Category: General Blogging

This is a general blogging category.

Can Twins bounce back in 2012? What does history tell us?

Our Minnesota Twins are coming off an atrocious 2011 where the team finished 63-99, a full 32 games behind the AL Central Division winning Detroit Tigers and in the process posting the second worst record in all of baseball. But 2011 is behind us now and we look forward to spring and a brand new season of baseball which hopefully will see the Twins back in winning form. In just a little over a month, Twins players from all over the globe will start to congregate in Ft. Myers, Florida to get into baseball shape which I think really means that they will get in a little stretching, jog a little, catch up on the off-season gossip and  start throwing the baseball around and take a few swings with those shiny new bats they just received during the off-season. When a bad season of baseball ends, there is always “next year” and that next year is just about upon us.

Long before baseball was played, back sometime between 1688-1744 the English poet Alexander Pope said “hope springs eternal in the human breast” and no truer words could be said about how baseball fans look at their favorite baseball teams. Forgotten are the numerous injuries, be they real or perceived, the dropped balls, the hitters that couldn’t run out a ground ball, the runners that had brain farts and stood there and watched as the hit and run unfolded in front of them, the fielders that couldn’t throw straight, the pitchers that keep hitting opponent bats, the perplexed pitching coach who wondered why his pitchers couldn’t find home plate even though it was always in the same spot, the manager who had to make up numerous line-ups each day because he didn’t know which of his players were in the mood to play that day, and of course the owner who was left to wonder what happened to his $113 million.

The injuries that plagued the team in 2011 are hopefully healed and with another year of experience under their belts, we all hope the Twins are back and playing baseball the way that Twins fans of today expect. We are not interested in seeing the Twins play ball as they did say between 1971-1986 when they never won more than 85 games and finished as high as second only once, we expect to see a winning team on the field or at least a team that is playing like they want to win versus the 2011 bunch that quit early and often.

So, what does history tell us will happen to the Twins in 2012? I want you to keep reading, but the bottom line is that while miracles can happen, it sure does not look good. The Twins were 31 games worse in 2011 than they were in 2010, 31 games, only once in franchise history had a Senators/Twins team played so much worse than they had the previous season and those were the Washington Senators of 1934 who finished the season 33 games worse with a 66-86 mark after advancing to the World Series in 1933 with a 99-53 record. The following season (1935) they won 67 games, one more than the year before.

So how have Senators and Twins teams bounced back from such dismal seasons? The best the Senators could ever do was improve by 27 games back between 1911-1912 and the best the Twins have done since 1961 is improve by 23 games as the 1965 Twins did when they won 102 games coming off a 79 win season in 1964.

But let’s look at more modern times so we will look at the seasons between 1997 and 2011 because it probably makes for a fairer comparison based on free agency and player movement of today. In the last 15 seasons here is what has happened in the AL Central Division.

The Kansas City Royals worst drop-off was in 2004 when the team finished 25 games worse than they did in 2003. The following season, 2005, the Royals finished 2 games worse. The best improvement that the Royals have shown their fans was when they finished 21 games better in 2003 than they had shown in 2002.

The Chicago White Sox worst drop-off was in 2007 when the team finished 18 games worse than they did in 2006. The following season, 2008, the mighty whitey’s finished 17 games better. The best improvement that the White Sox fans have seen was when they finished 20 games better in 2000 than they had shown in 1999.

The Cleveland Indians worst drop-off was in 2002 when the team finished 17 games worse than they did in 2001. The following season, 2003, the Indians finished 6 games worse. The best improvement that the Indians fans have seen was when they finished 18 games better in 2007 than they had shown in 2006.

The Detroit Tigers worst drop-off was 14 games and it happened twice, once between 1997 and 1998 and again from 2007 to 2008. The following season in 1999 the team improved by 4 games and in 2009 the team improved by 12 games. The best improvement that the Tigers have seen was when they finished 29 games better in 2004 (to a 72-90 season) than they had shown in 2003, but, 2003 was the season the Tigers put up a pathetic 43-119 record.

That brings us to the Twins, whose worst drop-off was 31 games in 2011 from their 2010 season. The biggest improvement the Twins have shown during this 15 year period was in 2001 (TK’s last season as manager) when they finished 16 games better than what they showed us in 2000. In the past 15 years the Twins have improved their record from the previous season 8 times for an average improvement in games won over the previous season of 8 games. On the minus side their record has gotten worse from the previous season 7 times for an average of -11.29 but that is obviously skewed by the big -31 of 2011. If the 2012 Twins could match their biggest improvement of say 16 games as they did in 2001, that still only moves the Twins 2012 record up to 79-83. The Twins have to improve by 18 games just to reach the .500 mark and would have to improve by 27 games to reach the 90 win mark. It does not look promising.

