Month: December 2011

Jason Kubel moves on too

Jason Kubel

The Twins lost another free agent when outfielder/DH Jason Kubel, 29, signed on with the Arizona Diamondbacks for two years and $15 million with an option for 2014. The left-handed Kubel has been in the Twins organization since he was drafted by Minnesota in the 12th round of the 2000 amateur draft. Kubel has played in 753 games for the Twins over seven seasons between 2004 – 2011. Jason sat out the entire 2005 season due to a broken ankle. Kubel’s best season was in 2009 when he hit .300 with 28 home runs and 103 RBI’s. Like may other Twins, Kubel was injured in 2011 and appeared in only 99 games. Kubel made $5.25 million in 2011 and was not a fan of Target Field so I think moving on was a top priority for Jason.

If you check some of the D-Back blogs like Call to the Pen, this is not being looked on very well by some Arizona fans who feel that the D-Backs over paid for Kubel and feel that the Arizonans already have a solid outfield trio in Jason Upton, Chris Young, and Gerardo Parra. So it will be interesting to see how Kubel will fit in, then again maybe Arizona just signed Kubel to move him elsewhere in a deal. Parra seems to be the most likely to losing playing time with Kubel’s arrival in the desert.

I liked Kubel but I saw him primarily as a DH and did not like him as an outfielder and I would not have liked to see Minnesota pay him $7.5 million either. It looks like Kubel and Michael Cuddyer will be playing against each other on a regular basis now since they are both in the NL West.Good luck in Arizona Jason.

Michael Cuddyer agrees to become a Rockie

 

Well, it is pretty much official, Micheal Cuddyer has agreed to join the Colorado Rockies. I know that $31.5 million over three years for Cuddyer is more than the Twins could afford and if I was in the Twins shoes I would have done the same thing. They threw $24-$25 million on the table and hoped that Michael would take it but they knew deep down that he would get better offers. Cuddyer is just not a great fit for the Twins the way things sit right now. I don’t blame Cuddyer at all, he was smart to take the extra $6 or $7 million dollars and move on. I give credit to the Twins for saying they were still in on the Cuddyer hunt after signing Josh Willingham, I’m sure they were just doing Michael a favor to keep the bidding up.

Michael Cuddyer is not the greatest player the Twins have ever put on the field but I think he was one of the most professional and likeable players that the Twins have ever had on and off the field. I will miss seeing Michael in that familiar number 5 as will many other Twins fans and I hope that our paths cross again soon.I thank Micheal Cuddyer for his years of Twins service and I wish he and his family the very best in what ever the future may hold for them.

This Day in Twins History – December 16, 2002

David Ortiz

The Minnesota Twins released 1B David Ortiz on this day back in 2002 to make room on the roster for shortstop Jose Morban, who was selected from Texas in the major league draft. Morban never appeared in a Twins uniform in the big leagues. The unheralded Ortiz was picked up by the Boston Red Sox as a free agent on January 22, 2003, for whom he has developed as one of the most accomplished sluggers in the game. In his six years with Minnesota between 1997 and 2002 Ortiz appeared in 455 games for the Twins and hit .266 with 58 home runs. With the Red Sox between 2003 and the present the left-handed slugging DH/1B Ortiz has hit .289 with 320 home runs in 1,287 games and he has made the All-Star team seven times in his nine seasons in Beantown. This has to go down as one of the Minnesota Twins worst moves ever and certainly not one of the best moves that Terry Ryan has made as the Twins GM.

Twins sign Towles and Pearce to minor league deals

I don’t usually spend a lot of time blogging about Twins minor league free agent signings because most of the time these players are often signed as a favor to someone, or to fill some empty roster slots at a AAA level and because they will probably never put on a Twins uniform in a game that counts. However; the Twins signing of Burroughs yesterday and the two announced today have tweaked my interest.

J.R. Towles

The first is catcher J.R. Towles who will be 28 in February and has been in organized ball as a catcher since he was drafted by the Houston Astros back in the 20th round in 2004. Towles had a break-out season in A ball in 2006 when he hit .317 and slugged 12 home runs, knocked in 55 and stole 13 bases. In 2007 Towles started in A ball, moved up to AA, on to AAA and got called up for his first big league action with the Astros in September where he hit .374 in 14 games and had 8 RBI’s in one game. Playing at four different levels in one season is unusual. The right-handed hitting Towles then seemed to forget how to hit and only saw partial big league time with Houston between 2008 and 2011 because he hit .137, .188, .191, and .184. Now the Astros have a hot new catching prospect in Jason Castro and the Stro’s no longer have a need for Towles. I think this is a good addition for the Twins because Towles is only 28, he has 148 games of big league experience spread over five seasons and a change of scenery might be just the thing that gets J.R. Towles going again. I would not be a bit surprised if you see Towles wearing a Twins uniform at some point this season and possibly taking Drew Butera’s job as the back-up catcher. By the way, J.R. stands for Justin Richard.

