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
We are on the cusp of a new baseball season and that means that Spring Training is underway and players from all over the world including peach-fuzz faced rookies and grizzly old veterans are beginning their fight for a MLB roster spot, they want to be one of the 750 players on a 25-man roster participating in “The Show“. Some players are already guaranteed spots, others will win a job, and still others will get a job because someone else had the misfortune to get injured.
Baseball fans all over have been watching free agency, hot stove league action as well as play in the winter leagues and everyone has their own idea what each of the 30 GM’s should have done and what they can still do to improve the home team. One of the fun aspects of spring training is pretending to be the GM and manager and decide who gets to make the 25 man roster for the big trip up north when April rolls around.
Choosing who makes up the 25-man is no easy task because there is so much that goes into deciding who gets to wear a MLB uniform when the season-opener finally arrives. You obviously want to put your 25 best players on the roster but it is not that simple, sometimes money, politics, injuries, legal issues, MLB rules and options and just plain luck come into play. Say you have three players for a single position, one is a better hitter, one is better in the field and the third player isn’t the best hitter or fielder but can do an adequate job of both and is good in the club house, who gets the job?
Choosing a 25 man roster is important but not as big a deal as you may think. GM’s and managers have quite a bit of flexibility in changing the roster over the span of the 162 game schedule and the playoffs. If you want to be the team that wins the final baseball game of the season you need depth and 25 players doesn’t cut it. Having depth is more important than ever, the 1965 World Series team used 35 players, the 1987 team used 36 players and the 1991 Twins used 35 players. The 2015 champion Kansas City Royals needed 45 players to win it all. The number of players the Twins have used for the last 10 years has ranged from 39 to 48 players, last season the Twins used 44 players.
Today I am not going to try to guess at the 2016 Minnesota Twins 25-man roster but we are going to take a look at the number of players that the Twins have used each season for the last 10 years and determine where those players came from. Are the Twins players predominately home-grown via the draft and amateur free agent signings or did they become Minnesota Twins through the waiver wire, a trade, free agency or some other means. Every team, be it the Twins or anyone else is obviously a mix of home-grown and acquired players but some clubs like the Yankees or the Red Sox have reputations of trading their prospects for experienced players other teams can no longer afford and teams like the Twins, A’s and others believe the way to go is through growth from within. There is no right or wrong way to go, it all depends on your circumstances and your pocket-book.
The PDF shows that the Twins used 433 players during this time frame but not 433 unique players as many players were on the roster year after year. It shows the number of roster spots the Twins needed in each of those 10 seasons and how many pitchers and position players made up the roster and how the Twins got their rights.
The PDF covers the Twins rosters from 2006-2015. Keep in mind that the chart tracks where players originally came from, for example, if you look at the pitchers side of 2015 you see a two in the Rule 5 column. That doesn’t mean that they had two Rule 5 pick-ups in 2015, it means that two roster spots in 2015 were occupied by players that the Twins had picked up as Rule 5 selections over the years and they were on the 2015 roster at one time or another, in this case we are talking about J.R. Graham and Ryan Pressly.
AMA or amateur free agents are players that were not draft eligible and most of these players were signed by Minnesota out of Australia, Europe, or Caribbean countries. We are talking about players like Miguel Sano, Oswaldo Arcia, Danny Santana, Max Kepler and many others.
The bottom line is that over this 10 year span, 44.80% of the roster spots were occupied by players either drafted by Minnesota or signed by Minnesota as AFA, the remaining 55.20% were acquired from other organizations in one way or another. Does this make the Twins a home grown team? I don’t know, you tell me.
Fun Twins fact: Based on the Twins 40 man roster who is the oldest player that will be in camp this year? Turns out that the two grey beards in camp are Ervin Santana and Ricky Nolasco who were born just a day apart in December 1982.
Twins 1B/OF Max Kepler deserves to be called up by the Minnesota Twins as soon as the Chattanooga Lookouts playoff run is completed. The 22 year-old Kepler is having a huge breakout season in his sixth year of pro ball. Kepler started the season playing a handful of games at Ft. Myers due to an injury but quickly was sent to Chattanooga where he has been a hitting machine and was selected as the Southern League MVP which is a league loaded with top prospects.
