May 29, 2008 – The Washington ball club had 18 different managers between its first season in 1901 and its final season in Washington in 1960. Job security was not on your side if you were a manger for the Senators/Nationals since it appears they changed managers like teams change uniforms today. Nationals management must have had a real love/hate relationship with Bucky Harris because he served as their manager on three different occasions, the first time between 1924-1928, again between 1935-1942, and for the third and final time between 1950-1954. Harris put in more years (18) as the Nationals skipper than any other manager.
Jimmy Manning 1901 Tom Loftus 1902-1903 Malachi Kittiredge 1904 Patsy Donovan 1904 Jake Stahl 1905-1906 Joe Cantillon 1907-1909 Jimmy McAleer 1910-1911 Clark Griffith 1912-1920 George McBride 1921 Clyde Milan 1922 Donie Bush 1923 Bucky Harris 1924-1928 Walter Johnson 1929-1932 Joe Cronin 1933-1934 Bucky Harris 1935-1942 Ossie Bluege 1943-1947 Joe Kuhel 1948-1949 Bucky Harris 1950-1954 Chuck Dressen 1955-1957 Cookie Lavagetto 1957-1960Month: October 2011
Pat Neshek Out For The Year?
May 12, 2008 – The injury to Pat Neshek’s elbow is a serious blow both to the Twins and to Pat Neshek. The Twins lost a quality set up guy and a pitcher that I think manager Gardenhire could put into a tight situation and feel comfortable that he would get them out of the jam with a minimum of damage. If needed, you could count on Neshek to get a strikeout if the situation required it. Pat will be out for several months and very possibly the season. Even more serious is the possibility for both Pat and the Twins is that rest alone will not cure the partial tear in his elbow and that surgery may be necessary but that will not be known for some time and if that comes into play, then we could be looking at no Neshek in 2009 or even worse, if this is a career ending injury. Neshek throws the ball very hard and how much faith will Pat have in the elbow coming off an injury like this? Although I have never met Pat, he sure seems to be a very personable guy and is one of the players that seem to enjoy his interaction with the fans from his home state. The fans will miss him and I will miss watching him on the mound as opposing batters flail at his offerings. The Twins bullpen took a big hit losing Pat but that is part of baseball. Who will step up and take over that setup spot? Will it be Juan Rincon, Mark Guerrier, or Jesse Crain? Dennis Reyes is best when he faces a batter or two so he is not a good choice, Brian Bass is unproven. Bob Korecky is not a lights out kind of a pitcher but more prone to give up hits and walks and wiggles his way out of trouble. Maybe the right man is the Cincinnati Reds all time saves leader that the Twins currently having pitching in Rochester in Danny Graves? It might be time to give him a shot at the big leagues again.
Quit Using the Term Twinkees!
April 21, 2008– The other day I was watching a Yankee game on MLB Extra innings and one of the Yankee announcers said something that really sticks in my craw. I don’t remember who the announcer was but he was giving score updates on the other games in the American league and when he got to the Twins game he said “and the Twinkees are beating” the Royals by so and so. Damn! I hate that term the “Twinkees”, I take it as a derogatory term, maybe it is not the way it was intended but that is the way I take it. Where did that term “Twinkees” come from anyway? I hear the term used frequently when someone is ripping the Twins for one thing or another. I may be all wrong but it seems to me the term “Twinkees” was coined back in 1982 when the Twins were off loading a number of high priced players like Erickson, Smalley, and Wynegar and traded them to the Yankees and in return the Twins got players like Paul Boris, Ron Davis, Greg Gagne, Pete Filson, Larry Milbourne, and John Pacella. The Twins had so many ex-Yankees on the roster that some people started calling the Twins the “Twinkees”. Then is then and now is now, let’s quit calling our Minnesota Twins the “Twinkees!
Who is the best team in the AL Central division?
March 31, 2008 – The Central Division will be tough again this year and with the division having no particularly weak sisters, but it is very possible that only one playoff team will emerge from the Central division in 2008. My reasoning is that the teams will face each other 18 times and that will takes its toll on the overall records and they beat up on each other. So how do I see the teams finishing this year? First let’s take a look at each team.
