The Twins scored 10 runs in the second inning en-route to a 14-3 victory over the Indians in Cleveland on Monday night. It marked only the fourth time that the Twins scored 10-or-more runs in an inning on the road since the team moved to Minnesota. The Twins scored 11 runs in the tenth inning at Oakland on June 21, 1969, 10 runs in the fourth inning at Detroit on April 30, 1985 and 10 runs in the fourth inning at Oakland on June 28, 1992. Source: Elias
Twins trade Valencia and acquire Jeremias Pineda
The Twins announced today that they have traded 3B Danny Valencia to the Boston Red Sox for 21-year-old GCL outfielder Jeremias Pineda. Valencia, 27, was taken by the Twins in the 19th round of the 2006 amateur draft and he made his big league debut with the Twins on June 3, 2010 at Safeco Field. Valencia hit .311 with 7 home runs in 299 at bats in 2010 and made the Topps All-Star Rookie team he but slumped in his first full season with the Twins in 2011 hitting just .246. In Valencia’s defense, he did hit 15 home runs and knocked in 72 runs for a team that won just 63 games. This season Valencia was hitting .253 at the end of April but the Twins were playing poorly and when Valencia went 0 for 25 in May, the Twins had seen enough and sent him back to AAA Rochester. The Twins recalled Valencia late in July when Trevor Plouffe went on the DL but since was recalled, Valencia has played in 7 games and has gone 6 for 25 with 9 strikeouts.
I think a number of things played a part in Valencia being sent packing. It wasn’t just his hitting that had tailed off but his play in the field had suffered as well. Valencia was considered the leader of the so-called Twins “fun bunch” in 2011 and the perception from the fans and from some members of the Twins organization was that Valencia did not take the game as seriously as he could. Couple that with the fact that Valencia had an air about him that seemed to send a message that he was entitled to be a big league player and that “humility” was a word that Valencia had never learned the meaning of and it was easy to dislike Danny Valencia, even here in Minnesota where Twins players are treated like royalty. To make matters worse, Valencia became a semi-permanent resident of manager Gardenhire’s dog house and once that happens, you might as well have your bags packed cause your address will be changing, it is just a matter of time. The Red Sox have assigned Danny Valencia to AAA Pawtucket.
In return for Valencia, the Twins received 21 year-old switch-hitting outfielder Jeremias Pineda. Pineda was signed by the Red Sox late in the 2010 international signing period for a reported $10,000 bonus. Pineda only hit .224 in the Dominican Summer League and .140 in the GCL last season. But this season Pineda is one of the older players in the GCL and is hitting a league leading .421 in 133 at bats with 20 runs scored, 22 RBI’s and 14 stolen bases in 21 attempts. Pineda is slight of build at 5’11” and 175 pounds and is known for his speed and his plus throwing arm.
No one knows what the future holds for Valencia or Pineda but sometimes a change of scenery is benefical for all parties.
Did you know?
That going into Sunday’s finale against the Boston Red Sox that the Minnesota Twins are 24-28 on the road this season?
That in their last 9 games the Twins starters have posted a 2.20 ERA while allowing just three home runs and holding opponents to a .204 (46-for-225) batting average against? Starters have pitched 6 or more innings in eight of their last nine starts while getting 8 quality starts. The team has gone 7-2 over that stretch.
That Ben Revere has hit safely in a career-high 18 straight games since July 16, batting .364 (28-for-77) with five doubles, one triple, 10 RBI’s, 13 runs scored and just seven strikeouts? The 18-game streak is the longest since Torii Hunter hit in 23 straight games in 2007.
That the Twins have had four different 15-game hitting streaks this season: Josh Willingham has had two 15-game streaks and Trevor Plouffe had a 17-game streak. The four streaks of 15-plus are the most in baseball so far this season.
That Nick Blackburn is 17-34 in 70 career road starts with a 5.66 ERA in 402 innings?
That catchers Sal and Drew Butera are the first father-son position players to pitch in a major league game? Sal Butera pitched a scoreless inning for Montreal in 1985 and again for Cincinnati in 1986 while Drew Butera tossed a scoreless inning in Milwaukee earlier this season.
That Joe Mauer played in his 1,000th career game earlier this season becoming 17th member of the Twins to accomplish the feat?