I know the Twins are in the chase for a wildcard spot but they need to call Kepler up to Minnesota where he can get a taste of big league life and be rewarded for his play this season. I know that first base and the outfield are crowded at Target Field but Kepler has earned his shot at putting on a Twins uniform and showing fans here in Minnesota another of their highly regarded prospects. Don’t let me down Mr. Ryan!
This morning the Twins find themselves still holding one of the wild card spots by the skin of their teeth should the season end today. But we all know that 1/3 of the season still remains to be played, so what should the Twins do. The Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros, and the Texas Rangers are among a number of teams that have already made moves to beef up their teams and the trade deadline is coming up fast. The consensus is that the Twins need to beef up their relief pitching and also need to fill holes at short and at catcher.
GM Terry Ryan has stated several times that the Twins would like to make a deal for a relief pitcher but so far nothing has come to fruition. I appreciate how much the team has improved from the last four seasons but I think I am also being realistic in saying that this is not a playoff team. Yes this team plays good baseball on occasion but not consistently enough to make the playoffs.
I don’t think that the Twins planned on finding themselves in this position when the season began and now they face a difficult decision. Do they mortgage their future for a playoff run this year or do they stick to their plan for solid improvement this season and plan to make a serious run in 2016 or 2017? The declining fan base is watching to see what the Twins will do, do they make some deals to try to strengthen the team or do they stick to what they have and give their youngsters a chance to learn the game and learn how to win. The team is also watching to see what GM Ryan will do, will he try to add some pieces to help the team or will he simply say he tried to make some deals but they just didn’t pan out? A playoff run will help get some fans back to the ballpark while a white flag might signal to some Twins fans more of the same and the season ticket base will fall some more. Ryan is in a no-win situation, no matter which way he goes he will be criticized, but that is why he makes the big bucks. The thing to remember is that if the Twins do make some additions by giving up some prospects and still fall short of the playoffs then everyone loses.
The Twins are between the proverbial rock and a hard spot and the best option might well be to do nothing right now and keep playing the youngsters and watching them learn. The team still has too many holes to be a legitimate contender so let’s look at plugging the leaks this season before we sail off on that cruise to playoff land.
Last but certainly not least I want to mention this about prospects, a prospect is just that, he has proven nothing. A prospect today can be a dud tomorrow. If you trade your 5th best prospect today, you will still have a 5th best prospect tomorrow. Next man up! Look at the rosters of most teams, a lot of their best players started in another organization.
Chattanooga (AA) outfielder Byron Buxton is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Buxton played in seven games, hitting .423 (11-for-26) with one double, one home run, six RBI, nine runs scored, six walks and four stolen bases. Buxton has played in 21 games for the Lookouts, hitting .284 (23-for-81) with three doubles, four triples, two home runs, 10 RBI, 15 runs scored, 10 walks and seven stolen bases. Buxton has been named as the Twins top prospect in each of the last two seasons by Baseball America as well as top prospect in baseball entering this season. Previous winners of Twins POW this season are right-handed pitcher Tyler Duffey and left-handed pitcher Stephen Gonsalves.
What more is there to say about Buxton? Hopefully he stays hot and makes a strong case for Terry Ryan and the gang to bring him to Target Field sooner than later.
Most of us know that the Twins longest consecutive game hitting streak is 31 games and that record holder is Ken Landreaux but did you know who holds the Twins record for the longest multi-hit (two hits or more) game hitting streak? The record is 10 games and Chuck Knoblauch accomplished that feat in 1996.
It is baffling to me why Twins managers Ron Gardenhire and now Paul Molitor keep sending infielders out to play the outfield. Is that something that Twins managers have to agree to do?
J.R. Graham
I am a little concerned about the lack of patience that Paul Molitor is showing with his young players. I know that Danny Santana, Oswaldo Arcia, Kennys Vargas and J.R. Graham have struggled so far this season but you don’t improve your skills by sitting on the bench. I say play these guys day in and day out through May and then reevaluate the situation. It is not like the Twins are in the hunt for a playoff spot. Molitor should know that players need to know that their manager has their back and will keep their butts in the line-up as they improve their skills. Since Graham is a Rule 5 guy the Twins need to keep him on the 25 man roster all season or return him or maybe even work out a trade that will allow them to send him to the minors. Molitor should not have to manage a 24 man roster.
