TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
According to an article by David Dorsey in the Fort Myers News-Press, the Minnesota Twins and Lee County will announce a 30 year lease extension later today. According to the article there will be about $45 million in improvements to the complex with the Minnesota Twins contributing $13.5 million to the project. $6 million of the $13.5 million is made up of a rent increase for the Twins from $300K to $500K per year. The remaining $7.5 million will be used to construct a player dormitory on property the county would contribute for the project.The details of the agreement, including plans to revamp the concourse, add seating sections and constructing a new gift shop and concession area are slated to be released today. The Lee County Board of County Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the agreement on November 6. You can read the entire article here.
With Halloween just around the corner Twins GM Terry Ryan has brought out his broom and is starting to clean up the Twins 40 man roster by sending some of the home town team dead weight packing. Yesterday afternoon the Twins announced that they have declined the 2013 $6 million option on 29 year-old reliever Matt Capps and will instead send a $250K check his way. Capps saved 14 games in 15 chances this season but missed almost the entire second half with rotator cuff inflammation. In 8 big league seasons Capps has a 3.52 ERA to go with a 1.19 WHIP and has saved 138 games. Capps is 29 and in reality is not that bad a relief pitcher but his $6 million option is just too heavy for a team like the Twins coming off two bad seasons. If the Twins could resign him for a song I am sure that they would jump at the chance but with experienced relievers always at a premium we have probably seen Capps in a Twins uniform for the last time.
The club also announced that minor league pitcher and 2008 first round (27th overall) pick Carlos Gutierrez was claimed on waivers by the Chicago Cubs. Gutierrez pitched in only 16 innings for Rochester in 2012 due to injury. Gutierrez is just another in the long line of pitchers that the Twins have selected in round 1 that have not met expectations.
The Twins also announced that they have outrighted right-handers Jeff Manship, Luis Perdomo, Esmerling Vasquez, Kyle Waldrop and P.J. Walters and outfielder Matt Carson off of the MLB roster. All these players played a role in the 2012 season but removing them from the 40 man roster is that difficult a decision.
Carson a 31 year-old outfielder playing for his fourth organization had no business in the big leagues, even for a team as bad as the Twins were this season, he is nothing more than a filler on somebody’s AAA roster to fill a vacancy.
P.J. Walters a 27 year-old righty started 12 games for Minnesota and pitched more than 6.1 innings just one time and had a 2-5 record to go along with his 5.69 ERA.
Jeff Manship a 14th round pick in 2006 has pitched for the Twins for parts of the last four seasons and has a 6.20 ERA to go along with a 1.62 WHIP. Maybe a new organization is what Manship needs to revive his career.
Luis Perdomo who is 28 and signed with the Twins this past off-season as a free agent and had a nice 3.18 ERA in 17 innings for Minnesota but when your BB/9 is 6.4 you have no business being a part of a big league bullpen. The Twins took a chance, it didn’t work out, time to move on.
Esmerling Vasquez is another 28 year-old reliever who did not pan out. When your major league career ERA is 4.86 and your BB/9 is 5.3 you should seriously be looking for a job in another field.
Last but not least we have Kyle Waldrop. The 26 year-old 6’5″ righty was another Twins 1st round pick back in 2004 and todate he has pitched a total of 32.1 inning for the Minnesota Twins. How long can you continue to wait for these guys to become big league pitchers? Cut the line and move on, a change is the best thing for both parties.
This is just the beginning of a lot of changes that will take place on the Twins roster over the next several months, you certainly can’t say it is not warranted. Keep that broom moving Mr. Ryan.
Twins General Manager Terry Ryan announced today that he had filled the three open coaching staff positions by naming Tom Brunansky as the hitting coach, Bobby Cueller as the bullpen coach and Terry Steinbach as the bench coach and catching instructor.
