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
What is dWAR? Defensive WAR (dWAR): this takes only the player’s defensive contributions and positional adjustment into account in a WAR calculation. dWAR was created by Baseball-Reference. I am using this tool to look at Minnesota Twins players from 1961 thru 2023 to see what it determines as the best defensive Twins players by position for their entire Twins career. A player has to have played at least 51% of his games at that position to qualify. According to dWAR, Greg Gagne is the best defensive player the Twins have ever had.
We all know that strikeout rates are up all across baseball for the last few years but today we will look at Minnesota Twins batters and their strikeout rates going back to 1961. We used B-R’s amazing Play Index to find what we were looking for.
The top two all time Twins leader in strikeouts are Harmon Killebrew with 1,314 and Joe Mauer with 1,034. Mauer? What the heck? Longevity can do strange things to numbers and the devil is in the details.
A big day for major league debuts as Minnesota Twins, one was drafted and went on to be a hall of famer and two were acquired in trades.
Greg Gagne (SS) – June 5, 1983 – Traded by the New York Yankees with Paul Boris and Ron Davis to the Minnesota Twins for Roy Smalley on April 10, 1982. Gagne struck out in his first two at bats before doubling in the sixth and then scoring. Gagne ended up 1 for 4 in a Twins 10-4 win over the Red Sox at the Dome.
Brad Havens (P) – June 5, 1981 – Traded by the California Angels to the Minnesota Twins in February 1979. In his big league debut Havens faced off against Jack Morris at Tiger Stadium and pitched 6 innings allowing just 2 hits, a single and a home run by Alan Trammell and left the game down 1 to nothing. Unfortunately, Morris pitched a complete game 3-hit shutout and the Twins and Havens lost 2-0 in a 2 hour game.
Bert Blyleven (P) – June 5, 1970 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 1969 amateur draft and became the 69th player to make his big league debut as a Twins player. As Blyleven has stated on many occasions, he did indeed give up a home run to the first Senators batter he faced in his debut at RFK Stadium and that batter was Lee Maye and that tied the score at one apiece. Blyleven gave up another single in the first but then held Washington to 3 hits the rest of the way and was pulled after seven innings after having allowed the one run on 5 hits and a walk while striking out seven and the future hall of fame right-hander was on his way. The Twins selected OF Paul Powell in round 1 that year and he played 30 big league games, 20 with Minny. In round 2 they selected Ron McDonald a high school 3B but he never got above AA ball. They selected shortstop Rick Burleson in round 7 but couldn’t sign him…The Red Sox did after taking him in the January secondary draft.
The following seven players made their major league debuts in a Minnesota Twins uniform over the years on May 21.
Trevor Plouffe (SS/2B/OF/3B) – May 21, 2010 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (20th) of the 2004 MLB June Amateur Draft. A nice debut at shortstop for Trevor going 2 for 5 with a run scored and two RBI.
Luis Rodriguez (2B/3B/SS) – May 21, 2005 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent on June 1, 1997
Gene Larkin (1B/OF) – May 21, 1987 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 20th round of the 1984 amateur draft. Going 2 for 4 with an RBI in your first big league game is pretty nice.
Frank Eufemia (P) – May 21, 1985 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 18th round of the 1982 amateur draft. Debut not too shabby considering he was pitching in a blow-out loss, 3.1 innings and no runs allowed.
Paul Boris (P) – May 21, 1982 –Traded by the New York Yankees with Ron Davis and Greg Gagne to the Minnesota Twins for Roy Smalley on April 10, 1982. Boris’s major league debut was one he would like to forget.
Jerry Crider (P) – May 21, 1969 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent in 1962
Jorge Polanco went 3-for-4 with a home run, four runs batted in and two runs scored in the Twins’ win over the Tigers yesterday. Polanco is the first Twins shortstop with at least three hits, one homer, four RBI and two runs scored in a game since Greg Gagne did it on the next to last day of the 1986 season. Gagne went 3-for-4 with two homers, four RBI and three runs scored in a win over the White Sox.
