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
November is flying by. The World Series is over, the GM meetings are behind us, the Hot Stove league is starting to heat up, the newly hired managers are all excited about how good their new teams are, the 2023 MLB award season is in full swing, free agents players and their agents are starting to count their money, the weather is cooling off and Thanksgiving is upon us one more time. The NFBC site is already accepting players for the 2024 Fantasy season and drafts for the 2024 season are already underway (If you think you know baseball and have some extra money then this is the place for you). Black Friday sales have been on-going for some time and yes, the entire baseball world will once again be getting together for the Baseball Winter Meetings (Dec 3-6, 2023) and this year they are back in Nashville.
The Minnesota Twins broke their long losing streak in post-season play and even won a post-season series in 2023 but unfortunately the Houston Astros were waiting for them once again and sent the Twins home early to heal what ails them and to sharpen their golf skills. Hey, they were 3-3 in the post-season but they still have a ways to go and they obviously had some Turkey’s on their roster this season that we can roast. A team that has seven batters that struck out 100 or more times and another that fell just one KO short of 100 along with a $33 million dollar player that hits into a team record 30 double-plays must have some fowl players for us to chose from.
Once again it is that time of the year, time to name the 2022 Twins Turkey of the Year, but first, I would like to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving. We all have a lot to be thankful for even if the Minnesota Twins play in 2022 is not one of them. As you might imagine, there were plenty of candidates for this years honor after the team crashed and burned playing .357 baseball in September and finished the second half with a 28-40 record. Hopes were sky high when the Twins spent over $35 million to sign shortstop Carlos Correa but as the season wore on, the Twins wore down even if manager Rocco Baldelli rested his players for the big Fall push.
Time seems to have gotten away from me and it was only in the last few days that I realized it was that time again, time to pick another Twins Turkey of the Year. This years winner will be number 13. So far we have only had one repeat winner and that was President and CEO Dave St. Peter who took the honors in 2013 and again in 2019.
With the 2021 Minnesota Twins expected to do well and go deep in the playoffs by their fans and the so called baseball experts and then to see the team finish 73-89 and in last place in the American League Central Division you would have to think that there were more turkeys then you could shake a stick at. You would be right.
Another Twins season ends and another Turkey of the Year appears
What a year 2020 has been. The baseball season started like it does every year with spring training taking place in Florida and Arizona in mid February as normal even though there was chatter about something called the coronavirus taking place and that a world-wide pandemic was imminent.
Then it happened, on March 12th Major League Baseball announced it had cancelled the remainder of its Spring Training games, also announcing that the start of the 2020 regular season would be delayed by at least two weeks due to the national emergency created by the coronavirus pandemic. https://twitter.com/i/status/1238181980367466496
Welcome to our second decade of Twins Turkey of the year awards. I sure hope you are all enjoying the snow that we were blessed with over the last few days as you made your way to enjoy Thanksgiving with your loved ones. Let’s get right down to business of naming this years Twins Turkey of the Year.
The 2018 baseball season is in the books, free agents everywhere are sitting back and waiting for the offers to pour in, a number of teams (including our Twins) have hired new managers. The temperature is 31 degrees outside and there is a slight coating of snow on the ground here in Plymouth so we know it is time to start sorting our candidates for the 2018 Twins Turkey of the Year.
The Twins finished in second place again this season behind the Cleveland Indians. This past season the Twins were 78-84 as compared to 85-77 in 2017 and this year they were just 13 games back as compared to 17 games behind the year previous. Yet the 2018 Twins were looked on as failures as compared to the 2017 team that was a Wild Card participant albeit for just the one game against the New York Yankees. Manager Paul Molitor was the American League Manager of the Year in 2017 and after the 2018 season ended he found himself unemployed along with most of his coaching staff after signing a new three-year contract just a year earlier. Twins fans were unhappy and attendance dropped to its lowest point since 2004 at the Metrodome. Meanwhile the Twins Front Office added to staff and continued the “new ways of fielding a winning team” such as increasing the number of shifts, playing four outfielders here and there and jumping on the new “opener” strategy employed by teams such as Tampa Bay and Oakland.
It was a good year for the Minnesota Twins, an amazing 26 game improvement from their 103 loss season in 2016 and they even made an abbreviated one game trek to the playoffs, their first taste of postseason action since 2010. The much improved play of the players on the field made the team fun to watch again and the attendance increased from the previous season for the first time since the team started calling Target Field home in 2010.
