Tag: Zack Greinke

According to ELIAS – Ervin Santana & Jorge Polanco

Santana and Polanco deliver the goods

Ervin Santana

Ervin Santana earned his 14th win of the season and teammate Jorge Polanco homered from each side of the plate in the Twins’ 6-4 triumph over the White Sox. Santana has a 14-win season with three different teams (three such seasons with the Angels, one with the Braves, and now one with the Twins). Two other active pitchers have had at least one season of 14-or-more wins with three different teams: Bartolo Colon (five different teams) and Zack Greinke (four teams). The last pitcher to win at least 14 games for the Twins was Phil Hughes who won 16 games in 2014.

Jorge Polanco

Polanco is the third player to homer from each side of the plate as a shortstop in a game this season, joining Francisco Lindor (April 5) and Freddy Galvis (June 4). Polanco joins a select group of Minnesota Twins (Roy Smalley, Chili Davis, Ryan Doumit, and Kennys Vargas) to hit a home run from each side of the plate in a single game.

According to ELIAS – Jose Berrios

Sweet Berrios poisons D-Backs

Jose Berrios

23-year-old Jose Berrios defeated Zack Greinke and the Diamondbacks, with the Twins winning the game 5-0. Berrios pitched seven brilliant innings in which he allowed just 2 hits and 1 walk, fanning 7. Berrios is now 11-5 in 18 starts this season. Only three other pitchers in Twins/Senators history, 23-or-younger, started a season with as many wins in their first 18 starts of a season: 22-year-old Joe Boehling in 1913 (11-5), 23-year-old Scott Erickson in 1991 (13-3), and 22-year-old Francisco Liriano in 2005 (11-3).

Just a few notes and thoughts this morning

Brad Hand

San Diego Padre (and Minnesota native) left-hander Brad Hand is supposedly on the market. Hand led the NL in appearances in 2016 with 82 pitching 89 plus innings and striking out 111 while giving up just 63 hits and posting a 2.92 ERA. The 6’3″ 27 year-old Hand blossomed last season when he became a full-time relief pitcher. Hand is making just under $1.4 million this season and is arbitration eligible for the first time in 2018. Did I mention that Hand held left-handed opponents to a .123/.234/.221 batting line in that time but also shut down right-handed batters to the tune of a .219/.295/.350 triple slash. You would think that with San Diego rebuilding, the Twins would have someone they could part with to have Brad provide a Hand in the Twins bullpen……. I am not big normally on making up trade proposals but if the price is right, this is a no brainer. Don’t forget, prospects are just that, this is a “Brad in the Hand”. Am I on a roll or what?

Trevor May

Apparently Trevor May isn’t spending all his time rehabbing and based on this article he doesn’t seemed to be too down and out about his injury and TJ surgery.

Glancing Back, and Remembering Bernie Allen is a nice little piece about former Twins 2B Bernie Allen in 1960s baseball, a site I really enjoy. They also have a cool report called “The Top Ten Minnesota Twins (or any team for that matter) of the 1960s” that you can download for free. Take them up on their offer, you can’t go wrong. Click on the book cover to download.

 

Although the following “According to ELIAS” post is not Twins related, any time you get 20 strikeouts in a nine inning game it is worth mentioning.

MLB records tied: Kimbrel 4 SO in 9th, Red Sox pitchers 20 in game

Craig Kimbrel was credited with four strikeouts in the ninth inning on Thursday night, tying a major-league record and boosting the total of strikeouts by Red Sox pitchers to 20 in their victory over the Rangers, tying the major-league record for strikeouts by a team in a nine-inning game.