Brunansky who had a 14 year big league career played for the Twins from 1982 – 1988 and has been a hitting coach for AA New Britain in 2011 and AAA Rochester this past season. The 52 year-old Brunansky also played for the Angels, Cardinals, Red Sox and Brewers replaces Joe Vavra who will serve as the 3B coach and infield instructor in 2013. Vavra has served as the Twins hitting coach since 2006.
Cueller, 60 has only pitched in 4 big league games (Texas Rangers in 1977) but he pitched in the minors for 11 seasons from 1974 to 1985. Cueller just wrapped up his ninth season in the Twins’ organization and fourth consecutive as the Red Wings pitching coach after serving as Double-A New Britain’s manager in 2008. Cueller has also served as a major league coach for the Seattle Mariners in 1995-1996, the Montreal Expos in 1997-2000, the Texas Rangers in 2001 and for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2006-2007. Over the years Cueller has coached Cy Young award winners Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and is credited with teaching Johan Santana is change-up. Cueller also has a history with Carl Pavano. Cueller replaces Rick Stelmaszek who served as bullpen coach for five different Twins managers since 1981. The fact that Cueller is fluent in Spanish will also help the staff to better communicate with their Spanish-speaking players.
Terry Steinbach will take over the bench coach position from Scott Ullger. The 50 year-old former big league catcher spent part of 14 seasons with the Oakland Athletics (1986-96) and Minnesota Twins (1997-99), after playing college baseball at the University of Minnesota. Steinbach has been a guest instructor in spring training for the Twins for the last 13 years.I find it interesting that the Twins would give Steinbach who has not coached or managed in the big leagues the bench coach role that is normally given to experienced coaches and managers. Scotty Ullger will coach 1B and instruct the outfielders. Ullger has no big league outfield experience but he did play some outfield back in the minors back in the 80’s. Ullger has also served as the Twins manager in the past when the umpires have decided that Gardy needs a time-out, I wonder who fills that role now. I guess I just don’t see Ullger managing from 1B.
Rick Anderson will retain his pitching coach role and will be the only coach that will be doing the same job as he has done in the past. Over the past month or so Hall of Famer and former Twins DH Paul Molitor has mentioned that he would be open to a coaching role but GM Ryan quickly put a kibosh on that stating that “Molitor was not a fit at the present time” but no other reasons have been provided. My guess is that the Minnesota Twins who always like to project a squeaky clean image don’t feel that Molitor who has had substance abuse issues and other personal problems in the past fits in their plans at the current time. I personally have no issue with that and when I have observed Molitor during his spring training stints he seems to prefer to do his job and interact as little as possible with Twins fans who would like to spend some time chatting with him or getting his autograph. Heck, Tom Kelly spends way more time interacting with the fans then Molitor does. I asked Molitor to stop for a quick picture after spring training practice one day this spring and he acted like I asked him for 2 hours out of his busy schedule.
The Minnesota Twins season ended on Wednesday in Toronto with another loss, the 96th of the season and went into the record books as the second consecutive season that the team had the worst record in the American league. On Thursday the payment came due for a number of manager Ron Gardenhire’s coaching staff.
It is never a good thing when someone loses their job, we all need to work in order to earn money to put food on the table and to support our families. It is easy to say that so and so should be fired because the results are not what we want to see but I still find myself feeling sorry for the individuals involved. The coaches let go by the Twins yesterday didn’t make a single error, they didn’t throw any gopherballs and they certainly didn’t strikeout when the bases were loaded but yet today they still find themselves unemployed. When the team that you are coaching loses 90+ games for the second year in a row someone has to pay the price if for no other reason than to send a message to its paying customer fan base that the team is doing what it can to turn things around. But in reality the firing of bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek, or 3B coach Steve Liddle, or 1B coach Jerry White or even head trainer Rick McWane won’t add a single win to the Twins win column in 2013.