The Twins have improved their previous years mark by 18 games or better on 4 occassions. The feat was accomplished by the 1991 team that improved by 21 games, the 1969 team that improved by 18 games, the 1965 team that improved by 23 games and the 1962 team that was 21 games better than the 1961 team. Four times in 50 seasons, not good odds for sure and remember, an 18 game improvement only takes the team to an 81-81 record, or .500 baseball. The team has lost Joe Nathan, Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Jose Mijares, Kevin Slowey and a number of bit players but then again, they lost 99 games when they had these guys. I know they added Ryan Doumit, Jason Marquis, Josh Willingham, Jamey Carroll and brought back Matt Capps but how many wins will these guys put in the “W” column?

What this team needs in order to play respectable baseball is for Joe Mauer to step back to earth from the “Twilight Zone” that he was in most of last year and catch 130 games and play 1B and DH for 10-15 more. I see no reason why this can’t happen, Mauer should come out of the gate madder than hell and show everyone that 2011 was a fluke. I will believe that when I see it. The next issue is Justin Morneau, here I am not nearly as optimistic. Justin was just a shell of himself in 2011 and I worry that Justin Morneau’s baseball career is coming to a premature end. That would be so sad as Justin should have many more years in him as a productive Twins first baseman. I hope I am totally wrong about Morneau, but if I was a betting man I would say “show me you still got it” Justin. I hope that Danny Valencia thought long and hard about his baseball career since the 2011 season ended because if he continues to play in 2012 like he did in 2011, he will be receiving his fan mail in Rochester come the middle of May. Valencia might not be the .311 hitter he was in 2010 but he sure better not be the .246 hitter he was in 2011 either. A little more work with the glove wouldn’t hurt Danny either. The Twins outfield is a mess, Willingham is a left fielder and the Twins need him to play right because Ben Revere can’t throw out his grandmother. So that forces the team to play Revere in center which is OK in itself but that means you need to move Span to right field but Span says he wants to play center. In my humble opinion, any outfield with Revere and Span both playing at the same time is a bad thing. I am not sure how things are going to shake out but come the second half of 2012, Joe Benson will be playing in the Twins outfield some where. The Twins signed Jamey Carroll to play short but the man has never had a full-time job in 10 big league seasons and he will be 38 before the Twins open the exhibition season. Is that a move that a contending team makes? We can hope that Tsuyoshi Nishioka comes back to life and show us that he really is a professional baseball player……come on, really, there is a chance. Alexi Casilla at 2B is an enigma but I still have hope for this 27-year-old with parts of six big league season under his belt. The bullpen is a couple of sharp knives short of a complete set and the starting staff of Carl Pavano, Scott Baker, Francisco Liriano, Nick Blackburn, and Jason Marquis would make any manager nervous.

So here it is, you make up your mind, can the Twins compete or will they have to fight and scratch like hell just to reach the .500 mark? Me? Come October, I think we should all be dancing on Target Plaza celebrating manager Ron Gardenhire’s second manager of the year award with a cold drink in our hand if this collection of Twins can win half of their games in 2012. However; if this this team wins 70 or fewer games in 2012, manager Ron Gardenhire may be looking for a job.

One cool web site

I recently ran across a web site that I had never seen before and I know it is not new, but it is new to me and for someone like myself that enjoys baseball history, www.backtobaseball.com is just plain fun and enjoyable to play with.

Back to Baseball is dedicated towards providing graphical play-by-play for major league baseball games, including all World Series, All Star, and playoff games, as well as most regular season games dating back to 1948. The site includes Greatest Games, as well as search capability to find particular games or plays.

If you are a Twins fan, you can watch any game the team has played in a graphical play by play format. You want to watch the Twins first game ever? It is there for you. You want to watch Jack Kralick pitch a no-hitter, it is there for you. You want to watch games 163 again, they are there for you. They even have a slick search tool that allows you to do all types of searches. I didn’t even realize until the folks from www.backtobaseball.com pointed it out to me but every box score on www.baseball-reference.com links every game back to www.backtobaseball.com . Check it out, I think you will like it.

How well did Twins rookies perform in 2011

The Twins finished the 2011 season with a 63-99 mark and lots of folks including the Twins management blamed the clubs poor finish or at least a big part of it on injuries and that is difficult to argue as the team used the DL list 27 times. The Twins often brought up rookies to fill these openings. How did these rookies perform?

This past season the Twins led all of baseball in games played by rookies with 493, followed by the Mets with 442 and the Mariners with 403. On the other end of the spectrum the rookies only played in 57 Brewers and 73 Rangers games and you know where these teams finished. If you look at rookie plate appearances, the Twins postion playing rookies had 1,805, way ahead of the team closest to them, the Mariners who sent 1,484 rookie batters to home plate. These Twins position rookies ranked in the middle of the pack in base on balls percentage at 6.9%, ranked seventh best in strikeout percentage at 18.2%, were in the middle of the pack with a .245 batting average, and if you look at WAR, the Twins number was 1.0 with the Nationals the highest at 5.8 and the Rockies the lowest at -1.6 .

