h2oface

The year was 2017 and the month was August. Byron Buxton had just been shelved since mid-July, entered with a .604 OPS, and was ready to get back on the field. The Minnesota Twins needed a jolt to push towards the playoffs and man did his month of August provide it. A .973 OPS across 29 games ended up vaulting him onto the national scene and he was rewarded with an 18th place finish in the American League MVP voting. Fast forward to 2019 and we’re watching it happen again.
 
Right now, Buxton doesn’t own a .973 OPS, and no 29-game sample size has jumped off the page quite like that final month of summer did. However, it’s what Byron Buxton has done this season that is getting deserved recognition across the sport. He isn’t going to win an MVP award because Mike Trout exists, but behind arguably the greatest player to ever step on the diamond, Buxton is currently the second-best centerfielder in the game.
 
On May 13th Buxton had played 37 games for the Twins and his 17 doubles led all of baseball. He had just one homer, but his .275 average and .806 OPS were plenty promising. This date is significant as it was then that I offered the following thoughts on Twitter:
 

 
We’re now roughly a month out from that Tweet, and things have gone as expected. Buxton’s hard-hit rate since that date is 38.6%. He has jumped the 2% HR/FB rate all the way up to 25% and has six dingers. He still leads the American League with 21 doubles (trailing only Josh Bell’s 25 across baseball), but the longball is now being incorporated back into his game. I have long believed Buxton won’t hit for average as much as he’ll combine to hit for power. If the .270 sticks, so be it, but the .500+ SLG is exactly what I’d like to see.
 
You already know about the defensive acumen. Buxton leads baseball in Outs Above Average (10) and Actual Catch Percentage (94%). His 9 DRS is third in the big leagues, and his UZR is also off the charts. It’s fair to suggest that, when healthy, he’s the most dynamic player on defense that the sport currently employs.
 
What is great, and maybe less known, is that the offensive outburst looks sustainable. He’s decreased his chase and whiff rates. His contact rate is a career high, and the hard-hit rate is a substantial improvement. The ball is on the ground nearly 10% less than career averages, and he’s not just trying to beat out ground balls as has been previously suggested to him. This is a good hitter that allowing his tools to work and is creating absolute nightmares for opposing pitchers because of it.
 
It really doesn’t matter where he hits in Rocco Baldelli’s lineup. I’ve talked about moving him up previously, and something like 6th or 7th seems to make sense. Even if he stays in the 9-hole though, this is a guy that’s settled in and finally comfortable showing off the ability that has been there all along.
 
While he won’t win the MVP award, he’s a top 10 candidate at this point in the season, and even that may be a bit too light.

If you’ve followed me for any amount of time on Twitter, you know that I’m skeptical when it comes to the Minnesota Twins cult hero. Willians Astudillo made his MLB debut last season, and after a September explosion, fans around Twins Territory lost their collective minds. Both from a conceptual and statistical perspective he’s been a lightning rod player for me, and someone I’ve struggled to get on board with.
 
Rather than tweeting in short bursts I thought it pertinent to organize my thoughts in a single blog post with supporting facts and use this as a point of reference. Maybe some number of months from now this will be something that you can point to as a massive miss for me. If that ends up being the case, Minnesota likely benefits, so we all win in that case.
 
To date Astudillo has 62 games in his major league career. 29 of those games came during September 2018 in which he posted an .887 OPS. He swatted eight extra-base hits (three homers), .379 wOBA and 139 wRC+. On top of his offensive contributions, he also played six defensive positions for Minnesota. The next 33 games came to open the 2019 season, in which he posted a .630 OPS, .267 wOBA, and a 62 wRC+.
 
As Twins Daily’s Nick Nelson alluded to me on Twitter, we’re dealing with two sample sizes spanning roughly 100 plate appearances. Generating definitive conclusions off either scenario is not entirely fair, but I’m attempting to tie feelings into statistical output. Without being completely dismissive of those 97 September plate appearances, they took place during the most watered-down portion of the big-league schedule. His slump or injury has been credited with the slide in 2019, but the reality is that aside from his first three games (6-for-9), he owns a .537 OPS across 110 plate appearances.
 
My belief is that Astudillo must entirely shift his approach at the plate in order to see sustained big-league success. Astudillo saw 2.93 P/PA this season, the lowest in baseball, with the next closest being the Angels Andrelton Simmons (3.03). It’s not that swinging early and often isn’t a viable process, it’s the way in which Astudillo uses it that’s the problem.
 
Minnesota’s utility man owned just a 28.8% hard hit rate this season (31.9% in 2018) and puts the ball on the ground 40% of the time. He also popped up on one-fifth of his batted balls. With as much swinging as Astudillo does, while avoiding strikeouts and walks, it’s not a surprise he has a 95% contact rate. Unfortunately, he also has chased 47% of the time (40% in 2018). The summary of his plate discipline and approach is a guy who doesn’t hit the ball hard, puts it on the ground, and isn’t fast enough to make a difference.
 
If there’s going to be a successful career ahead with the Twins or elsewhere, something must give for Astudillo. He’s done this swing early, avoid strikeouts, and don’t walk for the entirety of his pro career. A pop-up season in the PCL saw a strong OPS, but his minor league OPS is .759. There’s some pop in the bat, but he doesn’t work counts enough to find good pitches. Major league hurlers make him eat out of their hand, and he obliges regularly. This profile is the exact representation of why strikeouts aren’t bad and are arguably worse than any other out.
 
I touched on a guy who isn’t patient earlier. The Angels Simba swings often too, but he’s become a strong hitter (for average) with a hard-hit rate in the upper 30’s. The ground ball rate isn’t good (and it’s why his SLG will never be favorable), but he only chases pitches out of the zone roughly 30% of the time. Not a slugger by any means, Simmons finds a strike and attacks it while Astudillo attacks almost any pitch thrown his way.
 
The greatest asset Astudillo provided Minnesota in the early going this year was that he had positional flexibility. He’s able to stand almost anywhere on the diamond but grades out as roughly average at all those places. Lacking a standout defensive skill, and currently employing an approach not conducive to big league success, there’s an uphill battle ahead of him.
 
It’s great when players like this excite a fanbase or represent a polarizing figure in the clubhouse. What’s worth keeping in perspective, however, is that there’s still a game being played between the lines and casting aside reality, or the merits of other players is something that will only make the letdown that much more difficult. Here’s to hoping an overhaul can be made during his stint on the farm. The more contributors Rocco Baldelli has, the better.
 
For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

Michael Pineda made a start for the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night in California against the Los Angeles Angels. He gave up a home run to Mike Trout during the second at bat of the game, the opposition was leading 3-0 entering the 3rd inning. That was your que to go and do a quick Twitter search, and it wouldn’t have been pretty. The reality is we’re seeing a shift in expectations.
 
Entering play on May 22 the Twins pitching staff owned the 7th best fWAR in baseball. The 3.68 ERA of Minnesota starters was 7th in the sport and 4th in the American League. No longer is this group the pitch to contact, look for worm burners, pray for rain type of collection. There are strikeout arms at the disposal of Rocco Baldelli everyone stands to benefit from a systemic change throughout the organization.
 
This isn’t to give Michael Pineda a pass. His first six starts in a Twins uniform were to the tune of a 6.21 ERA and .913 OPS against. He made it through the sixth inning just once and failed to advance beyond the fourth on two separate occasions. Having missed all the 2018 season, and over half of 2017, some level of rust was to be expected. Add in that three of those starts came against the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies and it’s fair to see where danger may have been hiding.
 
Since his lackluster start Pineda has turned a significant corner. There’s no one foolish enough to suggest he’s a staff ace but a 4.50 ERA across 24.0 IP (four starts) is more than enough from the fifth guy in your rotation. He’s cut the opposing OPS down to .757 and while the homers still plague him, the 22/5 K/BB is plenty respectable.
Over the course of his career Pineda has always been a guy to get bitten by the longball. He’s got a career 1.3 HR/9 and has been at 1.7 dating back to 2016. He’s also always posted strong strikeout numbers and limited the number of walks. Avoiding damage by making a good number of longballs fall into the solo variety is a safe way to give them up if you’re going to toe that line.
 
There’s also a velocity decrease at play that could be hampering some of Pineda’s output. On the season he owns a 92.5 mph average, which is down from his 94.6 mph career mark. He didn’t see much warmth during Minnesota’s April, and the 93.3 mph averaging representing a season high came during an away game in Houston. As the summer trudges on, that will be something to monitor.
 
The rest of his peripherals suggest that we’re looking at a pitcher simply being dogged by the big blast. His 42.9% hard hit rate is a career worst by quite a bit, and it’s spiked the 46% fly ball rate and 18% HR/FB mark. He needs to keep the ball in the yard more, but so far has danced around danger well. A .286 BABIP is workable, and more fly balls kept in the yard should be convertible outs.
 
We’ll have to wait and see how future starts play out, but this is currently trending in the right direction. A 4.50 ERA isn’t going to have fans putting him in the discussion of Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, or Martin Perez, but it’s a solid mark you can be happy with. We aren’t looking at a Ricky Nolasco, Tommy Milone, or Hector Santiago situation here. Despite a fanbase that seems to still be treading carefully and waiting for the bottom to fall out, there’s a lot of handwringing over the production of a 5th starter that’s doing his job appropriately.
 
If you want to go out and throw your hands up each time Pineda toes the rubber and gives up three or four runs, be my guest. As much as I won’t be the one to stop those claims, I’ll also caution that he’s not an ideal fit for the bullpen, the depth behind him is currently uninspiring, and the most important factor is that he’s doing his job just fine. Minnesota could certainly afford to upgrade the fringes of its pitching staff, but that’s more matter of practice than it is an indictment on any one player.
 
For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

Over the course of the winter the Minnesota Twins did a lot of good things. The front office continued bringing in top tier developmental talent. They added pop to the lineup, and Rocco Baldelli looks the part of an exciting big-league manager. What they didn’t do was address a pitching staff, and namely a bullpen, that looked like it could use some help. Now with the depth being tested, an unexpected stalwart has emerged. Can Ryne Harper be the hero no one knew they were expecting.
 
Entering Spring Training as a non-roster invitee, Harper looked like a long shot to make the 25-man roster. Despite once having his contract selected, he’s never played in a big-league game, and has something like three days of service time accrued. The 29-year-old turned in a nice 2.54 ERA across 39 IP at Double-A last season but stumbled to the tune of a 5.19 ERA with Triple-A Rochester.
 
The surface numbers have been mostly good for Harper, but it’s the ratios that jump off the page for me. Across 65 IP on the farm last season, he posted an 11.9 K/9 with a sparkling 1.4 BB/9. In just over 450 innings of minor league relief, Harper owns an 11.0 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9. Should that hold up at the big-league level any club would find themselves in a state of ecstasy.
 
Having not gotten any major league time to date in his career, it’s been on the back of an exceptional Spring Training that will likely get Ryne over the hump. Working 11 innings down in Fort Myers, Harper turned in a flawless 0.00 ERA allowing just two unearned runs. He’s given up only seven hits while fanning 14 and walking none.
 
Look at the Twitter feed of Twins Daily’s Tom Froemming and you’ll find a barrage of benders that are certainly Pitching Ninja worthy. It’s on the back of this pitch that Harper has burst onto the scene, and he’s had hitters of all abilities looking plenty foolish the past few weeks. Pairing his curveball with pinpoint command has added up to a blueprint that should translate just fine when the games start to matter later this week. He’ll likely take home the coveted Sire of Fort Myers trophy, but a big-league payday should be a nice secondary prize as well.
 
It’s always great when an unexpected talent pops up and can make a big-league impact. It’s never going to be expected from a late blooming, career minor leaguer. Minnesota is also banking on this kind of situation with Matt Magill. Whether or not Harper and Magill can provide consistency over the course of a full season remains to be seen, however. There should be some level of fear or caution regarding how the pen fares for the Twins, but these glimmers of hope are feel-good stories in the present.
 
Maybe Harper was a guy that the front office knew they could count on all along. Maybe Baldelli and Wes Johnson saw a moldable piece that was just waiting to be unleashed. We’ve seen the results in exhibition contents. The next piece of this puzzle is putting up numbers when it counts.
 
For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

March Madness is upon us. I’m nothing close to a college basketball specialist, but it seems to me that not even the most optimistic Minnesotan believes that the Golden Gophers will go far in the Big Ten Tournament -- but, who knows? Either way, with or without the presence of the UMN boys, a number of people will hop on the Bracketology train and have a lot of fun during the month of March.
 
Motivated by the school spirit brought by this event, I decided to look at how some Minnesota Twins did while they were playing in college. I came across a lot of interesting facts and numbers from the time that these now Major Leaguers were just a bunch of hopeful kids attending classes everyday. Here’s a list that I’ve put together, with a personal experience shared at the end.
 
Kyle Gibson was a vital part of the Twins rotation last year, after struggling in his first years in the Majors. And that's actually a bit similar to how his college career went down. He was off to a slow start, coming out of the bullpen during his freshman year for the Missouri Tigers, in 2007. But then, when he started being used as a starter in 2008, he turned the corner and pitched at a good level in the following two seasons. In his last year in college, he posted a 3.21 ERA and 11.05 K/9. Gibby and the Tigers played the NCAA Regionals in all of the three years he was there.
 
Kyle Gibson (Missouri, NCAA-1, three seasons)
3.66 ERA
63 games (29 starts)
259.0 IP
304 K (10.48 K/9)
0 HR
61 BB (2.10 BB/9)
1.16 WHIP
9 SV
 
Tyler Duffey was Drafted by the Twins in 2012 out of his hometown college, Rice University, in Houston. He spent three full seasons playing for the Owls, between 2010 and 2012, helping the school to claim its fourth conference championship, in 2011. Curiously enough, do you know who was elected the conference MVP that year? That’s right. Duffey. He helped the Owls to finish the regular season in first place (16-8 conference record), with the highest number of wins (42-21 overall record) and to be the #24 program in the nation. He shared closing duties with former Twin J.T. Chargois.
 
