Matthew Lenz

I agree, Rooker and Jeffers look great so far. That said, that has no implication on how Blankenhorn will look. I'm not against giving him a shot but Blankenhorn isn't the prospect Rooker and Jeffers are.

Curious why you’re tied to these two? They haven’t been good this year.

With Dan Hayes of MLB.com breaking the news that Twins second baseman Luis Arráez would be heading to the Injured List, we look at who could fill his shoes best. Is the best option currently on the Twins active roster or should the Twins consider promoting someone from St. Paul? Read on to find out. Although Arráez isn’t performing to the standard he set in his rookie season, he’s been having a very solid sophomore year for the Twins slashing .288/.336/.337 and showing improvement on the defensive side of the ball. That said, after a rough August and having multiple occasions where he was noticeably in pain while running the bases he finds himself on the IL for the first time in his career. The Twins will give him a couple weeks to get the knee healthy before entering the playoffs but we are looking at the possibility of needing someone to fill in through the rest of the regular and postseason. This article will look at who that could be and a quick summary of what that might look like. Marwin Gonzalez Given his experience, both at second and on a playoff team, he will likely benefit the most from Arráez’s absence. As valuable as his versatility is, Gonzalez has been dreadful at the plate this season slashing .204/.285/.288 this season. With a career BABIP of .306 some might see it as unlucky that his 2020 BABIP is at .238, and his statcast numbers would support that idea. Many of his advanced metrics are right around his career norms so Marwin could really benefit with more consistent playing time and some positive regression. Ehire Adrianza As bad as Gonzalez has been, Adrianza has been worse. I don’t think anyone expected Adrianza to match what he did in 2019, but I don’t think anyone expected him to slash .174/.250/.232 either. For Adrianza it’s likely his pitch selection that is at least part to blame as he’s making contact on pitches out of the zone much more than he did last season and over his career, other than that his batted ball metrics are actually similar to 2019. That said, throughout Adrianza’s eight year career, 2019 was though he can’t get much worse I trust Marwin to turn it around before him. Travis Blankenhorn Blankenhorn is staying fresh, or as fresh as he can, over in St. Paul with Lewis and would provide the same versatility that Marwin currently does. In a normal season I would not be a fan of giving a prospect a shot at a part-time role on a playoff team but, of course, this isn’t a normal season. Coming in as the Twins 18th ranked and third oldest prospect according to MLB.com, Blankenhorn isn’t going to wow you with his bat or his defense. That said, Marwin and Adrianza aren’t wow-ing anyone right now either so what’s the harm in giving Blankenhorn a shot? Royce Lewis Obviously, he is naturally a shortstop but sliding over to second isn’t what's keeping him across the river. What is keeping him from the Twins active roster is that he’s not on the 40-man roster. The Twins top prospect will likely need to wait until 2021 to make his MLB debut. Nick Gordon Gordon just recently fully recovered from COVID-19 and reported to the Fort Myers complex to begin baseball activities. If not for the long recovery, this just might have been the opening he needed to make his MLB debut. What are your thoughts? Stick with Marwin and Adrianza or give Blankenhorn a shot? I’d be surprised if the Twins put a rookie in this position so I’m guessing we’ll be seeing a heavy dose of Marwin and Adrianza over the next two weeks, if not longer. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

“Will you teach Rocco how to manage a pitching staff”, said [name redacted]. Not being in the room at the time I knew what he meant. Rocco had pulled Dobnak before he could face the Tigers lineup the third time through. What he didn’t know was it was history shows it was probably the right call.[Name redacted] went on to say “... let him start the 6th and if he gives up a hit, then pull him ... that’s my strategy on MLB the show.” So if you ever find yourself playing MNSportsguy21 online in MLB The Show, you better believe he’s sending his guy out there for a third time through. So who’s right? MNSportsguy21 or Rocco Baldelli? Is there even a right answer? We’re about to find out. Let's start by looking at the historical statistics of a starting pitcher facing a lineup for a third time in a game and then narrow it down to focusing on Rocco Baldelli use of the strategy. For this exercise, I wanted to limit my research from 1988 to current day as the National Baseball Hall of Fame (Cooperstown) refers to this era as “Today’s Game”. Unfortunately, Fangraphs only goes as far back as 2002 for this type of statistic so the last 18 seasons will be my timeframe. First, lets just look at a simple line graph that shows this growing trend across Major League Baseball. Download attachment: Screen Shot 2020-09-04 at 9.40.00 PM.png You can see that from 2002 to 2014 MLB managers stayed pretty consistently around 7,500 innings pitched but since then that trend has decreased to 5,408.1 innings pitched in 2019. A pretty drastic and clear shift in strategy amongst a majority of Major League Baseball teams ... not just Rocco. This strategy should make sense as most pitchers throw more pitches they start to wear down and as teams see them for a third time they know what to expect. That said, such an extreme shift doesn’t happen just based off of assumptions so let's look at another set of data. Download attachment: Screen Shot 2020-09-04 at 9.55.44 PM.png If you couldn’t see a theme by looking at the numbers I used a color scale to help. Our assumptions were true, teams have more success against starting pitchers the more they face them in a single game. Now let's start to narrow the focus to Rocco Baldelli development of this strategy before taking a look at which, if any, Minnesota Twins starters should be given a longer leash. Coincidentally, Rocco’s first year coaching with Tampa Bay was 2015, which was the year that trend started, and was also the year they ranked 28th in starters innings pitched against the lineup the third time through. From 2015 to 2018, before he joined the Twins, the Rays starters were dead last in innings pitched in the same statistic. You may be thinking they just had a poor pitching staff, but in the same timeframe they were 12th in SP fWAR. If Rocco believes in this strategy, it’s clear that he adopted it from his time with the Tampa Bay Rays. So how has this impacted the starting pitchers on the Twins? Interestingly, the Twins have actually allowed their starters to face the line up the third time through the 10th most in all of baseball. Contrary to what I suggested before, I do think this has more to do with our starters earning a longer leash through their play rather than Rocco ditching the strategy. So let's see how the 2020 Twins starters have fared the third time through a lineup throughout their careers. In the graphic below the two stats are wOBA / FIP in that order and the number in parenthesis is the innings pitched. For reference, since 2015 the median innings pitched in this scenario is 116.2 Download attachment: Screen Shot 2020-09-04 at 10.44.51 PM.png Obviously, Dobnak’s terrific numbers have to be taken with a grain of salt when he’s pitched a total of 5 2/3 innings in his short career in this scenario. As with any data set there are exceptions to the rules here, as Berrios actually has better numbers the third time through than the first, but we can mostly summarize that turning the game over to the bullpen is likely the best option in most scenarios for this group of Twins starters. I was actually surprised that the Twins had the 10th most innings pitched in this scenario as it seems like Rocco pulls the starter more often than not. MNSportsguy21, you might want to change your MLB The Show strategy. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

