Fast and furious or slow and steady?

January 17, 2011 – After just one season of calling Target Field home, the Twins brain trust has determined that they have a need for speed. The Twins are coming off of a season where they stole just 68 bases. The last time the Twins stole that few bases was 25 years ago, back in 1985. Since the Twins started playing in Minnesota they have stolen a total of 4,343 bases or an average of 87 “swipes” per season. The teams all-time high for SB’s was 151 in 1997 and their all-time low was 32 way back in 1963 but that year they also slugged a team all-time high of 225 home runs to make up for it.

There does not seem to be any consistency to where the Twins finish in the standing based on their stolen base totals. Back in 1997 when they stole 151 bases, they finished fourth with a 68-94 mark. In their World Series seasons, they had 92 SB’s in 1965, 113 SB’s in 1987 and 107 SB’s in 1991. Here is a table showing the Twins top base stealing teams:

Rank	Year	Won	Lost	Finish	SB	CS
1	1997	68	94	4th	151	52
2	2001	85	77	2nd	146	67
2	1976	85	77	3rd	146	75
4	1996	78	84	4th	143	53
5	1992	90	72	2nd	123	74
6	1999	63	97	5th	118	60
7	2004	92	70	1st	116	46
8	1969	97	65	1st	115	70
9	1987	85	77	1st	113	65
10	2007	79	83	3rd	112	30
10	1998	70	92	4th	112	54

But will Gardy use the speed tool if he has the chance? The numbers tell me that he will not. If we compare Gardenhire and Tom Kelly we see that in TK’s fifteen seasons his teams swiped 1,699 bases or an average of 113 per season with a high of 146 in 2001. When you look at Gardy’s 9 seasons you end up with 859 stolen bases for an average of 95 per year with a high of 116. In TK’s final season as manager in 2001, his team ended up with 146 steals, the following year with Gardy at the helm his boys stole just 79 bases with pretty much the same cast of characters. So it will be interesting to see if the Twins burn up the base paths in 2011.