Tyler Duffey (Rice, NCAA-1, three seasons)
3.06 ERA
92 games (1 start)
13 SV
152.1 IP
189 K (11.12 K/9)
14 HR (0.82 HR/9)
55 BB (3.24 BB/9)
1.21 WHIP
 
Trevor Hildenberger also spent three seasons in college ball, but his overall numbers weren’t nearly as impressive as his stellar Minor League totals nor his first months in MLB. Coming out of high school, he pitched for the University of California, Berkeley starting in 2010, but he was redshirted during the 2011 season. His best season was during his senior year, in which he posted a 2.83 ERA and tied the school record of ten single-season saves. On May 10th, 2014 he pitched 3.0 innings to earn a save, striking out six batters, his career high.
 
Trevor Hildenberger (California, NCAA-1, three seasons)
4.28 ERA
56 games (5 starts)
11 SV
106.0 IP
95 K (7.97 K/9)
3 HR (0.25 HR/9)
33 BB (2.77 BB/9)
1.34 WHIP
 
Veteran relief pitcher Blake Parker wasn’t always a pitcher. During his three seasons playing for the Arkansas Razorbacks, from 2004 to 2006, Parker served as the team third baseman. Drafted in 2006, he had a very slow start as a position player on Rookie and A ball and started his transition to the mound in 2007, to never turn back. As a position player in college, his best season was during his sophomore year, when he had a .865 OPS and was an extra-base maniac, with a 54.55% XBH%. After maintaining a 2.85 ERA in ten years pitching in the Minors, he knew he made the right call for his career.
 
Blake Parker (Arkansas, NCAA-1, three seasons)
.266/.344/.417 (.761 OPS)
129 games
504 AB
15 HR
79 RBI
16 SB
51 BB (8.79% BB%)
118 K (20.34% k%)
 
Taylor Rogers is a superstar in the making right now. But his college career was nowhere near an indication of that. After being drafted by the Baltimore Orioles out of high school in 2009, he decided not to sign with them and to attend the University of Kentucky. He was a starting pitcher for the Wildcats for three seasons and when we look back at his performance there, we get shocked. Look at what his Wikipedia page has to say about his college career: “In 2010, he tied for the Southeastern Conference lead in losses (7) and runs allowed (68), as he went 4-7 with a 6.40 ERA. In 2011, he tied for second in the Southeastern Conference in losses (7), and was third-highest in runs allowed (56). In 2012, he was fourth in the Southeastern Conference in runs allowed (45)”. Can you believe this?
 
Taylor Rogers (Kentucky, NCAA-1, three seasons)
5.34 ERA
45 games (42 starts)
249.0 IP
172 K (6.21 K/9)
25 HR (0.90 HR/9)
55 BB (1.99 BB/9)
1.46 WHIP
 
Addison Reed MLB career is pretty respectable. His college career? It was monstrous. In three seasons pitching for the San Diego State Aztecs, Reed was one of the best pitchers in the country. During his sophomore year, in 2009, he led the nation with 20 saves in 20 save opportunities, striking out 38 batters in 27.2 IP (12.36 K/9) and finishing with a 0.65 ERA. He was named the 2009 National Stopper of the Year by the NCBWA.
 
Addison Reed (San Diego State, NCAA-1, three seasons)
2.16 ERA
60 games (11 starts)
24 SV
132.0 IP
154 K (10.40 K/9)
10 HR (0.68 HR/9)
31 BB (2.09 BB/9)
1.05 WHIP
 
Another player who had an astonishing college career was C.J. Cron. In three years playing for the Utah Utes, between 2009 and 2011, Cron was acknowledged as one of the best first basemen in the nation. Not only did he have extraordinary individual numbers, but he also helped the Utes to reach the regional finals in 2009, his freshman year. During his junior year, the last one before being drafted, he was “named a first-team All-American at first base by Baseball America, NCBWA, ABCA, Perfect Game, ESPN, and the Collegiate Baseball newspaper (Louisville Slugger)”, after slashing .434/.517/.803 (1.320 OPS).
 
C.J. Cron (Utah, NCAA-1, three seasons)
.396/.459/.713 (1.172 OPS)
157 games
641 AB
46 HR
198 RBI
62 BB (8.46% BB%)
75 K (10.23% K%)
 
When the Twins signed Jason Castro to a three-year, $24,5 million contract in 2017, they did it mostly because of his defensive skills. As a major leaguer he hasn’t lived up to his minor league offensive numbers and certainly hasn’t for his college numbers either. Castro played very well offensively for Stanford, especially during his junior year. Not only did he lead the Cardinal in batting average (.376), hits (105), doubles (18) and RBI (73), he also “earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors, second-team All-America accolades from Rivals.com and third-team All-America recognition by Baseball America, ABCA/Rawlings and Ping!Baseball, while he was a finalist for the Johnny Bench award honoring college baseball's top catcher”. With Stanford reaching the College World Series that year, Castro was named to the All-College World Series team, after hitting 6-for-18 (.333) on that series.
 
Jason Castro (Stanford, NCAA-1, three seasons)
.309/.381/.476 (.857 OPS)
162 games
540 AB
18 HR
106 RBI
62 BB (9.94% BB%)
83 K (13.30% k%)
11 SB
 
Last, but not least (especially for me, but I’ll get to that in a minute), there’s Mitch Garver, who played for four years for the University of New Mexico, in his hometown of Albuquerque, between 2010 and 2013. Garver was one of the best catchers in the nation. In his senior year, he slashed .390/.458/.589 (1.047 OPS) and led the team in multiple stats. But not only did he succeed individually, but he’s also led UNM to two of its three Mountain West Conference titles (2011 and 2012), including the very first one in history, making him one of the best Lobos of all-time. Garver also takes much pride in his state’s roots. I don’t know if many of you will remember, but during Players Weekend last year, he used a New Mexico flag bat.
 
Mitch Garver (New Mexico, NCAA-1, four seasons)
.351/.421/.527 (.948 OPS)
211 games
809 AB
18 HR
167 RBI
88 BB (9.51% BB%)
104 K (11.24% k%)
21 SB
.384 BAbip
 
What makes Garver’s college career so special to me? In 2013 I was granted a scholarship from my university in Brazil and I managed to spend six months in the US, studying at UNM. At the time, basketball was my main passion and I took every opportunity I had to go watch the Lobos basketball team, which was pretty good at that year (until a tragedy at March Madness ruined everything…). But I took one chance to go to the Isotopes Park, home field of the Albuquerque Isotopes, the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, and attended the very first (and only) baseball game of my life, when the Lobos hosted Oklahoma State.
 
Back then, I didn’t follow baseball nearly as much as I do today. So I had no idea who any of those players were. It only occured to me last year, when Garver started to get his first Major League chances, that he was much likely there, behind the plate, during that particular game. I checked, and, yes. He was at that game (look at the picture above, which I took on that day). The Lobos trailed 4-2 on that February evening, the ballpark was empty before the game was finished and the pitcher I actually went there to watch (because we took one class together) didn’t even play (I think). But, in retrospect, I can see how meaningful that day was to me and Garver was a part of that.


The Minnesota Twins signed Jonathan Schoop to a one year $7.5 million contract this offseason in a bridge deal to prepare for Royce Lewis among others.
 
It seems like fans and people around the game have already written off seeing Schoop anywhere with the Twins past 2019, but the question has to be asked, what if Jonathan Schoop returns to his 2017 form?
 

In 2017 Jonathan Schoop was one of the best second basemen in baseball. He ranked like this among them (min of 120 PA):

2nd in home runs (32)

1st in RBI (105)

10th in AVG (.293)

6th in SLG (.503)

8th in wOBA (.355)

8th in wRC+ (122)

5th in WAR (3.6)

 
Fielding wasn't as good but it was good enough to pass as long as you are hitting like he was.

14th in UZR (-3.2)

8th in DRS (0)

12th In FLD% (.981)

5th in 10-40% chance to make play (27.3)

 
Overall the hitting alone puts him in the top 5-10 second basemen in baseball. He is on the Twins and is a great player to have a potential bounce back campaign.

The Twins were able to grab him as an under the radar pick up because he struggled so much in 2018. Obviously there is something with his swing that the front office was confident can be fixed. He was also dealing with a leg injury throughout all of 2018 that limited his abilities.
So hypothetically if Schoop were to repeat 2017 or even be better, what would his outlook be for remaining on the Twins in 2020 and beyond? I think there are three options.

 
1.) Jonathan Schoop resigns on a multi-year contract and a middle infield prospect is traded.

 
2.)The Twins let him walk in order to make room for Lewis, Javier, Gordon etc.

 
3.)The Twins have a bad year and trade him at the deadline.
 
4.) 
Schoop resigns and moves to third, Polanco to 2B, Lewis/Gordon/Javier to SS and Sano to 1B
 

I think al of these options except number three could really work in the Twins favor. Recent contracts for second basemen have been looking like this:

 
D.J. LeMahieu 2 years $24 million

Jed Lowrie 2 years $20 million

Brian Dozier 1 year $9 million

Jean Segura 5 years $70 million

Dee Gordon 5 year $50 million

Andrelton Simmons 7 years $58 million

 
I would imagine that if Schoop can repeat 2017 or get even better that he would get somewhere around the Jean Segura deal of 5 years $70 million. Schoop will only be 26 or 27 so signing an impact second basemen into his early 30's couldn't hurt. I would imagine if he is resigned he will have to eventually have to move over to third base in order to make room for Royce Lewis and Jorge Polanco.
The second option the Twins have will be to let him just go to free agency so the Twins keep their money and can spend it elsewhere. This wouldn't be a crazy move even if Schoop has a great year, just based on the fact that Royce Lewis, Wander Javier, Nick Gordon and others are in the minors.

 
Another possibility is one that would hurt the most but is still possible. The Twins could have another down year and swap Schoop for a few prospects. I would much rather see the Twins trading prospects for impact players at the deadline but we will just have to wait and see.
 

If Schoop is resigned it's likely he would play one more year at second base while waiting for someone like Royce Lewis to emerge. The infield would eventually be shifted all around and look something like Schoop at third, Lewis at shortstop, Polanco at second and Sano at first. . Four offensive weapons with slight defensive liability at 3 positions, but with great outfielders it balances out, right?
 

Overall I've never been so hyped or just excited about a one year contract for a player coming off a really bad year but Schoop could just be really good. If the Twins are right and they are able to pinpoint something he was messing up with his swing and get him back to his strengths, this $7.5 million contract could be a great deal.

 
Thank you for reading my Jonathan Schoop post. Go check out my seperate blog @EverydayTwinsTalk.com I would love to do more interactive articles with fans, so go visit my Twitter. (@EverydayTwins). If you enjoyed please leave a like and share with your friends.


Johan Santana is the only unanimous Cy Young Award winner
in history to be benched on Opening Day.
 
 
In 2004, Johan Santana won the AL Cy Young Award for the Minnesota Twins.
 
He received a perfect 28 of 28 first place votes, breezing by Curt Schilling and Mariano Rivera. His 228 innings pitched was second most in the American League while his 2.61 ERA lead the AL among qualified starters. He struck out 30.1% of the batters he faced. Pedro Martinez, the next closest in the American League starter, had struck out 25.1%. Santana was amazing. And yet...
 
On Opening Day 2005, Johan was on the bench.
 
The Twins opted to start Brad Radke instead. Radke had been the club’s Opening Day starter for six straight seasons entering the year and had started eight of the previous nine season openers. He signed a two-year $18 million deal with Minnesota in the ’04-’05 offseason to keep him from taking his talents to Boston or Anaheim who were rumored to have offered more. He had been looking for a three-year/$33 million deal from the Twins, but opted instead to take a discount to stay. The Twins paid him back by giving him the Opening Day start.
 
According to a Chicago Tribune article from April 2005, manager Ron Gardenhire said he made the decision to start Radke over Santana on Opening Day almost immediately after Radke re-signed with the club.
 

"There wasn't a conversation about it," Gardenhire said. "Radke's here, he's starting Opening Day. It's not about slighting anybody. It's about the respect that the guy's earned since he's been here." 
The article continues saying that Radke didn’t expect to start Opening Day, and that Santana had no problem with it given Radke’s tenure with the team. But there is a problem with it—it had never happened before and hasn’t happened since. Santana is the only unanimous Cy Young Award winner in history to be benched on Opening Day.
 
There have been 22 other unanimous Cy Young Award winners and only two others failed to start the Opening Day game in the following season. Sandy Koufax in 1967 because he retired, and Orel Hershiser’s first start of 1989 was pushed back due to flu symptoms.
 
If we widen the net to all Cy Young Award winners, there have been 104 starting pitchers who won the award since it was established in 1956 and played in the following season—so not counting Koufax’s retirement season or the two 2018 Cy Young Award winners since this year’s Opening Day hasn’t happened yet. There were also nine relievers, but they didn’t start because, you know, they didn’t start games.
 
Of those 104 starters, three were unavailable on Opening Day due to injury, three were holding out at the start of the season because of contract disputes, and one was mired in a league investigation into gambling. Zooming in a little closer, three more of the remaining pitchers started in game two because they were behind Hall of Fame teammates in their team’s rotation. Mike McCormick started behind Juan Marichal in 1968, Mike Flanagan started behind Jim Palmer in 1980, and John Denny started behind Steve Carlton in 1984.
 
None of this was the case with Santana. He was healthy, not in a contract dispute, and—while I like Radke as much as the next guy—he was not stuck behind a future Hall of Fame pitcher. Which means our list of comparable Cy Young Award winners has been pared down to 94 pitchers. Of those 94, only 11 failed to start Opening Day the following season, this includes Santana in 2005. This means that 88% of Cy Young Award-winning starters meeting our criteria took the mound on Opening Day in the following season.
 
