Tag: Max Kepler

Using dWAR to determine Twins best gloves over the years

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.

Minnesota Twins Greg Gagne (7) in action, 6/16/1991 CREDIT: Chuck Solomon (Photo by Chuck Solomon /Getty Images

Catcher – Butch Wynegar 9.0 Glenn Borgmann 4.1

First Base – Ron Jackson -0.4 C.J. Cron -0.4

Second Base – Chuck Knoblauch 8.6 Steve Lombardozzi 3.7

Third Base – Gary Gaetti 11.3 Nick Punto 8.6

Shortstop – Greg Gagne 12.4 Zoilo Versalles 8.6

Left Field – Lew Ford 2.0 Gary Ward 1.2

Center Field – Byron Buxton 7.6 Torii Hunter 6.2

Right Field – Max Kepler 3.0 Tom Brunansky 1.2

Pitcher – Camilo Pascual -0.1 Mudcat Grant -0.1

So what do you all think? Is dWAR a fair way to help determine the best defensive players? Here is a B-R Stathead link to the best defensive players in all of MLB from 1961 thru 2023, does this list make you a believer?

Twins fun facts from Twins 3/17 ST notes

SPRING FLING: Today the Twins will play the 21st of 32 scheduled Grapefruit League games. Twins also played one World Baseball Classic exhibition against Team Dominican Republic March 9. After today, eleven spring training games remain to be played.

YESTERDAY’S RECAP: The Twins were shut out, 2-0, by the Tampa Bay Rays yesterday afternoon at Hammond Stadium. Joe Ryan was the starter and was saddled with the loss, allowing two runs on five hits (1 HR), with one walk and five strikeouts. Relievers Jeff Hoffman (1.0 IP, 2 K), Caleb Thielbar (1.0 IP, 1 BB, 1 K), Jhoan Duran (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K), Griffin Jax (1.0 IP, 1 K) and Jorge Alcala (1.0 IP, 1 BB, 2 K) combined for 5.0 scoreless innings in relief of Ryan. Kyle Garlick (1-for-3) and Nick Gordon (1-for-3) tallied the Twins’ two hits of the afternoon.

(BAD) LUCK OF THE IRISH: Since 2006, the Twins have gone 4-11-1 on St. Patrick’s Day. Make that 5-11-1 after they lost again today to the Orioles by a 5-3 score.

TO THE MAX: Max Kepler is in his 10th spring training, all with the Twins. He enters today hitting .409 (9-for-22) with three doubles, two home runs, three RBI, four walks, a .500 on-base percentage and a 1.318 OPS in nine games so far this spring. He leads Twins players in games since 2017 (721), and was the club’s 2022 Opening Day right fielder for sixth consecutive season. Hit third career grand slam May 23 vs. Detroit, off Elvin Rodriguez, it was also the 1,000th home run by a Twins player in Target Field history. Led team in defensive runs saved with nine, ranking ninth in baseball (per FanGraphs).

54 active players in camp (19 non-roster):
26 pitchers (7 non-roster)
6 catchers (4 non-roster)
10 infielders (4 non-roster)
12 outfielders (4 non-roster)
2 60-day Injured List

Arraez traded

So after we get home from a local Urgent Care I see on Twitter that the Miami Marlins have traded right-hander Pablo Lopez, top infield prospect Jose Salas and outfield prospect Byron Chourio to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for reigning AL batting champion and Silver Slugger winner Luis Arraez, per announcements from both clubs.

It has been evident of late that the Twins and Marlins were talking about a trade of Pablo Lopez so this is not a shocker by any means but to be honest I was hoping that the Twins center-piece of the trade would be Max Kepler versus Luis Arraez. I know that Kepler alone for Lopez would not probably be enough but I think the Twins could have sweetened the pot a bit.

Luis Arraez

I really like Luis Arraez and I will miss watching him play. He enjoys the game and for me no Twins player is as much fun to watch in the batters box as he was. I really think that the Twins will miss him more than they know, they need his kind of bat in the lead-off spot even though he is not the prototypical lead-off hitter. I think the ban of the shift will also benefit Arraez more than the average hitter. Arraez has his flaws of course like every player, he does not walk as much as you would like but then again how many regulars in the big leagues get more walks than strikeouts? My biggest concern with Arraez has always been is how long his knees will hold up? Defense is also not his strength but he played some pretty nice first base for Minnesota considering it was a new position for him. Maybe the Twins didn’t trade Arraez at peak value but it is always smarter to trade someone a year or two too early versus a year or two too late.

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2022 Twins Turkey of the Year

Once again it is that time of the year, time to name the 2022 Twins Turkey of the Year, but first, I would like to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving. We all have a lot to be thankful for even if the Minnesota Twins play in 2022 is not one of them. As you might imagine, there were plenty of candidates for this years honor after the team crashed and burned playing .357 baseball in September and finished the second half with a 28-40 record. Hopes were sky high when the Twins spent over $35 million to sign shortstop Carlos Correa but as the season wore on, the Twins wore down even if manager Rocco Baldelli rested his players for the big Fall push.

