Tag: Target Field

GM Ryan busy, Twins sign Ryan Doumit

Ryan Doumit being checked out by Pirates trainer

Holy Cow, GM Terry Ryan has been busy, on the job less than two weeks and he has signed Jamey Carroll and now today the Twins announced they have signed C/1B/OF Ryan Doumit to a $3 million one year deal pending a physical.  The deal apparently has some incentives and that is a good thing because the switch-hitting Ryan Doumit comes to Minnesota with some baggage. Injury type of baggage, in the form of a concussion history and that is not a good thing for a catcher.

Doumit was drafted in the 2nd round of the 1999 June free agent draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates as a catcher and has been in the Pirates organization ever since. Doumit made his major league debut in June of 2005. Although not rated as a strong catcher defensively, in his 7 big league seasons Doumit has played in 521 games but he has caught in 426 games, played the OF in 60 and played 1B in 35 games. Injuries have limited Doumit’s time in the line-up and he has never had more than 465 plate appearances in any of his 7 big league seasons.

OK, Ryan Doumit has an injury history but he is still a very nice pick-up and worth the gamble as I see it. Doumit has suffered injuries such as a broken thumb, broken wrist, and a fractured ankle not to mention the concussion issues I brought up earlier. He can play three positions and is a switch-hitter and will be 31 when the season starts in April. He has a little pop in his bat as his 67 home runs in 611 games attest and he has a .271 career average although he did hit only .250 in 2009, and .251 in 2010 but he hit .303 in 77 games last year.

I like the signing but if you think this will send Drew Butera packing you need to think again. Doumit is weak defensively and his strength is offense so there is no way that Gardy keeps him on the bench strictly as a back-up catcher day in and day out. Doumit will be in the line-up some where most of the time so Gardy still needs to have a back-up catcher available and that man will probably be Butera or another catcher with some defensive skills. If Doumit is the DH, Gardy will not want to risk losing his DH if he would suddenly need Doumit to catch. Even if Butera fails to make the team, I see no way the Twins do not carry three catchers next year. In spite of needing to carry three catchers, I like this signing and I give GM Ryan a big thumbs up. Keep working those phones Mr. Ryan, a starting pitcher would be nice and the outfield is still a big question mark.

Jason Bulger

The Twins also announced they have signed yet another relief pitcher to a minor league deal, this time it is former Angel Jason Bulger. Jason is a right hander and stands 6’4″ and goes about 210 and will be 33 in a couple of weeks. Bulger has been in the big leagues off and on with the D-Backs and the Angels since 2005 but has only appeared in 125 games with a 7-2 record. Bulger is another of those relief pitchers with control issues as his career mark of 5.1 BB/9 will tell you.

Finally, the Twins also announced that they plan to add another bronze statue of a former player outside Target Field next year but as yet the player has yet to be publicly identified. He would join statues of Harmon Killebrew, Kirby Puckett, Rod Carew, Tony Oliva and the late Twins owner Carl Pohlad and his wife Eloise. Who is it going to be? My guess would be Bert Blyleven and my dark horse choice would be Kent Hrbek. We will find out soon enough.

UPDATE November 23 – The Twins announced that they have officially signed free-agent catcher Ryan Doumit to a one-year deal worth $3 million.

Questions everywhere

February 23, 2011 – I checked on the Twins on Monday and I stayed for about 1.5 hours but I walked away kind of bored. The position players still had not reported and the pitchers and catchers were going through their early spring routines. A few minor leaguers were taking some infield practice with TK, nothing extraordinary going on anywhere. Nishioka was as normal to this point, out on a field by himself, doing a little (and I mean little) running if you don’t count his side-kicks who apparently are his translator, nutritionist, and work-out guru. Everyone was looking for Justin Morneau and he was nowhere to be seen but he did eventually hold a news conference later in the day.

The Twins have so many questions as spring training begins, more questions than Alex Trebek has on Jeopardy. What questions? Let me list a few of them for you that come to mind right off the bat, not necessarily in order of importance. 2011 will be an interesting season at the ballpark, you can bet your bippy on it.

