According to Elias

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

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 20 game winner Dave Boswell passes away

Dave Boswell

Dave Boswell a right-handed pitcher who won 20 games for the Twins in 1969 passed away from a heart attack yesterday at the age of 67.  Born in Baltimore, Maryland on January 20, 1945, Boswell signed with the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent pitcher/outfielder in 1963 after finishing his high school career with a 28-2 record. The New York Yankees offered Boswell the same deal at the Twins did and Boswell wanted to pitch for the Yankees but the Yankees had a very strong pitching staff and Dave and his family decided that Minnesota would offer him his best opportunity.

Boswell started his professional career in 1964 in A ball with Bismarck/Mandan in the Northern League and after going 7-11 with a 3.88 ERA he was moved up to AA Charlotte where he went 4-2 with a 2.85 ERA. The Minnesota Twins called Boswell to the big leagues in September and Dave made his major league debut on September 18 at the age of just 19 against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Boswell did not get a decision that day but his big league career was well on its way. Boswell made the Twins ballclub out of spring training in 1965 and after a few games in long relief, he entered the starting rotation and by the end of May, Boswell had a 2.12 ERA, in 34 innings. Boswell would have remained in the starting rotation, but he came down with mononucleosis and missed about a quarter of the season. When he returned, the Twins moved Boswell to the bullpen where he finished the 1965 pennant winning season. With the Twins only using 3 starters in the 1965 World Series, Boswell made one appearance in the 1965 World Series pitching in relief of Jim Kaat in-game 5. Boswell was in the starting rotation between 1966-1968 and won 36 games. But in 1969 Boswell had a career season going 20-12 with a 3.23 ERA while pitching 256.1 innings. Boswell started game 2 of the 1969 ALCS against the Baltimore Orioles and pitched 10.2 scoreless innings but came away as the losing pitcher when reliever Ron Perranoski game up single to Curt Motton and Boog Powell whom Boswell had walked to lead off the inning scored the only run in the ball game and the Orioles were 1-0 winners. Boswell hurt his arm striking out Frank Robinson to end the 10th inning and according to Boswell that was the reason he walked Powell to lead off the 11th inning. That arm injury was the beginning of the end for Dave Boswell and his big league career. In 1970 Boswell tried pitching through his injury but went 3-7 with a 6.42 ERA and on July 29 Boswell pitched in his last Twins game, a start against the Cleveland Indians that lasted just 2.1 innings when he gave up 7 walks and 3 hits. The Twins released Boswell in April 1971 and he hooked with the Detroit Tigers but he only pitched in 3 games there before being released in late May. Boswell then signed with the Baltimore Orioles and finished the 1971 season there.  Baltimore released Boswell before the 1972 season and amazingly at the young age of 27, Boswell’s big league career was finished.

Although Boswell won 20 games in 1969, he is probably better remembered for a fight that he had with Twins manager Billy Martin at the Lindall A.C. in Detroit. There are a lot of different stories circulating about that fight and we won’t go into them here.

Dave Boswell’s career lasted 8 years and he had a 68-56 record and an ERA of 3.52 and a 1.26 WHIP. Bos struck out 882 batters in his 1,065.1 innings and he gave up only 858 hits. Boswell always gave up fewer hits than innings pitched until he suffered his arm injury late in 1969. Boswell loved playing baseball and he was a good hitter too. Dave hit 4 home runs and knocked in 22 while batting .202 during his career and was used by the Twins as a pinch runner many, many times in his tenure in Minnesota.

Dave Boswell was one of baseball’s real characters and he played baseball the way he lived his life, non stop. Dave Boswell participated in the Twins Fantasy Camps for a number of years and had some health issues for the last year or so. The Minnesota Twins and their fans lost one of their “good ones” yesterday. Thank you for the great memories Dave, we won’t forget you.

I did an interview with Dave a few years back and you can see that Q&A by click here.

A beautiful YouTube tribute to Dave Boswell can be viewed here.

The Baltimore Sun obit for Dave Boswell

Shooter Now: Minnesota Twins ‘character’ Dave Boswell dies

Twins claim Clete Thomas on waivers from Tigers

Clete Thomas

The Twins announced today that they have claimed 28-year-old outfielder Clete Thomas (bats left and throws right) on waivers from the Detroit Tigers who had designated Thomas for assignment on April 12th. The Twins expect Thomas to be at Target Field tonight prior to Sunday’s game against the Texas Rangers. The Twins made room on their 40-man roster, by transferring right-handed pitcher Scott Baker to the 60-day disabled list. The Twins will make a corresponding roster move prior to adding him to the 25-man roster.

Michael Clete Thomas was first drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the fifth round of the 2002 amateur draft but did not sign and ended up being drafted by the Tigers in round six of the 2005 draft and he signed with the Tigers at that time. Thomas worked his way up through the Detroit minor league system before making his major league debut on March 31, 2008. Thomas appeared with the Tigers in 40 games in 2008, 102 games in 2009 and then spent 2010-2011 with the Tigers AAA team in Toledo. This season he appeared in 3 games with Detroit but had no plate appearances. In the big leagues, Thomas has appeared in 145 games hitting .253 with 8 home runs and is 5 for 5 in stolen bases. Thomas has played all three outfield positions while with the Tigers. In the minors, Thomas has shown the ability to steal a base with 148 steals in 192 attempts. In 2011 Thomas hit a career high 12 home runs with Toledo.

You have to wonder what the Twins see in Thomas and why they want to put him on the 25 man roster. Who will the Twins send down to make room for Thomas? My guess is that Ben Revere may well be Rochester bound if indeed the Twins keep Thomas. The other option of course is that the Twins are going to make some kind of a deal, maybe with Boston since the Red Sox just lost Jacoby Ellsbury for 6-8 weeks due to a shoulder injury yesterday and there have been rumors floating around that Clete Thomas was someone that the Red Sox were interested in. Were the Tigers trying to slip Thomas past everyone on waivers so that they could make a deal with Boston? Who knows.

Here are some thoughts on Clete Thomas from a Tigers blog at Motor City Bengals.

UPDATE: The Twins announced that Ben Revere was optioned to Rochester after Saturdays game.