Twins announce GM Terry Ryan has been relieved of his duties

The Minnesota Twins announced today that long time Twins GM Terry Ryan has been let go and that assistant GM Rob Antony will take over as the interim GM. I can’t say that I am surprised but the timing, just two weeks or so before the trading deadline does surprise me. It appears that there must be some differences of opinion on how the Twins will move forward. Why didn’t the Twins make this move at the All-Star break? Looks to me like the Twins will be busy the next few weeks and you had better buy a scorecard because you might not recognize some of the new Twins players.

Here is the Twins Press Release.

Twins announce GM Terry Ryan has been relieved of his duties

Twins General Manager Terry Ryan (Pioneer Press: John Autey)

Assistant GM Rob Antony to assume GM role on interim basis

Press Release | 12:24 PM ET
The Minnesota Twins announced today that Executive Vice President, General Manager Terry Ryan has been relieved of his duties. Beginning immediately, Vice President, Assistant General Manager Rob Antony will assume Ryan’s duties on an interim basis.

“Since joining our organization as a player in 1972, Terry has been a dedicated, loyal and respected member of the Minnesota Twins family,” Twins owner and CEO Jim Pohlad said. “Terry has been a gifted leader of the baseball department for over eighteen seasons. It is impossible to overstate his contribution to our game, our team and the Upper Midwest baseball community. The decision to part ways with Terry was difficult, painful and not obvious. We are extremely grateful and very thankful to Terry, his wife Karilyn and their family for being a part of the Minnesota Twins.”
“While disappointed we were unable to bring Minnesota a third World Championship, I leave the GM post with immense pride in being part of the Twins organization for the better part of three decades,” said Terry Ryan. “I’m grateful for the leadership opportunities provided by the Pohlad family; the collaboration and talents of my colleagues in the front office; the hard work and dedication of our manager, coaches and clubhouse personnel; the commitment and professionalism of our players; the passion and attention to detail of our minor league staff and scouts; and most importantly, the incredible support of our fans. It’s been an honor to be part of the Twins organization and I wish everyone nothing but the best going forward.”

Ryan was named Executive Vice President/General Manager on November 7, 2011, after spending the previous four seasons as a Special Assistant to General Manager Bill Smith (2008-11). He was originally named as the fourth General Manager in Minnesota Twins history on September 13, 1994, holding that position until stepping down following the 2007 season.

Ryan began his professional career with the Twins in 1972 after being drafted in the 35th round out of Parker High School in Janesville, WI. He pitched in the Twins minor league system for four seasons, posting a 14-3 record, including 10-0 in 1973, before an arm injury cut his career short. In 1975, he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and graduated with a degree in Physical Education in 1979.

Ryan returned to baseball in 1980 as Midwest Scouting Supervisor for the New York Mets, a position he held for six years before being named Scouting Director for the Twins in January, 1986. He was recognized by Topps in 1998 with the Advancement Through the Game Award. Prior to his first tenure as General Manager, Ryan served as the Vice President of Player Personnel, a position he assumed at the end of the 1991 season. In that role, Ryan was responsible for scouting and evaluating all talent at the major league level and assisting in personnel decisions. Ryan was also responsible for signing all major league players with less than three years of major league service.

In addition to his duties with the Twins, Ryan was appointed to the Commissioner’s Special Committee for On-Field Matters in December of 2009, as well as being a member of the Major League Baseball Playing Rules Committee since 2005. He has also served on the Arizona Fall League (AFL) Steering Committee since 2005, a position he also held in 1997-98. In 2009, Ryan was the recipient of the AFL’s Roland Hemond Award, which is presented annually to a baseball executive in recognition of at least 15 years of outstanding service to the AFL and professional baseball in a key leadership capacity. In 2013, he was awarded the George Genovese Lifetime Achievement Award in Scouting from the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation, as well as the Roland Hemond Award, voted upon by SABR, recognizing a baseball executive that demonstrates a lifetime commitment to professional baseball scouts and scouting, and player development history. In 2014, he was inducted into the Minnesota State High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Through the efforts of Ryan and his staff, the Twins have won the American League Central Division title in four of his last 10 years as the general manager (2002-04 and 06). He has twice been named Sporting News Executive of the Year (2002 and 2006), and was also named Baseball America’s Major League Executive of the Year in 2004. The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum honored Ryan with the Andrew “Rube” Foster Legacy Award as American League Executive of the Year in 2004, and again in 2006. In 2002, the Twins were named Organization of the Year by Baseball America (also in 2004), USA Today and Sportsticker.