Looking at the Twins rookie pitchers as compared to all of baseball , the team used fewer rookies there than most teams did this past season. Twins rookie pitchers appeared in 124 games putting them 11 fewest and Twins rookies threw 169.2 innings, only the rookie pitchers for the Cardinals, Pirates, Cubs, Giants and Red Sox threw fewer innings. These Twins rookies finished with a 5-14 record with a BB/9 of 4.03 and 5.36 K/9, hardly something to shout about. On the other end of things, rookies threw 545.1 innings for the Royals, 527.1 for the Astros, 489 for the Mariners, and 426 for the Braves. These same Twins rookie pitchers posted an ERA of 5.15 trailing only the Giants at 6.40 and the 6.10 Red Sox. The Twins rookie pitchers did not pitch a lot but when they did pitch, they pitched poorly.

I took a look at the Twins rookies as compared to the rest of the American League rookies over the last 10 years and where the team finished and here is what I found.

Year Rookie plate appearances AL rank Rookie innings pitched AL rank Division finish
2011 1,805 1 169.2 13 5th
2010 631 7 88 12 1st
2009 368 11 306.1 8 1st
2008 1,512 2 491.2 2 2nd
2007 520 8 222.1 9 3rd
2006 305 10 376.1 7 1st
2005 1,238 2 246 6 3rd
2004 1,519 1 95.1 12 1st
2003 426 9 130.1 10 1st
2002 962 4 201 9 1st
AVG 928.6 5.5 232.7 8.8 1.9

I am not sure you can reach any definitive conclusions from these numbers like rookies = trouble but they are still fun to look at. For example, the Twins finished last in 2011 when their rookie position players had more plate appearances than anyone but you compare that with 2004 when their rookie position players again led the league in PA’s but the team finished first.

But one thing that you can take away from this is that Gardy and pitching coach Rick Anderson are not big fans of young rookie pitchers based on the fact that the Twins rookie pitchers have been consisently in the bottom half of the division in innings pitched each year averaging just 232.7 innings and a ranking 9th of 14 teams. Twins rookie pitchers have only finished in the upper half of league innings pitched 3 three times in 10 seasons.

Twins Tickets – Value, Select and Premium

Wait, is that one of the Pohlad's?

Like many other baseball teams, the Twins have categorized their tickets the last few years into value home games, select home games, and premium home games or categories similar to this. The value games are the lowest price and then the select games are usually about $2 more and finally on the high-end we have the premium games that are about$3 more than the select and $5 more than the value games. I thought it would be interesting to see how the Twins designated their tickets since 2009 so here is what I found.

YEAR Value games Select games Premium games
2009 60 (74%) 14 (17%) 7 (9%)
2010 27 (33%) 39 (48%) 15 (19%)
2011 22 (27%) 36 (44%) 23 (28%)
2012 20 (25%) 38 (47%) 23 (28%)

It appears to be getting tougher and tougher to find “value” games year after year. These so-called “value” games were once upon a time the going price for attending a baseball game. In 2012 only 25% of the Minnesota Twins home games will be “value” games, the remaining 75% of the tickets are marked up as “select” or “premium games”. Like many other businesses, baseball is looking to raise revenue but doesn’t want to irritate the fan base by raising ticket prices so they just pick certain games that they categorize differently and charge a higher price for them. This is just a fee that is not called a fee. Baseball assumes that the general public is too dumb to realize what is going on. Who or how games are determined to be “value”, “select”, or “premium” at the beginning of each season would be interesting to know. These higher fees for “select” and “premium” games do not apply to season ticket holders here in Minnesota. Let’s do some math for the fun of it and let’s start with a couple of assumptions, first that the Twins have about 25,000 season tickets sold for each game and that the capacity of Target Field is 39,000 as a nice round number. That means you have about 14,000 tickets sold to the general public for each home game. So, if you have 38 “select” games in 2012 these 14,000 tickets at a $2 premium over a “value” game would bring in an extra ($2 x 14,000 x 38) $1,064,000. If you look at the 23 “premium” games in 2012 these 14,000 tickets at a $5 premium over a “value” game will bring in an extra ($5 x 14,000 x 23) $1,610,000. The numbers I am using I think are very conservative so the total extra dollars brought in through this ticket categorization are very likely higher that what I have here. These kinds of things just frustrate me to no end, ticket prices are already based on seat location meaning that better seats cost more and I understand that but why should I have to pay more to see the Yankees or the Cubs play or why should I pay more because the game is being played on a Saturday night? The Twins are no better and no worse at this than the other MLB teams but in my mind this is just not right. It is these kinds of things that cause baseball fans to jump off the home team bandwagons and stay off until the team is a winner. The bad part is that the teams don’t want to spend money to get good players unless they have the fans support and the fans don’t want to spend their hard earned money watching a crappy team. So it becomes a “what should happen first scenario”.

