Month: March 2017

Who was this guy?

This pitcher was signed by the Kansas City Royals as an amateur free agent but released just 10 months later. The Cincinnati Reds signed him as a free agent only to lose him to the Minnesota Twins four years later in the Rule 5 draft. He made his major league debut on Opening Day for the Minnesota Twins at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in the eighth inning with the Twins trailing the A’s 7-5. The Twins scored in the top of the ninth inning to tie the ball game when Willie Norwood pinch-hit for Rob Wilfong and delivered a single to left to score two base runners and send the game into extra innings. 

Neither team scored until the 12th inning when both Roy Smalley and Rick Sofield hit home runs for the visiting Twins while the A’s were held scoreless in the bottom of the 12th inning sending A’s fans home disappointed. The pitcher you are trying to identify pitched the last 5 innings for Minnesota and held the A’s scoreless allowing just one hit and striking out six. This pitcher is the only pitcher in Twins history to be credited with a win while making his major league debut on an Opening Day. Do you know who this pitcher is?

The great pennant race of 1967 – part 3 – the rookies, Chance, Versalles and payroll could reach $700K

The Minnesota Twins were unable to defend their 1965 championship season and finished 1966 with a 89-73 record in second place behind the World Champion Baltimore Orioles. The team was out to make amends in 1967 and get back to the World Series.

Tinker Field

In late March of 1967 the Minnesota Twins like every other team in the ten team American League was getting ready to wind down spring training at Tinker Field in Orlando, Florida and prepare for the long season ahead. The soon to be 1967 Minnesota Twins were a veteran team but they had high hopes for rookies like pitcher Jim Ollom, first baseman Rich Reese, third baseman Ron Clark and a 21 year-old Panamanian second baseman by the name of Rod Carew who spent 1966 in the class A Carolina League playing for the Wilson Tobs where he hit .292 with one home run and committed 21 errors.

Today you can read what Twins beat writer Max Nichols wrote about the Twins in the March 25, 1967 issue of the Sporting News which was the weekly baseball bible back in the days before the internet.

Sporting News 03251967 P27

Does QS=BS?

Everyone talks about their starting pitcher putting up a Quality Start which means they want their starter to go at least 6 innings and give up 3 earned runs or less. The best team in baseball in 2016 the World Champions Chicago Cubs won 103 games and had 100 QS’s of which the team won 74 of those games or 74%. On the other end of the National League spectrum we had the Los Angeles Dodgers who won the NL west with a 91-71 record had the NL fewest QS’s with 60 and they won 46 of those games for a 76.7%. The Dodgers had one more QS than the worst team in baseball, the Minnesota Twins who won 59 games and had 59 QS’s of which the Twins won 35 of those games for a 59.3%. Hard to believe but the Dodgers had one more QS than Minnesota and yet they almost made it to the World Series and won 32 more games than did the Twins. WOW!

I see Quality Starts as one of those baseball numbers that does not mean a lot, it is one of the contributing factors to a win but a QS in itself doesn’t ensure an addition to the “W” column. Looking over the entire history of the Minnesota Twins since 1961 I found that they have had 4,401 QS’s and the team has won 3,024 of those games for a 68.71%. That appears to mean that when your pitcher puts up a QS you will win about 2/3 of your games and that is not bad at all, if your team has .666 winning percentage you are in fat city because your baseball team has won about 108 games. But we all know that the Twins have lost more games than they have won since they moved to the Land of Sky Blue Waters in 1961.

The 2016 Minnesota Twins had the fewest Quality Starts in their history with 59 in the years that they have played the full schedule of games. The Twins have had three seasons when they have had 100 or more Quality Starts, in 1968 they had 100 QS’s and yet they finished 79-83, in 1967 they had 105 QS’s and finished 91-71, and in 1972 they only played 154 games finishing with a 77-77 mark but had 114 QS’s.

2016 American League Quality Start totals

2016 National League Quality Start totals

 

Bottom line? Kind of shows you that QS=BS.

59 wins and yet no starting position player battles for jobs

What is going on here? L-R – Jim Pohlad, Michael Cuddyer, Derek Falvey, and ?

The Minnesota Twins find themselves in a strange position this spring. The team is coming off a record-setting 59-103 season and yet there are really no position battles waging in Ft. Myers this spring. All the starting position players are pretty much the same as last season except for the catcher Kurt Suzuki who left via free agency and the Twins signed free agent Jason Castro to replace him and handed him the starting job.

How often does that happen? Usually you lose 103 games and everyone is fighting for a job but that is not the case in the spring of 2017 at the CenturyLink Sports complex where the Twins are preparing for the 2017 season. As I watch the team go through its spring routines there doesn’t seem to be much urgency and the players are acting as if they are all veterans just waiting for the bell to ring in a new season. I can see the players going through the drills but I just don’t see that they are working hard to get better. This team is young, and talented but have they had enough sand kicked in their face yet to really want to win? I hope so.