Rob Antony is in his 29th season in the Twins organization and his ninth as Assistant General Manager, after being named to that role on September 13, 2007. He was promoted to Vice President in December, 2013. He is responsible for major league contracts, including arbitration, and evaluating major and minor league players.

Prior to his current position, he was Director of Baseball Operations for 12 seasons and was responsible for various duties in the minor league and scouting departments, including the spring training operation and free agent draft preparations. He was also responsible for establishing and overseeing the budget for the major league, minor league and scouting departments. He worked closely with the scouting department and scouted players eligible for the free agent draft, as well as amateurs in Australia and Latin America.

Antony was hired as Assistant Director of Media Relations in 1988 after graduating from the University of Minnesota. In June, 1991, he was promoted to Director of Media Relations and held that post until December, 1995, when he was promoted to Director of Baseball Operations.

Why would Twins want to trade Ervin Santana?

There has been lots of rumors floating around that Ervin Santana is available and to be honest I don’t understand it and I don’t believe it. I am not saying that GM Terry Ryan shouldn’t listen to offers because with this Twins team he should be listening to any and all offers.

However; Santana is worth more to Minnesota than he is to any other team because here in Minnesota he is currently their best pitcher and he is locked up for at least 2 years if not three with his option and this Twins team is going to get better sooner than later. Why would you want to put the team in a hole if you have no replacement ready? This young Twins team needs to learn to win and it needs veterans to help them to do that.

There is even talk that the Twins are going to agree to pay part of Santana’s salary to take him off their hands and supposedly this will help the Twins get better players in return. That is just plain preposterous, why would the Twins want to move Santana, pay someone to take him and probably get prospects in return. At this stage of the Twins rebuild the team should not be looking for prospects, they need major league ready players to get them to the next step up the ladder towards the playoffs. Instead of getting prospects they should be ready to move some prospects to get the players they need.

Having said that, there are some pieces on this team that are of no value to the team in the long run and I would have no issue with getting prospects for them if that is all they will fetch, but Ervin Santana is not one of those players.

Bottom line, trading Ervin Santana would be stupid unless he would fetch a king’s ransom of players, which he will not, so keep him until we get more starting pitching and then you can still move him down the line if we should be so fortunate.

Twins open for business

Twins GM Terry Ryan has stated several times now that the Twins are open for business and will consider any and all offers. But it does take two to tango as they say and Mr. Ryan hasn’t exactly been “Trader Jack”.

If I am Terry Ryan I make it clear to all comers that I am all ears and will listen to all offers and my team and I are ready to deal if the price is right and the deal helps the Twins. If the trade helps the other team than fine but my only obligation is to make the Twins a better team now. This does not mean however; that this is a fire sale, the Twins are not looking to dump players, they are looking to improve their team, there is a big difference. The team has a group of young core players that they are building around, I am not interested in trading for prospects unless they are major league ready.

Who would I look to trade? I would NOT trade Miguel Sano, Max Kepler, Byron Buxton or Jose Berrios. There are several young pitchers in the farm system that could be had in the right deal but the price would be very steep. Having said that, everyone else on the Twins 25 man roster would be available in the right trade. I would even trade manager Paul Molitor if I could help my team. There are some prospects in the Twins system that they may have to part ways with in order to get better.

You have to remember that the team has the worst record in baseball as we approach the All-Star break so don’t over value the players you have. You have to listen to your brain and look at the stats versus listening to your heart. Loyalty is great but winning is even better.

The Twins are not going to jump from the outhouse to the penthouse in this trading season but they could take some big steps forward with some good moves over the next few weeks. In my book the next three weeks will make or break the Twins season and will decide the future of the Twins organizations make-up for the forseeable future. Terry Ryan and his team have to be open to all offers and suggestions and be willing to travel roads they have never visited before. The road may be unfamiliar and you will hit some bumps but if you do nothing you will surely continue to fail. Personally I have always hated change but sometimes you have to accept it and embrace it, this is one of those times.