All those good things happening over in Twins Territory makes it difficult to come up with a Twins Turkey of the Year but the job must get done. Just as sure as there is snow and cold in Minnesota we need to have a Twins Turkey of the Year.
The number of possible candidates for the 2017 award are few, sure we have some of the usual suspects like starter Kyle Gibson who first debuted as a Twin back in 2013 but found himself pitching in AAA Rochester after a horrible start. He finished the season with a 12-10 record but his 5.07 ERA for the second year in a row is more than disappointing.
Pitcher Phil Hughes earned $13.2 million this year and pitched less than 54 innings and had a 6.37 ERA. However; Hughes spent most of his time on the DL in 2017 visiting that list twice for a total of 105 days.
Pitcher Glen Perkins spent 117 days on the Twins DL in 2017 while recovering from shoulder surgery back in 2016. Perkins has pitched 7.2 innings in two years and banked $12.8 million.
Utility player Danny Santana appeared in just 13 games and hit .200 before the Twins traded him to the Atlanta Braves for a minor league pitcher named Kevin Chapman. Santana has appeared in 69 games and hit .203 for the Braves.
When I have to list Danny Santana on my Twins Turkey of the Year candidate list I am really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Heck, even Joe Mauer bounced back in 2017 and had a decent year at the plate, certainly not a $23 million a year player but what is done is done. One of my favorite TTOY candidates the last few years, hitting coach Tom Brunansky was fired after 2016.
So you can see it has been a lean year for turkeys in Twins territory this season, but, since the role has to be filled I have selected not one but two Twins organization members for the award this year, for the first time ever we have a two-headed Twins Turkey of the year.
Both of these gentlemen have been on the job for just over one year and their team made the playoffs in their first season at the helm after the team had finished with 103 losses in 2016, the worst record in baseball. It seems like we should be giving them Executive of the Year awards and not the TTOY award. Yes, they did sign Jason Castro, Chris Gimenez, Bartolo Colon (seems strange to put him on the plus side of the ledger), but they also signed a bunch of pitching stiffs and thought they could construct a bullpen while bottom-feeding.
With the Twins in need of starting help these two guys went out on July 24 and they made a deal with Atlanta and acquired Jaime Garcia and Anthony Recker for Huascar Ynoa. Garcia started and beat the Oakland A’s on July 28 and Twins fans were delighted, that is until these two guys turned around and flipped the 31 year-old Jaime Garcia to the Yankees for pitchers Zack Littell and Dietrich Enns just two days later. Then on July 31 they traded their closer Brandon Kintzler to the Washington Nationals for pitcher Tyler Watson and cash.
On July 31 the Twins had a 50-53 record and seven teams in the AL had better records than the Twins did. It was obvious that the Twins organization felt that the Twins had run out of steam so they started trading off pieces in hopes of landing some young pitching prospects. But who was to know that the Twins would go 35-20 during the rest of the season and score 346 runs in that stretch, more than any team in MLB while out-scoring their opposition by almost 100 runs. Only the Indians had a better record (45-13) and they had that crazy 22 game winning streak from mid-August to mid-September. When the season ended the Twins were one of the AL wild card playoff participants, who would have guessed that would happen?
No one in their right mind, right? After all, no MLB team has ever lost 103 one season and taken part in post-season action the next. I didn’t see it coming, but I am not making a ton of money leading the Twins baseball operation either. These guys are supposed to be experts in their field and yet at the end of July they raised the white flag and not only didn’t improve the team for the stretch run but they made it weaker by trading Jaime Garcia and Brandon Kintzler. The way I see it, these two committed the cardinal sin, they gave up on their team.
That is why the winners of the Twins Trivia 2017 Turkey of the Year award are Twins Head of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey and General Manager Thad Levine. I wish I had a picture of these two sitting in the backyard with their wine glasses in their hand pondering “what just happened?” Let’s hope that Falvey and Levine show their worth this off-season, maybe they are just slow starters.
First of all I would like to wish you and your families and friends a very happy, healthy, and safe Thanksgiving. Without further ado let’s cut to the meat of things.
