TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
The following players made their major league debuts as Minnesota Twins on this day, May 11th. None of their debuts went particularly well.
Pat Dean (P) – May 11, 2016 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 2010 MLB June Amateur Draft
Tom Kelly (1B/OF) – May 11, 1975 – Signed as a Free Agent with the Minnesota Twins in April 1971.
Mike Pazik (P) – May 11, 1975 – Traded by the New York Yankees with cash to the Minnesota Twins in May 1974.
Yesterday I checked out the Twins second full workout of the spring as Paul Molitor ran his boys through their paces. I saw nothing really unusual but I thought it was kind of interesting that I saw no pitchers throwing in the bullpen at all the entire time I was there. The outfielders went through their drills on the Hammond Stadium field while the rest of the team appeared to be split into three groups with a mixture of infielders and pitchers in each group going through pitching and infield drills on three separate fields.
As I watched the drills I couldn’t help but miss Tom Kelly putting the guys through the drills and hearing his banter and seeing him pull guys aside to give them some tips on playing the game better. The drill without TK this spring was noticeably quieter. TK has a long history with the Twins and belongs out here in spring training and I am not convinced that he is back in Minnesota by his own volition.
The one incident that stands out in my mind were pitcher drills where the pitchers practiced the pick-off at second base. In this case starter Hector Santiago wheeled around and threw “a pea” wildly over shortstop Niko Goodrum‘s. To me two things stood out about that play, how quick and hard Santiago’s throw was and the fact that shortstop Niko Goodrum barely jogged to get the loose ball. It is only the second full day of drills, a little more effort from Goodrum would seem appropriate.
Hopefully the Twins will get a lot of work in today and rain is predicted for Wednesday. As always, I took a number of pictures and you can check them out on the 2017 spring training pictures link on the right hand side of the main page.
In their 56 seasons of baseball in Minnesota the Twins have had 71 different players don the tools of ignorance and squat down behind the plate to catch a major league pitcher. Two those 71 players only caught in one inning of one game. Cesar Tovar did it when owner Calvin Griffith had him play every position in a game in 1968 as a gimmick and manager Tom Kelly had Jeff Reboulet catch the ninth inning in a 1995 game against the Royals in the Metrodome. It wasn’t an easy inning for Reboulet either, as he caught two different pitchers as the Royals sent 12 men to the plate and scored 6 runs on 6 hits not to mention 2 walks and a wild pitch.
With the Minnesota 2017 TwinsFest going on I thought it would be a good time to rank the Twins catchers. The Twins have been looking for an everyday catcher ever since Joe Mauer hung up his catcher’s mitt after the 1993 season due to a variety of injuries the most serious of which were his concussion problems. Kurt Suzuki filled in since then but he too has moved on. The Twins Top 10 Catchers list ranks the catchers by B-R WAR statistics. Player must have appeared in at least 51% of his games as a catcher to qualify for this list.
| Rk | Player | WAR/pos | G | From | To | Age | AB | H | HR | RBI | SB | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joe Mauer | 50.0 | 1590 | 2004 | 2016 | 21-33 | 5919 | 1826 | 130 | 804 | 50 | .308 | .837 |
| 2 | Butch Wynegar | 15.2 | 794 | 1976 | 1982 | 20-26 | 2746 | 697 | 37 | 325 | 8 | .254 | .682 |
| 3 | Earl Battey | 14.3 | 853 | 1961 | 1967 | 26-32 | 2762 | 768 | 76 | 350 | 8 | .278 | .765 |
| 4 | Brian Harper | 13.4 | 730 | 1988 | 1993 | 28-33 | 2503 | 767 | 48 | 346 | 7 | .306 | .773 |
| 5 | A.J. Pierzynski | 9.4 | 430 | 1998 | 2003 | 21-26 | 1428 | 430 | 26 | 193 | 6 | .301 | .788 |
| 6 | George Mitterwald | 6.0 | 514 | 1966 | 1973 | 21-28 | 1578 | 377 | 50 | 176 | 9 | .239 | .676 |
| 7 | Glenn Borgmann | 5.0 | 442 | 1972 | 1979 | 22-29 | 1207 | 277 | 14 | 137 | 4 | .229 | .630 |
| 8 | Tim Laudner | 3.2 | 734 | 1981 | 1989 | 23-31 | 2038 | 458 | 77 | 263 | 3 | .225 | .682 |
| 9 | Terry Steinbach | 3.1 | 347 | 1997 | 1999 | 35-37 | 1207 | 309 | 30 | 150 | 8 | .256 | .719 |
| 10 | Kurt Suzuki | 3.0 | 368 | 2014 | 2016 | 30-32 | 1230 | 323 | 16 | 160 | 0 | .263 | .680 |
Anybody on this list surprise you?