[table]


Cy Young Award Year
Pitcher
Following Season's Opening Day Starter with Reason


2013
Max Scherzer
Justin Verlander - he was very good (although 2014 was a rough season)


2004
Johan Santana
Brad Radke - of course


2004
Roger Clemens
Roy Oswalt - he had a longer tenure with Houston & finished 3rd in the 2004 Cy Young Award voting


2002
Barry Zito
Tim Hudson - he was roughly as good as Zito throughout their stretch in Oakland


1990
Bob Welch
Dave Stewart - he finished in the top 4 of Cy Young Award voting in the four previous seasons


1985
Bret Saberhagen
Bud Black - Saberhagen's youth? I don't know, this one is similar to Santana


1981
Fernando Valenzuela
Jerry Reuss - this too seems to be youth and is similar to Santana


1974
Catfish Hunter
Doc Medich - Hunter joined the Yankees in the offseason thanks to a fluke that let him out of his contract with Oakland, it’s possible team or league politics played a role


1969
Mike Cuellar
Dave McNally - he finished 4th in the Cy Young Award voting in 1969, so they were similarly skilled


1964
Dean Chance
Fred Newman - like Radke, Newman was clearly worse than Chance, I couldn't find a real reason


1960
Vern Law
Bob Friend - he & Law were comparable pitchers, but this is similar to Santana’s snub
[/table]
 
 
There you have it. And remember, of those players on this list, Santana was the only unanimous Cy Young Award winner prior to his Opening Day snub. Will it ever happen again? Certainly it will in the infinite monkey theory of baseball, so I will say “yes” because unless the sport ends entirely, no one can say I am wrong.

UPDATE (March 4): Jose Berrios has been named the Twins 2019 Opening Day starter
 
 
The “Opening Day starter” distinction means more than it matters.
 
It is an honor given to a team’s best or longest-tenured starting pitcher, and it is treated by players and managers as just that: an honor.
 
Whether a pitcher starts on Opening Day or in the second game of the season doesn't matter much when it comes to the team's record over a 162-game season, and yet we see a barrage of press releases and quotes during spring training announcing who will take the mound first for each team.
 
At this point, the Twins haven’t announced their Opening Day starter for 2019, but the proclamation will likely come in the next few weeks. That said, there seems to be two front-runners for the job: Jose Berrios and Kyle Gibson.
 
While Jake Odorizzi was the Opening Day starter in 2018, he only pitched 164 1/3 innings and posted a 4.49 ERA on the season. Berrios and Gibson, on the other hand (or "on same hand" since they're all righties), both threw 190+ innings and had an ERA in the 3.00s.
 
Of the two, Gibson had the better ERA at 3.62, threw a few more innings, and is projected by Steamer to lead the team in ERA again in 2019. He is the longest-tenured player on the Twins roster as he enters his seventh season pitching for Minnesota, and was also ahead of Berrios in the rotation last year, pitching in second game of the season after Odorizzi’s opening start.
 
Berrios had the edge in the peripheral stats with mores strikeouts and fewer walks than Gibson. His 3.84 ERA was not far behind his teammate, and he was the only Twins player selected to the All-Star game last year. He is projected by PECOTA to be the best pitcher on the Twins’ staff in 2019 and has the edge in “stuff” and future upside. If there's a true ace on this staff, it will likely be him.
 
Michael Pineda and Martin Perez round out the rotation. They have yet to throw a pitch for the Twins and have been either hurt or bad in recent years. They don’t expect to be in the conversation for Opening Day starter.
 
Adding a wrinkle into the discussion is Rocco Baldelli and the Twins late-season experiment using an Opener in 2018. The decision to implement this strategy last September was agreed upon by the front office and former manager Paul Molitor. However, with Molitor’s depature and the addition of Baldelli—who hails from the Tampa Bay Rays organization which introduced and heavily used the Opener last year—there are reasons to believe that the Twins will more aggressive with this strategy in 2019.
 
That said, the Twins continued to allow Berrios, Gibson, and Odorizzi to start without being preceded by an Opener last fall. Likewise, the Rays allowed their better starter pitchers Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow to start their games without an opening act. Beginning the season with an Opener seems unlikely unless this coaching staff really wants to make a splash right out of the gate.
 
Time (and probably the Twins in the next weeks) will tell who will be taking the mound at Target Field on March 28 to face the Cleveland Indians, and their name will be jotted down in Twins history. Even if it doesn’t really matter who gets the start, it certainly means something.
 
 
Here are some tidbits about Opening Day starters in Minnesota Twins’ history:
Since officially becoming the Minnesota Twins in 1961 (after moving from the District of Columbia), there have been 58 Opening Days. A total of 31 different pitchers made Opening Day starts for the Twins.
---
Brad Radke leads the pack with nine Opening Day starts followed by Bert Blyleven’s six starts and four for Frank Viola. Dave Goltz tallied three starts on Opening Day while nine other pitchers had two starts apiece.
---
The best Twins Opening Day start, using Bill James’ Game Score, was Dean Chance. He threw a complete game shutout in 1968 against the Washington Senators (the team that filled in the void after the Twins moved to Minnesota). Chance struck out eight batters, walked none, and allowed four hits in the contest.
---
The worst performance by the same metric came in Brad Havens’ lone Opening Day start for the Twins which took place in the Metrodome in 1983. Havens was ousted after recording just four outs. He gave up eight runs, all earned, against an impressive Detroit Tigers team that went on to win 92 games that season. His brutal outing began: single, single, home run, walk, wild pitch, walk. The Tigers went on to score six runs in the first inning.
---
Kevin Tapani, however, proved to be the worst Opening Day starter in the aggregate, as he posted a 19.29 ERA over two starts in 1993 and 1994. In the two games, he totaled seven innings, recorded just three strikeouts, and gave up a massive 15 earned runs on 18 hits. Those starts were the second- and third-worst Opening Day starts in Twins history by Game Score.
---
There were only five Opening Days hosted at Metropolitan Stadium. Mudcat Grant had the best start of the bunch allowing one run in a complete game against the Kansas City Athletics. The worst Opening Day performance at the Met belongs to Jim Perry in which he allowed three earned runs in 4 2/3 innings of work in his 1971 start.
---
Radke started five of the 15 Opening Day games played in the Metrodome and had the best start under the inflated roof by Game Score. In 1996, Radke struck out eight Detroit Tigers in six innings while allowing just one earned run as the Twins (with newly-signed Paul Molitor) beat the Tigers 8-6.
---
Target Field has hosted just two Opening Days since it’s inaugural season. In 2013, Vance Worley braved the 35º weather and limited the then-very-good Tigers to three runs over six innings. He held Miguel Cabrera hitless, but took the loss as the Twins fell 4-2. In 2017, the Twins defeated the Royals behind seven strong innings of one-run ball from Ervin Santana.

The Twins will host their third ever Opening Day at Target Field as they take on the Cleveland Indians on March 28th.

The Best Twins Centerfielder in history? The outfield is a challenge because so many times managers see them as interchangeable parts. But a great Centerfielder must have range and perhaps some flare. The NY press had a great time when there were three teams – and they had Mays, Mantle, and Snider.
 
Lenny Green Was our first year CF and Bill Tuttle backed him up when he was not playing out of position at 3B. The same two in 1962. Green was traded to the Angels for Frank Kostro and Jerry Kindall.
 
Green would play 6 years for the Twins/Senators .270/.359/.384/.743. 7 WAR.
 
The phenom Jimmie Hall took over center in 1963 after an injury to Green, but Green started more games. Hall, Allison, and Oliva played Center in 1964 which would make quite an outfield with all three in the same game. Hall had the most by far, but lost time after being hit on the cheek in the All Star game by Bo Belinsky. Hall, Nossek, Oliva in 1965. Hall would play 8 years in MLB. His last four years were a minus -1 WAR. Hall was traded to Angels with Pete Cimino and Don Mincher for Dean Chance and Jackie Hernandez. After the trade his career was terrible. A Sabr article said, “Little is known about Hall’s life after his baseball career ended. He returned to Elm City, North Carolina, and made his living as both a woodworker and longhaul truck driver. When he wasn’t working, he was an outdoorsman who liked to hunt and fish. He also enjoyed spending time with his children and grandchildren. Hall stayed away from the game entirely, even refusing to return to Minneapolis in 2005 for a 40th-anniversary reunion of the 1965 team.” https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/6ad8a4ec
 
Hall played 4 years. .269/.334/.481/.815 14.8 WAR
 
Ted Uhlaender took over with Hall and Oliva getting some action and kept the position in 1967, 1968, and 1969 with Tovar behind him. He was traded with Graig Nettles, Dean Chance and Bob Miller to the Indians for Luis Tiant and Stan Williams in 1969.
 
Uhlaender was a Twin 5 years. .262/.306/.354/.661. 3.2 WAR.
 
1970 Tovar was the centerfielder, and I would have had him there all the time, but he was so versatile. Holt was the most frequent CF in 1971, but Jim Nettles and Tovar matched him. Then in 1972 we had Bobby Darwin at CF with Nettles and Brye next in line. Darwin lost the position quickly and Larry Hisle took over in 1973, with Brye having just a few less games there. Hisle divided his time between LF and CF so Brye had the most CF games in 1974. In 1975 Dan Ford dominated the position with Lyman Bostock taking the majority of other appearances.
 
Then in 1976 Bostock took over CF and Brye still had 57 games. 1977 Bostock, Hisle and Norwood shared the position. Bostock had a total of 17 putouts in a doubleheader which is a good example of his fielding prowess, which set an American League record for outfielders. Then in 1978 Bostock was gone from MN and one year later he was just gone. In Gary Indiana while visiting his uncle, the uncle Turner agreed to give Hawkins and her sister, Barbara Smith, a ride to their cousin's house. “Turner drove his vehicle, with Hawkins seated in the front passenger's seat. Bostock and Barbara Smith rode in the vehicle's back seat. Barbara Smith had been living with Hawkins while estranged from her husband, Leonard Smith. Unbeknownst to the group, Leonard Smith was outside Hawkins' home in his car, and observed the group's departure in Turner's car. According to Leonard Smith, his wife was frequently unfaithful to him, and though he did not know Bostock, he later said that upon seeing Bostock get into the back seat of Turner's vehicle with his wife, he concluded that the two were having an affair. In fact, however, Bostock had only met the woman 20 minutes previously, when he and his uncle arrived at Hawkins' home.” Wiki. The gunshot that was intended for the wife, caught Bostock, a killing blow and a great young man and his career were finished.
 
By 1978 Bostock had 3 years and .311/.365/.427 /.791. 10.3 WAR
 
Steve Brye had 7 years in MN .261/.311/.360/.671. 4.7 WAR.
 
In 1978 Dan Ford was in CF. In 1979 Kenny Landreaux was the centerfielder. 1980 was another of those years where it did not seem like we could make up our mind. Landreaux 67, Rick Sofield 51, Dave Edwards, Greg Johnston 14. I liked Landreaux but he was not here long enough to get in the conversation. Of course in 1981 Mickey Hatcher had 86 games and he is not going to be the best and Gary Ward had 19. Bobby Mitchell who I do not remember was in 115 games as our CF in 1982 With Brunansky and Eisenreich behind him. Then the who is Hell is he continued in 1983 with Darrell Brown 76, Bobby Mitchell 44, Tom Brunansky (in center?) 38, and Rusty Kuntz 27.
 
Kenny Landreaux 2 years, .294/.341/.435/.776 1.8 WAR
 
Sigh of relief – 1984 and Kirby Puckett was in Center! Finally. Kirby dominated the CF position in 1985, 1986 with no others having any claim. Then in the WS year Mark Davidson had 20 games behind Puckett. Moses was behind him in 1987 and in 1988. Puckett, Mack and Moses in 1990. Puckett, Mack and Jarvis Brown in 1991. Puckett, Bruett and Brown in 1992. 1993 Puckett had a strong backup with Mack getting 67 starts and Puckett was moved to RF. “Puckett woke up on March 28 without vision in his right eye. He was diagnosed with glaucoma and was placed on the disabled list for the first time in his professional career. Three surgeries over the next few months could not restore vision in the eye.” WIKI.
 
Puckett 12 years .318/.360/.477/.837 51.1 WAR
 
1995 Rich Becker took over CF with Alex Cole and Matt Lawton behind him. Becker stayed in control in 1996 with Roberto Kelly and Lawton behind him. 1997 Becker, Lawton and Darrin Jackson. 1998 Otis Nixon was in CF.
Rich Becker, 5 years. .267/.349/.379/.728. 6.5 WAR. Nixon was gone in 1999 and Torii Hunter was in CF with Jacque Jones getting substantial appearances. Hunter, Jones, Hocking were there in 2000. Torii with Kielty had 2001, 2002, and in 2003 Lew Ford backed up Hunter. Again, Hunter and Ford in 2004, 2005, and 2006 Tyner was behind Hunter and again in 2007. In 2008 Span was behind Hunter. Hunter was a first round pick, one of our best. As a free Agent Hunter went to the Angels, then at the end of his career reappeared in a Twins uniform. He had nine consecutive Gold Gloves!
 
Torii Hunter 12 years, .268/.321/.462/.783 26.4 WAR
 
2008 Carlos Gomez was in CF with Denard Span behind him (no wonder Denard left us). Same two in 2009. Span finally got the position he deserved in 2010 and Repko backed him with Revere. Revere started the most in center in 2011 and Span was second. Then in 2012 Span had most of the games and Revere a few. We traded Span for Alex Meyer.
 
Span had 5 years .284/.357/.389/ .746 17.2 WAR
 
Aaron Hicks took over in 2013 with Clete Thomas in 50, and Alex Pressley 28. Then Danny Santana got the most starts over Hicks in 2014 and Sam Fuld got too many too. Then in 2015 Hicks was pushed by Buxton and was soon to be a Yankee.
 
Who is the Best? Hicks could have been really good, but not for us; Gomez looked good but had a short shelf life, Eisenreich was exciting and faded fast.
 