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Twins say a new era is dawning

The Minnesota Twins had a big “to-do” at the Mall of America on Friday, November 18 when the organization announced that a “new era of Twins basball” was dawning with their first brand refresh in 35 years. According to Pat Reusse about 1,500 of the Twins loyalists were in attendance to witness the club roll out a new set of uniforms and modify their TC insignia. It is kind of ironic that the Twins chose the MOA which is where Metropolitan Stadium once stood as the place to roll out these changes.

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2021 Twins Turkey of the Year

Happy Thanksgiving everyone

Time seems to have gotten away from me and it was only in the last few days that I realized it was that time again, time to pick another Twins Turkey of the Year. This years winner will be number 13. So far we have only had one repeat winner and that was President and CEO Dave St. Peter who took the honors in 2013 and again in 2019.

With the 2021 Minnesota Twins expected to do well and go deep in the playoffs by their fans and the so called baseball experts and then to see the team finish 73-89 and in last place in the American League Central Division you would have to think that there were more turkeys then you could shake a stick at. You would be right.

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So where do the Twins go from here?

Minnesota Twins fans and the team itself had such high expectations going into 2021 and yet as we approach the midway point in the season we find the team floundering badly at 31-42. The season opened on April 1 and the team reached their high-water mark for the season on April 8 when they were three games over .500 with a 5-2 record. Since then it has been one step forward and two steps back.

Derek Falvey

So how do you explain this? How does a team that everyone expected to be a serious contender and pretty much a playoff lock in 2021 play such terrible baseball that it is basically unwatchable? Where do you start? Like in most businesses you have to start at the top.

Continue reading So where do the Twins go from here?

Best Twins players by position from 2010-2019

Joe Mauer

When the Minnesota Twins take on the Oakland A’s on March 26 in the 2020 season opener it will be the beginning of a new decade, their third this century. From 2000-2009 the Twins posted a record 863-758 for a winning percentage of .532 as they played out their final years in-doors at the HHH Metrodome.

In the current decade from 2010-2019 the Twins have played outdoors in their new digs at Target Field but their play has not matched their new outdoor surroundings as they have played at a winning percentage of .472 as they won 765 games and lost 855.

In spite of the Twins mediocre play in a decade in which they managed just four winning seasons they still averaged 2,438,495 fans per year but most of that can probably be attributed to the new ballpark they opened in 2010. So who were the best Twins players that fans got to see over the last ten seasons? Let’s take a look at who I have as the best player at each position with a strong assist from the WAR numbers from https://www.baseball-reference.com/ .

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Twins Top 10 list for lowest batting average with 500+ AB’s

It is always fun to look back and see if former Minnesota Twins players were as good as you remember them.

Zoilo Versalles

Today we look back and see what Twins players had the lowest batting average in a season in which they had 500 or more at bats.  Not a great list for Zoilo to appear on just two years removed from winning the American leagues MVP award. I was surprised to see a current Twins player on this list. Some pretty good players on this list but you have to be a good player to get 500 at bats in a big league season.

Results
Rk Player BA AB Year Age G R H HR RBI
1 Zoilo Versalles .200 581 1967 27 160 63 116 6 50
2 Max Kepler .224 532 2018 25 156 80 119 20 58
3 Tom Brunansky .227 542 1983 22 151 70 123 28 82
4 Gary Gaetti .229 577 1990 31 154 61 132 16 85
5 Gary Gaetti .230 508 1982 23 145 59 117 25 84
6 Roy Smalley .231 584 1977 24 150 93 135 6 56
7 Brian Dozier .236 628 2015 28 157 101 148 28 77
8 Torii Hunter .240 521 2015 39 139 67 125 22 81
9 Zoilo Versalles .241 568 1962 22 160 69 137 17 67
10 Brian Dozier .242 598 2014 27 156 112 145 23 71
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/19/2019.

Eddie Rosario joins Twins select 100 RBI club

Harmon Killebrew

From 1961 when the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Twins through the 2018 season, there have been 33 instances of Twins  hitters having 100 or more RBI in a single season. There have only been 17 players during that time period that were members of this select club and the leader of the pack is Harmon Killebrew who accomplished this feat eight times between 1961-1971 and on three occasions he lead the American League in RBI. Killebrew also holds the Twins team record with 140 RBI in 1969.

Eddie Rosario

This year Eddie Rosario joined that select club and it is the first time since 2012 when Josh Willingham had 110 RBI that a Twins player has crossed the 100 RBI threshold. Nelson Cruz is currently sitting with 97 RBI and Max Kepler is at 90 and they could both end up with 100 or more RBI but the injured Kepler is more of a long shot. The Twins have never had more than two players with 100 RBI in a single season. Eight different AL teams have had as many as four players with 100 or more RBI in a single season since 1961. This is a record breaking season for the Twins, maybe they can add another as they wind down the 2018 season.

Brian Dozier just missed joining the club in 2016 with  99 RBI and Kirby Puckett had 99 in 1987 and again in 1995.

Minnesota Twins with 100 or more RBI in a season