The sun still rose in the east this morning just as it always has but the difference is that Terry Ryan is no longer the Twins GM. Lots of Twins fans are happy that Ryan is gone and many are sad and disappointed. I am never happy to see someone lose their job, especially a job they love.
But life moves on, and almost 48 hours after the announcement I think I would like to jot down some thoughts and questions that come to mind.
My over-riding thought about the situation is that I now have a different opinion of owner Jim Pohlad. I had originally thought that he was a hands off owner and that he would let his brain-trust run the Minnesota Twins organization. Now it appears to me that is not the case, in true Pohlad fashion he is taking charge and showing everyone that he who holds the gold makes the rules. There is nothing wrong with that, just don’t try to blow smoke up my skirt saying that you let the experts run the show. What I don’t understand about this announcement is why Pohlad would tell Ryan that his contract would not be renewed after the season ended? Why tell your GM in June that his services are no longer required but that he can run the team for the rest of the season if he wishes to do so? I guess that the team just did not want to announce a “firing”, they would have preferred simply not renewing his contract. Another thing, why would Pohlad say that the only stipulation for a new GM is that Paul Molitor will manage in 2017? Only Jim Pohlad and Dave St. Peter know for sure.
When the Minnesota Twins hired Hall of Famer Paul Molitor to manage the Twins starting with the 2015 season they had to know that they were swimming up-stream and that the baseball gods were against them. The list of “modern” MLB Hall of Fame players that tried their luck as managers is relatively short and none of them have turned out to be Hall of Fame managers.
Frank Robinson may have been the best of the skippers that had Hall of Fame on his resume. Robinson managed four different teams (Indians, Giants, Orioles, Expos/Nationals) over 16 seasons from 1975-2006. Robinson took over the Orioles manager duties in 1988 after they had an 0-6 record and he managed them to 15 more consecutive losses before they won their first game of the season after an 0-21 start. The next season (1989) Frank Robinson was selected as the AL Manager of the year after leading his team to a second place finish and a 87-75 record. Although he may have been the best manager of the Hall of Fame group, he finished his managing career with zero playoff appearances. His career mark as a manager was 1,065-1,176 (.475).
Yogi Berra managed for all or parts of five season with two New York clubs, the Yankees and the Mets. Although his career managing record was 484-444, he did take both the Mets and Yankees to a pennant.
Bob Lemon managed for all or parts of eight seasons between 1970-1982 and had a lifetime managing record of 430 and 403 with the Royals, White Sox and Yankees. He does have two pennants and a World Series championship on his resume but in both of these cases he took over the job during the season and never managed a team to a pennant from start to finish.
Ted Williams managed the Washington Senators from 1969 through 1972 when he called it quits. He led the Senators to a 86-76 record in his first season (1969) as the Senators skipper but in 1970 his team was 70-92, in 1971 the team was 63-96, and in 1972 he was 54-100. Do you see a trend here? His career mark as a manager was 273-364 (.429) and zero play-off appearances.
Ryne Sandberg took over as skipper of the Phillies 44 games into the 2013 season and left after a 26-48 start to the 2015 season. Sandberg had a 119-159 mark as a skipper during his Phillies tenure.
Paul Molitor was hired to be the Twins manager prior to the 2015 season and todate his record as a manager stands at 94-113 (.454). Molitor took over a team that had not won more games than it lost since 2010 and in 2015 he led them to a 83-79 record. At first glance does not seem that bad over all, but, there is always that but. In May of 2015 the Twins were 20-7, if you subtract that month Molitor managed the team to a 63-72 record. This year Molitor’s record is 15-35, the team is playing at a lousy .300 winning percentage but even that starts to look good when you look at their road record of 7-20 (.259). You want to see more? The Twins are 0-6 against the White Sox, 0-6 against the Tigers, and 1-5 against the Royals but on the positive side they are 4-2 against the Indians. A record of 5-19 in your own division does not cut it, it is totally unacceptable even if you are playing just for fun and the Twins are certainly not playing for the fun of it.
