Category: General Blogging

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Twins pitchers with great ERA’s

The Twins finished with a 66-96 record in 2012 and the teams starting pitching was blamed for the teams poor play. The teams starting pitching had a league worst 5.40 ERA and the starters posted a 39-75 record. As a whole the entire pitching staff posted a 4.77 ERA which is the seventh worst in team history. Previous Twins teams that had higher ERA’s than the 2012 Twins were –

The 1995 team had a 5.76 ERA and finished with a 56-88 mark.

The 1994 team had a 5.68 ERA and finished with a 53-60 mark.

The 1996 team had a 5.28 ERA and finished with a 78-84 mark.

The 2000 team had a 5.14 ERA and finished with a 69-93 mark.

The 1999 team had a 5.00 ERA and finished with a 63-97 mark.

The 1997 team had a 5.00 ERA and finished with a 68-94 mark.

It is easy to forget some of the horrendous pitching staffs that Tom Kelly managed in the mid to late 90’s. But this article is not about how bad the Twins pitching has been over the years but instead is just laying some ground work to highlite some of the Twins best pitching performances over the years based simply on ERA. I know that ERA is not necessarily the best way to determine pitching quality but ERA has been around for a long time and provides us with a measurement tool of sort. The Twins have used many pitchers since the team moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season  but I can only find 12 Twins pitchers, barely enough to comprise a pitching staff that have thrown 100 or more innings and posted an ERA of 2.50 or under in a single season. So lets take a look at who these pitchers were and the dominating season that they had.

1. Doug Corbett in his first season in the big leagues in 1980 pitched in 63 games, all in relief and posted a 1.98 ERA in 136.1 innings and had 23 saves to go along with his 8-6 record. Corbett was acquired by the Twins in December 1979 as a Rule 5 draftee from the Cincinnati Reds.

2. Bill Dailey in his first season in Minnesota and third in the big leagues in 1963 pitched in 66 games, all in relief and posted a 1.99 ERA in 108.2 innings and had 21 saves to go along with his 6-3 record.

3. Stan Williams in his 12 big league season and first as a Twin in 1970 pitched in 68 games, all in relief and posted a 1.99 ERA in 113.1 innings and had 15 saves to go along with his 10-1 record.

4. Jim Kaat was in his 12th season for the Twins and in 1972 had started 15 games before getting hurt in early July and sitting out the rest of the season. In this 15 games he pitched 113.1 innings and posted a 2.06 ERA to go along with his 10-2 record.

5. Ron Perranoski in his second season in Minnesota in 1969 appeared in 75 games, all in relief and posted a 2.11 ERA in 119.2 innings and had a league leading 31 saves to go along with his 9-10 record.

6. Francisco Liriano in his first full season as a Twin in 2006 appeared in 28 games starting 16 of them and posted a 2.16 ERA in 121 innings. Liriano put up a 12-3 record to go along with his first big league save.

7. Jim Perry in his 10th big league season and his 6th in Minnesota in 1968 appeared in 32 games starting 18 of them and posted a 2.27 ERA in 139 innings while notching 1 save to go along with his 8-6 record. Perry went on to win 20 games in 1969 and a league leading 24 wins in 1970 when he won the Cy Young award.

8. Ron Perranoski is the only pitcher to make this list twice. In 1970 Perranoski had a 2.43 ERA when appeared in 67 games throwing 111 innings and once again led the league in saves with 34 to go with his 7-8 won/lost record.

9. Allan Anderson had a breakout season in 1988 when he started 30 games throwing 202.1 innings and putting up a league leading 2.45 ERA to go along with his 16-9 record.

10. Camilo Pascual was in his 10th season with the Senators/Twins in 1963 when he started 31 games throwing 248.1 innings with a league leading 18 complete games and posted a nifty 2.46 ERA that went well with his 21-9 record.

11. Dave Goltz made the list in 1978 which was his 7th big league season with Minnesota when he had a 2.49 ERA when he started 29 games and pitched 220.1 innings going 15-10 and that was a season after he had won 20 games.

12. Tom Burgmeier was in his 9th big league season and third with the Twins in 1976 when he appeared in relief in 57 games when he pitched 115.1 innings posting a 2.50 ERA to go along with his 8-1 record.

So what kind of ERA did the Twins World Series teams have? The 1965 Twins pitching staff had a 3.14 ERA, the 1991 Twins put up a 3.69 ERA and the 1987 world champs had a 4.63 ERA.

Twins sign Rich Harden to minor league deal

Rich Harden

The Twins announced that they have signed right-hander Rich Harden to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. The 31-year old Canadian native missed all of 2012 with a right shoulder strain and had rotor cuff surgery on January 31, 2012.