Let’s cut to the chase and get right to it with our fourth runner-up, The Pohlad family, the 75th richest family in the US of A and Jim Pohlad serves as their spokesman. Mr. Pohlad watched this team deteriorate for six seasons before he finally realized that what we have here is a “total systems failure” when his team set a new record with 103 losses. Finally he told his GM Terry Ryan that his services were no longer needed as of the end of the season and Terry Ryan said OK and walked away in July. The team didn’t put a permanent replacement in place until after the World Series was over in early November although Rob Antony served as the interim GM. According to the new Chief of Baseball Operations for the Twins, he interviewed with brothers Jim, Bill, and Bob Pohlad and a host of other Twins organization members before getting offered the job. The one stipulation that Jim Pohlad put on the new CBO was that Paul Molitor manages the Twins in 2017. Why would you do that to a manager who is in the final year of his contract and why would Molitor stay on the job? Sounds like Pohlad doesn’t want to do the dirty work in dumping Molitor, that’s why he has employees like Derek Falvey.
Twins General Manager Terry Ryan (Pioneer Press: John Autey)
Our third runner-up is former GM Terry Ryan. Terry Ryan was always one of my favorite people in the Twins organization. A very good down to earth baseball man who has watched how baseball has changed over the years but unfortunately I think that the pace of change within baseball caught up with him and made him one of baseball’s dinosaurs and you all know what happened to the dinosaurs. I think that there should always be a place in baseball for people like Terry Ryan. Ryan had either bad luck or bad input on many of his free agent signings over the last few years and his trades have not panned out either. One of his biggest mistakes was his decision this past season to try to make Miguel Sano an outfielder when he had never played there before, not only was Sano not able to play the outfield he was so confused and stressed by the position change that he was no longer the power hitter the Twins have been waiting for.
Neil Allen
Second runner-up is our pitching coach Neil Allen. Allen talks a story about how he wants to change the pitching staff and make them better but so far we have not seen zilch. After two seasons at least show me a couple of pitchers that have improved under the tutelage of Allen because I sure have not seen them. Who really hired Neil Allen to be the pitching coach any way because Paul Molitor said that he never met Allen before Twins Fest in 2015. Add in the fact that Allen has been a recovering alcoholic since 1994 but fell off the wagon and was charged with a DWI and suspended by Minnesota on May 26 and you have a recipe for disaster. Allen was reinstated on July.
Paul Molitor
Our runner-up this year is Twins skipper Paul Molitor who will start year three of his three-year contract. I am still amazed that Molitor has hung on as the Twins manager going into the final year of his contract. Players in 2017 have no reason to buy into Molitor’s ideas and plans because the players will be here longer than Molitor will. What faith does management have in you when they force you to manage in this situation, they might as well tell him don’t buy any green banana’s and to go month to month on his rent payments. Molitor took over 70 win team and managed them to 83 win in his first year, then in year two he managed them to 59 wins. The honeymoon has worn off quickly and the sooner Derek Falvey gives Molitor the pink slip the better it will be for all concerned including Paul Molitor who looks like he has aged 20 years in his two season at the helm of the Minnesota Twins. For his own health and well being Paul Molitor should walk away sooner than later.
That of course bring us to this years winner of the Twins Turkey of the Year award. The 2016 Minnesota Twins season was so outrageously bad that it would not be fair to award this years honor to just one individual. Instead this years award goes to all the players, field staff, and front office personnel who made up the 2016 Minnesota Twins team. The team finished with the worst record in baseball at 59-103, a drop from 83 wins in 2015, a drop of 24 games in the win column. Yikes! The team was out scored 722 to 889, only the 1996 Twins gave up more runs. Twins hitters did hit 200 home runs led by Brain Dozier’s 42 but the pitching staff gave up 221 round-trippers. The Twins used 11 starting pitchers and the starter with the most wins had nine victories. Miguel Sano led the team in strikeouts with 178, oh wait, he is a hitter, on the pitching staff Ervin Santana had 149 K’s. The good news? The Minnesota Twins say they will not raise ticket prices in 2017, a good idea after going 407-565 (.418%) during the last six seasons. I know this is really a radical idea but maybe you should consider lowering ticket prices….. but then again that is not how you earned the 2016 Twins Turkey of the Year award.
2016 Twins Turkey of the Year award winners – the 2016 Minnesota Twins
Happy Thanksgiving! It is once again that time of the year to select our annual Twins Turkey of the Year winner. This year we get to select our seventh annual Twins Turkey of the Year award winner, who will be lucky number seven? As always we have plenty of blue-chip candidates to scrutinize, analyze, and reflect on. First off we need to narrow the list down to a manageable size.
Trevor Plouffe
Didn’t make the final five – Trevor Plouffe – Trevor makes the list not because of bad hitting or fielding but he makes this list because he managed to make three outs on the base paths in just one game. In the June 19 game in which the Twins beat the Chicago Cubs 7-2 at Target Field, Plouffe seemingly forgot how to run the bases. Mike Berardino did a nice piece on it that you can read here. Plouffe went 2 for 4 with 4 RBI in a game the Twins won so everyone got some chuckles out of Plouffe’s misadventures but it was still a game that Plouffe will never forget. Box score.