Based on the data shared above on of the points I was making is that he doesn’t have incredible movement, but you’re right about the accuracy. Remember he’s hitting the bottom of the zone but teams still have an above average hard hit rate against him...that’s where I worry a better hitting team is able to do more damage.

Since FanGrapbs started tracking GB% the Major League record by a starter is 67.0%. Dobnak is getting groundballs at an historic rate and I don’t buy into that continuing. Hope I’m wrong!

Randy Dobnak has produced Cy Young level results in the first four games of 2020 and, in reality, since he first appeared in the Majors. With a 0.90 ERA and WHIP regression is guaranteed, but this article looks at the bigger pitcher: Can Dobnak be effective against the best lineups in baseball?Randy Dobnak’s start to the season has not gone unnoticed by Twins twitter and those of us here at Twins Daily ... you can find Dobnak articles here and here. Rightfully so, both of the aforementioned articles focus on the positives that Dobnak has brought to the table thus far, but I’m here to play devil's advocate of sorts. I’m not convinced that Dobnak is someone who can be trusted against the most formidable lineups in baseball such as the Yankees, Astros, Braves, and Dodgers. Afterall, the Twins are a World Series contender and they likely will need to be two of the aforementioned teams to win the World Series. My first thought was not just to look at who he’s pitched against but, more specifically, how was that lineup performing coming into his start. I went back to each of his starts and looked at the BB/K, OPS, and wRC+ for the previous 10 days of each of his opponents. The two exceptions are when I looked at the 10 days after his start against the White Sox on July 25th (only the second day of the season) and his start against the Indians on July 31st only went back seven days. I then averaged out their results and compared them to the Yankees 10 days leading up to game two of the ALDS. Download attachment: 1.png Dobnak’s game log has some solid teams on it in Cleveland (four times), Washington, and Boston but this table shows that he has regularly been facing lineups that were performing at “below average” levels, per FanGraphs. In fact, the only offense that was “above average” in all three categories coming into their matchup against Dobnak were the Red Sox on August 3rd, 2019 and he was only used as an opener for a single inning. Specifically compared to the Yankees, the lineups he has faced in the regular season just haven’t had the same “umph”, so to speak. I know it’s only one start but unfortunately that extra “umph” turned out Dobnak’s worst start of his career allowing eight baserunners and four earned runs over just two plus innings. So this leads to the following question: was it just one bad start or will Dobnak struggle against better competition? In my opinion, the answer can be as simple as looking at his Baseball Savant profile and, if you’re not familiar, seeing a lot of blue is typically not encouraging. Download attachment: 2.png To be honest, I’ve been visiting his page throughout the season and all of the batted ball percentile rankings have been slightly increasing as the season has gone on despite still being below in the lower half of the league. To back up these numbers I went back to his FanGraphs page and noticed an 88.9% strand rate, a 0.217 BABIP, and a 66.7% groundball rate. Although Dobnak is a ground ball pitcher, even 66.7% is a significant increase over his career norms and his strand rate and BABIP are further indicators that a combination of luck and poor opponents are skewing his results. What’s even more telling is that it’s more typical for a ground ball pitcher to have a higher than average BABIP...not significantly lower. As much as pitchers norm don’t have to follow the league norms, the next data point that stood out to me was the “fastball spin” ranking. This sent me looking at Baseball Savants Pitch Arsenal page for Dobnak where I could see how Dobnak’s pitches rank against other pitchers in the league, which is picture below. Download attachment: 3.png This chart displays the movement of each of Dobnak pitches (the circles) compared to the league average (the gear symbols). With Dobnak topping out in the mid to low 90’s, he needs to rely on precision accuracy and movement to experience good results against good teams. He’s shown the precision accuracy living in the bottom of the strike zone, but as seen in the chart above he doesn’t really have a “plus” pitch compared to his peers. Again, more data that tells me Dobnak won’t fare well against the better offensive teams in baseball. All of this said, Dobnak is a solid pitcher. In my opinion, a back end of the rotation guy or long reliever out of the pen is a realistic long-term role. With the Twins schedule this season, widely considered the easiest in baseball, we may continue to see Cy Young-esque numbers from Dobnak although some regression is almost guaranteed. What’s your confidence level with Dobank making a playoff start? MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