  •  Will Justin Morneau be able to come back from his concussion?
  • Can Joe Nathan become the same closer he was before he had TJ surgery?
  • Joe Mauer hasn’t even caught a bullpen session and he already has knee issues.
  • How will Francisco Liriano react to the trade rumors? He is not exactly a Rock of Gibraltar to begin with.
  • Can Alexi Casilla hold down a full-time middle infield spot?
  • Can Tsuyoshi Nishioka play in the majors this season and hold down a middle infield job?
  • Can Danny Valencia improve on his 2010 season without his head getting too big?
  • Can Denard Span bounce back from a poor 2010 season?
  • Can Rick Anderson make silk out of a sows ear in the bullpen?
  • Can Delmon Young repeat his breakout season?
  • Can Jim Thome last another season before his back gives out for the final time?
  • Can Jason Kubel bounce back and play the way he is capable of playing?
  • Will any Twins pitcher show some backbone and make some of those opposing batters dance in the batter’s box once in a blue moon?
  • When are the Twins batters going to quit crying that it is too hard to hit home runs at Target Field?
  • Last year the back drop at Target Field was repainted, after the season the trees have been or will soon be removed. What will Twins batters ask for next? A roof to keep the sun out of their eyes?
  • Who didn’t measure up last year in Gardy’s eyes? Scott Ullger as his third base coach or Steve Liddle as his bench coach? They swapped jobs going into 2011.
  • Can Glenn Perkins and Pat Neshek stay out of Gardy’s doghouse this year? I think they each have one strike left before they are sent packing.
  • Will Gardy actually let his players steal some bases this year?
  • Can the Twins ever get over the “Yankee” hump?

Have you seen Rusty?

February 14, 2011 – This is the water tower on top of the Wyman building in downtown Minneapolis. Carmichael Lynch, the ad agency occupies the top 4 floors of the building. Brock Davis, who works for Carmichael Lynch was asked to come up with some concepts for the water tower. After reviewing a number of options, projection was selected as it was the most economical medium and ideal for keeping the historic tower in its natural state. This tower, which they named Rusty, faces Target Field, the home of the Minnesota Twins. Several other projection ideas are in the works, but this simple face has been the clear favorite so far as it brings to life the physical structure itself allowing it to complete the overall look of the character. Currently, they are working to have Rusty react in real time to the games in the stadium, so that if the team wins, he can cheer and if they lose, he cries. A huge “Thank You” to Brock Davis of Carmichael Lynch for providing this video. Click on “Rusty” to watch the video and keep in mind it will take a minute or so for the video to down-load so please be patient.

Rusty

Fast and furious or slow and steady?

January 17, 2011 – After just one season of calling Target Field home, the Twins brain trust has determined that they have a need for speed. The Twins are coming off of a season where they stole just 68 bases. The last time the Twins stole that few bases was 25 years ago, back in 1985. Since the Twins started playing in Minnesota they have stolen a total of 4,343 bases or an average of 87 “swipes” per season. The teams all-time high for SB’s was 151 in 1997 and their all-time low was 32 way back in 1963 but that year they also slugged a team all-time high of 225 home runs to make up for it.

There does not seem to be any consistency to where the Twins finish in the standing based on their stolen base totals. Back in 1997 when they stole 151 bases, they finished fourth with a 68-94 mark. In their World Series seasons, they had 92 SB’s in 1965, 113 SB’s in 1987 and 107 SB’s in 1991. Here is a table showing the Twins top base stealing teams:

Rank Year Won Lost Finish SB CS
1 1997 68 94 4th 151 52
2 2001 85 77 2nd 146 67
2 1976 85 77 3rd 146 75
4 1996 78 84 4th 143 53
5 1992 90 72 2nd 123 74
6 1999 63 97 5th 118 60
7 2004 92 70 1st 116 46
8 1969 97 65 1st 115 70
9 1987 85 77 1st 113 65
10 2007 79 83 3rd 112 30
10 1998 70 92 4th 112 54

But will Gardy use the speed tool if he has the chance? The numbers tell me that he will not. If we compare Gardenhire and Tom Kelly we see that in TK’s fifteen seasons his teams swiped 1,699 bases or an average of 113 per season with a high of 146 in 2001. When you look at Gardy’s 9 seasons you end up with 859 stolen bases for an average of 95 per year with a high of 116. In TK’s final season as manager in 2001, his team ended up with 146 steals, the following year with Gardy at the helm his boys stole just 79 bases with pretty much the same cast of characters. So it will be interesting to see if the Twins burn up the base paths in 2011.