What it does do is send a message to everyone in the Twins organization that the Pohlad family views baseball as a business like any of their other businesses and if the Minnesota Twins are to be successful and profitable then everyone needs to work harder to be the best that they can be. When the Twins let these three coaches go, they lost 58 years of Twins coaching experience and head trainer Rick McWane has been in the organization for 24 years. Don’t think for a moment that this was a hasty decision, the team gave this matter a lot of thought, you don’t arbitrarily fire people with that much experience on a whim. Having said that, you also need to understand that it is natural for people to do things that have worked for them in the past and it is difficult for someone who has been with the organization for that many years to think outside of the box and come up with new ideas and new ways of doing things. In business it is a fine line between rewarding loyalty and making changes that bring new blood and new and fresh thinking into the organization. I am retired now but I worked for a single organization my entire 38 working years and I can tell you for a fact that there were many times over the years that either a new manager or a new employee would bring up a different way of doing something and we “old timers” in the company would say “stop right there, that is not the way we do it here at this company, we have been successful for many years doing it this way” so butt out and learn our ways of doing things or you will find yourself on the outside looking in. It is just the way that most of us think, change is difficult to accept and we don’t like to leave our comfort zones.
I feel the reason that the Twins have fallen on hard times is that they have neglected to accept change, the organization has gotten stale and they have gotten stuck in a rut with what has proven to work for them in the past and doing things the “Twins way”. There is always risk associated with any change but if you stand still and keep doing business as usual you will find out that your competitors not only have caught up to you but left you in their dust. It is easy to look at your team and say that we have some very good players and if we give them some time and experience they will continue to improve. That is true to a degree but you constantly need to look for better ways and better players. Over the year the Twins have been a model of stability but that only takes you so far, if you don’t take big risks at times you will not reap huge rewards. The Twins organization has been too conservative over the years and unwilling to take a risk, their “bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” approach has now bit them in the butt. Sometimes change will pay off and other times it will come back to haunt you as we all have witnessed in the recent Tsuyoshi Nishioka situation. But if you let the fear of failure keep you from taking a risk to get better, your are done, it is time to move on. Failure to take solid calculated risks will certainly lead to mediocrity and we are all paying for that now.
A lot has been made of the Twins letting Rick Stelmaszek and his 32 years with the team go but let’s be realistic here, what has Stelmaszek contributed recently to help the team? Stelmaszek has had health issues over the several years that have name it difficult for him to fulfill all his coaching duties. It is time for Stelmaszek to retire and give someone else a chance. As for Steve Liddle, the rumors have been out there for some time that he was thinking of retiring, if you are not 100% committed it is time to move on. I have not heard much about Jerry White either from a positive or a negative stand point so maybe it is just time for a change there too. Bench coach Scott Ullger and hitting coach Joe Vavra have been reassigned and their future roles are not yet clear if they will have a job on a major league or minor league level.
I have no issue with Gardy keeping the managers title but I am not as convinced that Rick Anderson should have been retained as the pitching coach. Both of these guys have a year left on their contracts and it seems very clear to me that both of their jobs are at risk going forward. GM Terry Ryan holds the key here and if he doesn’t get some players this off-season both Gardenhire and Anderson will be history. Fair or not, that is life in professional baseball. You can make a case that Gardy should resign at this point and just walk away but I don’t think that is the way that Gardy is wired, the man wants to win but right now he does not have the horses in the barn that will allow him to do so. I like GM Terry Ryan a lot and respect what he has accomplished over the years but he too is at the crossroads coming into 2013, he has to come up with a way to get some players that will help the Twins win or he will be riding off into the sunset after next season. Twins president Dave St. Peter is not in the clear here either, when you are in charge of the entire organization you need to accepts responsibility for the negatives as well as the positives. Yes, the times are changing in Twinsville and the fans will speak their minds over the next few weeks as they chose to either renew or not renew their season tickets and I think their voices will be loud and clear and the Twins organization will probably not like what they hear.