Chicago White Sox – Nick Swisher and Orlando Cabrera are some nice additions to an aging club. The starting pitching is questionable but if Danks and Floyd come through the starters could be tough. Jenks as a closer is top notch but Dotel whom the team acquired to set up has been terrible this spring. The Sox seem to have no plan and appear to be veering away from the solid defense that they wanted to get to a couple of years ago. I don’t see this team progressing as long as Ozzie Guillen manages this team.
Kansas City Royals – Everyone says this is a much better team than it has been in the past but then again that is not saying much. Having said that, I actually like this team, they are not ready to win a title but they are building a nice team around Gordon, Butler, DeJesus, Guillen, Teahen, Greinke and several others. They still need to improve at catcher, 2B, and in their pitching both in the starter role and in the pen. Meche is their only proven starter but Greinke can be very good if he gets his head back on straight and Bannister showed flashes of being a very nice starter. I don’t see what signing Tomko does for the team other than add someone that can throw some innings. Soria the closer looked good last year but the rest of the bullpen with the exception of Gobble could stand an upgrade. It will be interesting to see what Trey Hillman can do with this bunch, he never played in the major leagues but he has been a very good manager in Japan for a number of years.
Detroit Tigers – Maybe the best hitting team in baseball this year and they have Jim Leyland to lead them. After they acquired Cabrera and Willis from Florida this winter, most everyone has conceded the division title to Detroit in 2008. They are solid in every position but the broken finger that Granderson suffered will hurt the team in April. I see Granderson as a leader and sparkplug on this team and they need him back as quickly as possible. The weak link on this Tiger team is the bullpen where they miss Zumaya terribly and there is not guarantee when and if he will be back. Their old closer and former Twin Todd Jones gets the job done but it is seldom pretty. There used to be an old Baltimore closer, I forget his name and Earl Weaver his manager used to call him two pack so and so because Weaver would go through two packs of smokes in the ninth inning waiting for this pitcher to get the side out and the save.
The Cleveland Indians are picked by some to defend their Central title this year. From a hitting perspective this team is almost as good as Detroit and that is with Travis Hafner having an off season. If he comes back strong, this is a team that will be in the hunt all year long. You throw in a pitching staff led by CC Sabathia and Fausto Carmona and the pitching is looking pretty good. The remaining starters are likely to be Jake Westbrook, Paul Bryd who is no spring chicken and throws slow and slower and Cliff Lee figures to come back after a disastrous season in 2007. Strangely enough, just like the Tigers, the Indians have a closer that never makes it looks easy but seems to get the job done in Joe Borowski.
Finally we get to Minnesota, at first blush it is easy to say that the Twins are in trouble, after all, they lost Johan Santana and Torii Hunter the two biggest stars on the team. But let’s not be so quick to give up on this team, they should be improved from a hitting perspective. I think Delmon Young will do as well as Hunter did although with fewer home runs. Mauer, Morneau, and Cuddyer should be expected to put up better numbers then they did last year. Harris is an improvement over what we had at 2B last year and the same can be said for 3B with Lamb. What appears to be a platoon at DH should be better with Kubel and Monroe but personally I would like to see Kubel earn that position outright. Gomez in center will be exciting to watch but you will need to be happy if he hits .265 and steals a bunch of bases. Everett is a glove guy but I think he will surprise a few people with his bat too. But can they pitch you say? That sir is the question; can the elderly Livan Hernandez still get guys out for 200 innings one more time? Can Liriano come back like he pitched in 2006? Can Boof can over the hump and throw 200 innings? Can Baker stand up to a full season on the mound? Is Slowey a young Radke? Time will tell but the Twins are counting very heavily on this bunch of starters. If the starters can be just half way decent, then the Twins bullpen and Nathan the closer will do their job and the Twins will be sitting pretty. Can they catch the ball? Not as well as they have in the past I’m afraid as they are weak at 2B and 3B. The outfielders all have great arms although Gomez may not always throw it where he wants to. All in all, I think the Twins will be an exciting team to watch.
So when we look at the final scoreboard standings in October, what will we see? I think it will look like this.
