Patrick Wozniak

MLB owners recently struck back at the Player Association’s call for a 114-game season by countering with a proposal of just 50 games. That’s not many games. What might it mean for the Minnesota Twins?Jay Jaffe of FanGraphs took a look at the 2019 season through 50-game windows. He started with games 1-50 then 26-75 and worked his way up to 113-162. In all there are five windows and here’s the results for each window: Download attachment: What a 50 game season...FanGraphs Chart.png Even though the 2019 Minnesota Twins won 101 games they only make the postseason in three of the five windows (Cleveland took the other two), showing how vulnerable even really good teams would be in a significantly shortened season. According to Jaffe, Minnesota’s best overall 50-game stretch in 2019 gave them a record of 35-15 while their worst stretch left them at 25-25. That’s a difference of 10 wins! And again, this is through the lens of a team that won 101 games. It’s possible that even if the 2020 Twins team is slightly better than the 2019 squad they might not reach such a high winning percentage. Dan Szymborski, also of FanGraphs, ran his ZiPS projections for a 50-game season and the picture doesn’t get any rosier for the Twins. Minnesota is projected to finish 29-21 (.580) and does edge out Cleveland by two games, but their playoff odds are down to 57.2 %, which is only 7.2% better than a coin flip according to my very own probabilistic calculations. Of course, a 50-game season isn’t exactly the end of the world either. As much as I struggle with uncertainty, the uncertainty of a significantly shortened season is better than the certainty of no baseball. Plus, Szymborski’s projections don’t take into account the likely expansion of the postseason to include more teams which would also help a “good” team like the Twins. The middle ground of both side’s propositions would bring us back to the original 80-game range that owners were shooting for and might be the best case scenario at this point. The extra games and expanded playoffs should theoretically aid the Twins to some extent and would make the season feel like a bit less of a crapshoot. Crapshoot or not, it would be nice to see any form of Major League Baseball this year. Hopefully both sides can come together and iron something out. Minnesota has built one of the most impressive clubs in the history of the franchise and not getting to see what they can do would only add to the growing mound of misfortune that is 2020. 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