The Sydney Blue Sox of the Australian Baseball League have announced that Twins farm-hand Tyler Herr will be their first import player from the United States and will join the team as they prepare to start their season. ABL teams are allowed to have up to six import players on the 35-man roster, and a maximum of four import players in the lineup at any given time. The 21-year old right-hander was a Twins 44th round pick in 2009 and has been in the Twins organization for 3 years playing for the GCL Twins in 2010-2011 and for the Elizabethton Twins this past season. With the E-Twins this year the 6’8″ Herr came out of the bullpen 21 times and posted a 3-0 record with a 2.56 ERA and struckout 29 batters in 31.2 innings.
Sydney’s ABL team will be working under new manager Jason “Pops” Pospishil, a current coach with the Minnesota Twins minor league system. Penrith local Pospishil will be preparing the Blue Sox for a three-game exhibition series against Australia from the 26th-28th of October. The Australia Series will serve as a warm-up for the forty-nine game Australian Baseball League schedule, with the three-game home opener against the Brisbane Bandits from November 9-11th.
The only hit Baltimore pitchers allowed on Friday night in a game against the Boston Red Sox was a bunt single by Scott Podsednik to lead off the first inning. Podsednik ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly but the O’s ended up winning the game 9-1. The last player to get his only team’s hit on a bunt single to lead off a game was Cesar Tovar for the Twins at Washington’s RFK Stadium on Aug. 13, 1970. Tovar’s bunt single was the only hit off the Senators’ Dick Bosman, who outdueled Jim Kaat. Kaat allowed only five hits in a 1-0 Washington win, in a game that took only 2:02 to play. Box score of Twins/Senators game.
A Minnesota Twins Press Release today states that Tsuyoshi Nishioka has been given his unconditional release as of today at his request. Nishioka’s release saves the Minnesota Twins $3.25 million in salary and buyout in 2013.
Nishioka who has been in the Twins organization for the last two seasons released the following statement. “I would like to thank the Twins organization for helping me fulfill my dream of playing in Major League Baseball. I take full responsibility for my performance which was below my own expectations. At this time, I have made the decision that it is time to part ways. I have no regrets and know that only through struggle can a person grow stronger. I appreciate all the support the team and the fans in Minnesota and Rochester have shown me. Arigatou gozaimasu.”
Nishioka was not able to achieve the expectations that the Minnesota Twins organization had for him when they purchased and signed him back on December 16, 2010 from the Japanese League Chiba Lotte Marines. Nishioka suffered a broken league on April 7, 2011 while playing second base in a game at Yankee Stadium II in just his sixth big league game. Nishioka played in just 71 games (68 in 2011 and 3 in 2012) for Minnesota and hit .215 in 254 plate appearances while scoring 14 runs, knocking in 20 and stealing 2 bases in 6 attempts. Nishioka spent most of 2012 in AAA Rochester where he hit .258 in 431 plate appearances.
Nishioka had his problems with the stick but he also looked bad in the field playing both 2B and shortstop. In observing Nishioka in spring training in 2011 and 2012 he seemed to spend most of his time working out on his own and did not seem to really take any interest in being a part of the team. The way I see it, the Twins lucked out when Nishioka asked for his release and I’m sure they wasted no time granting his release before Nishioka had time to change his mind. Now the Twins can put that money to a better use and also have a roster spot open for a player that has at least some chance to help the Twins organization down the line. The Tsuyoshi Nishioka signing will go down in Twins lore as one of the worst player decisions that the Twins organization has ever made. Bill Smith who was the GM at the time paid his dues for his part in his fiasco and the scout(s) that recommended this signing should also pay with their jobs. Loyalty is a good thing and people make mistakes but the Twins have gone out of their way to hide the names of the scouts involved in the Nishioka signing and it is about time that those involved take some responsiblity for their actions before the book is closed on this chapter for the final time.