Tigers 98-64
Indians 96-66
Royals 84-78
Twins 80-82
White Sox 76-86
Championship Washington Senators Teams
March 22, 2008 – The Washington Senators who became the Minnesota Twins in 1961 certainly had more losing seasons then they had winning seasons between the time they started as a charter member team of the American League in 1901 and when they played their final game as the Washington Senators on October 2, 1960. During their 60 years as the Senators and Nationals, they compiled a 4,223 – 4,864 record while fielding winning teams in only 18 of their 60 years. Their best seasons were:
1924 – The Nationals won the AL pennant with a 92-62 record and went on to win their first and only World Series championship by beating the New York Giants 4 games to 3.
1925 – The Nats won the pennant for the second year in a row finishing the season 96-55 record. They played the Pittsburgh Pirates in the fall classic and took a 3 games to 1 lead before losing 3 straight and the series 4 games to 3 and became the first team to lose the World Series after taking a 3 games to one lead in a seven game series.
1933 – The Nationals won the pennant with a 99-53 record and went on to lose the World Series in 5 games to the New York Giants in what turned out to be their final World Series appearance while in Washington.
The Washington teams had many exciting players and we will touch on many of them in the future. The Senators/Nationals had several Hall of Famers that played on their pennant winning teams such as RHP Stan Coveleski (1925-1927), SS Joe Cronin (1928-1934), OF Goose Goslin (1921-1930, 1933, 1938), OF Heinie Manush 1930-1935), OF Sam Rice from 1915-1933, and the incomparable RHP Walter (Big Train) Johnson who pitched for Washington from 1907-1927 compiling a record of 417-279 and winning 60% of his games for a team that only won 49.2% of their games. During his time with the Washington Nationals, he won 27% of the teams total games.
Steroid and HGH Thoughts
February 20, 2008 – Now that pitchers and catchers have reported to all the training camps it seems like you can read a new apology every couple of hours on the Internet. There are all kinds of excuses from “I used it to help heal an injury” to “I apologize but I am not going to say for what”. Bottom line is that all these guys cheated, but to be fair we all know that there has been cheating taking place in baseball forever from the spitball, to the corked bats, to the gouged ball, and the pine tar on the balls and bats. But the steroids and HGH controversy seems to be on a higher level, the public looks on this as a dishonest act versus the other kinds of day to day baseball cheating that we all laugh about when we talk about Gaylord Perry, George Brett, or even Sammy Sosa. I guess we consider the corked bats and the foreign substance on the ball as part of the game but steroids and HGH go beyond what most of us can accept as the little white lies that we all tell and do every day from going 65 on a freeway marked for 55, or maybe taking a tax deduction we are not entitled to, or keeping that extra $10 that was given to us as change by mistake.
So what do we do about this situation? It is a heck of a mess but all we can do now I think is learn from the experience and strive to never let it happen again. There is no point in going back and putting an asterisk next to the various baseball records, you sure can’t go back and change the league standings or take away a World Series trophy. Having said that, in my mind Henry Aaron is still the home run champ, not that chump Barry Bonds who could not carry Hammerin Hanks jock strap on his best day.
The players that have been documented as cheaters should be punished in some way. There are a couple of ways to look at this, we could suspend them and punish their teams and ultimately us fans as well but I am not sure that is the answer. These players cheated so that they could be better, bigger, stronger, and make more money in the game. They didn’t cheat because it would help their team win; they cheated because it would help them personally. So to that end I think baseball should fine each of these players (not the teams) $1 million dollars each and that money should be donated to the local children’s hospitals in the area. If these players were truly sorry for what they did, they would step forth and do the right thing on their own before the league knocks on their door to ask them for their generous donation. Sure, $1 million sounds steep but we need to send a message and hitting the pocketbook is the best way to accomplish that. I think these players probably got an extra million or two along the way due to the steroids and HGH benefits anyway so it seems like a fair deal to me. OK, so who is going to be the first player to step up and do right by us baseball fans?
I have had about all I can take of this steroid and HGH bull and I am ready to read and talk about baseball games and put this steroid and HGH affair on the back burner. PLAY BALL!
Santana now a New York Met
February 1, 2008 – So the Twins have traded Santana to the Mets and in return acquired 22 year old outfielder Carlos Gomez, and right handed pitchers Philip Humber, also 25, Kevin Mulvey who is 22 along with 18 year old Deolis Guerra. Although the final numbers have not yet come out, it sounds like the deal may be for 7 years and $150 million. Wow, Johan is the best pitcher in baseball but I see this as a huge risk for the Mets, seven years is a long time and that golden arm could get weary and sore before 7 years comes and goes.
