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The Minnesota Twins are 8 -2 3, a 120-loss pace. If it weren’t for the Atlanta Braves, the Twins would be the worst team in Major League Baseball.  These are the same Twins who finally came into a season with a reason to smile.

The Twins want to be this year’s 2014 Royals and come from nowhere to win the AL Central. They think they have the offense to do it and with Miguel Sano and others, they might be right. But I’m very suspicious about their pitching staff.

Max went on to discuss Ervin Santana and the huge potential range of possible outcomes for their underwhelming pitching staff. Sure, its was always possible for the Twins pitchers to greatly exceed their admittedly average expectations, but it never seemed all that likely.

Well, to this point, they’ve underperformed. The Twins have the worst collective ERA in the American League.  6 of the 8 pitchers who have made at least 1 start have an ERA of at least 4.70.  You don’t get to an 8 – 23 record without “contributions” from the whole roster.

But far more worrisome for the long-term Twins’ plans are their young prospects’ struggles.  Jose Berrios, their top pitching prospect, sports a 6.75 ERA after his first two starts.  Byron Buxton, once the top prospect in all of baseball, has a .497 OPS.  And Miguel Sano, the 23-year old slugger who actually produced in his limited time last year, is 200 points off of his 2015 OPS so far into his sophomore season.

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