Tag: Aaron Hicks

Twins & Yankees agree on a blockbuster

Less than two days ago the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees agreed on a blockbuster trade but Twins and Yankee fans are in a quandary about what to think of the deal. Social sites for both teams seem to be up in arms about the deal with both sides thinking they got the short end of the stick.

The trade in question calls for the New Yorker’s sending 29-year old catcher Gary Sanchez and 30-year old third baseman Gio Urshela to Minnesota for 36 year-old third baseman Josh Donaldson, 27-year old shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa and 24-year old catcher Ben Rortvedt.

It appears that there were multiple reasons to make the trade. The Twins seem to be looking to get out from under the $50 million the team owes Donaldson over the next two seasons and the Yankees have wanted to move Sanchez for some time. It is one of those situations where you swap my problems for your problems. The Yankees were in desperate need of a shortstop and the Twins had just acquired Kiner-Falefa from Texas earlier in the day. So in order for the Yankees to take Donaldson and pay him what he is owed the Yankees needed to get Kiner-Falefa in the deal and they wanted Rortvedt to replace Sanchez. Getting Donaldson and Kiner-Falefa made Urshela expendable and he was on his way to Minnesota.

Gary Sanchez
Continue reading Twins & Yankees agree on a blockbuster

Twins Milestone Home Runs from 1961-2021

Over the years the Minnesota Twins have hit 8,591 home runs since they started play in 1961 through the 2021 season. Let’s take a look at some milestone home runs, who hit them and where did they hit them. You might want to take note that the Minnesota Twins won 10 of these 12 games.

#1 was hit by Bob Allison on 4-11-61 at Yankee Stadium off Whitey Ford in a Twins 6-0 win in the first game they ever played.

#100 was hit by Bob Allison on 7-19-61 at Wrigley Field off the Angels Ron Kline in a 6-0 Twins win in game one of a DH.

Continue reading Twins Milestone Home Runs from 1961-2021

Top 10 Twins draft picks this century

Position Players

Joe Mauer retires. Click on image to make it larger.

  1. Joe Mauer picked as a catcher 1st overall in 2001 and is retired with a 55.0 WAR all with the Twins from 2004-2018.
  2. Brian Dozier picked as a collegiate shortstop in the 8th round in 2009 and is currently playing for the Nationals. Current career WAR is 23.3 and WAR with Twins from 2012 to 2018 was 23.8.
  3. Denard Span picked as an outfielder in the 1st round (20th overall) in 2002 and is currently not playing. Current career WAR is 26.2 and WAR with the Twins from 2008 to 2012 was 13.2. 
  4. Eddie Rosario picked as an outfielder in the 4th round of the 2010 draft and currently playing left field for the Twins since 2015 and has a 10.2 career WAR.
  5. Trevor Plouffe was selected as a shortstop in round 1 (20th overall) of the 2004 MLB draft. Plouffe is not playing this season after being released by the Phillies and has a career WAR of 8.2. When playing for Minnesota from 2010 to 2018 his WAR was 8.6.
  6. Byron Buxton was selected as an outfielder in 2012 with the 2nd overall pick in round 1. Has played center field for the Twins off and on since 2015 and has a career WAR of 8.5.
  7. Jason Kubel was selected as an outfielder in round 12 of the 2000 draft and played for the Twins in 2004, sat out 2005 due to injury and from 2006-2011 putting up a 3.7 WAR before leaving as a FA. Career 4.1 WAR.
  8. Mitch Garver was drafted as a collegiate catcher in the 9th round of the 2013 draft and has been with the Twins off/on since 2017 and has put up a 2.6 career WAR.
  9. Aaron Hicks was drafted as an outfielder in round 1 (14th overall) and played for the Twins on/off from 2013-2015 before being traded to the Yankees. Hicks WAR with Minnesota was 2.3 and he now is up to a 10.2 career WAR with the Yankees.
  10. Danny Valencia was drafted as a collegiate third baseman in round 19 and played for the Twins from 2010 to 2012 before being traded to Boston. Valencia put up a 0.9 WAR with the Twins. I believe Valencia is not playing in 2019 and has a career WAR of 5.6.

