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
Also joining the Twins will be Triple-A hitting coach Tim Doherty from September 2-14 while Red Wings Manager Gene Glynn will be with the Twins from September 15-28.
Aaron Hicks
Not much to get excited about here, just think how different things could have been had Byron Buxton. Miguel Sano, and Alex Meyer not been injured this year. Then again maybe we would not have seen Danny Santana and Kennys Vargas step up in the way they have so far this year. It will be interesting to see if Hicks has improved, he did well in New Britain and in Rochester for a while before he cooled off. When Rochester was making a push for a wild-card spot late in the season Hicks was not always a regular in that line-up.
Rochester (AAA – International League) infielder Doug Bernier is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. The 34-year old played in seven games for the Red Wings, hitting .370 (10-for-27) with one double, two home runs, 10 RBI, five runs scored and drew two walks. Bernier was acquired by the Twins as a minor league free agent February 1, 2013. He appeared in 33 games for the Twins last season, hitting .226 (12-for-53).
Bernier was originally signed by the Colorado Rockies as an undrafted free agent in 2002. Although Bernier has only seen big league action with the Rockies and Twins in a total of 35 games, he has also spent time with the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Yankees organizations.
Yesterday the Minnesota Twins announced that they have added Minnesota native and former Twins player Paul Molitor to their major league coaching staff. Molitor will oversee base running, bunting, infield instruction and positioning, plus assist with in-game strategy from the dugout for manager Ron Gardenhire. I don’t consider this as any kind of bold move by the Twins and I don’t see it adding any wins to the Twins victory total but with the way the Twins have run the bases the last few years it can’t hurt. Molitor served as a bench coach under Tom Kelly back in 2000 and 2001 and coached for the Seattle Mariners in 2004. Despite what has been written over the last couple of years, I still don’t see Molitor as a strong candidate to replace Gardenhire when he vacates the managers seat. I don’t think it is a secret that Molitor covets a big league managers job but teams have not exactly been knocking down his door to discuss a possible managers position with him. I find it interesting however; that Molitor has turned up as a coach with the Twins when TK was nearing the end of his tenure and with Seattle in Bob Melvin‘s final season at the helm in Seattle. Molitor isn’t exactly “Mr. Personality” so I will be interested to see how he interacts with the Twins fans in Ft. Myers come February.
Wilkin Ramirez
Outfielder Wilkin Ramirez was activated from the 60-day disabled list and then outrighted to Triple-A Rochester. Ramirez may exercise his right to declare free agency and determine if anybody else wants him or he can choose to resign with Minnesota as Doug Bernier did recently. The Twins 40 man roster is 36 but is expected to go to 37 when Samuel Deduno is taken off the 60-day disabled list.
Glen Perkins
The Twins also announced yesterday that Twins closer Glen Perkins underwent arthroscopic surgery two days after the 2013 season ended, but he should be ready for spring training in February. Perkins, who saved 36 games in his first full season as the Twins’ closer, had the procedure to repair the meniscus in his right knee. So why did the Twins wait so long to announce this? What would they have to gain? The Twins continue to keep team medical issues close to the vest.
Darin Mastroianni
Outfielder Darin Mastroianni underwent surgery last week to have the pin in his left ankle removed. The hardware, removed last Wednesday, had been inserted during his May surgery to repair the broken bone in his foot, suffered during the final week of spring training. He too also is expected to be fully healed by spring training.
Minor League Baseball and the Topps Company announced on October 22nd that outfielder Byron Buxton, the second overall pick in the June 2012 Draft by the Minnesota Twins, is the 2013 winner of the 54th annual J.G. Taylor Spink Award as the Topps/Minor League Player of the Year. Buxton finished among the top 12 MiLB™ players in six offensive categories, including a Minor League-best 18 triples. His 109 runs ranked second.
