Twins

This post is part of a series in which Mark Armour and I count down the 25 best GMs in history, crossposting from our blog. For an explanation, please see this post.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have won three World Series in the past 89 years, and all three of them were substantially built by the same man. Joe L. Brown replaced a legend, but carved out a great legacy in Pittsburgh for 21 seasons.

The Twins are a team known for producing their players from the minor league system. Although one of Minnesota’s biggest downfalls is the team’s inability to sign and re-sign big-time players. Many players from the likes of David Ortiz to Kyle Lohse have gone on to have success with other teams.

I was young. It must have been about 1984. I was eight and my family was at the Twins game. We got there early and watched batting practice. The Twins were playing the Red Sox. We were down the third base line. There was a roller and the ball was right in front of us.

Lefty-hander John Henry Johnson of the Red Sox came to get the ball. Me, being eight-years-old, did what any eight year old boy would do. "Hey Mister! Mister, can I have that ball!?"

Johnson got to the wall, looked up at me, turned away, turned back and said, "I've come too far over here for this." And he tossed me the ball.

It was the first and only time I got a ball at a baseball game.

These are the days that test who you are as a Minnesota Twins Fan. Rough Start... Expectations not being met... and a small sample size. Do you start throwing babies out with the bath water or do you just keep washing this baby.

All I know is that many of you have got the baby by both ankles and are looking for a place to dispose of it.

I'm saying not yet because that's what Molly Ringwald would have done.

Trust the process.

When ballplayers get off to slow starts, that can become a cliche, a catchphrase to talk themselves down a little bit from their early struggles.

Joe Mauer's stats at the end of the season's first month were not good, but a deeper dive showed that things were likely to get better.

They have.

Twins pitchers have been much more successful this season when Jason Castro has been behind the plate. Are there stats we can point to that prove he’s a far superior game caller/pitcher whisperer than Chris Gimenez? Or are there too many variables that cloud the numbers?

No player can have a bigger impact on a single game than the starting pitcher. Go out and throw a gem, you've put your team in excellent position to win. Turn in a clunker and your team may have already been sunk in the early innings.

With that in mind, here's a deep look into how Yankee starter Luis Severino likes to attack hitters, Ervin Santana's history against the Yankees and some other notes regarding tomorrow's big game.