Month: November 2017

These guys beat up the Twins over the years

With the Minnesota Twins having 57 MLB seasons in the rear view mirror, the Houston Astros winning the World Series in 7 games, the temperatures in the mid 40’s and with no snow on the ground it is a good time to look back on and revisit the hitters that have found Twins pitching to their liking over the years. 

Today we are going to take a look at Twins opponents that have 200 or more hits against the Twins, there are 23 players who fit this criteria. 200 hits is a lot of hits. Six of the 23 hit from the left side, 13 were right-handed hitters and just four (Vizquel, Martinez, Wilson and Murray) of them were switch-hitters. Just missing out on this list were Frank Thomas with 194 hits, Al Kaline with 192 and Sal Bando with 190 hits.

200 or more hits against the Minnesota Twins

Carl Yastrzemski
Results
Rk Player #Matching AB H
?		 HR RBI SO BA OPS Tm
1 Carl Yastrzemski 297 1094 321 43 158 121 .293 .855 BOS
2 George Brett 228 869 275 23 128 74 .316 .869 KCR
3 Paul Konerko 257 926 265 50 136 139 .286 .845 CHW
4 Cal Ripken 207 788 242 26 119 87 .307 .849 BAL
5 Magglio Ordonez 195 739 240 37 145 80 .325 .906 CHW,DET
6 Wade Boggs 179 687 234 6 84 50 .341 .869 BOS,NYY,TBD
7 Bert Campaneris 232 913 229 7 54 115 .251 .633 KCA,OAK,TEX,CAL,NYY
8 Omar Vizquel 212 783 228 5 68 79 .291 .732 SEA,CLE,SFG,TEX,CHW,TOR
9 Victor Martinez 205 764 226 29 121 90 .296 .823 CLE,BOS,DET
10 Reggie Jackson 252 902 225 51 142 243 .249 .818 KCA,OAK,BAL,NYY,CAL
11 Brooks Robinson 230 861 223 20 115 91 .259 .711 BAL
12 Amos Otis 195 740 223 16 100 102 .301 .818 KCR
13 Jim Thome 196 695 218 61 156 221 .314 1.049 CLE,CHW,PHI,BAL
14 Paul Molitor 176 716 217 16 93 76 .303 .825 MIL,TOR
15 Willie Wilson 185 693 216 3 64 113 .312 .752 KCR,OAK
16 Rickey Henderson 198 721 215 23 85 90 .298 .869 OAK,NYY,TOR,ANA,SEA,BOS
17 Robin Yount 208 794 211 18 93 92 .266 .715 MIL
18 Harold Baines 213 716 209 32 127 101 .292 .851 CHW,TEX,OAK,BAL
19 Ivan Rodriguez 178 678 208 29 94 104 .307 .835 TEX,DET,NYY,HOU
20 Luis Aparicio 195 774 205 8 51 60 .265 .649 BAL,CHW,BOS
21 Miguel Cabrera 175 653 205 41 139 109 .314 .960 FLA,DET
22 Frank White 214 704 202 13 73 70 .287 .751 KCR
23 Eddie Murray 168 658 201 44 133 94 .305 .922 BAL,CLE,ANA
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/29/2017.

One oddity that I noticed when looking over this data was that only two players got their 200 or more hits from one spot in the batting order. Ricky Henderson had 214 out of his 215 hits against Minnesota hitting lead-off while Carl Yastrzemski had 228 of his 321 hits out of the three-hole.

WOW! Look at the Hall of Famer’s on this list plus some of the others will be in shortly. Anyone on this list surprise you? How about players that you thought would be on the list but are not?

 

Who should be the next Minnesota Twins closer

The Twins haven’t signed any free agents this off-season but it is only a matter of time before they do. One of the relief spots they need to fill is the closer role. The Twins traded Brandon Kintzler, their closer to the Washington Nationals this past summer for 20 year-old left-handed starter Tyler Watson and some international bonus slot cash. Watson pitched in class A ball for both the Nats and Twins.