The 2019 Minnesota Twins season was one the likes of which we may never see again, especially if changes to the baseball were truly made, as Commissioner Manfred stated in an interview with Forbes. The Twins set many major-league and franchise marks in a bomba-filled season that will never be forgotten by fans who witnessed it.We're wrapping up a 20-part series in which we look back at each Minnesota Twins season of the 2000s. A rotation of different writers will highlight key moments, unearth forgotten details, and share nostalgic tales from the past two decades leading up to the present. This installment covers the 2019 season. Team Record: 101-61 Finish: 1st Place in AL Central All-Stars: Jorge Polanco (SS), José Berríos (SP), Jake Odorizzi (SP) Awards: Rocco Baldelli (AL Manager of the Year), Mitch Garver (Silver Slugger, C), Nelson Cruz (Silver Slugger, DH) Playoffs: Lost to NYY 3-0 in ALDS Season Overview In 2019, for the first time in more than three decades, an outsider came to occupy the manager's office for the Minnesota Twins. Unlike Tom Kelly, Ron Gardenhire, and Paul Molitor, Rocco Baldelli had no ties to the organization before being hired on October 25th as Molitor's replacement. That wasn't the only thing different about Baldelli. Analytically inclined and exuding calm, positive energy, his style contrasted strongly with each of the legendary Minnesota baseball men to precede him, and at 37 he became the youngest manager in the game. Much like the front office leaders hired two years earlier, Baldelli represented a decidedly new-school departure for a franchise previously steeped in traditional philosophies. And in his first season at the helm, he would oversee a decidedly new-school success story: a remarkable rise that saw the former pitch-to-contact piranhas transform suddenly into a power-hitting, power-pitching, feared force of nature. The 2019 Twins hit 307 home runs, breaking the previous MLB record by 40, and edging the New York Yankees to come away as sole owners of the new benchmark. Minnesota also won 101 games, one fewer than the franchise record set by the 1965 Washington Senators. One of my favorite things to look at when reviewing a season is Baseball Reference's team pages where you can find splits for darn near anything and one of my favorite graphics shown below: Download attachment: twins2019gameresults.png On top of home runs, the Twins set the franchise marks for… Runs scored (939)RBIs (906)Slugging percentage (.494)On-base plus slugging (.832)K/9 by pitchers (9.0)Despite an all-too-familiar ending, to say that the 2019 season was special would be an understatement. Balance was the story for this record-setting offense, which saw an unprecedented eight different hitters collect 20 or more home runs. From one through nine, this lineup was essentially without weakness. Leading the way offensively: Nelson Cruz, who signed as a free agent and enjoyed a career year at age 38 with a 1.031 OPS, 41 homers and 108 RBIs.Mitch Garver, who took a massive leap forward in his sophomore season, delivering one of the better power-hitting seasons by a catcher in MLB history with 31 home runs and a .630 slugging percentage in 93 games.Max Kepler, who batted leadoff and smashed his career bests with 36 long balls, 90 RBIs and an .855 OPS.Miguel Sanó, who missed the first six weeks with a heel injury and then launched 34 bombas with 79 RBIs in 109 games after joining up.Jorge Polanco, who made the All-Star team as starting shortstop and an .841 OPS and 69 extra-base hits.Even with star sluggers taking charge and relatively good health across the roster, quality depth factored in a big way, as backups and prospects pushed up from underneath. While second baseman Jonathan Schoop wasn't bad, unheralded youngster Luis Arraez stole his job in the second half, with the rookie's .334 batting average ranking among the league's best. The Twins also got consistent production from utility players Marwin Gonzalez and Ehire Adrianza, including when first baseman C.J. Cron was battling a thumb injury. When Byron Buxton went down on August 1st, Max Kepler seamlessly stepped over to center while Jake Cave picked up the slack in right. The pitching staff had its ups and downs, but ultimately ended up being the third-best in baseball, per fWAR. Powered by an amazing offense, the rotation helped propel Minnesota to 23 games above .500 by the break, with both José Berríos and Jake Odorizzi making the All-Star team. But just as the bullpen was coming into its own in the second half, the rotation was wobbling. Berríos followed his career trend of dropping off in the late months. Odorizzi regressed back toward career norms. Martín Pérez's strong start became a distant memory as he repeatedly turned in clunkers. Kyle Gibson battled ulcerative colitis which rendered him increasingly ineffective. And Michael Pineda, who'd emerged as the team's best starter by the start of September, was hit with a season-ending PED suspension less than a month out from the playoffs. Just as the rotation was giving way, the bullpen was coming together. Shortcomings in this unit were bemoaned by fans for much of the summer, as was a lack of splashy action at the deadline, but Minnesota's relief corps would finish as one of the best in baseball. Taylor Rogers was customarily excellent in the closer role, joined by standouts Tyler Duffey, Trevor May, Zack Littell, deadline acquisition Sergio Romo, and the late electrical surge provided by rookie Brusdar Graterol in September. Despite various set backs, the Twins finished strong with an 18-9 month of September, earning yet another ALDS match-up with the hated New York Yankees. Following their usual pattern, the Twins showed some early fire and had a chance to win the first game, but fell short and fizzled out. Another three-game sweep extended a truly incredible run of postseason futility. More than anything, this might be the lasting legacy for this franchise in the first two decades of the 2000s, and one they'll be looking to snap in the third. Team MVP: Max Kepler (RF) Other Contenders: Nelson Cruz (DH), Jorge Polanco (SS), José Berríos (SP), Jake Odorizzi (SP) I think you could absolutely make a case for any of these players, and if I were being more subjective, I might have given it to Garver, who just missed the top-five cutoff when looking at fWAR. I gave the edge to Kepler over these guys for his defensive versatility and offensive consistency throughout the season, despite missing some time in September and struggling in the playoffs. Berríos and Odorizzi both had very good seasons that felt a touch short of true greatness. Cruz won the team MVP award at the Diamond Awards, as he provided a lot of leadership behind the scenes in addition to his obvious on-field contributions, but he missed a quarter of the games and offered zero defensive value. 3 Most Pivotal Games July 23rd: Lost vs. New York Yankees, 14-12 Given the back-and-forth drama, the extra innings, the slugfest between two historically powerful offenses, and the huge plays, this game is inarguably one of the greatest regular-season games in Major League Baseball history, let alone Twins history. That alone doesn’t necessarily make it pivotal but it’s worth mentioning. Frustration had been building around Minnesota's bullpen, as seemingly problematic weak point for an otherwise stellar club, and it reached new heights in this one. The Twins took a 9-5 lead into the eighth, then watched five pitchers combine to allow nine runs in three innings. They lost in 10, with Aaron Hicks sealing the deal for New York on a diving catch in center. The pitching staff's struggles keeping this Yankee offense at bay was unfortunately a precursor of things to come in October. September 14th: Won @ Cleveland Indians, 9-5 MIGUEL SANÓ GRAND SALAMI. Need I say more? Probably not, but I will add that the doubleheader sweep put the Twins up by 5 1/2 games on the Indians and placed the figurative nail in the coffin. After hitting his big blast, which effectively sealed the division, Sanó put the cherry on top by going “Triple H” on the bit after crossing home plate. This game, and doubleheader, were also symbolic of how far the bullpen had come: Twins relievers combined for 14 strikeouts and zero walks in the two games. October 4th: Lost @ New York Yankees, 4-10 You could argue that Game 2 is an option here, but when you’re down 8-0 before you hit a ball out of the infield, the game loses meaning fast. In Game 1, it felt like the Twins actually had a chance. After four so-so innings from Berríos, the Twins entered the bottom of the fifth with the game knotted at three. They turned to Littell who immediately put guys on first and second before handing things over to Duffey, who walked a batter and allowed a two-run double. After that, things went downhill fast, and two of the best relievers from the 2019 season in May and Rogers never got an opportunity to impact the game. Hindsight being 20/20, you have to wonder if things would have been different in game one if Baldelli had relied on May and Rogers instead of Stashak and Gibson. Unforgettable Highlights José Berríos Sets the Tone on Opening Day Making his second consecutive Opening Day start, Berríos opened the season by firing 7 2/3 shutout innings against Cleveland. He struck out 10, walked one, and allowed two hits in the gem. It would be a sign of things to come, and the same was true for Rogers, who relieved him and struck out three in a perfect four-out save. Bomba Barrage The Twins set the major-league record for home runs and also a bunch of other, more obscure ones: most players with 20+ home runs (8), most players with 30+ home runs (5), most games with multiple home runs (87), etc. It's tough to pull specific highlights from this endless parade of dingers, but among the more memorable performances: Cruz had two separate three-homer games (within two weeks of one another)Garver had a 10-game stretch as August turned to September where he went 11-for-25 with seven homers and eight walks, good for a 1.908 (!) OPS.Sanó's grand slam in Cleveland was the first of his career, and snapped a rare negative trend for Minnesota's offense: coming into the day, they had the lowest OPS and wRC+ in the majors with bases loaded.The Twins had five games with six or more total home runs, and they all came on the road.Tyler the Untouchable On September 28th, Duffey allowed his first run in almost two months (July 28th). Between those dates, he pitched 26 times, and struck out 40 with five walks and 11 hits allowed in 23 2/3 innings. One Detail You Probably Forgot It’s hard to find something super meaningful that you “probably” forgot from just 12 months ago, but one detail that you may not have realized or remembered is that the Twins' longest losing streak was just four games, and it only happened once, from August 6th to August 9th. You may recall from an earlier installment that five years earlier, in Gardenhire's final season, the Twins had five different four-game losing streaks in August and September alone. Fun Fact The Twins had a record of 38-18 at the end of May was the fifth-best mark in MLB history, only two games off the best record all-time. Along the same lines, the 2019 Twins won 55 games on the road, which is good for seventh-most in MLB history. ~~~ Previous Installments: The 2000 SeasonThe 2001 SeasonThe 2002 SeasonThe 2003 SeasonThe 2004 SeasonThe 2005 SeasonThe 2006 SeasonThe 2007 SeasonThe 2008 SeasonThe 2009 SeasonThe 2010 SeasonThe 2011 SeasonThe 2012 SeasonThe 2013 SeasonThe 2014 SeasonThe 2015 SeasonThe 2016 SeasonThe 2017 SeasonThe 2018 Season Click here to view the article

