TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
According to Twins Notes in todays Star Tribune Sports section the Minnesota Twins have contacted Mike Napoli‘s agent about signing with Minnesota. Napoli would be a bench player with power who can still play first base every now and then. The big reason for signing him according to the Twins is that he would be a clubhouse leader to replace Chris Gimenez who is a free agent.
Kennys Vargas
Clubhouse leadership is a job that is earned, not bought on the free agent market. Why the Twins want to waste their money and a roster spot on a 36 year-old player that hit .193 in 485 plate appearances and struck out 163 times in Texas is beyond me. Kennys Vargas can do what they want Napoli for and he is much younger and cheaper.
The Twins don’t need a clubhouse leader, the Twins need some pitching that can help them in 2018, signing Michael Pineda who is coming off TJ surgery and won’t pitch until 2019 does not help the team now. There have also been reports that the Twins were in on Drew Smyly before he signed with the Cubs and are nosing around Trevor Rosenthal. Both of these pitchers are coming off TJ surgery and likely won’t pitch in 2018 either. What the heck is up with that? Are we collecting injured players who can maybe pitch in 2019?
When does this organization quit talking about what they hope to have in the future and start adding pieces that can help them in 2018? The current group of players is young and talented and could use some help with their pitching staff. I know, I know, they just signed Fernando Rodney a few days to be their closer. The team still needs one or two good starters and another reliever and so far they have done nothing to help that problem.
I am not a huge free agent fan and wouldn’t pay the bucks to sign Yu Darvish or Jake Arrieta but there are a number of pitchers like Gerrit Cole and Chris Archer out there that could be had in a trade for prospects. How about we trade some futures for some pitchers that can pitch now and won’t need to be salary dumps in a few years? I am not getting any younger…
Derek Falvey and Thad Levine have done a lot of talking but so far it has been just that, talk. You don’t get a “W” for talk, you need real live pitchers to get that. How much longer can the Minnesota Twins organization keep selling the future to Twins fans? The future is now Mr. Falvey and Mr. Levine, please act like it.
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.
Chris Colabello, making his third start at first base since Justin Morneau was traded to Pittsburgh, connected for a tie-breaking ninth-inning grand-slam homer to propel the Twins to a 10-6 comeback victory at Houston. Colabello, who had homered earlier in the game, became the first player in the history of the franchise – not just in Minnesota since 1961, but going all the way back to Washington in 1901 – to hit two homers in a game, including a go-ahead grand-slam in the ninth inning or later.
Coming into Colabello’s ninth-inning at-bat, the 29-year-old rookie was batting .186 overall, and had been held hitless in his 25 major-league at-bats with runners on base and two outs. The last position-player to start his big-league career with such a long streak of hitless at-bats in those situations was Chris Gimenez, a catcher with the Indians, who went hitless in his first 31 at-bats with runners on base and two outs over 2009 and 2010.
Friday, May 28, 2010 was kind of an odd day in baseball in the fact that two different games had position players pitching, utility player Bill Hall pitched a scoreless inning for the Red Sox in their 12-5 loss to the Royals in Fenway and catcher Kevin Cash pitched the final inning for the Astros in their 15-6 loss to the Reds in Cincinnati, giving up one run. In Minnesota we have to look all the way back to 1990 to see a position player (John Moses) take the mound. A total of four Twins position players have toed the pitching rubber for Minnesota and they have pitched in a total of 7 games. One of these pitching appearances was unusual in that Cesar Tovar started the game on the mound and played each position in sequence as the game progressed. Let’s take a look at how these guys fared.
Julio Becquer (first baseman) – September 10, 1961 at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City in a 13-1 loss to the A’s. Julio pitched 1.1 innings giving up 4 hits, 1 walk and 3 runs. Click here for the box score. Julio also pitched in a game as a Washington Senator in 1960.
2. Cesar Tovar (infielder/outfielder) – September 22, 1968 at Met Stadium in a 2-1 victory over the Kansas City A’s. Cesar started the game and pitched one scoreless inning giving up a walk and striking out future Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson in the process. Cesar went on to play C-1B-2B-SS-3B-LF-CF-RF. This was the only occurrence of a Twins position player pitching at Met Stadium. This is the only instance where a Twins position player pitched and the Twins won the game. Click here to see the box score.
3.Dan Gladden (outfielder) – June 27, 1988 at Anaheim Stadium in a 16-7 Twins defeat. Dan pitched a scoreless 8th inning facing just three batters and throwing 9 pitches. Click here to see the box score.
4. Dan Gladden (outfielder) – May 7, 1989 at Cleveland Stadium in a 12-1 loss to the Indians. Gladden pitched one inning giving up a walk, two hits and one run. Click here for the box score.
