Pitchers

The four pitchers on the Twins' staff this spring which have received a lot of discussion are Garza, Silva, Ponson and Ortiz.

I tracked down some interesting stats on these four, all from 2006.

Of the four, Ponson actually has the the best winning percentage (.444, 4-5) for the Cardinals and the Yankees and the worst ERA - 6.25.

Silva, for the Twins, had a 5.94 ERA (second highest among the four) and the second-best winning percentage at .423 (11-15).

Ortiz (Washington) had the lowest ERA of the four, at 5.57, and the second-worst winning percentage at .407 (11-16).

Garza, whom many bloggers wanted to replace Silva in the starting rotation, had the worst winning percentage (.333, 3-6), and the second-lowest ERA at 5.76.

How's that for a comparison? Granted three of these four are in the starting rotation, and one's at Rochester, but perhaps the Twins braintrust hasn't got a brain-block after all. None of these pitchers are Cy Young material, but I'm still expecting Ortiz to pitch well this season (he was the top pitcher for a bad Washington squad last year). He'll have a better defense, offense, coaching staff and catcher helping him out. So while Silva's and Ortiz's records are very similar last year, they played for two very different teams.

Ortiz has pitched well this spring, as has Garza.

Ponson pitched well enough to make the team, and Silva – at last – pitched well in his final game Thursday night, going five innings and giving up zero runs.

Maybe the Twins are getting back on track.