Nomar Mazara, first up for Texas in the ninth, swung and missed at the third strike, as the ball apparently hit his left foot. Although he would have been automatically out had that been the call, he ran to first base and was permitted to remain there, as the umpires apparently did not rule that the ball had hit him, so that when it bounced toward the third-base dugout, it was still live. No sweat for Kimbrel, he just struck out the next three batters to join AJ Burnett, Zack Greinke and Chuck Finley as the only major-league pitchers who have struck out more than three batters in an inning more than once. (Kimbrel also did it with Atlanta in 2012; Finley had three such innings in his career.) Red Sox pitchers have now accounted for three of the six instances in which a team accumulated 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game. Roger Clemens accounted for the two other cases personally, against the Mariners in 1986 and at Detroit in 1996.

I really don’t care who you vote for the 2017 All-Star game, except…..that I do urge you to vote for Twins third baseman Miguel Sano. The man is having a tremendous season and he deserves to represent us Minnesota Twins fans along with Ervin Santana in Miami in July. Click on the image to vote.

 

According to ELIAS

Centeno homers off Kluber

Juan Centeno 2016Juan Centeno‘s first career home run, a two-run shot in the fifth inning off Corey Kluber, gave the Twins a lead they never relinquished in their win over the Indians yesterday. Centeno is the third player this season whose first career home run in the majors came off a former Cy Young Award winner. Colorado’s Trevor Story hit his first off Zack Greinke and Arizona’s Socrates Brito hit his off Jake Arrieta.

Centeno is the ninth player in Minnesota Twins history whose first career homer came off a former Cy Young Award winner. Some of the names on that list include Butch Wynegar, Lyman Bostock, John Castino and Steve Lombardozzi.

“Earning” the big bucks?

American dollar bills raining down According to the MLB Salary Rankings the following players earned pocketed the biggest salaries in 2015. Some earned their money and others did not but it is fun to be an arm-chair quarterback and review the results. You can argue that nobody deserves the kind of money that baseball players receive today but you would be shoveling sand against the tide. Owners are willing to pay these players the big bucks because in some cases they want to win at any cost and in other cases because (in my opinion) they are just plain stupid.

Here in Minnesota we have Minnesota born Joe Mauer earning $23 million a year and he still has three years on his contract. Fans have been all over Mauer for his performance or lack there of for a number of years now but the complaining has gotten louder and more vocal since Mauer threw away his catching gear and bought himself a first baseman’s mitt. It hasn’t helped that the team lost 90+ games each season from 2011 through 2014 before turning things around in 2015.