 

Pitchers

Scott Baker – click on image to make it larger.

Scott Baker (collegiate RHP) was a 2nd round pick in 2003 and started for the Twins from 2005-2011 and had a 15.7 WAR. After TJ surgery he pitched for Cubs, Rangers and Dodgers thru 2015 and ended up with a 15.6 career WAR.

Kyle Gibson (collegiate RHP) was a 1st round pick and 22nd overall in 2009 and is currently in the Twins starting rotation (since 2013) with a current career WAR of 9.6.

Glen Perkins (collegiate LHP) was a 1st round compensation pick (22nd overall) in 2004 from the Mariners for signing Eddie Guardado as a FA. Perkins joined the Twins in 2006 and pitched thru 2017. Perkins was a starter in 2008-2009 but ended his career as a closer with a career WAR of 8.7.

Brian Duensing (collegiate LHP) was a 3rd rounder in 2005 and pitched for the Twins from 2009-2015 primarily in relief but he did some spot starting early in his career. Twins WAR was 6.3. Duensing is currently with the Cubs and has a career WAR of 6.2.

Jesse Crain (collegiate RHP) was picked in round 2 in 2002 and pitched in relief for Minnesota from 2004 thru 2010 before moving on to the White Sox where he finished his career in 2013. Twins WAR was 5.4 and career WAR was 11.4.

Jose Berrios (high school RHP) was picked in round 1 and 32nd overall as a compensation pick for the loss of FA Michael Cuddyer in 2012. Berrios is currently in the Twins starting rotation (since 2016) and has a career WAR of 5.2.

Taylor Rogers (collegiate LHP) was picked in round 11 in 2012 and has been a reliever in the Twins bullpen since 2016 and has posted a career WAR of 4.6.

Kevin Slowey (collegiate RHP) was picked in the 2nd round and 73rd overall in 2005 and was used primarily as a starter for Minnesota from 2007-2011 and had a 4.4 WAR. He finished his career with Miami 2013-2014 with a career WAR of 4.7. 

Nick Blackburn (collegiate RHP) wasn’t picked until round 29 (857th overall) in 2001 and spent his entire career with Minnesota from 2007-2012 and put up a 3.1 career WAR.

Pat Neshek (collegiate RHP) was picked by the Twins in round 45 in 1999 but didn’t sign and was again picked by the Twins in 2002 in round 6 and was a Twins relief pitcher from 2006-2010 with a year off in 2009 for TJ surgery and posted a WAR with the Twins of 3.0. Since then Neshek has pitched for six other big league organizations (currently with Philly) and has a career WAR of 10.9.

 

Some observations

Seven of the ten position players on the list were drafted out of high school.

Just one of ten pitchers on the list was drafted and signed out of high school.

Only five of the ten position players on the list are first round picks. 

Three of 10 pitchers are first round picks.

Position players on the list not picked in round 1 were selected in rounds 4, 8, 9, 12, and 19.

Pitchers on the list not selected in round one were picked in rounds 2, 2, 2, 3, 6, 11, and 29.

Seems like the Twins should draft position players out of high school and pitchers out of college.

 

 

Looking at Minnesota Twins drafts this century

With the June Amateur Free Agent draft just a month or so away maybe it is time to look back and see who the Twins have drafted this century that has made an impact on the Minnesota Twins major league team. We all know that very few prospects make it to the big leagues and even fewer are stars, here is how the Twins have fared. Keep this in mind before you get overly excited about the Twins picks in this years drafts.