1. Kirby Puckett 12 years .318/.360/.477/.837 51.1 WAR
2. Torii Hunter 12 years, .268/.321/.462/.783 26.4 WAR
3. Denard Span had 5 years .284/.357/.389/ .746 17.2 WAR
4. Bostock had 3 years and .311/.365/.427 /.791. 10.3 WAR
5. Jimmie Hall played 4 years. .269/.334/.481/.815 14.8 WAR
6. Lenny Green 6 years for the Twins .270/.359/.384/.743. 7 WAR
7. Rich Becker, 5 years. .267/.349/.379/.728. 6.5 WAR
8. Steve Brye had 7 years in MN .261/.311/.360/.671. 4.7 WAR
9. Uhlaender was a Twin 5 years. .262/.306/.354/.661. 3.2 WAR.
10. Kenny Landreaux 2 years, .294/.341/.435/.776 1.8 WAR
 

https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11386-the-twins-best-left-fielder-in-history/
 

https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11380-the-best-third-baseman-in-minnesota-twins-history/

https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11367-the-best-first-baseman-in-twins-history/

https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11377-the-best-ss-in-twins-history/

https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11371-%7B%3F%7D/

https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11365-the-best-catcher-in-twins-history/

Our best third baseman is another challenge. This completes the infield reviews it is not an easy task to find the best. I might choose Harmon for both first and third and he played so long that he has as many games at both positions as the others that he is competing with.
 
 
In 1961 Bill Tuttle played 3B 85 games and batted 5th behind Zoilo. He played one more full time year at 3B before leaving MLB. Bill suffered from cancer that was the result of chewing tobacco and from his playing days until he died in Anoka at age 35. This was the only year he played 3B, otherwise he was an outfielder. There was a lot of action at 3B that year with Harmon getting 45 games and Ted Lepcio, Reno Bertoia, and Jose Valdivielso dividing up the many opportunities.
 
Harmon Killebrew is often thought of as our third baseman, but in 1962 Rich Rollins played the bag and Harmon was in LF. George Banks is the other person who got on 3rd, but only for six games. 1963 was the same two with Johnny Goryl (future manager) getting a handful. In 1964 Goryl backed up Rollins and Frank Kostro got a few games in at the hot corner. Rollins held third again in 1965 with Harmon Killebrew getting 43 games there, but mostly playing at first.
 
In 1966 Harmon started at 3rd base 107 times and Rich Rollins got in 63. In 1967 Harmon went back to first and Rollins and Cesar Tovar split the most games at third. Ron Clark, Jackie Hernandez, Frank Quilici, Harmon Killebrew 3, and Frank Kostro were all there at times.
 
Reversing the previous year, in 1968 Tovar and Rollins again split third, but Tovar was in the most games of the two. The same backups with one addition, Craig Nettles, 23 years old got in 5 games! Considering Nettles career, he might have been our best if we had kept him. Rich Rollins was left available in the Expansion draft and went to the Seattle Pilots.
 
 
Rich Rollins played 8 years for the Twins .272/.333/.394/.727 Not considered a great glove man he still accumulated 11.9 WAR and appeared in 2 all star games.
 
 
1969 had a long menu of players – Killebrew 105 games, Quilici 84 (lots of defensive replacements), Rick Renick 31, Cesar Tovar – now an outfielder 23 and Craig Nettles 21. In 1970 Killebrew 139 was backed up by Danny Thompson, Rick Renick, and Quilici.
 
 
Harmon Killebrew 21 years a Twin, 258/.378/.514/.892 – 573 HRs (pre Peds) 60.4 WAR. In a total of 2435 games Harmon played 970 at first, 791 at third and 471 in the OF. He was HOF and much more versatile than many assume. It is hard to take Harmon out of the conversation – Rich Rollins had 828 games at third – Harmon had almost as many.
 
 
A new name entered the listing in 1971 when Steve Braun played in 73 games, Killebrew 64, Eric Soderholm 20, Danny Thompson 17. Soderholm and Braun split 1972. Craig Nettles was gone. He would win numerous gold gloves and is considered one of the top 3 defensive 3B of all time, plus he set the AL record for HRs by a third baseman. He was traded to the Indians along with Dean Chance and Ted Uhlaender for Luis Tiant and Stan Williams.
 
 
1973 Braun was in 101 games, Soderholm 33, Terrell 30, Dan Monzon 14. Then in 1974 Soderholm was in 130, Terrell 21 and Braun 17 with most of his time in Left Field. In 1975 it was still Soderholm with Dave McKay and Terrell in support. And that was the end of the Soderholm era.
 
 
Soderholm was with us 5 years and played 760 games at third. .257/.336/.389/.725 10.5 WAR
 
 
Mike Cubbage took over at third after the Twins acquired him in a trade in 1976. He kept the lead at third in 1977 with Jerry Terrell continuing to be the bench man. In 1978 with Cubbage still holding third a new name – Larry Wolfe appeared and was in 81 games at third. In 1979 John Castino grabbed third = 143 games and Cubbage was in 62 and was Rookie of the Year. The same ratio in 1980.
 
In 1981 Cubbage was gone, Castino was in 98 games and starting to have back pains. Gary Gaetti got in 8 games, Pete Mackanin 4.
 
Mike Cubbage played in 452 games at third in five years with the Twins. .266/.336/.378/.715 6.8 WAR
 
In 1982 Gaetti took over for Castino with 142 games while Castino got in to only 22. 1983 Castino played 2B and Gaetti had third. It would be the last full year for Castino.
 
Castino was with the Twins for six years - .278/.329/.398/.727 15.2 WAR 416 appearance at third, 232 at second.
Now it was Gaetti’s world. 154 games in 1984, 156 – 1985, 156 – 1986, 150 in 1987. Smalley and Newman were backups to third in the WS year. 1988 – 115 games and Al Newman got in 60. The same two dominated 1989, 1990, but by the WS year 1991 Gaetti was gone. After hitting just 229 he was allowed to leave as a free agent and went to the Angels.
 
Gary Gaetti played 10 years for the Twins. .256/.307.437/.744 and 27.2 WAR In 19 seasons he played 2282 games out of 2507 at third base.
 
Mike Pagliarulo was the third baseman for the WS run in 1991 and Scott Leius and Al Newman backed him up. Then in 1992 Leius took over 125 games, Pagliarulo 37 and Jeff Reboulet 22. 1993 had Pags back on third 79 games, Terry Jorgenson 45, Jeff Reboulet 34, Chip Hale 19. After the Auditions in 1994 Leius was back at third, Chip Hale played 21 games. In 1995 Leius was the starter and Reboulet, Stahoviak and Coomer were in line behind him. Then in 1996 Dave Hollins took over the bag with Reboulet, Todd Walker, and Coomer behind him.
Scott Leius was with us 6 years. .244/.316/.353/.669 4.8 WAR In his career he was 445 games at third and 557 total.
 
1997 Ron Coomer now had the bag with Todd Walker and Dennis Hocking in support. In 1998 Cooomer and Brent Gates shared the bag with Hocking and Jon Shave next in line. A guy named Corey Koskie showed up for 10 games. As you probably expected Corey Koskie was in the lead in 1999 with 79 games, Brent Gates had 61, Ron Coomer 57. Finally in 2000 the corner belonged to Koski with Jason Maxwell next in line ahead of Hocking. 2001 was the same. 2002 was the end of Maxwell and it was Hocking and Cuddyer behind Koskie. 2003 Koskie, Hocking and Chris Comez. 2004 still Koskie and a shifting line behind him – Cuddyer, Terry Tiffee and Alex Prieto. Punto made the list this year too.
 
Koskie in seven years out of nine he played for the Twins and had a line of 280/.373/.463/.836 He played 3B 908/928 games. WAR 22.2. Third was probably the right spot for the former hockey player and Canadian. Like Mauer and Morneau he suffered a concussion and this really ended his career.
 
Ron Coomer played 391 games at third and played 6 years for MN. 278/315/.431/.746 WAR 2.5
 
2005 things were in transition again – this time Michael Cuddyer held the hot corner with Luis Rodriguez, Tiffee, Castro and Punto in line behind him. In 2006 Nick Punto was at third 89 games, Tony Batista 50, Luis Rodrigues 29 and Terry Tiffee and Scott Baker had a few games. 2007 Punto was at third 108 games, Luis Rodriguez, Brian Buscher and Jeff Cirillo had games there as well as Tommy Watkins – soon to be our minor league manager.
Brian Bushcher with 64 games, Mike Lamb 55, Brendan Harris 34, Matt Tolbert, Nick Punto and Matt Macri had substantial games in this audition year – 2008. The auditions continued in 2009 with Joe Crede, Brendan Harris, Tolbert, Buscher, Punto all showing their skills. Since that did not work we held another audition year – 2010 with Danny Valencia 81 games, Nick Punto 48, Brendan Harris 27, Michael Cuddyer 14, Matt Tolbert 14, Alexi Casilla 14, and Luke Hughes 2.
 
They liked what they saw and finally settled on Danny Valencia in 2011 with Luke Hughes number 2. But that did not work out and in 2012 Danny was third on the list behind Trevor Plouffe and Jamey Carroll. Plouffe settled in with 120 games in 2013 and Jamey Carroll and Eduardo Escobar were behind him. In 2014 Carroll was gone, Plouffe was backed by Escobar and Nunez. 2015 Plouffe and Nunez held the bag. Then the auditions began again – 2016 Plouffe 63, Sano 42, Nunez 33, Ecobar 23, Polanco 9, Beresford 3, and Danny Santana 1. Then in 2017 we began the Sano era, but Escobar started almost as many games.
 
Nick Punto had seven of his 14 years with Minnesota. .248/.323/.324/.648 10.3 WAR He played 360 games at third, 408 at second and 337 at short.
 
Trevor Plouffe seven years in Minnesota. .247/.308/.420/.727 8.6 WAR.
 
 
There are the choices: Which do you want?
1. Harmon Killebrew 21 years, 258/.378/.514/.892 – 573 HRs 60.4 WAR. 791 games at third
2. Castino six years - .278/.329/.398/.727 15.2 WAR 416 appearance at third
3. Gary Gaetti 10 years .256/.307.437/.744 and 27.2 WAR 19 seasons 2282/2507 at third base.
4. Koskie seven years. 280/.373/.463/.836 WAR 22.2 3B 908/928 games.
5. Rich Rollins played 8 years.272/.333/.394/.727. 11.9 WAR 828 games at third.
6. Soderholm 5 years. .257/.336/.389/.725. 10.5 WAR 760 games at third
7. Trevor Plouffe seven years. .247/.308/.420/.727 8.6 WAR. 611 games at 3B.
8. Nick Punto seven years with. .248/.323/.324/.648 10.3 WAR 360 games at third.
9. Mike Cubbage five years. .266/.336/.378/.715 6.8 WAR 452 games at third
10. Scott Leius 6 years. .244/.316/.353/.669 4.8 WAR 445 games at third.
11. Ron Coomer 6 years .278/315/.431/.746 WAR 2.5 391 games at third
 

https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11377-the-best-ss-in-twins-history/

https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11371-%7B%3F%7D/

https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11367-the-best-first-baseman-in-twins-history/

https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11365-the-best-catcher-in-twins-history/

I have been following ESPN’s look at positions and comparing the position’s historically by statistics and currently by ranking the players and putting them in tiers. So of course, since I have been watching the Twins since their Minnesota debut I thought we should do the same things. Like ESPN I will start with the Catchers.
 
 
Earl Battey was our first catcher and in many ways was under rated. He was our catcher for 8 of his 13 years in the big leagues – starting with the White Sox and ending with the Twins. His slash line for those 8 years is .277/.354/.412 – OPS .766 – OPS + 109 and WAR 17.5 (an average for the 8 years of 2.2 per year). Now wouldn’t those lines be great today?
 
George Mitterwald was the next catcher – He started with the Twins and was in Minnesota for 7 years before playing four years for the cubs. 239/.304 /.373 OPS .676 was a come down from Battey. He had a WAR of 6 (0.85 per year). Phil Roof was his second, but George played 120 games.
 
In 1974 Roof stayed as the backup along with Randy Hundley and Glenn Borgmann played 128 games. Glenn played for the Twins for 8 years and then, like the previous three had a stint (1 year) in Chicago. 229/.325/.304/.630 lowered the standards again. His WAR was 5 for the 8 years (.6 average). You have to discount the WAR because he lost his starting role in 1976 so he had only two full seasons to create this WAR total.
 
Randy Hundley was replaced by the forgettable Tom Lundstedt as third catcher in 1975 and was gone in 1976 as Butch Wynegar (Griffiths – Love that Kid) took charge, Borgmann dropped to two and Roof to three. Butch had a good press but his .254/.340 /.342/.682 means he was somewhat overrated. He did acquire a WAR total of 15.3 for those seven years because his defense was very good. (2.2 average WAR).
 
In 1977 Bud Bulling replaced Roof as number three. Do you remember those days when rosters had number three catchers? Wow! After Bulling left – one year – we really just kept Wynegar and Borgmann for a few years.
 
In 1980 Borgmann went to the Cubs and we brought in, as backup, Sal Butera who started 32 games. Then in 1981 Butera played 59 games, Wynegar 37, Ray Smith 15 and Tim Laudner 12. Butera was with the Twins for four years and his slash line was .233/.303 /.274/.577 with a Total WAR for the four years of -0.8 or an average of -0.2.
 
In 1982 Tim Laudner took over, Butera was number 2, Wynegar number 3. Tim played nine years – all for the Twins and of course is a local Icon now. His line was 225/.292/.391/.682 and total WAR 3.2 an average of 0.3 per year.
 
In 1983 Laudner dropped to number 3 with 57 games behind Ray Smith 59 games and Dave Engle 72! Dave Engle played for Minnesota for five years with a line of .268/.316/.400/.716 and a low WAR of 3.4 which would have been okay for a catcher but in reality he played more OF/DH/3B. In 1984 he was still catcher number one, with Tim Laudner 2 and Jeff Reed as number three.
 
Then Engle dropped to number three in 1985 with only 17 games behind the plate, Laudner had 68, and a man I had forgotten – Mark Salas was number one with 115 games! Salas was with us three years and had a respectable line - .279/.320/.440/.760 He had a 2.7 WAR of .9 per year and he went on to play 8 years – with the Yankees, White Sox, Cleveland and Detroit.
 
In 1986 Salas had 69 games, Laudner 68, and Reed 64! In 1987 Laudner took over the position again with 101 games and Sal Butera was back as number 2 with Tom Nieto number 3 and Mark Salas number 4. And in 1987 Laudner kept the number one position for 109 games and Tom Nieto played in 24 and a guy by the name of Harper came in and played 48. Harper took over in 1988 and Laudner was second again. Behind Laudner for games at catcher that year were Orlando Mercado, Lenny Webster, and Greg Olson.
 