I am still convinced that Joe Mauer playing first base limits the Twins from taking that next step. Mauer is the grey-beard among the position players at 33 and then Brian Dozier and Jason Castro follow at 29 and the rest of the starting line-up is 25 or under. 

If you look at the spring training stats and I know they don’t mean a hill of beans when the season starts BUT this team appears to be a team that can score some runs but will hit for a lower average than what fans might expect. Mauer’s .300 plus days are in his rear view mirror and I am not expecting Jason Castro, Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, Miguel Sano, Jorge Polanco, or Brian Dozier to hit .260 or above. I expect a higher average from Eddie Rosario this year but he too is still unproven.

In spite of what I have written this team should be fun to watch but you must be prepared for those “what the hell just happened” moments. This team will continue to improve as the season progresses and but so much will depend on the teams pitching staff both from the starters and the relievers. 

I was used to seeing GM Terry Ryan out next to the fields checking out the action but this year I have not seen Thad Levine at all and Derek Falvey just once and that was this morning. A different style I guess, particularly since all I heard early on about Falvey was how closely he worked with his manager. But you are right, it is still early.

After horrible starts to the season the last two years, how will the Twins leave the starting gate in 2017? Another bad start could would be a serious problem for Paul Molitor and his boys. 

Looking at the Minnesota Twins top 10 center fielders

The Minnesota Twins have had a strong history of good center field play and when you look at this list you can certainly see why. The rankings are in Baseball-Reference WAR order and the player needed to have played center field in at least 50% of his games. 

How many of these guys did you get to see play? An old fossil like me gets to say he saw them all play and one of my favorites although he did not play here very long was Lenny Green. I am not saying that Green was in Puckett’s or Hunter’s class as a center fielder but I enjoyed watching him play. 

Minnesota Twins top 10 center fielders

 

Buxton

Todays Twins center fielder is still tying to prove he belongs on this list and he just might but he is going to have to show us his stuff. Can he prove to be even better than hall of famer Kirby Puckett? That is a tall order, we will just have to wait and see and it should be fun. I am expecting a HUGE breakout season from Buxton in 2017.

Some of the guys that didn’t make the top 10 list above are Carlos Gomez, Aaron Hicks, Buxton, Alex Cole, and Ken Landreaux.

 

Twins Top 10 Catchers

Twins Top 10 First Baseman

Twins Top 10 Second Basemen

Twins Top 10 Third Baseman

Twins Top 10 Shortstops

Twins Top 10 Right Fielders

Twins Top 10 Center Fielders

Twins Top 10 Left Fielders

Top Twins DH

What goes on back at the ballpark when there is a road game

I was back out at the ballpark to check on the Twins yesterday to see what the rest of the team was up to when the Twins had a game in Jupiter, Florida scheduled for that afternoon. Jupiter is almost due east of Ft. Myers across the state and although it is only about 140 miles it takes almost three hours to get there. Lake Okeechobee is between Ft. Myers and Jupiter so you end up going around it to the north as you head towards the Atlantic ocean.

Apparently skipper Paul Molitor felt that drive is way too much for most of the Minnesota Twins regulars so he sent the following line-up to play the game at Roger Dean Stadium.

  • Granite – RF
  • Santana – LF
  • Paulsen  – 1B
  • Hague – DH
  • Shuck – CF
  • Fields – 2B
  • Escobar – SS
  • Murphy – C
  • Adrianza – 3B
  • Gibson – P

Not exactly the 1965 Twins but they did manage to keep the game interesting until they allowed the Cards to score the winning run in the bottom of the ninth in a 2-1 loss. Ticket prices for the game on the internet were between $46 and $180. Fans pay prices like this to see a spring training game and the Twins send zero starting position players. CRAZY! Both the Cardinals and the Twins should be embarrassed and MLB should start fining these teams for this kind of behavior.

Continue reading What goes on back at the ballpark when there is a road game

Former Twins pitcher Bill Hands dead at 76

 

Former Giants, Cubs, Twins and Rangers pitcher Bill Hands and a 20-game winner for the 1969 Cubs, died Thursday, March 9 in a Orlando, Florida hospital after a brief illness at the age of 76.

William Alfred Hands was born May 6, 1940 in Hackensack, New Jersey and signed with the San Francisco Giants as an amateur free agent prior to the 1959 season. Hands started his pro career at the age of 19 in class D ball in Hastings, Nebraska in the Nebraska State League and worked his way up the big-league ladder. The right-handed Hands made his major league debut on June 3, 1965 in a Giants 10-3 loss to the Milwaukee Braves at County Stadium. “Froggy” as he was known to his teammates appeared in just four games as a San Francisco Giant before he was traded by the San Francisco Giants with Randy Hundley to the Chicago Cubs for Don Landrum and Lindy McDaniel in December 1965. 