From the time the Twins started play in 1961 through yesterday June 14 (2016) the Minnesota Twins have hit 7,462 home runs, 3,746 have been hit on the road and 3,716 have been hit at home. The Twins hit 1,872 home runs at the Metrodome, 1,424 at Met Stadium and 420 at Target Field. The most home runs the Twins have hit on the road have been at the Angels home park where they have hit 257.
Of the Twins 7,462 round-trippers only 50 of them have been inside-the-park home runs. Inside-the-park home runs are relatively rare so I am a bit surprised that when Eduardo Nunez hit the latest one back on June 2 that no one mentioned that it was number 50 in Minnesota Twins history. How rare are they? Only .0067% of Twins home runs are of the inside-the-park variety. So what Twins have hit IPHR’s? We have put together a complete list here for you with the help of Baseball-Reference.
Twins inside-the-park home runs from 1961-June 2, 2016
Happy Thanksgiving! It is once again that time of the year to select our annual Twins Turkey of the Year winner. This year we get to select our seventh annual Twins Turkey of the Year award winner, who will be lucky number seven? As always we have plenty of blue-chip candidates to scrutinize, analyze, and reflect on. First off we need to narrow the list down to a manageable size.
Didn’t make the final five – Trevor Plouffe – Trevor makes the list not because of bad hitting or fielding but he makes this list because he managed to make three outs on the base paths in just one game. In the June 19 game in which the Twins beat the Chicago Cubs 7-2 at Target Field, Plouffe seemingly forgot how to run the bases. Mike Berardino did a nice piece on it that you can read here. Plouffe went 2 for 4 with 4 RBI in a game the Twins won so everyone got some chuckles out of Plouffe’s misadventures but it was still a game that Plouffe will never forget. Box score.
Didn’t make the final five – Phil Hughes – In his first season with Minnesota in 2014 had a 3.52 ERA and a 16-10 record with a record-breaking BB9 of 0.7 for a team that won 70 games. In 2015 Hughes spend a month on the DL due to lower back issues and missed 32 games. Because of his injury he pitched just 155 innings versus 209+ in 2014 and had a 4.40 ERA with an 11-9 record when the Twins won 83 games. The only thing that Hughes was a league leader in was home runs allowed with 29. The Twins were so pleased with Hughes work that after the 2014 season ended that Hughes, 28, was rewarded with a three-year extension worth $42 million that brings his total contract value to $66 million over six years, including 2014 when he made $8 million. Hughes, who was slated to make $8 million in both 2015 and ’16, will now make $9.2 million each of those years before making $13.2 million per season from 2017-19. I sure hope that Hughes doesn’t turn out to be another money pit.
Didn’t make the final five – Glen Perkins – You have to wonder why a closer who has made the AL All-Star team for the last three seasons was nominated for the 2015 Twins Turkey of the Year award and an opportunity to become the first two-time winner of this honor. That won’t happen this year because there were so many more qualified candidates so why is he even here? During the first three months of the season Perkins had 28 saves but from July 9 until the season ended opposing batters hit .348 off Perkins and he had a total of 4 saves, a 6.97 ERA and gave up 7 home runs in 20.2 innings and in the process lost his closer role to Kevin Jepsen. In 2014 Perkins had a similar meltdown from about mid August through the end of the season although he was shut down for the season on September 17. From August 19 until the season ended Perkins had a 9.64 ERA and allowed batters to hit .342 off him (not to mention giving up five home runs) while he registered 3 saves and lost 3 games. Has Perkins who will be 33 when the 2016 season opens lost it? Perkins is kind of a Jeckle and Hyde personality. He has a reputation for being a big community guy in the limelight and in public but one on one with fans when there are no cameras around Perkins can be a snob and pretty mean to fans trying to get his autograph. But what gets me is that Perkins doesn’t bring up the fact that he is injured until he has a number of bad outings in a row and then he blames his injuries for his bad pitching. Perkins is all about Perkins and not exactly a team player or leader in my book.