 

Twins draft choices since 2000

 

2000 draft – 52 drafted, 30 signed and 5 put on a Minnesota Twins uniform

Best Twins player – Jason Kubel (OF) was a 2nd round selection picked out of high school and debuted on August 31, 2004 and had a career WAR of 4.1. RETIRED

Wore a Twins uniform briefly – Josh Rabe (OF), J.D. Durbin (RHP), Adam Johnson RHP was 1st rounder and second pick overall) and Jason Miller (LHP)

2001 draft – 50 drafted, 33 signed, 3 put on a Minnesota Twins uniform and 1 played in big leagues for another team

Joe Mauer

Best Twins players – Joe Mauer (C) a Minnesota native was the number one overall pick out of Cretin High School and he debuted on April 5, 2004 and played with Minnesota throughout his career that ended after the 2018 season. Won an MVP, six time All-Star, five time Silver Slugger, three time Batting Champion and three time Gold Glove winner. Career WAR of 55.0. RETIRED

Best Twins players – Nick Blackburn was a collegiate right-handed pitcher drafted in round 29 and debuted on September 7, 2007. Blackburn pitched his entire career for the Twins from 2007-2012. RETIRED with a 3.1 career WAR.

Wore a Twins uniform briefly –  Jose Morales (drafted as a shortstop but switched to catcher).

Played in big leagues for another team – Kevin Cameron (RHP).

Continue reading Looking at Minnesota Twins drafts this century

2018 Twins Turkey of the Year is:

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.  

Continue reading 2018 Twins Turkey of the Year is:

Not all first round picks are born to be stars

For some baseball fans the MLB June Amateur Draft is one of the highlights of the season. They can’t wait to see who their favorite team drafts and then can’t wait to see that player wear their favorite team colors. Who knows, maybe their team just landed the next great baseball superstar, but few consider the fact that even first round selections can turn out to baseball “duds”.

If you pick a player in round one you expect him to be a bona-fide big league star, an All-Star type of player. Sadly, a lot of them will not meet those expectations for one of many different reasons.

The 2018 June Amateur Draft is just around the corner so it is time to take a look at the Minnesota Twins previous first round selections for the last ten years and see how they are doing.

 

The Minnesota Twins have had 18 first round selections in the last ten years (2008-2017). 

  • Three of the picks are playing for the Minnesota Twins at this time. Gibson, Buxton and Berrios
  • One of the picks is playing for another big league team. Hicks
  • One of the picks was selected in the Rule 5 draft, pitched briefly in the big leagues but was returned to the Twins minor league system. Bard
  • Seven of the picks are in the Twins system and still have a shot at wearing Twins colors at some point in the future. Lewis, Rooker, Kirilloff, Jay, Gordon, Stewart and Bard
  • Three of the picks are no longer with the Minnesota organization and are playing in the minors elsewhere. Michael, Harrison and Wimmers
  • Four are no longer playing pro baseball. Boyd, Bashore, Gutierrez and Hunt

 

Twins first round picks for last 10 years

2017 – Royce Lewis (shortstop) – First pick overall out of high school. Has been at Cedar Rapids (Low A) all season and is hitting .315 with a .368 OBP in 124 at bats with one home run and 13 stolen bases in 14 attempts. Signing bonus – $6.725 million

2017 – Brent Rooker – (outfielder) – 35th selection overall out of college. Has spent the season in Chattanooga (AA) and is hitting .233 in 163 at bats with four homers and 20 and has struck out 53 times. Has shown power in the past but no so much this year. The Twins seem to be grooming him to play first base. Signing bonus – $1.935 million

2016 – Alex Kirilloff – (outfielder) – 15th overall pick out of high school. Missed all of 2017 with TJ surgery and has played with Cedar Rapids all of this season hitting .325 in 151 at bats and a slick .959 OPS. Signing bonus – $2,817,100 million

2015 – Tyler Jay (LHP) – Selected sixth over all out of college. Pitched as a starter in 2015 and 2016 and strictly a reliever since. Injuries have plagued Jay and last season he pitched a total of just 11.2 innings for three different teams. He also pitched in the AFL where he threw 9.2 innings and had a 5.59 ERA. This year in AA Chattanooga he has thrown 14 innings striking out 9, walking 5,  has allowed 16 hits and has an ERA of 1.93. Signing bonus – $3,889,100 million

