Glen Perkins Archives - Page 4 of 6

According to Elias – All-Star edition

Jeter flourishes in his final All-Star appearance

: Derek Jeter

Derek Jeter, as usual, rose to the occasion in his final All-Star game appearance, going 2-for-2 with a double and a run scored in the American League’s 5-3 win. Jeter finishes his career with a .481 (13-for-27) batting average in the All-Star game, which currently stands as the second highest for any of the 100 players with at least 15 All-Star at bats in major-league history, behind Charlie Gehringer, who went 10-for-20 (.500) in six appearances in the Mid Summer Classic.

Jeter became the second player in major-league history with multiple hits in the All-Star game in his final major-league season, joining George McQuinn, who had two hits representing the Yankees in the 1948 game. Jeter, at 40 years and 19 days old, also became the oldest player with at least two hits in an All-Star game. Only one player over the age of 38 had done that prior to Jeter: Carl Yastrzemski, who had two hits in the 1979 contest at age 39 years, 329 days.

Jeter’s first-inning double was his fifth career All-Star hit in the opening frame, tied with Wade Boggs and Stan Musial for the second most first-inning hits in All-Star history, behind Willie Mays (6).

Trout is the All-Star MVP

Mike Trout had two hits and two RBIs and was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2014 All-Star game on Tuesday night. Trout, 22 years and 342 days old, became the second youngest player to win the All-Star game MVP, behind Ken Griffey Jr., who captured the award in the 1992 game at 22 years, 236 days old.

Trout became the fourth Angels player to win the All-Star game MVP, joining Leon Wagner (1962), Fred Lynn (1983) and Garret Anderson (2003).

American League jumps on Wainwright in the first

The American League jumped on Adam Wainwright for three runs in the first inning in the All-Star game on Tuesday night. Derek Jeter led off with a double, Mike Trout followed with a triple and after Robinson Cano struck out, Miguel Cabrera unloaded a two run home run. It’s only the second time in major-league history that three of the first four batters had an extra-base hit for a team in the All-Star game. The only other time that happened in the Mid Summer Classic was in 2004, when Ichiro Suzuki led off the first inning with a double, Ivan Rodriguez followed with a triple, and then after a Vladimir Guerrero ground out, Manny Ramirez hit a two-run homer.

Wainwright allowed only four extra base hits (three doubles and a homer) in the first inning in the 19 starts he made prior to the All-Star break this season.

Cabrera goes deep out of the cleanup spot

Miguel Cabrera – the American League’s cleanup hitter – hit a two-run home run in the first inning to stake the A.L. to a 3-0 lead in their 5-3 win over the N.L. in Tuesday’s All-Star game. Cabrera’s 14 home runs this season are the fewest for the American League’s cleanup hitter in an All-Star Game since 1990, when Cal Ripken batted fourth for the A.L. with nine homers to that point.

Perkins saves it for the A.L. in his home ballpark

Minnesota’s Glen Perkins pitched a perfect ninth inning to record a save in the American League’s 5-3 win in the All-Star game at Target Field. Prior to Perkins, only two pitchers registered a save in the All-Star game in their home ballpark: Detroit’s Mickey Lolich (1971 at Tiger Stadium) and Seattle’s Kazuhiro Sasaki (2001 at Safeco Field).

A rough All-Star debut for Puig

Yasiel Puig had a rough night in his first All-Star appearance, striking out in each of his three trips to the plate. Only three other players in major-league history struck out in each of their plate appearances with at least three trips to the plate in an All-Star game: Jim Hegan (1950), John Roseboro (1961) and Johnny Bench (1970).

Twins minor league player of the week

Mike Kvasnicka trying to make a "circus" catch — Mike Kvasnicka trying to make a “circus” catch this past April (Photo by Derek Davis of Portland Press Herald)

New Britain (AA – Eastern League) outfielder Mike Kvasnicka (kwas-NIK-ah) is the Twins
Minor League Player of the Week. The Lakeville, MN native played in seven games for the Rock Cats, hitting .407 (11-for-27) with two doubles, one home run, five RBI and three runs scored. Mike was acquired by the Twins from the Astros for pitcher Gonzalo Sanudo on March 25, 2013.

Kvasnicka was the Astros supplemental first round pick in the 2010 MLB Draft. Kvasnicka is the highest drafted Golden Gopher player since Glen Perkins was selected with the 22nd overall pick by the Minnesota Twins in 2004 in the first round. He is also the highest selected Minnesota position player since Brent Gates, who was drafted by the Oakland Athletics with 26th overall pick in the first round of the 1991 Major League Baseball Draft. Kvasnicka is the first Golden Gopher to be drafted by the Houston Astros. Various reports had Kvasnicka receiving a $936,000 signing bonus.

Mike was drafted as a third baseman from the University of Minnesota despite having never played the position more than a handful of times. Kvasnicka was primarily a catcher in college but did occasionally mix in some starts as an outfielder. The Twins have been using the 25-year old switch-hitting Kvasnicka strictly as an outfielder in 2014 playing him in all three outfield positions.