Brandon Kintzler earned $2.925 million last year and saved 28 games in Minnesota during the four months he was a Minnesota Twin in 2017. In 2016 he saved 29 games. Although not a prototypical closer, he got the job done for the Twins for a modest price on a team in 2016 that lost 103 games. After the Twins traded Kintzler, reliever Matt Belisle received the most save opportunities and he notched 9 saves. 

Let’s take a look at the Twins last 12 seasons and see how their closers did and how much they were paid.

YEAR NAME SAVES BS SAVE %
2017 Kintzler ($2.93 M) 28 4 87.5%
2017 Belisle ($2.05 M) 9 5 64%
2016 Kintzler ($507,000) 17 3 85%
2016 Jepsen ($5.31 M) 7 4 63.6%
2015 Perkins ($4.66 M) 32 3 91.4%
2015 Jepsen ($3.03 M) 10 1 90.9%
2014 Perkins ($4.03 M) 34 7 82.9%
2013 Perkins ($2.5 M) 36 4 90%
2012 Perkins ($1.55 M) 16 4 80%
2012 Capps ($4.5 M) 14 1 93.3%
2011 Capps ($7.15M) 15 9 62.5%
2011 Nathan ($11.25 M) 14 3 82.4%
2010 Rauch ($2.9 M) 21 4 84.0%
2010 Capps ($3.5 M) 16 2 88.9%
2009 Nathan ($11.25) 47 5 98.4%
2008 Nathan ($6.0 M) 39 6 86.7%
2007 Nathan ($5.25 M) 37 4 90.2%
2006 Nathan ($3.75 M) 36 2 94.7%

Interactive Whiteboards by PolyVision

If you look at the percentage of games closed for the top three Twins closers over the last 12 seasons you end up with a save percentage of 90.3 for Joe Nathan, 86.8 for Glen Perkins, and 86.5 for Brandon Kintzler. In 2017 the average closer had 25 saves in 29 opportunities and saved 86.7% of games they were asked to save. 

Continue reading Who should be the next Minnesota Twins closer

Winningest pitchers at Met Stadium

Metropolitan Stadium

The Twins called Met Stadium home from 1961 through 1981 before moving into the HHH Metrodome in 1982. Today we are going to look at the starting pitchers that pitched at the Met for the Minnesota Twins and for their opponents and determine who won the most games.

The opposing pitcher that won the most games at Met Stadium pitched for the Yankees his entire career from 1964 to 1974 and it is Mel Stottlemyre. Not many people remember Mel Stottlemyre but he was what we would consider “a horse” today but his big league career ended way too early due to injury. Here is how his SABR Bio starts out:

A baseball lifer, Mel Stottlemyre burst on the scene as a midseason call-up for the New York Yankees in 1964, helping the club win its fifth consecutive pennant and starting three games in the World Series. One of the most underrated and overlooked pitchers of his generation, Stottlemyre won 149 games and averaged 272 innings per season over a nine-year stretch (1965-1973) that corresponded with the nadir of Yankees history. Only Bob Gibson (166 victories), Gaylord Perry (161), Mickey Lolich (156), and Juan Marichal (155) won more during that period; only Perry tossed more innings, and only Gibson fired more shutouts (43) than Stottlemyre’s 38. Stottlemyre was the “epitome of Yankee class and dignity,” wrote longtime New York sportswriter Phil Pepe. “[He was] a throwback to a winning tradition in those years of mediocrity.” After a torn rotator cuff ended his playing career at the age of 32 in 1974, Stottlemyre embarked on a storied career as a big-league pitching coach.

You can read the rest of his SABR Bio by going here. No opposing pitcher won more games than the 13 that Mel Stottlemyre did at the Met.

Opposing pitchers that won the most games at Met Stadium

Mel Stottlemyre of the New York Yankees pitches against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium.
The Bronx, New York 8/25/1968

.