Harden was originally drafted by the Oakland A’s in the 17th round in the 2000 amateur draft and made his big league debut in 2003 as a 21-year old. Harden pitched a career high 189.2 innings in 2004 and has never pitched more than 148 innings an any season since. Harden throws a fastball, splitter, slider, and a change-up and has a 9.2 SO/9 career mark but staying healthy has proven to be Harden’s undoing. Harden pitched for Oakland from 2003 to 2008 before being traded to the Chicago Cubs where he pitched through the 2009 season. Harden signed a FA deal with the Rangers in 2010 but only appeared in 20 games going 5-5 with a 5.58 ERA. Rejoining the A’s in 2011, Harden went 4-4 in 15 games with a 5.12 ERA.

Harden is only 31 but he has been in the big leagues since 2003 and has a 3.76 career ERA in 928.1 innings to go with a 59-38 record. Harden along with a cast of thousands will try to make the Twins 2013 pitching staff but when a team is desperate enough to sign Harden with his medical history, you know that desperate times are at hand. To add to that desperation the Twins announced that their best pitcher in 2012, Scott Diamond has undergone clean-up elbow surgery on his pitching elbow this past Tuesday to take care of some bone chips. The ballclub states that Diamond will be ready for spring training but why would Diamond wait this long to have surgery? I can’t help but think this was another Twins cover-up so that other teams and free agents did not get a whiff of the Twins desperate pitching needs.

The Twins have also announced their list of non-roster invites to spring training and the list is long: Pitchers  Nick Blackburn, Deolis Guerra, Alex Meyer, Lester Oliveros, Bryan Augenstein, and Anthony Slama; outfielders Brandon Boggs and Clete Thomas; infielders Jeff Clement, Chris Colabello, Ray Olmedo and Mark Sobolewski; and catchers Kyle Knudson, Danny Lehmann and Dan Rohlfing.

It has been reported that former Twins lefty Francisco Liriano is signing a two-year $13  million deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Good luck to the Pirates and Francisco Liriano.

Former Twins pitcher Frank Pastore dead at 55

Former Cincinnati Reds (1979-1985) and Minnesota Twins (1986) pitcher Frank Pastore passed away yesterday at the age of 55 after spending the last four weeks in a coma.  Pastore had been riding his motorcycle home from his job as a radio host at KKLA 99.5 FM in Glendale, California when he was hit by a car near his home and suffered critical head injuries when he was thrown from his Honda Shadow motorcycle on November 19th. Frank Enrico Pastore was born in Alhambra, California on August 21, 1957.

Pastore was the Reds 2nd round pick in the 1975 amateur draft and made his big league debut with the Reds at Riverfront Stadium on April 4, 1979. The Reds used Pastore both as a starter and a reliever where he posted a 45-57 won/lost record with a 4.30 ERA. Pastore was hit by a Steve Sax (Dodgers) line drive off his pitching elbow in June of 1984 and he was never the same pitcher again. The Reds released Pastore in April 1986 and the Twins signed him shortly there after and he finished the 1986 as a Minnesota Twin. The right-handed Pastore appeared in 33 games for the Twins starting once and finishing the season with a 4.01 ERA and a 3-1 record. Pastore left the Twins as a free agent after the 1986 season and signed with the Texas Rangers but never pitched for them in a big league game.

Frank Pastore

After his baseball career ended Pastore became a born again Christian and returned to school where he earned degrees in political science and theology. In 2004 Pastore went to work for KKLA 99.5 as a Christian drive-time radio talk-show host and his show reportedly was the most listened to Christian talk show in the country. On his final radio show and just hours before his accident Pastore talked about his own mortality in a short timebyte that you can listen to here. Frank Pastore was survived his wife of 27 years, Gina; two adult children, Frank and Christina; and one grandchild.

Los Angeles Times obituary

Twins to sign another starter – Mike Pelfrey

Mike Pelfrey

CBSSports.com is reporting that the Twins have agreed to sign 29-year-old RHP Mike Pelfrey to a one year deal for $4 million and another $1.5 million in possible incentives. The former Mets first round pick (ninth overall) in 2005 has pitched for the Mets since 2006 and has a 50-54 record with a 4.36 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP in 149 big league starts. Pelfrey only had 3 starts in 2012 before under-going season ending TJ surgery. Prior to last season the 6’7″ Pelfrey had thrown between 184 and 204 innings from 2008-2011 but on the down side Pelfrey has always given up more hits than he has innings pitched. Sources indicate that Pelfrey throws a four-seam fastball between 92-95, a two seamer between 88-92, an 82-85 splitter, a slider between 83-87 and a 74-80 MPH curveball but then again that was before the TJ surgery so who knows what Pelfrey will show us now. History seems to show that Pelfrey has pitched well in even-numbered years but guess what, next year is 2013.

In current times $4 million for a starter is a drop in the bucket and with the Twins pitching staff in shambles I would like to say that this is nice sign but I just can’t bring myself to believe that. I have never been a Pelfrey fan and I can’t see why if GM Terry Ryan didn’t want to pay Scott Baker who was coming off TJ surgery why he would be willing to take a chance on Mike Pelfrey. Then again, Ryan is the Twins GM and I am just a fan so I will wait and see what happens but I am still one of the few that thinks that the recent Kevin Correia signing is  a better deal.

