Tag: Miguel Sano

Jorge Polanco suspended for 80 games

MLB announced yesterday that Minnesota Twins shortstop Jorge Polanco has received an 80-game suspension from Major League Baseball for a performance-enhancing substance. Polanco tested positive for Stanozolol, per MLB, which is a violation of the league’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. His suspension will begin at the start of the regular season.

“We were disappointed to learn of the suspension of Jorge Polanco for violating Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program,” the Twins said in a statement. “We fully support Major League Baseball’s policy and its efforts to eliminate performance-enhancing substances from our game. Per the protocol outlined in the Joint Drug Program, the Minnesota Twins will not comment further on this matter.”

“Today, I have regretfully accepted my 80-game suspension for testing positive for Stanozolol,” Polanco said in a statement. “To be clear, I did not intentionally consume this steroid. I now know, however, that my intention alone is not a good enough excuse, and I will pay the price for my error in judgment. The substance that I requested from my athletic trainer in the Dominican Republic and consented to take was a combination of
vitamin B12 and an iron supplement, something that is not unusual or illegal for professional athletes to take. Unfortunately, what I was given was not that supplement, and I take full responsibility for what is in my body.”

Another March and more bad news for the Minnesota Twins. Polanco came on strong at the tail-end of last season and the Twins will miss him for a variety of reasons. You hate to lose a middle-infielder because of the impact it has on your double-play partner and how cut-offs are handled. Players learn each others habits, the sound of their voice, etc. and losing Polanco will hurt the Twins defense. 

The other problem with losing Polanco is the impact it will have on Miguel Sano who is facing his own possible suspension from MLB for some legal issues. Sano and Polanco go back a long ways and have been almost like family to each other since they were 12 years old. If you watch Sano and Polanco you will almost always find them together and in BP most days they are in the same group and often have their own home run derby. Not having Polanco in the clubhouse for 80 games could hurt Miguel Sano’s performance this season. Hopefully that will not be the case.

 

Dropping by the ballpark before Twins spring training cranks up

Trevor May (click on picture to make it larger)

I went out to the CenturyLink Sports Complex on Friday to see who was out there before the pitchers and catchers report early next week. I got there about 8:45 am and there wasn’t a player in site and the fields were all empty, as a matter of fact I was the only fan out there for about 15 or 20 minutes. About 9AM or so the players started drifting out to the field with the big grassy knoll, I would guess there were about 25 or so and they did some stretching and running before moving on. Fans started arriving about 9:30 or so.

It was fairly quiet at the complex, pretty much what I expected at this time of the year. I was hoping to see Miguel Sano but I didn’t spot him at all. I took a few pictures that are posted under “2018 Spring Training” on the right-hand side of the page. It is hard for me anyway, to identify the players, particularly the minor leaguers’ without names on their uniforms.

I see that the Twins missed out on Yu Darvish when he agreed to a deal to become a Chicago Cub. I know that the Twins are in desperate need of starters but I am happy they didn’t spend $126 million on Darvish over the next 5 years, there are other and I think better options out there that will be a better fit. I applaud the Twins decision not to give in to a player and give him an opt-out in his contract. An opt-out is a one-way benefit for the player and is a dumb idea for baseball teams and those that fall for that agent trick deserve what they get.

Baseball is just around the corner and I can’t wait to see the pitchers and catchers in action next week.

PLAY BALL!!!

Twins set to participate in fun Players Weekend

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association are introducing the inaugural Players Weekend from August 25-27, when all players will wear colorful, non-traditional uniforms featuring alternate designs, and Twins players are excited for the chance to show off their personalities to the fans.

Miguel Sano uni

The Twins will be in Toronto for a three-game series that weekend, and players will be allowed to have a nickname placed on the back of the jerseys made by Majestic Athletic, as well as wearing and using uniquely colored and designed spikes, batting gloves, wristbands, compression sleeves, catcher’s masks and bats.

Twins set to participate in fun Players Weekend

UPDATE: Twins Players Weekend nicknames explained

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Sano, Brown & Serum

I am a day late with these guys but they made their major league debuts as Minnesota Twins on July 2.

 

Miguel Sano,

Miguel Sano (3B/OF) – July 2, 2015 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent on October 9, 2009. Debuted as the DH going 1 for 4 in a Twins 2-0 win over the Royals as Kauffman Stadium.

Jarvis Brown (OF) – July 2, 1991 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (9th pick) of the 1986 amateur draft (January). Player signed May 23, 1986. ) for 2 in his debut at the Skydome in a 4-3 loss to the Blue Jays.

Gary Serum (P) – July 2, 1977 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent in June 1975. Debuted as a reliever at Met Stadium in a 6-2 loss to the Angels pitching 2 innings and striking out 2 while giving up just one hit and no runs.

To see other Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins

Trade deadline around the corner, should Ervin Santana be packing his bag?