That the Twins have not had complete game back to back victories since Joe Mays and Carlos Silva accomplished that feat back on May 19-20, 2005?
That the last Twins player to steal Home was Torii Hunter in Detroit back on May 4, 2002?
That Joe Mauer’s three-run ninth-inning home run off Alfredo Aceves yesterday was Mauer’s first career game-winning homer in the ninth inning or later? The last Minnesota player to hit such a blast at Fenway Park was Ron Washington on May 22, 1983.
Twins minor league player of the week
Rochester outfielder Matt Carson is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for July 29-August 3. Carson played six games for Triple-A Rochester, batting .367 (11-for-30) with two doubles, seven RBI’s and scored five runs. Carson, 31, who was signed by the Twins as a free agent prior to the season was originally selected by the New York Yankees in the fifth round of the 2002 First-Year Player draft out of BYU. Carson has also spent time in the Oakland and Tampa organizations after leaving the Yankee organization as a fee agent after the 2008 season.
Carson spent some time on the Oakland A’s big league roster in 2009-2010 playing in 46 games while hitting .200 in 100 big league at bats with 5 home runs, 14 RBI’s and stealing 4 bases. At the age of 31 the right-handed hittiong Carson is not really a prospect and is more or less filling out the roster in Rochester.
This Day in Twins History – August 3
1969 – Pinch-hitter Rich Reese hit a grand slam to power the Minnesota Twins to a 5-2 victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles and ends Dave McNally’s 15 game winning streak. His two victories at the end of 1968 had given him 17 straight wins.
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1987 – One of my favorite moments in Twins history occurs when Twins pitcher Joe Niekro is caught with a fingernail file on the mound at Anaheim Stadium and is ejected by umpire Tim Tschida during the 4th inning of Minnesota’s 11-3 win over California. He was suspended for 10 games by AL president Bobby Brown, who doesn’t buy Niekro’s story “that he had been filing his nails on the bench and stuck the file in his back pocket when the inning started”. On August 14th, Niekro appears on the “Late Night” show with David Letterman wearing a workman’s belt that contains a power sander, nail file, clothes brush, toenail and fingernail clippers, sandpaper, tweezers, scissors, Vaseline, emery boards, and two bottles of Kiwi Scuff Magic.
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1999 – The Astros and Twins swap catchers, Houston gets George Williams and Minnesota gets Josh Dimmick.
According to Elias
The Twins blanked the Boston Red Sox, 5-0 last night while holding Boston to only two hits. It was only the second time in the last 75 seasons that the Twins/Senators franchise shut out the Red Sox at Fenway Park and allowed two or fewer hits. The other instance was on July 24, 1992, when Scott Erickson threw a one-hitter in a head-to-head matchup against Roger Clemens in a first game of a doubleheader. The Twins won the first game 5-0 but lost the second game by a 5-4 score. Source: Elias
Do you trade upcoming free agents or do you let them walk?
When you talk about free agency there are some fans that believe that you should trade the player and take what you can get in return before the player leaves and there are those that believe you should let the free agent walk and take your compensation or supplemental pick and you will come out ahead. Who is right? I guess it comes down to how much of a risk taker you are, do you take the players that are offered in a deal or do you think you are better off drafting a player and hope that you can sign him and that he developes into the player you think he can be. The money comes in to play too when you consider the signing bonus and the costs that you will incur in developing that player over the years. What about the time? How long will it take to develop that player before he can help the team.
But now the rules are changing, teams can no longer obtain draft pick compensation for any players acquired midseason. The other part of the change to keep in mind is that teams that keep their players now obtain one compensatory draft pick for losing a top free agent, whereas they previously obtained two selections. If a team loses a player who turned down a qualifying offer to sign elsewhere, the player’s original team will obtain a single compensatory selection between the first and second rounds of the draft (the qualifying offers, which are based on the average salary of baseball’s 125 best-paid players, are expected to be worth $12.5MM or so in 2013). Meanwhile, the team that signs the free agent will lose a first round selection (though the top ten picks are protected). However, that lost first round pick no longer goes to the player’s former team. Instead, the pick disappears and the first round becomes condensed.