The Minnesota Twins have named Oswaldo Arcia their 2012 Sherry Robertson Award winner as the Twins’ Minor League Player of the Year and right-handed pitcher B.J. Hermsen as their 2012 Jim Rantz Award winner as the Twins’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
outfielder Oswaldo Arcia
Oswaldo Arcia, 21, began the season at Single-A Ft. Myers and batted .309 (64-for-207) with 16 doubles, three triples, seven home runs, 31 RBI and 22 runs scored in 55 games with the Miracle. He was promoted to Double-A New Britain in mid-June and batted .328 (86-for-262) with 20 doubles, five triples, 10 home runs, 67 RBI and 54 runs scored in 69 games with the Rock Cats. He combined to hit .320 (150-for-469) with 36 doubles, eight triples, 17 home runs and 98 RBI in 124 games this season. The 6-foot, 210-pounder was the Twins Minor League Player of the Month for May, batting .358 (39-for-109) with 10 doubles, four home runs and 18 RBI in 27 games with Ft. Myers. Arcia has played primarily RF but he has played several games in CF.
Arcia, a left-handed hitter who throws tight-handed was signed as a free agent, July 4, 2007 out of Venezuela at the age of 16 by scout Jose Leon. Arcia becomes the 43rd winner of this award. In 2010 Arcia had a breakout season in Elizabethton leading the league in numerous hitting categories and was named to the All-Star team and was named the league player of the year. Arcia played for the World team in the 2012 Futures game and was 1 for 2 with a double after entering the game in the 8th inning.
pitcher BJ Hermsen
B.J. (Brett Joseph) Hermsen, 22, began the season at Single-A Ft. Myers and went 1-0, 0.78 ERA (23.0 IP, 2 ER), allowing 16 hits with five walks and 12 strikeouts in four starts. He was promoted to Double-A New Britain at the end of April and went 11-6, 3.22 ERA (139.2 IP, 50 ER), allowing 145 hits with 25 walks and 75 strikeouts in 22 starts for the Rock Cats. The 6-foot-5, 235-pounder was the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Month for April, going 1-0, 0.78 ERA (23.0 IP, 2 ER) with five walks and 12 strikeouts. The right-handed Hermsen was drafted by the Twins in the sixth round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft out of West Delaware High School in Manchester, Iowa. In four minor league seasons Hermsen has pitched 477+ innings and has a 37-24 record with a 3.21 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. Hermsen becomes the 11th winner of this award.
Both Arcia and Hermsen, along with the Twins other 2012 award winners, will be recognized at the Eighth Annual Diamond Awards dinner, which will be held on Thursday, January 24, 2013 at Target Field.
By the way, if you were not aware, the 2013 World Baseball Classic qualifying rounds are already underway in Jupiter, Florida and Regensburg, Germany and you can keep up with the action and actually watch the games by clicking on the 2013 WBC icon on the right hand side of our home page. Max Kepler and former Twins minor leaguer Toby Gardenhire are playing for the team from Germany former Twins player Rene Tosoni is playing for Canada. I am sure other Twins will be playing for one of the 28 teams in the tournament.
One of the original Minnesota Twins, pitcher John Francis (Jack) Kralick who was born on June 1, 1935 in Youngstown, Ohio passed away at his home in San Blas, Mexico on September 18 at the age of 77. The Chicago White Sox signed Jack Kralick prior to the 1955 season after Kralick had played baseball for one season at Michigan State but released him in June of 1958. The Washington Senators signed Kralick in September of 1958 and he made his major league debut with the Senators on April 15, 1959 at Fenway Park throwing one inning of relief in a 7-3 loss to the Red Sox after having never pitched above single A ball in the minor leagues. Kralick ended up spending most of his 1959 season in double AA Chattanooga before making the Senators starting staff in 1960 and then became a Minnesota Twin when the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season.