When I left our Cape Coral condo yesterday morning it was overcast but no rain was predicted as I started the 12 mile drive to the CenturyLink Sports Complex but shortly after crossing over the bridge to Ft. Myers the sprinkles started and then it started to rain. By the the time I arrived it was raining pretty hard but not hard enough to stop the action on the practice fields. I could see some blue skies and before I knew it the rain had stopped and then it turned humid, Florida humid, perfect for baseball.
It was the second day of pitchers and catchers working out so I didn’t expect to see a lot, and I didn’t. The pitchers did some throwing and some PFP and then the catchers took some BP and practiced some ball blocking drills. The one thing that stood out to me was that there was no TK to be seen. I think that is the first time in a long time that I have been to spring training and not seen Tom Kelly on the short infield running PFP. Kinda sad really, I was not a TK fan when he was the skipper because I thought he was just a grumpy know it all that was rude to fans. Over the years he mellowed or I did and I grew to appreciate his sense of humor and love of the game. I hope to see him later this spring. Former Twins pitcher and recently retired LaTroy Hawkins was out there as a Twins guest instructor.
The number of players on the back fields is growing in leaps and bounds as more position players and minor league players show up and wait the start of their spring training. I took a bunch of pictures that I have not yet labeled but you can see them on my 2016 Spring Training Pictures link. In a few days the position players will report and the battles for spots on the Twins roster will begin. I can’t wait to see how Miguel Sano will do out in right field.
When you visit the CenturyLink Sports complex when there are no games going on it can be kind of boring. I know, I know, I have nothing to complain about as I watch the Twins prepare for a new season in the 80 degree sunshine that SW Florida provides. When I got to the ballpark I ran into Seth Stohs from Twins Daily who had just arrived a day earlier and we chatted for a while. The Twins were playing the Pirates up in Bradenton so the remaining crew of Twins players back in Fort Myers was made up primarily of starting pitchers and a few position players that didn’t make the trip like Joe Mauer, Torii Hunter and Eduardo Nunez.
The minor league players hadn’t reported yet although I believe they are scheduled to report today. With the minor league group reporting it would mean that it is time for the Twins to announce their first group of cuts which I believe will be announced later today.
As I was leaving the minor league fields I happened to see former Twins skipper Tom Kelly sauntering back from the minor league complex to Hammond Stadium bat in hand. I said hello and asked about his health as we walked back. TK told me he was not 100% as yet but was getting stronger everyday. He told me about how his doctor had literally “gotten in his face” and told him to rest and do nothing after he was released from the hospital. Of course TK being who he is couldn’t sit still for long but he found out quickly that the doctor knew what he was talking about and since then TK has listened to the doctor and abided by his wishes. The doctor told him it would probably take about 6 months to get back to where he was before the stroke and the 6 month mark is coming up soon. As we got closer to the stadium more fans recognized TK and soon a group had gathered for pictures and autographs with the Twins legend. I continue to be amazed at how Tom Kelly has mellowed over the years. Good for you TK, stay healthy because the Twins and their fans need you.
As always I managed to get some pictures of the action for you down here and you can check them out on the right hand side of the page under the 2015 Spring Training link.
I missed the Minnesota Twins open house this past Sunday because I was feeling under the weather but I was feeling fine again on Monday so I headed out to the CenturyLink Sports Complex to check out the Twins pitchers and catchers on their first day at training camp under new manager Paul Molitor.
I don’t know why but I was surprised to see the Twins wearing their red jerseys during their first 2015 workout. The workout was already underway when I arrived. I believe that the Twins workouts normally start about 08:30 AM and finish up around 11:30 AM.
The Twins pitchers were broken into several different groups as they went through a variety of drills and took their turn in the bullpen to get some throwing in under the watchful eye of their brand new pitching coach Neil Allen. The catchers in camp this year are Kurt Suzuki, Josmil Pinto, Chris Herrmann, Eric Fryer, Mitch Garver, Tyler Grimes, Dan Rohlfing, and Stuart Turner.
It is great to see the Twins out on the field again and getting ready for their first season under the tutelage of Hall of Famer Paul Molitor but all in all it was a pretty quiet day. There were a number of fans but not as many as I might have expected checking out the action getting pictures and a few autographs when the players work for the day was over. The one observation I would make after watching the first day is that it seemed much quieter and more business-like then what I remember from previous sessions under the Gardenhire regime. I didn’t see any horsing around or players standing around laughing and telling tall tales from their off-season exploits. Maybe it was just day one jitters and everyone getting acclimated but it seemed different.