Didn’t make the final five – Phil Hughes – In his first season with Minnesota in 2014 had a 3.52 ERA and a 16-10 record with a record-breaking BB9 of 0.7 for a team that won 70 games. In 2015 Hughes spend a month on the DL due to lower back issues and missed 32 games. Because of his injury he pitched just 155 innings versus 209+ in 2014 and had a 4.40 ERA with an 11-9 record when the Twins won 83 games. The only thing that Hughes was a league leader in was home runs allowed with 29. The Twins were so pleased with Hughes work that after the 2014 season ended that Hughes, 28, was rewarded with a three-year extension worth $42 million that brings his total contract value to $66 million over six years, including 2014 when he made $8 million. Hughes, who was slated to make $8 million in both 2015 and ’16, will now make $9.2 million each of those years before making $13.2 million per season from 2017-19. I sure hope that Hughes doesn’t turn out to be another money pit.
Didn’t make the final five – Glen Perkins – You have to wonder why a closer who has made the AL All-Star team for the last three seasons was nominated for the 2015 Twins Turkey of the Year award and an opportunity to become the first two-time winner of this honor. That won’t happen this year because there were so many more qualified candidates so why is he even here? During the first three months of the season Perkins had 28 saves but from July 9 until the season ended opposing batters hit .348 off Perkins and he had a total of 4 saves, a 6.97 ERA and gave up 7 home runs in 20.2 innings and in the process lost his closer role to Kevin Jepsen. In 2014 Perkins had a similar meltdown from about mid August through the end of the season although he was shut down for the season on September 17. From August 19 until the season ended Perkins had a 9.64 ERA and allowed batters to hit .342 off him (not to mention giving up five home runs) while he registered 3 saves and lost 3 games. Has Perkins who will be 33 when the 2016 season opens lost it? Perkins is kind of a Jeckle and Hyde personality. He has a reputation for being a big community guy in the limelight and in public but one on one with fans when there are no cameras around Perkins can be a snob and pretty mean to fans trying to get his autograph. But what gets me is that Perkins doesn’t bring up the fact that he is injured until he has a number of bad outings in a row and then he blames his injuries for his bad pitching. Perkins is all about Perkins and not exactly a team player or leader in my book.
Arcia
Vargas
Danny Santana
Didn’t make the final five – troika of Danny Santana, Kennys Vargas and Oswaldo Arcia – The Twins expected all three of these guys to win starting jobs in 2015 and they all failed miserably and yet the Twins improved by 13 wins from the previous season. If just one of these guys had the kind of season that was expected of them the Twins would have been playing playoff baseball in October. I know, I know, “if the bear hadn’t stopped to take a dump in the woods he would still be alive today.” All three of these guys will turn 25 in 2016 so it is too early to give up on them but at the same time their futures with the Twins have dimmed considerably. The Twins have already stated that Eduardo Escobar is the lead dog at shortstop going into 2016. The Twins are exploring selling Kennys Vargas to a team in Korea and Oswaldo Arcia is supposedly trade bait. It would be a shame if all three fail to become major league players with Minnesota. Each of them have shown they can be quality players in their rookie seasons but the sophomore year has proven to be much tougher. I hope the Twins hang on to these guys for at least one more season so they have another opportunity to prove they can help the Twins. And now we move on to the finalists!
Tim Stauffer
Fourth runner-up – Tim Stauffer – The Twins signed Stauffer as a free agent on December 23, 2014 for $2.2 million and it made for a great Christmas gift for Stauffer but for the Twins it turned out to be lump of coal. The Twins said that they would give the 33 year-old Stauffer who had started just four games since 2011 an opportunity to make the starting rotation in the spring but he failed there so the Twins moved him to the bullpen. In April, Stauffer appeared in 8 games pitching 9.2 innings, allowing 16 hits, 6 walks, 10 runs, allowed opposing batters to hit .372 and put up a 8.38 ERA. To be fair I should mention he did strike out 2 of the 50 batters he faced. Stauffer went on the DL on May 1 for a “right intercostal strain” and was reactivated on May 22. Who recovers from an intercostal strain in just three weeks? Anyway, the Twins used Stauffer two times in May and three times in June before the Twins released him on June 17 and sent his butt packing. Stauffer eventually signed as a FA with the Mets. That was a quick $2.2 million down the crapper. I give the Twins credit for trying to upgrade the bullpen with this signing but this will certainly not go on anyone’s resume as one of their better finds.