Is it just me or is Paul Molitor the second coming of Gene Mauch? It seems to me that Molitor seems to think that he is smarter than the average manager and the game revolves around him and not the players. Molly, just fill out the line-ups and let the boys play.
If you traveled to Florida to watch the Twins during spring training from 1961-1990 you had to go to Orlando and you watched the Twins play at Tinker Field. A couple of days ago the Target Field grandstand came crashing down as a demolition team took over the old historic ballpark where Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew and many other legends of the game once played. To read more about it and to see a couple of short video clips you will need to go here.
Alex Wimmers
Is former first round pick, 21st overall in 2010 Alex Wimmers going to be added to the long list of Twins pitchers that have been first round selections that have turned out to be duds? The 26 year-old right-handed Wimmers is in his sixth season with the Twins and thus far he has an 8-8 record with a 4.44 ERA in just 176+ innings. Although a starter, Wimmers has never pitched more than 84 innings in any season in the Twins system. Wimmers is in Chattanooga this season and in 3 starts has a 7.80 ERA in 15 innings.
That Shane Robinson guy kind of grows on you, I really like him as the fourth outfielder on this team. Jordan Schafer on the other hand I believe is on borrowed time here in Minnesota, if he is here another week I will be surprised, I think he needs to start looking for a “real” job. But who would the Twins bring up to replace him? No one in the Twins minor league system is beating down Terry Ryan’s door demanding a ticket to Minnesota. Best bet is probably Aaron Hicks who is hitting over .300 but I would like to see Eddie Rosario who is starting to hit in Chattanooga get a shot at the Twins center field job.
Another question for Terry Ryan, why are the Twins using Mark Hamburger as a starter in Rochester?
And finally, the Twins end the month of April with a 10-12 record, that is pretty good considering their horrendous start this season. Two games under .500 isn’t bad for this point in the season.
Two former Twins players excluding the previously mentioned Landreaux have had 30 game or longer hitting streaks in the majors during their professional careers, can you name the players and the length of their hitting streaks?
The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced yesterday that Minnesota Twins Minor League right-handed pitcher Adrian Salcedo has received an 80-game suspension without pay after testing positive for Tamoxifen, a performance-enhancing substance, and Heptaminol, a stimulant, both of which are in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
The suspension of Salcedo, who is currently on the roster of the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern League, is effective immediately.
I was out on the back fields of the CenturyLink Sports Complex on Friday afternoon watching the Twins AA and AAA teams take on the Red Sox AA and AAA teams. Both games started about 1 PM but I was particularly interested in the AA Chattanooga game and was surprised to see Mark Hamburger start the game for Doug Mientkiewicz ‘s gang. I was disappointed that Miguel Sano was not playing but Byron Buxton, Adam Walker, and Max Kepler all played. Once of the hardest hit balls in that game was a bullet line drive over the head of the Red Sox minor leaguer center fielder off the bat of Max Kepler who was DHing in this game. I had asked Max earlier how his arm was doing and he said it was good but obviously management is still not ready to play him in the field, at least they didn’t on this particular day. Kepler has a beautiful level swing and line drives just shoot off his bat, with his size if he applied some lift to the ball he would hit a bunch of home runs.
The crowd watching the games was pretty small, the players not playing in either game and sitting in the stands watching the games out numbered the fans by about five to one. As normal GM Terry Ryan, with stop watch in hand was standing between the two fields and keeping an eye on both games. I decided to give the poor guy a break today and not bother him with my questions and comments. About 2 or 2:30 PM I looked over where Ryan had been standing and he was nowhere to be seen. That seemed very unusual to me because Ryan always seems to be out there when games are under way on the back fields, he seldom leaves before the games end. After a couple of hours in the hot sun I decided I had seen enough and headed home myself.