In his fifth season of pro ball, Kvasnicka has a career batting average of .256 with 41 home runs in 1,585 at-bats.

1965 All-Star game crossword puzzle

The excitement builds in Minnesota as the preparations continue for the 2014 All-Star game that will be played one week from today. The team hit the road for Seattle after Sunday’s loss to the New York Yankees and final preparations are being made at Target Field to host Minnesota’s third MLB summer classic. The Twins will be represented by closer Glen Perkins and catcher Kurt Suzuki in the game and Twins manager Ron Gardenhire will be one of the coaches.

The Twins have previously hosted MLB All-Star festivities in 1965 at Met Stadium and again in 1985 at the H.H.H. Metrodome. From 1961-2014 the Twins have had 51 different players represent them at the All-Star game. The first big league game I ever attended was the 1965 All-Star game. I was able to purchase a standing room only ticket the day of the game and watched the game from under the left-field bleachers. A memory that will stick with me for ever.

An amazing number of future Hall of Famers played in that 1965 game. So let’s see how well you remember that All-Star game. I have put together a crossword puzzle for that 1965 game and I think it will test your memory skills. Every player named an All-Star that year is mentioned in the puzzle in one fashion or another. If you enjoy Minnesota Twins or All-Star game history and like to do crossword puzzles then this might be just the thing for you.

Once you have brought the puzzle up and are ready to print the puzzle, do a right-click with your mouse and you might want to do a print preview first to get the puzzle the right size to fit on a single page by adjusting the margins. The clues for the puzzle will print on page 2.

1965 All-Star game puzzle

Answers? You want answers? Probably just to double-check your work because if you are checking out this site you are probably a big baseball fan and will not need to do any research to complete the puzzle. If you do need help answering some, checking the box score for the 1965 All-Star game might be the way to go. If you still need help, you can find them on the link below but only do so as a last resort. Thanks, I hope you enjoy it.

1965 All-Star game puzzle answers

Twinstrivia.com All-Star selections

That time is here again, time to pick the Twinstrivia.com All-Star team. For me it is always fun to pick the players that I think deserve to play in MLB All-Star game. Some of them might crash and burn and even find themselves in the minors before the season ends and some of them may be total jerks in how they play the game, interact with their fans or just have an “it is all about me attitude” but I like to reward the players that are having a very good season todate. So here are my All-Stars that I would like to see play at Target Field on July 15, 2014. If you like my picks, cool, if you don’t, I don’t care. I don’t rave about how stupid some of the fans voting is so I too am entitled to my opinion.

Sadly you won’t find any Minnesota Twins on this deserving All-Star starter list but I do think that closer Glen Perkins and catcher Kurt Suzuki deserve to be on the team.

American League

C – Derek Norris (A’s) – Runner-up is Salvador Perez (Royals) – Vote leader is Matt Wieters (Orioles)

1B – Jose Abreu (White Sox) – Runner-up is Miguel Cabrera (Tigers) – Vote leader is Miguel Cabrera

2B – Jose Altuve (Astros) – Runner-up is Robinson Cano (Mariners) – Vote leader is Robinson Cano

SS – Alexei Ramirez (White Sox) – Runner-up is Alcides Escobar (Royals) – Vote leader is Derek Jeter (Yankees)

3B – Josh Donaldson (A’s) – Runner-up is Adrian Beltre (Rangers) – Vote leader is Josh Donaldson

DH – Edwin Encarnacion (Blue Jays) – Runner-up is Nelso Cruz (Orioles) – Vote leader is Nelso Cruz

OF – Mike Trout (Angels), Jose Bautista (Blue Jays), and Michael Brantley (Indians) – Runner-ups are Yoenis Cespedes (A’s), Adam Jones (Orioles), and Melky Cabrera (Blue Jays) – Vote leaders are Mike Trout, Jose Bautista and Yoenis Cespedes

P – Masahiro Tanaka (Yankees) – Runner-up is Felix Hernandez (Mariners)

National league

C – Jonathan Lucroy (Brewers) – Runner-up is Devin Mesoraco (Reds) – Vote leader is Yadier Molina (Cardinals)

1B – Justin Morneau (Rockies) – Runner-up is Paul Goldschmidt (Diamondbacks) – Vote leader is Paul Goldschmidt

2B – Anthony Rendon (Nationals) – Runner-up is Chase Utley (Phillies) – Vote leadr is Chase Utley

SS – Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies) – Runner-up is Sterling Castro (Cubs) – Voye leader is Troy Tulowitzki

3B – Casey McGehee (Marlins) – Runner-up is Todd Frazier (Reds) – Vote leader is Aramis Ramirez (Brewers)

OF – Giancarlo Stanton (Marlins), Andrew McCutchen (Pirates), and Carlos Gomez (Brewers) Runner-ups are Charlie Blackmon (Rockies), Yasiel Puig, and Ryan Braun – Vote leaders are Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Gomez, and Yasiel Puig.