After four straight 90-loss seasons, 2015 was a breath of fresh air as Minnesota was once again a winner. Fresh blood came in the form of a new manager, a shiny free-agent pitcher, and the emergence of several top prospects. A fan-favorite from the early 2000s would also return and play an instrumental role in Minnesota’s return to contention.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 2015 season. Team Record: 83-79 Finish: 2nd Place in AL Central All-Stars: Glen Perkins (RP), Brian Dozier (2B) Awards: N/A Playoffs: N/A Season Overview All the losing from 2011 through 2014 finally spelled the end of Ron Gardenhire’s 13-year stint as manager of the Minnesota Twins. Gardy’s replacement Paul Molitor wasn’t exactly a “new” face, as the hometown Hall of Famer was quite familiar to Twins fans as a player, bench coach and minor-league instructor. Still, Gardenhire had been in the organization for 27 years, and in many ways was a extension of Tom Kelly's tenure, so the change felt quite significant. Equally, if not more significant, was the return of Torii Hunter. As a 39-year-old, the highlight-reel defensive gems of his first stint with the Twins were long gone, and although he continued to hit late into his career, his bat was beginning to suffer as well. And we can debate the value of “clubhouse chemistry” in contrast to just having good players, or if one is in fact the cause of the other, but it was evident that Hunter brought some immeasurable intangible to the 2015 Minnesota Twins. Whether it was the clubhouse dance parties after a hard-fought win or ripping off and tossing his jersey to protest a bad call, Torii had heart, and it was contagious. General manager Terry Ryan also did his best to bolster the starting rotation. After signing Phil Hughes (great first season) and Ricky Nolasco (opposite of great) to big contracts (relatively speaking) prior to the 2014 season, Minnesota went out and signed Ervin Santana to a four-year, $54 million contract (with a fifth-year option). For a fanbase conditioned to “big” offseason signings including names like Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey, spending $54 million on a quasi-ace a year after spending on Nolasco and Hughes felt huge. After four years of cellar-dwelling misery, there was reason for optimism. But as any longtime Minnesota sports fan is well aware, optimism is dangerous. And our new ace was quick to remind us that we can’t have nice things, as Santana tested positive for the anabolic steroid Stanozolol a few days prior to the season opener. Naturally, Santana was dumbfounded as to how the performance-enhancing drugs found their way into his system and the Twins were disappointed but in full support of the league’s drug policies. When the dust settled, Santana was suspended for the first 80 games and Twins fans were left with a predictable, but undeserved, gut punch. It’s possible that the Twins and their rookie manager were still a bit punch drunk as the season began. It took 24 1/3 innings for the offense to score its first run (a club record!) and Molitor and the Twins weren’t able to secure their first victory until the season’s fourth game. The Twins started 1-6 and finished April with a record of 10-12. Fortunately, April showers brought May … dance parties! After an inauspicious start, the season turned for the better in quick fashion. The 20 wins the Twins secured made May the best month since the ’91 season and provided plenty of opportunities for Hunter to lead the team in dance. For the first time in what seemed like forever, it wasn’t all that crazy to picture Minnesota dancing all the way to the postseason. June would bring the Twins back down to earth a bit (11-17), but a break from the dance floor put some spring back into their collective legs and Minnesota was able to end the first half with a bang. The Twins won six of their last seven, including an epic seven-run comeback against Detroit on July 10th that was capped off by Brian Dozier's walk-off homer in a five-run ninth inning. The Twins would finish the first half with a 49-40 record which placed them second in the division. The second half didn't go quite as smoothly as the Twins went 34-39 and narrowly missed a wild-card berth. The team did provide plenty of excitement to re-energize a beleaguered fanbase, and stayed in contention into the last weekend of the season when they were swept by Kansas City. The season left plenty of hope for the future, including the emergence of Dozier, who seemed ready to inherit the torch of team leadership from Hunter. In addition to Dozier, several top prospects made their big-league debuts in 2015, including: Eddie Rosario – 122 games, .267/.289/.459Rosario was the first of the new wave to debut, on May 6th, and he made the most of the opportunity. It took Rosario all of one MLB pitch to collect his first hit, home run, and RBI. Rosario also set a Twins rookie record with 15 triples and tied Kirby Puckett’s rookie record for outfield assists with 16. Byron Buxton – 46 games, .209/.250/.326Next up was Minnesota’s, and arguably all of baseball’s, best prospect. Buxton didn’t exactly hit the ground running (although he did fly from time to time) but he showed brief glimpses of what he might become and his struggles as a 21-year-old were none too concerning. Miguel Sanó – 80 games, .269/.385/.530Another month, another top prospect debut. Sanó’s arrival left nothing to be desired (other than an earlier start date) as he made a case for team MVP (he was in fact the Twins' choice, but Twins Daily chose Dozier). Appearing mostly as DH, the young slugger hit 10 dingers in his first 41 games and managed 18 in just a half-season. Tyler Duffey – 10 games, 58.0 IP, 3.10 ERA, 8.2 K/9August would bring another prospect, not as heralded, but every bit as effective. Duffey, who was a member of the college reliever-turned-starter experiment, gave the Twins every reason to be hopeful as he was masterful in his 10 starts down the stretch. Ultimately, the starter thing didn’t work out (for Duffey or any of the other multitudes of relievers Ryan drafted), but his career got off to a great start and success would eventually return to Duffey as a reliever in 2019. Max Kepler would also get his first taste of MLB action, but it was the tiniest sip of coffee as a September call-up. He did manage to collect his first hit and got seven plate appearances. Jorge Polanco would also make the briefest of appearances (12 PA) but it wasn’t his debut as he made an even briefer appearance in 2014 (8 PA).Team MVP: Brian Dozier (2B) Other Contenders: Miguel Sanó (DH), Trevor Plouffe (3B), Eduardo Escobar (SS), Torii Hunter (RF) The MVP race was a ballot of two halves. It was Dozier who impressed in the first-half with 19 home runs and an .841 OPS. Dozier even found his way to the All-Star Game as an injury replacement. The second half was all Sanó as he hit 18 home runs and finished his rookie year with a very good .916 OPS. Even though Dozier stumbled in the second half he ultimately took home the hardware (of the virtual variety, courtesy of Twins Daily) as he was with the team for the entirety of the season, played pretty good defense, led the team in fWAR, and made up for any shortcomings on the dance floor. 3 Most Pivotal Games April 10th: Won vs. Chicago White Sox, 6-0 It took until the fourth game of the season, but the Twins and Molitor finally got their first win. After being swept by Detroit in a three-game series where Minnesota scored all of one run (and was outscored 22-1), the Twins finally got it going against the White Sox. Dozier hit the team’s first dinger of the year and Tommy Milone pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings to pick up the W. Sure they would go on to lose their next three, but they got that all-important first win under their belt. July 10th: Won vs. Detroit Tigers, 8-6 The Twins had really begun to heat up in July but were coming off a loss in the first game of their last series before the All-Star break against Detroit. They looked to be on their way to another loss as they were trailing Detroit 6-1 going into the bottom of the ninth. Then the impossible happened. Joe Mauer singled followed by a Sanó ground-rule double. Trevor Plouffe struck out but Rosario followed with a single to score Mauer and send Sano to third. Rosario then decided to steal second, and Aaron Hicks took a walk. With the bases juiced, Kurt Suzuki leaned into one, to bring in another run. Next, Danny Santana singled to bring in both Rosario and Hicks, moving Minnesota within one. Dozier stepped up with one out and completed mission impossible by hitting a three-run shot to give Minnesota the 8-6 win. October 3rd: Lost vs. Kansas City Royals, 5-1 Going into the season’s final series the Twins found themselves still in the wild-card hunt, but a Kansas City sweep put an end to Minnesota’s postseason dream. It was the second game of the three-game series that made it official, as Yordano Ventura stymied the Twins bats and led the Royals to a 5-1 victory at Target Field. Unforgettable Highlights The Elusive First Run You have to score runs to win ballgames and the Twins realized this … it just took nearly 25 innings. In their third game of the year they got their first run but still managed to lose 7-1 to the Detroit Tigers. The run came in the top of the seventh as Mauer scored from first on a Kennys Vargas double thanks to a Detroit fielding error. Sorry Kennys, no RBI. Eddie Rosario Homers on His First MLB Pitch Rosario made his MLB debut on May 6th and quickly made his presence felt. All it took was one pitch, as he homered to opposite field with his family in the stands on the first offering he saw as a big leaguer. It was pure Eddie magic and he hasn’t stopped swinging since. Dance Party! After four straight terrible seasons, Hunter brought some joy back to the Twin Cities. His veteran presence and leadership were invaluable but his post-victory locker room dance parties were legendary. Hunter Leaves It All on the Field The dance floor wasn’t the only place Torii got his freak on … or out. On June 10th Hunter didn’t agree with a third strike call in the bottom of the eighth and he let everyone at Target Field know … by ripping off and tossing his jersey. He also threw his protective gear and batting gloves but kept his pants on. Molitor was ejected along with Hunter, but he managed (get it?) to stay fully clothed. One Detail You Probably Forgot On June 14th the Twins managed to hit three triples in the sixth inning against the Texas Rangers and only score one run. How’d it happen? Eduardo Núñez led off with the first triple but was followed by a Suzuki foul pop-out behind home. Shane Robinson (who's Twins tenure is another detail you’ve likely forgotten) produced the inning’s second triple (also his second triple of the day) to score Nuñez but he was picked off during Eduardo Escobar’s at-bat. Escobar would go on to hit the third triple of the inning (second by an Eduardo) but he would fail to score as Buxton struck out for the third out. The three triples set a team record while the four total hit on the day tied a team record set by the ’64 club. Fun Fact Most Twins fans will associate the number 28 with Twins great Bert Blyleven’s retired jersey number. The same number was tied to two Twins records that were set in 2015. The first was of the good variety. Glen Perkins set a club record with 28 consecutive saves to start the season. The second not so much. Plouffe tied the greatest-ever Twin, Harmon Killebrew by grounding into – you guessed it – 28 double plays. At least Plouffe will always be able to say he was Killebrew’s equal in this respect. ~~~ 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 Season Click here to view the article