It’s now an all-too-familiar script: The 2004 Minnesota Twins' season ended in a playoff loss to the New York Yankees. Some might remember it as Johan Santana’s record-breaking season or the debut of Joe Mauer, but what you might not remember is just how influential this team would become over the next five years.We're running a 20-part series in which we look back at each Minnesota Twins season of the 2000s. A rotation of different writers will highlight key moments, unearth forgotten details, and share nostalgic tales from the past two decades leading up to the present. This installment covers the 2004 season. Team Record: 92-70 Finish: 1st Place in AL Central All-Star: Joe Nathan (RP) Awards: Johan Santana (AL Cy Young), Torii Hunter (Gold Glove, CF) Playoffs: Lost to NYY 3-1 in ALDS Season Overview The 2004 season introduced Twins fans to players who would end up having immense impacts on the franchise over the next 15 seasons. Between the amateur player draft, big-league debuts, and increased roles, this was a season to be remembered. Whether viewed as Joe Mauer’s rookie year, or the year that Joe Nathan ignited his dominance as a closer, or the year Justin Morneau took over the reins from fan favorite Doug Mientkiewicz at first, there are a lot of storylines you'll be reminded of as you read through this article. Oh, and I haven't even mentioned Johan Santana winning his first of two (should be three) Cy Young Awards and becoming the first Twins pitcher to earn the honor since Frank Viola in 1988. One of my favorite things to look at when reviewing a season is Baseball Reference's team pages where you can find splits for darn near anything, including one of my favorite graphics shown below: Download attachment: 2004seasongraph.png It’s always good to see a lot more clusters of green than red, especially when the clusters of green are taller. Although the season ended in familiar fashion, it was filled with moments that defined the franchise for many seasons to come. It didn’t take long for Twins fans to get excited about this year's squad. With the debut of a future franchise cornerstone in Mauer, and a 15-7 month of April, it was clear the Twins were going to be contending for their third consecutive Central division title. Fans were pleasantly surprised by the emergence of Lew Ford. He slashed .419/.471/.710 in 70 plate appearances in the first month, which would be more of a trend than a mirage for the rest of the season. Then came the month of May. Twins fans learned they would be without their rookie catcher for another month due to a knee injury, and the team struggled to the tune of a 12-16 record. The offense wasn’t producing, and the starting pitching outside of Brad Radke was stumbling. Even Santana wasn't finding his groove, finishing May with a 5.61 ERA and casting some doubt on his spectacular emergence the prior season. Despite all of this, the Twins found themselves just 2 1/2 games outside of first place, with their bullpen stepping up as one of the best in baseball. Things improved in June. Mauer returned after recovering and rehabbing for nearly two months, and the Twins finished the month with a 14-12 record. Although the offense kept sputtering, the most important development was Santana becoming the force that Twins fans came to love. Minnesota won three of its first ten games in June on walk-offs, and by the end of the month, had gained a game and a half on the White Sox. Regardless, the Twins were three months into their season with an average starting staff, and an outstanding relief corps, but in desperate need of someone to kickstart the offense. Entering the All-Star break in mid-July, the Twins had gained another game on the White Sox but the offense was still ineffective, so on July 15th they recalled their top first base prospect Morneau. This is also the last day that Twins fans would see an at-bat from Mauer in 2004, as complications from his knee injury sidelined him for the rest of the year. Thus the "M&M" legacy began. Santana grew even more dominant in July, and Twins fans were starting to realize they had one of the best closers in the league as Nathan had converted 29 saves in 30 chances and struck out 55 batters in 47 2/3 innings. By the end of the month the Twins were still a below-average offensive team but with a 17-10 July they found themselves five games up on the White Sox. Fans were surprised when the Twins made only one move at the deadline, dealing Mientkiewicz to the Boston Red Sox for an A-ball pitcher. Although the Twins may have “lost” this trade (Mientkiewicz helped the Red Sox win a World Series, then famously refused to give up the ball)... they were wise to turn over the reins. In August, Morneau slashed .270/.348/.620 with 10 home runs and established himself as the Twins' much-needed power threat. Aided by his emergence, Minnesota finished the month with a 17-15 record, adding to their division lead. The second-place White Sox had their third consecutive losing month and the Twins were sitting comfortably in first place entering the final month of the season. Now on cruise control, the Twins finished their season strong with a record of 19-12 in September and October, including a nine-game win streak that all but sealed the Central. While the Twins were locking up the division as a team, Santana was busy locking up his first Cy Young Award with an 11-0 record and 1.30 ERA after July 31st. He finished with 20 wins and league-leading marks in ERA (2.61), strikeouts (265), FIP (2.92), and WHIP (0.92). The Twins officially clinched the division with 12 games left, and were slated for an ALDS rematch against the Yankees, who had baseball's second-best record and were coming off a 101-win campaign. Unfortunately, the Twins' season reached its end here, as they lost the series against the Yankees three games to one. Despite a more successful season overall, Minnesota's outcome was the same as '03. Team MVP: Johan Santana (SP) Other Contenders: Brad Radke (SP), Lew Ford (OF), Joe Nathan (RP), Carlos Silva (SP) Well this was an easy one, as Santana won the 2004 Cy Young Award and, per fWAR, had the fifth-best season ever for a Twins pitcher. Minnesota went 24-10 in his starts, including 15-2 after July 1st as they built an insurmountable lead in the division. The other four players listed all had career years in 2004 from an fWAR perspective, but were no match against the dominance of Johan. Radke posted his best K/BB ratio and second-lowest HR/9 while accepting the No. 2 billing in Minnesota's rotation. Who would have remembered that Ford led this team offensively (and it wasn’t even close) while also earning two MVP votes? Not me. Nathan, in his first season with the club after being acquired alongside Boof Bonser and Francisco Liriano in the A.J. Pierzynski trade, came one save short of tying the Twins' single-season saves record. He got the record eventually. 