Harper took over for sure in 1988 and was backed up by Junior Ortiz and Lenny Webster. Harper played 16 years, 6 with Minnesota. In those six years he was .306/.342/.431/.773 with a WAR total of 13.4 or 2.3 per year. The same threesome was there in 1991 and in 1992/1993 Ortiz was replaced with Derek Parks.
 
In 1994 Derek Parks was the only hold over, but Matt Walbeck took over the starting position. In three years with the Twins his line was .230/.271/.300 /.571 and a WAR of (-1.5) giving him an average of -0.5 per year. He ended up playing in the majors for 11 years. In 1995 Parks was gone and Matt Merulo and Jeff Reboulet played back up.
Greg Myers took over in 1996 (and I cannot remember him at all) and Walbeck was second with Mike Durant Catching 34 games. Despite my amnesia, he played in the majors for 18 years! His two years with MN he had a line of .279/.323/.429 /.752 which looks really good and he had a WAR of 1.2 or .6 per year.
 
Myers became expendable when Terry Steinbach took over in 1997 and caught 116 games. Myers caught 38, Damian Miller 20 and Javier Valentin caught 4. In 1998 Valentin took over backup with 53 games, Terry caught 119 and a new guy – A J Pierzynski caught 6. Steinbach had a line of .256/.321/.399/ .719 for three years and WAR of 3.2 and average of 1.1.
 
In all Terry caught for 14 years in the big leagues with Oakland and Minnesota.
Steinbach was still number one in 1999 with 96 games and number two was not AJ – it was Valentin with 76 games. AJ caught 9. Then in 2000 we had a catcher mess! Marcus Jensen (who?) caught 49 games, Matt LeCroy caught 49 games, Chad Moeller (double who?) caught 48, AJ caught 32, and Danny (triple who???) Ardoin caught 15. Marcus was in the majors seven years. In his one with us he was .209/.325/.338/ .663 and WAR was 0.0.
 
In 2001 we cleared the field and AJ took over and caught 110 games with Tom Prince catching 64 and LeCroy catching 3. AJ has a 19 year career – amazing for a catcher. Based on rumors he has 19 friends too, but all we care about are his catching credentials. .301/.341/.447/.788 are fine numbers and his WAR 9.5 for six years needs to be factored with two of those being non-playing years so he really averaged 2.38 for the four years he was starter! Pretty damn good numbers.
 
In 2002 he was backed up by the same two plus Valentin. In 2003 Valentin was replaced by Rob Bowen. And in 2004 AJ was gone and we had another logjam. Henry Blanco caught the most games – 114 with a line of .206/.260/.368/ .628 and (-0.2) WAR which makes him forgettable as a Twin, but he had a 16 year career. His backup were Joe Mauer 32 games, Matt LeCroy 26, Pat Borders 19, Rob Bowen 15.
 
2005 began the Joe Mauer era and his back ups were Mike Redmond, Chris Heintz, Corky Miller, and Matt LeCroy for 1. LeCroy and Miller were gone in 2006. But LeCroy caught 4 again in 2007 and Jose Morales caught 1. Ryan Jorgenson caught 2 games in 2008 and the rest were Redmond and Mauer (139). 2009 Redmond and Mauer had Morales as the number 3. In 2010 Redmond was gone. Redmond was here for five years and had a line that read .297/.339/.359/.699 with a total of 1.3 WAR. Not bad for a back up.
 
The 2010 backups were Drew Butera – Sal’s son – and Jose Morales, plus a catcher by the name of Wilson Ramos got in 7 games. In 2011 we had a pivotal year and Mauer could catch only 52 games and Drew Butera caught 93. Mauer and Butera had Rene Rivera start 44 games and Steve Holm six. I do not have the ability to sort our all of Mauer’s Catcher stats from his 1B stats, but I did find that he hit .308/.391/.444 as a Catcher! And his legacy is affected by his .280/.359/.396 line at 1B. My best guess in 31.9 WAR as a catcher. BR has him with 11 seasons at a catcher which gives him an average WAR of 2.9.
 
In 2012 Mauer still caught 74 games, the famous Ryan Doumit caught 59, Drew Butera caught 41 and Chris Herrmann caught 3. This stayed about the same in 2013 with Mauer getting in 75 games, Doumit 43, Herrmann 27 and Josmil Pinto an exciting 20. But that is not all. Eric Fryer caught 5 and Drew Butera 2. It was Doumits last year with the Twins before going to Atlanta. Doumit in his two years was .261/.317/.428/.745 1.6 WAR which was really good as a part time player.
 
2014 We turned to Kurt Suzuki who is now with the Nationals and had a good run with Atlanta after leaving us. Josmil Pinto started 25 games, Eric Fryer 24, and Chris Herrmann 1. In 2015 Suzuki started 130 games, Pinto started 38 and Eric Fryer 15. Suzuki continued to be the number one in 2016 when he started 99 games, Juan Centeno started 53 and John Ryan Murphy was in 25. Suzuki had a three year run with .263/.316/.364/.680 and 3.3 WAR or 1.1 average.
 
Then we move in to Castro/Giminez/Garver/Wilson/Astudillo and even Graterol. These are not in my measures of the best. With time they may be, but lets look at what this long exercise has produced.
 
So how do we rate them?
Most years
1. Mauer 11
2. Battey 8
3. Borgmann 8
4. Mitterwald 7
5. Wynegar 7
 
Batting average
1. Mauer 308
2. Harper 306
3. Pierzynski 301
4. Redmond 297
5. Battey 277
 
OBP
1. Mauer 391
2. Battey 354
3. Harper 342
4. Pierzynski 341
5. Wynegar 340
 
Slugging
1. Pierzynski 447
2. Mauer 444
3. Salas 440
4. Harper 431
5. Myers 429
 
OPS
1. Mauer 835
2. Pierzynski 788
3. Harper 773
4. Battey 766
5. Salas 760
 
Total WAR
1. Mauer 31.9
2. Battey 17.5
3. Wynegar 15.3
4. Harper 13.4
5. Pierzynski 9.5
 
Average WAR per Twin Season
1. Mauer 2.9
2. Harper 2.3
3. Battey 2.2
4. Wynegar 2.2
5. Pierzynski 1.6 (2.4 as starter)
 
Mauer is obvious number 1 – then? Harper, Battey, Pierzynski, and Wynegar seem to show up the most.

If you don’t already know the Minnesota twins inked the former Ranger southpaw, and well seasoned veteran Martin Perez to a short 1 year compact, to what seems to be a lackluster effort to “fortify the rotation.”
 
Now we can interpret this transaction whatever way we deem to be fit, but the Twins projected rotation lines up as….
 


 
Middling at best.With the likes of two potentially elite pitchers Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel standing pat for a desirable bidder, this has caught the chagrin of Twins rage twitter, and you can’t blame them. Imagine inserting Kimbrel or Keuchel into the pitching staff, and the added perks would benefit all parties involved including the most important; rectifying the vast abyss of Twins rants on the interwebs.
 
It isn’t any secret that the Twins have loads of room to supplement the roster to make a bid for the division. With the Indians unloading after 3 years of reigning as division champions, and the Royals, Tigers, and White Sox currently having no plans other the than tanking, the crease is there for the Twins to make a run for the Indian’s money and to snap a near decade for a division title deprived fanbase. Even to that tangent, what even is more baffling is that the Twins have an unprecedented allotment of salary (I felt so deeply compelled to say cap room) on the checkbook or whatever ledger the stingy twins utilize to organize their expenses. As Minnesotan Fans, we are so inherently adept to mediocrity and heartbreak, it’s as if misery is in our compatible middle name. But in this instance, there’s only room to spectate and to be optimistic, which is undoubtedly a tough pill to swallow.
 
The Ugly on Perez
 
The ugly is so glaringly obvious. The kid pitched to the horrendous tune of a 6.22 ERA last season and owns a below average 4.63 ERA. He’s got a poor career 4.44 FIP, and doesn’t strike people out. Watching some footage of his former* (as in last season he was converted into a reliever because he was so awful) starts, the guy doesn’t have an appealing secondary pitch, his control is rather iffy, and his changeup has fallen off a cliff since its former dominance prior to his injury. Speaking of injury, the guy spent 3 stints on the disabled in only the past year, has operated on for Tommy John, and is as far as away from durable as Minnesota is from Texas.
 
The Bad
 
The thing Perez isn’t terrible because he’s bad. As contradictory as it sounds, he isn’t necessarily by any means as pitiful as he appears. Looking at the tape, its as if his performance rides a rollercoaster. During the first inning, the guy is as rocky ever. He gets in many hitters count, can’t find the zone, and gets rocked once he does in 3-0, 2-0, 3-1, or 3-2 counts. But strangely he settles down and is frankly razor sharp with precision in the middle innings. That sinker-changeup combo is to die for on the edge of the plate, and reminds me a lot of….JA Happ. I think toggling with his sinker/four-seamer to changeup ratio, and maybe a change of scenery would do him wonders. Not to mention, GLP in Arlington is no easy place to pitch, because the ball CARRIES out there.
 

 
The Good, and How to enhance it???
 
Believe or not, Perez once was pegged inside the Top 100 prospects in the Baseball America’s 2010 edition. Don’t think because of this though, that I expect him to fulfill his top billing as a prospect. The guy has upside which at this point is hard to believe. But as I watched the tape, he isn’t the doormat pitcher as his number would indicate. He’s a solid and competent enough pitcher in the middle innings and is maybe or not a little shaky-nervous at game tilt. Beyond that, he’s got excellent above-average velocity from a left-handed starter. His relative youth and exuberance leaves room for hope of improvement, and he’s 28. He also is a ground ball demon and induces a well above average GB rate, and at worst is a decent innings eater. We’ve seen this regime sign the flyer free agent, as referencing last year’s Anibal Sanchez reclamation project. After looking at Sanchez’s pitch usage, there’s nothing at first glance that collasally has changed. But taking a deeper dive, we can see that Anibal has surged up in his career ranks in Chase%, Pitches out of the Zone%, and overall Strikeouts%.
 


But his pitch movements, usages, and varying peripherals haven’t drastically changed.
 




What can be attributed to this surge is pitch sequencing. Sanchez better utilized his changeup in complement because he threw the pitch out of the zone. He Split-Finger had a career-high strikeout rate in volume, and had the most minuscule SLG percentage in terms of volume pitched. He cutback the vertical movement of his 12-6 curve, and upped the ante of his split-finger that fit perfectly to a series of pitches (sinker, cutter, split) that better suited his repertoire, featuring horizontal movement. Which is a primary reason why Anibal had a renaissance season.
 
I mention this because..
Anibal was once a former project
Perez bears a striking resemblance to Sanchez, in their deficiencies.

All of this surmounts to absolute and utter baloney if Perez resists in reinventing himself as a pitcher. This, however, does include an unorthodox approach, and completing throwing the entire baseball manual out the window, and tinkering with breaking balls. Look at the Rich Hill’s and the Drew Pomeranz of the world, and we’ve even seen Tyler Duffey rely on an off-speed pitch more than his fastball firsthand. Albeit none of this pitchers are All-Star commodities, they all in some capacity became better to some extent by heavily depending on their secondary stuff. There’s no denying Martin Perez is a fully capable and average enough MLB arm, but the real question remains; Will Martin Perez be open to tinker his arsenal, and if not were the Twins better suited to have unleashed a prospect in his place? That remains to be seen.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZOeXGX0sfY"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZOeXGX0sfY[/
 
My virtual fake money is betting on that Wes Johnson and company already have recognized this, and have a plan waiting to be set in motion. My suggestions are pretty rudimentary, but they follow along on a general theme. Adjust and configure Perez’s pitches to align with his strengths. Just a rogue modification of mine for the sake of hypothetical satisfaction; steer towards an arsenal of the basis of vertical movement, (by tinkering with the cutter), reduce the amount of curves, increase the ratio of sliders:curves, and intensify the changeup as a wipeout pitch (which comes in further developing the arm side run, Ala Dallas Keuchel). This isn’t a foolproof formula for immediate results, but over a long term sample size, it's more than likely that Perez’s results would be slightly better than before. There are models of success that radically changed many players careers (i.e JA Happ etc.) that follow the same general blueprint; gear towards a players strength, and wait to experience slight success (snazzy rhyming jingle huh?
 
And if this completely backfires, convert Perez into the bullpen, transition him into a killer LOOGY (he’s seriously a death on lefty guy, look at his numbers) and deal him during the trade deadline for some fringe B- to C prospect and look to take another bite at the apple next year.

In 2018, the Twins and Fox Sports North used a variety of analysts alongside longtime Twins TV PBP guy Dick Bremer. Bert Blyleven, Roy Smalley, Jack Morris, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau (several times along with Smalley creating a 3-man booth), and Latroy Hawkins all took a shot at it this past year. Going into 2019, the crowd looks very similar. However, there appear to be multiple changes. Back in October, It was reported that the Twins were lessening the amount of games Bert Blyleven would work in 2019 and 2020. Blyleven will work around 50 games in 2019 and around 30 games in 2020 as part of his contract. In the near term, it makes me curious who will take those remaining games in 2019. In the long term, it makes me curious whether the Twins will be making significant changes to their broadcasts after 2020.
 