Around 5:30 PM I sat down on my PC to look at some of the pictures I had taken at the ballpark when I was shocked to see a report that Twins pitcher Ervin Santana had been suspended for 80 games for PED use. There was no chatter about this at the ballpark earlier and news like this would have spread like a wild-fire. Shortly there after Press Releases were flying in every direction. MLB had their PR announcing the suspension, the Twins had their PR statement on the suspension, The Twins sent out another PR on the recall of Aaron Thompson and of course Santana had his own PR through the players union which actually seemed to have a time stamp even before the official MLB PR regarding his suspension. I don’t know how the process works for these kinds of deals but MLB must give the player and team a heads up on what is coming in an upcoming PR and then at the agreed upon time everyone hits the send button on their press releases.
This suspension is a killer for everyone, Santana himself, the Twins team, and of course the fans. Santana loses about $6.5 million, the team loses a good starting pitcher, and the fans lose even more hope in a team that wasn’t expected to be in the playoff hunt but had hopes of at least making a run at .500 baseball.
Now as the new season is about to begin and fans all across Twins Territory prepare to watch their new team strut their stuff in 2015 this suspension strikes clear out of the blue and Twins haters come firing out of the woodwork to blame Ervin Santana and the Twins organization. I am not saying Santana is innocent here but who knows for sure if he took this on purpose or if he indeed did take it without knowing he did so. I haven’t heard any whispers about Santana and PED’s previously so I am willing to give the man the benefit of the doubt here. Still it hurts to lose a pitcher of his caliber for half the season.
How can you blame the Twins organization for this? They obviously would not have gone after Santana and paid him the money they did if they had any idea that something like this would happen. But yet it is another ding on team that has been barely treading water since 2010. The Twins have had their share of bad luck, injuries, and bad decisions by management. Twins fans are grasping for anything that will show them that there is reason for hope but it seems like when the Twins take a step forward they also take a step back and it is hard to get anywhere at that pace. The ballclub is mired in this muck and their only hope is their cadre of young future stars that are banging on the clubhouse door. The Twins have spent the last year or two bragging about the potential of their farm system and most everyone in baseball agrees that the Twins have some young stars in the wings but yet the Twins keep signing mediocre players to play at Target field and keep sending the young guns to Rochester and Chattanooga.
It is like a poker game, you can only bluff so long before you have to put your cards on the table and show us what you got. I think it is a bunch of BS that you can bring up a young player too soon and traumatize him to the point that he will never be the player that they could have been with another year or two in the minors. The guys have played baseball their entire lives and they have had their share of butt-kickings, losses, and lessons learned, another humiliation or two at the big league level won’t kill them. What is the old saying? What doesn’t kill you helps to build your character. Football and basketball have no problems bringing kids straight to the big leagues when warranted, why can’t baseball do more of this? I think it is time for the Twins to bring their young studs to the table and let Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario, Max Kepler, Alex Meyer, Trevor May, and Jose Berrios play some ball at Target Field. Give us Twins fans a reason to come to the ballpark and see something new instead of the same old wait until next year crap. The Twins can’t spend $250 million dollars on player salaries so they have to look for new and creative ways to be competitive, maybe the old tried and proven older methods needs to be tossed out on their ear and some new radical ideas need to be tried. What have you got to lose? Loyalty and experience are great but if you have young players that appear to be better than what you have on the big league club, why not give the young guns a chance to prove they are what you think and say they are.
So Mr. Ryan, do yourself and all of us Twins fans a favor and bring up these young stars sooner than later because every hit they get at Chattanooga or Rochester is one less hit they will get in Minnesota. If these guys show us they can’t pitch or hit at the big league level then we are ahead of the game, we know something that we didn’t know before. Potential is worth nothing unless it can be realized. Taking Mike Pelfrey from the bullpen and putting him in the starting rotation again isn’t exactly trying something new, how can you expect something new and better when you keep doing the same old things?
The Twins 25 man roster appears to be set and Chris Herrmann is the back-up catcher. How does that happen? There is probably no nicer guy that Chris Herrmann but what is he doing making the Minnesota Twins 25 man roster going into the season opener just a few days away.
I need some help understanding how this could have happened. I know that the back-up catcher is not going to make or break the team in 2015 but I would like to understand the logic in this move. Nobody owes me an explanation, I understand that, but this move just seems like one of the dumbest moves the Twins have made in some time. I used to wonder if Nick Punto had some dirt on then manager Ron Gardenhire but now I have to wonder what Herrmann has on Paul Molitor and Terry Ryan. The other candidates for this role on the team were Josmil Pinto and Eric Fryer.