I support your plan wholeheartedly based solely on the division names!

With no baseball being played (yet) Baseball Reference and Out of the Park Baseball 21 teamed up to simulate the 2020 season on a daily basis in real time. OOTP does the simulating and Baseball Reference publishes the stats and box scores on it’s site. Today we’ll see how our Minnesota Twins have fared.Things haven’t exactly gone swimmingly for the Twins as they’re currently sitting 3.5 games behind Cleveland with a record of 36-28 and trail the Houston Astros for the final wildcard spot. Minnesota’s been exceptionally streaky as the year got off to a terrible start with a four-game sweep in Oakland and has included two additional three-game losing streaks. Fortunately they’ve countered those losing streaks with six-, five- and four-game winning streaks along with three three-game winning streaks (and they’re currently on a four-game streak). The offense has been a big part of the problem and losing Luis Arraez after just six games to injury hasn’t helped. Simulated Rocco Baldelli (Robo Baldelli?) has apparently replaced his affinity for Phish with Ehire Adrianza, as the former utility-man has started in all but one game and taken over Arraez’s hole at second base despite hitting just .254/.305/.379. Meanwhile Marwin Gonzalez has slashed a superior .385/.468/.558, but hasn’t been freed from the super utility role and has appeared in just 24 games (15 starts). Other than Gonzalez, the lone bright spot on offense has been catcher Mitch Garver who has hit .328/.400/.648 but gotten just 35 starts as Baldelli has remained committed to rest (unless you’re named Ehire). Backup catcher Alex Avilla’s bad 2019 second half carried over into 2020 as he slashed just .146/.283/.220 but managed to get 25 starts before Derrek Falvey/Thad Levine ran out of patience and released the veteran backstop on June 1st. Fan favorite Willians Astudillo has filled in admirably in his first five games, as he’s 5-for-16 with two doubles. Two-thirds of the outfield have also played pretty well as Byron Buxton and Max Kepler have both been healthy and fairly productive. Buxton is slashing .250/.310/.433 with 20 stolen bases (23 attempts) and leads the team with 2.4 WAR. Kepler leads the team in bombas with 17 (next highest is Miguel Sano and Nelson Cruz with 13) and has a respectable .825 OPS. Left fielder Eddie Rosario has presumably dealt with injuries as he’s appeared in just 16 games and slashed .241/.281/.370. Unfortunately his replacement, Jake Cave, hasn’t fared much better hitting .225/.273/.394. More Marwin please. 39-year-old Nelson Cruz hasn’t been able to reproduce his 2019 magic, but has at least been decent (.256/.348/.474) and the same could be said for Jorge Polanco (..286/.324/.412). Newcomer Josh Donaldson (.238/.350/.418) and the recently extended Miguel Sano (.209/.311/.422) haven’t exactly been the force Twins fans were hoping for at the corners either. All in all the offense would have to be considered a disappointment. The picture doesn’t get a whole lot rosier with the starting rotation. On the bright side, Jose Berrios has been really good with a 3.10 ERA and .954 WHIP in 87.0 IP. Jake Odorizzi has also been at least serviceable with a 4.14 ERA and 1.351 WHIP but Kenta Maeda (5.77 ERA), Homer Bailey (5.62 ERA) and Randy Dobnak (4.83 ERA) haven’t filled out the rotation as we would’ve hoped. Michael Pineda’s return sent Dobnak to the ‘pen and Pineda has pitched relatively well in his first three starts (4.09 ERA and 1.045 WHIP in 22.0 IP). The return of Rich Hill could spell the end of the Homer Bailey experience. The bullpen has definitely done it’s part to keep this team in contention. Tyler Duffey (2.05 ERA), Trevor May (3.26 ERA) and Taylor Rogers (2.57 ERA) have done their job to close out games (although Rogers has a 1.619 WHIP and 1.64 SO/Walk ratio) and the Twins have kept the roles fluid with five different relievers collecting saves (Rogers and Duffey have the majority with 10 and five saves respectively). Zach Littell (2.61 ERA, 10.2 K/9) and Matt Wisler (3.09 ERA, 13.5 K/9) have been the saviors of the ‘pen by pitching 38.0 and 32.0 innings respectively. Not all is well however, as the senior members of the relief core have really struggled. Both 35-year-old Tyler Clippard and 37-year-old Sergio Romo have struggled mightily with respective ERA’s of 8.00 and 5.40. Strangely, some guy named Dustin “Half Moon” Molleken has pitched 17.0 innings with an ERA of 4.24 but has managed to rack up 19 strikeouts. His only other MLB action came back in 2016 when he pitched 8.1 innings for Detroit. With a nickname like Half Moon he deserves another chance and I’m glad this simulated world has given it to him (this alternate reality has also brought Hanley Ramírez to Minnesota on a minor league contract and he’s been called up). While it’s fortunate this is just a simulation, it’s unfortunate that we still don’t have any baseball to watch. That could change soon, but this “fake” season is a good reminder that as with the world at large, in baseball there’s always a lot that can go wrong (especially in a shortened season). Still, I’ll continue to look at the moon as half full. 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

Thanks so much for the kind words! I went back and forth wondering if this was worth publishing so it means a lot to me that someone found enjoyment in it. I tend to expect the worst with all my articles and am constantly surprised by the kindness of Twins Daily readers. It really makes it all worthwhile. Thanks again!