Lincecum
The San Francisco Giants announced that they have agreed to sign free agent to be RHP Tim Lincecum to a two-year $35 million no-trade deal pending a physical. The 29-year-old Lincecum just completed a $40.5 million, two-year contract that paid him $22 million this past season, that come out to $1.2 million per win this past season. Lincecum has a career record of 89-70 with a 3.46 ERA but that is not the whole story. After posting a 40-17 record with a 2.90 ERA in his first three seasons in the majors, his last four seasons have been a different story. During the last four seasons in which the Giants have won the World Series twice, Lincecum has won 49 games while losing 53 and his ERA has jumped to 3.87 and if you look at the last two years, he has a 4.76 ERA. His KO/9 have dropped from a league leading 10.5 in 2008 to 8.8 in 2013 and his velocity has dropped noticeably. This deal is just plain outlandish and will make this years off season hunt for free agent starters even that much more difficult for teams like the Twins that are desperate for starting pitching. I know Lincecum has won two Cy Young‘s and has thrown a no-hitter but there are many people out there that feel that Lincecum is sliding quickly and he may spend more time in the near future coming out of the bullpen then he will as a starter. This is a bad signing for the Giants and for baseball in general, the only winner here is Tim Lincecum.
The Cardinals and the Red Sox play game 1 of the 2013 World Series starting tonight and I really have no clear cut preference as who wins the Series but it might be an interesting series to watch. I am leaning a bit towards the Red Sox to win but we will have to wait and see how it turns out. Here is a little something fun for you to look at to see how the Cardinals and Red Sox regular season prices compared at the register courtesy of Team Marketing Report FactBook.
Ron Gardenhire was pushing the right buttons on Thursday night. Pinch-hitter Chris Herrmann drove in pinch-runner Doug Bernier with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as the Twins topped the White Sox, 4-3. Minnesota had only one other walk off victory for Gardenhire in which a pinch-hitter and pinch-runner combined for the winning run. That was in 2009, also against the White Sox, when Jose Morales drove in Nick Punto for the victory. We were at this game last night and it was a fun game to watch, but then again I always enjoy a Twins victory over the “Mighty Whitey’s” no matter what their record might be.
The Twins announced after yesterday’s game in Chicago that they had traded infielder Jamey Carroll to the Kansas City Royals for a PTBNL or cash. The 39-year-old Carroll wasn’t have a great season in 2013 hitting just .230 in 59 games and 191 at bats and the Twins weren’t going to resign him after this season anyway. The Twins will not get much of a player if they get one at all from Kansas City but it is a nice move by the Twins to send Carroll to a winning team that needs some infield help for the stretch run for a playoff spot. The Royals are at best a fringe team in the hunt for the wildcard spot but it will still be more enjoyable for Carroll playing there then playing out the string in Minnesota in what may well be his last season as a player in the major leagues. But I would not be surprised at all if we see Carroll in the big leagues again in the years to come as a coach or manager. I was not a fan when Terry Ryan signed Carroll to be the Twins shortstop prior to the 2012 season at the age of 38 but I had no issue with Carroll filling a utility role with the Twins. I never met Carroll but he seemed like a true professional who went about his business every day and never had a bad thing to say about anyone and was always willing to help the Twins youngsters learn the tricks of the trade. Carroll’s 59 game appearances this season is the fewest he has had in the major leagues since his rookie season as a Montreal Expos player in 2002. When 2013 comes to an end, Carroll will have 12 big league years in the books, not a bad ride for someone who has 13 career home runs and never had 500 at bats in a big league uniform during any season. The Twins will save a couple of million dollars a season with Carroll moving on and someone like Doug Bernier taking his place.
As I write this I still have not heard what roster move the Twins will make to replace Carroll on the 25 na roster but it seems like Gardy could use another infielder but then again there outfield situation is not that great either. The Twins don’t have that much to pick from in Rochester as far as infield help is concerned with Eduardo Escobar probably the best candidate but maybe they want to take a look at someone like James Beresford.
By the way, did you know that Carroll scored the final run in Montreal Expos history, scoring on a Terrmel Sledge RBI single in the 1st inning of their final game on October 3, 2004? Good luck in Kansas City Jamey!
When I listened to the Twins radio broadcast of their game against the Astros on Sunday while waterproofing my deck I found it amusing that Dan Gladden and Cory Provus seemed to be making fun of the Astros high strikeout total this season. I guess they both forgot that the Twins batters are no slouches themselves when it comes to not making bat contact. As of this morning Astros batters have struck out 1,034 times in 110 games, that averages out to 9.4 KO’s per game. The White Sox follow with 925 strike outs, the Red Sox have 909 strike outs and the Twins are next with 902 strike outs for an average of 8.4 per game. Had Willingham not gotten injured and Hicks played a full season in Minnesota the Twins might put up a serious challenge to Houston. Even without Willingham and Hicks the Twins are on pace to strikeout 1,356 times this season and blow away their previous team strikeout record of 1,121 that the 68-94 Twins of 1997 set.