Eric Fryer is the oldest at 29 and he is primarily a catcher although Baseball-Reference lists him as a catcher/outfielder. That is kind of bogus as Fryer has appeared in just two games in the outfield for the Pittsburgh Pirates back in 2012 and the Twins have not used him as anything but a catcher. The case can be made that Fryer is the best catcher of the trio of candidates and he can hit a bit (career .246 average) but with little to no power. If the Twins brain trust were interested in just having a good back-stop then Fryer was their guy.
Josmil Pinto is already 26 and is by far the best hitter of the trio but pretty much everyone agrees that his work behind the plate still needs improvement, then again what players name could you bring up that doesn’t need improvement in some phase of his game. Pinto has a career average of .257 but he also has 11 home runs in just 78 games. Pinto has had injury issues this spring and that set him back for sure but unless the man is not in good enough shape to play, he should have been on the Twins roster.
The 27-year-old Chris Herrmann is a catcher by trade but the Twins also use him in the outfield and at first base. Herrmann has the most big league experience of this group having played in 97 games but his career average is .196 with four home runs. Herrmann’s is neither a good hitter nor a great defensive catcher but he brings flexibility to the table. But I have to ask you this, what good is flexibility in your back-up catcher when you carry only two catchers? The idea is that he is your back-up catcher, he is not going to play outfield or first base. The Twins have first base and the outfield covered, do you use him as the DH? Why? You have plenty of players that can be the DH that can hit better than Herrmann. There is ZERO logic in having Herrmann be the back-up catcher on this team.
I know that in a couple of weeks that Herrmann will be in Rochester and Pinto will be in Minnesota barring some kind of injury to Pinto but it drives me crazy when the Twins make cockamamy moves like this. I understand that this ballclub has far more serious issues than who the back-up catcher will be but this moves just jumps out at me and screams WHY? If you know why, tell me because I need help here.
The ever smiling Torii Hunter took over center from Puckett and played in the Dome from 1997 – 2007. He helped the Twins to four division titles and won seven gold gloves with the Twins. Torii hit .324 in 10 playoff games at the Metrodome.
The Twins announced their newest free agent signee on Wednesday and had an introductory press conference the same day but Torii Hunter needs no introduction here in Twins Territory. Hunter was the Twins first round pick in 1993 and he made his big league debut in a pinch-running role with the club at the age of 22 at Camden Yards. He became the Twins starting center fielder in 1999 and kept that job until he left as a free agent after the 2007 season to sign with the Angels. Torii played for the Angels from 2008-2012 before moving on to the Tigers where he spent the last two seasons.
Rumors have been circulating for some time now that the Twins and Hunter had a mutual interest in joining forces again and yesterday it became a reality when the Twins signed the 39 year-old Hunter to a one-year $10.5 million deal that supposedly includes a full no trade clause.
I had written a piece about the Twins/Hunter romance back on November 23 and it was a real head scratcher to me then and it still is today. I know the Twins outfield situation is a mess but I am not sure that throwing $10.5 million to Hunter is the answer. Hunter no longer can play center field and the Twins have stated that Hunter will play right field and Oswaldo Arcia will move to left field. Apparently center field will again be patrolled by Aaron Hicks if he shows anything at all with the bat. The fallback plan would be Danny Santana who apparently will be given a shot to win the shortstop job if Hicks holds on to center field but the Twins aren’t talking about shortstop too much right now. Terry Ryan did say that the focus will now turn to pitching so that means that the club will go with an in-house center fielder. Who ever plays center for a year or two is just a place-holder for Byron Buxton who hopefully can have a healthy and productive season in 2015 and maybe, just maybe get a September call-up for a taste of big league coffee.
If Twins fans are looking forward to seeing the Torii Hunter of old, they will be sorely disappointed. I have always liked Torii Hunter, who doesn’t? The man has a million dollar smile and a personality to match but he will be 40 in July and baseball skills start to erode pretty quickly when you get around the 40 mark. The man is a winner although the World Series has eluded him in his 18 years in the big leagues. The odds of him getting there with Minnesota, at least as a player are slim to none. Hunter said that he wanted to finish his career at home and he calls the Minnesota Twins home so maybe after he hangs up his spikes as a player the organization will have another role for him. Hunter knows how to play the game and hopefully he can teach some of the Twins players what it takes to get that done.