Didn’t make the final five – troika of Danny Santana, Kennys Vargas and Oswaldo Arcia – The Twins expected all three of these guys to win starting jobs in 2015 and they all failed miserably and yet the Twins improved by 13 wins from the previous season. If just one of these guys had the kind of season that was expected of them the Twins would have been playing playoff baseball in October. I know, I know, “if the bear hadn’t stopped to take a dump in the woods he would still be alive today.” All three of these guys will turn 25 in 2016 so it is too early to give up on them but at the same time their futures with the Twins have dimmed considerably. The Twins have already stated that Eduardo Escobar is the lead dog at shortstop going into 2016. The Twins are exploring selling Kennys Vargas to a team in Korea and Oswaldo Arcia is supposedly trade bait. It would be a shame if all three fail to become major league players with Minnesota. Each of them have shown they can be quality players in their rookie seasons but the sophomore year has proven to be much tougher. I hope the Twins hang on to these guys for at least one more season so they have another opportunity to prove they can help the Twins. And now we move on to the finalists!
Fourth runner-up – Tim Stauffer – The Twins signed Stauffer as a free agent on December 23, 2014 for $2.2 million and it made for a great Christmas gift for Stauffer but for the Twins it turned out to be lump of coal. The Twins said that they would give the 33 year-old Stauffer who had started just four games since 2011 an opportunity to make the starting rotation in the spring but he failed there so the Twins moved him to the bullpen. In April, Stauffer appeared in 8 games pitching 9.2 innings, allowing 16 hits, 6 walks, 10 runs, allowed opposing batters to hit .372 and put up a 8.38 ERA. To be fair I should mention he did strike out 2 of the 50 batters he faced. Stauffer went on the DL on May 1 for a “right intercostal strain” and was reactivated on May 22. Who recovers from an intercostal strain in just three weeks? Anyway, the Twins used Stauffer two times in May and three times in June before the Twins released him on June 17 and sent his butt packing. Stauffer eventually signed as a FA with the Mets. That was a quick $2.2 million down the crapper. I give the Twins credit for trying to upgrade the bullpen with this signing but this will certainly not go on anyone’s resume as one of their better finds.
Third runner-up – Torii Hunter – The Twin paid $10.5 million to free agent Torii Hunter to get his services for the past season. That is a lot of money to pay an outfielder who was starting his nineteenth big league season and would turn 40 at mid-season. Torii was the Twins number one selection and 20th overall in the 1993 draft. Technically, Torii was a compensation pick from the Cincinnati Reds after they signed Twins free agent pitcher John Smiley. The Twins also had a supplemental pick in round 1 number 33 overall for losing Smiley and they selected RHP Marc Barcelo but he never reached the big leagues. The Twins own pick was number 21 and they used that to select catcher Jason Varitek but he decided not to sign with Minnesota. That same year they received another first round supplemental pick in round 1 which was number 38 overall for the loss of Greg Gagne to and they used that pick on outfielder Kelcey Mucker who never reached the big leagues either. After being drafted in 1993 Hunter made his major league debut with the Twins on August 22, 1997 as a pinch runner in his only big league appearance that season. So why is Torii on the list after all this? He is here because he made a fool of himself and the Minnesota Twins during his news conference to announce his return to the Minnesota Twins after a seven year hiatus. Hunter responded to a question from Twins beat reporter Mike Berardino by calling the reporter a “prick.” Not once, twice, thrice but four times. You can see it here on the Deadspin video. Hunter is no rookie in front of a microphone and could have handled the situation much better versus creating a scene at an event to reintroduce him to Twins fans. Very unprofessional in my opinion for a person that was brought back not only to play right field but was brought back to help teach the Twins younger players how to act and play the game the right way in the major leagues. Shame on you Torii!