Oh yes, there will be those fork in the road decisions that might be difficult but keep in mind that this whole season has been difficult for us Twins fans and if you are not willing to take some chances then you need to step aside and put someone there that is willing to do so.

Good luck Mr. Ryan, lots of Minnesota Twins fans are watching and waiting!

Twins can’t be fixed unless they trade Joe Mauer

The Minnesota have lots of issues that need fixing and in spite of their horrendous pitching the very first problem they need to address is Joe Mauer. I know Mauer is making $23 million a year but money is not the issue here. The problem here is that he is playing first base and hitting in one of the top three spots in the batting order while hitting .258 with 26 RBI in 337 plate appearances. Catcher Kurt Suzuki who hits in the bottom of the order is hitting .278 with 25 RBI in just 194 PA’s. I am not trying to show how good Suzuki is, I am trying to show how bad Mauer really is.

In spite of the money that Mauer makes and how poorly he hits, the most biggest problem with Mauer is that he is blocking lots of other moves that can make this team better. I know that Mauer has a no-trade clause and he wants to be a Twin for life but the time has come for Joe to move on. I like Mauer as a person but the reality is that the best thing for Joe and the Minnesota Twins is for him to say good-bye to the Land of 10,000 Lakes and join a contender. Joe deserves to be on a playoff contender as he plays his 13th season in the majors and his leaving would start a new era in Twins baseball. Mauer has been the face of the franchise for years but he has never been the Twins leader. To me it is ironic that an athlete that was good enough to be a catcher, a quarterback, and a point guard doesn’t have leadership skills. Mauer is a follower and not a leader but it is difficult for any other Twins player to step up and assume the leadership role as long as Mauer dons a Twins uniform.

GM Terry Ryan and the rest of the organization have to bite the bullet on this one and move Mauer to a team that works for him and probably receive very little in return unless they are willing to swallow a huge chunk of Mauer’s salary. There is just no way I can see Mauer starting for this team the next two plus years without hindering its progress. The team is out the money anyway so why not move Joe to a contender and free up a roster spot and make it a win/win for Mauer, the Twins and most of all, the fans.

It is hard to move forward when you have an anchor that keeps you in that same old spot. Lots of things in our life are not fun to do but these tasks still need to be done, life isn’t always a bowl of cherries. Step up Mr. Ryan and let’s get this deal done.

Things are not getting any better over at Target Field

I was updating the “Salaries” page with 2016 Forbes team valuation data and decided to see how some of the Minnesota Twins numbers stack up going back to 2010 when the team last made the playoffs. But first here is what the Forbes Twins profile states for 2016:

“Minnesota’s home attendance has fallen every season since the team moved into Target Field in 2010. During the ballpark’s inaugural season, average attendance was 34,287. Only 27,408 per game paid to come through the turnstiles last season. Likely reason: the Twins have the third-highest non-premium average ticket price ($33) in the American League, yet have posted only two winning seasons (2010, 2015) since moving into Target Field. Meanwhile, the team failed to win more than 70 games during each of the other four seasons at Target Field. The team’s relatively quiet off-season was highlighted by a four-year, $24.85 million investment in Korean slugger Byung Ho Park.”

YEAR	TEAM VALUE /REVENUE	PLAYER EXPENSES	PLAYER EXP % of REVENUE
2016	$910/$240	$125	52.08%
2015	$895/$223	$106	47.53%
2014	$605/$221	$97	43.89%
2013	$578/$214	$122	57.00%
2012	$511/$213	$121	56.80%
2011	$490/$213	$112	52.58%
2010	$405/$162	$83	51.23%

Interactive Whiteboards by PolyVision

(Team value, revenue and player expenses are in millions)

The Twins team value has gone up every year, more than doubling from 2010 when they moved into Target Field, team revenue has also gone up every year but one when it stayed stagnant. From 2010-2016 the team has brought in $1.486 billion in revenue and the player expense for that time period comes out to $766 million which means that over these seven years the Twins spent 51.55% on player expenses.

