Gemini Twins: In-Depth Analysis

The astrological sign of Gemini falls right at the height of the first half of the Baseball season, spanning the birthdays of mid-May to mid-June.  With the sun having passed out of the Gemini constellation about a week ago, the Geminians are my next candidate to continue my examination into how astrological signs affect talent on the baseball field.  A mutable sign, because it covers the transition from spring to summer, Gemini is associated with versatility and adaptability - attributes that would come in handy for a player traded mid-season (which has happened to roughly 6 of the players on the roster).  The sign's symbolic focus on duality (twins) leads to a talent for multi-tasking, which is useful in any profession.  As far as the ability to quickly formulate abstract ideas and interpret communicative symbols, those have no bearing on playing baseball whatsoever (short of picking up signs from the third base coach).

Looking at the depth chart, you can see that Gemini's strongest asset is its middle infield, both members of whom ranked in the top 20.  A second baseman who reached the 30-30 milestone for the second time last year (Ian Kinsler, below) and a shortstop who won the NL batting title (Jose Reyes) make a potent double-play combination indeed.  They were also valued almost identically by fantasy managers: looking at their Average Draft Positions (ADP, averaged over ESPN, Yahoo, CBS, and FOX fantasy systems), we see that Kinsler was 23.1, while Reyes found himself at 23.5 - a purely statistical distinction.

Although not exactly a 1st-round pick, Kinsler is pacing the club as the only batter to score more than 1,000 points so far (1,159 - Reyes is 4th on the team with 831).  The honor of highest scoring pitcher goes to SP Jake Peavy, below (1,110) who is exhibiting a return to the Cy Young-caliber form he displayed in San Diego before his last two mediocre/injury-plagued years for the White Sox.  The only other player with more than a grand in points is closer Craig Kimbrel (1,059), who is following up nicely on his 2011 Rookie of the Year performance by maintaining his NL lead in saves from last year.  Interestingly enough, the next highest-scoring pitcher on the team is resurgent closer Jonathan Broxton (859), who's currently posting the lowest ERA of his career over 29 games with the Royals.

I mentioned that Jose Reyes, despite his high ADP, is only the team's 4th-highest scorer.  In front of him is the surprisingly productive Jason Kubel (931 points) who has already nearly equalled his home run total from last year with his new team (the Diamondbacks) and is showing the promise that Twins fans hoped they would see from him back when he was a ranked prospect in 2005 and '06.  Next is Ben Zobrist (876), the multi-positional threat who got pushed to RF by the presence of Kinsler at 2B.  Although, not that this has any bearing on his fantasy usefulness, but "Zorilla" has actually spent most of his 2012 playing time in right, ceding second base to a motley crue of Rays infielders including Will Rhymes, Jeff Keppinger, and Sean Rodriguez.

After Peavy, the rotation features (in point order) Nationals #3 SP Jordan Zimmermann, veteran journeyman Bruce Chen, Baseball America's #2 prospect Matt Moore, and new-to-Miami Carlos Zambrano - not an ace in the bunch.  Their top three backups all find themselves on the DL: Joe Saunders strained his shoulder on 6/17, Bartolo Colon strained his oblique the next day, and Andy Pettitte fractured his left ankle yesterday, so this staff is pitching on a tightrope.  One starter who's notably absent from the rotation is their top-ranked pitcher Tim Lincecum, below.  "The Freak" was supposed to be the one sure pitcher on this team, but instead he's stymying Giants fans in the opposite way that he has stymied hitters and pitching coaches through his entire career.  I placed him on the depth chart above more deserving candidates such as Derek Lowe, Brad Lincoln, and Lucas Harrell because of his star power: he was the #30 ranked player by MLB, which is reflected in his ADP of 29.1.

Carlos Lee and Kendrys Morales were locked into a pre-season battle for 1B, but Lee is the obvious choice to take over the position since "El Caballo" become a full-time first baseman, while Morales has yet to qualify for any position other than DH in his first year back from an embarrassing ankle injury.  Jonathan Lucroy had surprisingly been blossoming into one of the league's most productive backstops (which made me feel a lot better about taking him with my last pick in this year's draft) before going on the DL for a fractured hand a month ago.  The team has to go all the way to Astros backup Jason Castro before finding a suitable replacement.  The best choice for this team's DH is Raul Ibanez, who has actually gotten the lion's share of the Yankees' LF ABs with Brett Gardner's elbow issues.

At the beginning of the season, Gemini's 3B and CF situations looked extremely bleak.  The best choices to start the season at the hot corner were bench players Eduardo Nunez or Jerry Hairston - but the position has gotten some stability when Trevor Plouffe gained eligibility after spending last season at SS.  A rash of injuries to the Mets outfield has allowed Jerry's brother Scott Hairston to make his mark, although ESPN for some reason doesn't grant him CF eligibility.  For now the team has to rely on Tony Campana, Roger Bernadina, and Chris Coghlan.

I admit that I haven't been updating rosters regularly, but currently the Gemini Twins are in a 3-way tie for the worst record in the league (4-7), but are just one game back of a 3-way tie for second-to-worst.  They rank at the absolute bottom in most of the main offensive categories (H, R, HR, RBI, BB), but somehow lead the league in 3B.  Most of their pitching stats are middle of the road, except that they've won the fewest games, but racked up the most saves.  At this point in time I'd rank their playoff hopes as marginal at best.