Results
Rk Player #Matching   W
?		 L W-L% ERA GS IP HR Tm
1 Mel Stottlemyre 21 Ind. Games 13 5 .722 3.77 21 145.2 9 NYY
2 Wilbur Wood 32 Ind. Games 10 5 .667 2.68 16 147.2 15 CHW
3 Jim Palmer 18 Ind. Games 10 5 .667 2.97 15 115.1 10 BAL
4 Luis Tiant 22 Ind. Games 9 9 .500 4.65 20 127.2 12 CLE,BOS,NYY
5 Dave Wickersham 21 Ind. Games 9 5 .643 3.58 13 105.2 7 KCA,DET,KCR
6 Paul Splittorff 24 Ind. Games 8 7 .533 5.66 22 119.1 10 KCR
7 Clyde Wright 17 Ind. Games 8 5 .615 3.02 15 107.1 9 CAL,MIL,TEX
8 Nolan Ryan 14 Ind. Games 8 5 .615 3.27 14 118.1 5 CAL
9 Mike Cuellar 14 Ind. Games 8 6 .571 4.41 14 98.0 16 BAL
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/4/2017.

 

Twins pitchers that won the most games at Met Stadium

Jim Kaat
Results
Rk Player #Matching   W
?		 L W-L% ERA GS IP HR
1 Jim Kaat 235 Ind. Games 93 76 .550 3.53 217 1508.0 151
2 Jim Perry 189 Ind. Games 74 35 .679 2.74 128 1020.0 83
3 Dave Goltz 124 Ind. Games 54 40 .574 3.11 106 861.2 65
4 Bert Blyleven 112 Ind. Games 49 40 .551 2.69 111 864.2 58
5 Camilo Pascual 89 Ind. Games 40 30 .571 3.39 85 624.2 62
6 Dave Boswell 89 Ind. Games 34 23 .596 3.34 69 509.0 60
7 Geoff Zahn 70 Ind. Games 26 28 .481 3.97 65 459.2 37
8 Mudcat Grant 68 Ind. Games 24 22 .522 3.61 59 409.1 50
9 Al Worthington 164 Ind. Games 23 13 .639 2.67 0 252.2 13
10 Dean Chance 48 Ind. Games 21 16 .568 2.79 44 326.0 21
11 Dick Stigman 68 Ind. Games 21 19 .525 3.54 44 345.2 57
12 Pete Redfern 73 Ind. Games 20 17 .541 4.00 49 335.0 23
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/4/2017.

 

The 2017 Twins Turkey of the Year

It was a good year for the Minnesota Twins, an amazing 26 game improvement from their 103 loss season in 2016 and they even made an abbreviated one game trek to the playoffs, their first taste of postseason action since 2010. The much improved play of the players on the field made the team fun to watch again and the attendance increased from the previous season for the first time since the team started calling Target Field home in 2010.

All those good things happening over in Twins Territory makes it difficult to come up with a Twins Turkey of the Year but the job must get done. Just as sure as there is snow and cold in Minnesota we need to have a Twins Turkey of the Year.

The number of possible candidates for the 2017 award are few, sure we have some of the usual suspects like starter Kyle Gibson who first debuted as a Twin back in 2013 but found himself pitching in AAA Rochester after a horrible start. He finished the season with a 12-10 record but his 5.07 ERA for the second year in a row is more than disappointing.

Pitcher Phil Hughes earned $13.2 million this year and pitched less than 54 innings and had a 6.37 ERA. However; Hughes spent most of his time on the DL in 2017 visiting that list twice for a total of 105 days.

Pitcher Glen Perkins spent 117 days on the Twins DL in 2017 while recovering from shoulder surgery back in 2016. Perkins has pitched 7.2 innings in two years and banked $12.8 million.