The other interesting addition is 1B/outfielder Steve Pearce who has been in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization since they drafted him in the 8th round in 2005. Pearce has shown power in the minors hitting 25 or more home runs in both 2006 and 2007. Steve Pearce debuted with the Pirates in September of 2007 and has been with the big club off and on ever since but he has not been able to snag a full-time playing gig. So why should we care about a guy that will be 29 in April and can’t win a starting job with a team that has not been on the plus sign of .500 for 19 seasons? Again, Pearce is leaving his first organization and power hitters don’t grow on trees, at least they don’t in Twins territory. He will certainly start the season in Rochester who could use some help themselves but if things don’t pan out for Justin Morneau in his quest to get healthy and the Twins need a 1B, this man might just fight the bill, at least on a fill-in basis.

Both guys have invites to spring training and it will be interesting to see what these guys can show us. I like these moves Mr. Ryan! If nothing else, these moves will make Rochester a lot more competitive.

Twins sign Sean Burroughs and Rene Rivera

Rene Rivera

The Twins announced that they have signed free agents 3B Sean Burroughs and catcher Rene Rivera to minor league deals and gave both spring training invites. Rene Rivera is someone we are all familiar with as he was with the Twins this past season as part of the catching group that tried to cover the games that Joe Mauer was not able to play. Rivera played in 35 games and had 15 hits in 104 at bats giving him a .144 batting average. Rivera is only in camp because there are lots of pitchers that need to be caught and he has zero chance of making the Twins team in 2012 unless of course Joe Mauer and Ryan Doumit coming up missing between now and February.

Sean Burroughs

The signing of 3B Sean Burroughs, 31,  is kind of interesting and his baseball career has had some twists and turns. Let’s us go back to the beginning, Sean is the son of former 1974 AL MVP Jeff Burroughs and he was the star of the Long Beach Little league team that won back-to-back world championships in 1992 and 1993 with his Dad as the coach. Sean was selected 9th overall in 1998 by the San Diego Padres out of high school. San Diego was able to convince Burroughs to forego a scholarship to USC and sign with the club. When the Padres completed spring training in 2002, Sean Burroughs was their starting 3B. Although Burroughs hit for average he did not display the kind of power hat everyone usually expects out of the 3B position. After 4 years in San Diego Burroughs had hit just 11 home runs. After the 2005 season Burroughs was traded to Tampa Bay but they released him in August of 2006. Burroughs then signed on with the Seattle Mariners but he never made the big league club and by June he was released and out of baseball. Substance abuse was taking its toll on Sean Burroughs and he found himself in Las Vegas staying in the cheapest hotels he could find and now and then having to eat out of garbage cans. Luckily, Burroughs was able to straighten out his life, regain sobriety and sign a contract with the Arizona D-Backs in November in 2010 and by May 19, 2011 a little over 5 years since his last big league at bat, Sean Burroughs was back playing major league baseball.

Burroughs is a left-handed hitter and stand 6’2″ and goes about 180 lbs. It would be nice to see Sean Burroughs continue to rise from the depths of desperation by becoming an All-Star player in Minnesota but we need to be realistic here. The man is 31 years old and was out of baseball for over 5 years before signing with Arizona last season. The Twins have signed Burroughs to push Danny Valencia a bit and if worse comes to worse, Burroughs might be the guy that the Twins can plug in at 3B for a time. Sure, nuggets are sometimes found but more often than not, there are reasons why players like Burroughs are not stars. But it is fun to wish and to hope, particularly during the holiday season but I think we have to look at Burroughs as insurance, we all hate to pay for insurance but we all need to have it because you never know when you will need. Didn’t Yogi Berra say that? You can’t help but root for someone who is working to get his life back and I wish him the best and if he can help the Twins, so much the better.

 

Twins reportedly ready to sign Josh Willingham

ESPN has reported that the Twins are about to sign 32-year-old free agent outfielder Josh Willingham. Joe Christensen of the Star Tribune is reporting the deal is for 3 years and $21 million. Willingham pocketed $6 million this past season in Oakland. The right-handed hitting Willingham has been in the majors for 8 seasons playing for the Marlins from 2004 – 2008, the Nationals in 2009 -2010 and the Oakland A’s this past season. Willingham hit a career high of 29 home runs for the A’s and knocked in 98 but also hit a career low .246 last season with 150 strikeouts but he did post a .361 OBP.

If this report of Willingham agreeing to a deal with the Twins is accurate, it would appear that the Twins are not going to meet Michael Cuddyer’s reported request for $30 million for 3 years as recent reports have the Twins offering Cuddyer $24 or $25 million. There were reports all day today that Willingham wanted to get a deal done in the next 24-48 hours and that kind of put he pressure on the Twins to do something as they did not want to find themselves in a position of getting neither Cuddyer nor Willingham.