No team seems to value quantity as much as the Twins do and they have been busy signing players this off-season but when I look at the list, I can’t help but think, why?

 
Clete Thomas – OF 
Kevin Correia – RHP
Reynaldo Rodriguez – 1B
Brandon Boggs – OF
Bryan Augenstein – RHP
Ray Olmedo – 3B
Virgil Vasquez – RHP
Michael O’Connor – LHP
Scott Elarton – RHP
Lester Oliveros – RHP
Jason Lane – LHP
Jeff Clement – 1B
P.J. Walters- RHP
Samuel Deduno – RHP
Tom Boleska – RHP
Tim Wood – RHP
Jason Christian – 3B
Eric Fryer – C
James Beresford – 2B
Josh Roenicke – RHP
Tommy Field – SS (then lost on waivers)
 

It is difficult for me to have hope for the immediate future of this team when they continue to sign players like this. With the ownership this team has and a brand new stadium at Target Field it is hard for me to understand why they continue  to act like they have no money to spend. Last year they signed Josh Willingham and Ryan Doumit as free agents and at least gave us something to look forward to but so far this year that has not been the case. Then again, it is still mid December.

Twins to sign Kevin Correia

Kevin Correia

Several sources have reported that the Twins have agreed to sign 32-year-old RHP Kevin Correia to a two-year $10 million contract. Correia was a San Francisco Giants 4th round pick in 2002 and made his major league debut as a reliever at the age of 22 with the Giants in July of 2003. Correia spent parts of 2003-2005 with the Giants before joining the Giants full-time from 2006-2008. Correia has also spent time with the Padres in 2009-2010 and the Pirates in 2011-2012.

Since Correia became a full-time starter in 2008 he has a 49-51 record with a 4.73 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP in 132 starts during which he has averaged about 5.9 innings per start for some pretty bad teams. Correia has a career 6.0 SO/9 but the last two seasons he has a 4.6 SO/9. Correia is another of those so-called “pitch to contact” inning eater pitchers that the Twins seem to want to collect. We are not talking a Cy Young winner here but for the money and considering the state of the Twins starting staff Correia should fit in nicely. I like the signing, another item checked off on Terry Ryan’s to do list.

Twins active but lots of work remains to be done

It has been awhile since my last post but web site hosting issues have caused me a lot of extra work and taken me away from more fun activities like keeping up with the MLB Winter meetings and the changing Twins roster.

With the recent trades of former first round pick (2002) outfielder Denard Span to the Washington Nationals for 2011 Nats first round pick RHP Alex Meyer and just a few days later sending another former Twins first round pick (2007) outfielder Ben Revere to the Phillies for RHP’s Vance Worley and Trevor May the Twins and GM Terry Ryan have held true to their word that changes were coming and that they were going to snag as many pitchers as they could. These trades should also clear up any confusion that some Twins fans may still have had that the Twins were going to be “reload” and try to become a playoff team once again after suffering through two dismal seasons. The Twins are in a full-scale rebuilding mode but not the kind of rebuilding mode that we may have seen from the Twins in the past. In the past they would get rid of all their high salaried players and start from scratch but that is a much harder sell now days with the Twins just having moved into their new digs at Target Field in 2010. The Twins aren’t stupid, they know they can’t afford to totally alienate their fan base that they have built up with a with a new ballpark and a nice run since 2002 but they also know that they let their starting pitching fall into disrepair the last few years and in the process have lost 90+ games two years in a row. The team grew stale, changes were few and far between on the player, coaching and management sides and their “smoke and mirrors” approach to their pitching staff caught up with the team so quickly it seemed to catch the entire Twins organization off guard.

The Twins are not a huge market team but they can not plead poverty as they have in the past. The team has a decent fan base, a relatively new ballpark and ownership that has money to spend but I am not sure that they are willing to spend it. The Twins like to brag that they are one of the top organizations in baseball but when it comes to taking out their wallet to bring in some high-priced talent the team claims it is not all about the money. I understand if they can’t put Zack Greinke in a Twins uniform but I can’t get a handle on why you can’t get Joe Blanton for example if the Angels can get him for 2 years for $15 million. This team has just two starting pitchers going into 2013 and I surely don’t grasp why the team would supposedly make an offer to Francisco Liriano after his history with the team between 2005-2012. I think Terry Ryan is a very good GM but I sure don’t know what his logic is for this move. At least throw us a bone Mr. Pohlad, give us some new blood and something to at least give us some hope instead of having us pay to watch that same old crap. I understand loyalty but you can only keep hitting your head against the same old wall for so long before someone shows up to haul you away in a white coat. Show us some loyalty and a reason why we should pay big league prices to watch the Twins in 2013.

This Twins team has more holes than my fishing net but I still love baseball and every year teams come for nowhere to play winning baseball and I can only hope that the Twins will do so sooner than later. There are still serviceable pitchers out there on the FA market and I hope that Jim Pohlad lets Dave St. Peter and Terry Ryan know that his checkbook is there and he is willing to carack it open long enough to sign at least one if not two more starting pitchers. It all starts at the top. The recent splash the Twins have made in the trade market should be just the beginning of what the Twins need to do to become competitive again and not the final chapter.