  1. The highest paid player was Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw who pocketed a cool $32,571,428 in 2015. The Dodgers won their division with 92 wins but lost in the NLDS and they were done. Kershaw was the highest paid player in baseball in 2015 but an argument can be made that he was only the second best pitcher in the Dodgers starting rotation.  Kershaw has five more years remaining on his contract and each season will cost at least $34.5 million. Was Kershaw worth $32 million this year? I don’t think so, he had a good year but was not worth $32+ million.
  2. The second highest paid player in baseball this year was Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander at $28,000,000. Verlander will be 33 when he starts the 2016 season and he is guaranteed $28 million a year for four more seasons and then there is a $22 million vesting option for the following season (2020) if he finished in the top five in Cy Young voting in 2019. Did Verlander earn his keep in 2015? No way, he only started 20 games and won five of them, so the cost per win was $5.6 million. Ouch!
  3. The third spot on the big money list is a tie between pitchers Cliff Lee and Zack Greinke along with first baseman Ryan Howard at $25,000,000. Nobody won fewer games (63) than the hapless Phillies, the manager resigned, the GM was fired and Cliff Lee due to injuries contributed zero innings pitched to the Phillies cause. The Phillies have a team option on the 37 year-old Lee in 2016 for $27.5 million but more than likely will buy him out for $12.5 million. The soon to be 36 year-old Ryan Howard’s case for $25 million was darn just as bad. Howard hit .229 with a .227 OBP in 129 games. Howard has the Phillies on the hook for another $25 million in 2016 and a team option at $23 million in 2017 with a $10 million buyout. Howard should be arrested for “grand theft”. Lee was hurt but that is no excuse, he contributed zippo and hasn’t had double-digit wins since 2013. Dodger pitcher Zack Greinke had a very good season and if you argue that a good pitcher is worth $25 million a season then “the Donald” (Yes that is really his first name) is your guy based on his 19-3 record and 1.66 ERA.
  4. The next man up is King Felix, the ace of the Mariners staff. Felix Hernandez was 18-9 with a 3.53 ERA, it was his highest ERA since 2007 and he fell short of 200 strikeouts for the first time since 2008. However, he did all this for a team that won just 76 games. Hernandez who will only be 30 when the 2016 season begins earned his $24,857,000 salary in 2015 and will make between $25 million each season for the next four years. Oddly enough the team has a $1 million option on him in 2020 based on some injury stipulations.
  5. From  King Felix we go to Prince Albert Pujols the soon to be 36 year-old first baseman in the land of the Angels. Pujols who earned $24 million bounced back in 2015 with 40 round trippers and 95 RBI in 157 games but he hit only .244 and his OBP has been dropping like a rock since 2010. But Pujols has to love fantasy land because he will collect $25 million next season and then is guaranteed a million dollar raise each season through 2020. In 2021 when Pujols is 41 the Angels have a $30 million option and best of all, Pujols has a 10 year $10 million personal services deal with the team once he quits playing. We should change Pujols nickname from Prince Albert to Jesse James. Earth to Angels……..anybody there? This contract makes Joe Mauer’s deal look like child’s play. Next man up is another prince, Prince Fielder 1B and DH from the Texas Rangers. After missing most of 2014 due to injury the Prince bounced back this past season and was selected as the AL Come-Back player of the year. Keep in mind that Fielder has been in the big leagues for 10 full seasons and in nine of those seasons he played in 157 or more games and four times he played in 162 games. The man comes to play. The six-time All-Star hit .305 and had 23 home runs and 98 RBI also made $24 million this season and will continue to be paid at that rate for five more season’s. Only $18 million of the money is paid by the Rangers as the Tigers will chip in $6 million each year. Did Prince earn his money? You make the call, but I should tell you that 13 other major league players hit more than 23 home runs and knocked in more than 98 runs and did not make this kind of money. Let’s move on to the third of the $24 million dollar amigo’s, Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano. Cano has been in the big leagues for 11 season’s, nine of them with the Yankees. Cano is a very good player but at 33 years of age is on the decline. However, his salary is not as he is owed $192 million by the Mariners over the next 8 season’s and in his last season under this deal he will be 40 years old. Good luck with that deal!
  6. Next man up is Yankee 1B Mark Teixeira who earned $23,1215,000 this past season and is in the books to earn the same amount in his final year of his contract in 2016. Tex will be 36 early next season and last played a full season in 2011. Teixeira did hit .255 with 31 home runs this past year in that bandbox that they call Yankee Stadium. Can Tex look in the mirror and ask himself “Did I earned my pay?” I don’t think so, even in today’s world of inflated salaries you have to show up for work more than 69% of the time to make that kind of money.
  7. We move on to the fifth pitcher making this list, 35 year-old lefty CC Sabathia from the New York Yankees who made $23 million this past season. CC is guaranteed $25 million for 2016 and $25 million more in 2017 if he avoids a couple of injury stipulations. The man has made at least 28 starts a year in 14 of his 15 big league seasons, you have to give the big guy credit for that. Does he still pitch like a $23 million pitcher? No way!

This past post season only three of the teams mentioned above (Dodgers, Yankees and Rangers) made the playoffs and none of them advanced past the ALDS round. Just goes to show that money can’t buy you happiness. Let’s take a look at recent World Series winners and see how much money their highest paid player made.