So what happens over the next few years to the “value” games? They are already down to just 25% of the home games. I guess when the “value” games drop to next to nothing, the “value” category will be eliminated, and the “select” category become the lowest price category and a new category for the high-end will be invented and called something like “platinum” and the game goes on. MLB best be careful, their ticket prices in all these new stadiums are getting out of hand. In most cases the taxpayers are footing a huge chunk of these ballpark costs and it will be sad when the fans get priced out of going to watch their home team play in a ballpark that they paid for to begin with.

I understand that baseball is entertainment and that salaries are extraordinary in the entertainment industry but when does it reach a point of no return? The average salary for a Twins player according to USA Today in 2011 was $4,509,480 and we are talking about a team that lost 99 games. The Kansas City Royals had the lowest average in 2011 and that was still at $1,338,000 and the Yankees were of course the highest with a $6,756,300 average.

I know this blog won’t change anything but writing it does make me fell somewhat better knowing that I have gotten it off my chest. I just hope that Twins fans in 2032 will still be able to attend a Twins game in person at Target Field and get to enjoy baseball the way it should be enjoyed, outdoors at your local ballpark in person. Hell, by then everyone will probably have some kind of igadget that puts everyone out in the field of play so we all get the same view as the players do.

Some old newspaper clips about the Twins

The Minnesota Twins have had their ups and downs over the years and I ran across a variety of press clippings that pertained to the home-town nine and I thought that I would share them with you. Some are sad, some stupid, some funny and some historical but they are all part of Twins lore and history. Some will bring back some bad memories and other will cause you to to say, oh yes, I remember that. The clipping come from a variety of newspapers including the Boston Globe, Orlando Sentinel, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

April 12, 1985 – There will be no more spitting on the Minnesota Twins’ clubhouse floor. Nor will there be any more gum wrappers lying around or cramped dressing areas. The Twins Thursday unveiled the remodeled Metrodome clubhouse, done in the team’s colors of red, white and blue, with ash wood trim — the same color as baseball bats.”Some of these players make $800,000 a year, and they come in five or six hours before a game,” said architect David Shea, who was the principal designer for the remodeling.

June 30, 1985 (Peter Gammons – Boston Globe) – Billy Gardner got fired because (1) the Twins’ pitching fell apart, and (2) he simply is not in the mold of owner Carl Pohlad and GM Howard Fox. What can one say about a staff on which the only pitcher with an ERA under 4.20 was Frank Euefemia? Or when Ron Davis became so afraid of pitching that he hyperventilated in the bullpen and created excuses to beg out of games? Ray Miller was brought in to straighten out the pitching, and he is a man who deserves the chance. He needed to leave Baltimore, where his rapport with writers and his ambition had turned off pitchers and alienated fellow coaches.

September 20, 1985 – Baseball, as a business, is not for those with weak stomachs, says Carl Pohlad, who is completing his first full season as owner of the Minnesota Twins. Pohlad: ”I live and die every game. When I bought the team, I knew sports had more ups and downs than other businesses, and I thought I could cope. In my other enterprises, I can cope. But I have difficulty coping with a tough loss on the ball field.” Pohlad bought the Twins from long-time owner Calvin Griffith a little over a year ago. ”I used to think I was pretty good at managing stress,” the 69-year-old banking magnate told the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce.

July 29, 1986 – Amid rumors of his firing, Minnesota Twins Manager Ray Miller met Monday with top club officials to discuss the team’s poor performance and how to solve the problem. ”I’m not satisfied with the way the team’s been playing,” Twins President Howard Fox said in New York, where Minnesota faced the Yankees. ”I thought we’d be better than we’ve been. We’re re-evaluating the whole thing.” Fox said Twins owner Carl Pohlad has given him the authority to make any managerial change.

July 4, 1986 – Former Minnesota Twins’ farm director George Brophy, who resigned last January because of illness, will become a special assistant scout for the Houston Astros Aug. 1, he said. Brophy, 59, was struck in June 1985 by aplastic anemia, a life-threatening blood disorder. When Brophy still wasn’t back to work in January, Twins president Howard Fox asked him to take early retirement as part of a program established by owner Carl Pohlad for longtime employees. Brophy said he began to respond to a new form of treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

July 31, 1986 – Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad says he’s ”disappointed” with his struggling American League club but says he won’t comment on the future of Manager Ray Miller. Pohlad said ”we’re all disappointed” at the team’s record, which stood Wednesday morning at 43 and 57. ”I don’t like it, the fans don’t like it and neither does anybody else. We’re doing the best we can.”

