Once again it is that time of the year, time to name the 2022 Twins Turkey of the Year, but first, I would like to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving. We all have a lot to be thankful for even if the Minnesota Twins play in 2022 is not one of them. As you might imagine, there were plenty of candidates for this years honor after the team crashed and burned playing .357 baseball in September and finished the second half with a 28-40 record. Hopes were sky high when the Twins spent over $35 million to sign shortstop Carlos Correa but as the season wore on, the Twins wore down even if manager Rocco Baldelli rested his players for the big Fall push.
Let’s start out with one of the candidates that just missed being a finalist by the hair of his chinny chin chin. Rocco Baldelli survived another year as the Twins manager without being fired. I find it kind of ironic that Rocco rested his boys so they would be strong when it really counted at the end of the season and it turned out they were listless and played like they couldn’t wait to get on with their vacation plans. That is giving credit to those players that showed up to play, many didn’t. To be fair, Rocco is just a puppet of the wanna-be manager duo of Falvey and Levine so his hands are kind of tied behind his back when he has to manage under those circumstances but on the plus side for him, he has job security.
Owner Jim Pohlad has to be in the running simply because he allows Derek Falvey and Thad Levine to retain their jobs as heads of the Twins organization. It will be interesting to see how long Pohlad will keep signing their paychecks when he has to keep looking at the playoff win total that stands at a big fat ZERO.
It is not often that a third base coach gets mention in the Twins Turkey of the Year award ceremonies but there is a first for everything and this year Tommy Watkins name comes up as a contender. “The Mayor of Ft. Myers” was just terrible coaching third base often sending runners to get thrown out at the plate by 20 feet and killing rallies. Not everyone has Buxton speed Tommy. Then again maybe Falvey and Levine gave Watkins one of those dohickeys that pitchers wear to hear the pitch signals and they are telling Watkins when to send runners? One way or another we need to get a third base coach who knows what he is doing.
Miguel Sano was non-tendered by the Twins but needs to be on this list as one of the Twins biggest disappointments. He just missed getting on the top 10 list for Twins home runs trailing Tom Brunansky by one home run and Brian Dozier by five but then again he had far fewer at bats. That said, he is second on the Twins strikeout list 1,042 in 2,502 at bats. He pocketed $31.6 million over the years from Minnesota and the off-season headaches he caused caught up with him.
Enough of the guys that didn’t make the final cut. Number three on our list and second runner-up I present to you Byron Buxton. Buxton was a 2022 All-Star who hit .224 in in 92 games with a career high 28 home runs. He got hurt early on (I know, shocking) but somehow he and the Twins front office came to the conclusion that they could manage the problem and he could play all year. The man played in center field 51 times and had played that position more that 88 times just once in his eight year big league career. The question is, was Buxton being selfish, greedy and hurting the team by taking up a roster spot while injured after signing that contract with incentives up the wazoo? Can a guy that has been injured as often as Byron all of a sudden start to be healthy on a regular basis? My money is on the “no” button.
Our runner-up in 2022 is none other than Twins reliever Emilio Pagan. If it was up to most Twins fans he would be an easy winner for this award or have already been run out of town. But the Twins tendered a contract to Pagan for 2023 so here we go. Pagan had control issues and put up a WHIP of 1.365, the question is why? In his five other big league seasons he never had a WHIP over 1.194. Pagan had 7 blown saves but then again so did Kenley Jansen who had a NL leading 41 saves. The following pitchers had as many or more blown saves, Taylor Rogers (10), David Robertson (8), Brad Boxberger (7), Matt Bush (7), and Tanner Scott (7). Over the years Twins relievers had had 7 or more blown saves in a season on 25 occasions. The man has never had a big league season with fewer strikeouts than innings pitched. Relievers are notorious for inconsistency from year to year. You have to bring this guy back.
Now we move on to the main course, the Twins Turkey of the Year in 2022 has played for the Minnesota Twins since 2016 not counting his cup of coffee season in 2015. This past season Max Kepler batted in the middle of the order 93 (3-6) times. With RISP in 126 PA’s he hit .196 with 3 doubles, 1 home run and 29 RBI. From the end of June until the end of the season Max appeared in 47 games and had 1 home run and 8 RBI. Post All-Star game he had just 5 extra-base hits, all doubles. Two trips to the IL (July and September) didn’t help. Kepler has had one really good season for the the Twins and that was 2019 but that has proven to be an outlier. In 2022 Kepler slashed .227/.318/.348 and his career slash line is .232/.317/.427. That is not very promising. His play in the field is still very good and he probably plays Right Field at Target Field as well if not better than anyone. Kepler will be getting paid $8.5 million in 2023 and the team holds a $10 million dollar option on 2024 with a $1 million buyout. I not sure what is wrong with Kepler but he just does not seem like the same player he once was and to me he just looks like he isn’t having fun playing baseball anymore or his mind is elsewhere. Some people feel the shift has really bothered Kepler and that with the shift changes scheduled for 2023 will get him back on track. Kepler is a popular player, particularly with the ladies but Twins fans in general are getting fed up with the lack of production from Kepler and I can’t say that I disagree. I would be surprised if Kepler is a Minnesota Twin when the first pitch is thrown in 2023. With that said, Max Kepler is the 2023 Minnesota Twins Turkey of the Year award winner.
Previous Twins Turkey of Year award winners
2021 – Derek Falvey & thad Levine
2018 – Third Baseman Miguel Sano
2017 – Derek Falvey & Thad Levine
2016 – The entire 2016 Minnesota Twins team
2013 – President Dave St. Peter
2010 – Third Baseman Brendan Harris (can’t seem to find this one)
Good analysis. Baldelli’s puppet strings are not exclusive to the Twins.
The non de plume of “Manager” should be changed to “AAA (Administrative Analytics Assistant)”
throughout baseball.
Hopefully, the new rules next year will lessen the hideous stride of ruining the game with every facet of the game turning into a game slog. I witnessed the clock rule in minor league ball the last couple of years and it really changes the pace of the game.?that it works in MLB. Happy Thanksgiving!???????????