The left-handed Kralick is best known for throwing the Twins first no-hitter on Sunday, August 26, 1962. There were five no-hitters thrown in 1962, others that threw a “no-no” that season were Bo Belinsky of the Angels, the Red Sox Earl Wilson became the first African-American to throw an American league no-hitter, the Dodgers Sandy Koufax threw the first of his four no-hitters, and the Red Sox Bill Momboquette also threw a no-hitter. Kralick had a perfect game going with one out in the 9th inning at Met Stadium before walking pinch-hitter George Alusik on a 3-2 count. Kralick then retired pinch-hitter Billy Consolo and lead off hitter Bobby Del Greco on foul pop-ups to 1B Vic Power to complete the no-hitter and notch a 1-0 win in 1 hour and 57 minutes. “It doesn’t make any difference to me – a no-hitter or a perfect game.” With that statement the Twins southpaw shook off any disappointment of losing a perfect game. “I suppose its a little nicer to be a perfect game”, Kralick added, “but it really makes no difference to me”. According to Kralick, his curveball was not working so he relied mainly on fastballs and sliders with a couple of change-ups thrown in. Kralick was not a pitcher that you would think would throw a no-hitter but he also threw two seven inning no-hitters in the minor leagues. It was the first no-hitter caught by catcher Earl Battey and he said that “my hands were really shaking in that ninth inning.” Kralick’s time in a Twins uniform was cut short when the Twins traded Kralick to the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Jim Perry on May 2, 1963. Kralick finished his Twins career with a 26-26 record and 3.74 ERA in 75 starts while throwing 510+ innings. Kralick had a little pop in his bat too as he hit 3 home runs in 200 plate appearances in a Twins uniform. As a matter of fact, on August 20, 1961, he was part of a rare feat as he and teammate Al Schroll both homered; it is one of only six times that two pitchers have hit a home run in one game for the same team, and the last time the feat has been performed. Kralick was nicknamed “Jittery Jack” for his constant fidgeting on the mound. He would play with practically everything, between his uniform, cap and the rosin bag. By several accounts, he seemed to like spending time by himself and wasn’t easy to get along with. A chain smoker, teammates and sportswriters described him as “a loner,” “reclusive,” and at times, “abrasive.” Rich Rollins said, however, “While he was kind of a loner, I thought most of the guys got along with him when we were teammates in Minnesota.”
Kralick went on to pitch for the Indians from 1963-1967 putting up a 33-33 mark and making the 1964 All-Star team. It has been reported that Kralick was difficult to get along with at times and in August 1965 he and Indians pitcher and roommate Gary Bell got into a short one punch each fight in Washington D.C. hotel room and Kralick ended up on the short end of the stick with a broken tooth and required 9 stitches. The Indians sold Kralick to the New York Mets on May 1, 1967 but he never pitched for his new team as he was involved in a car accident shortly after the transaction which left him with a cracked rib and double vision. His vision only cleared up at the end of the year, at which point Kralick had lost the desire to pitch again. At the age of 33 Jack Kralick walked away from baseball and never looked back. According to a 1971 article, he had moved to Watertown, South Dakota, enjoying a life of fishing and hunting, while working for a school supply company. Kralick enjoyed the outdoors and ended up living in Alaska and San Blas, Mexico.
I, like many others had tried to get in contact with Kralick over the years to see if he was doing an interview for Twins Trivia but like everyone else we never received a reply. According to his son, Lee Kralick, “He didn’t want the fame, didn’t want the notoriety,” Lee said. “That’s just who he was.”
Rest in peace Jack Kralick, and thank you for the memories. We at Twins Trivia would like to pass on our condolences to the family and friends of Jack Kralick. Only 9 of the 23 original players that played for the Washington Senators in 1960 and moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season remain alive today.
According to an article in the Cedar Rapids Gazette a representative from the Minnesota Twins and management from the Cedar Rapids Kernels will meet today to discuss a possible player development contract starting in 2013. The Kernels have been affiliated with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for the last 20 years but are said to be interested in a partner that is more closely geographically aligned. A deal could be announced this week. You can read the full Gazette story here. Ballparkdigest.com also did a piece about possible new Twins affilaition that you can read here.