Second runner-up – Joe Mauer – Mauer’s 12th season in a Twins uniform had its up’s and down’s, he played in a career high 158 games and had a career high 666 plate appearances but on the other side of the coin he had career lows in batting average by hitting .265 and OBP with a .338. In the last four seasons he has struck out 88, 89, 96 and 112 times as to compared to his previous high strike out mark of 64. The former MVP and six-time all-star hung up his catchers gear after the 2013 season primarily due to concussion issues and took over first base duties on a full-time basis. Joe and his wife Maddie also started a family in 2013 when Maddie gave birth to twin girls on July 24. Since 2013 Mauer’s batting skills have gone down hill quicker than Ingemar Stenmark. The question is why, is it just age, is it his personal life where all of a sudden his marriage and children become more important on his list of priorities (as they should) or was it giving up catching and moving to first base. No one knows the answer to that except Mauer himself but I think that Mauer saw himself as a Hall of Fame catcher and once he realized his catching career was over the game just wasn’t the same challenge it once was and subconsciously Mauer has lost interest in doing what it takes to be the best, and family time has moved up on his list of priorities. The problem is that Mauer’s $23 million salary chewed up about 23% of the teams opening day payroll, he is so even-tempered he never seems to show any emotion, he shows no outward signs of being a team leader and he is a local legend born in St. Paul. Right or wrong, the general public associates big money with leadership and Mauer has shown nothing in that regard. Twins fans want to see the team win and when you have a guy that hits 10 home runs, knocks in just 66 RBI hitting in the three hole and makes $23 million, you have a problem. Manager Paul Molitor had Mauer in the number 3 spot in the batting order 133 times this past season. Mauer has appeared in 1,453 games and he has started a game in the number 3 spot a total of 1,143 times and he has hit in the number 2 spot 228 times. Back in 2004 and 2005 he hit in the 6, 7 and 8 hole a total of 22 times. Yet, Molitor continues to say this off-season that there is no real reason not to have Mauer bat third. I can’t believe that Mauer would object to being put in a lower spot in the order to help the team win. If he does, then we have a real problem because the Twins are on the hook to pay Mauer who has a full no trade clause $23 million for the next three seasons. If Joe Mauer is in the three spot in the batting order in 2016 (unless he is on a tear) it will be on Paul Molitor and he will be high on next years Twins Turkey of the Year ballot and he should be updating his resume.
This years Twins Turkey of the Year runner-up is – Ervin Santana – Last December Ervin Santana agreed to a four-year deal with the Twins worth around $54 million. That would be the largest free agent contract in Twins history, narrowly topping last year’s four-year, $49 million deal with RHP Ricky Nolasco. So how did the right-handed throwing Santana repay the Twins? MLB announced on April 3, 2015 just days before the 2015 season started that Santana has been suspended for 80 games without pay leaving the Twins without their number two starter. Santana was suspended after testing positive for Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance. In a statement released through the players’ union, Santana said he did not know how the PED got into his system. Stanozolol is by far one of the most popular anabolic steroids of all time. This is an anabolic steroid that has gained worldwide media attention numerous times. It was the Stanozolol hormone that made headlines during the 1988 Olympics when Ben Johnson was stripped of his medal, and has been linked to the MLB more times than can be counted. It is important to take stanozolol regularly to get the most benefit. If that is the case then how could Santana not know that he ingested it? If you know you are in line to sign a big contract why would you take a chance and take anabolic steroids? Questions only Santana can answer. The good news? It saved the Twins $6.75 million but the bad news is that it probably cost the Twins a playoff spot. The Twins have Santana for the next three years plus another possible option year, Santana better start paying back some of the faith the Twins placed in him.
The Twins 2015 Turkey of the Year winner in a landslide is pitcher Ricky Nolasco. The Minnesota Twins announced on December 3, 2013 that they have signed free agent right-handed pitcher Ricky Nolasco to a four-year contract worth $49 million with a club option that could vest in 2018. Twins fans were ecstatic, this was the biggest free agent deal the Twins had ever done and it was for a starting pitcher. What could go wrong? Nolasco will earn a guaranteed $12 million salary in each year of the contract (2014-2017). Nolasco was 6-12 with a 5.38 ERA in 27 starts in 2014. Nolasco missed 32 games with right elbow soreness that season by spending July 7 through September 15 on the disabled list. This past season Nolasco had a deceiving 5-2 record with a 6.75 ERA. In 37.1 innings Nolasco gave up 50 hits and walked 14 more while striking out 35. It seems Nolasco can’t stay healthy, in his first trip to the DL this year from April 11 through May 2 for right elbow inflammation, he missed 21 games. His next trip to the DL lasted from June 4 to September 25 for a right ankle impingement issue which caused him to miss 103 games. When he returned from his second trip to the DL, Nolasco appeared in 2 games, relieving in one and starting the other. In those two games he pitched a total of 4.2 innings, allowed 8 earned runs, walked four, and allowed 6 hits, two of them were home runs. On the plus side, he struck out 7 batters. WOW! I wonder what he can do for an encore! I sure hope we Twins fans get more than what Nolasco has shown us so far for that $49 million that Jim Pohlad spent to get him to come to Minnesota. So far all Nolasco has given us are excuses.