What does bamboo have to do with baseball or the Minnesota Twins? I thought you’d never ask!The short and boring answer would be “not much.” While that would free me up to spend more actual time with bamboo it probably wouldn’t suffice for an article. Where am I going with all this? I’m not entirely sure, but the current state of the world and lack of baseball has meant that many of us have more time on our hands and have acquired new hobbies. I’m settling on bamboo. It all started a few years back when my wife and I bought the land we’re currently building our new house on and I decided to plant some golden bamboo. Most bamboo is green but I fell in love when I stumbled upon a small pond surrounded by the golden variety while I was hiking in the jungle. I found some for sale and currently have three clusters growing (It grows really tall really fast). Anyway, I’ve been spending more time at the land as our house is nearing completion and recently planted more bamboo (and I have some seeds of the giant bamboo variety currently burning a hole in my pocket). I decided I should learn more about bamboo, specifically how to make my own cuttings so I could plant even more golden bamboo. It’s a pretty simple yet interesting process that I quickly learned about through the miracle of YouTube (where I also discovered black bamboo!). So I’ve found my new hobby (along with planting trees), but I have yet to tie it to baseball or better yet the Twins. A quick google search didn’t lead to any interesting stories about bamboo and baseball but it did lead to bamboo baseball bats! Bamboo is not only flexible but also really strong, which makes it ideal for bats. Although bamboo is technically a grass it sure acts and feels like a wood and is cut into strips and then formed together to make a bat. Bamboo bats are much stronger than traditional wooden bats so they are less prone to break and are relatively inexpensive. They’re also light-weight so they can help to quicken a swing. Unfortunately we’re unlikely to see Nelson Cruz (or any other big leaguers) swinging bamboo anytime soon. They’re fine for practice but are not allowed in games as all bats must be made from a single piece of wood. I’m not even sure if a solid bamboo culm would be allowed since it’s technically grass but it definitely seems like something Detroit should try come September. Bamboo bats are allowed by the NCAA and most high school leagues but are mostly used for practice as they are cost-efficient and rarely break. Baseball-related bamboo products don’t end with the bat. You can truly be the coolest kid in school with your very own bamboo baseball cap! Players Weekend 2020? Make it happen Manfred. That brings us to the Twins. While I would love nothing more than to be able to relate a story about Tony Oliva swinging bamboo poles as a kid, no such luck (maybe Dick Bremer has fished with a bamboo rod?). However, if you happen to be looking for Twins-themed bamboo products the list is endless: Bathroom sets, salt & pepper grinders, coaster sets, phone cases, even unisex serving trays! While I’d love to understand what exactly makes a serving tray unisex, my next bamboo related purchase will not be licensed by the MLB. Black bamboo here I come! What non-baseball related hobbies have you picked up while at home? Do you have an affinity for bamboo? Have you ever owned or operated a unisex serving tray? Please leave your comments below! 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

Yeah, I'm not exactly sure how to find that information (nor did I have time) but I agree it would have been really nice to have for the sake of context. I did just find this. It doesn't cover the time fame of the drafts in my article (with the exception of 2002) but it compares overall draft WAR from 1996 - 2018. The Twins were 12th overall if you include all the players they drafted but only 20th for the players they actually signed. My conclusion is that the Twins are elite in drafting players they are unable to sign .