2015 Royals – Alex Gordon at $12.5 million

2014 Giants – Matt Cain at $20 million (pitched total of 90 inning & did not appear in post season play)

2013 Red Sox – John Lackey at $15.25 million

2012 Giants – Barry Zito at $19 million (15-8 with a 4.15 ERA)

2011 Cardinal – Matt Holliday at $16.318 million

2010 Giants – Barry Zito at $18.5 million (9-14 with 4.15 ERA)

The fans keep pressuring team owners to sign their stars and acquire additional free agents to long-term deals. Just for discussion let’s assume a long-term deal is five years or longer. What percentage of long-term deals pays off for the team over the length of the contract? I don’t know of any study that has analyzed that but I believe that the percentage has to be low. Assuming that is the case, why sign players to these long terms?

I believe the main reason is that team owners feel they need to offer long-term deals to be competitive with the other teams competing for the same player. To me that seems just plain dumb. Offer the player a more lucrative deal for a shorter time frame and you will still get players to sign and you will save money and probably a roster spot. Another dumb move by team owners is the fact that they give players the option to bail out on a long-term deal after a certain number of years. Again, D-U-M-B! Why doesn’t the team get an option to terminate the deal after a few years if they wish to do so?

I am not trying to side with the owners here, I am looking to see how teams can avoid getting bogged down with a player or two on the roster making too high a percentage of the overall team payroll and thus making that team un-competitive because they can’t afford to pay the rest of their players.

On the other side of the coin star players draw fans and fans spend money, buy tickets, watch more games on TV and the teams revenue increases. But the excitement of signing a new player to a big deal is short-lived and then fans often turn on the player and the team for not performing based on the huge deal he signed. It appears to me that signing players to shorter deals lessens the owner risk and give the team the opportunity to sign another player and start the excitement all over again.

Joe Mauer 2015The Twins have a unique situation with the St. Paul born Joe Mauer. Mauer signed an eight year deal back in 2010 for $184 million with a full no trade clause. Now, Mauer who was a catcher at the time has moved to first base and his hitting no longer measures up. What do you do with a home born player making that much money, who will be 33 in April, hit 10 home runs and knocked in only 66 runs with a .265 batting average in 666 plate appearances primarily in the number three spot in your batting order? The Twins are not a team that can put a guy making $23 million on the bench and he has a full no trade deal. If you could trade him who would take him? The Twins would have to pay someone big bucks to take him but yet if you leave him in the line-up he is taking up a spot that is not producing as it should for a young team that is getting ready to make the playoffs. What kind of message does that send to the team and the fans? A heck of a dilemma, but have faith, all is not lost, baseball owners and GM’s have proven over the years that there is always somebody out there that is willing to take your deadwood off your hands because there is always a chance that he will have one more great season in him and that they can catch lightning in a bottle one more time.

According to ELIAS

Mark Buehrle 2015The Twins ended Mark Buehrle‘s streak of 35 consecutive innings without allowing Minnesota an earned run early and with emphasis last night, scoring four runs, all earned, in the first inning. But then Buehrle slipped back into form, the Blue Jays pecked away and the veteran left-hander wound up going the distance to earn a 6-4 victory. Only two major-league pitchers over the last 30 years have earned a complete-game win, going nine or more innings, after having allowed four or more runs in the first inning¿and even they were long ago. In 1995, Seattle’s Tim Belcher downed Cleveland, 11-5, after allowing four in the first, and in 1986, Fernando Valenzuela went the route after yielding four in the first to help the Dodgers top the Phillies, 11-4.

Sam McDowellBuehrle’s streak, crafted over five games dating back to 2011, was the longest by any big-league pitcher against an opposing team since Zack Greinke held Seattle without an earned run over 38 innings from 2008 to 2010. It was the longest such streak crafted by a starting pitcher against the Twins since Sudden Sam McDowell sailed through 48 innings without allowing the Twins an earned run over 1968 and 1969. Source: ELIAS

Twins active but lots of work remains to be done

It has been awhile since my last post but web site hosting issues have caused me a lot of extra work and taken me away from more fun activities like keeping up with the MLB Winter meetings and the changing Twins roster.