The MLB non-waiver trade deadline of July 31 is coming up fast, just slightly over a month away. I am an old-timer, I admit it, I miss the good old days when baseball trades were made based on the skills of the players and the needs of your ball club. Today it is about the money, how long you can control the player, no trade clauses, free agency and who knows what else. Today’s star players are often traded for minor league players with potential for the future. I hate those kind of trades because you are giving up a known commodity for a player or players that might be a star in the future, you are giving up a sure thing for a maybe. But that is baseball today so we need to accept it and move on.

What about our Minnesota Twins, what will they do? I think the Twins find themselves in a very difficult position. The team is winning just enough to stay in the weak AL Central Division race but yet I think management realizes that this is not a playoff team. On the other hand, their attendance and fan interest has been falling since 2010 and they can ill afford to send up the white flag and signal the start of another rebuild process. So what do you do, buy, sell, or do nothing? So what are the odds that the team will make some moves prior to the trade deadline?

Ervin Santana

This will be the first trade deadline for the Twins under the Derek Falvey and Thad Levine regime so there is no real track record to go on. The Twins have players that would interest other teams and they also have players like Miguel Sano, Max Kepler and Jose Berrios that they won’t trade. The team listened to offers for second baseman Brian Dozier all winter and when all was said and done and decided to keep him. The ace of the starting staff Ervin Santana, 34, would be a nice pick-up for a contender but can a team as pitching starved as the Twins afford to give him up? Some would argue that the Twins can’t afford not to trade him because he is having a great season, maybe a career season and he is signed at a very team friendly deal through 2018 with a team option in 2019.

No matter who the team trades they need to get pitching in return and acquiring pitching is such a risky proposition. It is almost a damned if you do and damned if you don’t scenario.

So what is my best guess? I would say that the team will move Ervin Santana, Robbie Grossman and probably some minor league players for pitching. If you go by what Falvey and Levine did this past winter, they will do nothing and wait for their young players to get better.

According to ELIAS – Jason Castro and Miguel Sano

Twins spoil it in the ninth

Jason Castro

In the top of the ninth inning last night in La La land, Jason Castro delivered a two-run single that turned a Twins’ 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead; Minnesota went on to defeat the Angels, 4-2. Entering Thursday, Los Angeles was 28-0 when leading in the ninth inning or later and 13-0 at home when leading after eight innings this season. Since the start of the 2016 season, Minnesota had won only one other game in which the team trailed in the ninth inning or later and that was just last month (May 19 vs. Kansas City).

Miguel Sano

BONUS: Before Thursday’s game against the Angels, Twins third baseman Miguel Sano worked on his defense with third-base coach Gene Glynn with an emphasis on fielding grounders while positioned near the third-base bag.

Sano gleefully predicted to all that would listen that he would turn a triple play later in the night. And sure enough, just a few hours later, the Twins turned their first triple play in over a decade, as rookie left-hander Adalberto Mejia got the Angels’ Jefry Marte to ground into a 5-4-3 triple play that was started by Sano in a 4-2 win at Angel Stadium. Sano also hit a home run.

Minnesota Twins top third basemen

Third base is known as the “hot corner”, because the third baseman is relatively close to the batter and most right-handed hitters tend to hit the ball hard in this direction. Now days the third base position is expected to provide power. There are fewer third basemen in the Baseball Hall of Fame than there are Hall of Famers’ of any other position.

The Twins have had their share of good players at that position and the list below shows Twins players that have played in at least 200 games and played at least 51% of their games at third base from 1961 through 2016. Current Twins third sacker Miguel Sano will be moving up this list very quickly.

Gary Gaetti has always been one of my all-time favorite Minnesota Twins. I enjoyed watching him play third base and the man got his uniform dirty, he went all out all the time. Plus, he was a very good hitter. If I was asked for my Twins top 10 list, he would be near the top.

Gaetti played in the Metrodome from 1982 – 1990. Gary took a “liking” to the Dome the first time he played there by going 4-4 and hitting 2 home runs. Gaetti was an All-Star in 1988 and 1989 and was the 3B on the 1987 World Championship team.
Results
WAR/pos G From To AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB 1 Gary Gaetti 27.1 1361 1981 1990 4989 646 1276 252 25 201 758 74 .256 .744
2 Corey Koskie 22.1 816 1998 2004 2788 438 781 180 13 101 437 66 .280 .836
3 John Castino 15.1 666 1979 1984 2320 293 646 86 34 41 249 22 .278 .727
4 Rich Rollins 11.8 888 1961 1968 3048 395 830 117 20 71 369 15 .272 .727
5 Eric Soderholm 10.2 407 1971 1975 1345 184 345 56 7 36 161 14 .257 .725
6 Trevor Plouffe 8.1 723 2010 2016 2638 332 651 148 10 96 357 11 .247 .727
7 Mike Cubbage 6.9 555 1976 1980 1681 195 447 66 18 29 226 6 .266 .715
8 Scott Leius 4.9 476 1990 1995 1373 201 346 58 10 26 155 15 .252 .693
9 Mike Pagliarulo 4.0 246 1991 1993 723 79 197 40 4 9 68 8 .272 .693
10 Danny Valencia 0.8 273 2010 2012 989 106 257 52 4 24 129 4 .260 .695
11 Brent Gates 0.8 217 1998 1999 639 71 161 28 2 6 80 4 .252 .656
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/25/2017.