P – Adam Wainwright (Cardinals) – Runner-up is Johnny Cueto (Reds)

MLB just announced that All-Stars will wear the same cap template which is modeled after the Minnesota Twins 1970 batting helmets. you can see the article here.

The June Free Agent Draft is just around the corner

The MLB First-Year Player Draft may not be as popular as the NFL draft but is is still a fun and entertaining event that many baseball fans wait for all year. In the NFL, the players drafted will be putting on that teams colors come Fall but in baseball a draftee might spend years in the minor leagues learning his craft before he ever gets a sniff of a big league clubhouse. There are web sites devoted strictly to the MLB draft and as draft day get closer and closer you can find “mock drafts” showing who your team will draft everywhere, 99.9% of them will be wrong but never the less it is still fun to look at them.

The first draft took place in 1965, it was introduced to prevent richer teams from negotiating wealthier contracts with top-level prospects and therefore, monopolizing the player market. Originally, three drafts were held each year. The first draft took place in June and involved high-school graduates and college seniors who had just finished their seasons. The second draft took place in January for high school and college players who had graduated in December. The third draft took place in August and was for players who participated in American amateur summer leagues. The August draft was eliminated after two years, and the January draft lasted until 1986. Rick Monday became MLB’s first draft pick after being selected by the Kansas City Athletics

MLB will hold day one of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft on June 5th at MLB Network’s Studio 42 in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Draft will be aired live on the MLB Network starting at 7:00 p.m. (ET). As is the case with most events of this type, the MLB talking heads will analyze the up-coming draft in a one hour pre-draft preview show.

The selection order of the First-Year Player Draft is determined by the reverse order
of finish at the close of the previous season. The Houston Astros will have the first overall selection of the 2014 Draft, marking the third consecutive year, and the fifth time in club history, that they hold the top selection (previous: 1976, 1992, 2012, 2013). It marks the first time ever that a club has the top pick in three consecutive years. In addition, the Astros are the third club in history to hold the top selection at least five times, joining the New York Mets and San Diego Padres (five each).

Six clubs, the Toronto Blue Jays (9th and 11th), the Kansas City Royals (17th and 28th), the Cincinnati Reds (19th and 29th), the Cleveland Indians (21st and 31st), the Boston Red Sox (26th and 33rd) and the St. Louis Cardinals (27th and 34th) have two selections in the first round. The Indians, Miami Marlins and Royals each have a league high four selections within the first 68 picks during the opening day of the Draft.

The Draft will once again feature Competitive Balance rounds, which were agreed upon as a part of the 2012-2016 Basic Agreement between MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association. The Competitive Balance rounds give clubs with the lowest revenues and in the smallest markets the opportunity to obtain additional draft picks through a lottery, which was held last July. The 10 clubs with the lowest revenues and the 10 clubs in the smallest markets were entered into a lottery for the six selections immediately following the first round of the First-Year Player Draft (picks 35-41; excluding pick 36, which Miami holds as compensation for an unsigned 2013 selection). The eligible clubs that did not receive one of the six selections after the first round, and all other payee clubs under the Revenue Sharing Plan, were entered into a second lottery for the six picks
immediately following the second round of the Draft (picks 69-74).

The Draft will have 40 rounds, and a club may pass on its selection in any round and not forfeit its right to participate in other rounds. Like each of the previous five years, the 2014 Draft will span three days. For day one on June 5th, MLB Network and MLB.com will provide live pick-by-pick coverage during the first round, Competitive Balance Round A, the second round and Competitive Balance Round B. The intervals between selections will last four and a half minutes during the first round and one minute during Competitive Balance Round A, the second round and Competitive Balance Round B. The Draft will resume at 1:05 p.m. (ET) on both June 6th and June 7th via conference call from MLB headquarters in New York City.

June 6th will cover rounds three through 10, and June 7th will cover rounds 11 through 40. Rounds three through 10 will have one minute between selections, and the remainder of the selections will be made without delays.

According to MLB, of the 853 players who were on 2014 Opening Day 25-man rosters,
disabled lists and restricted lists, a total of 650 players were selected in the MLB Draft. As ccould be expected, the earlier picks do in fact show the highest returns of Major League players, as the 143 players chosen in the top 30 selections amounted to 22.0% of the 650 Opening Day players who went through the Draft en route to the Major Leagues. Picks 31-60 generated 12.0% (78) of the players, and picks 61-90 turned out 10.0% (65), picks 91-120 generated 6.9% (46) and picks 121-159 generated 8.6% (56) players. Kansas City’s outfielder Jarrod Dyson is the latest draft pick in the Major Leagues on Opening Day rosters, he was chosen in round 50 of the 2006 Draft by the Royals.

The Twins have five picks in the top 140 owning the rights to the 5th, 46th, 79th, 110th and 140th selections.

Twins Draft History

The Minnesota Twins first selection ever (Round 1 – 9th over-all in 1965) was shortstop Eddie Leon from Arizona University but he chose not to sign with Minnesota. Leon went on to play for three big league teams but never hit it big playing in 601 games over 8 years hitting for a .236 batting average with 24 home runs.