If the Yankees offered Hughes and Cabrera and a bag of balls I would have much preferred that deal to this deal with the Mets. As for the Red Sox offer, I am not sure that Ellsbury has proven himself just yet so I have no problem passing on that deal. We will never know if the Yankees or the Red Sox actually offered the players that were rumored. As a Twins executive told me this week-end, it takes two teams to make a deal. I interpret that to mean that maybe the Yankees and Reds Sox deals weren’t the names that were so often bandied about because I can’t believe that the Twins would pass on a deal that included Hughes and Cabrera.
This deal with the Mets bothers me because there are no sure fire players that we can just plug in the line-up now. Force feed Gomez in CF to start? Maybe, maybe later in the season. The Twins can still be a fun team to watch this year but they can’t compete with the Tigers or the Indians. I think the Twins can play with the mighty Whities and the Royals but the Royals can be tough if their pitching shows up.
The Twins need to solidify their pitching and they could go a long ways down that road if Liriano can came back strong but that is a lot to hope for in 2008, and more likely to happen in 2009. Can Baker, Slowey or Bonser step up and fill the 2 through 4 spots? That leaves the final spot up for grabs between Blackburn, Perkins, and Humber. I would love to see Perkins in the rotation but with his history I am not sure he can stay healthy throwing that many innings. It is hard to be real confident in these guys and I am thinking we will get some good starts and a number of bad starts from this group as they learn.
So, if that is the case, why not do the same thing with the position players and try this line-up? Casilla leads off at 2B followed by Mauer catching, Young hitting third in left, Morneau bats cleanup and plays 1B, the right fielder Cuddyer bats fifth and the six hole is filled by DH Kubel, Lamb the 3B bats 8th and Everett hits 9th. Why not give Casilla and Gomez a shot and see if they can handle the job and learn how to play in the big leagues. With questionable pitching we can’t afford to give up any extra outs so we need strong defense up the middle and Gomez and Casilla should fill the bill. Plus, these guys should steal 90-100 bases between them. The Twins hitting this year will surprise some people. Mauer should bounce back big after an injury plagued season, the newly acquired Young can be a RBI machine, Morneau can improve, Kubel is just starting to get comfortable and I look for a big improvement with Jason. Lamb will add some power to the lineup and I think Everett will surprise a lot of people with his hitting.
My biggest concern with the Twins is their bullpen because I can see it getting over worked with the inconsistent starting pitching. I think Gardenhire and his coaches will earn their pay this year as they guide this young team through the season.
As for the other teams? This deal helps the Red Sox because they keep all their chips and don’t have to face Santana as a Yankee. They still need to move Crisp and I would not mind seeing him in Minnesota for a year or so while Gomez gains experience and learns the Twins ways in Rochester. The Yankees are hurt big time by this deal because now the Mets have the best pitcher in baseball across town and the Yankees still have to go into the season with either the old goat or the kindergarten pitching staff and neither option will end up being very appealing.
“The Last of the Pure Baseball Men”
January 12, 2008 – On October 26, 1960, Calvin Griffith, President of the Washington Senators, made the historic decision to move his club to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, thereby giving birth to the “Minnesota Twins,” named after the two Upper Midwest cities. Won the American League pennant in 1965; however, they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series that year. Voted “Major League Executive of the Year” – 1965. Reputed to be “one of baseball’s most astute judges of raw talent”; in 1964, he discovered and signed Rod Carew a second baseman and one of the most famous of former Twins players. On June 23, 1984, prominent local businessman Carl Pohlad stepped forward and signed an agreement in principle to purchase the team for $32 million from Griffith and his sister, Mrs. Thelma Griffith Haynes, and keep the Twins in Minnesota. On September 7, 1984 the deal was finalized ending an era of 72 years in which the Griffith family controlled the ball club. On October 20, 1999, the man who brought big league baseball to Minnesota died at the age of 87. Calvin Griffith died in his retirement home in Melbourne, Florida, of kidney infection.