Jim Callis recently ranked the five best drafts of all time at mlb.com. Today we’ll take a look at how the Twins performed in these historically great drafts.1) 1985 This draft was absolutely loaded and included B.J. Surhoff, Will Clark, Bobby Witt, Barry Larkin, and Barry Bonds as five of the first six picks. Raphael Palmeiro and Randy Johnson also came out of this draft and there are plenty more impressive names. But how’d the Twins fare? Twins draftees to reach the majors: 2/36 (6%) Total WAR: 7.9 It’s hard to imagine doing much worse than Minnesota did in this draft. The Twins had the 13th and 41st overall picks and selected RHPs Jeff Bumgarner and Steve Gasser. Neither would ever reach the majors and only two of Minnesota’s 36 picks did reach the show: RHP Paul Abbot and Catcher Lenny Webster. Abbot was worth 4.6 career WAR but in his three years in Minnesota he produced -0.1 WAR. Webster served as a backup catcher for the Twins from 1989-93, producing 1.1 WAR for Minnesota and 3.3 WAR for his career. 2) 1981 Talent could be found all over the ’81 draft including in the 10th round where Hall-of-Famer Tony Gwynn was selected by the San Diego Padres. Other notable players to be selected outside the first round included David Cone, Fred McGriff, Mark Langston, and Lenny Dykstra to name but a few. Twins draftees to reach the majors: 5/37 (13%) Total WAR: 49.4 Minnesota found their own gem outside of the first round, selecting LHP Frank Viola in the second round (37th overall). Viola was responsible for the lion’s share of value the Twins accumulated as he represents 47.0 WAR of the 49.4 career WAR Minnesota drafted (27.0 WAR with the Twins). His best years with the Twins were in 1987 when he helped lead Minnesota to its first World Series title and in 1988 when Viola won his first and only Cy Young Award. In ’89 “Sweet Music” was traded to the New York Mets but the Twins received pitchers Kevin Tapani and Rick Aguilera as part of the return, both of whom would play important roles for the next World Series run in 1991. Of the five remaining players to reach the big leagues only second baseman Steve Lombardozzi would make any kind of impact with 4.4 career WAR (4.0 as a Twin). Eleventh-overall pick Mike Sodders never got the call, but Viola single-handedly saved Minnesota in this draft. 3) 1989 The ’89 draft produced four Hall-of-Famers in Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell, Jim Thome, and Trevor Hoffman. 2020’s five-round draft would have excluded Thome and Hoffman who were selected in the 13th and 11th rounds and Bagwell would barely make it as a fourth-round pick. This draft also included John Olerud and Jeff Kent. Twins draftees to reach the majors: 10/59 (16%) Total WAR: 104.1 This draft was rated by mlb.com as the best Twins draft ever and it’s easy to see why. With the 25th overall pick Minnesota selected Chuck Knoblauch, who contributed 44.6 WAR in his career (38.0 with the Twins), and quickly showed his value as a key member of the ’91 World Series champs (he also won Rookie of the Year). In his seven seasons with Minnesota Knoblauch slashed .304/.391/.416, hit 51 triples, stole 276 bases and was a four-time All-Star. He was incredible in 1996 as he hit .341/.448/.517 for 8.7 WAR and somehow still only finished 16th in MVP voting. He was traded to the New York Yankees in 1998 and the Twins received Christian Guzman and Eric Milton as part of the return. The Twins weren’t finished as they picked up a pair of quality starters in the third and fourth rounds in LHP Denny Neagle (U of M) and RHP Scott Erickson. Erickson was of course a big part of the ‘91 team as he went 20-8 with a 3.18 ERA and 12.7 of his 24.8 career WAR came in his six seasons with Minnesota. Neagle would also go on to have a good career (22.4 WAR) but he only pitched part of one season with the Twins as he was traded to Pittsburgh for John Smiley (who was great in his one season with Minnesota) after the ’91 season. Other notable draft picks include Marty Cordova in the 10th round (7.7 WAR/5.8 with Twins) and RHP Mike Trombley in the 14th (9.1 WAR/7.6 with Twins). Cordova’s career started with a bang as he won Rookie of the Year in 1995 and hit .294/.362/.482 with 40 home runs over his first two seasons. After that he sort of fizzled out and was granted free agency after five seasons in Minnesota. Trombley pitched as both a starter and reliever with the Twins and wasn’t particularly effective but did spend nine years with the team. 4) 1986 The ’86 draft was a great depth draft that hasn’t produced any Hall-of-Famers to date. The class did include a couple of great arms in Curt Schilling and Kevin Brown and an explosive bat in Gary Sheffield, all of whom definitely have a Cooperstown case. Twins draftees to reach the majors: 5/30 (16%) Total WAR: 11.7 While the percentage of players to reach the majors matched the ’89 class, the quality did not. Utility player Jeff Reboulet was probably the most accomplished player of the bunch with 10.0 career WAR, 5.8 of which came in his five seasons with Minnesota. However, it’s likely Scott Leuis who is most fondly remembered by Twins fans as he had his best season in ’91 when he hit .286/.378/.417 in 109 games and hit the game-winning home run in game two of the World Series off of Tom Glavine. 5) 2002 We’re finally out of the eighties! This draft was disappointing at the top, but there were plenty of stars to be found though out including: Zach Greinke, Joey Votto, Cole Hamels, John Lester, Russel Martin, Howie Kendrick, Prince Fielder, Brian McCann, and Matt Cain. Twins draftees to reach the majors: 10/50 (20%) Total WAR: 63.8 Not picking at the top of the draft turned out well for the Twins as they were able to nab Denard Span with the 20th overall pick. Span put up 17.2 of his 28.1 career WAR in his five years in Minnesota where he played mostly center field. After the 2012 season Span was traded to the Washington Nationals for RHP prospect Alex Meyer who never panned out and has since retired. With their second- and sixth-round picks the Twins selected a pair of future relievers who were quite successful in Jesse Crain (11.4 WAR/5.4 with Minnesota) and side-winder Pat Neshek (10.7 WAR/3.0). Minnesota also selected first baseman Adam Lind (12.7 career WAR) in the eighth round but he didn’t sign. That wraps up our look at how the Twins performed in historically great drafts. As you’d expect there’re some hits and misses with three good-to-great drafts and two bad ones. With so many great players available it would’ve been nice to see some more in a Twins uniform but hindsight’s 20/20 and Minnesota did manage to win two World Series in the aftermath of the majority of these drafts. 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

No Brixtons to date so Buxton's son could be the first! But he better hurry because the name is apparently becoming more popular in the U.S.