Willingham is not great defensively so the logical position for him is left field but Willingham did play 35 games in right for the Nationals back in 2009. If Willingham is indeed in left, it appears to me the Twins will play Span in center and probably Doumit in right with Revere filling in center and left as needed. The Twins could go with Revere in center and Span in right but I just don’t see that happening too often. Plouffe is probably the fifth outfielder playing left and right field as needed.

Michael Cuddyer

I am thinking that Cuddyer may have over played his hand if he wanted to come back to Minnesota and was hoping that the Twins would raise their offer. The Twins called his bluff and now Cuddyer may have to settle for what he can get from the Rockies but there are now reports that the Marlins might be interested too. The Twins picked up a little more power with Willingham but they lose a good player with more position flexibility. It all goes back to losing 99 games, changes need to be made. The Twins also save $3-5 million over 3 years by going with Willingham versus Cuddyer. In the mean time, former Twins outfielder and DH Jason Kubel sits out there waiting for his turn to come up.

UPDATE December 14 – The Minnesota Twins have finally made the Josh Willingham deal official — a three-year, $21 million contract is a done deal.

A chat with Steve Braun

Stephen Russell Braun was born in Trenton, New Jersey on May 8, 1948. Straight out of high school, Braun was drafted and signed by the Twins for a $5,000 bonus as a shortstop coming out of the 10th round of the June 1966 amateur draft. Braun, who batted left-handed and threw right-handed played 751 games for the Twins from 1971 – 1976 hitting .284 with a .376 OBP while playing every where but on the mound and behind the plate. After leaving the Twins, Steve went on to play for the Seattle Mariners, Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays, and the St. Louis Cardinals where he played in the 1982 and 1985 World Series.

Today Steve Braun lives in Lawrenceville, New Jersey and runs the Steve Braun Baseball School. When Steve is not teaching baseball skills, you can probably find him at the golf course playing a game he has enjoyed since his childhood.

To learn more about Steve Braun and his baseball career and to listen to an interview with Steve, just click here.

50 best players not in the Hall of Fame

Baseball: Past and Present is a wonderful blog site that writes about the national pastime and its history has published his second annual look at “the 50 best players that are not yet in the baseball Hall of Fame”. Due to a mix-up on my part, I did not get my votes submitted in time this year but I look forward to participating again next year. It is a fun look at the players that many of us have grown up watching and some that were “a bit before our time”. There are several former Minnesota Twins on the list and it is interesting to see how others view these former Twins as possible hall of famers. If you have a few minutes, check out Graham Womack’s (a fellow BBA member) work entitled “The 50 best players not on the Hall of Fame, version 2.0. I think you will find it worth your time.

If I was Michael Cuddyer

I can’t help but wonder what is going on with Michael Cuddyer. The winter meetings have wrapped up and the Twins still sit back and wait for a decision from Michael Cuddyer. Terry Ryan and Ron Gardenhire have made it pretty clear that they are chasing Cuddyer but apparently Cuddyer does not want to be caught. Yes, I know that his wife had twins earlier this week but are you telling me that they have not sat down and discussed a possible signing scenario before now?The numbers that are floating around that the Twins have supposedly offered the Twins former right-fielder are 3 years for $24 or $25 million. So I will put myself in Michael’s shoes and tell you what I may be thinking.

I have been in the Twins organization since 1998 and in the big leagues with the Twins since 2001. I will be 33 years old before the 2012 season kicks off and this just might be my last chance to sign a multi-year deal for significant dollars. Last year I made $10.5 million, $9.4 million in 2010, and $7.6 million in 2009. Between 2004 and 2011 (excluding my injury plagued year in 2008 when I only played in 71 games) I have averaged 141 games per year playing all over the field except catcher and shortstop and in 2011 I was the only Twins player selected to participate in the 2011 All-Star game. My wife and I work our butts off for the Twins Community Fund, I give up lots of my own personal time to interact with the fans, I never turn down an autograph request  and I see myself as a leader in the Twins clubhouse. My team sucked in 2011 and a number of players were hurt but some of them didn’t work all that hard to get back on the field, others just plain quit playing and some of the youngsters the Twins brought up had no business being in the big leagues yet. I play hurt because I know that the team needs my right-handed bat in the line-up and because I want to win. The Twins lost 99 games and changes need to happen, I understand that and I am all for it. I know we had a payroll of $113 million last year and we almost became the second team in history to lose 100 games with a $100+ million payroll and now management expects revenue to drop in 2012 so payroll has to drop accordingly, I get that too. What I have a problem with is why I should I take a pay cut for a team that lost 99 games when I was out there day in and day out working my butt off. Why should I have to take a pay cut from $27.5 million the last three years to $25 million? At this stage of my career I want a ring, what are my chances of getting a ring in Minnesota in the next two or three years? I have to think they might be better somewhere else. At first, I thought that Philly was a nice landing spot but it appears that has fallen through but now I am hearing that the Rockies might come across with a 3 year deal that could trump Minnesota’s offer and hitting in Colorado might be fun, but can they win a ring for me? We love Minnesota and we are comfortable living and playing there but damn, I feel like the Twins and the Twins fans just don’t appreciate what I have done here. To many it is all about dollars and cents but I am a human being and I should be valued for what I have brought to the table. I always knew that baseball was a business, but it is a hard and cruel business at times. Albert Pujols just signed a huge $250 million 10-year deal and he will be 32 in a couple of weeks. Is Pujols being paid this princely sum for what he will do or what he did in the past? I know, I know, I am no Albert Pujols but the comparison is he same, should I be paid for what I have done for the Twins in the past or what I will do in the future? I would hope a little of both but right now I am not feeling the Twins love so let’s just hold on for a while and see what else shakes out. Maybe it is time for me to see if the Twins have as much flexibility as I have shown them in the past.