Molitor was kind of what I expected him to be, standing around and observing the action and now and then taking a player aside and talking with him one on one. Maybe I missed it but I didn’t see Molitor smile once during the morning work outs. It might be just his personality or maybe it struck him exactly what he had stepped into during his first venture in managing. It will be interesting to see how the Twins players react to a manager that I think is much more of a distant old school Tom Kelly type than a players manager like Ron Gardenhire who seemed to be more interested in being part of the gang. Time will tell.
I haven’t seen TK down here yet so I am not sure if he will report when the position players show up or if his health concerns will prevent him from taking part in spring training this season. It was kind of odd not seeing the long time Twins coaching staff and instead seeing Eddie Guardado out on the field helping with pitchers fielding practice.
Your fun fact for the day, Twins pitchers are “a tall glass of water”, at least ten of them are 6’4″ or taller.
I did get a few pictures that you can check out on the right hand side of the page under “2015 Spring Training”.
For many years now the Minnesota Twins organization has always looked unfavorably at pitchers that issue too many bases on balls. If you eliminate 2011 and 2012 the Twins have been in the top three teams in the American League in fewest walks allowed since 1996. During that same time frame the Twins have led the American League in strikeouts just once and that was in 2006.
But today we are going to look at the other end of the spectrum, we are going to see what Twins pitchers wouldn’t exactly be considered control artists. The pitchers that would be regulars in former Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson‘s doghouse. It is surprising to me to see how many “good” pitchers there are on this list of most walks allowed in a single season by a Twins pitcher. Check out the records of some of these pitchers, two pitchers on this list won 20 games while issuing 90 or more walks during the season. Two pitchers on this list had more walks then they had strikeouts. Three pitchers made this list twice.
I can’t help but be amazed by the season that Rich Robertson had in 1996. But first let’s take a look at that team, the first year after Kirby Puckett‘s career came to an abrupt end. Tom Kelly‘s 1996 team finished fourth with a 78-84 record. The starting staff that season under pitching coach Dick Such was made up of Brad Radke, Frankie Rodriguez, Rich Robertson, Scott Aldred, and Rick Aguilera. Current Twins skipper Paul Molitor should remember that season, he was the teams DH that year and he hit .341 and had 113 RBI.
Robertson who the Twins picked up on waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates in November 1994 was a left-hander who pitched for Minnesota from 1995-1997 and won a job in the Twins starting rotation in 1996 after having started a total of four games in his brief big league career. In 1996 at the age of 27 he started 31 games for the Twins and posted a 7-17 record with a 5.12 ERA. In his 186+ innings pitched he struck out 114 batters and walked 116 and yet he had three shutouts which tied him for the American league lead. He is the only Twins pitcher to ever lead the American League in walks allowed in a single season.
| Rk | Player | BB | Year | G | GS | CG | SHO | W | L | SV | IP | H | SO | HR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jim Hughes | 127 | 1975 | 37 | 34 | 12 | 2 | 16 | 14 | .533 | 0 | 249.2 | 241 | 130 | 3.82 | 17 | .255 |
| 2 | Rich Robertson | 116 | 1996 | 36 | 31 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 17 | .292 | 0 | 186.1 | 197 | 114 | 5.12 | 22 | .273 |
| 3 | Dave Boswell | 107 | 1967 | 37 | 32 | 11 | 3 | 14 | 12 | .538 | 0 | 222.2 | 162 | 204 | 3.27 | 14 | .202 |
| 4 | Jim Perry | 102 | 1971 | 40 | 39 | 8 | 0 | 17 | 17 | .500 | 1 | 270.0 | 263 | 126 | 4.23 | 39 | .259 |
| 5 | Bert Blyleven | 101 | 1987 | 37 | 37 | 8 | 1 | 15 | 12 | .556 | 0 | 267.0 | 249 | 196 | 4.01 | 46 | .249 |