I have been out to the CenturyLink Sports Complex several times this week primarily to watch some baseball as about 107 men and women participate in the annual Twins Fantasy Camp which runs from January 10-17. This year there are eight teams playing each other on four fields all day long.
Stan Dickman who owns and runs the camp does a fantastic job and he has a staff of former Twins greats that coach the teams, give the players hitting and pitch tips, tell stories and just plain have fun with the fantasy campers. It is not cheap, rookies pay about $4,295 but returning veterans get by with paying $3,795. Having said that it is not cheap, I also need to say that you do get a lot for your money and you won’t get treated any better any place. Stan treats his campers like family and the fact that over 70% of his campers return year after year proves it. I am not going to list all the benefits that campers have but you can check them out on the Twins Fantasy camp website.
I mentioned that the staff is made up of former Twins greats. Here are some of the former Twins greats that I have run into this week, Bert Blyleven is the Fantasy camp commissioner and you see him going from field to field looking for players he can bring up on charges and fine at the daily Kangaroo court. Wouldn’t that be fun to sit in on? When he is not busy writing notes in his ever-present tablet he is interacting with the family members and fans that hang out at the ballpark to watch the games. Others Twins greats that I have run into this week were Tony Oliva, Tom Brunansky, Kent Hrbek, Greg Gagne, Frank Viola, Rick Aguilera, Tim Laudner, Juan Berenguer, Mickey Hatcher, Frank Quilici, Bill Campbell, Steve Braun, Phil Roof, Julio Becquer, Gene Larkin and I am sure there are others that I have not seen. These Twins greats are all willing to spend time talking with fans and family members, have their pictures taken and sign all kinds of autographs. It is like a huge family reunion where everyone knows everyone and the players and the Twins greats are all on a first name basis.
I noticed right off the bat that the fantasy games are a bit different then the normal games that I watch out here in the spring at Hammond Stadium and on the adjoining fields. The action is a tad slower, each of the games has two umpires, the players may not be as athletic as they would like to be, catchers have trouble getting the ball back to the pitchers sometimes, there are 10 players on the field as the teams utilize four outfielders, courtesy runners are utilized when needed, in one game I watched I noticed that both shortstops were left-handed, I saw a left-handed third basemen, and even a left-handed catcher, I wonder where he got the left-handed catchers mitt? The play is entertaining, sometimes you can’t help but laugh at a play that may or may not have been made, but you know what, the players cheer for each other and they are playing as hard as they can because they want to win, just like the Twins do. They all want to get to that championship game on Saturday that will be played in Hammond Stadium.
But you know what I didn’t see? I didn’t see pitchers stepping off the mound and adjusting their cups, I didn’t see batters stepping out to walk around and adjust their batting gloves after each pitch, I didn’t see the catchers walk out to the pitcher’s mound every few pitches, there wasn’t as much spitting as you see at a normal baseball game and only once did I see a batter complain to the home plate umpire about a call and he was a pitcher that said “I hope I get the same call when I am pitching.”
But the action isn’t always on the field, today former Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee stopped by for a visit and he held court with the fans, fantasy campers, and former Twins players alike with his story-telling. The man is 68 plus years old and he looks like he could take the mound for the Twins in 2015 and win 10 games or so. Matter of fact, according to the “Spaceman” himself, he still plays ball all over the world and last year he claims to have pitched over 340 innings including a couple of one-hitters. Wish I would have taken my camera out there today so I cold have taken his picture but I didn’t. I should know better than to go out to the ballpark without my camera.
I was talking with Bert Blyleven the other day behind the home plate screen at one of the fields when Twins TV announcer Dick Bremer stepped up to the plate and of course Blyleven gave him “an easy out coming” call that got Bremer to look around and smile. Bremer ended up popping out to the third baseman this time but Bert told me that Bremer can get ahold of one now and then. He told me a story about how Bremer a few years back pulled a home run over the left field fence that was a grand slam and the ball darned near hit Bert’s car that was parked near by.