For many of us fans and bloggers it is all about wins, we tend to forget that the players are real people with real families and real problems of their own. We tend to think of them as an inanimate object that we can discard if we find something better. We pull a dollar figure out of out butts and we say that player X is worth X amount of dollars but then again we don’t have to pull out our own wallets and turn over cold hard cash to pay the player salaries. We sometimes get too enamoured with players we see less frequently and we see all the warts on the home town players just because we see them day in and day out.

Cuddyer was originally drafted as a shortstop by the Twins in the first round (ninth over all) of the June 1997 amateur draft and signed with the Twins shortly there after. Cuddyer worked his way up the minor league chain and made his big league debut with the Twins on September 23, 2001 as the DH at the Metrodome. Cuddyer has been with the Twins for 11 seasons now and has been a fixture in right field playing 670 games there but he has also played 210 games at 1B and 171 games at 3B not to mention 79 games at 2B and his lone relief appearance on the mound in 2011. The only positions Cuddy has not played is catcher and ironically shortstop, the position that he was drafted to play back in 1997. Although Cuddyer may not be a superstar, he has been a very valuable part of the Twins organization for a long time. When I think of Michael Cuddyer, I see him as a true professional, he does what ever it takes to win and he represents the Minnesota Twins as well as anyone ever has and that includes Harmon Killebrew. Cuddyer and his wife are also very active in the community and the Twins Community Fund. I have seen Cuddyer interact with baseball fans during spring training and no one does a better job at that than Michael does and he talks with everyone. The Twins organization and Twins fans will miss Michael Cuddyer if he choses to sign elsewhere, I know I will, but then again the money to pay Cuddy does not come out of my pocket.

UPDATE as of December 16 – The Colorado Rockies have agreed to sign Michael Cuddyer to a three-year, $31.5 million deal, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com

Albert Pujols becomes an Angel, but not in my eyes

It is all but official the way I see it, 1B Albert Pujols, soon be 32, has left the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals to sign a 10 year deal worth in excess of $250 million with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. As a long time fan of baseball I find this signing disgusting, I hate what baseball and baseball players have become, money hungry mercenaries. I know, I know that this is baseball in 2011 but that does not mean that I have to like it and as a baseball fan I have a right to express my feelings.

Pujols has been a Cardinal icon for 11 years and to see him forget his roots and take the Angels deal for a few million dollars more than the Cardinals were supposedly offering makes me sick. The man has banked over $104 million dollars in career earnings with the Cards and now he drops his allegiance like a hot potato. We have all heard it before, but how much money does a person really need? I have seen where Albert Pujols has done a lot of community work but actions speak louder than words and his decision to leave St. Louis, a great baseball city for a few dollars more shows me nothing but greed, straight out-and-out greed. How else can you explain it to me?

When you think of the Cardinals of the current era you think of Pujols, same as you think of Jeter or Mantle  with the Yankees, Puckett with the Twins, Banks as a Cub, or Ripken with the Orioles, that is the way it should be. It killed me to see Harmon Killebrew as a Royal, Carew as an Angel, Wade Boggs as a Devil Ray or Steve Carlton as a Twin, that is just plain wrong and to me Pujols should have stayed a Cardinal. This is not a new problem, it has been going on for a long time but it seems to be getting worse.

Baseball should come up with something like a “franchise icon” label that will allow teams to keep a true icon player as a member of their organization during their entire playing career. I am not saying they should not be fairly compensated, I am sure something could be worked out that would be fair for everyone but come up with a plan that will allow teams to keep their icons where they belong. There are a lot of smart baseball people out there, come up with a plan that will allow fans to once again be allowed to grow old with their baseball heroes.