Byron Buxton has a cool name. He seems like a cool guy. But he’s not the first Byron to play in the big leagues. Today we’ll honor Mr. Buxton by taking a look at the Byrons who came before him.But first, a brief history of the name. Byron originated as a descriptive term, meaning “at the byres,” or cowshed for those of you not living in England. It was used to describe people who watched over cattle. This morphed into a surname and was made famous by the romantic poet, Lord Byron. Sometime around 1880 parents decided it would be cool to name their kids after the poet, and the name took off. Sadly the name has been losing popularity since it’s height in the 1960s, but maybe Buxton can bring it back into vogue. There are only five Byrons to precede Buxton and their on-the-field accomplishments don’t amount to much. However, they more than made up for their baseball deficiencies off-the-field (think Hollywood, counterfeit shoes, and paper boxes). We’ll cover our Byrons in chronological order. Byron Houck – 1912-14, 1918 Houck spent the majority of his career pitching for the legendary Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics where he worked as both a starter and a reliever. He finished his career with a 3.30 ERA which sounds pretty good but was below replacement level (-0.6 WAR). It was a different time. After his relatively short baseball career ended Houck went on to film some of the silent era’s greatest films as a camera man in Buster Keaton’s production unit. He is also technically a Minnesotan as he was born in Prosper, MN but his family later moved to Portland, Oregon. After two incredibly interesting careers, Houck promptly did a 180 and spent the remainder of his working years selling paper boxes. Paper boxes! Byron Humphrey – 1938 Our second Byron’s MLB career lasted all of two innings. He spread those innings across two games, giving up five hits and two earned runs as a member of the Boston Red Sox. He might not have fooled many batters, but he did a number on whoever wrote the AP box scores, appearing as Humphreys, Hump’s, and Hump’ys (my personal favorite) in his first game and H’phreys, Humpreys, and Humpries in the second. Sadly, there would never be a third game and Humphrey would go to the grave without ever seeing his name spelled correctly in the box scores. Byron Browne – 1965-72 Browne has the distinction of having the longest career of any of our Byron’s, but he still finished ever-so-slightly below replacement level with -0.1 WAR as an outfielder. Browne played for four teams in his eight seasons and was one of the pieces in the attempted Curt Flood trade that led to the reserve clause being challenged. Byron McLaughlin – 1977-80, 1983 McLaughlin played the majority of his career with the Seattle Mariners and actually managed a positive career WAR (barely, at 0.4) despite a 5.11 ERA as a starter and reliever. His playing career was rather uneventful but his post-baseball life has been anything but. This Byron wasn’t slinging no paper boxes, he went straight for the good stuff – counterfeit shoes! McLaughlin was known as a trouble-maker in his playing days, including causing his team to miss a flight due to having a .357 magnum in his bag, alleged spousal abuse, and being arrested for attempting to sell cocaine to an undercover officer. That would bring an end to his playing career but not his life of crime. McLaughlin ran a counterfeit shoe ring, buying large shipments of fake sneakers from Korea and selling them in Mexico, making millions of dollars in the process. The fun ended when US customs agents and accompanying police officers visited McLaughlin’s Colorado home and issued a warrant for his arrest. McLaughlin managed to escape a 14-year prison sentence by fleeing the US before his sentencing and relocating to France. According to a 2018 Sports Illustrated article he is now believed to reside in Thailand (I’ll make sure to keep an eye out for him) where counterfeit shoes practically grow on trees. Oh yeah, he was also briefly a member of the Minnesota Twins and he presumably didn’t have enough time to commit any crimes. He was acquired via trade in December 1980 but released at the end of spring training. Byron Gettis – 2004 Our last pre-Buxton Byron had a short and uneventful career of 21 games as an outfielder for the Kansas City Royals. Gettis appears to have steered clear of a life of crime and he’s now quietly coaching high school football. Byron Buxton – 2015-? That brings us to our very own Byron, who is already easily the best Byron on the field with 9.8 career WAR and counting. Off the field Byron seems like the quiet-type likely to spend his post playing days fishing in Georgia or something. But who knows, maybe he’ll rob a bank with his hair on fire, write erotic poetry, or even…sell paper boxes. 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

It’s going to be a while before any of us have the chance to obtain any new promotional giveaways from Target Field, but with time comes opportunity. The opportunity to get weird.Whenever fans can return to games (presumably in 2021) it will undoubtably be glorious, but also probably a bit strange. The Twins might as well embrace it and give away weird stuff. Chris Landers of mlb.com wrote a list of each MLB team’s weirdest promotional items ever and the Twins would be wise to “steal” a few ideas for whenever fans return. On the topic of wisdom and stealing, a wise woman who I happen to be married to once explained what stealing isn’t to me. I was stirring my morning coffee when I took a moment to admire the nice little spoon in my cup. Strangely the word “Delta” was imprinted on the handle. “Did you steal this from the plane?” I asked my wife. “No,” she patiently informed me, “I just took it without asking.” The Twins could take a few of these great ideas (without asking of course) and even give them some slight alterations to make them their own. Today we’ll take five from the list and give them a Minnesota twist. 5) The “Gardy” Bear In 2012 the Tampa Bay Rays honored baseball-lifer Don Zimmer with the Zim Bear, which as the name implies, was a teddy bear with Zimmer’s face attached to the front. The Twins have the advantage of already having a bear for a mascot, so why not make mini T.C. Bears with former manager Ron Gardenhire’s face plastered on? And what better occasion then when the Detroit Tigers come to town? Don’t get fired Gardy! 4) Sergio Romo Beard Hat You know those Jamaican/Bob Marley hats with the dreadlocks attached? Same idea here, but with Sergio Romo’s beard attached. This is kind of a combination of the Joe Mauer sideburns giveaway listed as the Twins all-time best giveaway and the Colorado Rockies Charlie Blackmon beard giveaway. But with a Jamaican hat. Make it happen ‘mon! 3) Willians Astudillo Chia Pet This is a blatant rip-off of the Washington Nationals 2016 Bryce Harper Chia Pet giveaway. I don’t care and neither should the Twins. At this point in the quarantine I pretty much have Harper-esque hair. That’s nothing to be proud of. But you know what I would be proud of? Willians Astudillo’s hair. If any player’s head of hair was ever made to be venerated in the form of a Chia Pet, it’s Astudillo’s. 2) Triple Beer Night Beer prices at the ball park have gotten out of hand. Yeah, it’s nice to have our favorite craft brews available at the park, but is it worth drying out my kid’s college fund just to get a buzz? It didn’t used to be this way. Cleveland infamously held a ten-cent beer night in 1974 (each purchase limited to six beers, but no limit on the number of purchases!) which admittedly led to some problems (i.e. riots). But Cleveland, Minnesota is not, and that’s not what we’re going for here. Our idea is based on the Houston Astros Beer giveaway (also in the mid-70’s, what a time to be alive), where they gave each adult a free beer when a homer was hit by an Astro on an even-numbered minute. With the Bomba Squad this give away might cost the Twins millions, but what if we changed it to triples? Nothing’s better than a triple…except for a free beer (or three?). I can already hear the chorus of “boos” that would come raining down after a Buxton inside-the-park homer. 1) Max Kepler’s Car In 1992 the Toronto Blue Jays announced Derrek Bell’s car was being given away over the loud speaker. Joe Carter actually drove Bell’s Jeep onto the field while an unamused Bell looked on. It was just a prank, but it had Bell fooled. Minnesota could do a similar giveaway but with Max Kepler’s car. What kind of car does Kepler drive? How would he react? There’s only one way to find out! 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