 

Just a few notes and thoughts this morning

Brad Hand

San Diego Padre (and Minnesota native) left-hander Brad Hand is supposedly on the market. Hand led the NL in appearances in 2016 with 82 pitching 89 plus innings and striking out 111 while giving up just 63 hits and posting a 2.92 ERA. The 6’3″ 27 year-old Hand blossomed last season when he became a full-time relief pitcher. Hand is making just under $1.4 million this season and is arbitration eligible for the first time in 2018. Did I mention that Hand held left-handed opponents to a .123/.234/.221 batting line in that time but also shut down right-handed batters to the tune of a .219/.295/.350 triple slash. You would think that with San Diego rebuilding, the Twins would have someone they could part with to have Brad provide a Hand in the Twins bullpen……. I am not big normally on making up trade proposals but if the price is right, this is a no brainer. Don’t forget, prospects are just that, this is a “Brad in the Hand”. Am I on a roll or what?

Trevor May

Apparently Trevor May isn’t spending all his time rehabbing and based on this article he doesn’t seemed to be too down and out about his injury and TJ surgery.

Glancing Back, and Remembering Bernie Allen is a nice little piece about former Twins 2B Bernie Allen in 1960s baseball, a site I really enjoy. They also have a cool report called “The Top Ten Minnesota Twins (or any team for that matter) of the 1960s” that you can download for free. Take them up on their offer, you can’t go wrong. Click on the book cover to download.

 

Although the following “According to ELIAS” post is not Twins related, any time you get 20 strikeouts in a nine inning game it is worth mentioning.

MLB records tied: Kimbrel 4 SO in 9th, Red Sox pitchers 20 in game

Craig Kimbrel was credited with four strikeouts in the ninth inning on Thursday night, tying a major-league record and boosting the total of strikeouts by Red Sox pitchers to 20 in their victory over the Rangers, tying the major-league record for strikeouts by a team in a nine-inning game.

Nomar Mazara, first up for Texas in the ninth, swung and missed at the third strike, as the ball apparently hit his left foot. Although he would have been automatically out had that been the call, he ran to first base and was permitted to remain there, as the umpires apparently did not rule that the ball had hit him, so that when it bounced toward the third-base dugout, it was still live. No sweat for Kimbrel, he just struck out the next three batters to join AJ Burnett, Zack Greinke and Chuck Finley as the only major-league pitchers who have struck out more than three batters in an inning more than once. (Kimbrel also did it with Atlanta in 2012; Finley had three such innings in his career.) Red Sox pitchers have now accounted for three of the six instances in which a team accumulated 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game. Roger Clemens accounted for the two other cases personally, against the Mariners in 1986 and at Detroit in 1996.

I really don’t care who you vote for the 2017 All-Star game, except…..that I do urge you to vote for Twins third baseman Miguel Sano. The man is having a tremendous season and he deserves to represent us Minnesota Twins fans along with Ervin Santana in Miami in July. Click on the image to vote.

 

According to ELIAS – Miguel Sano and a great come-back win

Twins storm back against Orioles

The Twins spotted the Orioles a 5–0 lead last night but came roaring back to win in Baltimore, 14–7. It’s the first time the Twins won a game by at least five runs after trailing by five or more runs in over 18 years, since a 13–8 win in Cleveland on April 17, 1999, in which they trailed by six runs at one point.

Sano is a bona fide slugger (you think?)

Miguel Sano

Miguel Sano slammed his 11th home run of the season and drove in three runs, bringing his season total to 37 RBIs in 40 games. The only other players in Twins history, including their days as the Washington Senators, to have as many homers and RBIs as Sano in their first 40 games of a season were Larry Hisle in 1977 (11 HR, 42 RBIs) and Joe Mauer in 2009 (13 HR, 40 RBIs).

According to ELIAS – Sano & Santana

Sano and Santana combine for first-of-a-kind Twins win

Ervin Santana

The Twins’ two best players this season, Miguel Sano and Ervin Santana, were the stars of a 1-0 victory for Paul Molitor’s squad in Cleveland last night. Sano’s first-inning home run, his 10th homer of the season, provided the game’s only run while Santana went seven innings to lower his ERA to 1.50. That’s the lowest ERA for a Minnesota pitcher through his first eight starts of a season since Scott Erickson began the 1991 season at 1.44 through eight starts. Erickson went on to win 20 games that season and the Twins went on to win the World Series.

Miguel Sano

How often do you see a 1-0 game in which the only run comes on a first-inning homer? Well, there were no such games in the major leagues all of last season and only one in 2015 (Albert Pujols supplied the home run against the A’s on June 13 of that year, and C.J. Wilson earned the victory). Moreover, it was the first 1-0 victory featuring a first-inning home run in the history of the franchise, dating back to its beginnings in Washington in 1901.