September 13, 1986 – Tom Kelly, who guided the Orlando Twins to the Class AA Southern League pennant in 1981, was named manager of the Minnesota Twins on Friday for the remaining 23 games after Manager Ray Miller was fired. Kelly, 36, took over Friday night as interim manager after Minnesota President Howard Fox announced, ”It would be in the best interest of everyone concerned that the termination of Ray Miller’s position would take place at this time.””Our record games behind is exactly three games worse than it was last year at this time without a bullpen,” Miller said.

October 23, 1986 – The Minnesota Twins, who have said they hope to name a new manager by next week at the latest, have interviewed former Kansas City Royals and Chicago Cubs manager Jim Frey. Frey met for almost three hours Tuesday with Twins owner Carl Pohlad, said Pohlad’s son, Jim, a team director who was also in on the meeting. Jim Pohlad said the only candidates who have been recommended by Twins Vice President Andy MacPhail are Frey and Tom Kelly. Kelly, the Twins’ third-base coach for the last three years and former Orlando Twins manager, served as interim manager for the final three weeks of the 1986 season after Ray Miller was fired.

May 19, 1988 (Brian Schmitz, Orlando Sentinel) – The way I understand it, the Minnesota Twins will honor Orlando with their presence each spring only if the city gives them some choice property, presumably a chunk with a lakefront view. The Twins want freebie land to develop for economic opportunities outside of baseball, and if they don’t get it they’ll leave for Fort Myers in 1990.To the Twins, I say so long, goodbye and don’t let the door hit you in your pinstriped behinds. Baseball fans, calm yourselves. City fathers want the Twins to stay.

November 1, 1988 (Tim Povtak, Orlando Sentinel) – The ”privatization” of Tinker Field, which would give the Minnesota Twins almost total control of the baseball complex, is key to an arrangement that has brought Orlando and the major-league team close to signing a 10-year contract for spring training.Twins owner Carl Pohlad and much of his administrative staff met for an hour with city officials Monday in Mayor Bill Frederick’s office, discussing major points in the agreement.The Twins, who have one more year on their contract, and the city have been negotiating for more than a year.

January 10, 1989 – The Minnesota Twins will continue making Orlando their spring training base, at least for the next 10 years, if the professional baseball team agrees to a settlement offered Monday by the Orlando City Council.The council offered to pay $3 million over the next three years for the Twins to build new major and minor-league clubhouses, batting tunnels and a grandstand at Tinker Field. The city also relinquished its rights to concession and parking revenues associated with Tinker Field and agreed to provide 6,000 square feet in office space for team officials at the Florida Citrus Bowl.

January 26, 1989 (Larry Guest, Orlando Sentinel) – Spring baseball long has been a time of charm and grace, a respite of innocence when reality gave way to fantasy. It was six weeks of green grass and a warming sun, a genteel preamble of wind sprints and good will before the hard competition and grim business of the regular season took over.It was a ritual for the romantics, a flashback to the simpler times.Never has the passing of that poppycock been made more crystal clear than by the hard capitalists in charge of today’s Minnesota Twins.

February 3, 1989 – Minnesota Twins General Manager Andy MacPhail says the Twins should not be portrayed as ”Northern carpetbaggers” in their negotiations with the city of Orlando. MacPhail says the Twins simply are keeping up with the business of modern baseball.Orlando has been the spring-training home of the Twins for 53 years, but that relationship is in jeopardy. The Twins want the city, which is asking for a 10-year commitment, to upgrade facilities at Tinker Field to accommodate both their minor and major-league players.

October 8, 1991 – He says his job is tougher because he works in one of the smallest baseball cities, but Vice President/General Manager Andy MacPhail has excelled, and Monday he was given a new 3-year contract that will carry through the 1994 season.The contract is the first MacPhail has had with the Twins, having worked the past six years on 1-year agreements.”I’m very grateful to owner Carl Pohlad,” MacPhail said. ”There is no one I would rather work for than Carl Pohlad or nowhere that I would rather live and work than where I am.’MacPhail, 38, said the difference between making decisions in Minnesota rather than in New York or Los Angeles is that ”we have to balance everything in terms of affordability”.

October 16, 1995 – Thelma Griffith Haynes, the former co-owner and executive of the Minnesota Twins baseball club, died Sunday, Oct. 15. She was 82. Haynes of Lexington Parkway, Orlando, who co-owned the team with her brother, Calvin Griffith of Melbourne, sold it to Carl Pohlad in 1984. Her father, Clark Griffith Sr., founded the Washington Senators in the early 1920s. The family moved the ball club to Minnesota in 1961. Orlando was the team’s spring training site from the 1930s until 1990. Born in Montreal, Canada, she moved to Central Florida in 1982.