While the news that Rich Hill will likely be ready to start the season certainly qualifies as good news, at some point the Twins may run into a numbers problem, with more starters than rotation spots. Could piggy-backing starters be a good solution to a welcome problem?If Hill is indeed ready to start the season in July, that would presumably leave a rotation of Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, Kenta Maeda, Hill, and Homer Bailey. That might mean the end of Jhoulys Chacín (or possibly a bullpen role) and would leave young, but ready starters like Randy Dobnak and Lewis Thorpe on the outside looking in (either in the ‘pen or on the taxi squad). Then there’s Michael Pineda who has 39 remaining games out of a 60-game suspension to serve. He’s all but guaranteed a rotation spot once he’s eligible to return and it’s still possible that the MLB might reduce the length of suspensions to correspond to the shortened season. Regardless of how it all shakes out it seems that Minnesota will have more starters than rotation spots. There are numerous ways around this “problem” as guys like Dobnak and Thorpe can still be optioned or would probably be content with bullpen roles as long as it meant making the team. However, with Odorizzi, Hill, and Bailey becoming free agents after the season the Twins may want to get additional looks at their young starters. And if everyone stays healthy up until Pineda’s return, there’s going to be a crunch anyway. While the Twins have done a great job of putting together a collection of quality arms, none of the starters are without their flaws. One potential solution to the quantity problem could also improve the quality of the rotation. By pairing or piggy-backing certain pitchers in the rotation, Minnesota could improve the overall strength of the rotation by reducing the third time through the order “penalty” that haunts many starters. If we take a closer look at the Twins rotation there are several candidates who would likely benefit from shorter outings. Here’s each potential starter’s career OPS against for their first, second, and third times through the batting order: Download attachment: Piggy-backing chart pic.png Both Berrios and Hill have remained solid the third time through the order over the duration of their careers. As the “staff ace” it makes sense to let Berrios be. With Hill one could make an argument for limiting his innings due to his injury history, but his innings will be limited by the short season anyway, so he could easily be left in his traditional role. The remainder of the rotation make good piggy-back candidates. Odorizzi has been terrible the third time through and tends to work up high pitch counts anyway, so he’s a no-brainer. Maeda’s a good fit as well as he tends to fall victim to the long-ball the later he pitches into games. Bailey’s strong finish after making adjustments in 2019 give reason for optimism, but he’s still the weakest link of this group, so getting him out of games sooner rather than later seems wise. Whenever Pineda makes it back from his suspension he could also benefit from avoiding a third trip through the order. So what would a piggy-back rotation look like? If the Twins should opt to go this route it’s likely to fluctuate based on performance and health, but for fun let’s assume everyone is healthy. The rotation could look something like this: SP1: Berrios SP2: Hill SP3: Maeda/Thorpe SP4: Odorizzi/Dobnak SP5: Pineda/Bailey The combinations could obviously be altered in whatever fashion the coaching staff/front office deems appropriate, but assuming health, the bodies are there (just to a lesser extent before Pineda’s return). Again, a lot could change based on performance and injuries but piggy-backing to some degree would seem to mitigate the third-time penalty while helping the bullpen to remain fresh and effective as well. Rocco Baldelli would also have the pieces in place to make quick pitching changes if any of the starting pitchers are ineffective. What do you think? Is piggy-backing an effective way to use the plentitude of starters the Twins possess or is there a better way? Please leave your comments below! 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

I just saw that Seth posted that Betsey Helfund recently wrote an update on Hill. Sounds like the rehab is going well and he says he'll be ready to go if the season begins in July.