Utility player Danny Santana appeared in just 13 games and hit .200 before the Twins traded him to the Atlanta Braves for a minor league pitcher named Kevin Chapman. Santana has appeared in 69 games and hit .203 for the Braves. 

When I have to list Danny Santana on my Twins Turkey of the Year candidate list I am really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Heck, even Joe Mauer bounced back in 2017 and had a decent year at the plate, certainly not a $23 million a year player but what is done is done. One of my favorite TTOY candidates the last few years, hitting coach Tom Brunansky was fired after 2016.

So you can see it has been a lean year for turkeys in Twins territory this season, but, since the role has to be filled I have selected not one but two Twins organization members for the award this year, for the first time ever we have a two-headed Twins Turkey of the year. 

Both of these gentlemen have been on the job for just over one year and their team made the playoffs in their first season at the helm after the team had finished with 103 losses in 2016, the worst record in baseball. It seems like we should be giving them Executive of the Year awards and not the TTOY award. Yes, they did sign Jason Castro, Chris Gimenez, Bartolo Colon (seems strange to put him on the plus side of the ledger), but they also signed a bunch of pitching stiffs and thought they could construct a bullpen while bottom-feeding. 

With the Twins in need of starting help these two guys went out on July 24 and they made a deal with Atlanta and acquired Jaime Garcia and Anthony Recker for Huascar Ynoa. Garcia started and beat the Oakland A’s on July 28 and Twins fans were delighted, that is until these two guys turned around and flipped the 31 year-old Jaime Garcia to the Yankees for pitchers Zack Littell and Dietrich Enns just two days later. Then on July 31 they traded their closer Brandon Kintzler to the Washington Nationals for pitcher Tyler Watson and cash. 

On July 31 the Twins had a 50-53 record and seven teams in the AL had better records than the Twins did. It was obvious that the Twins organization felt that the Twins had run out of steam so they started trading off pieces in hopes of landing some young pitching prospects. But who was to know that the Twins would go 35-20 during the rest of the season and score 346 runs in that stretch, more than any team in MLB while out-scoring their opposition by almost 100 runs. Only the Indians had a better record (45-13) and they had that crazy 22 game winning streak from mid-August to mid-September. When the season ended the Twins were one of the AL wild card playoff participants, who would have guessed that would happen? 

No one in their right mind, right? After all, no MLB team has ever lost 103 one season and taken part in post-season action the next. I didn’t see it coming, but I am not making a ton of money leading the Twins baseball operation either. These guys are supposed to be experts in their field and yet at the end of July they raised the white flag and not only didn’t improve the team for the stretch run but they made it weaker by trading Jaime Garcia and Brandon Kintzler. The way I see it, these two committed the cardinal sin, they gave up on their team. 

That is why the winners of the Twins Trivia 2017 Turkey of the Year award are Twins Head of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey and General Manager Thad Levine. I wish I had a picture of these two sitting in the backyard with their wine glasses in their hand pondering “what just happened?” Let’s hope that Falvey and Levine show their worth this off-season, maybe they are just slow starters. 

Previous Twins Turkey of Year award winners

2016 – The entire 2016 Minnesota Twins team

2015 – Pitcher Ricky Nolasco

2014 – Outfielder Aaron Hicks

2013 – President Dave St. Peter

2012 – Owner Jim Pohlad

2011 – Catcher Joe Mauer

2010 – 3B Brendan Harris

2009 – Pitcher Glen Perkins

 

This Day in Twins History – November 22, 1989

 

Kirby Puckett

Kirby Puckett becomes the first major league player ever to sign a contract that calls for an average salary of $3 million per year when he inks a pact with the Twins for $9 million over three years.

Just a short 28 years ago this was huge money, the minimum MLB salary back then was $68,000. Jumping forward to 2017 the minimum salary for a MLB player was $535,000 a year. The highest paid player in 2017 I believe was pitcher Clayton Kershaw at $33 million.  

Oh! How times have changed.