Josh Hamilton is still a free agent and if Texas doesn’t resign him they could use a power hitting outfielder and if I were the Twins I would be happy to send Josh Willingham to Texas for a shortstop like Jurickson Barthelomeus Profar that could fill that shortstop hole at Target Field for many years to come. The Twins recently announced that they had signed 35-year-old pitcher Jason Lane who played the outfield for the Astros and Padres from 2002-2007 and turned to pitching in 2009. The team also signed 1B/C Jeff Clement who has played in the big leagues with the Mariner and the Pirates for parts of 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012 and hit .218 in 385 at bats. Why in %#@* do you spend the money on players like this? You don’t win with quantity, you win with quality, I am not sure the Twins look at it that way.

In the recent major league portion of the Rule 5 draft the Twins selected 23 year-old RHP Ryan Pressly from the Boston Red Sox. After starting since 2008 Pressly was turned into a reliever late in 2012 and pitched well in that role in the AFL over the last month or so.

It is still early in December and the 2013 season is several months away but the Twins brain trust needs to keep their nose to the grindstone if this team is going to break their two-year death grip on last place. If I was Ron Gardenhire, the way things looks right now, I would be signing on to the PC and updating my resume.

Twinstrivia.com under repair

An issue on Friday, November 30th with my site host at WebHostingHub has caused me to move the Twins Trivia web site to a new host. As part of the move I have a number of links that have disappeared and need to be repaired. This is going to take some time and I will repair everything as quickly as I can. I ask for your patience during this frustrating time but please rest assured that I will work as quickly as I can to get this site back to what it should be. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave me a note. Thank you for your patience. John Swol

UPDATE – As of December 29 I believe I have corrected all the outstanding issues caused by my move to a new host. If you still find any outstanding problems with the site please let me know by dropping me a note at jjswol@twinstrivia.com . Thank you!

 

Twins Rule 5 draft history

The 2012 MLB Winter Meetings are just around the corner and will take place in Nashville, Tennesse December 3-6. Once you look past the trades and free agent signings you will see that one of the items on the agenda during these meetings is the annual Rule 5 draft. A lot of baseball fans get excited about this draft but a true gem is hard to find.

The Rule 5 draft has been around for many many years and the rules have changed several times over the years. The cost of drafting a player has been $50K since 1985, from 1958 to 1984 the price was $25K. Any player that is drafted must stay with his new teams 25 man roster during the entire season. Prior to sometime in the 1980’s (I can’t determine the exact year) the team only had to keep a Rule 5 draft pick on the roster for 90 days. There are also rules in place to prevent teams from stashing these Rule 5 picks on the disabled list. In order to send a player to the minors during that first season, the Rule 5 draftee must be offered back to his original club for $25K and if that clubs refuses to take him back, then that team no longer keeps his rights and Rule 5 obligations cease. In todays game it is not unusual for a drafting team to want to keep the player but not on their major league 25 man roster so they work out a trade with the players original team and then the player Rule 5 status is eliminated and he is considered to be traded and the drafting team can do with the player whatever they wish.

From 1959 to 1969 there was also a second draft called the Rule 5 “First Year Player” Draft that allowed teams to select players who had completed one year and were not yet on the club’s 40 man roster.

Later in this article you can review the entire list of Rule 5 draft picks of the Minnesota Twins going back to 1960 but first let’s sum up the Rule 5 draft since 1960 as far as the Twins are concerned. For our purposes here I will only look at regular Rule 5 picks and ignore Rule 5 picks chosen under the “First Year Player” draft portion.

  • From 1960-2011 which is a span of 53 years, the Twins have selected 40 players under the Rule 5 draft umbrella.
  • The team has made no Rule 5 selection in 20 of the 53 years (38% of the time).
  • 21 (53%) players of the 40 selected players stayed on the roster the following season but that is kind of a deceiving stat since most of this occurred early in Twins history. 19 of the 21 actually played at least one game in a Twins uniform, two (Paul Gibson and Dave Moore) never did.
  • 13 (33%) of the 40 selected players have simply been returned.
  • The Twins made a deal to keep the selected player in 4 (10%) of the 40 picks and all of those occurred fairly recently, Scott Diamond in 2010, Jason Jones in 2008, Alejandro Machado in 2006, and Johan Santana in 1999. Only Diamnond and Santana actually played for the Twins.
  • One player (LHP Keith Garagozzo) was kept for about 2 months and then returned.
  • One player (SS Jose Morban) was lost on waivers.