If baseball does in fact come back in early July as now proposed, Minnesota will finally get a chance to see some of the “impact” players that were acquired this offseason. Josh Donaldson and Kenta Maeda are big names who should be ready to go, but the other big acquisition, Rich Hill, comes with more questions.Donaldson signed the biggest free-agent contract in Twins history, and Maeda, while less expensive (depending on how you feel about Brusdar Graterol), will presumably be in Minnesota for the next four years. Hill on the other hand, is signed for only 2020 and is guaranteed just $3 million (up to $9.5 million with incentives), so from the Twins perspective the cost and commitment is minimal. However, even at 40-years of age, Hill could prove to be as impactful of any of the other acquisitions Minnesota made. Hill’s last season with an ERA above 3.66 was back in 2013 when he pitched for Cleveland. Since then he’s had an ERA of below 3.00 in all but two seasons. In other words, Hill has been good, in fact very good…when he’s been on the field. Which brings us to three all important questions for the man they call Dick Mountain. Will Hill be healthy? With Hill, health of course is the big question, and it’s unsurprisingly linked to all three questions. Hill underwent modified or experimental Tommy John surgery, which involves reinforcing the UCL with tape that has been soaked in collagen. Although it sounds like the medical equivalent of me trying to fix a leaky pipe, the good news is the recovery time is much shorter than with traditional Tommy John (or calling the plumber). And unlike our leaky pipe, we really only need Hill’s elbow to hold up for half a season. Then again, at age 40, Hill’s elbow has already gone through two Tommy John’s, so it might not be much better off than our proverbial old leaky pipe. When will Hill be ready? Originally Hill was hoping to make it back sometime in June, so with the season presumably pushed back to July, Hill at least has a chance to start the year in the rotation. However, with Covid-19 preventing Hill from working directly with the Twins training staff, matters become more complicated. At this point it’s unclear how Hill’s throwing program has advanced. While the Twins have become one of the teams at the forefront of using technology for player development, distance and the inaccessibility of facilities have likely made a smooth recovery a greater challenge. Teams will likely have an abbreviated spring training of about three weeks, but that doesn’t leave Hill much time. What kind of workload can be expected? The MLB’s most recent plan calls for approximately 80 games in 2020. With the shorter season comes increased variability, making every game that much more important. Winning and avoiding long losing streaks will be paramount, and a healthy and effective Hill would go a long way toward bolstering Minnesota’s rotation. Therefore the Twins will have every reason to try to maximize Hill’s usage in 2020. If Hill is ramped up and ready to go in July, how much can we really expect? With a half-season, the rosiest picture would be somewhere approaching 100 innings. The bad news is that Hill threw only 58 2/3 innings in 2019 while dealing with elbow soreness. They were however, good innings, and we can hope that the surgery took care of the arm issues. If we go back to 2017 and 2018 Hill was actually pretty healthy, pitching 135 2/3 and 132 2/3 innings respectively. So maybe somewhere in the vicinity of 80 innings isn’t such a (rusty) pipe dream? Hill was mostly dealing with nagging blister injuries throughout those two seasons. While annoying, blister injuries usually only cause a brief stint on the IL, and short stints that allow Hill a little extra rest certainly wouldn’t be the end of the world. Minnesota’s rotation was much improved in 2019 and they were able to bring back Jake Odorizzi and Michael Pineda (who must complete his suspension) and add Maeda and Homer Bailey to join Jose Berrios. With uncertainty surrounding a trade deadline and the likelihood of more teams being in contention due to the shorter season and postseason expansion, acquiring starting pitching could be next to impossible. A healthy and effective Hill could go a long way toward helping the Twins ascend the mountain that is baseball in 2020. 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

At The Athletic, Ken Rosenthal recently wrote about the latest details on baseball’s plan to return. The plan calls for an 80-game season (approximately) that would have teams hosting games at their home ballparks and only traveling within their region. Today, we’ll look at one possibility that Rosenthal lays out and how it might favor the Twins.According to Rosenthal, Major League Baseball is currently hoping to have the regular season begin sometime in early July. We’re looking at something like 80 games, but that’s just an approximation, the number could be 78 or 82 as well. Teams would only face opponents from their own region, which for Minnesota would mean AL and NL Central teams. In considering a 78-game season, Rosenthal speculated that teams might play four three-game series against each division opponent and two three-game series against non-division opponents. That would mean the Twins would play 48 of the 78 games (62%) within the division as opposed to just 76 of 162 games (47%) in the pre-COVID-19 regular season schedule. That’s a 15% increase in games against AL Central opponents with the remainder of the games presumably played against NL Central teams. Reducing the schedule to 78-games obviously greatly increases the variability of potential results as the season has less time to play out, favoring fringe teams while generally unfavorable to better teams like Minnesota. However, the negative effects of this variance would potentially be offset for the Twins by facing weaker teams like Detroit and Kansas City more often. The White Sox should be improved but are also far from a sure thing, and although Cleveland has the potential to be a good team, they didn’t do much to bolster their club this past offseason. In 2019 Minnesota was 50-26 in games played within the division and 41-16 against Detroit, Kansas City, and Chicago. Cleveland was the only divisional opponent the Twins had a losing record against, but just barely (9-10). In addition, the Twins were able to add key pieces this offseason, including Josh Donaldson, Kenta Maeda, and Rich Hill and Chicago was the only other AL Central team that really added significant pieces this offseason. Predicting how the Twins will fare against NL Central teams is a more difficult task. The division is certainly more balanced than the AL Central as Pittsburgh is the only club projected to be really bad in 2020. While Cincinnati also struggled in 2019, they have added several pieces and should be an improved team. Of the remaining clubs (St. Louis, Chicago, and Milwaukee), none reached the win totals of either Minnesota or Cleveland but all finished the season with winning records and the Cardinals won 91 games. It's unclear whether or not a universal DH will be adopted, but with so many inter-league games, it seems a possibility. This would obviously be somewhat advantageous for AL teams like the Twins, as NL teams didn’t approach the offseason with DH acquisition in mind. The altered landscape of the 2020 season is a great opportunity for MLB to adopt the universal DH if it is a priority. The latest plan also has MLB expanding the number of teams advancing to the postseason from five in each league to seven. Those extra two slots would go a long way towards mitigating some of the variance of a shorter season that could be harmful to a team like the Twins. Needless to say, this plan isn’t set in stone and a lot of work is left to be done including ensuring the safety of all involved and getting all the financial matters ironed out between the players and owners. But the financial incentives of having a season are huge and the chances of having baseball in 2020 seem likelier by the day. And it looks like it might just work out in the Twins favor. 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