Third runner-up – Torii Hunter – The Twin paid $10.5 million to free agent Torii Hunter to get his services for the past season. That is a lot of money to pay an outfielder who was starting his nineteenth big league season and would turn 40 at mid-season. Torii was the Twins number one selection and 20th overall in the 1993 draft. Technically, Torii was a compensation pick from the Cincinnati Reds after they signed Twins free agent pitcher John Smiley. The Twins also had a supplemental pick in round 1 number 33 overall for losing Smiley and they selected RHP Marc Barcelo but he never reached the big leagues. The Twins own pick was number 21 and they used that to select catcher Jason Varitek but he decided not to sign with Minnesota. That same year they received another first round supplemental pick in round 1 which was number 38 overall for the loss of Greg Gagne to and they used that pick on outfielder Kelcey Mucker who never reached the big leagues either. After being drafted in 1993 Hunter made his major league debut with the Twins on August 22, 1997 as a pinch runner in his only big league appearance that season. So why is Torii on the list after all this? He is here because he made a fool of himself and the Minnesota Twins during his news conference to announce his return to the Minnesota Twins after a seven year hiatus. Hunter responded to a question from Twins beat reporter Mike Berardino by calling the reporter a “prick.” Not once, twice, thrice but four times. You can see it here on the Deadspin video. Hunter is no rookie in front of a microphone and could have handled the situation much better versus creating a scene at an event to reintroduce him to Twins fans. Very unprofessional in my opinion for a person that was brought back not only to play right field but was brought back to help teach the Twins younger players how to act and play the game the right way in the major leagues. Shame on you Torii!
Second runner-up – Joe Mauer – Mauer’s 12th season in a Twins uniform had its up’s and down’s, he played in a career high 158 games and had a career high 666 plate appearances but on the other side of the coin he had career lows in batting average by hitting .265 and OBP with a .338. In the last four seasons he has struck out 88, 89, 96 and 112 times as to compared to his previous high strike out mark of 64. The former MVP and six-time all-star hung up his catchers gear after the 2013 season primarily due to concussion issues and took over first base duties on a full-time basis. Joe and his wife Maddie also started a family in 2013 when Maddie gave birth to twin girls on July 24. Since 2013 Mauer’s batting skills have gone down hill quicker than Ingemar Stenmark. The question is why, is it just age, is it his personal life where all of a sudden his marriage and children become more important on his list of priorities (as they should) or was it giving up catching and moving to first base. No one knows the answer to that except Mauer himself but I think that Mauer saw himself as a Hall of Fame catcher and once he realized his catching career was over the game just wasn’t the same challenge it once was and subconsciously Mauer has lost interest in doing what it takes to be the best, and family time has moved up on his list of priorities. The problem is that Mauer’s $23 million salary chewed up about 23% of the teams opening day payroll, he is so even-tempered he never seems to show any emotion, he shows no outward signs of being a team leader and he is a local legend born in St. Paul. Right or wrong, the general public associates big money with leadership and Mauer has shown nothing in that regard. Twins fans want to see the team win and when you have a guy that hits 10 home runs, knocks in just 66 RBI hitting in the three hole and makes $23 million, you have a problem. Manager Paul Molitor had Mauer in the number 3 spot in the batting order 133 times this past season. Mauer has appeared in 1,453 games and he has started a game in the number 3 spot a total of 1,143 times and he has hit in the number 2 spot 228 times. Back in 2004 and 2005 he hit in the 6, 7 and 8 hole a total of 22 times. Yet, Molitor continues to say this off-season that there is no real reason not to have Mauer bat third. I can’t believe that Mauer would object to being put in a lower spot in the order to help the team win. If he does, then we have a real problem because the Twins are on the hook to pay Mauer who has a full no trade clause $23 million for the next three seasons. If Joe Mauer is in the three spot in the batting order in 2016 (unless he is on a tear) it will be on Paul Molitor and he will be high on next years Twins Turkey of the Year ballot and he should be updating his resume.