If you look at the Rule 5 draft for the years of 1986-2011, a span of 26 years when Andy MacPhail, Bill Smith, and Terry Ryan have sat in the GM’s chair, there were no Rule 5 selections 9 times or 35% of the time. Of the 17 selections that were made, only outfielder Shane Mack in 1989 and LHP Gary Wayne in 1988 were kept on the roster all season. In four instances, LHP Scott Diamond in 2010, RHP Jason Jones in 2008, Alejandro Machado in 2006, and LHP Johan Santana in 1999 the Twins worked out a trade to keep the player but only two of the four actually played for the Twins, Diamond and Santana. Technically Johan Santana isn’t a true Twins Rule 5 pick since they actually picked Jared Camp in 1999 and then traded him to the Florida Marlins for Johan Santana and cash. If you look at the positions selected in the 1986-2011 timeframe you will find the Twins selecting a RHP 6 times, a LHP 4 times, an OF 4 times and a shortstop on 3 occassions.

If I ranked the top 5 Twins Rule 5 selections I would rank them in this order, number 1 would be LHP Johan Santana even though he was not actually selected by Minnesota. Second I would go with OF Shane Mack, in third place I have RHP Doug Corbett for his record as a Twins closer and the fact that the Twins then included him in a trade that brought in Tom Brunansky. Fourth I have 1B/OF and PH Rich Reese. I have LHP Scott Diamond as number 5 right now but he could move up the list depending on how his career progresses. I think the biggest star that the Twins lost over the years in the Rule 5 draft was OF Reggie Smith when the Boston Red Sox stole him in 1963. Smith was actually signed by the Twins in June of 1963 as a shortstop and went on to have a great 17 year career with the Red Sox, Cardinals, Dodgers and Giants. The best Rule 5 draft selection ever has to be HOF outfielder Roberto Clemente whom the Pittsburgh Pirates picked in 1954 from the Brooklyn Dodgers. There are some pretty good Rule 5 picks playing today like Jose Bautista with the Blue Jays, free agent Josh Hamilton, free agent Joakim Soria, Dan Uggla of the Braves, free agent Shane Victorino, and the Nats Jayson Werth.

Twins historical Rule 5 picks

UPDATE – 2013 – The Twins made no selctions in the major league portion of the Rule 5 draft.

UPDATE – 2012 – The Twins who had the fourth selection have selected RHP Ryan Pressly from the Boston Red Sox.

2011 – Twins picked second and took RHP Terry Doyle from the Chicago White Sox but returned him to the White Sox organization. I think he pitched in Japan in 2012.

2010 – Twins had the 12th pick and took LHP Scott Diamond from the Atlanta Braves. The Twins then worked out a trade (Billy Bullock) with Atlanta to keep him. Diamond pitched in 7 games for the Twins in 2011 going 1-5 before spending most of 2012 in Minnesota going 12-9 and was the teams best starting pitcher.

2009 – No rule 5 selections for the Twins

2008 – Twins picked number 14 and took RHP Jason Jones from the New York Yankees. Twins sent Charles Nolte to the Yankees to keep Jones but they kept him for only one season and now neither Jones or Nolte is in pro ball.

2007 – Twins made no selections but lost RHP Tim Lahey (who the Twins drafted as a catcher in 2004) who was chosen number 1 by Tampa Bay who then traded him to the Chicago Cubs who then waived him and the Phillies picked him up on waivers and had him on their roster for a week or so but Lahey saw no game action and was returned to Minnesota but never got above AAA again and is out of baseball. The Seattle Mariners took RHP R.A. Dickey from the Twins with the 12th pick and eventually worked out a trade to keep Dickey by sending Jair Fernandez to Minnesota. Dickey again became a free agent after 2008 resigning with Minnesota where he pitched in 2009 before again becoming a free agent and signing with the Mets and pitching there 2010-2012 and this past season he won the NL Cy Young award. The Twins ended up losing outfielder Garrett Guzman to the Washington Nationals with the 16th pick and the Nationals ended up making some kind of an unknown deal to keep Guzman but he never reached the big leagues.

2006 – The Twins picked 15th and took infielder Alejandro Machado from the Nationals and worked out some kind of a trade to keep him and he was in the minor league system for a couple of years but never again reached the majors after playing 10 games for the Red Sox in 2005. The Twins lost RHP Kevin Cameron to the San Diego Padres with pick 13 and Cameron spent 2007 and part of 2008 with the Padres and part of 2009 in Oakland and then left baseball. The Washington Nationals took Levale Speigner from the Twins with the 17th pick and then returned him in June and then a couple of days later worked out a trade with Minnesota giving up outfielder Darnell McDonald.

2005 – The Twins drafted outfielder Jason Pridie from Tampa with the 9th pick but returned him to Tampa. Then in 2007 the Twins reacquired him in the Matt Garza for Delmon Young trade in November 2007. Pridie played in 10 games with Minnesota in 2008 and 1 game in 2009.

2004 – The Twins had the 9th pick and selected RHP Ryan Rowland-Smith from the Seattle Mariners but returned him in March 2005. The Arizona Diamondbacks had the first pick and chose RHP Angel Garcia from the Twins organization but returned him and Gracia never pitched in the big leagues.

2003 – No rule 5 selections for the Twins

2002 – The Twins had the 15th pick and chose shortstop Jose Morban from the Texas Rangers. The Rangers apparently did not want Morban back so the Twins tried to slip him through waivers but the Baltimore Orioles claimed him in March 2003 and kept him on the roster all season. Morban played a total of 61 big league games for the Orioles in 2003 and never appeared in the majors again.