| 6 | Dick Woodson | 101 | 1972 | 36 | 36 | 9 | 3 | 14 | 14 | .500 | 0 | 251.2 | 193 | 150 | 2.72 | 19 | .211 |
| 7 | Camilo Pascual | 100 | 1961 | 35 | 33 | 15 | 8 | 15 | 16 | .484 | 0 | 252.1 | 205 | 221 | 3.46 | 26 | .217 |
| 8 | Dave Boswell | 99 | 1969 | 39 | 38 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 12 | .625 | 0 | 256.1 | 215 | 190 | 3.23 | 18 | .226 |
| 9 | Camilo Pascual | 98 | 1964 | 36 | 36 | 14 | 1 | 15 | 12 | .556 | 0 | 267.1 | 245 | 213 | 3.30 | 30 | .241 |
| 10 | Vic Albury | 97 | 1975 | 32 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 7 | .462 | 1 | 135.0 | 115 | 72 | 4.53 | 16 | .237 |
| 11 | Joe Decker | 97 | 1974 | 37 | 37 | 11 | 1 | 16 | 14 | .533 | 0 | 248.2 | 234 | 158 | 3.29 | 24 | .252 |
| 12 | Jack Morris | 92 | 1991 | 35 | 35 | 10 | 2 | 18 | 12 | .600 | 0 | 246.2 | 226 | 163 | 3.43 | 18 | .245 |
| 13 | Frank Viola | 92 | 1983 | 35 | 34 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 15 | .318 | 0 | 210.0 | 242 | 127 | 5.49 | 34 | .288 |
| 14 | Dave Goltz | 91 | 1977 | 39 | 39 | 19 | 2 | 20 | 11 | .645 | 0 | 303.0 | 284 | 186 | 3.36 | 23 | .247 |
| 15 | Dave Goltz | 91 | 1976 | 36 | 35 | 13 | 4 | 14 | 14 | .500 | 0 | 249.1 | 239 | 133 | 3.36 | 14 | .254 |
This past season California native and former New York Yankee first round pick (2004) Phil Hughes, 28, pitching for a team that finished 70-92 had a 16-10 record and an amazing and record-breaking 11.63 SO/W ratio. That comes out to 16 bases on balls issues in 209.1 innings with 186 KO’s. Another Hughes who was also from California, Jim, pitched for Minnesota from 1974-1977 and in 1975 at the age of 25 he had a 16-14 record with a 3.82 ERA for a 76-83 team. Jim, a Twins 33rd round pick in 1969 walked 127 and struck out 130 batters for a 1.02 SO/W ratio in 249.2 innings.
Strangely enough both of these right-handed pitchers won 16 games for their sub .500 teams. Phil had record-breaking control and finished the 2014 season with one complete game and Jim with not so much control had 12 complete games in 1975. Jim won a total of 25 games in his brief four-year big league career and Phil has 72 wins and counting on his resume.
Bottom line? I guess a pitcher can win at the big league level no matter what his SO/W ratio is and once again it just goes to show that it isn’t all about the numbers. But it is interesting never the less.
Only three teams in major league baseball lost more games than our Minnesota Twins did in 2014 when they lost 92 times, their four straight 90 plus losing season. You would think that a team that Forbes listed this past March as the 19th most valuable franchise in major league baseball at $605 million with an estimated revenue of $221 million could put a better product on the field wouldn’t you? The Twins 2014 Opening Day payroll was around $85 million give or take, ranking them 24th out of the 30 teams. The Twins front office bragged that they wouldn’t be raising ticket prices in 2014. Raising ticket prices? My God, when the team is this bad for that long the ticket prices should be automatically dropping until the teams shows some competitive life.
With a team like the Minnesota Twins, in its current state of affairs, it is not all that difficult to get candidates for the 2014 Twins Turkey of the Year award “so let’s get after it” and see who we have waiting in the wings.
Finalist but did not make the final cut – Vance Worley was acquired in a trade with the Phillies in December 2012. In the first two months of 2013 the “Vanimal” started 10 games for Minnesota and posted a 1-5 record with a 7.21 ERA and allowed 82 hits in 48.2 innings and eventually pitched his way to AAA Rochester where after a few games he went on the DL. During spring training in 2014 Worley announced that he had pitched hurt in 2013 because of a bone spur in his pitching elbow. The Twins had seen enough of the Vanimal and sold him to the Pittsburg Pirates in March of this year. Another bad pitcher who had more excuses then you could shake a stick at and had a problem telling the truth. Worley was 8-4 for the Pirates with a 2.85 ERA in 2014, what’s up with that?