This years Twins Turkey of the Year runner-up is – Ervin Santana – Last December Ervin Santana agreed to a four-year deal with the Twins worth around $54 million. That would be the largest free agent contract in Twins history, narrowly topping last year’s four-year, $49 million deal with RHP Ricky Nolasco. So how did the right-handed throwing Santana repay the Twins? MLB announced on April 3, 2015 just days before the 2015 season started that Santana has been suspended for 80 games without pay leaving the Twins without their number two starter. Santana was suspended after testing positive for Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance. In a statement released through the players’ union, Santana said he did not know how the PED got into his system. Stanozolol is by far one of the most popular anabolic steroids of all time. This is an anabolic steroid that has gained worldwide media attention numerous times. It was the Stanozolol hormone that made headlines during the 1988 Olympics when Ben Johnson was stripped of his medal, and has been linked to the MLB more times than can be counted. It is important to take stanozolol regularly to get the most benefit. If that is the case then how could Santana not know that he ingested it? If you know you are in line to sign a big contract why would you take a chance and take anabolic steroids? Questions only Santana can answer. The good news? It saved the Twins $6.75 million but the bad news is that it probably cost the Twins a playoff spot. The Twins have Santana for the next three years plus another possible option year, Santana better start paying back some of the faith the Twins placed in him.
The Twins 2015 Turkey of the Year winner in a landslide is pitcher Ricky Nolasco. The Minnesota Twins announced on December 3, 2013 that they have signed free agent right-handed pitcher Ricky Nolasco to a four-year contract worth $49 million with a club option that could vest in 2018. Twins fans were ecstatic, this was the biggest free agent deal the Twins had ever done and it was for a starting pitcher. What could go wrong? Nolasco will earn a guaranteed $12 million salary in each year of the contract (2014-2017). Nolasco was 6-12 with a 5.38 ERA in 27 starts in 2014. Nolasco missed 32 games with right elbow soreness that season by spending July 7 through September 15 on the disabled list. This past season Nolasco had a deceiving 5-2 record with a 6.75 ERA. In 37.1 innings Nolasco gave up 50 hits and walked 14 more while striking out 35. It seems Nolasco can’t stay healthy, in his first trip to the DL this year from April 11 through May 2 for right elbow inflammation, he missed 21 games. His next trip to the DL lasted from June 4 to September 25 for a right ankle impingement issue which caused him to miss 103 games. When he returned from his second trip to the DL, Nolasco appeared in 2 games, relieving in one and starting the other. In those two games he pitched a total of 4.2 innings, allowed 8 earned runs, walked four, and allowed 6 hits, two of them were home runs. On the plus side, he struck out 7 batters. WOW! I wonder what he can do for an encore! I sure hope we Twins fans get more than what Nolasco has shown us so far for that $49 million that Jim Pohlad spent to get him to come to Minnesota. So far all Nolasco has given us are excuses.
Only three teams in major league baseball lost more games than our Minnesota Twins did in 2014 when they lost 92 times, their four straight 90 plus losing season. You would think that a team that Forbes listed this past March as the 19th most valuable franchise in major league baseball at $605 million with an estimated revenue of $221 million could put a better product on the field wouldn’t you? The Twins 2014 Opening Day payroll was around $85 million give or take, ranking them 24th out of the 30 teams. The Twins front office bragged that they wouldn’t be raising ticket prices in 2014. Raising ticket prices? My God, when the team is this bad for that long the ticket prices should be automatically dropping until the teams shows some competitive life.
With a team like the Minnesota Twins, in its current state of affairs, it is not all that difficult to get candidates for the 2014 Twins Turkey of the Year award “so let’s get after it” and see who we have waiting in the wings.
Vance Worley
Finalist but did not make the final cut –Vance Worley was acquired in a trade with the Phillies in December 2012. In the first two months of 2013 the “Vanimal” started 10 games for Minnesota and posted a 1-5 record with a 7.21 ERA and allowed 82 hits in 48.2 innings and eventually pitched his way to AAA Rochester where after a few games he went on the DL. During spring training in 2014 Worley announced that he had pitched hurt in 2013 because of a bone spur in his pitching elbow. The Twins had seen enough of the Vanimal and sold him to the Pittsburg Pirates in March of this year. Another bad pitcher who had more excuses then you could shake a stick at and had a problem telling the truth. Worley was 8-4 for the Pirates with a 2.85 ERA in 2014, what’s up with that?
Finalist but did not make the final cut –The Twins troika of Ron Gardenhire/Rob Antony/Terry Ryan had a rough go of things in 2014. In what turned out to be his last season at the helm as the Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire did the best he could with the players that Terry Ryan and Rob Antony provided but when your pitching staff ranks last in the league in ERA, hits allowed, runs, earned runs, and strikeouts, your chances for a good season are slim at best. Terry Ryan had personal health issues that kept him away from the club for all of spring training and most of the regular season. Rob Antony was the acting GM for a good portion of the season and did what he could to fill Ryan’s shoes. The Twins made several personnel moves that when looked back on could probably have been handled differently and maybe prevented some of the chaos that the team experienced in the outfield. Then again when the manager keeps sending infielders to play the outfield, what can you expect?