Puckett Hits the Jackpot: First $3 Million Man

Don’t forget to check out our Today in Twins History page daily to see what kinds of Twins history took place that day and everyday.

Should Phil Hughes be part of the Twins pitching staff in 2018?

Phil Hughes delivers to the Chicago White Sox Sunday, June 22, 2014. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt)

Phil Hughes will start his fifth year in Minnesota in 2018 and he makes about $13.2 million a season, the third highest on the team as it stands today behind Joe Mauer and his $23 million deal and Ervin Santana and his $13.5 million contract. The Twins signed Hughes as a free agent starter in December 2013 and then gave him an extension through 2019 after a very good 2014 season. 

After his extension, Hughes went on to have a mediocre 2015 season and then had physical ailments in 2016-2017 that limited him to just 26 starts and ERA’s of 5.95 and 5.87. The last two season have seen him pitch just 112.2 combined innings while giving up 148  hits and 23 home runs. Hughes had two trips to the Disabled List this past season for 104 days and in 2015 his trip to the DL cost him 100 days. Even back in 2014 he visited the DL once for 32 days. 

So the Twins are on the hook for the next two seasons for $26+ million, not exactly a lot of money for a good starter but Hughes has not proven to be a reliable starter by any means. As the old hunter that coached the Minnesota Vikings once said, ability is great but without durability, it is wasted.

There are a lot of teams out there looking for pitching and his salary is not prohibitive so I would try to trade Phil Hughes in a deal where both teams take a calculated risk while trading pitchers that have under performed for what ever reason. After the 2018 season Hughes becomes a 10/5 guy and that limits team options and puts Hughes in the driver’s seat.

Failing to find a new home for Phil Hughes I would make him a reliever, a task that is not entirely new to Hughes and one that he had done OK in over the years but his trip to the pen in 2017 was not one of his better ones. If the Twins don’t land a closer in some other fashion I would even throw his hat in that ring even though Hughes gives up a lot of hits.

If the Twins can’t trade Hughes and the bullpen role doesn’t work out, then I would trade him for whatever I can get at the 2018 trading deadline, why pay him another $13 million in 2019? Phil Hughes has done basically nothing for the Twins in 2016 or 2017 and if his performance in 2018 is substandard then he should be jettisoned because the Twins won’t miss someone who has not contributed in the last few years. The Minnesota Twins have moved their play to another level, one that does not afford them the luxury of carrying dead weight and anything they get from Phil Hughes or for Phil Hughes is just gravy.

Twins organization All-Stars by MiLB.com

Stephen Gonsalves (Credit: Brian McLeod/MiLB.com)

A lot of our readers are not only interested in the Minnesota Twins history but also want to know something about the Twins future, so now and then we throw them a bone and point them to a story that caught our fancy and maybe it is something they too might enjoy.

In the “Down on the Farm” section on the right hand side of the home page is a headline that reads “Twins’ Gonsalves, Curtiss ready to contribute“, it is nice piece by MiLB.com about Minnesota Twins prospects that are getting close to putting on a Twins uniform or may have already worn out briefly. The article puts together a Twins organization All-Stars about players in the Twins farm system that have stood out in 2017. If you have any interest in the Twins future you might want to check this story out.

If you want to check out Organization All-Stars for the other MLB teams, go here. The “Down on the Farm” headlines are often very interesting and it might be something that you might enjoy looking at if you have not done so.

Minnesota Twins radio “Dark Ages” finally over

The Minnesota Twins announced today that their radio broadcast have returned to WCCO, 830 on your AM radio dial after an 11 year absence. The 50,000 watt WCCO was the radio home of the Minnesota Twins from the time they moved to Minnesota in 1961 through the 2006 season. The Midwest “Good Neighbor” was outbid for the rights to Twins games after the 2006 season and the Twins switched to KSTP 1500 AM where they stayed for six seasons. KSTP had a decent signal but the station seemed to have no clue on how to promote Minnesota Twins baseball and their in-house broadcasters for pre and post game shows sounded like a bunch of clowns doing rookie league baseball.