2010 Attendance

November 16, 2010 – Major League Baseball announced back in October that the 30 clubs drew 73,061,781 fans during the 2010 regular season, the sixth highest attendance total in history. Major League Baseball attendance for the regular season was off just four-tenths of one percent (.4%) from the 2009 total of 73,367,659.

The Minnesota Twins eclipsed three million fans for the second time in franchise history and set a new all-time franchise record with a 2010 home attendance of 3,223,640. The previous record of 3,030,672 was set in 1988, the year following the Twins first-ever World Series Championship. During the inaugural season at Target Field, the Twins sold out a franchise-record 79 games (including 78 consecutive). They also drew crowds of 40,000 or more in 22 consecutive games from July 3rd – August 31st, eclipsing the previous mark of seven consecutive games of 40,000 or more fans set from August 10-20, 1988.

The Twins finished with 3,223,640 fans going through the turnstile gates with the third highest attendance in the American League trailing only the New York Yankees with 3,765,807 and the Los Angeles Angels with 3,250,814. This places the Twins sixth overall all in the majors trailing the only Yankees, Phillies, Dodgers, Cardinals, and the Angels. On a percentage of capacity basis in the American League, only the Red Sox with 100.9% of capacity beat the Twins 100.7% of capacity.

On the road however; it was a different story as the Twins drew an average of 27,350 fans (62.6% of capacity) making the Twins the third worst draw in the American League just slightly ahead of the American League pennant winning Texas Rangers with 26,565 and the worst drawing team, the Chicago White Sox who only drew an average of 26,311 fans into opposing stadium seats. You have to wonder why two division winners like the Rangers and the Twins draw so poorly on the road.

Did you know?

April 12, 2010 – The average ticket price for a major league baseball game in 2010 is $26.74, an increase of 1.5% from last season. In Minnesota however; where the Twins are moving in to their new ballpark at Target Field, the average ticket price has jumped 45% to $31.47. The highest average ticket price is in Chicago where the going rate for a Cubs ticket is $52.56. On the other end of the spectrum the lowest average ticket price is the Arizona Diamondbacks $14.31. By the way, with the Twins moving into Target Field, the value of the team has jumped 14% to $405 million according to estimates by Forbes magazine.

Target Field Construction Photo’s

September 6, 2009 – Sports Illustrated has some interesting Target Field construction photo’s that you can see by clicking here. They are a bit different then the ones I have seen in the past. It is a good thing that the Twins are getting ready to move into Target Field in 2010 because a recent poll by Sports Illustrated of 380 MLB players did not show the Metrodome in a good light. To see the poll, click here. I find it interesting that the top two ballparks are old and obsolete by todays standards.

Homers fly as temps soar at target Field

Asdrubal Cabrera and Austin Kearns homered in the Indians’ 5-2 win at Minnesota (first game of double-header), where the game-time temperature was 90 degrees. It was only the third time that the Twins hosted a game at Target Field for which the first-pitch temperature was in the 90s, and a total of nine home runs were hit in those three games. The average in the other 123 games at Target Field has been 1.5 home runs. Source – Elias

Where is the home field advantage?

The Twins are 17 and 33 on the season and are 10-13 at home and 11-19 on the road. The overall Minnesota Twins ERA is 4.76 and is the worst of all 30 teams in major league baseball. The Twins ERA in 2010 was 3.99 and 11th overall. Target Field, is supposed to be a pitcher’s park, so I have this question for you. Why is the Twins ERA this season at home at Target Field at 5.25 and on the road the ERA is 4.41? How do you explain that? The Twins WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) of 1.424 is the 27th worst in all of baseball, at home it is 1.449 and on the road it is 1.407, why? The Twins have allowed 5.16 runs per game and are again dead last in baseball and almost 1 run per game worse than in 2010 when they were 4.17. So again I have to ask, why do the Twins allow 5.75 runs per game at home and only 4.77 on the road? I guess if I could answer these questions I would be more than just a Twins blogger. Maybe it is a curse that someone put on the Twins after they had the trees removed from center field?