3 Most Pivotal Games April 15th: Won @ Cleveland Indians, 3-0 On Tax Day the Twins beat the Indians 3-0 behind eight shutout innings from Radke. The game saw Corey Koskie and Jacque Jones each hit their third home runs of the season, with Koskie stealing two bases. So what made this game pivotal? Nathan came on in the ninth inning to earn his first save as a Twin, and second save of his career. He would go on to convert 44 of 47 saves in 2004 and eventually would become the Twins' all-time saves leader with 260. This seemingly nondescript game in April turned out to be one that altered the Twins bullpen for years to come. September 20th: Won @ Chicago White Sox, 8-2 The Twins clinched their third straight AL Central Division championship with an 8-2 win. They received seven solid innings from righty Carlos Silva who earned his 13th win of the season. The Twins got four home runs off the bats of Hunter, Koskie, Henry Blanco, and Luis Rivas. Thy would finish the season with 92 wins and nine games above the second-place Chicago White Sox. October 6th: Lost @ New York Yankees, 7-6 Behind Santana, the Twins won the opening game of their AL Division Series match up against the Evil Empire 2-0. They entered Game 2 with Radke on the bump coming off a career year in which he limited opponents to under one home run per nine innings... something he would need to replicate against a team that hit 242, tying the White Sox for first. The Twins jumped out to a 3-1 lead after two innings but by the time Radke’s day was done he had given up three home runs and the Twins were down 5-3. Three batters into the top of the eighth, the Twins had men on first and second with Morneau and Koskie coming to the plate, and one out. Coming to the mound, future Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera. To everyone’s surprise, back-to-back hits tied the game at five, where it remained knotted until the top of the 12th when Hunter hit a solo shot off something named Tanyon Sturtze. Gardy had turned to his newfound superstar closer in the 10th, and by now Nathan had thrown 32 pitches, not to mention 52 pitches over four innings in the previous five days. Still, the manager stuck with him. Visibly out of gas, Nathan gave up a pair of walks and then a game-tying ground-rule double to Álex Rodríguez. J.C. Romero relieved Nathan, but with Derek Jeter on third all it took was a Hideki Matsui sacrifice fly to give the Yankees the win and knot the series at one game apiece. Spoiler alert: The Twins haven't won a postseason game since. Unforgettable Highlights Joe Mauer Makes His Big-League Debut On April 4th, Mauer made his MLB debut, batting eighth and playing catcher on Opening Day against the Cleveland Indians. He earned the first two of his 2,123 hits in a Twins uniform and scored two runs. His first Major League hit came off of Rafael Betancourt... a classic groundball single up the middle. Significant Acquisitions of 2004 Trevor Plouffe, Glen Perkins, and Anthony Swarzak were among the five first-round draft picks made by the Twins in 2004, a smorgasbord yielded by several free agent departures the prior offseason. Matt Tolbert is another recognizable, although less inspiring, name from the draft class.The Twins signed Wilson Ramos as an international free agent on July 7th.Brendan Harris and Orlando Cabrera were acquired by ... not the Twins. They went to the Expos and Red Sox respectively, as part of the four-team blockbuster that sent Mientkiewicz to Boston, but each infielder would find his way to Minnesota eventually.The Shutout Streak From July 5th to the 8th, Minnesota Twins pitched 32 consecutive innings without giving up a run, including back-to-back-to-back complete game shutouts by Radke, Santana, and Kyle Lohse. This was in a three-game series at the Dome against the Kansas City Royals, who ended up being the second-worst team in baseball. Nonetheless, it currently stands as the team record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched by the team. Santana Breaks Twins Single Season Strikeout Record On September 24th, Santana broke the Twins' single-season strikeout record in his second-to-last start of the season, getting Ryan Ludwick of the Indians to strike out swinging. He ended up setting the record with 265 strikeouts in 228 innings. His 10.5 K/9 was good for third-best in franchise history until 2006, when Liriano would nudge him to fourth. One Detail You Probably Forgot One player we haven't seen mentioned is Juan Rincón, whose eighth-inning dominance bridged the gap to Nathan. Rincon had a 2.4 fWAR in 2004, dominating batters by striking out 11.6 per nine innings and posting a WPA of 2.11. He pitched 82 innings and earned 11 wins. People will often credit Nathan for the bullpen's dominance in 2004 but Rincon’s career year should not be forgotten. Fun Fact In their season-opening home series against Cleveland, the Twins won their first two games on walk-offs, courtesy of clutch knocks by Shannon Stewart and José Offerman. They went on to win 10 games on walk-offs, and were also on the losing side of 10 walk-offs. Yep, the 2004 Twins had 20 of their 162 games decided on the final pitch. ~~~ Previous Installments: The 2000 SeasonThe 2001 SeasonThe 2002 SeasonThe 2003 Season Click here to view the article