Bill Hands pitched for the Cubs for seven season posting a 92-86 record with a 3.18 ERA including a 20 win season in 1969. In November 1972 he was traded by the Chicago Cubs with Bob Maneely (minors) and Joe Decker to the Minnesota Twins for Dave LaRoche. Hands was not happy in Minnesota under the Calvin Griffith ownership team and requested to be traded but instead found himself waived by the team and claimed by the Texas Rangers in September of 1974 where he finished out that season and then again pitched for the Rangers in 1975 but suffered a back injury that essentially ended his career at the age of 35. In February of 1976 Hands was again on the move, this time traded by the Texas Rangers to the New York Mets for George Stone but as far as I know he never pitched pro ball again after his final big league game on August 10, 1975. 

With baseball salaries being what they were back in the 1960’s, Hands started driving a fuel truck in Lyndhurst, New York during the off-season for what is now Keller Depken Oil. That planted the seed for a post-baseball job as an oil company salesman on Long Island, and eventually the service station that he ran in Orient, New York for a quarter century with his son Billy III. 

So Orient was home, where he lived with his wife Sandra, after his first wife passed away. Besides his son, he also has two daughters (Heather, Heidi) and nine grandchildren.

Orient’s Bill Hands, pitcher for ’69 Cubs, rooting against the Mets again

Where are they now? Rutherford’s Bill Hands

Orient resident, MLB 20-game winner Bill Hands dies at 76

Ex-Cub Bill Hands, 20-game winner in 1969, dies at 76 – Chicago Tribune obituary

 

I wonder how many ballplayers still chew

Despite health warnings and minor league prohibition, Major League players continue to chew tobacco on the field and in the dugout. A number of years ago I remember being near one of the back fields watching the Twins minor league players getting ready to play a minor league game and I saw catcher Wilson Ramos reach into his bag for some tobacco to chew when Twins GM Terry Ryan spotted him and ran over and told him that the Twins don’t want their players chewing “that stuff”. Ramos put the can pack in his bag and that was the end of it. I don’t know if Ramos chews today or not but that little episode stuck with me as I remember the health problems that former Twins player Bill Tuttle had with “chew”.

Anti-spit tobacco crusader Bill Tuttle (please be aware that some of the images you may see can be disturbing)

SABR Baseball Cards recently did a piece they called “Chaw Shots” showing baseball cards with players chewing. I think it is surprising how many of the former players pictured were Minnesota Twins at one time or another.

MLB: Violators of new tobacco laws face baseball penalties

Even on a day off the CenturyLink Sports Complex is buzzing with activity

Tuesday was a scheduled day off for the Minnesota Twins big league side of camp but the minor league side was just beginning to buzz with activity. Tuesday was reporting day for all Twins organization minor league players, Wednesday is physical and photo day. Players will then workout for three days before minor league games start being played on Sunday, March 12. This year the Twins minor league players will be playing their equivalent teams from the Orioles, Red Sox, and Rays.

Johan Quezada

When I was there on Tuesday there were minor league players working out on three different fields but without uniforms and numbers it is hard to identify them. I took a few pictures and will share them in my 2017 spring training photo link in the next day or two. One of the interesting players I did get to meet yesterday was 22 year-old 6’10” Johan Quezada, a right-handed pitcher from the Dominican.

Just a tip for those of you coming down to watch spring training at the CenturyLink Sports Complex, if you are interested in watching the minor league players go through their paces and you want to know who is who, the Twins have spring training work groups hand-out sheets and the 2017 minor league spring training schedule sheets available to be picked up for free next to the minor league complex on the back fields. These games are all free and fun to watch as you use your training work groups roster sheet to identify the players. The beauty of the layout of the fields makes it easy to wander from one game to another. Hope to see you down here.

This Day in Twins History – March 6, 1973 – DH comes into play

In an exhibition game with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Minnesota Twin Larry Hisle becomes the first designated hitter in ML history. Hisle makes the new AL rule look good by collecting 2 HR’s and 7 RBI.

Larry Hisle

The story on why Hisle became the first DH is interesting in itself. The first Spring Training game in the AL in 1973 fell to the Twins. But Minnesota had plans for the recently acquired Cardinals prospect Hisle in the outfield, and he was penciled in as the center fielder as camp got under way. At least, until the morning of the first game, when Hisle injured his toe after tripping over a chair while horsing around with his son. Twins skipper Frank Quilici still wanted to get his new player some swings so he decided to leave him in the lineup at this newfangled DH spot. And while there had been designated “pinch” hitters used in Spring Training games as a trial since 1969, this was the first time a player batted as a DH under the new rule.

When the 1973 season began, 34 year-old Tony Oliva was the Twins primary DH and started 138 games in that role. Larry Hisle as it turns out didn’t appear in a big league regular season game as a DH until July 18, 1975.

Baseball’s 10th man – Pioneer or Pigeon is a interesting write-up on the DH from the Saturday Evening Post July/August 1973 edition that is worth your read.

Saturday Evening Post July_August 1973