I also wandered over to Hammond Stadium to see what progress was being made on all the work being done there. Even the workers there were friendly and stopped and chatted with me about their work and didn’t yell at me to watch out for all the wet concrete that seemed to be everywhere. According to the workers that I talked with, everything is on schedule and that fans are in for a treat when they come out to watch the Minnesota Twins play their spring training schedule in the not too distant future. The landscaping has not really started but according to one of the workers that will get started in February. I took some pictures of the stadium exterior and you can see them here. Workers have been busy installing the new sign out front at the entrance and that is still not complete but it is not too far away from the looks of things.
As 2014 is coming to an end it is a good time to look back on another Twins season, their fourth in a row without post season play. But you have to be a winner to make post season play and the Twins have been anything but a winner the last few years. It has been a toss-up when you try to determine who has been more inept, the Twins players on the field or the ownership and Twins executives that sit behind their desks and make the decisions that determine the experience that Twins fans will have to live with during the up-coming season.
The Twins have had many losing seasons over the years and the real core Twins fans complained but they accepted the team they had and they looked forward to the next season with renewed hope for more wins “next year”. But it is seems different now, I am not sure why, maybe the fans are more passionate, maybe it is social media that allows Twins fans to better express their frustrations but today’s Twins fans are just plain mad and disgusted with the caliber of play their home team has displayed since the 2010 ended. Hopefully the Minnesota Twins organization feels some of the passion that Twins fans have and will start to look at the product from the fans perspective and see what they can do to make the fans experience a little more fun and and not so tough on the wallet.
Since the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season and became the Minnesota Twins the team has played 8,617 regular season games, winning 4,274, losing 4,335 and playing to a tie on eight occasions in 54 seasons of play. Boy, how time flies by, I still remember that 1961 season.
Looking back at Twins history they have two World Series winners and a third World Series appearance in which they lost game seven to Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers. In addition to the 8,617 regular season games the team has played a total of 64 post season games winning 25 and losing 39. Their last post season appearance was in 2010 and that brief playoff run lasted just three games when they were swept by the New York Yankees 3 games to zip. The teams last post season win was back in 2004 (if I am not mistaken that is about 10 years ago, YIKES!) when they beat the Yankees in game 1 of the ALDS series before losing the next three games.
So let’s take a look at the hitting and pitching statistics of the Minnesota Twins in post season play. Let’s see who stood out under the bright lights of post season play and who couldn’t or didn’t deliver when the pressure was on. The names you will see below will bring back many memories, some good, some bad, some sad and in some cases you will say “who in the hell is so and so, I don’t remember him”. But it is fun looking back.
Since the Twins started play in 1961 through the 2014 season a total of 751 players have put on a Minnesota Twins uniform and appeared in a game either as a hitter or a pitcher. Only 162 of them or 21.57% have appeared in a Twins post season game over the 54 seasons the Twins have called Minnesota home.
Outfielder Oswaldo Arcia is quickly climbing up the leader board on a list he would rather not be a part of. Saying that Arcia is in a slump is an understatement as he battles through an 0 for his last 29 at bats streak. The last time Arcia had a knock that counted was back on June 5th when he had a double off Brewer reliever Rob Wooten at Target Field and that was almost three weeks ago. A couple of more “ofer” games and he could become the Twins (and franchise leader going back to 1914) in at bats without a hit for a position player. The current leader on the Twins hitless at bats leader board is former catcher Butch Wynegar who had a pretty bad September himself back in 1978 when he went 0 for 38.
UPDATE – Arcia hit a home run in his first at bat against the Angels Garrett Richards on June 25th and his hitless streak finally came to an end at 29 at bats.
Twins position players with hitless streaks lasting 25 at bats or more
Twins Hall of Fame shortstop Greg Gagne made the list twice, ouch. If you included pitchers on the list you would find the hitting challenged Twins starter Dean Chance sitting at number one on the list with a hitless 0 for 52 streak that lasted 23 games from April 13 to July 23, 1967.
Come on Oswaldo, get a hit because this is not a record I want to see get broken!