Awesome! I was hoping I would get a few responses like this.

For the month of April, Baseball Reference has provided baseball fans with some entertainment by making their awesome Play Index tool free until Thursday. I’ve been playing around with that and have found three single game performances from Minnesota Twins that have historical significance.You’ll find these performances are somewhat random but I tried to put as few stipulations as I could into the Play Index tool to find a performance that has happened less than 100 times in the history of major League baseball. For reference, there have been 220,597 games played in major league history which means I am finding a performance that has happened in about 0.045% of games played. If you want to have a little fun, I have organized this into three hints and you can give yourself a score based on what hint you guessed the correct player. If you’re able to get the player(s) without reading any of the hints then you earn 0 points, otherwise, guessing the player after… ...hint #1 = 1 point,...hint #2 = 2 points, and...hint #3 = 3 points.For the sake of keeping score, give yourself 4 points if you need to look at the answer. Of course, like golf, the lower your score the better. Good luck! Performance #1: Ten or more total bases without hitting a home run without extra innings. 1. This has happened once in Twins history and 35 times in major league baseball history. Three of the occurrences were accomplished by active players, and the Twin who accomplished this, although not officially retired, did not play in 2019. 2. On June 29th, 2010 the Twins destroyed the Detroit Tigers 11-4 at Target Field. 3. The onslaught was led by their center fielder at the time who went 4-for-4 with three triples and a walk. The player: Denard Span. Performance #2: At least eight runs batted in with no more than one home run without extra innings. 1. This has never happened with zero homer uns, but with one home run it has happened once in Twins history and just 25 times in major league history. In the same game, Tony Oliva had 6 RBI with one home run. 2. This was far from a pitchers duel, as the Twins beat the White Sox 19-12 at Metropolitan Stadium on June 26th,1977. 3. He was never a full-time player throughout his eight year career and mostly appeared as a designated hitter. Although on this particular day he was playing right field. The player: Glenn Adams. Performance #3: Hit two or more triples in a game without scoring a run or earning an RBI. 1. Nobody has done this with more than two triples, but this particular instance has happened 45 times in major league history including three times in Twins history. Take away one point if you can name two of the players and two bonus points if you can name all three. For scoring, treat each player as their own...so if you don’t get any of them then add 12 points to your total. 2. I will give one hint for each player starting, where “player #1” was the first player to accomplish this feat: Player #1: The Washington Senators beat the Boston Red Sox 9-6 at Griffith Stadium on April 27th, 1924. Relief pitcher, By Speece, scored a run and drove in a run on an RBI-triple himself. Player #2: Given the stat, it’s probably not surprising that the Twins lost 4-0 to the New York Yankees at Metropolitan Stadium on July 17th, 1963. Player #3: Again, it shouldn’t be surprising that the Twins lost to the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 at Metropolitan Stadium on June 12th, 1974. 3. I will give one hint for each player starting, where “player #1” was the first player to accomplish this feat: Player #1: He only played in more than 45 games twice in a short 5 year player career as a third basemen. He’s more well known as a manager where he holds the worst winning percentage of any manager who has managed at least 400 games. Player #2: Like he did for much of his 12-year career, nine of which were with the Senators/Twins, he was batting lead off and playing shortstop on this day. Player #3: He bounced around the outfield throughout his 14-year career, five of which were with the Twins, but on this particular day he was playing center field. Bonus fun fact: in 1973 he became the first designated hitter to appear in a spring training game. Player #1: Doc Prothro Player #2: Zoilo Versalles Player #3: Larry Hisle This was definitely tough. If I took this quiz myself, I think I would have gotten Denard Span and Zoilo Versalles after their respective third hints (3 points each), otherwise I would have gained an additional 12 points for not guessing the others to give me a total of 18. Ouch. Use the chart below, which I’ve curved based on difficulty, to measure how you did and leave your score in the comments! Is anyone a hall of famer?? Download attachment: Screen Shot 2020-04-29 at 12.11.41 AM.png MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