2001 – No rule 5 selections for the Twins

2000 – Twins used the number 2 selection to take RHP Brandon Knight from the New York Yankees but then returned him in March 2001. Knight appeared in 11 games for the Yankees in 2001-2002 and in 4 games for the Mets in 2008.

1999 – The Twins had the first pick and selected RHP Jared Camp from the Cleveland Indians and the Florida Marlins chose second and took LHP Johan Santana from the Houston Astros organization. That same day the Twins traded Camp to the Marlins for Johan Santana and cash. I guess the Twins thought they could make a few bucks by taking Camp and flipping him for Santana. Camp never appeared in a big league game and we all know the Johan Santana history after spending all of 2000 with Minnesota and appearing in 30 games.

1998 – The Twins selected number 5 and took shortstop Joey Espada from the Oakland A’s organization but returned him and Espada never made a big league roster as a player. The White Sox had pick 9 and took RHP Walker Chapman from Minnesota but returned him and Walker never even got a sniff of the bigs.

1997 – No rule 5 selections for the Twins

1996 – No rule 5 selections for the Twins

1995 – The Twins used their first pick to select RHP Joe Jacobsen from the LA Dodgers organization but returned him and Jacobsen never appeared in a major league game. The Orioles used the 11th pick to select outfielder Kimera Bartee from Minnesota but then tried to slip him through waivers and lost him to the Detroit Tigers who kept him on the roster in 2006.

1994 – The Twins selected 12th and selected outfielder Brian Kowitz from the Braves organization but returned him. Kowitz appeared in a total of 10 big league games all for Atlanta.

1993 – The Twins have the 6th pick and use it to select LHP Keith Garagozzo from the Yankee system and keep him for about a month in 1994 during which time he pitches 9.1 innings in 7 games and gives up 10 earned runs on 9 hits to go along with 13 walks and the Twins send him back to the Yankees. Garagozzo never spends another day in the big leagues.

1992 – No rule 5 selections for the Twins but lose RHP Kerry Taylor when the San Diego Padres take him with the 8th pick. Taylor spends the 1993 season with San Diego and pitches in 1 game for the Padres in 1994 before being sent down and never returns to the big leagues.

1991 – The Twins select 10th and take RHP Jesse Cross from the Toronto Blue Jays but end up returning him and Cross never makes it to the big leagues.

1990 – The Twins have the first selection and use it to acquire outfielder Pat Howell from the New York Mets but then return him and Howell ends up playing 32 games for the Mets in 1992. In a tit for tat move the Mets then select LHP Doug Simons from the Twins and keep him on the roster all of 1991 before trading him to the Expos where he appeared in only 7 more big league games.

1989 – The Twins use their 5th pick to select outfielder Shane Mack from the San Diego Padres and he goes on to play for the Twins for the next five years including the 1991 World Championship team. Mack ends up having a nice 9 year MLB career.

1988 – The Twins use the 10th pick to select LHP Gary Wayne from the Montreal Expos and Wayne sticks with the Twins from 1989-1992 before spending his final 2 big league seasons in Colorado and the Dodgers.

1987 – No rule 5 selections for the Twins

1986 – No rule 5 selections for the Twins

1985 – The Twins pick last (in the 9 hole) and select RHP Tom Burns from the New York Mets but end up sending him back to the Mets.

1984 – The Twins select 7th and take catcher Mark Salas from the St. Louis Cardinals and end up keeping him in 1985-1986 and part of 1987 before trading him to the Yankees in 1987 for Joe Niekro. Salas ends up with an 8 year career in the majors. The Tigers pick 11th and take outfielder Jim Weaver from the Twins organization and keep him for almost 2 months before returning him. Weaver spends parts of 3 different seasons in the bigs with 3 different teams.

1983 – No rule 5 selections for the Twins

1982 – The Twins pick in the 2 hole and take Detroit Tigers LHP Paul Gibson and the Twins some how end up keeping him in the minors for 2 seasons before he is declared a free agent and resigns with the Tigers. Gibson never pitches for the Twins but spends all or part of 8 seasons pitching in the major leagues for 3 different teams.

1981 – The Twins take the third player chosen RHP Paul Boris from the New York Yankees  and return him on April 2, 1982 but on April 10th they acquire Paul Boris, Ron Davis, and Greg Gagne from the Yankees and part ways with Roy Smalley. Boris appeared in 23 games for the Twins in 1982 and that was the sum total of his big league career.

1980 – The Twins selected two players that year and they took RHP Don Cooper from the Yankee organization with the number 8 pick and he spent the season with Minnesota going 1-5 with a 4.30 ERA. In 58.2 innings Cooper allowed 61 hits, 32 walks and he struck out 33. Cooper pitched briefly for the Twins in 1982, the Blue Jays in 1983, and the Yankees in 1985. Cooper has been the Chicago White Sox pitching coach since 2002. With the 15th pick the Twins selected LHP Jack O’Connor from the Montreal Expos organization and he pitched for the Twins from 1981-1984 and during that period he was 13-14 with a 4.99 ERA in 318.2 inning walking 163 and striking out 177.