With Blyleven working fewer games, it's likely that the other Twins commentators will pick up the slack in 2019. Here's the case for each of these men:
Roy Smalley: According to the Twins website, Smalley has worked in some capacity on Twins broadcasts the past 16 seasons, first as a pre/post game analyst and the past few years as a fill in broadcast analyst. In my opinion, Smalley has tremendous knowledge of the game and among the contenders has the most broadcast experience. I think it's likely he sees the majority of the games available in Blyleven's absence, especially considering some camaraderie with Bremer as well as several occasions last year when Fox Sports North went with the 3-man booth of Bremer, Smalley, and Morneau.
Jack Morris: According to the Twins website, Morris has worked in some capacity on Twins broadcasts off and on since 2005. In addition to the Twins, Morris has been an analyst with both the Tigers and Blue Jays. Because of his extensive experience and pitching insight, it would seem likely that he would see an increase in his schedule similar to Smalley. However, recent reports out of the Detroit believe that Morris and Kirk Gibson will be the replacement for Rod Allen on Fox Sports Detroit after his highly publicized altercation with former play by play man Mario Impemba back in September. What's interesting about this is that Morris will likely see a heavy amount of Tigers games as Gibson has been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and generally works a limited amount of games. It's possible Morris will be the analyst for half or more than half of Tigers broadcasts. In addition to his occasional appearances on MLB Network and MLB.com, it's possible (and likely) that Morris doesn't return to Twins broadcasts in 2019 or if he does, returns in a heavily reduced role (10-15 games?) meaning that Hunter, Morneau, and Hawkins may have to pick up the games that Morris would normally work in addition to their regular schedules in the booth.
Torii Hunter: We all know Torii Hunter for his smile, off the cuff remarks, and flamboyant personality. In fact, these are traits he relies on in the broadcast booth. Along with Bremer, he provides a unique, positive, and entertaining analysis of the Minnesota Twins. However, he also serves as a special assistant in baseball operations, meaning he has another role to fill with the Twins that takes priority over broadcast analysis. Does that mean he can't work more? That remains to be seen.
Justin Morneau: Morneau showcased an extensive knowledge for baseball, particularly hitting, during his time in the booth and pre/post game chair in 2018, especially when he was paired with Roy Smalley in the booth for games. While Morneau also has a role within baseball operations, it seems like he's more willing to spend time as a broadcaster as he appeared on broadcasts more than Hawkins and Hunter in 2018. Additionally, he not only appeared in the booth, but also made appearances on the pre and post game shows. Out of the Hunter, Morneau, and Hawkins trio, it seems like Morneau is eyeing further broadcasting opportunities the most.
Latroy Hawkins: Rounding out the 2018 candidates is Hawkins. Out of the previous 3, Hawkins appears the most poised to be a broadcaster. He seems confident in the booth which aides his analytic approach to the game. This analytic approach is very much welcomed as Hawkins seems to be the only pitcher on this list to emphasize it as part of his analysis (I would argue Morneau and Smalley share a fair amount of analysis when on air). Bremer seems to encourage this as well when Hawkins is in the booth. Like Hunter and Morneau, Hawkins also works as a special assistant to baseball operations for the Twins. While Hawkins seems like the most polished among the three, he's continually seen the smallest workload. As a result, I'm curious if he's willing to reduce his baseball operations role to broadcast more or if Hawkins will continue to work only 10 or so games every year.
Outside Candidates: Another possibility is the Twins could add analysts in 2019 to this group to fill in the remaining games. Among former Twins personnel, Tom Kelly, Michael Cuddyer, Glen Perkins, Dan Gladden, and Joe Mauer would likely top the list. Kelly has previously worked in the booth on Fox Sports North. While Cuddyer and Mauer haven't broadcasted, Cuddyer seems like a natural every time he's in the booth as a guest and Mauer would bring prestige and higher ratings. Gladden likely will remain on the radio. Glen Perkins is interesting to me. He broadcasted a couple of Facebook games last year, so he clearly has interest in getting into the business. Being he's only been retired for a little over a year, he knows a good portion of the Twins roster and being from Minnesota, he would be a local celebrity, like Mauer. Fear not Twins fans, it could also be A.J. Pierzynski. Obviously, he brings a unique personality, has interest in broadcasting, and has history as a Twins player. I don't know how possible any of these are, but they could also be a possibility.

This answers the question surrounding 2019, but the Twins may have a broadcast opening after 2020. It seems like the reduction of Blyleven's schedule will lead to his eventual departure. Will it be one of the men listed above? That seems likely. However, it might also give the Twins in opportunity to search for media free agents. Bremer has been in the booth for 30+ years. Could he be nearing the end of his time with the Twins? Gladden has been in the booth for 15+ years. Could the Twins look to make a change there. While I believe Bremer, Provus, and Gladden are safe for both the short-term and long-term, it's likely the Twins will have an color analyst opening on Fox Sports North, interesting considering the current situation the network is in. This past year, Fox Sports North was sold as part of Fox's selloff of assets to Disney. However, Disney will be forced to resell the regional networks (FS North included). There are several candidates to purchase the networks, including Sinclair, Tegna (owns KARE 11), MLB, Amazon, Fox, Ice Cube (yes, the musician) and Comcast. However, multiple sources (including this NY Post article) speculate Jim Pohlad might be interested in purchasing Fox Sports North individually. The Twins tried and failed creating their own network (Victory Sports One) during the 2000s. However, they might have more clout with cable companies by purchasing a network that also broadcasts every other major men's professional team in Minnesota. Additionally, the Pohlad owned GO Radio stations already have an online and smartphone presence. Could they morph FOX Sports North into the GO branding similar to YES Network in New York, NESN in Boston, MASN in Baltimore/DC area, or the new Marquee channel the cubs are creating? In that case, Twins broadcasts would be directly under ownership. What could that mean for the broadcast teams long-term? A lot of questions have to be answered, but there are some interesting possibilities for Twins broadcasts over the next few years.

I know - Spring training is still a two months away and the big fish are still swimming in the Free Agent pond so news is sparse, Santa is still trying to load the sleigh with big contracts and hope for every team. In an earlier blog I wrote about the moves of the Twins and how lack luster they have been.

https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11289-%7B%3F%7D/
 
Now we are another three weeks since I wrote that and unfortunately I could publish it again and be just as timely. No rule 5 player taken, none loss (how can we rank so high as a team when no one wants our players in rule 5 - we had a lot of them to choose from). The Winter meetings came and went.
Our team got a B- from ESPN for the off season - mainly it was our hiring of coaches which is such an inexact science we have no way to know if we did well. Remember how the Vikings went for the hot Offensive Coordinator from the Super Bowl Eagles - DeFillipo? How did that go?
 
Well we need something besides the Winter Melt Down, or rather before we melt down. The big names and the roster projection at this point will probably not change before 2019 takes over the calendar and all the analysis seems to be mediocre at best.
 
So we turn to Mauer. When the end of the season meant nothing and some prospects wondered why they were not with the team, we did a big finish with Mauer catching again. It was great, a wonderful story for a great Twin, but it was also a distraction from what went on this season.
 
So now that we have nothing to grab onto - Mauer comes back to rescue us again. I know it is early, and we cannot even set the date yet, but let's announce that we are going to retire Mauer's number. We all knew it would happen, when we were not sure, but 2019 needs something and sports fans are confused by the Vikings, experiencing the same Timberwolves mystique, and watching the WIld grab fifth place in its division, while the Gophers 6 - 6 play in a the Mediocre bowl game against a 7 - 5 team.
 
I think Mauer should have his number retired, but maybe we should wait to see if he gets so lonely for the diamond that he decides to return in March. Or is this our subtle way of getting him to the HOF - like Harold Baines who had his number retired by the White Sox after they traded him and he was still an active ballplayer?
 
Well now we know and we can add this to the Twins off season WOW factor. Congratulations Joe, this is not a criticism of you.
 
I know many will not see this update, but here I sit on the Solstice and I see the Dodgers have moved, Puig, Wood, and Kemp and the Reds got rid of Homer Bailey. Soria joined the As, Miller signed with the Cards, Profar goes to the As, Pagan to the Rays, Daniel Murphy is with the Rockies, Sanchez is a National, Cahill is an Angel, and a few minor parts moved. It is not that I wanted all of these players to be a Twin, but the Twin news is still - Mauer's number is being retired.

In Part one we covered to injuries that had a massive affect on this era of Twins teams. I didn't even get into the concussions that derailed both Morneau's and Mauers careers.
 
In Part 2 we will cover what I consider personnel decisions that range from bad to ridiculous to borderline criminal. The first one I want to cover is the one I alluded to when discussing Jason Kubel's injury. Kubel was a very solid outfielder before the injury, even playing some centerfield. His range after the injury was greatly reduced.
In looking for better production in LF the Twins made a bad trade after the 2007 season. The Twins sent Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett to Tampa Bay for Delmon Young and Brendon Harris. Delmon was famously the number 1 overall pick in 2003 and was considered the top prospect in baseball for several seasons. In his first full season he had slashed .290/.336/.405 with 21 doubles and 12 homers in roughly 3 quarters of a season. He finished 2nd in the ROY voting. Delmon would go on to have 1 really good and 2 below average season for the Twins while playing horrendous defense in LF. He would be traded during the 2011 season. Harris would have 2 nondescript seasons for the Twins. Garza and Bartlet would go to Tampa Bay and were huge reasons why the Rays went to the World Series in 2008. Before being traded Bartlet had hit .309/.367/.393 and .265/.339/.361 in his previous 2 seasons for the Twins. He had 3 seasons of team control left and was only 27 at the time the trade. Bartlet would hit .286/.329/.361 and .320/.389/.490 for the Rays in the next 2 seasons while garnering MVP votes in 2008 and making the All Star team in 2009. Garza was 24 at the time of the trade and entering his 1st full season 5 seasons of team control remaining. Garza had been solid for the Twins when called up during 2008 season with an ERA+ of 117 and an FIP of 4.17. He definitely showed promise. Over the next 4 season from 2008 to 2011 for the Rays and then the Cubs after being traded he would average 200 innings per year and had ERA+ of 119, 110, 100 and 118. He was absolutely the type of above average innings eater that the Twins craved during these years. To add a little salt to the wound Garza was traded for Chris Archer among others when he was sent to the Cubs after the 2010 season.
 
The next decision is still hard for me to think about. David Ortiz was non tendered after the 2002 season. We all know what Big Papa went on to a HOF career for the Red Sox leading them to 3 World Series titles. This is not a case of 20/20 rear view vision. The release of Ortiz made no sense at the time. He had struggled to stay healthy at times, wasn't in the greatest shape and clashed with TK. But there was no reason to non tender him. In his final year for the Twins Ortiz had hit .272/.339/.500 with 32 doubles and 20 homers. His OPS was .839 and OPS+ was 120. He was just 26 years old. He was one of the few Twins that showed plus power. It isn't like the Twins had some huge prospect they needed to make room for. Mathew LeCroy received most of the DH at bats in 2003. He had a respectable .832 OPS. But it doesn't mean there wasn't at least room for a platoon with Ortiz batting against righties and LeCroy vs lefties. The Twins would struggle to get production from the DH position for the next decade while Ortiz was crushing for the Red Sox. The Twins trotted out luminaries as Jose Offerman, Rondell White and Jason Tyner as designate hitters during this time. In 2006 while White was putting up a .641 OPS, Ortiz was hitting 54 homers and knocking in 137 RBI. Instead of non tendering Ortiz you should have been signing him to an extension.
 
The 2006 batting order could have been Luis Castillo 2B, .358 OBP. Jason Bartlett SS .367 OBP, Joe Mauer C .936 OPS .429 OBP, David Ortiz 1.049 OPS 54 HR, Justin Morneau 1B .936 OPS 34 HR, Torii Hunter .826 OPS 31 HR, Jason Kubel LF .800 OPS 25 HR (Projected) Michael Cuddyer .867 OPS 24 HR, Nick Punto 3B .352 OBP
 
Lack of reasonable extensions and filling the bottom parts of the roster. Terry Ryan hated spending the Pohlads money. I truly believe he did this because he looked it as badge of honor that the Twins could compete with a budget that often times was less than half of the big boys. I liked this fact too. I'm not advocating doubling the payroll during this period, But a well placed additional 10 to 15 million dollars per season could have done wonders. Ryan was very leery to go past 4 years for contacts even for his best players. Santana, Hunter, Mauer and Morneau all signed similar 4 year deals that contained no options. Meanwhile the rest of the industry was signing guys to 6 and sometimes even longer deals. If Santana had been offered a 6 year deal at market value there is a strong chance he would have taken it. This would have you allowed to have him for 2 to 3 more years of his prime. Same for Torii Hunter. You would have had Mauer signed thru 2012 originally and not been forced to sign him to a monster extension after his incredible 2009 season. I know small market teams cannot afford to get stuck in long expensive contracts but all 4 of these guys were young when they signed there 1st big contracts but already had proven track records of excellent production. They were all worth the risk of longer extensions. A longer contract can have good and bad risks. Sometimes the market grows so quickly that a contract is outdated by the time it is up. Sometimes it turns out like Mike Hampton. In the case of Mauer, the Twins could actually have saved millions of dollars by signing him to a longer more expensive extension the 1st time. By the time Mauer would have been a free agent after say a 6 year contract he would have already moved to first base. His next contract would have paled in comparison to the 8 year deal he signed in 2009. Longer contracts would have allowed the Twins to keep Santana's and Hunter's services farther into their primes.
 
It was always frustrating to see the Twins fill out the rosters with the fillers all making near the league minimum or signing hope and a prayer types. Too many rejects like the cast covered earlier that played DH, plus all the middle infielders, relief pitchers and 5th starters that they brought in. If they would have sent just a little money on a few free agents they could have extended the quality of their lineup, bullpen and/or rotation.
 
With better decision making and injury luck I really believe this era of Twins could have been a dynasty that won multiple championships. The top end talent was just so good. In Santana, Nathan, Mauer, Morneau and Hunter they had 5 of the best 20 players in baseball all in their prime at the same time. With better decisions and luck you could have added Kubel, Liriano and Ortiz to that list. No team in baseball could have matched a group of high end talent like that. A lineup that boasts Mauer, Morneau, Hunter, Ortiz, Cuddyer and Kubel reads like an all star game. This would have been the best lineup in the majors even if you had Seth playing SS, Arron at 3B and Nick at 2nd. A rotation led by Santana and Liriano would have been favored in any series against any opponent during the playoffs in this time. The rest of the rotation spots would have been filled by pitchers such as Brad Radke, Matt Garza, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Carlos Silva and Nick Blackburn during different years.
 
Just imagine all the 10 year, 20 year and 25 year anniversaries we could celebrate for championships in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2010. Oh what could have been.