On Monday, MLB.com started their 32-team “Dream Bracket” which features “dream rosters” for all 30 Major League Franchises, as well the Negro Leagues and “25 and Under Stars”. This piece will analyze the Twins roster and provide analysis on their first round match-up.Twins Dream Roster Pitchers: Walter Johnson, Johan Santana, Bert Blyleven, Jim Kaat, Camilo Pascual, Frank Viola, Jim Perry, Joe Nathan, Rick Aguilera, Glen Perkins, Taylor Rogers Starters: C: Joe Mauer 1B: Kent Hrbek 2B: Rod Carew 3B: Harmon Killebrew SS: Joe Cronin LF: Goose Goslin CF: Kirby Puckett RF: Tony Oliva DH: Bob Allison Bench: Roy Smalley, Justin Morneau, Gary Gaetti, Michael Cuddyer, Torii Hunter, Earl Battey Roster Analysis A little over two years ago, I constructed a dream roster of my own that looks a lot like this team, although I only considered guys who donned the Twins uniform. MLB’s list also includes players from the Washington Senators like Walter Johnson, Joe Cronin, and Goose Goslin. It also appears that I was a little more stringent in regards to position eligibility; for example, Harmon Killebrew was not eligible at 3rd base for my team. Regardless, let’s take a quick dive into the roster. On first look, the pitching staff definitely includes the best of the best. I had an extra pitcher compared to MLB’s Dream Roster, but knowing what we know now, I assuredly would replace Tom Hall with Taylor Rogers. I also only carried six starters, one as a “long relief” pitcher, whereas they are carrying seven. I had to take a deeper dive into Cronin and Goslin but, as I noted in my piece, Shortstop and Left Field are the two weakest positions in Twins history. It wasn’t surprising to see two Senators fill those spots. Cronin easily beats out Smalley for the shortstop job, as he garnered MVP votes in three of seven seasons with the Senators, including a second place finish in 1933. Goslin is also an easy pick over Mack, as he also garnered MVP votes in three seasons, and owns the franchise single season record for OPS (1.056) and is tied with Christian Guzman with 20 triples in a single season. MLB Dreams Roster had two additional bench guys on their team. I noted in my piece that I was trying to create a realistic roster which limited some of my options, but it’s hard for me to imagine how Bob Allison didn’t make the cut over Michael Cuddyer. Other than that, the others are deserving of a bench spot. MLB Dream Bracket The Minnesota Twins Dream Roster was up against the Toronto Blue Jays Roster in the first round of the bracket. Toronto’s team features Hall of Famers Roy Halladay and Roberto Alomar, as well as current Twin Josh Donaldson and Twin Killers Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. You can find the series recap here but the short of it is that the Twins lost four games to one. Halladay (2 GS, 1.20 ERA, 12 K’s) and Bautista (1.324 OPS) lived up up to their reputations throughout the series and carried the Blue Jays to round two where they will face a loaded Boston Red Sox team. Like recent history, it was a short lived playoff series for the Minnesota Twins. If there is any good news it is that they were able to win one game and snap their 16 playoff game losing streak. Ho hum. What are your thoughts on their dream roster for the Twins? Take a look at the rosters in the bracket...who do you have as the winner? It pains me to say that I’m taking the Yankees over Dodgers in what would be their 12th championship matchup. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

Interesting...based on my research and your research he must have gotten 7 wins (since Crain and Nathan were only two with at least 12 in under 80 IP) in like 14 innings??