1979 – There were 10 players chosen in the Rule 5 draft this year and the Twins took three of them. With the 4th pick they chose infielder Guy Sularz from the San Francisco Giants but returned him before the season started. Sularz spent time with the GIants from 1980-1983. The Twins selected RHP Dave Moore with the 9th overall pick from the Cincinnati Reds and must have worked out some kind of a deal with the Reds because Moore spent the 1980 season with AAA Toledo but moved on after that never reaching the majors. With the last pick, number 10 overall the Twins selected RHP Doug Corbett from the Reds and Corbett was actually a decent reliever for the Twins from 1980-1982 saving 43 games and posting a 2.49 ERA before being traded to the Angels as part of the Tom Brunansky acquisition. In 1982 Corbett led the league in pitching appearances with 54.

1978 – No rule 5 selections for the Twins

1977 – With the third overall selection the Twins chose RHP John Sutton from the St. Louis Cardinals. Sutton appeared in 17 games for the Twins in 1978 and never again pitched in a big league game.

1976 – With the sixth pick the Twins took outfielder Rich Chiles from the Houston Astros who spent the 1977-1978 seasons in Minnesota in a utility role. Chiles previously had brief big league appearances with the Astros in 71, 72 and 76 and with the Mets in 73.

1975 – No rule 5 selections for the Twins

1974 – No rule 5 selections for the Twins

1973 – With the fifth overall pick the Twins selected shortstop Sergio Ferrer from the Dodger organization. Ferrer played sparingly for the Twins in 1974 and again in 1975 before being traded. Ferrer played briefly for the Mets in 78 and 79.

1972 – No rule 5 selections for the Twins

1971 – The Twins made no Rule 5 selections this year but lost outfielder Brant Alyea when the Oakland A’s took him with the 9th pick. Alyea had big league experience with the Washington Senators in 1965, 1968, 1969 and the Twins in 1970 and 1971. Alyea played a few games for the A’s and Cardinals in 1972.

1970 – No rule 5 selections for the Twins

1969 – The Twins had the number 7 pick and selected RHP Hal Haydel from the San Francisco Giants and Haydel pitched in 4 games for the Twins in 1970 and in 31 games in 1971 and that was the sum total of his big league career. An interesting footnote is that Haydel is the only Twins pitcher to hit a home run (his one and only) in his first big league game. Haydel also hit a double in his first big league plate appearance. With the 19th and last pick the Giants then selected catcher Mike Sadek from the Twins. I am not sure what transpired here but the Giants kept Sadek but he did not play for them until 1973 and again from 1975-1981.

1968 – The Twins did not select any players but they did lose RHP Moe Ogier whom the LA Angels selected with the fourth overall pick. Ogier never reached the big leagues.

1967 – With the 4th overall pick the Twins selected catcher Bruce Look from the Los Angeles Dodgers and Look appeared in 59 games in 1968. The Twins also picked fifth and took outfielder Jim Holt from the Oakland A’s. Holt played for Minnesota off and on from 1968-1974 before the Twins traded him back to Oakland. The Twins lost outfielder Sandy Valdespino when the Atlanta Braves selected him with the 10th overall pick. Valdespino had played for Minnesota from 1965-1967. The Twins also lost RHP Bob Castiglione when the Atlanta Braves chose him second overall in the “First Year Rule” portion of the draft. Castiglione never reached the majors.

1966 –  The Twins lost shortstop Orlando Martinez to the Atlanta Braves when they selected him 6th overall. Martinez had previously played in 37 games for Minnesota back in 1962. Martinez had a 6 year big league career as a utility player for six different teams in 1962, and 1967-1972. The Twins only selection was in the “First Year Rule” portion of the draft when they selected infielder Greg Werdick who never got above AA ball and was probably returned by the Twins since I can’t find him appearing in any minor league games for the Twins either.

1965 – No rule 5 selections for the Twins

1964 – The Twins neither acquired nor lost any players in the regular portion of the draft but in the “First Year Rule” part of the draft they acquired shortstop Jim Jenkins from the Dodgers, shortstop Dennis Reeve from the Cardinals, 2B Ron Theobald from the Cubs, 2B Lewis Nelson from the Houston Col 45’s, and 2B Leonard Boryca from the Red Sox. From this group of infielders, only Theobald reached the majors when he played for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1971-1972. In this same portion of the draft the Twins lost RHP Pete Magrini to the Red Sox and he appeared in 3 games there in 1966. They lost shortstop Thomas Dix to the White Sox but he never got to the big leagues. They lost RHP Daryl Farnsworth to the Cleveland Indians who also never attained major league ball. The Twins lost LHP Fred Scherman to the Detroit Tigers and he had an 8 year big league career with three different teams from 1969-1976. The Twins lost LHP John French to the LA Angels but French never got above “A” ball. The Twins also lost outfielder Gary Cortopassi to the Cubs, RHP Edward Hill to the Reds, RHP Jerry Lyscio to the Colt 45’s, and catcher Joe Beck to the Atlanta Braves but none of these guys had a sniff of the big leagues.