May 28, 1997 – Angered that the Minnesota Legislature took no action on their stadium proposal during this year’s regular session, the Minnesota Twins reiterated Tuesday that they will ask for permission to sell or move the team.The club hopes to get that approval at the June 10-12 owners meetings in Philadelphia and immediately would begin taking offers. ”We set out to get an answer from the people of Minnesota. We were told that answer was to be given through the Legislature,” said Bob Pohlad, son of Twins owner Carl Pohlad.

October 7, 1997 – Major league baseball would allow the Twins to leave Minnesota, Gov. Arne Carlson said after meeting Monday in Milwaukee with acting commissioner Bud Selig. Carlson made the comment after he and a group of legislators flew to Milwaukee to ask Selig how Twins owner Carl Pohlad’s deal to sell the Twins to North Carolina businessman Don Beaver would fare with team owners. Pohlad has said he can’t afford to lose any more money in the Metrodome, and that the team must have a baseball-only stadium with revenue from suites, club seating, and other amenities.

November 19, 1997 – The Twins moved a step closer to North Carolina when baseball appointed a five-man committee Tuesday to guide the team through the sport’s relocation rules. The Minnesota Legislature last week defeated a proposal to finance a new ballpark, and Pohlad has an agreement with North Carolina businessman Don Beaver to negotiate a sale unless stadium financing is approved by Nov. 30. Beaver has said he would apply to move the team to North Carolina following the 1998 season.

December 4, 1997 – Paul Molitor, who returned home to the Twins in 1996 and became the 21st player in history to top 3,000 hits, is expected to play elsewhere in 1998, which could be his final season. Ron Simon, Molitor’s agent, said Molitor probably will sign with Toronto or Baltimore by Monday because he is unwilling to play for the Twins in what could be a lame-duck season in Minnesota. Owner Carl Pohlad has an agreement to sell the team to a North Carolina businessman, and the team could move after ’98 unless it gets a new stadium.

July 20, 1998 – Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad plans to work out a lease that will keep his team playing at the Metrodome for the next two years, according to a published report. The Minneapolis Star Tribune cited an unnamed source close to Pohlad, who said Pohlad would work out the lease in the hope of finding a way to build a new baseball stadium.The Twins and the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission are scheduled for a settlement hearing today. The commission has filed a lawsuit trying to block the Twins from exercising an escape clause that would let them out of their Metrodome lease after this season.

November 7, 2001 (Phil Rogers) – In a move almost certain to eliminate the Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos, Major League Baseball owners voted Tuesday to authorize Commissioner Bud Selig to fold two teams before the 2002 season. If the plan goes through, it will mark the first time since 1899 that Major League Baseball has closed an existing franchise. “We’re plowing historic ground here,” Selig said. Selig said the teams to be dissolved were not identified specifically during a meeting of owners and that there are more than two under consideration.

November 17, 2001 – JUDGE: TWINS MUST PLAY – Baseball was barred from eliminating the Minnesota Twins next season when a judge Friday ordered the team to play its 2002 home schedule in the Metrodome. Twins owner Carl Pohlad also was ordered not to sell the team unless the new owner agrees to have the team play its 2002 home schedule in the ballpark. The decision by Hennepin County District Judge Harry Seymour Crump throws into question last week’s vote by baseball owners to eliminate two major-league teams next season.

December 23, 2001 – Alabama businessman Donald Watkins, who wants to buy the Twins, shook hands with nearly 200 avid fans Saturday at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. “The weather may be cold up here, but the reception is warm,” said Watkins, who hopes to meet with officials of the commissioner’s office on Jan. 10 to discuss a possible purchase of the team. Current owner Carl Pohlad wants out after failing to gain approval of government financing for a new ballpark.

March 31, 2002 – An enjoyable summer could follow the lousy winter. After dealing with Commissioner Bud Selig, Carl Pohlad and other embarrassments to the grand old game during the offseason, it’s the fans who needed to hit the showers. They wanted to feel clean again. Along the way, the Twins became America’s Team, gamely fighting off contraction and vowing to contend. Everyone loves the underdog, so people from all over will be pulling for the plucky Twins. Pulling for the Minnesota ball club feels good because it’s like casting a vote against big, corrupt business — as represented by the owners who tried to make the franchise disappear.

August 17, 2002 – The axe is now hovering over Cinderella’s head, ready to ruin baseball’s best story. But for what it’s worth, sports fans, the executioners feel your pain. “It’s not the players who are hurting,” Denny Hocking said. “It’s not the owners who are hurting. It’s the fans.” If fans were paid by the lip service they receive, they’d all be Alex Rodriguez. For all the supposed angst, players started the Doomsday Clock. T-minus two weeks until the ninth work stoppage since 1972.