5. John Moses (outfielder) – June 24, 1989 at Fenway Park in an 11-2 loss to the Red Sox. John pitched one scoreless inning giving up a walk but only faced 3 batters with the team turned a double play behind him. Click here for the box score.
6. John Moses (outfielder) – May 19, 1990 at Fenway Park in a 13-1 loss to the Red Sox. John pitched one inning allowing two hits and one run. Click here for the box score.
7. John Moses (outfielder) – July 31, 1990 at the Metrodome in a 13-2 loss to the California Angels. John pitched one inning walking 2, giving up 3 hits and 2 runs. Click here for the box score. This was the only occurrence of a Twins position player pitching in the Metrodome. This pitching appearance makes Moses the all-time Minnesota Twins leader in games and innings pitched by a position player with a total of 3 innings in 3 games. To this point Moses is also the only position player in Twins history to appear on the mound twice in the same season but that record does not hold.
8.Michael Cuddyer (outfielder) – July 25, 2011 at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington with the Twins trailing the Texas Rangers 20-3 and having burned through five pitchers, Cuddyer was brought in to pitch the bottom of the 8th inning. Cuddy threw 16 pitches and retired the Rangers on 2 hits and a walk but kept Texas from scoring. Click here for the box score.
9. Drew Butera catcher) – Trailing the Brewers 16-2 on May 20, 2012 catcher Drew Butera was asked to pitch for the Twins in the 8th inning. Butera kept the Brewers from scoring while throwing 17 pitches and only allowed one walk and in the process struck out former Twins outfielder Carlos Gomez. The Twins ended up losing the game 16-4. Butera is only the second Twins position player to pitch and strike out an opposing batter. Click here for the box score. Drew’s father Sal Butera who was also a Twins catcher in 1980-1982 and again in 1987 also took the mound but not when he was with the Twins. Sal Butera pitched a scoreless inning for the Montreal Expos in 1985 and another scoreless inning for the Cincinnati Reds in 1986.
10. On August 5, 2013, the same day that MLB announced that 13 players were suspended for a total of 811 days for violating drug protocols, the Twins found themselves down 13-0 to the Royals at Kauffman in game one of a three game series. In the eighth inning Twins skipper Gardenhire decided to bring in utility infielder Jamey Carroll to pitch. Carroll threw just 9 pitches, seven for strikes and retired the side with no hits, walks, or runs. Carroll became only the seventh position player to pitch for the Twins but it was the 10th time this kind of situation has occurred. John Moses pitched 3 times and Dan Gladden did it twice. Box score.
11. On August 8, 2015 Shane Robinson (outfielder) became the first Twins position player to pitch since Jamey Carroll did it on August 5, 2013 at Kansas City. Robinson came in with the bases loaded and faced four batters – he walked the first batter and retired the next three hitters the last out was a strikeout on Robinson’s infamous knuckle all. Box Score.
Minnesota Twins infielder Eduardo Escobar throws against the Houston Astros in the ninth inning after he was called to pitch in a baseball game Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016 in Minneapolis. The Astros won 15-7. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
12. On August 11, 2016 infielder Eduardo Escobar moved from shortstop to the mound at Target Field in the ninth inning with the Twins trailing the Houston Astros 15-6 and allowed just one hit but no runs as he retired the Astros on 16 pitches. Escobar was the sixth pitcher used by the Twins in the first game of a doubleheader. Box Score.
Catcher Chris Gimenez pitching to the Tigers on April 23, 2017 at Target Field.