Finalist but did not make the final cut – Twins Center fielders – Manager Ron Gardenhire started the season with Aaron Hicks playing center field and had high hopes for the young switch-hitter particularly when Hicks started out 4 for 7 in his first two games. But then he quit hitting, got hurt, over slept and found himself packing his bags for New Britain in late June. In the first two and a half months of the season Hicks appeared on the DL twice and missed 19 games. He didn’t return until the minor league season was over in September. The Twins ended up trying Sam Fuld, Jordan Schafer, Chris Parmelee, Eduardo Escobar, Darin Mastroianni, and Danny Santana in center field and the best of the bunch was Santana but he is a natural shortstop. The rookie Santana never really got a chance to play short and to show how he can handle that position because Gardy kept sending him out to center field. At this point in the off-season center field remains a huge question mark.
Joe Mauer
Finalist but did not make the final cut –Joe Mauer – Last November (2013) the Twins brain trust in conjunction with Joe Mauer decided that Mauer was done as a catcher due to concussion issues and would become the teams first baseman. In the teams first 70 games (March 31 through June 18) Mauer played in 64 of them getting 289 plate appearances while hitting primarily third in the batting order, he managed to hit just two home runs with 16 RBI while hitting for a .254 batting average. On July 1st while playing against the Royals at Target Field, Mauer pulled his right oblique and missed 34 games between July 2 and August 11th. By the time the season was over Mauer had played in 120 games, hit four home runs, knocked in 55 and struck out a career high 96 times while posting an un-Maueresque OBP of .360 and a .732 OPS. His play in the field although not stellar was acceptable for a player learning a new position on the fly. Unless Mauer starts hitting like the Mauer of old, manager Paul Molitor has no business hitting him third. Why not hit Mauer at lead-off? Since 2004 when he first joined the Twins, Mauer has the highest OBP at .401 and is followed by Jim Thome at .387, Denard Span at .357, Luis Castillo at .357 and Danny Santana at .353 when you compare players that have played 100 games or more. Fans just have a hard time accepting the fact that Joe makes $23 million a year, seems to show no urgency, and the man never seems to get mad about anything. Come on Joe, throw something or at least get thrown out of a game arguing a strike call so we know you are still alive out there.
Finalist but did not make the final cut – Ricky Nolasco was signed by Minnesota in December 2013 and is the highest paid free agent signing in team history. In early July after posting a season todate 5.90 ERA in 104 innings in 18 starts Nolasco revealed he had bad pitching through elbow pain since spring training. You would think that for $49 million that Nolasco could at least be truthful about his condition and have enough confidence in his abilities to step up and speak up instead of hurting his team by continuing to pitch when he is injured. The announcement came as a complete shock to the Twins who then placed Nolasco on the DL where he missed 32 games between July 8th and August 15th. Then in late September he further alienated himself to the Twins community when he responded to a tweet from a Dodgers fan who said they wished he was still in LA and he responded by saying “So do I!!!” OMG! What a clown on so many levels. The man has fences to mend everywhere. “Minnesota nice” only lasts one season Ricky, pick it up their buddy and show us you are not the dud you showed in 2014.
Chuck Knoblauch was the Twins first round pick in 1989 and was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1991 and an All-Star in 1992, 1994, 1996 and 1997. Knobby played in the Dome from 1991 – 1997.
Second runner-up isChuck Knoblauch was the Twins first round (25th over all) draft choice in June of 1989 and by 1991 he was the Twins starting second baseman on a World Championship team and the American League rookie of the year. The mercurial Knobby demanded to be traded in 1997 and the Twins granted him his wish after the season ended and sent him to the Yankees where he played from 1998-2001. During his stay in New York Knoblauch started having issues with throwing to ball to first base and he left as a free agent after the 2001 season. Knoblauch spent his final season in the big leagues in Kansas City in 2002 and when the season ended so did the 34 year-old Knoblauch’s big league career. After his career ended Knoblauch had issues with alcohol and was arrested in 2010 for hitting his wife and he ended up with a years probation. In January 2014 the Twins announced that Chuck Knoblauch had been elected as the 27th member of the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame and would be inducted in August. But Chuck had another alcohol related issue in July of this year and again was arrested and charged with assaulting his ex-wife. This was too much for the Twins organization and they cancelled his August Twins Hall of Fame induction and cut off communications with Knoblauch. By the way, former Twins manager Tom Kelly was on hand at the award ceremony as a guest of Knoblauch and he asked the guests to refrain from throwing Domedogs and other miscellaneous items at Chuck as he stepped up to the podium to accept his second runner-up trophy.