The Twins have had the first pick over-all twice, in 1983 when they selected RHP Tim Belcher from Mount Vernon Nazarene University and again in 2001 when they selected catcher Joe Mauer from Cretin-Derham Hall High School. Tim Belcher chose not to sign with Minnesota but went on to have a long 14 year big-league career with 7 different teams putting up a 146-140 won/lost record. Joe Mauer has been with the Twins since 2004.

The current 25 man Minnesota roster has six players selected by the Twins in round one, RHP Kyle Gibson in 2009 was 21st over-all, outfielder Aaron Hicks in 2008 was 14th over-all, outfielder/Ib Chris Parmelee in 2006 was 20th over-all, 3B Trevor Plouffe in 2004 was 20th over-all, closer LHP Glen Perkins in 2004 was 22nd over-all, and 1B Joe Mauer who the Twins picked number one over-all in 2001.

A number of Twins first round picks have moved on such as outfielder Ben Revere who was 28th over-all in 2007, RHP Matt Garza who was picked in 2005 and the 25th over-all selection, outfielder Denard Span in 2002 number 20 over-all, outfielder Michael Cuddyer in 1997 was 9th over-all, and finally outfielder Torii Hunter who is still playing good ball with the Tigers was selected 20th over-all back in 1993. Hunter is playing in his 18th big league season at the age of 38. How time flies….

The first player to be drafted in the first round by Minnesota and make the Twins roster was outfielder Steve Brye who the Twins selected number one and 17th over-all in 1967. Brye debuted with Minnesota in September of 1970 and appeared in 697 games for the Twins between 1970 and 1978 hitting .258 with 30 home runs.

Five Years Ago – 2009 draft

The Twins selected Kyle Gibson number 1, catcher Chris Herrmann number 6, and 2B Brian Dozier number 8, all were picked after spending time in college. No other players drafted by Minnesota that year have made it to the big leagues.

Ten Years Ago – 2004 draft

The Twins selected Trevor Plouffe number 1-20, Glen Perkins number 1-22, RHP Kyle Waldrop 1-25, RHP Matt Fox 1s-35, RHP Anthony Swarzak in round 2, infielder Matt Tolbert in round 16, outfielder Rene Tosoni in round 34.

Travis Lee fiasco

Travis Lee was a Steve Boras client and was initially drafted as the second pick over-all in the 1996 Major League draft by the Minnesota Twins, but was declared a free agent by MLB through a loophole after the Twins failed to tender him a contract within fifteen days of the end of the draft. He then signed a four-year, $10 million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Lee did not turn out to be the super-star everyone expected him to be but he did play in the big leagues from 1998 to 2006 appearing in 1,099 games hitting .256 with 115 home runs.

Will this years Minnesota Twins first round pick be stud or a dud? It could be years before we know.

Top Twins rookie starting pitchers

The Twins have a reputation now days of bringing their young players, particularly their young pitchers along very slowly but that has not always been the case. In today’s game pitches are counted and innings are watched from year to year to make sure that pitchers do not have a huge jump in innings pitched from one year to the next. We fans sometimes complain about how long it takes a player to reach the majors but think what its like for the team itself. They draft the guy and then they have to pay him as he develops his skills, they get no return on their investment unless the player reaches the major leagues and becomes a successful player. The temptation must be huge to push the guy along to get a quick return on the money spent, but if you push him too quickly all kinds of bad things can happen.

Let’s take a look at the case of RHP Roger Erickson who the Twins drafted in round 3 of the 1977 June amateur draft. Erickson signed and was sent to “AA” Orlando where he pitched 109 innings in 16 games (14 starts) with 10 complete games. This is all after he pitched in college that spring. I was not able to locate any of Erickson’s college stats. The next year Erickson gets a spring training invite and makes the 1978 Twins starting rotation. The 21-year-old rookie makes his major league debut when he starts the second game of the season for the Twins and beats the Seattle Mariners 5-4 at the Kingdome. Erickson goes on to start a club leading 37 games for the Twins with 14 complete games and an amazing 265.2 innings pitched. Erickson finished the 1878 season with a 14-13 record with a 3.96 ERA , a WHIP of 1.306 and 121 strikeouts. Erickson was not a strikeout pitcher but more in the mold of a Brad Radke type of pitcher. In 1979 Erickson went 3-10 with a 5.63 ERA in 21 starts (zero complete games) and 123 innings, in 1980 his record was 7-13 with a 3.25 ERA in 191.1 innings and in 1981 Erickson went 3-8 with a 3.84 ERA in 91.1 innings. In May of 1982 after a 4-3 start the Twins had seen enough and traded Erickson and catcher Butch Wynegar to the New York Yankees for pitchers Pete Filson and John Pacella and infielder Larry Milbourne and a suitcase full of cash. Roger Erickson pitched in a total of 21 games for the Yankees in 1982 and 1983 and at the age of 27 his big league playing days were behind him. Erickson tried to come back in 1984, again in 1987 and still again in 1989 in the minors with the Tigers and the Cardinals but he never again put on a big league uniform.