But what does that really mean? Not much in my opinion because it depends on how the money is spent, you can spent 75% of your revenue on player expenses but if you are not getting good value for your money and you are paying for players not longer with the team, or for pitchers that can’t pitch or $23 million for an average player than the numbers mean nothing. But yet lots of people are interested in what ownership is spending on player salaries and expenses. It is not totally clear in the Forbes report what all falls in the player expenses category other than player salaries.

Bottom line of course is how many games you win and if you get in the playoffs where anything can happen. Since 2010 the Twins have appeared in the playoffs just once and their record between 2010 and today stands at 460 wins and 572 losses for a winning percentage of 44.57%.

Team owner Jim Pohlad, President Dave St. Peter and GM Terry Ryan have each said over and over again that it is not about the money and I truly do believe that. Jim Pohlad wants a championship on his ownership resume badly but that doesn’t mean that he wants to spend money foolishly either. So the question is, if it is not about the money then what is left in the equation? There are always the players, the coaching staff, and of course the management. We have changed players over and over again trying the old and the young but no luck there. The manager and the coaching staff were changed and yet the Twins team is marching straight towards a record-breaking bad season. That leaves the management, the President and the GM, the glue that keeps the organization headed forward or are they? One problem solving technique used over the years by many of us is if all else fails than change out one part at a time until the engine starts. BUT, you can’t fix the problem until you admit that you have a problem. What a sorry situation we Twins fans find ourselves in, and it is only June 10.

Should the Twins President, GM and Manager keep their jobs?

When the Minnesota Twins hired Hall of Famer Paul Molitor to manage the Twins starting with the 2015 season they had to know that they were swimming up-stream and that the baseball gods were against them. The list of “modern” MLB Hall of Fame players that tried their luck as managers is relatively short and none of them have turned out to be Hall of Fame managers.

Frank Robinson

Frank Robinson may have been the best of the skippers that had Hall of Fame on his resume. Robinson managed four different teams (Indians, Giants, Orioles, Expos/Nationals) over 16 seasons from 1975-2006. Robinson took over the Orioles manager duties in 1988 after they had an 0-6 record and he managed them to 15 more consecutive losses before they won their first game of the season after an 0-21 start. The next season (1989) Frank Robinson was selected as the AL Manager of the year after leading his team to a second place finish and a 87-75 record. Although he may have been the best manager of the Hall of Fame group, he finished his managing career with zero playoff appearances. His career mark as a manager was 1,065-1,176 (.475).

Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra managed for all or parts of five season with two New York clubs, the Yankees and the Mets. Although his career managing record was 484-444, he did take both the Mets and Yankees to a pennant.

Bob Lemon

Bob Lemon managed for all or parts of eight seasons between 1970-1982 and had a lifetime managing record of 430 and 403 with the Royals, White Sox and Yankees. He does have two pennants and a World Series championship on his resume but in both of these cases he took over the job during the season and never managed a team to a pennant from start to finish.

Ted Williams

Ted Williams managed the Washington Senators from 1969 through 1972 when he called it quits. He led the Senators to a 86-76 record in his first season (1969) as the Senators skipper but in 1970 his team was 70-92, in 1971 the team was 63-96, and in 1972 he was 54-100. Do you see a trend here? His career mark as a manager was 273-364 (.429) and zero play-off appearances.

Ryne Sandberg

Ryne Sandberg took over as skipper of the Phillies 44 games into the 2013 season and left after a 26-48 start to the 2015 season. Sandberg had a 119-159 mark as a skipper during his Phillies tenure.

Paul Molitor

Paul Molitor was hired to be the Twins manager prior to the 2015 season and todate his record as a manager stands at 94-113 (.454). Molitor took over a team that had not won more games than it lost since 2010 and in 2015 he led them to a 83-79 record. At first glance does not seem that bad over all, but, there is always that but. In May of 2015 the Twins were 20-7, if you subtract that month Molitor managed the team to a 63-72 record. This year Molitor’s record is 15-35, the team is playing at a lousy .300 winning percentage but even that starts to look good when you look at their road record of 7-20 (.259). You want to see more? The Twins are 0-6 against the White Sox, 0-6 against the Tigers, and 1-5 against the Royals but on the positive side they are 4-2 against the Indians. A record of 5-19 in your own division does not cut it, it is totally unacceptable even if you are playing just for fun and the Twins are certainly not playing for the fun of it.