From the Twins perspective this deal fills a couple of needs. First of all it fills a corner outfield role that was in essence vacant. Although the Twins organization will not admit it the Twins team has a no leader and many times has looked like they are just going through the motions. The only players that the Twins have that show any passion at all are Brian Dozier, Casey Fien, and Glen Perkins. Hunter can help with that problem for sure. From the non-baseball side this helps the Twins organization sell some tickets. Hunter has always been a popular player and his coming back to Minnesota may help persuade a few season ticket-holders to re-up for one more season. The Twins are in desperate straits and anything they can do to stop the hemorrhaging of season ticket holders is worth a try. I think the team has a bright future but they need to find a way to hold on to their fan base because once that train leaves the station it takes lots of time and money to get it back
There are some good reasons to put Torii back in a Twins uniform, I just don’t think that signing him will do much for the Twins record in 2015. However, if you look at this signing as an investment for the future, bringing Torii home to Minnesota might make some sense. I hope so because I hate to see anyone waste $10.5 million and I want the Minnesota Twins to learn how to win and play good baseball again before I get too much older.
Only three teams in major league baseball lost more games than our Minnesota Twins did in 2014 when they lost 92 times, their four straight 90 plus losing season. You would think that a team that Forbes listed this past March as the 19th most valuable franchise in major league baseball at $605 million with an estimated revenue of $221 million could put a better product on the field wouldn’t you? The Twins 2014 Opening Day payroll was around $85 million give or take, ranking them 24th out of the 30 teams. The Twins front office bragged that they wouldn’t be raising ticket prices in 2014. Raising ticket prices? My God, when the team is this bad for that long the ticket prices should be automatically dropping until the teams shows some competitive life.
With a team like the Minnesota Twins, in its current state of affairs, it is not all that difficult to get candidates for the 2014 Twins Turkey of the Year award “so let’s get after it” and see who we have waiting in the wings.
Vance Worley
Finalist but did not make the final cut –Vance Worley was acquired in a trade with the Phillies in December 2012. In the first two months of 2013 the “Vanimal” started 10 games for Minnesota and posted a 1-5 record with a 7.21 ERA and allowed 82 hits in 48.2 innings and eventually pitched his way to AAA Rochester where after a few games he went on the DL. During spring training in 2014 Worley announced that he had pitched hurt in 2013 because of a bone spur in his pitching elbow. The Twins had seen enough of the Vanimal and sold him to the Pittsburg Pirates in March of this year. Another bad pitcher who had more excuses then you could shake a stick at and had a problem telling the truth. Worley was 8-4 for the Pirates with a 2.85 ERA in 2014, what’s up with that?
Finalist but did not make the final cut –The Twins troika of Ron Gardenhire/Rob Antony/Terry Ryan had a rough go of things in 2014. In what turned out to be his last season at the helm as the Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire did the best he could with the players that Terry Ryan and Rob Antony provided but when your pitching staff ranks last in the league in ERA, hits allowed, runs, earned runs, and strikeouts, your chances for a good season are slim at best. Terry Ryan had personal health issues that kept him away from the club for all of spring training and most of the regular season. Rob Antony was the acting GM for a good portion of the season and did what he could to fill Ryan’s shoes. The Twins made several personnel moves that when looked back on could probably have been handled differently and maybe prevented some of the chaos that the team experienced in the outfield. Then again when the manager keeps sending infielders to play the outfield, what can you expect?
Finalist but did not make the final cut – Twins Center fielders – Manager Ron Gardenhire started the season with Aaron Hicks playing center field and had high hopes for the young switch-hitter particularly when Hicks started out 4 for 7 in his first two games. But then he quit hitting, got hurt, over slept and found himself packing his bags for New Britain in late June. In the first two and a half months of the season Hicks appeared on the DL twice and missed 19 games. He didn’t return until the minor league season was over in September. The Twins ended up trying Sam Fuld, Jordan Schafer, Chris Parmelee, Eduardo Escobar, Darin Mastroianni, and Danny Santana in center field and the best of the bunch was Santana but he is a natural shortstop. The rookie Santana never really got a chance to play short and to show how he can handle that position because Gardy kept sending him out to center field. At this point in the off-season center field remains a huge question mark.
