseman Miguel Sano, and a pair of superathletic outfielders: Byron Buxton and Max Kepler. The easiest path to a World Series title includes a five-year amateur scouting and player development hot streak in which the team picks up the heart of its lineup, and maybe its future ace, for next to nothing. That’s what the 1990s Yankees did, as well as the Even-Year Magic Giants and last season’s Cubs.

The 2000s Twins had one of those scouting and player development heaters, too. They drafted future MVPs and Joe Mauer, then traded for pick , who gave Minnesota the first half of a Hall of Fame career. Even then, without a commitment from ownership to spend big in free agency, the Twins kept up with the Yankees and Red Sox thanks to an equally impressive run of trades. In the 2003–2004 offseason alone they sold high on left-handed pitcher (for utilityman and , who, for as much of a national joke as he became in Seattle, gave the Twins nearly 800 league-average innings), and A.J. Pierzynski (for , who at his best was as good as Santana; Joe Nathan, who saved 260 games and made four All-Star teams in seven seasons in Minnesota; and the exquisitely named ). Those deals filled in the gaps around Santana, Mauer, and Morneau, while Milton and Pierzynski lasted only a year with their new teams before moving elsewhere.

But Minnesota’s luck eventually ran out. Mauer, Liriano, and Morneau started getting hurt. The Twins traded Santana to the Mets for a package headlined by Carlos Gomez, then gave up on him after two seasons and traded him for J.J. Hardy. They gave up on Hardy after a year and traded him to the Orioles for two guys you’ve never heard of. They traded for , the no. 1 overall pick in 2003 whose life since has been characterized by a string of ugly acts, and haven’t developed a good since.

But they’re heating up again. In 2009, the Twins spent an eighth-round pick on Dozier. The same year, they made an international push: Kepler, the 6-foot-4 son of ballet dancers, got $775,000, just shy of the record total for a European prospect, and Sano’s $3.15 million signing bonus was the highest ever for a Dominican position player. Three years later, they selected Buxton with the second pick in the draft. And all of those guys are starting to put it together.

Except, this was supposed to be together already. Minnesota’s 83–79 showing in 2015 was supposed to set up a run to contention last year, but almost everything that could go wrong did.

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Buxton, who was drawing comps in A-ball, hit .220/.274/.398 over 2015 and 2016, and is hitting just .077/.111/.115 in Minnesota’s first seven games this year. An inability to make contact consistently has hampered Buxton’s young career, but his physical tools are as good as anyone’s in baseball.

Sano missed the 2014 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, which is unusual for a third baseman, but after posting a 149 OPS+ as a rookie, he put together a 2016 campaign in which he struck out 178 times in 495 plate appearances and slugged only .462. Sano, a 6-foot-4, 260-pound cross between a human and a tree, is the kind of player who slugs “only” .462. He has true top-end power, 40-homer power, Stantonesque power, which he used to salt away Sunday’s win over the White Sox with a two-run blast to dead center.

Former Yankee John Ryan Murphy was supposed to take over behind the plate, but he lasted only 90 plate appearances and hit .146/.193/.220. Korean first baseman Byung-ho Park cost the Twins $12.85 million in posting fees, but after one year of hitting .191/.275/.409, Park was DFA’d this spring and, after none of the other 29 teams thought he was worth a waiver claim, now sits in Triple-A. But the position players weren’t really the biggest problem last season.

Top pitching prospect Jose Berrios, who pitched for Puerto Rico in the 2013 WBC at age 18, posted an 8.02 ERA in his first big league campaign. Closer Glen Perkins, coming off three straight All-Star appearances, missed almost the entire season with shoulder surgery. Phil Hughes was limited to 11 starts by a shoulder injury of his own, and his 5.95 ERA makes you wonder how much those 21 missed starts really hurt the Twins. And that’s just counting the guys who made the majors. , the no. 4 overall pick in 2013, has struggled with a series of nagging injuries and minor league numbers that don’t match his stuff. outgrew that criticism, but hasn’t. In 2015, the Twins took , a hard-throwing lefty out of Illinois who pitched his junior year like someone had sawed in half, with the no. 6 overall pick. Rather than bring him to the majors in the same role quickly, Minnesota spent 2016 on an ultimately unsuccessful bid to make him into a starter. Jay’s now on the shelf for the month of April with an undisclosed injury, and when he comes back, it will be in the bullpen for the Double-A .

It was, in other words, exactly the kind of pitching staff you’d expect from a 103-loss team.

The turnaround from 59–103 to a 5–1 start could very well be a matter of a weak schedule — Minnesota’s played the Royals and White Sox so far — and a couple of good starts from Hughes and Ervin Santana, who, 0.69 ERA aside, is still the second-best Twins pitcher to be born Johan Santana. But Sano had a good first week, as did catcher Jason Castro. Last season, Castro put up the same 89 OPS+ as the man he replaced, Kurt Suzuki, but was 23 runs better at framing, enough to earn him a three-year, $24.5 million contract from the Twins.

There are other bright spots — 23-year-old shortstop Jorge Polanco hit a quiet .282/.332/.424 as a rookie in 2016, and his .389 batting average this season leads the team’s regulars — but this is still a club with a developing core and a pitching staff of Santana and 12 guys who aren’t good for whatever nervous fidgeting habits you might have.

Still, Sano’s power and Buxton’s speed alone make the Twins fun, and Target Field, one of the best ballparks in the country, has hosted all of one playoff series since it opened in 2010. The Twins’ 5–1 start doesn’t tell us anything, really, but considering how much fun Sano, Buxton, Kepler, and Dozier are, and how bleak the Minnesota baseball landscape has been this decade, it’d be cool if they kept it up at least a little while longer.

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