I had an opportunity to do a telephone interview with Calvin in the late 1980’s when I was taking some classes at North Hennepin Community College and I need to interview an executive so I choose Calvin Griffith. I got his number from the phone directory and gave him a call in Florida. Calvin answered the phone and I told him who I was and why I was calling and he could not have been any nicer. I don’t know if he was lonely or just loved talking about baseball but he did not want to hang up the phone. We talked about his career and the state of baseball and it was one of the most fun class assignments I ever had. By the time we had this conversation, he and Carl Pohlad had some kind of a falling out and Calvin was bitter about how Pohlad and the Twins were treating him but the man still knew and loved baseball and nothing and no one could keep him away from the game he loved. I had told him about the time when the Met was being readied to be demolished and the Twins had a huge auction of everything and anything that was still left and how I had ended up somehow in the bowels of the old Met and stood outside an office door where Calvin and his cronies were telling old baseball stories, smoking cigars and tipping a few cold drinks. Those were some great stories but many could not be repeated in public today. How the times have changed, I have to wonder what Calvin Griffith was say about the steroid and HGH controversy of today.
If any of you are interested in knowing more about Calvin and the impact he had on baseball in Minnesota, find a copy of “Calvin – Baseball’s Last Dinosaur” by Jon Kerr, it is a fun read. I have a copy signed by both Calvin and Jon sitting on my bookcase and I take it out now and then and read a chapter or two.
Twins Need to Move Forward!
January 11, 2008 – Here it is January 11 and Johan Santana is still a Twin. Don’t get me wrong, I would like to see Johan wear a Twins uniform his entire career but in reality we know that is not going to happen. The Twins have stated that they would like to sign Johan but giving him a 4 year extension for $80 million but I just don’t see that happening. That means that they either trade him now or at the trading deadline or they let him walk and get nothing in return. Letting him walk and getting nothing does not make sense for a team that is dependent on promoting from within. Waiting to make a deal at the trading deadline is risky business, maybe they get more or they get less then they can get today. But what would happen if the Twins were in contention at the trading deadline, what message would that send to both the players and the fans if they sent Johan packing then? That would just paint the Twins in a corner. It just makes sense to move Santana now and be done with it. The Twins also need to make a decision on center field and hopefully that problem goes away in any trade they make for Johan.
The Mets seem to have interest in Santana and the names that have been tossed around are Carlos Gomez, Fernando Martinez, Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra. Gomez is a 21 year old top notch Mets prospect that some say could be another Carl Crawford type of player. But is he ready to play in the bigs this year? The Mets seem to think no. Martinez , only 19 years of age, played in the eastern league last year and is nowhere near ready for the majors but is considered a top prospect, maybe the Mets top prospect. Humber, 25, a right hander and a former first round selection is in contention for a spot in the Mets rotation but has no real big league experience to speak of and has had Tommy John surgery in his recent past. Mulvey, 21 and right handed had a cup of coffee at the AAA level and is also in contention for a spot in the Mets rotation this year. Guerra who will not be 19 until April is a 6’5” right hander with 1 year of pro ball experience.
The Yankees keep changing their mind from day to day as to their status in the Santana hunt. I don’t buy that, the Yankees need starting pitching and I don’t think they want to start the season with that much youth in the rotation. The Yankees have supposedly offered Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, and some other low level prospects. The Twins want Ian Kennedy included in the package but so far the Yanks have said “no deal”. Hughes, 20 and right handed is a strapping 6’5” and is projected to be a star in the near future and will start the season in the Yankee rotation assuming he is not traded to Minnesota. Cabrera, a switch hitting 23 year old already has several years of ML experience and will probably never be a super star but can fill the center field hole for the Twins.
The Red Sox seem to be playing it close to the vest and have offered Coco Crisp, Jon Lester, Justin Masterson and Jed Lowrie. .Masterson is a 23 year old right hander who stands 6’6” and reaches 94 on the radar gun now and then. Some scouts say that long term he will make a better reliever then a starter. Lowrie is a 24 year old shortstop that some scouts say will end up as a 2B in the majors. Range is average but his throwing accuracy has been questioned. Lowrie played in the Arizona Fall league this past season but was not impressive with 1 home run and a .163 batting average in 98 at bats. Lester, a feel good story who has beaten cancer, is a 24 year old lefty who is 11-2 in 26 starts for the Red Sox the last 2 years and has a decent strike out to innings pitched ratio. Crisp is 28 and is a switch hitting lead off type hitter who can steal 25-30 bases for the Twins and play a nice center field. Although his average has been in the .260 range the last two years, Coco is a nice player that needs to get out of Boston. The Twins want Jacoby Ellsbury instead of Crisp but Boston is resisting sending the young prospect and World Series hero to Minnesota in the same package with Lester. The Red Sox also have Clay Buchholz who the Twins would take in a second but Boston is not even talking about him.