When is enough, enough?

The Twins lost another game today by a score of 9-2 at Target Field to the Baltimore Orioles. That makes 7 losses in a row and 10 out of their last 11. Let’s look at some facts:

They have won twice in 17 games on the road.
They are 6-10 at their home park
In April they were 7-17
So far in May they are 1-8
They have been outscored 174-111 after 33 games
They are 2-13 against other Central Division teams
Starting pitchers are 3-15
The closer is 2-4 with 2 saves and a 5.40 ERA
Six relievers have appeared in 14 or more games
The pitching staff has the highest ERA in the league
Opponents are hitting .274 against Twins pitching
The Twins are hitting .236
Twins have made more errors than everyone except for Oakland

I could go on and on but what is the point, this team is playing horrendous baseball right now and they can’t catch any breaks either, that’s life. Believe me when I say that this team is not as bad as it is playing right now just like it was not as good as it played in 2015.

Do they miss Torii Hunter in the clubhouse? Sure they do but even Hunter couldn’t help this team play to the level that most people expected. So what is the problem? In 1982 the Twins lost 102 games and after 33 games they were 11-22, the Twins record this year after 33 games is 8-25.

I don’t care what Jim Pohlad has said publicly, GM Terry Ryan and manager Paul Molitor have to be on the hot seat right now. Hitting coach Tom Brunansky and pitching coach Neil Allen should not be buying any green banana’s either. My prediction for what is it worth is this. The Twins have a day off on Thursday and then play three games in Cleveland and three more in Detroit after that. If the Twins don’t play .500 on the road this week, Paul Molitor will not return to Minnesota with the team as the Twins manager.

Twins players may respect Paul Molitor as a Hall of Fame player but they don’t know how to play for him. In my opinion Molitor is a poor handler of the pitching staff and is on pace once again to burn out his bullpen. I don’t see anything that Molitor has done to motivate these players or to help them win games, he writes out a line-up by going with the hot bats and just lets them play. That probably works great for a veteran team but not for a team this young and inexperienced. Sometimes a team and a manager just do not mesh. Maybe it is not Molitor’s fault but life isn’t fair.

This team needs someone to get mad bust up some things, call out some players for their brain farts and put the whip to them. These players are young but this isn’t their first rodeo, they have played the game before and they are better than this. It is about time someone tells them that and also tells them that if they can’t play like major leaguer’s then they won’t be playing in Minnesota. See ball, hit ball. Baseball is baseball no matter what level you are playing it, this isn’t rocket science or brain surgery. The bases are still the same distance apart, the mound is the same distance from home plate. Sure the major leagues are tough but if you can’t compete, then pack your bags and go home. Fans are paying good money to watch the Twins play baseball st a high level, if they wanted to watch a bunch of minor leaguers play they would buy tickets to watch the St. Paul Saints play.

I am surprised more Twins fans aren’t madder than hell and telling Twins management that they aren’t going to take this crap any more. Why no fans burning their tickets or fans in the stands with paper bags on their heads? I love baseball but the Twins are squeezing the fun out of the game. Call the Twins and tell them what you think and what you expect. The Twins have no excuses as far as I am concerned, don’t play the “this is a young team card”, all I care about is seeing the number in the “W” column increasing.

Consternation in Twins land

consternation: a strong feeling of surprise or sudden disappointment that causes confusion

It is May 6 and the Minnesota Twins have a 8-20 record and find themselves in Chicago where they will play three games against the high-flying White Sox this week-end who are in first place in the AL Central division 10 1/2 games ahead of the Twins. Holy moley, 10 1/2 games back and it is not even Mother’s Day yet.

The Twins had a day off yesterday and the rumors started that the Twins have put pitchers Tommy Milone and Casey Fien on waivers. Supposedly catcher John Ryan Murphy is on his way to Rochester and 25-year-old catcher Juan Centeno is coming to Minnesota. The Twins also announced that pitchers Ryan O’Rourke and J.R. Graham were designated for assignment and outfielder Darin Mastroianni was brought up and Ervin Santana was brought back from the DL. That is a lot of changes to a baseball team in such a short window.