2014 – Nick Gordon (shortstop) – Selected fifth overall out of high school. The son of Tom “Flash” Gordon is in his fifth season of pro ball and was just promoted to AAA Rochester after hitting .333 in AA Chattanooga with 7 stolen bases, 10 doubles and 5 homers in 162 at bats. I would expect to see him put on a Minnesota Twins uniform at some point this season. In my opinion with Jorge Polanco suspended and the team hitting poorly why not bring Gordon up and see if he can provided a spark? Signing bonus – $3.851 million

2013 – Kohl Stewart (RHP) – Selected fourth overall out of high school. Finished the 2017 season in AA Chattanooga and is calling it home again this season. Has a 3-1 record but sports a 4.70 ERA with 36 strikeouts and 41 hits in 38.1 innings. Injuries has also plagued Stewart in his career. He is going to need a breakout season real soon…. Signing Bonus – $4.544 million

2012 – Byron Buxton (outfielder) – Selected second overall out of high school and has been with the Twins off and on since his big league debut in June of 2015. Great outfielder with speed to burn but hitting has been sub par. For a second overall pick you have to consider him “disappointing” so far. Signing bonus – $6 million

2012 – Jose Berrios (RHP) – Selected 32nd overall out of high school in Puerto Rico and debuted with Minnesota in 2016. Berrios is having a great season in 2018 with the Twins. Looks to be the ace the Twins hoped he would be. Signing bonus – $1.55 million

2012 – Luke Bard – (RHP) – Selected 42nd overall out of college and has had some injury issues including TJ surgery that caused him to miss all of 2014. Selected by the Angels as a Rule 5 selection last November and pitched 11.2 innings with 13 strikeouts in the bigs but was returned to Minnesota in late April and is pitching in AAA Rochester and I would not be shocked to see him at least get a cup of coffee with the Twins in 2018. Signing bonus – $1.227 million

2011 – Levi Michael – (shortstop) – Selected 30th overall out of college and was released by Minnesota after the 2017 season and currently playing AA ball in the New York Mets system. Signing bonus – $1.175 million

2011 – Travis Harrison – (Third Baseman) Selected 50th overall out of high school and released by Minnesota after the 2017 season and currently playing in an Independent league. Signing bonus – $1.050 million

2011 – Hudson Boyd (RHP) Selected 55th overall out of a Ft. Myers high school and signed for one million dollars and was released by Minnesota in 2014. Boyd had many issues including his weight, booze, and attitude. A major flop! Signing bonus – $1 million

2010 – Alex Wimmers (RHP) – Selected 21st overall out of college. Pitched in a total of 24.2 innings for the Twins between 2016 and 2017 and posted a 1-3 record with a 4.38 ERA but those 19 walks were horrific and he is now in the Marlins system where at last look he had a 9.82 ERA. Signing bonus – $1.332 million

2009 – Kyle Gibson (RHP) – Selected 22nd overall out of college. Debuted with Minnesota in 2013 and has been in the starting rotation since 2014. Signing bonus – $1.8 million

2009 – Matt Bashore (LHP) – Selected 46th overall out of college. Missed all of 2010 with TJ surgery and released by the Twins after the 2011 season. Bashore pitched a total of 18.2 innings in the Twins minor league system before the organization gave up on him and out of baseball after the 2012 season. Signing bonus – $751,500

2008 – Aaron Hicks (outfielder) – Selected 14th overall out of high school and opened the season in Minnesota as the starting center fielder in 2013. Hitting woes caused the Twins to give-up on Hicks and trade him to the New York Yankees for catcher John Ryan Murphy in November 2015 but he too turned out to be a dud and was sent packing to Arizona. Hick is still playing with the Yankees in a semi-regular role. Signing bonus – $1.78 million

2008 – Carlos Gutierrez (RHP) – Selected 27th selection overall out of college and advanced as high as AAA in the Twins system before he moved on to the Cubs in 2013 but left pro ball after that season. Signing bonus – $1,290 million

2008 – Shooter Hunt (RHP) – Selected with the 31st pick overall out of college and didn’t get higher than high A in Ft. Myers before moving on to a different career after the 2011 season. Signing bonus – $1.080 million

Continue reading Not all first round picks are born to be stars

The 2017 Twins Turkey of the Year

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. 