Over the years the Twins have traded players that were about to become free agents and they have lost a number of players to free agency for a variety of reasons. Let’s take a look at the Minnesota Twins round 1 supplemental picks over the years.
Travis Harrison (Twins-1s-2011) – Supplemental pick for loss of free agent infielder Orlando Hudson. Harrison is currently playing 3B at Elizabethton.
Hudson Boyd (Twins-1s-2011) – Supplemental pick for loss of free agent pitcher Jesse Crain. Boyd is currently pitching in Elizabethton.
Matt Bashore (Twins-1s-2009) – Supplemental pick for loss of free agent pitcher Dennys Reyes. Bashore was in the Twins organization for 3 years pitching in only 13 games (sat out all of 2010 with injury) before the Twins released him this past spring. Now in Yankee organization pitching in “A” ball.
Carlos Gutierrez (Twins-1-2008) – Pick from the Angels as compensation for free agent outfielder Torii Hunter. Gutierrez is currently pitching in Rochester.
Shooter Hunt (Twins-1s-2008) – Supplemental Pick for loss of free agent outfielder Torii Hunter. Hunt was a minor league rule 5 pick by the Cardinals from the Twins after the 2011 season but no longer appears to be in their organization.
Hank Sanchez (Twins-1s-2005) – Supplemental pick for loss of free agent 3B Corey Koskie. Never got above “A” ball for the Twins and he was released after the 2009 season.
Glen Perkins (Twins-1-2004) – Pick from Mariners as compensation for free agent pitcher Eddie Guardado. Perkins has pitched for the Twins since 2006 and is currently the teams closer.
Kyle Waldrop (Twins-1-2004) – Pick from Cubs as compensation for free agent pitcher LaTroy Hawkins. Waldrop has been with the Twins off and on in 2011-2012 pitching in a total of 11 games.
Matt Fox (Twins-1s-2004) – Supplemental pick for loss of free agent pitcher Eddie Guardado. Fox pitched in 1 game for the Twins in 2010 before being claimed by the Red Sox via waivers later in 2010. Currently pitching in “AA” ball for the Mariners organization.
Jay Rainville (Twins-1s-2004) – Supplemental pick for loss of free agent pitcher LaTroy Hawkins. Was in the Twins minor league system for 5 season getting as high as “AA” before the Twins let him go. Out of baseball.
Aaron Heilman (Twins-1s-2000) – Supplemental Pick for loss of free agent pitcher Mike Trombley. The Twins could not sign Heilman. The Mets picked Heilman in 2001 and he pitched in the big leagues from 2003-2011, now in “AAA” in the Rangers organization.
Matt LeCroy (Twins-1s-1997) – Supplemental pick for failure to sign 1996 No. 1 choice 1B Travis Lee. Played for the Twins from 2000-2005 and again in 2007. Played for Washington in 2006. Now a manager in the Nationals minor league system
Travis Miller (Twins-1s-1994) – Supplemental pick for failure to sign 1993 No. 1 choice catcher Jason Varitek. Pitched for the Twins from 1996-2002.
Torii Hunter (Twins-1-1993) – Pick from Reds as compensation for free agent pitcher John Smiley. Played for the Twins from 1997-2007 before becoming a FA himself and signing with the Angels where he still plays today.
Marc Barcelo (Twins-1s-1993) – Supplemental pick for loss of free agent pitcher John Smiley. LHP Barcelo pitched in the Twins system between 1993-1997 reaching “AAA” but never got a call to the big leagues.
Kelcey Mucker (Twins-1s-1993) – Supplemental pick for loss of free agent SS Greg Gagne. Mucker played in the Twins system from 1993-1999 but never got above “AA” ball.
Scott Stahoviak (Twins-1s-1991) – Supplemental pick for loss of free agent 3B Gary Gaetti. Played in 344 games in a Twins uniform at 1B/3B in 1993 and 1995-1998.
Midre Cummings (Twins-1s-1990) – Supplemental pick for loss of free agent closer Jeff Reardon. Cummings was traded to the Pirates along with Denny Neagle for pitcher John Smiley in March of 1992. Cummings played in the big leagues from 1993-2001 and 2004-2005 but only played in 100 or more games during one season and that was split between two teams. Played briefly for the Twins between 1999-2000.