The Pohlad family then switched the Twins radio broadcasts to a FM station at 96.3 (that the family bought back in 2007) starting with the 2013 baseball season. Switching MLB broadcasts from AM to FM seemed to be a hot trend at the time. The greedy Pohlads jumped on the bandwagon and figured that they could make more money from ad revenue rather than by selling the rights to Twins radio broadcasts. The Pohlad owned radio station changed call signs over the next few years more often than Paul Molitor brought in relief pitchers and their promotion of Twins games was non-existent on a station that features alternative rock music when the Twins weren’t playing. If the Twins were not playing, there was no baseball talk on the station. The station signal was so weak you had to almost stand next to the radio station itself to get a signal. It was almost as if the Minnesota Twins had no radio outlet at all. 

The wheels in the Minnesota Twins organization turn ever so slowly and the rights to their radio broadcasts seem to fit right in, it took the organization 11 years to correct their original mistake and make things right again. When the Twins left WCCO it was like their team had lost its major league status and was sent to the minors. Eleven seasons of bush league baseball and now the Minnesota Twins have been upgraded to the major leagues once again, it’s about time. The Minnesota Twins radio “Dark Ages” have finally ended.

WCCO is expected to retain the current Twins broadcasting team of Cory Provus and Dan Gladden who are actually Minnesota Twins employees.

Twins skipper Paul Molitor wins Manager of the Year award

Twins manager Paul Molitor

Paul Molitor, 61 year-old Minnesota native won the American League Manager of the Year award after his Minnesota Twins became the first team to make the playoffs following a 100-loss season. Molitor won the honor November 14 in voting by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Molitor joins Frank Robinson as the only Hall of Fame players to win a manager of the year award. Molitor finished ahead of Cleveland’s Terry Francona and Houston’s A.J. Hinch in the AL balloting. Torey Lovullo of the Arizona Diamondbacks won the NL award.

Molitor was rewarded with a three-year extension after the 2017 season ended.

 

Twins all-opponent team closer

We are going to close out our Twins all-opponent team series today by naming the teams closer. I will tell you up front that the best closer I have seen in the 60 years I have followed major league baseball is Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees. Watching Rivera close out a game was almost like watching a machine, as near perfection as you can get. You all know my history with the Yankees, I have always disliked them since I was a pup, but in this case greatness needs to be recognized for what it is. If Mariano Rivera is not a first ballot Fall of Fame baseball player then no one is. 

Mariano Rivera

Now that my praise for Mariano Rivera is out-of-the-way we will go on to name the Twins all-opponent team closer and he is Troy Percival. Percival closed games for the Angels for 10 seasons before moving on to close for the Tigers, Cardinals and Rays. Percival was an All-Star four times and had 358 career saves over his 14 years in the big leagues.

Troy Percival

In 47 games against our Minnesota Twins he pitched 47.2 innings giving up just 19 his while striking out 56 batters and notched 23 saves. The man gave up just two earned runs against Minnesota (none as an Angel pitcher) and one of those was on the only home run that a Twins batter (Justin Morneau) hit off him. Fittingly it seems, he earned the win in that game when the Tigers came back to win the game in 10 innings 5-4 at Comerica Park. His career ERA against Minnesota? Make that 0.38 .

https://bbref.com/pi/shareit/smWmb

 

Our previous selections for the Twins all-opponent team

Catcher – Ivan Rodriguez

First Baseman – Paul Konerko

Second Baseman – Lou Whitaker

Third Baseman – Wade Boggs

Shortstop – Cal Ripken

Left Field – Jim Rice

Center Field – Fred Lynn

Right Field – Magglio Ordonez

DH – Edgar Martinez

Starting Pitcher (right-handed) – Jim Palmer

Starting Pitcher (left-handed) – David Wells