But at the same time he walked a lot of guys. Pitch-to-contact + walking guys leads to 12 wins and a 2.71 ERA? Mind blown.

Consider this pitching line: 12-5, 2.71 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 79.2 IP, and two RoY votes. You might think, ”this sounds an awful lot like Francisco Liriano’s rookie year but wasn’t that 2006? Weren’t his numbers better than that?” And you’d be right, this piece isn’t about Liriano. Or a starting pitcher.On Monday, Zone Coverage writer Brandon Warne posted the following tweet: Anyway, I bit on Brandon’s bait and looked up his strikeout rate and was truly shocked by what I found. 7.7-percent. Seven point seven. By FanGraphs standards, or any standards, that is well below the “awful” threshold. For another reference point, he had a K/9 of 2.8...wow. The ultimate Twins pitcher of the early 2000’s, right? With an 88.1-percent contact rate, you bet he was. Okay, so where does this get historic? I used Baseball Reference’s Play Index to play around with some stats and found all seasons under the following parameters: Zero games started and at least 50 innings pitchedK/9 less than or equal to threeERA less than or equal to threeWHIP greater than or equal to 1.1At least 12 winsJesse Crain is the only pitcher in Major League history to ever provide such a stat line. How do you have such a solid ERA and so many wins despite such poor underlying metrics? Huh, maybe these analytics people are on to something here. Here’s what doesn’t make sense... He earned 12 wins despite not starting any games? He is one of two pitchers to accomplish this in under 80 innings pitched. By the way, the other was Joe Nathan the year before he was traded to the Twins.He posted an ERA under three despite an almost “awful” walk rate (8.9 - percent) and “awful” strikeout rate? He is the only pitcher since 1992 to accomplish this feat of pitchers who pitched at least 50 innings. With the way that today’s game is played he might be the last.Here’s what does make sense…Of pitchers who pitched between 50 and 99.2 innings with an ERA under 3.00 Jesse Crain’s FIP of 4.65 is 14th highest in Major League history.Of pitchers who pitched btween 50 and 99.2 innings with a FIP of at least 4.50 and strike out rate less than or equal to eight percent Jesse Crain’s BAbip of .219 is 20th lowest in Major League history.The final verdict on Jesse Crain’s unprecedented 2005 season is that it was largely based on skill. But not his skill. Per Fangraphs, the 2005 Twins had the AL’s best defense in the fourth best defense in all of baseball. In fact the Twins pitching staff as a whole benefited from the seventh lowest BABIP in the Majors. I mean, we were talking about the ultimate Twins pitching prototype and the prototype actually fit the team in the mid-2000’s. Once I saw his strikeout rate, wins, and ERA I knew I had to do a deeper dive and figured I might as well write about it. Thanks, Brandon ... I needed something to do while my wife watched Listen To Your Heart on ABC. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

The Minnesota Twins, fresh off their relocation from Washington, shut out the New York Yankees with 25-year-old right hander Pedro Ramos going the distance and striking out five and allowing just five baserunners.Download attachment: Screen Shot 2020-04-09 at 10.17.21 PM.png Starting Lineups Download attachment: Screen Shot 2020-04-09 at 10.28.00 PM.png Game Recap Home Runs: Bob Allison (1), Reno Bertoia (1) Multi-Hit Games: Versalles (2-for-5, 2B, R, 2 SB), Allison (2-for-5, HR, R, RBI) Top 3 WPA: Ramos (0.464), Allison (0.151), Bertoia (0.054) Bottom 3 WPA: Lemon (-0.106), Green (-0.077), Versalles (-0.055) The first six innings of this game was a pitchers duel between Ramos and Ford as there were a total of only eight baserunners for both teams. The Twins started the seventh inning with Bob Allison ripping a home run deep down the left field line, the first of the season and 46th of his young career, followed by a Battey double and Bertoia walk. With hitters eight and nine due up, Yankees manager Ralph Houk trusted the 1961 Cy Young Award Winner-to-be to finish the job he started...and boy, did he regret that. After a sacrifice bunt by Gardner, the Twins starting pitcher hit a two-run single that increased the lead to 3-0 and marked the end of the day for Ford. Yankees righty reliever Ralph Terry came in to the game and threw a shaky 1.2 innings that saw him give up three hits and a walk, including a two-run bomba from Reno Bertoia. As Ramos continued to cruise the Twins entered the ninth up 5-0 and ready to face 1960 All-Star Jim Coates. After a Versalles lead-off single to left and steals of second and third, Twins first baseman Harmon Killebrew padded the lead with a sacrifice fly. Having only faced 28 batters, Twins manager Cookie Lavagetto, sent Ramos out in the bottom of the ninth where Ramos set the 2-3-4 hitters 1-2-3 earning his first win and complete game of the season and 68th and 50th, respectively, of his career. Likely a refreshing start to the season after finishing the last three seasons as the AL leaders in losses, but little did he know at the time he would accomplish the same feat in 1961, finishing 11-20. Anyone on here remember seeing this game? Listening to it on the radio? Reading about it in the paper? MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article