What is causing all this chaos?

Yesterday team owner Jim Pohlad said that it appears to be “total system failure” but at the same time he fully supports manager Paul Molitor and GM Terry Ryan. Talk about the kiss of death. It is easy to pile-on with the Twins playing so badly and I am not going to waste time here today listing all the characters from the players to the team president that are responsible for this mess. I do find it funny that the owner would say that the team does not want to give the “be patient” message to its fan base when they have been doing that since 2011.

Young teams are going to lose while they learn to play the game, just like all of us learned the tricks of the trade in our everyday jobs when we first were hired. Youth and potential are wonderful but they don’t make you a great team, you learn to win by playing and making mistakes. Do you remember 1982? The big mistake the Twins made over the last year or two was marketing their up and coming players as “stars” to be and making it sound like the Twins were playoff bound in 2016. Young players and teams take leaps forward but you have to also be prepared for the times when they fall backwards flat on their butts. Right now the Twins are looking up at the sky and wondering what the hell happened. I will tell you what happened, baseball happened, in baseball you never know what tomorrow will bring, that is what makes baseball so much fun.

What to do now?

As the old saying goes, when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is to quit digging. First off don’t panic, you have a plan, review it and make the necessary changes to get the train back on the track. It takes time, let the players play and learn the game and forget about making the playoffs, realistically that was never in the cards to begin with so you have lost nothing there. Look for ways to improve by giving unproven and untested players a chance. Just because you are not a top pick does not mean you can’t play any more than being a top pick ensures that you will be a star in the big leagues.

What about manager Paul Molitor?

First off you have to understand I am not a fan of Molitor as the team’s manager, never have been and probably never will. Don’t get me wrong, Molitor is a very smart baseball man and a Hall of Fame player but that does not make him a good manager. As far as I am concerned the team can part ways with Molitor any time now. What has Molitor done to make the Twins a better team? The team is not hitting, running, or playing smart baseball, all things that Molitor was supposed to bring to the table. With a young team you have to be patient, I am not sure that Molitor does that by constantly benching players and looking for a hot bat. Pick your line-up, platoon if need be and stick with it.

Was it just a coincidence that Ron Gardenhire rejoined the organization a week or so ago? Maybe? Maybe not. Could the Twins be thinking of bring Gardy back? Maybe they told Gardy that Molitor was on a short leash and that they would name him as the interim manager for 2016 and that he then would be in the mix when they hunted for a full-time manager after the season ends? Lots of teams bring back managers they have fired previously.

Well, let’s see what tomorrow brings us in “As the Twins world turns”.

In 1982 the Minnesota Twins had their worst season ever in terms of win and losses when they finished 60-102. On May 6, 1982 they had a 10-18 record and were 7 1/2 games out of first. Scary!

According to ELIAS

The Twins fell to 0-8 when they dropped a 3-0 decision to the White Sox yesterday in which he managed only four hits while striking out nine times. In fact, the Twins are the first major-league team to have more strikeouts than hits in each of their first eight games of a season since the pitching distance was established at 60 feet, 6 inches in 1893. Source ELIAS

But that is not all, the Twins losing streak stands at 8 games in 2016 but when you add-on three straight losses to the Kansas City Royals at the end of 2015 and you have a 11 game losing streak on your hands, tied for the third longest losing streak in Twins history. The longest losing streak of course belongs to the 1982 Twins that lost 14 in a row and finished the season with a 60-102 mark.

Minnesota Twins longest losing streaks

Rk	Strk Start	End	Games	L	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SO	BA
1	1982-05-19	1982-06-02	14	14	458	33	99	8	32	89	.216
2	1961-05-26	1961-06-07	13	13	426	33	88	5	31	56	.207
3	2015-10-02	2016-04-13	11	11	359	16	74	4	16	118	.206
4	2011-09-09	2011-09-21	11	11	379	37	93	4	33	76	.245
5	2013-05-14	2013-05-24	10	10	347	28	76	7	27	83	.219
6	1999-09-25	2000-04-03	10	9	328	27	77	5	27	65	.235
7	1998-09-09	1998-09-19	10	10	366	49	92	10	48	72	.251
8	1997-08-09	1997-08-19	10	10	350	26	88	3	25	69	.251
9	1985-05-21	1985-06-01	10	10	341	31	77	9	29	43	.226

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/14/2016.

