Tag: New York Yankees

Tsuyoshi Nishioka is history

A Minnesota Twins Press Release today states that Tsuyoshi Nishioka has been given his unconditional release as of today at his request. Nishioka’s release saves the Minnesota Twins $3.25 million in salary and buyout in 2013.

Nishioka who has been in the Twins organization for the last two seasons released the following statement. “I would like to thank the Twins organization for helping me fulfill my dream of playing in Major League Baseball. I take full responsibility for my performance which was below my own expectations. At this time, I have made the decision that it is time to part ways. I have no regrets and know that only through struggle can a person grow stronger. I appreciate all the support the team and the fans in Minnesota and Rochester have shown me. Arigatou gozaimasu.”

Nishioka was not able to achieve the expectations that the Minnesota Twins organization had for him when they purchased and signed him back on December 16, 2010 from the Japanese League Chiba Lotte Marines. Nishioka suffered a broken league on April 7, 2011 while playing second base in a game at Yankee Stadium II in just his sixth big league game. Nishioka played in just 71 games (68 in 2011 and 3 in 2012) for Minnesota and hit .215 in 254 plate appearances while scoring 14 runs, knocking in 20 and stealing 2 bases in 6 attempts. Nishioka spent most of 2012 in AAA Rochester where he hit .258 in 431 plate appearances.

Nishioka had his problems with the stick but he also looked bad in the field playing both 2B and shortstop. In observing Nishioka in spring training in 2011 and 2012 he seemed to spend most of his time working out on his own and did not seem to really take any interest in being a part of the team. The way I see it, the Twins lucked out when Nishioka asked for his release and I’m sure they wasted no time granting his release before Nishioka had time to change his mind. Now the Twins can put that money to a better use and also have a roster spot open for a player that has at least some chance to help the Twins organization down the line. The Tsuyoshi Nishioka signing will go down in Twins lore as one of the worst player decisions that the Twins organization has ever made. Bill Smith who was the GM at the time paid his dues for his part in his fiasco and the scout(s) that recommended this signing should also pay with their jobs. Loyalty is a good thing and people make mistakes but the Twins have gone out of their way to hide the names of the scouts involved in the Nishioka signing and it is about time that those involved take some responsiblity for their actions before the book is closed on this chapter for the final time.

According to Elias

New York Yankee pitcher CC Sabathia struck out Joe Mauer three times in yesterdays 8-2 loss at Target Field on a total of nine pitches. There have been only three other games this season in which a pitcher stuck out a batter three times, on nine total pitches: Hisashi Iwakuma against Brett Lawrie on July 30; James Shields versus Wilson Betemit on July 26; and Yu Darvish facing Bobby Wilson on June 2. Prior to Wednesday’s game, Mauer had struck out three times against the same pitcher in one game only twice, and Sabathia was one of them, on July 29, 2007. The other was Ryan Dempster earlier this season (June 10).

 

Twins minor league player of the week

outfielder Matt Carson

Rochester outfielder Matt Carson is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for July 29-August 3. Carson played six games for Triple-A Rochester, batting .367 (11-for-30) with two doubles, seven RBI’s and scored five runs. Carson, 31, who was signed by the Twins as a free agent prior to the season was originally selected by the New York Yankees in the fifth round of the 2002 First-Year Player draft out of BYU. Carson has also spent time in the Oakland and Tampa organizations after leaving the Yankee organization as a fee agent after the 2008 season.

Carson spent some time on the Oakland A’s big league roster in 2009-2010 playing in 46 games while hitting .200 in 100 big league at bats with 5 home runs, 14 RBI’s and stealing 4 bases. At the age of 31 the right-handed hittiong Carson is not really a prospect and is more or less filling out the roster in Rochester.

 

This Day in Twins History – July 11, 1965

With the Twins AL lead at only 4 games and the All-Star game break coming up the next day, the Twins took on the New York Yankees at the Met and after 8 innings the score was tied at 4 apiece. The Yanks scored one in the top of the ninth and the Twins had their backs to the wall. In the bottom of the ninth, Zoilo Versalles grounded out to the pitcher but Rich Rollins coaxed a walk from Pete Mikkelsen and the Twins had the tieing run on base with Tony Oliva due up. Oliva flew out to center and the Twins were down to their last out but the last Twins hitter was Harmon Killebrew and he took Mikkelsen to a full count before hitting a walk-off 2 run homer and the Twins fans celebrated. The Twins players never looked back and ended up winning the league pennant by 7 games over the White Sox. Killebrew’s described his home run as “It’s one of the sweetest of the sweet” and it stands in Twins lore as one of their most famous home runs. The box score can be found here.

By the way, how the Yankees scored the run in the top of the ninth to take the lead in this game is a story in itself. If you want to read more about that and this game, you can read Chapter 8 of Jim Thielman’s book Cool of the Evening here. It is a wonderful book about the 1965 Twins championship season, if you have never read this book, I would recommend it highly.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the things that happened to the Twins on this day by visiting our Today in Twins History page.

This Day in Twins History – July 2

1969 – In a very unusual 3 game series against the Chicago White Sox, the Twins play the first and last game against the White Sox in White Sox Park but play the middle game in County Stadium in Milwaukee. This is the second year in a row that the Twins have played a game against the mighty whitey’s in Milwaukee and the Twins win the game again, this time by a 4-2 score. The game started at 10:02 PM due to a 1 hour 39 minute rain delay and the game was called in the middle of the ninth inning due to rain. In 1969, Bud Selig again arranged with White Sox ownership for them to play some home games in Milwaukee County Stadium. The league had expanded from 10 teams to 12 that season and the White Sox schedule in Milwaukee was likewise expanded to include 11 home games (again, one against every opponent) as part of an attempt to attract an expansion franchise to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

LHP Jim Kaat pitched for the Senators/Twins from 1959-1973

1972 – The Twins split a twin-bill at White Sox Park winning the first game 6-4 and losing the second game 2-1. The big story here was in game one. Jim Kaat (9-2) and the AL leader in ERA was facing knuckleballer Wilbur Wood (12-7). The Twins were leading 5-2 after 5 innings. In the top of the 6th inning Kaat reached based on a fielder’s choice and was forced at 2B on Tovar’s ground ball to the shortstop. Sliding into 2B Kaat jammed his left wrist but stayed in the game and pitched into the 8th inning before his swollen hand prevented him from going any further. After the game it was determined that Jim had broken a bone in his pitching wrist and he was out for the rest of the season. Wow, pitchers were tough in those days. When I asked Jim about it, his response was “Adrenalin is an amazing hormone”!

1982 – The Twins trade 2B Larry Milbourne to the Indians and in turn the Indians send outfielder Larry Littleton to the Twins.

2007 – With skipper Joe Torre watching from his Yankee Stadium dugout, Roger Clemens, throws eight innings of two-hit ball in a 5-1 win over the Twins and becomes the eighth pitcher to record 350 career victories. The New York manager was the catcher for Warren Spahn’s 350th win making him a participant of the only two occasions that a pitcher has reached the milestone since 1928.

Don’t forget to check the Today in Twins History page every day.

Twins 20 game winner Dave Boswell passes away

Dave Boswell

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Baltimore Sun obit for Dave Boswell

Shooter Now: Minnesota Twins ‘character’ Dave Boswell dies