Finalist but did not make the final cut – The Twins troika of Ron Gardenhire/Rob Antony/Terry Ryan had a rough go of things in 2014. In what turned out to be his last season at the helm as the Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire did the best he could with the players that Terry Ryan and Rob Antony provided but when your pitching staff ranks last in the league in ERA, hits allowed, runs, earned runs, and strikeouts, your chances for a good season are slim at best. Terry Ryan had personal health issues that kept him away from the club for all of spring training and most of the regular season. Rob Antony was the acting GM for a good portion of the season and did what he could to fill Ryan’s shoes. The Twins made several personnel moves that when looked back on could probably have been handled differently and maybe prevented some of the chaos that the team experienced in the outfield. Then again when the manager keeps sending infielders to play the outfield, what can you expect?
Finalist but did not make the final cut – Twins Center fielders – Manager Ron Gardenhire started the season with Aaron Hicks playing center field and had high hopes for the young switch-hitter particularly when Hicks started out 4 for 7 in his first two games. But then he quit hitting, got hurt, over slept and found himself packing his bags for New Britain in late June. In the first two and a half months of the season Hicks appeared on the DL twice and missed 19 games. He didn’t return until the minor league season was over in September. The Twins ended up trying Sam Fuld, Jordan Schafer, Chris Parmelee, Eduardo Escobar, Darin Mastroianni, and Danny Santana in center field and the best of the bunch was Santana but he is a natural shortstop. The rookie Santana never really got a chance to play short and to show how he can handle that position because Gardy kept sending him out to center field. At this point in the off-season center field remains a huge question mark.
Finalist but did not make the final cut – Joe Mauer – Last November (2013) the Twins brain trust in conjunction with Joe Mauer decided that Mauer was done as a catcher due to concussion issues and would become the teams first baseman. In the teams first 70 games (March 31 through June 18) Mauer played in 64 of them getting 289 plate appearances while hitting primarily third in the batting order, he managed to hit just two home runs with 16 RBI while hitting for a .254 batting average. On July 1st while playing against the Royals at Target Field, Mauer pulled his right oblique and missed 34 games between July 2 and August 11th. By the time the season was over Mauer had played in 120 games, hit four home runs, knocked in 55 and struck out a career high 96 times while posting an un-Maueresque OBP of .360 and a .732 OPS. His play in the field although not stellar was acceptable for a player learning a new position on the fly. Unless Mauer starts hitting like the Mauer of old, manager Paul Molitor has no business hitting him third. Why not hit Mauer at lead-off? Since 2004 when he first joined the Twins, Mauer has the highest OBP at .401 and is followed by Jim Thome at .387, Denard Span at .357, Luis Castillo at .357 and Danny Santana at .353 when you compare players that have played 100 games or more. Fans just have a hard time accepting the fact that Joe makes $23 million a year, seems to show no urgency, and the man never seems to get mad about anything. Come on Joe, throw something or at least get thrown out of a game arguing a strike call so we know you are still alive out there.
Finalist but did not make the final cut – Ricky Nolasco was signed by Minnesota in December 2013 and is the highest paid free agent signing in team history. In early July after posting a season todate 5.90 ERA in 104 innings in 18 starts Nolasco revealed he had bad pitching through elbow pain since spring training. You would think that for $49 million that Nolasco could at least be truthful about his condition and have enough confidence in his abilities to step up and speak up instead of hurting his team by continuing to pitch when he is injured. The announcement came as a complete shock to the Twins who then placed Nolasco on the DL where he missed 32 games between July 8th and August 15th. Then in late September he further alienated himself to the Twins community when he responded to a tweet from a Dodgers fan who said they wished he was still in LA and he responded by saying “So do I!!!” OMG! What a clown on so many levels. The man has fences to mend everywhere. “Minnesota nice” only lasts one season Ricky, pick it up their buddy and show us you are not the dud you showed in 2014.
Second runner-up is Chuck Knoblauch was the Twins first round (25th over all) draft choice in June of 1989 and by 1991 he was the Twins starting second baseman on a World Championship team and the American League rookie of the year. The mercurial Knobby demanded to be traded in 1997 and the Twins granted him his wish after the season ended and sent him to the Yankees where he played from 1998-2001. During his stay in New York Knoblauch started having issues with throwing to ball to first base and he left as a free agent after the 2001 season. Knoblauch spent his final season in the big leagues in Kansas City in 2002 and when the season ended so did the 34 year-old Knoblauch’s big league career. After his career ended Knoblauch had issues with alcohol and was arrested in 2010 for hitting his wife and he ended up with a years probation. In January 2014 the Twins announced that Chuck Knoblauch had been elected as the 27th member of the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame and would be inducted in August. But Chuck had another alcohol related issue in July of this year and again was arrested and charged with assaulting his ex-wife. This was too much for the Twins organization and they cancelled his August Twins Hall of Fame induction and cut off communications with Knoblauch. By the way, former Twins manager Tom Kelly was on hand at the award ceremony as a guest of Knoblauch and he asked the guests to refrain from throwing Domedogs and other miscellaneous items at Chuck as he stepped up to the podium to accept his second runner-up trophy.