13. On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, April 23, 2017 The Twins were losing 13-4 to the Detroit Tigers in the top of the ninth inning at Target Field and Twins reliever Ryan Pressly just could not get the final out so manager Paul Molitor turned to catcher/utility man Chris Gimenez to finish it off. Gimenez took the mound and retired Andrew Romine on four pitches. Over the course of a nine-year career and before Sunday, the backup catcher had taken the hill three times. Catcher Chris Gimenez kept it ‘slow, slow, and slower’ in his fourth career pitching appearance. Some of Gimenez’s pitches might have registered on Gameday as knuckleballs, but keeping the pitches simple was merely part of his strategy. “I just try to locate about 68 to 79 mph and go from there. Let them supply the power. They were all heaters. Just slow and slower. That’s my game. Box score
14. With the Twins being pounded 11-1 at Target Field on Saturday, May 6, 2017 Twins skipper Paul Molitor was once again forced to bring catcher Chris Gimenez to the mound with one out and runners at first and second. Gimenez retired Xander Bogaerts and Nick Benintendi for the final two out of the inning on just four pitches. Box score
15. The Astros showed no mercy and routed the Twins on May 31, 2017, 17–6, completing a three-game sweep in which they scored 40 runs (16, 7 and 17). That is a franchise record for runs scored in a regular-season series of any length. Twins C/1B Chris Gimenez was called upon (moving from 1B to the mound) for the third time this season to pitch and the season is just ending its second month. Gimenez pitched the ninth inning but gave up two runs on a two-run home run to Marwin Gonzalez. Box Score
16. Manager Paul Molitor calls on catcher/1B Chris Gimenez again as the Twins get thrashed at Safeco Field 12-3 and Gimenez delivers a scoreless inning. Box Score 17. Twins fans get to see their back-up catcher Chris Gimenez make his fifth pitching appearance of the 2017 season and fourth appearance in front of the home town crowd as Gimenez pitches 1 inning and gives up 2 runs on 3 hits in a Twins 14-3 loss to the Mariners. Box Score
18. Make that six pitching appearances in 2017 for C/1B Chris Gimenez. Gimenez pitched 1 inning allowing 2 hits but he kept the White Sox off the board which is relatively rare for Twins relievers this season. Box Score
Ryan LaMarre pitching on April 23, 2018 in Yankee Stadium. Credit: Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports
19. The visiting Twins get pummeled by the New York Yankees 14-1 forcing manager Paul Molitor to use outfielder Ryan LaMarre as a relief pitcher. LaMarre went 2/3 of an inning facing three batters, one of which, Tyler Austin hit a home run. LaMarre need just five pitches to get his two outs. This is the second pitching appearance for Ryan who also appeared as a pitcher for the Red Sox in July 2016. Box Score
20. Catcher Willians Astudillo became the Twins fifth pitcher of the day at Target Field when he took the mound on July 14, 2018 to pitch the ninth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays with the Twins trailing 14-6. It took 35 pitches but Astudillo finally retired the Rays but not until they scored five times on five hits, two of which were home runs. Box Score
21. Catcher Mitch Garver made his maiden big league pitching appearance on August 6, 2018 at Progressive Field when he toed the rubber in the eighth inning of a 10-0 shellacking of the Twins by the Cleveland Indians. Garver was the Twins third pitcher of the day and the only one to keep Cleveland off the scoreboard. Garver threw 14 pitches in one scoreless inning allowing just one hit, no walks and not striking out anyone. Box Score
22. On September 2, 2018 shortly after being acquired from the Cubs, manager Paul Molitor again calls on catcher Chris Gimenez to take the mound. With the Twins down 13-2 at Globe Life Park in Arlington to the Texas Rangers. Gimenez has a rough go of it allowing five runs on six hits including two home runs in one inning of pitching in which he throws 29 pitches. Gimenez however; bats in the top of the ninth inning and hits a two-run home run making him the first Twins pitcher to hit a home run since Jim Kaat hit one in 1972. Box Score
23. Twins utility player Willians Astudillo gets a chance to redeem himself on April 16, 2021 when he gets to toe the pitching rubber for the second time in his career. In his last pitching appearance back in 2018 he got roughed up by the Tampa Bay Rays for five runs on five hits but today at Angel Stadium of Anaheim Astudillo was on his game. Throwing just seven pitches Astudillo retired the Angels 1-2-3 in the ninth inning. Box Score
24. La Tortuga (Willians Astudillo) is called on for mound mop-up duty again, his third career pitching appearance on May 17, 2021 at Target Field to help out the Twins who are being pounded by the league leading Chicago White Sox 16-3. Astudillo gives up a home run to rookie Yermin Mercedes on a 3-0 count with two out in the ninth inning to make the final score 16-4. It was the only hit that Astudillo gave up but Twins players were not happy with Mercedes. After the game White Sox skipper Tony LaRussa criticized Mercedes for breaking an unwritten rule and said that it would be taken care of in-house. The next day Twins reliever Tyler Duffey enters the game in the seventh inning to face Yermin Mercedes and his first pitch sails behind Mercedes and the umpires quickly confer and send Duffey to the showers. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli quickly follows Duffey to the clubhouse after he too is ejected. Box Score