With the recent trades of former first round pick (2002) outfielder Denard Span to the Washington Nationals for 2011 Nats first round pick RHP Alex Meyer and just a few days later sending another former Twins first round pick (2007) outfielder Ben Revere to the Phillies for RHP’s Vance Worley and Trevor May the Twins and GM Terry Ryan have held true to their word that changes were coming and that they were going to snag as many pitchers as they could. These trades should also clear up any confusion that some Twins fans may still have had that the Twins were going to be “reload” and try to become a playoff team once again after suffering through two dismal seasons. The Twins are in a full-scale rebuilding mode but not the kind of rebuilding mode that we may have seen from the Twins in the past. In the past they would get rid of all their high salaried players and start from scratch but that is a much harder sell now days with the Twins just having moved into their new digs at Target Field in 2010. The Twins aren’t stupid, they know they can’t afford to totally alienate their fan base that they have built up with a with a new ballpark and a nice run since 2002 but they also know that they let their starting pitching fall into disrepair the last few years and in the process have lost 90+ games two years in a row. The team grew stale, changes were few and far between on the player, coaching and management sides and their “smoke and mirrors” approach to their pitching staff caught up with the team so quickly it seemed to catch the entire Twins organization off guard.

The Twins are not a huge market team but they can not plead poverty as they have in the past. The team has a decent fan base, a relatively new ballpark and ownership that has money to spend but I am not sure that they are willing to spend it. The Twins like to brag that they are one of the top organizations in baseball but when it comes to taking out their wallet to bring in some high-priced talent the team claims it is not all about the money. I understand if they can’t put Zack Greinke in a Twins uniform but I can’t get a handle on why you can’t get Joe Blanton for example if the Angels can get him for 2 years for $15 million. This team has just two starting pitchers going into 2013 and I surely don’t grasp why the team would supposedly make an offer to Francisco Liriano after his history with the team between 2005-2012. I think Terry Ryan is a very good GM but I sure don’t know what his logic is for this move. At least throw us a bone Mr. Pohlad, give us some new blood and something to at least give us some hope instead of having us pay to watch that same old crap. I understand loyalty but you can only keep hitting your head against the same old wall for so long before someone shows up to haul you away in a white coat. Show us some loyalty and a reason why we should pay big league prices to watch the Twins in 2013.

This Twins team has more holes than my fishing net but I still love baseball and every year teams come for nowhere to play winning baseball and I can only hope that the Twins will do so sooner than later. There are still serviceable pitchers out there on the FA market and I hope that Jim Pohlad lets Dave St. Peter and Terry Ryan know that his checkbook is there and he is willing to carack it open long enough to sign at least one if not two more starting pitchers. It all starts at the top. The recent splash the Twins have made in the trade market should be just the beginning of what the Twins need to do to become competitive again and not the final chapter.

Josh Hamilton is still a free agent and if Texas doesn’t resign him they could use a power hitting outfielder and if I were the Twins I would be happy to send Josh Willingham to Texas for a shortstop like Jurickson Barthelomeus Profar that could fill that shortstop hole at Target Field for many years to come. The Twins recently announced that they had signed 35-year-old pitcher Jason Lane who played the outfield for the Astros and Padres from 2002-2007 and turned to pitching in 2009. The team also signed 1B/C Jeff Clement who has played in the big leagues with the Mariner and the Pirates for parts of 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012 and hit .218 in 385 at bats. Why in %#@* do you spend the money on players like this? You don’t win with quantity, you win with quality, I am not sure the Twins look at it that way.

In the recent major league portion of the Rule 5 draft the Twins selected 23 year-old RHP Ryan Pressly from the Boston Red Sox. After starting since 2008 Pressly was turned into a reliever late in 2012 and pitched well in that role in the AFL over the last month or so.

