Twins the Worst Team in the American Leauge (or Close Enough)

On July 12 I wrote an article of 5 reasons the Twins wouldbe in the pennant chase.   

I couldn't have been more wrong.   

Since that time, here's what's transpired: 

• Delmon Young was traded for a bag of batting practice baseballs.   
• Ditto Jim Thome.   
•  Mauer has missed a ton of games, including multiple for having a cold.   
• Morneau, Cuddyer, and Span have all missed a vast amount of games.   
• The Nishioka project could not have turned into a bigger failure.  The dude is batting .226 with 12 boots.  He's not a major league player, and has been benched of late.   
• With Mauer unwilling/unable to play, the Twins have been forced to use Butera in an almost every-day basis.  He's responded by hitting .161.  No, that's not a typo.   

All of this has propelled the Twins to an 18-39 stretch since I wrote my article, which leaves them one game out from Baltimore for having the worst team in the American League.  

So what went wrong?  Simple: little talent + gutless efforts to stay in the lineup + abject quitting on the manager = a horrible record.  This team lacks any kind of leadership whatsoever.  Nobody is willing to stand up, put a finger in someone's chest (ala Hunter, Gladden, or Baylor) and demand accountability.  The closest thing they had to that was in Thome, and he was basically released.  

This is a gutless, pathetic, and weak "group of baseball players" (I dare not call them a "team").