1963 – With the 7th selection the Twins chose 33 year-old RHP Bill Fischer from the Kansas City A’s. Fischer had 8 seasons of big league experience by the time  Twins selected with this pick and he pitched in just 9 games for Minnesota in 1964. One of the teams that Fischer had previously pitched for was the Washington Senators. While pitching for the Kansas City A’s, Fischer went almost 2 months and 84.1 innings without issuing a base on balls, a record that still stands today. In the “First Year Rule” part of the draft the Twins selected infielder Bill Bethea from the Cardinals and he played in 10 games for the Twins and that was the sum toal of his big league career. The Twins then selected infielder Jim Glover from the Tigers organization who then spent the next 8 years in the Twins system but never achieved big league status. Their next choice was LHP Jim Ollom who pitched in Minnesota in 66-67. Their final selection was 1B/OF Jeff Talbott but he left baseball after a couple of seasons never getting above “A” ball. In this same part of the draft the Twins lost Reggie Smith to the Red Sox. Smith actually started out as a shortstop with the Twins but the Red Sox moved him to the outfield.  Smith went on to become a seven time All-Star who had a wonderful 17 year career. Smith is probably the best player the Twins have ever lost in the Rule 5 draft. The next player the Twins lost in this same draft was LHP Rudy May to the Chicago White Sox who ended up winning 152 big league games over 16 seasons with the Angels, Yankees, Expos and Orioles. May was in the Twins, White Sox and Phillies organizations before making his major league debut with the Angels. The Twins lost 2B John Donaldson to the Kansas City A’s and he went on to have a 6 year major league career with the A’s in Kansas City and Oakland and with the Seattle Pilots. The Twins also lost RHP Larry Bohannon to the Colt 45’s but he never pitched in the majors. The New York Mets selected LHP Rob Gardner from the Twins and he pitched in the majors for all or parts of 8 years while winning a total of 14 games.

1962 – In 62 there were actually three Rule 5 drafts, the regular one and two “First Year Rule” drafts, one for players signed prior to December 3, 1961 and one for players signed after that date. In the normal Rule 5 the Twins selected 1B Charlie Keller Jr. with the 4th selection from the New York Yankees. Keller Jr. never amounted to anything and was returned. In Part I of the “First year Rule” draft the Twins took LHP Marvin Mecklenburg from the Cradinals but he never attained the major leagues. The Twins also selected 1B/OF Rich Reese from the Detroit Tigers and Reese had a nice 10 year big league run, nine years in a Twins uni. In the second portion of the “First Year Rule” draft the Twins selected RHP Wyatt Ross and LHP Richard Taaffe both from the Pirates but neither got above “A” ball. In the same portion of the draft the Twins lost outfielder Roger Sorenson to the Orioles but he too never played in the majors.

1961 – The Twins selected 3B George Banks from the Yankees and he played for the Twins briefly from 1962-1964. The Twins selected 2B John Goryl from the Dodgers and Goryl played a utility role for Minnesota from 1962-1964. Goryl also served as the Twins manager in 1980 and 1981. The Twins selected RHP Georges Maranda from the San Francisco Giants and he went 1-3 for the Twins in 1962. The Twins also took RHP Bruce Swango from the Yankees but he never reached the major leagues.

1960 – After playing as the Washington Senators in 1960 the team moved and became the Minnesota Twins and in the 1960 Rile 5 draft they took catcher Ron Henry from the Milwaukee Braves and he played in Minnesota briefly in 1961 and again in 1964. The Twins also selected LHP Gerry Arrigo who had a nice 10 year big league career and spent all or part of 1961-1964 with the Twins. The Twins also took LHP Gary Dotter from the Cardinals and he pitched in a total of 7 games for the Twins in 1961, and 1963-1964 and that was his entire big league career and his record was 0-0. The only player the Twins lost was RHP Jack Baldschun to the Phillies where he pitched from 1961-1965 before moving on to the Reds in 1966 and 1967 and the Padres in 1969 and 1970.

Max Kepler earns Topps award

Max Kepler

The Topps card company along with minor league baseball annually awards a “Player of the Year” award to a player in each of the various minor leagues with its annual George M. Trautman award. This year the winner for the Appalachian League was Minnesota Twins prospect Max Kepler of the Elizabethton E-Twins. This past season the 19 year-old Kepler hit .297 with 10 home runs and had a team leading 49 RBI’s while helping his team win the league championship.

The Phillies, Pirates and Blue Jays each had players chosen in two of the 16 domestic Minor Leagues. Thirteen Major League organizations are represented in all.  You can see the entire list of winners at http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20121105&content_id=40175438&vkey=pr_l120&fext=.jsp&sid=l120 . I along with a lot of other fans are looking forward to seeing Max play in Cedar Rapids this coming season.