This is one of baseball classic cases of pitcher abuse, a situation where Twins manager Gene Mauch and pitching coach Camilo Pascual could not see the forest for the trees and killed a promising career before it really had a chance to get started. Erickson’s career ended prematurely at the age of 27 primarily because he pitched too many innings at too young an age. When he last pitched in the big leagues he was just 27 but he had already been in the majors for 6 seasons and he had already logged almost 800 innings with 265 of those in his first season. In the end the Twins lost a promising pitcher and Roger Erickson was robbed of his career. A loss-loss for both sides. Just a sad story all around.

Almost every day you hear about another big league pitcher having forearm or elbow tightness and the next thing you know they are off to see Dr. Andrews or someone like him to get a second opinion before undergoing “Tommy John” surgery. Are there more problems of this type now even with all the attention given to limiting innings and pitch counts. What are today’s pitchers doing differently that is causing these problems? Is it all about the fact that the pitchers today seem to throw harder than the pitchers of the past did? Are pitchers just not getting enough rest between seasons end and the start of the next season? Or maybe it is just the opposite, maybe the pitchers are not throwing enough? Is specialization of the athletes at much younger ages adding to the pitching arm woes? Or have these problems always been there and we just called it elbow tendonitis or a sore arm in the past and prescribed rest and/or retirement?

Here is a list of Twins pitchers who have thrown at least 100 innings in their rookie seasons. *

Rk	Player	IP	GS	Year	Age	G	CG	SHO	W	L	W-L%	SV	H	BB	SO	ERA	BA
1	Roger Erickson	265.2	37	1978	21	37	14	0	14	13	.519	0	268	79	121	3.96	.263
2	Jim Hughes	249.2	34	1975	23	37	12	2	16	14	.533	0	241	127	130	3.82	.255
3	Paul Thormodsgard	218.0	37	1977	23	37	8	1	11	15	.423	0	236	65	94	4.62	.280
4	Ken Schrom	196.1	28	1983	28	33	6	1	15	8	.652	0	196	80	80	3.71	.266
5	Nick Blackburn (RoY-8th)	193.1	33	2008	26	33	0	0	11	11	.500	0	224	39	96	4.05	.292
6	Gary Serum	184.1	23	1978	21	34	6	1	9	9	.500	1	188	44	80	4.10	.266
7	Brad Radke (RoY-9th)	181.0	28	1995	22	29	2	1	11	14	.440	0	195	47	75	5.32	.275
8	Scott Diamond	173.0	27	2012	25	27	1	1	12	9	.571	0	184	31	90	3.54	.274
9	Eric Milton	172.1	32	1998	22	32	1	0	8	14	.364	0	195	70	107	5.64	.282
10	Joe Mays	171.0	20	1999	23	49	2	1	6	11	.353	0	179	67	115	4.37	.270
11	Vic Albury	164.0	22	1974	27	32	4	1	8	9	.471	0	159	80	85	4.12	.259
12	Bert Blyleven	164.0	25	1970	19	27	5	1	10	9	.526	0	143	47	135	3.18	.232
13	Kevin Tapani (RoY-5th)	159.1	28	1990	26	28	1	1	12	8	.600	0	164	29	101	4.07	.264
14	Les Straker	154.1	26	1987	27	31	1	0	8	10	.444	0	150	59	76	4.37	.257
15	Mark Redman (RoY-6th)	151.1	24	2000	26	32	0	0	12	9	.571	0	168	45	117	4.76	.281
16	Glen Perkins	151.0	26	2008	25	26	0	0	12	4	.750	0	183	39	74	4.41	.301
17	Bill Zepp	151.0	20	1970	23	43	1	1	9	4	.692	2	154	51	64	3.22	.266
18	Frank Viola	126.0	22	1982	22	22	3	1	4	10	.286	0	152	38	84	5.21	.302
19	Pete Redfern	118.0	23	1976	21	23	1	1	8	8	.500	0	105	63	74	3.51	.241

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/12/2014.

* = From 1947 through 1956, each BBWAA voter used discretion as to who qualified as a rookie. In 1957, the term was first defined as someone with fewer than 75 at bats or 45 innings pitched in any previous Major League season. This guideline was later amended to 90 at bats, 45 innings pitched, or 45 days on a Major League roster before September 1 of the previous year. The current standard of 130 at bats, 50 innings pitched or 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club (excluding time in military service or on the disabled list) before September 1 was adopted in 1971.

This, that, and the other thing

When I visited Hammond Stadium on Friday it was position player reporting day but a large contingent of the Twins position players were already on hand and going through some early work on their own. The real work started this morning. I took a number of pictures as I do every time I visit and posted them in my 2014 Spring Training link. I didn’t really see anything unusual and the highlight of my day was spending a few minutes after practice talking with Twins Hall of Fame member Eddie Guardado. Eddie looks the same as I remember him as an active player when he charged out to the mound and slammed the rosin bag to the turf before he took the mound to close out another Twins win. After spending some time talking with Eddie, I don’t know if there is a more humble former Twins player out there. I really enjoyed my short chat with “Every Day Eddie” and I hope I can set up a longer interview with him down the line.