 

50 best players not in the Hall of Fame

Baseball: Past and Present is a wonderful blog site that writes about the national pastime and its history has published his second annual look at “the 50 best players that are not yet in the baseball Hall of Fame”. Due to a mix-up on my part, I did not get my votes submitted in time this year but I look forward to participating again next year. It is a fun look at the players that many of us have grown up watching and some that were “a bit before our time”. There are several former Minnesota Twins on the list and it is interesting to see how others view these former Twins as possible hall of famers. If you have a few minutes, check out Graham Womack’s (a fellow BBA member) work entitled “The 50 best players not on the Hall of Fame, version 2.0. I think you will find it worth your time.

Twins Hall of Fame voting now open

Fan voting for the Twins Hall of Fame class of 2012 is now open and will remain open through midnight on January 4, 2012. The 2012 ballot has 18 former players. After the voting deadline has passed, votes will be counted and the top vote-getter with at least 50% of the ballot will be elected and honored during the 2012 season. If a second candidate receives 75% of the vote, there will be two candidates who will receive membership in the Twins Hall of Fame. Started back in 2000, the Twins Hall of Fame currently has 23 inductees that you can see on the “Twins Hall of Fame” page on this site. I would urge you to stop over at http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/min/fan_forum/hof_ballot.jsp and vote for the player or players that you think are worthy to admission into the Twins Hall of Fame.

I am lucky enough to have seen all of these players play in a Twins uniforms and that makes it a bit easier I think for me to vote than for some of the younger voters who can only go by statistics and what they have heard and read about the player(s) in question. Voting is conducted by a 54-member committee, which includes local and national baseball writers, Twins broadcasters, Twins Hall of Fame members, local TV and Radio members, select Twins front office personnel and the fans so I am not sure exactly how much say the fans really have in this vote. Sure it is a popularity thing, much like the All-Star game voting in that respect but still it is fun for the fans to vote and have their say in who deserves the honor of being a Twins Hall of Fame member.

I vote every year and this year my votes go to:

1. Camilo “Little Potato” Pascual a right-handed pitcher who pitched for the Senators/Twins franchise from 1954-1966. Pascual was known for having the best curveball in his era and in his 13 seasons with the franchise he posted a 145-141 record for a team that was often closer to the cellar than the penthouse.  Camilo finished what he started and he led the AL in complete games in 1959, 1962 and 1963. He led the AL in strikeout for three consecutive seasons from 1961 to 1963 and he won 20 or more games in both 1962 and 1963. Camilo Pascual who I think has been a forgotten man by the Twins to this point is 77 now and no one deserves to be in the Twins Hall of Fame more than he does. It is a disgrace that this great pitcher has been left out of the Twins Hall of Fame for so long.

2. Allan “Red” Worthington was a right-handed reliever for the Twins from 1964-1969 and a strong case can be made that Al Worthington was the Twins first great closer. The man put up amazing numbers back when closers role did not really exist and relief pitchers pitched several innings at a crack. Look at these numbers and tell me how we would look at a closer today that put up numbers like this. In Worthington’s 6 seasons in Minnesota he was 37-31 with an ERA of 2.62 and a WHIP of 1.19 while having a 7.6  SO/9 ratio. Al Worthington, now 82, deserves your vote.

3. Cesar “Pepe” Tovar passed away at the age of 54 in 1994 and is no longer with us but memories of this wonderful little player are still with me. Tovar played for the Twins in a number of roles for 8 seasons from 1965-1972 after being acquired in a trade from Cincinnati. Pepe could play anywhere, as a matter of fact he played all nine positions in a game for the Twins back on September 22, 1968 and Tovar remains the only Twins position player to start a game on the pitcher’s mound. The 5’9″ 155 pound right-handed hitting Tovar spent most of his time in the outfield but he also played 3B, 2B, and Shortstop. 1970 was probably his best year and that year he played in 161 games, had 726 plate appearances, scored 120 runs, led the league in doubles (36) and triples (13), while hitting 10 home runs and knocking in 54 more to go with his .300 batting average. That doesn’t even count his 30 stolen bases.

One player I will probably never vote for the Twins Hall of Fame is former 2B and 1991 AL Rookie of the Year Chuck Knoblauch. Don’t get me wrong, Knoblauch was a great player but his attitude stunk, his me first thinking, and his relationship with the fans left a lot to be desired so Knobby will not be getting a vote for the Twins Hall of Fame in the near future.

So PLEASE, get out there and vote!

GM Ryan busy, Twins sign Ryan Doumit

Ryan Doumit being checked out by Pirates trainer

Holy Cow, GM Terry Ryan has been busy, on the job less than two weeks and he has signed Jamey Carroll and now today the Twins announced they have signed C/1B/OF Ryan Doumit to a $3 million one year deal pending a physical.  The deal apparently has some incentives and that is a good thing because the switch-hitting Ryan Doumit comes to Minnesota with some baggage. Injury type of baggage, in the form of a concussion history and that is not a good thing for a catcher.