Joe Mauer
Finalist but did not make the final cut –Joe Mauer – Last November (2013) the Twins brain trust in conjunction with Joe Mauer decided that Mauer was done as a catcher due to concussion issues and would become the teams first baseman. In the teams first 70 games (March 31 through June 18) Mauer played in 64 of them getting 289 plate appearances while hitting primarily third in the batting order, he managed to hit just two home runs with 16 RBI while hitting for a .254 batting average. On July 1st while playing against the Royals at Target Field, Mauer pulled his right oblique and missed 34 games between July 2 and August 11th. By the time the season was over Mauer had played in 120 games, hit four home runs, knocked in 55 and struck out a career high 96 times while posting an un-Maueresque OBP of .360 and a .732 OPS. His play in the field although not stellar was acceptable for a player learning a new position on the fly. Unless Mauer starts hitting like the Mauer of old, manager Paul Molitor has no business hitting him third. Why not hit Mauer at lead-off? Since 2004 when he first joined the Twins, Mauer has the highest OBP at .401 and is followed by Jim Thome at .387, Denard Span at .357, Luis Castillo at .357 and Danny Santana at .353 when you compare players that have played 100 games or more. Fans just have a hard time accepting the fact that Joe makes $23 million a year, seems to show no urgency, and the man never seems to get mad about anything. Come on Joe, throw something or at least get thrown out of a game arguing a strike call so we know you are still alive out there.
Finalist but did not make the final cut – Ricky Nolasco was signed by Minnesota in December 2013 and is the highest paid free agent signing in team history. In early July after posting a season todate 5.90 ERA in 104 innings in 18 starts Nolasco revealed he had bad pitching through elbow pain since spring training. You would think that for $49 million that Nolasco could at least be truthful about his condition and have enough confidence in his abilities to step up and speak up instead of hurting his team by continuing to pitch when he is injured. The announcement came as a complete shock to the Twins who then placed Nolasco on the DL where he missed 32 games between July 8th and August 15th. Then in late September he further alienated himself to the Twins community when he responded to a tweet from a Dodgers fan who said they wished he was still in LA and he responded by saying “So do I!!!” OMG! What a clown on so many levels. The man has fences to mend everywhere. “Minnesota nice” only lasts one season Ricky, pick it up their buddy and show us you are not the dud you showed in 2014.
Chuck Knoblauch was the Twins first round pick in 1989 and was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1991 and an All-Star in 1992, 1994, 1996 and 1997. Knobby played in the Dome from 1991 – 1997.
Second runner-up isChuck Knoblauch was the Twins first round (25th over all) draft choice in June of 1989 and by 1991 he was the Twins starting second baseman on a World Championship team and the American League rookie of the year. The mercurial Knobby demanded to be traded in 1997 and the Twins granted him his wish after the season ended and sent him to the Yankees where he played from 1998-2001. During his stay in New York Knoblauch started having issues with throwing to ball to first base and he left as a free agent after the 2001 season. Knoblauch spent his final season in the big leagues in Kansas City in 2002 and when the season ended so did the 34 year-old Knoblauch’s big league career. After his career ended Knoblauch had issues with alcohol and was arrested in 2010 for hitting his wife and he ended up with a years probation. In January 2014 the Twins announced that Chuck Knoblauch had been elected as the 27th member of the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame and would be inducted in August. But Chuck had another alcohol related issue in July of this year and again was arrested and charged with assaulting his ex-wife. This was too much for the Twins organization and they cancelled his August Twins Hall of Fame induction and cut off communications with Knoblauch. By the way, former Twins manager Tom Kelly was on hand at the award ceremony as a guest of Knoblauch and he asked the guests to refrain from throwing Domedogs and other miscellaneous items at Chuck as he stepped up to the podium to accept his second runner-up trophy.