My patience with this team is starting to wear thin but there are too many players sleep-walking through the beginning of this season to change out a player or two to send a message. Where is that tirade of a veteran player to wake this team up? Yes, I am looking at you Joe Mauer, Trevor Plouffe and Brian Dozier.

Can horrendous starts two years in a row just be a coincidence? I have never believed in coincidences. It is time for Dave St. Peter, Terry Ryan, and Paul Molitor to show that they can turn a ball club around that is sinking faster than Justin Spieth did at the Masters this past Sunday.

Six games out with just eight games played? This can’t be real, what a nightmare!

The Twins and their strikeouts – a look back

Twins K vs R charts — Twins strikeouts versus runs scored history. Feel free to click on the chart to make it larger and easier to see.

Our Minnesota Twins and the Atlanta Braves both stand at 0-7 and the race is on to see can win a game first. It is tough when you have just played seven games into a new season and find yourself five games out of the division lead. Never-the-less, Paul Molitor‘s gang will try again tonight.

The Twins might have to consider changing their name to the Minnesota Flailers. Joe Mauer is hitting .375 and Eduardo Escobar is hitting .370 but the rest of the line-up is hitting between .125 and .192 with a combined team OBP of .290. Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano and Byung-ho Park have each struck out in 50% of their plate appearances.

OH! but the strikeouts. Needless to say the team is on a record pace and after seven games, admittedly a small sample size, they have struck out once every 3.29 PA’s and 11.29 times a game. It is hard to miss the ball that often. Their previous worst for strike-outs per PA was 4.34 in 2013, that same Twins team struck out an all-time franchise high of 1,430 times. But if you use the current running rate of 11.29 strike outs per game the 2016 Twins will strike out a record-breaking 1,829 times. I know that is unlikely to happen but right now that is exactly what is happening.

Paul Molitor and Terry Ryan have a huge mess on their hands but things can’t stay this bad for ever. Can they? Everything levels out so we all need to be patient and ride this storm out.

Let’s talk about strikeouts, how bad are they really? We could discuss the pro’s and con’s of strikeouts forever and cases can be argued that a strikeout by a batter is terrible and you could argue that there are worse things than a strikeout. Teams usually tolerate high strikeout rates if power is also involved but what if a batter has mediocre power and still strikes out frequently? What impact do strikeout really have on runs scored? After all, that is the object of the game isn’t it? Score more runs than the opponent and you win the game assuming your pitchers do their jobs.

Let’s take a look at the previous 55 seasons of Twins play. If you look at the numbers nothing really jumps out at you to tell you that strikeout are OK or horrendous. The Twins had an OK season by some standards last year and yet they still struck out 1,264 times and in 2002 they won 94 games and still struck out 1,089 times. On the other side of the coin the Twins only struck out 684 times in 1978 and still only won 73 games. Strikeouts in themselves will not determine if your team will win or not.

The Twins have only scored more runs than they have had strikeouts on four occasions in 55 seasons, in 1976 when they finished 85-77, in 1977 when they finished 84-77, in 1979 when they finished 82-80 and in their 1995 championship season when they were 95-67. Twins history seems to indicate that if you score more often than you strike out than you will have a winning season.

I think it is interesting to note here that Gene Mauch managed the Twins from 1976-1980, none of his team struck out more that 754 times. Just a coincidence or was it his managing style? Yet only three of those five years that Mauch managed the Twins, did they have a winning record and they never won more than 85 games under his leadership.

Strikeouts are obviously up across the board for a variety of reasons, since 2000 the Twins have played 15 seasons, during 11 of those they struck out over 1,000 times, the only other season they struck out of 1,000 times was in 1964.

During the Twins AL championship season of 1965 they struck out 969 times, in 1987 they struck out 898 times, and in 1991 they struck out only 749 times. The Twins have made the playoffs 11 times and they averaged 944 strikeouts during those years. Keep in mind too that six of those 11 playoff years were on this side of 2000.

If you added in the running rate of strikeouts in 2016 after just seven games you would see a sharp dive of that blue line to 3.29.

Tag: Terry Ryan