It is still early in December and the 2013 season is several months away but the Twins brain trust needs to keep their nose to the grindstone if this team is going to break their two-year death grip on last place. If I was Ron Gardenhire, the way things looks right now, I would be signing on to the PC and updating my resume.

It is still baseball season, isn’t it?

This morning I pick up the Star and Tribune and the front page headline is “Wild lands biggest catch”. There is no mention of the Minnesota Twins in the Sports section until page C4 and that is a short blurb titled “Gardy, Mauer join recruiting process” that talks about how they helped to recruit hockey free agents Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to the Minnesota Wild. The Twins game story from last nights 5-1 loss to the Tigers is on the LAST page of the Sports section, page C8. Today is July 5th, the MLB All-Star game is less than a week away and the Tribune puts baseball on pages 7 and 8, that is just plain disgusting. I know that signing Parise and Suter is a big deal but this is just ridiculous. At this rate when the Vikings open their pre-season camp I might not even be able to read anything about the Twins for the rest of the year. With the Wild, Vikings, and even the Timberwolves improving their teams, interest in Twins baseball may be dropping quickly. The Twins need to do something to right the ship that is taking on water and fighting to stay afloat.

Before the 2012 season started I thought that if the Twins stayed fairly healthy that they would finish the 2012 season at 78-84 but now with the team at the half way point in the season their record stands at a disappointing 35-46 and on pace to finish at 70-92, just seven games better than last years injury plagued season 99 loss season. The sad part is that there is not a lot of reason to be optimistic in the short-term with the Twins starting pitching in such wretched shape. I know that Scott Diamond has pitched well Francisco Liriano has pitched decently the last few games but we all know that Liriano will be traded before the month is out and rightfully so. The rest of the starting staff is in shambles and I don’t see Walters or DeVries as part of the solution long-term. Scott Baker is out for the season and I like Baker but I don’t think I would throw $9 million in his direction but if I could sign him for less than that, I make it happen. The bullpen has for the most part pitched well but how long can they continue to do so if they have to throw as many innings as they have so far?

The Twins have several directions they can go, they can force feed some of their young pitchers but that would be a big gamble and could take some time and Twins season ticket-holders numbers will drop like a rock. If Twins fans quit paying to watch their home town boys then the revenue drops and we all know what that means. Ownership could go out on the free agent market and find some starters but that will take big bucks and that has not been the road that the Twins have ever traveled. It might however; be a road that ownership is forced to take if they still want fans to be willing to spend part of their hard-earned dollars on a Twins ticket. Minnesota fans will always pay to watch the Vikings and if the Wild and Timberwolves get hot the Twins will be in deep do-do. Any marketing or sales person worth his salt will tell you that it is always better and less expensive to retain a customer than it is to find a new customer.  I always have been and always will be a Twins fan but there are a lot of “fair weather” fans that will drop the Twins like a hot potato if the team does not show them that they can put a fun and competitive team on the diamond. The last option is to trade some of their position players for pitching but everyone is looking for pitching so that is not an easy path either. The Twins are on the edge here, the next few weeks will begin to show us what direction this team is headed.

What would I do? It is always easy to spend other people’s money but here is my take on things. First off, I listen to any and all offers and I make any deal that I think will help me get better and that means that no player either in the big leagues or in the minors is untouchable. Not every trade works out the way you plan but some changes are necessary. It is easy to fall in love with your players but the bottom line is the won-loss record and if our players are so good, why aren’t we winning? I think the Twins need to acquire one big time starter like a Zack Greinke that can lead the staff and that will cost some money but it is something that needs to get done. The rest of the starting staff will need to be put together from with in the organization. I am not saying it will be easy but if ownership wants to keep butts in the Target Field seats they have to spend some money to make this team competitive while the Twins young stars in the minors learn the game. The fans have shown that they will support this team if they put a competitive team on the field, now it is time for the Pohlad’s to step up and show the fans that they mean business.