My annual waiting for Buxton and Sano patience is wearing very thing. It reminds me of waiting for Godot! No, he is not a baseball player, Spark Notes tell us - "Two men, Vladimir and Estragon, meet near a tree. They converse on various topics and reveal that they are waiting there for a man named Godot." "a boy enters and tells Vladimir that he is a messenger from Godot. He tells Vladimir that Godot will not be coming tonight," "The next night, Vladimir and Estragon again meet near the tree to wait for Godot." "the boy enters and once again tells Vladimir that Godot will not be coming." https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/godot/summary/
 
 
Nothing ever happens because the two men just keep waiting. I think it is wonderful that we all have such patience with Buxton and Sano and that we can keep recycling our just wait columns, but in the mean time life happens, seasons come and go, and fans die, move away, or go and watch the Lynx and United.
 
 
These are two men on a 25 man active roster, a 40 man potential roster. We have a FO that is supposed to deal with contingencies. We are not supposed to shut down the team for two players. Lots of teams have injuries that take their best players and they make moves. So we fill 3B and CF with really good players and suddenly Sano and Buxton look like superstars that we have all imagined. Great. Trade someone and continue to make the team better. Don't write off season after season.
 
I posted in a comment section the following which is what I have seen from the FO (I have not included the manager and coaches changes because in the long run they do not matter - we need players): Here are the players that they have signed or traded for in 2017 and 2018, there are 54 and I skipped a few from 2017.So this is more than a 40 man roster - how much have these moves pushed us forward?What is the strategy of the FO?
 
Lynn, Reed, Castro, Rodney, Morrison, Schoop, Torreyes, Adrianza, Cron, Austin, Cave, Odorizzi, Pineda, Haley, Paulsen, Field, Rucinski,Hague, Schuck, Tepesch, Vogelsong, Greenwood, Miller, Tracy, Giminez, Belisle, Breslow, Kinley, Duke, Pacheco, Buss, Curtis, Magill, Wilkins, Heisey, Sanchez, Rodriguez, Carter, Villalobos, Motter, Rupp, LaMarre, Raley, Smeltzer, Forsythe, Duran, Alcala, Celestino, Maciel, Trinidad, Costello, DeJong, Rijo, Drake,Adams,
 
 
So Falvey and Lavine sat on a bench and said "We are waiting for Sano and Buxton." Twins Daily came out and said shouldn't we improve the rest of the roster? Falvey and Lavine sat on a bench and said "We are waiting for Sano and Buxton!

Hey Everyone,
 
I've seen a plethora of hate on Addison Reed mostly due to his salary hit in 2019 so, I'm going to take a crack at changing a couple people's minds as I don't think he's getting a fair shake of things and doesn't warrant this much disinterest from his own team's fan-base.
 
Okay before I get into things let's look at his 2019 contract details (according to spotrac.com)
2019 Salary: $8,500,000
2019 Bonuses: None
2019 Market Value: 4 yrs/$8,936,937
 
2018 was filled with discouragement for Reed and his fans. He posted a 4.50 ERA (highest since 2012, his 23 yr old season), 5.11 FIP (Career High), and a 1.429 WHIP (Career High). On top of that he was pestered by a triceps injury all year. Which is a reason to worry. Or is it?...
 
Hear me out, in the 3 years before this most recent season Reed went off for an average of a 2.73 ERA, 2.89 FIP, and 1.12 WHIP. The guy knows how to pitch and how to pitch well so I think we can all agree to take a step back and see that no one should be doubting Reed and his abilities on the mound. We're not talking about a 24 yr old former top prospect who had one good year (or part of one) and one or two bad years (wink wink). And no we're not talking about a 35 yr old former all star who's age has caught up with his arm (wink wink again). We're talking about a 29 yr old pitcher with a track record of success who had a down year. It really burns the fans that this down year was with the Twins and I understand that. This article isn't meant to defend Reed's 2018 performance. It's meant to turn everyone's pessimism into shades of optimism.
 
So what caused these bad performances and why should it give us hope for Addison Reed?
 
Through May of last year Reed had a 2.83 ERA with a 1.22 WHIP. The WHIP wasn't great it was around average but the ERA was spectacular and I clearly remember people feeling safe when the bullpen doors opened and #43 could be seen jogging out. Then what happened? He got hurt. We learned after a few forgettable appearances in June that Reed's tricep was acting up and he had been pitching through it. What did manager Paul Molitor do about it? He continued to pitch Reed in the 8th inning in front of the Fernando Rodney experience. Now, am I blaming Molitor for Reed's performance? Not in any way. It was Reed's responsibility to shut himself down which he eventually did and landed himself on the 10 day DL for a good stretch of the mid-summer. The reason I brought it up is Reed and the team knew something was off in his arm and they continued to use it. I'm no doctor but that's not a good plan for stabilizing arm strength and velocity and it's definitely not a good time to judge a pitchers value. We all know the rest. Reed made appearances here and there throughout the rest of the season with similar results to his June stat line....until September rolled around.
 
Optimism for #43
 
I feel like Twins fans don't realize that Reed had a relatively good September in his 6 appearances. He had been damned by the fan base already. In a small showing of 6 games Reed posted a 1.69 ERA along with a 1.13 WHIP. I feel like this was the sign of hope we need to and can count on. A guy with structural damage along the lines of Glen Perkins labrum tear would not have put up those kinds of numbers in 6 straight games. The velocity on Reed's fastball was down a notch in these outings which can concern some but after an arm endures games, rehab, more games, more rehab, and then even more games, it tends to wear down. My diagnosis is, what Reed needed the most was rest but is a naturally competitive guy and came in the clubhouse everyday telling Molitor and Garvin Alston that he was available knowing the end of the season was so near at the time. So they let him test his arm 6 times and he took those chances and ran with them in stride. Now, he's going to have almost 5 months to get that tricep the rest it needs and is going to be 100% when pitchers and catchers report. So someone please tell me why the Addison Reed of 2015,2016,2017, and 1/4 of 2018 does not have a high possibility of taking it's rightful place in the bullpen again? Arms flare up it's a fact of pitching in the MLB but we've seen with the advancement of modern training and rehabilitation that more often than not pitchers are able to find their old selves again. I think it's time we start rooting for Addison Reed and looking at great possibilities for 2019 instead of the anomaly of 2018.
 
Extra: Contract Status
 
Addison Reed is making $8,500,000 this year which is about 95% of his market value. It would be nice if he was making $4 mil but it would be nice if Joe Mauer had made $10 mil in his last 4 years as well. Point being, potential and the past pays. On the open market (which is where Reed was acquired from), pitchers also make a considerable amount more than position players as well. So before we deem it a "bad contract" let's decide if we're giving him an unfair advantage because (at the time of this post) he is the highest paid player on the payroll and the first reaction is to go "ugh! isn't that the guy who blew a few games in 2018?"
 
All in all, 2018 was a forgettable year for a team still filled with potential and it should be viewed that way for Reed as well.
 
 
Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts I would love to start a conversation with anyone.

I know that RP refers to relief pitching – for me it amounts to Really Poor baseball. KC won a series and did damage to the rest of baseball just like the jerk with the bomb that makes me take off my shoes at the airport. We have always had some relief pitchers, but now we have a stat head jamboree of pitchers. No longer is half the team pitchers and half batters, now we have 2 -3 on the bench and a bullpen that has to add folding chairs. Does this help the game? No.
 
Do any of you enjoy the visits to the mound, the time it takes to run in, the 8 pitches from an already warmed up pitcher who might throw one pitch to one batter and then we repeat this exciting or should I say dramatic spectacle again.
 
We are now in an era when wins do not count any more, starting pitchers are actually one inning relievers – how exciting is that. The starting pitcher is saved from facing the strongest part of the lineup! Why is he starting? Openers are used for beer and other necessary boredom relieving beverages.
 
Pitchers per game is now 4.24 per team, in our World Series Years of 1991 (3.13), 1987 (2.89) and 1965 (2.69). Wins counted then because pitchers were in the game long enough to actually dominate the game – I love the Marichal and Spahn complete game 16 inning affair won by the giants (even though Spahn was my pitching hero and the Braves (Milwaukee – not Atlanta) were my favorite team). By the way Spahn started 665 games and completed 382.
 
How about Robin Roberts throwing 28 straight complete games for the Phillies? Or Nolan Ryan throws 235 pitches, strikes out 19, during an 13 inning effort. Right now Berrios is tied for the lead in complete games with 2. Going back to our Series years – McDowell (WS) – 15 in 1991, Roger Clemens (Bos) 18 in 1987, and Sandy Koufax (Dodgers) 27 in 1965.
 
It should be noted that neither Spahn nor Ryan had their arms fall off after those feats.
 
A Koufax/Marichal game was must see. Great pitchers were the draw. Who goes to the park to watch the pitching match up now? Oh boy I wonder who the Opener is today? Yuck, I had to pause to let my stomach settle and to take another shot of whiskey. Oh wait I might miss Astudillo throwing melons to the plate.
 
I do not even know these players – Boxberger from AZ is in 85% of fantasy leagues – who is he? Who is Matthew Strahm? Do I care? Fantasy Pros lists 301 relief pitchers. Who will pay to see them pitch? Yawn. I leave after 7 – I don’t care anymore – Jim Kaat was right, but the thing is I am moving that to 6 innings and if there is an Opener I come in the second inning.
 
Give me back baseball. In fact give me starters who throw complete games, batters that bunt when the shift is on, players who steal bases and do hit and run. Limit the team to three pitchers per game. And please some team challenge this nonsense and open up the game with action, not just strikeouts and home runs.

Logan Morrison Hip Impingement Q&A
Heezy1323
 
Twins DH/1B Logan Morrison was recently shut down for the remainder of the season and, by reports, is expected to undergo surgery for a hip condition that has been bothering him for much of the year. The problem is being reported as ‘hip impingement’, which is a fairly common diagnosis. Some may recall that the NBA’s Isaiah Thomas dealt with this problem over the past couple seasons and underwent surgery more recently.
So what is ‘hip impingement’? And when does it need surgery? And what happens during surgery? Let’s dive in and see what we can find out:
 
 


 
Question 1: What is hip impingement?
Hip impingement is another term for what orthopedists call ‘femoroacetabular impingement’ or FAI. This term basically means pinching of the hip labrum tissue between the bone of the ball and the bone of the socket of the hip.
 
The hip is a ball and socket joint. Around the rim of the socket is a tissue called ‘labrum’ which acts as a cushion, and also seals the ball into the socket. In an ideal world, the ball is perfectly round and the socket is perfectly hemispherical. In this case, when people move the hip around, there is no pinching. However, in some people, rather than being round the ball is more shaped like a grape or an egg. In these cases the extra bone can cause a pinching of the labrum when the hip is flexed (for example, when seated). Over time, this repetitive minor injury can cause damage to the labrum. There can also be extra bone on the socket side, which can have a similar effect. These two situations are called CAM impingement (extra bone on the ball) and PINCER impingement (extra bone on the socket). In many cases, both CAM and PINCER impingement coexist.
 


 
 
Question 2: I don’t remember LoMo getting hurt. When did the labrum get torn?
 
Typically, this is not an injury that results from a single incident (though it can happen that way). It is much more common for this to be the result of an accumulation of ‘microtraumas’ over a long period of time.
In addition, the CAM and PINCER deformities are quite common in people who don’t have any pain in their hips. In some studies, >50% of asymptomatic patients have some signs of CAM or PINCER deformity on hip xrays. Simply having the ‘extra bone’ doesn’t automatically mean it is going to be a problem. Our understanding of why people develop these deformities is improving, but we don’t know the cause at this time. It appears to be more common in people participating in athletics (particularly hockey), so we think it has something to do with low-level trauma to the area during growth years.
 
 
Question 3: Does a labrum tear always need surgery?
 


 
No. A labrum tear is also a very common finding in patients with no hip pain. In one study of patients between 18-40 years old who had no hip pain, MRI’s of the hip showed a labrum tear about 40% of the time. So clearly not every labrum tear causes pain or requires surgery. There are also a number of conditions that can cause similar pain to hip impingement (ranging from hernias to pinched nerves in the spine to ‘sports hernias’ and many others). Therefore, time is often spent trying to decipher what the actual cause of the pain is in these patients, as it isn’t always as straightforward as we would like it to be.
 
 
Question 4: How do we tell which labrum tears need surgery and which do not?
 
This can be difficult, but typically rest, anti inflammatory medication, physical therapy and/or injections of cortisone are tried prior to surgery. Many patients can find success with these treatments. However, some do not, and surgery may be warranted.
 
Question 5: What is done during surgery?
 


 
There has been a significant evolution of techniques in hip surgery over the past decade as surgery for this condition has become more common. It can be done either open (through an incision) or arthroscopically (through the scope). Arthroscopic treatment is much more common, particularly in the United States.
The hip is stretched apart by use of a special table that pulls the joint open about 1cm. The scope is put in to the joint and tools are used to examine the joint space. We look at the surface cartilage, labrum and other structures in and around the hip. Once we have looked at everything, any ‘extra’ bone on the socket side is carefully removed with a tool called a burr. The labrum tear is often repaired with small anchors back to the rim of the socket (from where it tore away). The ball is then released back into the socket and we use the burr to reshape the ball, removing extra bone in that area as well.
Surgery often takes 2-4 hours depending on the extent of injury.
 
Question 6: How long is the recovery?
 
As with any surgery, the recovery is variable, but most high-level athletes are back to full sports around 6-8 months after the operation. There have been several studies examining the performance of professional athletes in different sports after return from this hip surgery. Most have shown little or no diminished performance after recovery.
 
 
 
I’m certain even Morrison would say he didn’t have the season he was hoping to have for the Twins, and this hip issue certainly could’ve been part of the reason. Hopefully he can improve after surgery and get back to his 2017 form, whether for the Twins or elsewhere.

During the final game of the last homestand against the Rangers, after the Twins dropped the first three games of the series to the Rangers, many fans noticed a change to the familiar Minnie and Paul celebration sign in center field.
 