25. The Twins are down 14-5 to the Kansas City Royals after eight innings at Kauffman Stadium so Willians Astudillo is asked to slide over to the mound from his third base duties and help out the Twins pitching staff that has already burned through four pitchers after starter Matt Shoemaker retires just one batter out of the ten he faced. Astudillo needs just 12 pitches to retire the side even though he walked a batter and another reached base on an error. This is the third time La Tortuga has taken the mound in 2021 (and it is early June) for the Twins and that kind of tells you how the Twins 2021 season is going. Box Score
26. The Twins are at Fenway Park and the Twins are trailing 12-2 when manager Baldelli calls on Willians Astudillo to take the mound for the fourth time this season. Astudillo throws 20 pitches during his scoreless inning on the mound, he did walk one batter. Video of his pitching appearance can be seen on August 26 OTD in Twins history. Astudillo hit a home run earlier in the game accounting for all the Twins runs. Box Score
27. Trailing the Houston Astros 11-3 after eight innings at Target Field on May 11, 2022 Twins skipper Rocco Baldelli bring in UT player Nick Gordon to make his maiden appearance on the mound. Gordon pitches one scoreless inning (16 pitches) giving up just one harmless single. Box Score
28. Nick Gordon returns to the mound for the second time this season in a White Sox rout over the Twins at Target Field on July 14, 2022. This time Gordon gets roughed up a bit in his one inning (19 pitches) on the mound as he gives up three runs on a walk and four hits one of which was a three-run home run. Box Score
29. Gordon takes the mound for his third career appearance on July 29th against the San Diego Padres and pitches one scoreless inning in San Diego in a 10-1 blowout loss. Box Score
30. On 9/3/22 it is the fourth time that Rocco Baldelli calls on Nick Gordon to do a bit of pitching but this time Gordon lasts just 2/3 of an inning as he gives up 6 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks to the White Sox in Chicago and has to be relieved by Jermaine Palacios, another position player. This is the first time that the Twins have ever used two position players to pitch in one game. Box Score
31. Jermaine Palacios takes the mound to relieve position player Nick Gordon on 9/3/22 and strikes out Adam Haseley for the final out in a 10-0 shellacking by the White Sox in Chicago. Box Score
32. Rocco calls on Jermaine Palacios to toe the rubber one more time on 9/19/22 and Palacios again gets the final out in relief of closer Jorge Lopez as the Guardians whip the Twins 11-4. VideoBox Score
33. Rocco Baldelli calls on Willie Castro to get the final out at Fenway Park in a 11-5 blowout loss to the Boston Red Sox on April 20, 2023. Castro came through by retiring Enrique Hernandez the only batter he faced on a ground out to second. Castro becomes the sixteen different Twins position player to take the bump for Minnesota. Box Score
34. MLB blowout rules were applicable when the Twins were getting blown out at Target Field by the Boston Red Sox on June 20, 2023 so Twins manager called for utility man Willie Castro to make his second appearance on a mound in 2023. Castro peaked out at 54 MPH pitching a scoreless ninth inning allowing just one hit and getting the side out on just nine pitches. Box Score
35. Twins outfielder Jordan Luplow, who had joined Minnesota just one week earlier after being claimed off waivers was asked to take the mound by Rocco Baldelli at Philly on August 11, 2023 in a 13-2 blowout loss. You can watch him pitch here. This is not Luplow first rodeo, it is actually his third pitching appearance and they have all been with different teams. One of his appearances was against the Twins and he gave up a home run to Ron Jeffers. On this day he also gave up a home run to Johan Rojas, his first big league long ball. Luplow threw 11 pitches in his one inning giving up one hit, hit a batter and two runs. Box Score
36. The Twins vs Guardians game on September 4, 2023 was an odd one for sure. In the sixth inning with the Twins up 11-1 and two runners on with no outs at Progressive Field the Guardians brought in catcher David Fry to pitch. Fry ended up pitching the last four innings throwing 64 pitches in a game in which he gave up 10 hits and seven runs. But there is more to the story, the Twins brought in utility man Willi Castro from third base to pitch the ninth inning with a 20-3 lead. Castro in his third pitching appearance of 2023 for the Twins gives up 3 runs on 2 hits. Castro has never had a strikeout in his three pitching appearances. But what is unique about this appearance is that Castro become the first Twins position player to pitch in a game in which the Twins win.
37. Twins utility player Willi Castro slides over from playing shortstop to the mound to get the final out in the Twins 8-2 loss at Comerica Park against the Detroit Tigers. It is Castro’s fourth career pitching appearance.
Seventeen different Twins position players have now pitched on 37 different occasions for the Minnesota Twins.
When does this organization quit talking about what they hope to have in the future and start adding pieces that can help them in 2018? The current group of players is young and talented and could use some help with their pitching staff. I know, I know, they just signed Fernando Rodney a few days to be their closer. The team still needs one or two good starters and another reliever and so far they have done nothing to help that problem. 
Derek Falvey and Thad Levine have done a lot of talking but so far it has been just that, talk. You don’t get a “W” for talk, you need real live pitchers to get that. How much longer can the Minnesota Twins organization keep selling the future to Twins fans? The future is now Mr. Falvey and Mr. Levine, please act like it.