After practice was over I wandered back to the minor league fields and complex to see what was happening back there. Some of the Twins major league players also spend time in the minor league complex working out or doing what ever they have to do back there. It was about 11:30 A.M. and most of the autograph seekers were gone and there was just two guys standing there waiting for autographs. I asked them who they were waiting for and they said they were waiting for closer Glen Perkins. I kind of laughed and wished them luck because Perkins has a reputation as one of the toughest Twins to get an autograph from. They were well aware of that since they had a couple of balls with all the others Twins autographs and they were just missing Perkins. We chatted for a while and I left to walk back over to the big league side. About 15 minutes later I saw both of the autograph seekers walking in my direction so I walked up to them and asked them if they finally got Perkins signature. “Hell no”, they said, the p&%k peeked out the door a couple of times to see if we were still there and then finally left quickly with a towel over his head. These guys were not happy and I don’t know if Perkins had seen them out there getting autographs day after day or what but these two guys were pretty disgusted. I know that players get mad when the same people get autographs day after day and sell them and make a few bucks but what is the big deal? If somebody makes a few dollars off a players signature is that really such a bad thing? Players like Perkins make plenty of money so why should they begrudge if someone sells his autograph for a few dollars. No one gets hurt and the economy keeps chugging along, it’s the American way. Here we have two guys that are upset because they didn’t get an autograph and Perkins further cements his reputation with some Twins fans as a greedy and sometimes surly egomaniac. I sure wish I would have been around to get a picture of Glen Perkins sneaking out with a towel over his head, I could have had some real fun with that.

Everybody is bemoaning the lack of strikeouts by the Twins starting pitchers. The last Twins pitcher to strike out at least 200 batters in a season was in 2010 when Francisco Liriano struck out 201 batters and since then no Twins starter has struck out more than 123 (Scott Baker in 2011) batters. In 2013 Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey tied for the strikeout lead on the club with 101. Those are pathetic numbers indeed. In the Minnesota Twins 53 year history there have been only seven Twins pitchers that have struck out 200 or more batters in a single season and between them they have done it a total of 20 times. Can you name those seven pitchers? I already told you who four of them are.

But here is an interesting “did you know that?” fact. Did you know that the 1967 Minnesota Twins were the first team in major league history to have three pitchers on their staff to record 200 or more strikeouts in a single season. In 1967 Dean Chance had 220, Jim Kaat had 211 and Dave Boswell had 204? Since then it was matched by the National League 1969 Houston Astros Don Wilson with 235, Larry Dierker with 222, and Tom Griffin with 200. The 2013 Detroit Tigers joined this list when Max Scherzer had 240, Justin Verlander had 217, and Anibal Sanchez had 202. I wonder if the Tigers can be the first team to do it in back-to-back seasons? It is tough to do once much less twice.

First 2014 visit to Hammond Stadium

I was excited to get my first look at the changes that are taking place at Hammond Stadium this year and yesterday I went out there to see what was going on. For the most part it is a construction area and kind of messy and muddy in parts of the complex but work is going on everywhere.

The main changes to the ballpark itself are the new concourse that encircles the entire ballpark and the new “grassy knoll” in the left field corner. The grassy knoll appears finished but the concourse is definitely a work in progress. With the work underway, the new concourse is obviously not accessible to the public at this time so it is not possible to get pictures from there and to see what the field of play looks like from the concourse.

The area between field 5, the Twins batting cages, The Twins bullpen and the field with just an infield is a construction area so access there this spring might be questionable. This was a spring training gathering place for fans over the years and a prime autograph location but I am not sure it will be available this year. It is really too early to tell.

I bought tickets to a couple of spring training games and they told me to try to get to the ballpark early because the parking area has been changed due to the construction in the area. The parking areas on the right as you first drive in have not changed but as you get closer to the minor league complex the construction has eliminated many parking spots. The folks selling the tickets said they do not expect that the parking area will be cleaned up by the times games start so that could make things interesting but they do expect the concourse to be completed. From what I see of the concourse, I would be surprised if that is done by the time the Twins play the Boston Red Sox on March 1st.

I saw a few minor league players on field 3 hitting but I did not see any Twins players working out at all. I did see Kyle Gibson walk by and later I ran into Jared Burton and Glen Perkins and asked them if I could take a picture but they said “not today, a bad day for pictures today” and they kept on walking back towards the Twins clubhouse. Kind of unusual for Burton because he is usually willing to stop and talk with fans, maybe they had a bad day or they were just upset about having to walk through some muddy construction on their way to the clubhouse.