On the good news side we have the Twins grounding into a total of only 60 double plays, the fewest in the league. The Orioles have the next fewest with 68.
Although the Twins seldom hit into double plays, stealing bases is not one of their strength’s as they have pilfered just 36 bases, only the Tigers with 29 and the Mariners with 35 have less.
The Twins OBP this season is .312. The Tigers and the Red Sox at .345 have the best OBP and as you might guess the Astros .299 trail the pack. The league average is .320. The Twins best ever OBP was .357 in 1996 while a .299 OBP in 1968 is the lowest full season OBP in Twins history.
Opposing batters have found Twins pitchers to be their league favorites as they have compiled a .278 batting average against Minnesota’s chuckers. Oddly enough, Twins pitchers have only given up 102 long balls ranking second best in that category behind the 86 given up by the Tigers.
Drew Butera
There was a lot of speculation leading into the July 31 trading deadline that a number of Twins would be calling a new zip code home. When the trading deadline passed the Twins had made only one trade and he wasn’t even on the Twins 25 man roster at the time when GM Terry Ryan sent catcher Drew Butera to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a player to be named later or cash. The non-waiver Major League trading deadline has been July 31st since the 1986 season. Apparently that date is not necessarily circled in red on the Twins calendar of things to do. As a matter of fact, between 2000-2013 no team has made fewer trades in July then the Twins have. In the past 14 July’s the Minnesota Twins have consummated 15 trades.
Back on July 15 the Twins sent Oswaldo Arcia, Eduardo Escobar and Chris Parmelee down to Rochester and the next day called up catcher Chris Herrmann and infielder Doug Bernier. Herrmann has been with the Twins off and on but it was a long-awaited return to the big leagues for Bernier who saw action in just two games in a brief stay with the
Doug Bernier
Colorado Rockies back in 2008. Bernier has been in the minors since 2002 and has over a 1,000 minor league games under his belt. Though his primary position is shortstop, Bernier has played all over the diamond including pitching a couple of times but he has not ever squatted behind the plate. Bernier has spent time in the Yankee and Pirates organizations before hooking up with the Twins this past February. Todate Bernier has appeared in 10 games for the Twins and is hitting .261. It appears that the Twins will be letting Jamey Carroll go after this season or possibly trading him in a waiver deal this month and are auditioning for a new utility infielder. So far Bernier appears to be able to handle the role and I am sure he will be much cheaper than Carroll not to mention 6 years younger.
Andrew Albers
The Twins also recalled 27-year-old left-handed starter Andrew Albers from Rochester. Albers was originally drafted by the San Diego Padres in 2008 but shortly thereafter injured his elbow and had to undergo Tommy John surgery missing all of 2009 and then was released by the Padres. Albers spent 2010 pitching in an independent league in Canada and showed enough promise to be signed by Minnesota prior to the 2011 season. This year Albers was 11-5 with a 2.68 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP in Rochester. Albers has pitched 132.1 innings this year in 22 starts allowing 124 hits while striking out 116. Albers is expected to make his major league debut against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see what Albers can do in the big leagues, he has not had an ERA over 3.75 on any team he has pitched for. Albers will be wearing number 63.
Manager Ron Gardenhire needs 20 more Twins victories in the remaining 54 games to reach the 1,000 win plateau as the Twins skipper. With his position at risk, it would be a real shame if Gardy can’t get those 20 wins. I hope he gets those wins and many more as the Twins manager.
Twins Minor League Standings as of August 5
AAA Rochester is 63-54 and in 1st place
AA New Britain is 54-60 and in 5th place 16.5 games out
High A Fort Myers is 67-41 and won first half title but is currently in 4th place in the second half at 22-19 but only 1.5 games out
Low A Cedar Rapids is 67-43 and won the first half title and is leading the second half with a 27-15 record.
Rookie Elizabethton is 19-23 and in fourth place 8.5 games behind
Rookie GCL Twins are 19-19 and in third place 2 games behind
DSL Twins are 27-26 and in fourth place 7.5 games behind