The runner-up is non other than the infamous Twins brand survey – As the 2014 season was coming to an end and another 90+ season was just around the bend, the Minnesota Twins Marketing department decided to send a brand survey to their season ticket holders. I did not actually see the entire survey and can’t find a copy of it but one of the questions the Twins asked in the survey attracted national attention, albeit not necessarily positive. So here is the question and you need to keep in mind that the Twins are well on their way to losing 90 or more games for the fourth year in a row when the survey is sent out.
The survey caught the attention of ESPN’s Keith Olbermann and here is a short YouTube video clip on his thoughts about the Minnesota Twins. The Twins come up at about the 2:30 mark on the video if you want to skip over the first part. Olbermann clip on Twins brand survey. Twins president Dave St. Peter took offense to Olbermann’s comments and you can see what he had to say here and here. Nancy O’Brien the Twins vice-president of Marketing almost became our first female Twins Turkey of the Year winner but the crack marketing staff came up just short in the final balloting. To be honest a couple of votes had some hanging chad and the Twins were offered a recount but since they would have to pay for it they chose to pass and are planning to spend their money on a starting pitcher and they are looking at possible reunions with Kevin Slowey and Scott Baker. The Twins organization and Mr. St. Peter need to remember that “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”
This years winner is – Aaron Hicks was the Twins first round (14th over all) selection in the June 2008 draft. Hicks was on fire during spring training in 2013 hitting .370 with four home runs and 18 RBI and the 23 year-old switch-hitting rookie won the center field job that had been vacated when Denard Span and Ben Revere were traded for pitching depth after the 2012 season. Hicks could not hold on to the job in 2013 but he again started the 2014 season as the Twins center fielder. Hicks hit poorly in his second chance with the club and then got hurt on May 1st and was put on the concussion DL the next day. After being activated from the concussion DL Hicks continued to struggle with the bat, particularly from the left-side where he is has a career average of .185 and on May 26 without consulting with Twins management Hicks announced that he was through with switch-hitting and would bat only from the right side going forward. The Twins were caught by surprise but they were desperate for a center fielder so Twins said OK, go for it and they didn’t even bother to send him to the minors to soften the transition. Just several days later Hicks came up with lower back stiffness and missed a couple more games. Then on June 9th Hicks hurt his shoulder diving for a ball and went on the DL the next day. The Twins then sent Hicks down to New Britain to rehab and on June 22 Hicks plays in a rehab game and hits left-handed. After the game Hicks announces that he has had a change of heart and is again a switch-hitter. The Twins recalled Hicks on September 2 and Hicks appeared in 21 September games hitting .250 (15 for 60) with three doubles and nine RBI. But even during the last month of the season Hicks could not stay out of Gardy’s doghouse when he again had lower back stiffness on September 20th and not only did he not show up early for treatment on Sunday, he didn’t show up until 11:00 AM for a 1:00 game saying that he had over slept. As the season was winding down the Twins brain trust talked to Hicks about playing winter-ball but he resisted stating that he was getting married in the off-season. Hicks finally consented to play winter ball in Venezuela but the team cut him after just 16 games when Hicks hit .220 in 50 at bats with one home run and four RBI but on the plus side he did draw 13 walks. Coming off back-to-back horrendous seasons Aaron Hicks has to be on the cusp of joining the scrap heap of former Twins first round picks that have failed to live up to expectations. The man is an athlete but so far he has not put it together and his attitude and perceived lack of effort is hurting his chances. Hicks seems to think he is entitled to play in the big leagues and does not seem to be willing to put in the work to get there and become the player he should be. Hicks might not have earned his pay in 2014 but he does earn the title as Twins Turkey of the Year for 2014. Step up here Mr. Hicks and claim your award.
Bonus Thanksgiving content – Can a player be traded for a turkey? An interesting question because apparently it happened back in 1931 and the Washington Senators who would become the Minnesota Twins in 1961 were involved. Better yet, the Twins new AA team the Chattanooga Lookouts were the team that actually made the trade. This is a cool read and you should check it out at Baseball Prospectus.