Twins Marketing VP Nancy O’Brien
The runner-up is non other than the infamous Twins brand survey – As the 2014 season was coming to an end and another 90+ season was just around the bend, the Minnesota Twins Marketing department decided to send a brand survey to their season ticket holders. I did not actually see the entire survey and can’t find a copy of it but one of the questions the Twins asked in the survey attracted national attention, albeit not necessarily positive. So here is the question and you need to keep in mind that the Twins are well on their way to losing 90 or more games for the fourth year in a row when the survey is sent out.
The survey caught the attention of ESPN’s Keith Olbermann and here is a short YouTube video clip on his thoughts about the Minnesota Twins. The Twins come up at about the 2:30 mark on the video if you want to skip over the first part. Olbermann clip on Twins brand survey. Twins president Dave St. Peter took offense to Olbermann’s comments and you can see what he had to say here and here. Nancy O’Brien the Twins vice-president of Marketing almost became our first female Twins Turkey of the Year winner but the crack marketing staff came up just short in the final balloting. To be honest a couple of votes had some hanging chad and the Twins were offered a recount but since they would have to pay for it they chose to pass and are planning to spend their money on a starting pitcher and they are looking at possible reunions with Kevin Slowey and Scott Baker. The Twins organization and Mr. St. Peter need to remember that “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”
Aaron Hicks
This years winner is – Aaron Hicks was the Twins first round (14th over all) selection in the June 2008 draft. Hicks was on fire during spring training in 2013 hitting .370 with four home runs and 18 RBI and the 23 year-old switch-hitting rookie won the center field job that had been vacated when Denard Span and Ben Revere were traded for pitching depth after the 2012 season. Hicks could not hold on to the job in 2013 but he again started the 2014 season as the Twins center fielder. Hicks hit poorly in his second chance with the club and then got hurt on May 1st and was put on the concussion DL the next day. After being activated from the concussion DL Hicks continued to struggle with the bat, particularly from the left-side where he is has a career average of .185 and on May 26 without consulting with Twins management Hicks announced that he was through with switch-hitting and would bat only from the right side going forward. The Twins were caught by surprise but they were desperate for a center fielder so Twins said OK, go for it and they didn’t even bother to send him to the minors to soften the transition. Just several days later Hicks came up with lower back stiffness and missed a couple more games. Then on June 9th Hicks hurt his shoulder diving for a ball and went on the DL the next day. The Twins then sent Hicks down to New Britain to rehab and on June 22 Hicks plays in a rehab game and hits left-handed. After the game Hicks announces that he has had a change of heart and is again a switch-hitter. The Twins recalled Hicks on September 2 and Hicks appeared in 21 September games hitting .250 (15 for 60) with three doubles and nine RBI. But even during the last month of the season Hicks could not stay out of Gardy’s doghouse when he again had lower back stiffness on September 20th and not only did he not show up early for treatment on Sunday, he didn’t show up until 11:00 AM for a 1:00 game saying that he had over slept. As the season was winding down the Twins brain trust talked to Hicks about playing winter-ball but he resisted stating that he was getting married in the off-season. Hicks finally consented to play winter ball in Venezuela but the team cut him after just 16 games when Hicks hit .220 in 50 at bats with one home run and four RBI but on the plus side he did draw 13 walks. Coming off back-to-back horrendous seasons Aaron Hicks has to be on the cusp of joining the scrap heap of former Twins first round picks that have failed to live up to expectations. The man is an athlete but so far he has not put it together and his attitude and perceived lack of effort is hurting his chances. Hicks seems to think he is entitled to play in the big leagues and does not seem to be willing to put in the work to get there and become the player he should be. Hicks might not have earned his pay in 2014 but he does earn the title as Twins Turkey of the Year for 2014. Step up here Mr. Hicks and claim your award.
Bonus Thanksgiving content – Can a player be traded for a turkey? An interesting question because apparently it happened back in 1931 and the Washington Senators who would become the Minnesota Twins in 1961 were involved. Better yet, the Twins new AA team the Chattanooga Lookouts were the team that actually made the trade. This is a cool read and you should check it out at Baseball Prospectus.
AMA or amateur free agents are players that were not draft eligible and most of these players were signed by Minnesota out of Australia, Europe, or Caribbean countries. We are talking about players like Miguel Sano, Oswaldo Arcia, Danny Santana, Max Kepler and many others.