Twins Marketing VP Nancy O’Brien
The runner-up is non other than the infamous Twins brand survey – As the 2014 season was coming to an end and another 90+ season was just around the bend, the Minnesota Twins Marketing department decided to send a brand survey to their season ticket holders. I did not actually see the entire survey and can’t find a copy of it but one of the questions the Twins asked in the survey attracted national attention, albeit not necessarily positive. So here is the question and you need to keep in mind that the Twins are well on their way to losing 90 or more games for the fourth year in a row when the survey is sent out.
The survey caught the attention of ESPN’s Keith Olbermann and here is a short YouTube video clip on his thoughts about the Minnesota Twins. The Twins come up at about the 2:30 mark on the video if you want to skip over the first part. Olbermann clip on Twins brand survey. Twins president Dave St. Peter took offense to Olbermann’s comments and you can see what he had to say here and here. Nancy O’Brien the Twins vice-president of Marketing almost became our first female Twins Turkey of the Year winner but the crack marketing staff came up just short in the final balloting. To be honest a couple of votes had some hanging chad and the Twins were offered a recount but since they would have to pay for it they chose to pass and are planning to spend their money on a starting pitcher and they are looking at possible reunions with Kevin Slowey and Scott Baker. The Twins organization and Mr. St. Peter need to remember that “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”
Aaron Hicks
This years winner is – Aaron Hicks was the Twins first round (14th over all) selection in the June 2008 draft. Hicks was on fire during spring training in 2013 hitting .370 with four home runs and 18 RBI and the 23 year-old switch-hitting rookie won the center field job that had been vacated when Denard Span and Ben Revere were traded for pitching depth after the 2012 season. Hicks could not hold on to the job in 2013 but he again started the 2014 season as the Twins center fielder. Hicks hit poorly in his second chance with the club and then got hurt on May 1st and was put on the concussion DL the next day. After being activated from the concussion DL Hicks continued to struggle with the bat, particularly from the left-side where he is has a career average of .185 and on May 26 without consulting with Twins management Hicks announced that he was through with switch-hitting and would bat only from the right side going forward. The Twins were caught by surprise but they were desperate for a center fielder so Twins said OK, go for it and they didn’t even bother to send him to the minors to soften the transition. Just several days later Hicks came up with lower back stiffness and missed a couple more games. Then on June 9th Hicks hurt his shoulder diving for a ball and went on the DL the next day. The Twins then sent Hicks down to New Britain to rehab and on June 22 Hicks plays in a rehab game and hits left-handed. After the game Hicks announces that he has had a change of heart and is again a switch-hitter. The Twins recalled Hicks on September 2 and Hicks appeared in 21 September games hitting .250 (15 for 60) with three doubles and nine RBI. But even during the last month of the season Hicks could not stay out of Gardy’s doghouse when he again had lower back stiffness on September 20th and not only did he not show up early for treatment on Sunday, he didn’t show up until 11:00 AM for a 1:00 game saying that he had over slept. As the season was winding down the Twins brain trust talked to Hicks about playing winter-ball but he resisted stating that he was getting married in the off-season. Hicks finally consented to play winter ball in Venezuela but the team cut him after just 16 games when Hicks hit .220 in 50 at bats with one home run and four RBI but on the plus side he did draw 13 walks. Coming off back-to-back horrendous seasons Aaron Hicks has to be on the cusp of joining the scrap heap of former Twins first round picks that have failed to live up to expectations. The man is an athlete but so far he has not put it together and his attitude and perceived lack of effort is hurting his chances. Hicks seems to think he is entitled to play in the big leagues and does not seem to be willing to put in the work to get there and become the player he should be. Hicks might not have earned his pay in 2014 but he does earn the title as Twins Turkey of the Year for 2014. Step up here Mr. Hicks and claim your award.
Bonus Thanksgiving content – Can a player be traded for a turkey? An interesting question because apparently it happened back in 1931 and the Washington Senators who would become the Minnesota Twins in 1961 were involved. Better yet, the Twins new AA team the Chattanooga Lookouts were the team that actually made the trade. This is a cool read and you should check it out at Baseball Prospectus.