Doumit was drafted in the 2nd round of the 1999 June free agent draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates as a catcher and has been in the Pirates organization ever since. Doumit made his major league debut in June of 2005. Although not rated as a strong catcher defensively, in his 7 big league seasons Doumit has played in 521 games but he has caught in 426 games, played the OF in 60 and played 1B in 35 games. Injuries have limited Doumit’s time in the line-up and he has never had more than 465 plate appearances in any of his 7 big league seasons.

OK, Ryan Doumit has an injury history but he is still a very nice pick-up and worth the gamble as I see it. Doumit has suffered injuries such as a broken thumb, broken wrist, and a fractured ankle not to mention the concussion issues I brought up earlier. He can play three positions and is a switch-hitter and will be 31 when the season starts in April. He has a little pop in his bat as his 67 home runs in 611 games attest and he has a .271 career average although he did hit only .250 in 2009, and .251 in 2010 but he hit .303 in 77 games last year.

I like the signing but if you think this will send Drew Butera packing you need to think again. Doumit is weak defensively and his strength is offense so there is no way that Gardy keeps him on the bench strictly as a back-up catcher day in and day out. Doumit will be in the line-up some where most of the time so Gardy still needs to have a back-up catcher available and that man will probably be Butera or another catcher with some defensive skills. If Doumit is the DH, Gardy will not want to risk losing his DH if he would suddenly need Doumit to catch. Even if Butera fails to make the team, I see no way the Twins do not carry three catchers next year. In spite of needing to carry three catchers, I like this signing and I give GM Ryan a big thumbs up. Keep working those phones Mr. Ryan, a starting pitcher would be nice and the outfield is still a big question mark.

Jason Bulger

The Twins also announced they have signed yet another relief pitcher to a minor league deal, this time it is former Angel Jason Bulger. Jason is a right hander and stands 6’4″ and goes about 210 and will be 33 in a couple of weeks. Bulger has been in the big leagues off and on with the D-Backs and the Angels since 2005 but has only appeared in 125 games with a 7-2 record. Bulger is another of those relief pitchers with control issues as his career mark of 5.1 BB/9 will tell you.

Finally, the Twins also announced that they plan to add another bronze statue of a former player outside Target Field next year but as yet the player has yet to be publicly identified. He would join statues of Harmon Killebrew, Kirby Puckett, Rod Carew, Tony Oliva and the late Twins owner Carl Pohlad and his wife Eloise. Who is it going to be? My guess would be Bert Blyleven and my dark horse choice would be Kent Hrbek. We will find out soon enough.

UPDATE November 23 – The Twins announced that they have officially signed free-agent catcher Ryan Doumit to a one-year deal worth $3 million.

Former Twins pitcher Charlie Lea dead at 54

Charlie Lea

Former Montreal Expos and Minnesota Twins  pitcher Charlie Lea who was born to military parents in Orleans, France on December 25, 1956 was found dead yesterday of an apparent heart attack at his home at the age of 54. Lea was drafted by the Montreal Expos in 1978 and made his major league debut with the Expos on June 12, 1980. Lea was a mainstay in the Expos starting rotation between 1980 and 1984 before an arm injury derailed his career. Lea pitched a 4-0 no-hitter against the San Francisco Giants on May 10, 1981 at Stade Olympique Stadium in the second game of a double-header and in the process became the first French born pitcher to pitch a major league no-hitter. Lea was an All-Star in 1984 and was the starting and winning pitcher for the National league. Lea had to sit out the 1985 and 1986 season due to injuries and came back with the Expos in 1987 with little success. Lea signed a free agent contract with Minnesota in February of 1988 and was in the 1988 starting rotation all season, finishing with a 7-7 mark with a 4.85 ERA in 23 starts. Charlie Lea retired from baseball after the 1988 season.

In recent years Charlie Lea served as a radio broadcaster for his home town Triple-A Memphis Redbirds. Broadcast partner Steve Selby remembered Lea’s “easy-going style”. 

“It was like you were sitting in a rocking chair on the porch,” Selby said. ”And he was so unassuming. You would have never known he had played major league baseball unless you asked him. So many analysts are quick to tell you ‘When I played major league baseball . . .’ Charlie never did that.

“It’s obvious he had inside knowledge of the game and wanted to tell you what he knew. A lot of players distance themselves from the game because their careers may not have ended the way they wanted. Charlie was positive about everything. We became good friends. There’s a huge hole in my life right there.”

Charlie Lea pitched in the big leagues for seven seasons and finished with a 62-48 record with a 3.54 ERA in 152 games with 144 starts.