Nate Roberts walked by and I asked if I could take a picture and he was kind enough to stop and pose for me. We chatted briefly and he went on his way. Seems like a very nice guy and if you are a Duck Dynasty fan you have to like the beard that Roberts is sporting.

All toll I probably saw a dozen or so players today and about as many fans. Some were looking for autographs and others were there to buy tickets. The funny thing was when I asked if they were Twins fans, more said Red Sox then anything else. It sure was good to be back at spring training again and I am sure there will be more players and more fans when I stop by in the next few days for another visit.

Plans to renovate City of Palms Park (the old Red Sox facility) and bring the Washington Nationals to Fort Myers appear to be on hold, if not dead because Ft. Myers can’t meet the costs the developer has proposed the city pay to renovate the stadium. The Nationals, who train at Space Coast Stadium in Brevard County, have been looking elsewhere to move their spring training operations. Hopefully that changes because it would be nice to see another team in Ft. Myers.

If you want to see some of the pictures I took at the ballpark on Tuesday, you can find the link called 2014 Spring Training on the right hand side of the page.

Keep what you have or do you take what is behind this door?

2013 has just about come to a close and spring training is 41 days away and the MLB free agent list still has numerous serviceable players looking for work. The plums of the free agent market have pretty much been plucked but there are still a few decent players out there. The fact that Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka was dangling in the wind probably has a lot to do with some of the top rated free agent starters still on the market not signing but now that he has been posted thing may start to break free. If you look at the available free agents you can see how some positions have been stripped bare and others still have innumerable free agents still in the unemployed corner. Strangely enough with everyone looking for starting pitching there seems to be plenty of arms still on the market, sure, they are not aces but they can certainly fill a spot in many teams rotations.

I thought it would be interesting to compare some of what I deem to be top free agents still looking for work to what might be the 2014 Twins team when they head to Chicago to open play in 2014. If you compare the free agent and the corresponding Twins player, who would you rather see in a Twins uniform? Don’t forget what it might cost to sign this free agent versus the player the Twins currently have because you don’t have an unlimited checkbook. This is just a fun little exercise to help you get through these cold snowy days in Minnesota as you wait the hear that “play ball” call once again. Are any of these free agents possible Twins in your eyes?

Position	Free Agents	Twins
Catcher	John Buck	Josmil Pinto
1B	Mark Reynolds	Joe Mauer
2B	Chris Getz	Brian Dozier
SS	Stephen Drew	Pedro Florimon
3B	Michael Young	Trevor Plouffe
LF	Chris Coghlan	Josh Willingham
CF	Reed Johnson	Aaron Hicks
RF	Nelson Cruz	Oswaldo Arcia
DH	Kendrys Morales	Chris Parmelee
SP	Matt Garza	Ricky Nolasco
SP	Ervin Santana	Phil Hughes
SP	Masahiro Tanaka	Kevin Correia
SP	Ubaldo Jimenez	Mike Pelfrey
SP	Bronson Arroyo	Sam Deduno
CL	Grant Balfour	Glen Perkins

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I don’t know how much it would take to sign Stephen Drew but I wouldn’t mind seeing him play some short here in Minnesota. I also would like to see Michael Young play some 3B instead of Trevor Plouffe while waiting for Miguel Sano to slide into that 3B position. Both probably looking for more than the Twins want to spend but if I was Mr. Ryan I would open my checkbook and get Drew’s John Henry on a Twins contract, he would be a huge upgrade and there is no prospect beating down the shortstop door in Minnesota. Tanaka would be a slick addition but I can’t see him wanting to play here plus the financial risk of paying that much for an unproven MLB player is more than I would like to do. There are a few relief pitchers that I did not include on this list that would be nice in the Twins bullpen too.

I used the ESPN MLB Free Agent tracker to determine who was still available, are there players on the list you would like to see in the home dugout at Target Field that I did not mention here?

Looking at the Twins SO/9 ratio

Minnesota Twins pitchers have finished dead last in the American League in strikeouts the last three years and you all know where the team has finished in the standing during that time frame. When the Twins came into existence in 1961 the SO/9 average in the American League was 5.2 SO/9 and it slowly climbed to 6.1 SO/9 in 1967 but then started sliding down to under 5.0 SO/9 from 1974 to 1983. Since then it started climbing and for the first time in 2012 it went above 7.0 went it hit 7.4 SO/9 and in 2013 it hit 7.7 SO/9 which is a new high water mark.

From 2006 through 2013 only one team in the AL has finished above the .500 mark in the standings when their pitching staff has had under 1,000 strikeouts and guess who that was? It was the 2008 Minnesota Twins team that finished second to the Chicago White Sox in 2008 when Gardy’s boys went 88-75 and lost game 163 in Chicago. When Twins pitchers have 1,000 or more strikeouts the team won less than 79 games only once and that was the 2000 Twins when they finished the season with a 69-93 mark. Twins pitchers have struck 1,000 or more batters only 10 times in 53 seasons and peaked with 1,164 KO’s in 2006 when the team had a franchise high 7.28 SO/9.

