Enough about the pitching, the offense is junk too

 It's no secret that the Twins were a completely different team in the beginning of the season as they are now. Practically literally. Between trades and injuries, there has been some tumult in the roster. Consider that Chris Paddack and Bailey Ober are 6th and 7th on the team in pitching WAR, and they haven't pitched since their 5th and 7th starts, respectively. 

I've long noted that the Twins have sustained a ton of injuries that impacted how they wanted to use their pitching staff. Ultimately, they attempted to straighten thing out by using a more traditional method. They added an innings eating starter, a strong middle reliever and a flame throwing closer, which should, at least, mollify the villagers with pitchforks for the moment.

What has been particularly excruciating to me is just how incompetent the offense has seemed of late. For much of August and early September, the Twins have found points to be at a premium. They started the second half unable to score runs after about the third inning, and now, they seem only to score after the 7th inning, leaving long tracts of the game to be scoreless. We've talked about the pitching, and the Twins have tried to address it. But what happened to the offense?

First, who were the drivers of the success of the first half? By WAR, the top 9 are Max Kepler, Luis Arraez, Trevor Larnach, Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa, Gary Sanchez, Gilberto Celestino, Royce Lewis and Gio Urshela. Larnach, Buxton and Lewis have missed extended tracts of time since that date. That's 1/3 of the players the team relied upon early, on top of contributors like Alex Kirilloff or Ryan Jeffers, who stepped up later, and are also on the shelf.

Since the beginning of June, we've seen the rise of Jose Miranda and Nick Gordon, but also the collapse of Max Kepler and to a lesser extent, Luis Arraez. Carlos Correa has really stepped up his productivity in the last two weeks, and is the primary driver of the offense right now, but 5 important members of the offense are missing.

Kepler has been walking less since the beginning of the year, and his hitting for significantly less power, seeing his early season ISO drop from .180 to .86, nearly a full .100 points. His BABIP has also dropped significantly as his inability to hit around the shift has become more apparent. 

Arraez is still doing ok, but his last two months have seen sub .300 batting averages, as perhaps the pressure of the batting title hunt are getting to him. Support behind him in the lineup being lost to injury or ineffectiveness surely don't help. He's also walking a lot less, perhaps trying to go for those base hits, and his BABIP is plunneting as he isn't making the same kind of contact, though he has found a power stroke.

That's 5 players, the three injured and two whose production has lessened significantly, who are affecting the offensive output. It's tough to deal with injuries, but Kepler and Arraez can offer some tips for the rest of a lineup mired in a slump at the worst time of year. Both are walking less as they press harder. Calm down, and let opposing pitchers make mistakes. Try to relax and don't press. 

The pressure is on as the Twins slip further out of first place, and the funk the offense is in looks more and more like a lethal flaw to their postseson hopes.