LITTLE ROCK — When the Minnesota Twins reached the playoffs a year ago, they started Brian Duensing against CC Sabathia in Game 1 of the American League Division Series. How much different would they be this season - both for a stretch-run battle and the playoffs - if they can turn to Cliff Lee?
Because the Twins were extended to a 163rd game, Manager Ron Gardenhire didn’t have the luxury of setting up his rotation to face the New York Yankees. If he had, he would have chosen between Scott Baker and Nick Blackburn, neither of whom could be picked out of a lineup by most baseball fans.
Since the departure of Johan Santana after the 2007 season, the Twins have dominated the AL Central with their pitching depth, not star power. But it took a trade forCarl Pavano to help them run down the Detroit Tigers last season, when their starters had a 4.84 ERA, and they have been only marginally better this year.
The Twins entered the weekend with a 4.33 ERA from starters, which ranked ninth in the AL. That - along with revenues from Target Field - is why they have emerged as a front-runner to land Lee (Benton, Arkansas Razorbacks) from the Seattle Mariners, possibly sooner rather than later.
For the moment, Mariners General Manager Jack Zduriencik is unwilling to concede the Mariners can’t get back in the AL West race.
But with a .411 winning percentage through Friday, a 14-game deficit will be tough to continue ignoring as Lee’s trade value soars.
Sidelined for the start of the season, Lee has gone 6-3 with a 2.39 ERA in 11 starts, leading the AL in completegames (four) and WHIP - walks and hits per innings pitched - (0.912). He has a strikeout-walk ratio of 19-1 (76 strikeouts, four walks) and started hitters off with 0-2 counts 19 times against the Chicago Cubs on Thursday.
“You just don’t see that,” Manager Don Wakamatsu said. “What’s special to me is you watch him when he gets in trouble a little. He just does not give in.”
Lee is doing nothing that should surprise anyone who saw him pitch last October, when he went 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA in five starts for the Philadelphia Phillies. He averaged eight innings in those starts, striking out 33 while walking six.
“Cliff is extraordinary,” Zduriencik said. “I’m happy as heck we’ve had a chance to bring him to Seattle. This guy is a pure, top-of-the-rotation starter. He’s everything I thought we were going to get. Cliff is a pretty specialguy, as a person as well as a pitcher.”
Even though they have Felix Hernandez signed through 2014, the Mariners explored a long-term deal with Lee but were told he plans to enter free agency after the season. Zduriencik knows he will have to deal him, and it’s doubtful he will find a more motivated partner than the Twins.
Moreover, the Twins have a player the Mariners covet in catcher Wilson Ramos.
Ramos is a big-time talent blocked by Joe Mauer. He’s the kind of player the Twins historically have kept for themselves, but this is a different era, as Mauer’s $184 million contract showed.
While the Twins have reached the playoffs five times in eight years under Gardenhire, they have lost five consecutive postseason series since beating Oakland’s Big Three in 2002.
Sports, Pages 32 on 06/27/2010