The Twins can spew all the “pitch to contact” babble they want but striking out hitters and winning games goes together like peanut butter and jelly. We can only wait and see what the new Twins pitchers can do. Ricky Nolasco has a career 7.4 SO/9 and Phil Hughes is 7.6 SO/9 so they should help improve the Twins sad 2013 6.11 SO/9 team mark.

So looking back all the way to 1961 what Twins pitchers have had the best SO/9 ratio in a given season? The table below shows the highest SO/9 ratio with a minimum of 50 innings. Not many starters on this list.

Rk	Player	SO/9	IP	Year	G	GS	W	L	SV	SO	ERA
1	Joe Nathan	12.51	68.1	2006	64	0	7	0	36	95	1.58
2	Joe Nathan	12.09	70.0	2005	69	0	7	4	43	94	2.70
3	Joe Nathan	11.67	68.2	2009	70	0	2	2	47	89	2.10
4	Juan Rincon	11.63	82.0	2004	77	0	11	6	2	106	2.63
5	Johan Santana	11.38	108.1	2002	27	14	8	6	1	137	2.99
6	Joe Nathan	11.07	72.1	2004	73	0	1	2	44	89	1.62
7	Glen Perkins	11.06	62.2	2013	61	0	2	0	36	77	2.30
8	Francisco Liriano	10.71	121.0	2006	28	16	12	3	1	144	2.16
9	Tom Hall	10.66	155.1	1970	52	11	11	6	4	184	2.55
10	Casey Fien	10.60	62.0	2013	73	0	5	2	0	73	3.92
11	Johan Santana	10.46	228.0	2004	34	34	20	6	0	265	2.61
12	Ron Davis	10.02	64.2	1985	57	0	2	6	25	72	3.48
13	Glen Perkins	9.98	70.1	2012	70	0	3	1	16	78	2.56
14	Joe Nathan	9.84	67.2	2008	68	0	1	2	39	74	1.33
15	Juan Rincon	9.82	77.0	2005	75	0	6	6	0	84	2.45
16	Francisco Liriano	9.81	100.0	2012	22	17	3	10	0	109	5.31
17	Joe Nathan	9.67	71.2	2007	68	0	4	2	37	77	1.88
18	Johan Santana	9.66	219.0	2007	33	33	15	13	0	235	3.33
19	Johan Santana	9.61	158.1	2003	45	18	12	3	0	169	3.07
20	Tom Hall	9.51	129.2	1971	48	11	4	7	9	137	3.33

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/26/2013.

Looking over the Twins history here the best Twins career SO/9 ratio’s with a minimum of 100 innings pitched. How many of these pitchers were originally signed by the Twins? That would be eight.

Rk	Player	SO/9	IP	G	GS	W	L	W-L%	SV	SO	ERA	BA
1	Joe Nathan	10.90	463.1	460	0	24	13	.649	260	561	2.16	.186
2	Pat Neshek	10.48	129.2	132	0	11	6	.647	0	151	3.05	.189
3	Johan Santana	9.50	1308.2	251	175	93	44	.679	1	1381	3.22	.221
4	Francisco Liriano	9.05	783.1	156	130	50	52	.490	1	788	4.33	.247
5	Tom Hall	8.52	455.1	139	44	25	21	.543	13	431	3.00	.212
6	Juan Rincon	8.41	441.0	386	3	30	26	.536	3	412	3.69	.248
7	Ron Davis	8.24	381.1	286	0	19	40	.322	108	349	4.51	.264
8	Jared Burton	8.16	128.0	135	0	5	11	.313	7	116	3.02	.216
9	Juan Berenguer	8.15	418.1	211	7	33	13	.717	9	379	3.70	.231
10	Ray Moore	7.95	159.2	126	1	13	10	.565	25	141	4.90	.252
11	Gerry Arrigo	7.93	131.2	54	15	8	7	.533	1	116	4.31	.245
12	Eddie Guardado	7.79	704.2	648	25	37	48	.435	116	610	4.53	.253
13	Dennys Reyes	7.77	126.1	191	0	10	1	.909	0	109	2.14	.238
14	Rick Aguilera	7.60	694.0	490	30	40	47	.460	254	586	3.50	.243
15	Dan Naulty	7.60	111.1	97	0	4	5	.444	5	94	4.61	.234
16	Al Worthington	7.59	473.1	327	0	37	31	.544	88	399	2.62	.221
17	Dick Stigman	7.52	643.2	138	85	37	37	.500	7	538	3.69	.229
18	Dave Boswell	7.51	1036.1	187	150	67	54	.554	0	865	3.49	.217
19	J.C. Romero	7.42	407.2	327	22	25	20	.556	2	336	4.35	.256
20	Mike Trombley	7.36	645.2	365	36	30	34	.469	34	528	4.53	.266

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/26/2013.

Tag: Glen Perkins

According to Elias – All-Star edition

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Twins minor league player of the week

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1965 All-Star game crossword puzzle

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Twinstrivia.com All-Star selections

American League

National league

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