So, what should the Twins do? First off we eliminate the Mets deal since they are not offering any immediate line-up help although down the line this might be a good deal for the Twins. That brings it back to the Yankees and the Red Sox. Although I like Crisp to play center and Lester can crack the Twins rotation, I would pass on the Red Sox deal simply because they are NOT offering their top prospects in Ellsbury and Buchholz and they want the top pitcher in baseball in return. I would go to Boston just before I take the Yankee deal and tell them if they want Santana before we send him to the Yankees that you need to give up Crisp, Buchholz, and Lester. The reason I say Crisp instead of Ellsbury is that Ellsbury has not proven himself over a full year at the major league level. If the Red Sox say “no”, then I have no problem going to the Yankees and taking their offer of Hughes, Cabrera, and a minor leaguer or two. I plug Hughes into the Twins rotation and put Cabrera in center and we are ready to play some baseball. Then the only hole is at 2B but maybe Punto and Harris can platoon there and fill that slot. Come on Twins, let’s get this deal done!
Are you listening?
December 26, 2007 – OK, Twins management, I give up, what is your big plan to make the Twins competitive this year? The Twins preach pitching and defense and now you sign Mike Lamb to play 3B. I can see signing a 3B that is not a strong fielder if he is going to hit 30 or more home runs and knock in 100+ runs, but a 32 year platoon player who committed 33 errors at 3B in Texas when the Rangers tried to give him a full time job back in 2000? The day before you acquired Lamb you signed Adam Everett because he was a stellar shortstop and now you plan on putting Lamb next to him? Lamb has not been a regular in the past because he has proven he cannot play 3B. The Astros were desperate for a 3B in 2007 and yet Lamb was not given the job full time, you have to ask why!
It is so frustrating for me as a Twins fan to see the Twins just like clockwork throw a few bucks each spring at several free agent players that no other team seems to be interested in. Why not pool that money, throw a little more in the pot and go out and sign a real free agent that fills a hole and can play! This year the Twins have already lost Torii Hunter and. Johan Santana will be traded soon and Joe Nathan may follow. How can you with a straight face say we are not rebuilding? The Twins have a number of good young players and should be looking to fill holes to become more competitive with teams like the Tigers who have reloaded, Kansas City that is getting stronger, and the Indians who are looking to upgrade their outfield. Sure, I like the trade with Tampa, but that did nothing to fill holes at 3B, 2B, and CF and actually created a hole at SS.
Twins ownership has been saying for years that if they got that new stadium it would generate more revenue flow and we will be able to be more competitive in signing players. Mr. Pohlad, signing the Everett’s and Lamb’s of the world does not qualify. Now as I sit here in Plymouth and look east towards downtown Minneapolis I see a new stadium going up and Twins salaries going down. Tell me sir why that is the case. You want to own a major league ball club, then start acting like a major league owner. You are the richest MLB owner on the Forbes 400 list with about $2 billion in you coffers, spend a couple million (maybe sell one of your lots on Lake Minnetonka) and make the Twins the competitive team they should be. I am a baseball fan and as pathetic as it may sound, I will still go out and buy my season tickets and keep cheering for the Twins but I gotta say this Carl, you are tearing my heart out. You keep raising the Twins ticket prices year after year and who knows what they will be in 2010 when the new stadium opens. It does however; appear that you are raising ticket prices as much as you can each year before the new ballpark opens so that when the new park becomes a reality you can do a modicum increase and tell us all how little you are raising the price of the tickets at the new ballpark. It is appropriate then at this time of the year Mr. Pohlad that you look in the mirror, and then I want you to tell me that you really are not Minnesota’s Ebenezer Scrooge.