Previous Twins Turkey of Year award winners

2016 – The entire 2016 Minnesota Twins team

2015 – Pitcher Ricky Nolasco

2014 – Outfielder Aaron Hicks

2013 – President Dave St. Peter

2012 – Owner Jim Pohlad

2011 – Catcher Joe Mauer

2010 – 3B Brendan Harris

2009 – Pitcher Glen Perkins

 

Looking at the Minnesota Twins top 10 center fielders

The Minnesota Twins have had a strong history of good center field play and when you look at this list you can certainly see why. The rankings are in Baseball-Reference WAR order and the player needed to have played center field in at least 50% of his games. 

How many of these guys did you get to see play? An old fossil like me gets to say he saw them all play and one of my favorites although he did not play here very long was Lenny Green. I am not saying that Green was in Puckett’s or Hunter’s class as a center fielder but I enjoyed watching him play. 

Minnesota Twins top 10 center fielders

 

Buxton

Todays Twins center fielder is still tying to prove he belongs on this list and he just might but he is going to have to show us his stuff. Can he prove to be even better than hall of famer Kirby Puckett? That is a tall order, we will just have to wait and see and it should be fun. I am expecting a HUGE breakout season from Buxton in 2017.

Some of the guys that didn’t make the top 10 list above are Carlos Gomez, Aaron Hicks, Buxton, Alex Cole, and Ken Landreaux.

 

Twins Top 10 Catchers

Twins Top 10 First Baseman

Twins Top 10 Second Basemen

Twins Top 10 Third Baseman

Twins Top 10 Shortstops

Twins Top 10 Right Fielders

Twins Top 10 Center Fielders

Twins Top 10 Left Fielders

Top Twins DH

Analyzing Minnesota Twins First Round Picks – Part 1

Since the June Amateur Draft began in 1965 the Minnesota Twins have selected 72 players in round one, some are their regular first round selections and other are supplemental picks for the loss of a free agent or failure to sign a round one selection. 

Over the years the Twins have failed to sign seven first round selections, about 10% of their total first round picks. The seven players that did not sign were four position players and three pitchers. You would think most of these would be high school players that chose to go on to college but that is not the case here, six were college players and only one was a high school player. The last time the Twins organization failed to sign a player was 2000 supplemental pick RHP Aaron Heilman.

Minnesota Twins first round draft picks 1965-2016

POS HS COLLEGE
C 2 1
1B 1 1
2B 0 1
SS 8 3
3B 4 2
OF 12 2
RHP 9 10
LHP 1 8
DID NOT SIGN 1  6
  38 34

 

Continue reading Analyzing Minnesota Twins First Round Picks – Part 1

Twins Turkey of the Year for 2016

Turkey Cartoon

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.

There were so many options for the 2016 Twins Turkey of the Year that the following didn’t even make the final five this Thanksgiving. Players like Glen Perkins, Trevor Plouffe, Joe Mauer, John Ryan Murphy, Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Byung Ho Park, Tyler Duffey, Phil Hughes, Kevin Jepsen, and Trevor May all deserve to be on the list but this years field is just so packed with worthy candidates that all these guys can muster is an honorable mention.

Jim Pohlad
Jim Pohlad

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)
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
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
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
2016 Twins Turkey of the Year award winners – the 2016 Minnesota Twins

 

Previous Twins Turkey of Year award winners

2015 – Pitcher Ricky Nolasco

2014 – Outfielder Aaron Hicks

2013 – Presdident Dave St. Peter

2012 – Owner Jim Pohlad

2011 – Catcher Joe Mauer

2010 – 3B Brendan Harris

2009 – Glen Perkins