You can make a pretty solid argument by looking at the 18 supplemental picks between 1990-2011 that there is just one star in the bunch, Torii Hunter. Glen Perkins, Travis Miller and Aaron Heilman (who the Twins were unable to sign) were serviceable big league pitchers. A number of the players on this list never put on a big league uniform.
Bottom line? It is kind of a damned if you do and damned if you don’t. There is no good answer here and every situation is different. Just another one of those things that makes baseball the interesting game that it is.
History of the MLB Trading Deadline
According to MLB, “The non-waiver Major League trading deadline has been July 31st since the 1986 season. Prior to that season, the non-waiver deadline for trades within each League was June 15th and there were also distinctions between when intraleague and interleague trades could be made. Waivers were necessary at all times for interleague trades, with the exception of two non-waiver interleague trading periods: February 15 – April 1 and 5 days after conclusion of World Series – the day before the last scheduled day of the Winter Meetings.
The first appearance of a trade deadline in the Major Leagues came when the National League established a deadline of August 20th in 1917. After that date, a player had to clear NL waivers before being traded. The American League followed suit in 1920, but with a deadline of July 1st. The following year, both the AL and NL agreed on a deadline of August 1st. On December 14, 1922, the deadline was changed to June 15th after gaining approval at the Joint Major League meetings held at the Hotel Commodore in New York. It would stay June 15th until after the 1985 season. In 1953, the interleague trading rules were amended as to require waivers between June 15th and the conclusion of the championship season. The first non-waiver interleague trading period was created for the 1959 off-season and it was from November 21–December 15. In 1970, the start of the period was moved to begin 5 days after the World Series instead of November 21. Seven years later, a second non-waiver interleague trading period was created, February 15–March 15. In 1981, that period was extended through April 1 and was in effect until all distinctions between interleague and intraleague trading were abolished prior to the 1986 season.”
Players may be traded between Major League Clubs until 4:00 p.m. (EDT) on Tuesday, July 31st without Major League waivers in effect.
In July between 2000 and July 25 of 2012, the San Diego Padres have made the most trades, a total of 38 and on the other end of the spectrum, the Angels have made the fewest deals, just 11. The Minnesota Twins have made the second fewest number of trades in that time frame, just 13 but the Francisco Liriano trade the other day would add one to the total. Looking at the rest of the AL Central, the Tigers have made 15 deals, the White Sox have made 25 not counting the recent Liriano deal, the Royals have swung 26 deals and the Indians lead the division with 27 trades. It appears that the addition of two wild card spots this season has deceased the amount of deals but we still have time to bring that number up.
The following table tracks the number of trades that have occurred between June 1-July 31. Three-way trades are counted as one trade.
| YEAR | Trades between June 1 and July 31 |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 36 |
| 2011 | 33 |
| 2010 | 40 |
| 2009 | 36 |
| 2008 | 25 |
| 2007 | 33 |
| 2006 | 42 |
| 2005 | 30 |
| 2004 | 41 |
| 2003 | 34 |
| 2002 | 32 |
| 2001 | 41 |
| 2000 | 42 |
| 1999 | 28 |
| 1998 | 40 |
| 1997 | 23 |
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Twins Minor League Player of the Week
Outfielder Steven Liddle is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Liddle played five games between Low-A Beloit and High-A Ft. Myers, batting .533 (8-for-15) with one double, one triple, one home run and five runs scored. Liddle was drafted by the Twins in the 15th round of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft and is the nephew of current Twins third base coach Steve Liddle.
An outfielder by trade, Liddle has been playing mostly 1B this season. In his fourth season in the Twins minor league system, Liddle has a career average of .253 with 23 home runs and 17 stolen bases.
According to Elias
Rookie Samuel Deduno earned the win for the Twins Saturday night by throwing seven innings and allowing only two hits. That performance came one game after fellow Twins rookie Scott Diamond earned a win by throwing nine innings and allowing only three hits. The last time a major-league team had rookies throw back-to-back games in which they both pitched at least seven innings and allowed no more than three hits was the Pirates in July 2000 (Jimmy Anderson and Bronson Arroyo). The last American League team to do it was the Rangers in a doubleheader on July 26, 1973 (Jim Bibby and David Clyde).