As an apparent gesture of the Twins performance this year, likely in particular that of the offense lately, Minnie and Paul had paper bags placed over their heads. Minnie and Paul are well-known for their friendly handshake over the Mississippi River.
 
Minnesota Twins Senior Director of Ballpark Development and Planning Dan Starkey said, “We felt this was the correct gesture to ensure that Twins fans have the right mentality when coming to Target Field to cheer on the Twins this year.” He added, “We are considering making additional changes to the famous Minnie and Paul sign. For example, after Joe Mauer leaves the Twins or retires, we’re considering changing the handshake to some kind of fist bump to appeal to current players and millennial fans.”
 
We asked Starkey if they had any additional plans around Target Field, other than with Minnie and Paul, to commemorate the failing Twins season. “Well if the Twins are truly going to continue being a bad team this year, why not embrace that and find ways to enjoy it? When the Twins are officially eliminated from playoff contention, we are planning on hosting a paper bag giveaway sponsored by Cub Foods so every fan can watch the game from the comfort and security of a paper bag over their head with some eye holes poked into it. We’ll even have mini paper bags for the kids,” Starkey said.

Royce Lewis: Patellar Tendinopathy
Heezy1323
 
The Twins community recently received some concerning news about highly-regarded prospect Royce Lewis. Lewis left the Cedar Rapids Kernels Saturday game with what is being reported as ‘patellar tendinitis’, which has been causing him trouble off-and-on for about a month. But what is ‘patellar tendinitis’ exactly? And what might it mean for Royce going forward? Let’s discuss:
 
Question 1: Where is the ‘patella tendon’?
The patella tendon is the tendon that goes from your kneecap (also called the patella) down to the upper part of your shin bone (tibia). It is the attachment of your quadriceps muscle group to your lower leg, and it is what allows people to extend the knee.
 


 
Question 2: What is ‘patellar tendinitis’?
Patella tendinitis is a term commonly used to refer to activity-related pain that occurs near the attachment of the patella tendon to the patella. The suffix ‘-itis’ is used to indicate inflammation. While the term is commonly used, in actuality a more appropriate term is ‘patella tendinopathy’, which refers to degenerative changes within the tendon in the absence of inflammation (which is more accurately the case in this diagnosis). This difference is important when considering treatment options.
 


Question 3: Royce is clearly a high-level athlete. Why did he get this problem?
Patellar tendinopathy is also commonly called ‘jumper’s knee’ since it occurs most frequently in athletes that do a lot of jumping. In some studies of professional volleyball and basketball players, the incidence of jumper’s knee has been shown to be more than 30%. It is much less common in non-jumping athletes, but still occurs in around 2-3% of soccer players. I was not able to find any information specifically discussing the incidence in baseball players.
It is unclear exactly why this problem occurs. It is most likely a combination of factors including BMI, flat feet, muscle imbalance in the quad/hamstrings, low flexibility, and intrinsic properties of the patellar tendon. There are likely other factors as well, including overuse.
The area involved is usually located directly at the bottom end of the patella/top part of the tendon. Symptoms usually come on gradually over time. Initially, the knee typically hurts only with activity. Over time, if the condition worsens, pain may begin to be present even at rest.
 
Question 4: How is patella tendinopathy diagnosed?
The diagnosis is usually fairly clear from the history and physical exam of the athlete. Xrays are usually normal, though in some cases calcifications of the tendon may be visible. An MRI is the standard test to identify the extent of the problem and also to rule out other problems inside the knee. The area of the tendon involved in the problem is typically fairly small- around the size of a couple tic-tacs.
 


Question 5: How is patella tendinopathy treated?
The most commonly prescribed treatment for patellar tendinopathy is rest from vigorous activity and specific physical therapy exercises (called eccentric exercises). These exercises are designed to strengthen the quad muscles, stretch the hamstrings and ultimately cause favorable adaptation of the knee. The time needed for symptoms to resolve can be highly variable, but often takes at least a few weeks.
When therapy isn’t effective, other treatments can be tried including various injections and ultrasound. At this time, there is no significant evidence that PRP (platelet rich plasma) injections are helpful for this condition, though I suspect it is being considered. There is, to my knowledge, no significant data on stem cell injections for this problem.
 
Question 6: Is surgery ever needed for patellar tendinopathy?
Rarely, yes. In most studies, around 10% of patients will fail to respond to appropriate conservative treatment. In these cases, surgery may be needed. There are two main options: open surgery and arthroscopic surgery. In either case, the procedure is similar- the area of affected tendon is excised and a small (a few millimeters) part of the patella bone is removed to stimulate healing. Therapy is begun soon after surgery. The success rate for return to sports is around 80% for both surgeries, with return after the arthroscopic version being quicker on average. Usually, 4-6 months is needed for full return to sports after surgery.
 
Question 7: Is Royce at increased risk of rupturing the patella tendon because of this problem?
No. Having patella tendinopathy does not appear to place anyone at increased risk of having a patella tendon rupture when compared to those without the problem.
 
Overall, I believe the most likely scenario to be that Lewis’ body is adjusting to playing professional baseball every day and he is having some minor issues as a result. I don’t expect this to be a substantial problem going forward, though the possibility that this requires surgery in the future does exist. Hopefully he will get through rehab quickly and be back on the field soon.

I am flabbergasted. I wants something to happen. I wanted a change, but Matt Belisle? For gods sake Cleveland sent him to the minors and the AAA team released him. This is our big move? This is how we fix the BP? Look at this quote from Twinkie Town - "Certainly the presence of Belisle is to lessen the workloads on fellow righthanders Addison Reed, Trevor Hildenberger, and Ryan Pressley. However, it’s a little quizzical that the front office was so quick to bring him in when Alan Busenitz (31% strikeout rate, 0.38 ERA, 1.76 FIP) and John Curtiss (33.7% strikeout rate, 1.61 ERA, 2.63 FIP) are dominating Triple-A. This is likely a case of Falvey/Levine wanting Belisle’s veteran presence (veteran presents?) while Busenitz and Curtiss are still rather green."
 
Is this Ground Hog Day? Is this what all those great stats whizzes came up with? Once upon a time we had a Twins FO that brought back anyone who wore a Twins Uniform, even if it was a costume part. I thought those days were over.
 
I think the answer to our current bullpen questions was in the minors, but of course the FO did not sign them, like they did not sign Wade and they have already proved that they want their fingerprints on every move.
 
Falvey if you want to bring a new culture to the Twins this is not the way to do it. https://www.twinkietown.com/2018/6/12/17453818/minnesota-twins-sign-matt-belisle-dfa-gregorio-petit-cleveland-indians-bullpen-relief-alan-busenitz
 
Would I rather have Petit - yes. Belisle's 5.06 ERA in 8 games is not a stat I take pleasure in. I gave our FO a C- in an early posting. Today I make that a D.

Byron Buxton practicing his catching in front of a US border wall prototype in June, 2018
 
SAN DIEGO – After suffering for months with severe migraines and with a history of concussions, Byron Buxton announced on Twitter (@OfficialBuck103) yesterday that he’s officially stepping away from Major League Baseball.
 
“We’ll miss his presence on the field and in the clubhouse. He’s definitely one of the best center fielders of all time. We wish him the best in his future endeavors,” said Derek Falvey, Minnesota Twins Executive Vice President and Chief Baseball Officer.
 
Buxton later announced that he’s been working out at a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) facility in San Diego, California where he’s training to catch bags of drugs, typically heroin, being thrown over the border walls from Mexico to the United States.
 
When asked about the new work he’s preparing for, Buxton said “At least I don’t need to hit anymore.” He added, “I was born to climb walls and catch. And this way, I can also do it while proudly serving my country.”
 
But, is catching baggies of drugs going to be as easy as catching baseballs? Buxton stated, “The tricky part is that all of the bags can come in different sizes and weights. But if it fits in my glove, I’m going to catch it. Just as long as the border wall is not 55 or 60 feet tall like I’ve heard some people are proposing.”
 
Carla Provost, Acting Chief for the U.S. Border Patrol division of the DHS, said that they have had their eye on Buxton for a while, and contacted him when he went on the disabled list in April for migraines. “Last year we really dove into the analytics of border security. We have this new metric, abbreviated DRS, which stands for Drug Rings Squandered. We expect that Byron will step right in and lead the division in DRS.”
 
We caught up with Border Patrol Assistant Chief, Percy Woolbright, to ask about Buxton. “He’ll be a natural at this. He’s really talented. He can cover a lot of wall, too, because I saw his sprint speed has been measured at over 30 feet per second. Also, Byron can come to work every day knowing that the weather along the US-Mexico border is much more predictable than in Minnesota. And if Florida ever decides to secede from the Union like it did in 1861, we’ll set up a new border wall along the US and Florida, and Byron can work close to his family in Georgia.”
 
One might assume that because of the orientation of catching fly balls against the fence in baseball, he should technically be positioned on the south (foreign) side of the wall to catch drugs being catapulted from Mexico. Commenting on this, Woolbright said, “Umm…Oops.”

When this season was in its infancy, I had a lot of high expectations for the 2018 Cedar Rapids Kernels. I was not alone, of course, since the Kernels’ opening day roster was filled with big-bonus position players, highlighted by 2017’s first-overall draft pick, Royce Lewis, and the Twins’ 2016 first round pick, Alex Kirilloff.
http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Lewis05182018-2-600x400.jpg
Royce Lewis (Photo by SD Buhr)
 
Unlike some, though, I was freely effusive with my high expectations. I told more than one person that I felt the 2018 roster had the potential to be every bit as good as, if not better than, the Kernels’ class of 2013 that included Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco, Max Kepler and a number of other very talented position players.
 
With Cedar Rapids sitting in fiftth place in the Midwest League’s Western Division last week, one of the people who had heard me express my early season optimism approached me during what was turning out to be a lopsided loss to Quad Cities and, in so many words, asked me, “what happened?”
 
It’s a fair question and I think I may have even surprised myself with my answer. I said I still believe what I said at the outset about this roster is true. There’s a lot of talent on the Cedar Rapids roster.
 
Like their big-league parent club, the Kernels have been treading water at or near the .500 mark. On the surface, that would seem inconsistent with having something I would have referred to (and did refer to) as a “loaded roster” to start the season.
 
Having two first round picks should be enough to keep just about any Class A roster at or above the .500 mark and that’s pretty much what Lewis and Kirilloff have done. After Wednesday’s win over Kane County, the Kernels’ record stands at 21 wins and 20 losses, good enough for fourth place in their Division, a game and a half behind Clinton, Peoria and Quad Cities, who are in a virtual three-way tie for the Division lead with about a month left in the season’s first half.
 
Under MWL rules, the top two teams in each division at the end of the first half of the season automatically qualify for the postseason, so the Kernels have just over four w
eeks to pass at least two of the teams ahead of them in the standings to clinch one of those automatic playoff spots.
 
http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Kirilloff0506d-400x600.jpg
Alex Kirilloff (Photo by SD Buhr)
 
With Kirilloff and Lewis both hitting above .300, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to hear that one or both is being promoted to the Ft. Myers Miracle at any time. If and when those promotions occur, the Kernels’ chances of qualifying for the postseason would obviously take a serious hit.
 
The two first-rounders have accounted for a disproportionate amount of Cedar Rapids’ offense. If you remove their hits and at-bats from the club’s totals, the Kernels would have a .231 team batting average, which would be just two points above the Great Lakes Loons, who currently rank 16th among the 16 MWL members in team batting average.
 
Seven of the 12 current position players on the roster have batting averages below .234 and seven have an OPS below .700. Two players are hitting below .200 and have an OPS below .500.
 
So why would I remain bullish about the 2018 Kernels?
 
One of the by-products of having a roster of position players that have gotten off to a slow start is that not too many of them are going to be promoted to the next level any time soon. Outside of Kirilloff and Lewis, it’s hard to identify anyone among the current position players that one could honestly say has earned himself a shot at the next level.
 
And most of these guys are still very young.
 
Lewis is still 18 for a couple more weeks and Kirilloff is just 20, but they aren’t the only hitters still unable to legally buy a beer around here.
 
Catcher Ben Rortvedt and outfielder Jean Carlos Arias are each just 20 years old while infielder Jose Miranda and outfielder Akil Baddoo (recently placed on the Disabled List) are just 19. Newly arrived outfielder Jacob Pearson is also still 19, though just until his June 1 birthday.
 
Trey Cabbage, David Banuelos and Shane Carrier come in right at 21 years old.
 
Among the club’s position players, only Andrew Bechtold (22), Ben Rodriguez (23) and Jordan Gore (23) would likely be considered above the average age for this league.
 
And here’s the thing about MiLB leagues that split their seasons into two halves – often the teams that finish the season the strongest are those that have young talent that start slow enough that they don’t get promoted, leading to less than average turnover in their ranks. Those players often develop into a competitive unit by the end of the summer.
 
The Twins have a lot of bonus money tied up in this unit of position players and it would seem unlikely that they would release or demote a 19 or 20 year old ballplayer that they’ve invested heavily in just because he’s gotten off to a slow start in Cedar Rapids.
 
A year ago, the Twins sent 23 different position players to Cedar Rapids during the course of the season. Thus far, among the team's hitters, only the 12 current position players plus Akil Baddoo (now on the Disabled List) and previously promoted outfielder Mark Contreras have suited up for Cedar Rapids.
 
It’s not difficult for me to envision a scenario where, even should Lewis and Kirilloff get their promotions, the rest of the current group of position players is largely left intact to develop together through most of the rest of the season.
http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Gore0521b-600x400.jpg
Jordan Gore (Photo by SD Buhr)
 
Yes, it would have been a bonus to have Wander Javier in line to replace a promoted Lewis, but his season-ending labrum surgery means that won’t be happening. (Javier will still just be 20 years old when he likely makes his Kernels debut in 2019.)
 
Players that demonstrate they’re ready for new challenges get promoted. That’s what minor league ball is all about. Fans in Cedar Rapids have had a rare opportunity to watch two of the most promising young prospects in the Twins’ system play for the Kernels this spring and those players have certainly not disappointed. The result is that one or both could be promoted to the next level at any time.
 
While the rest of the everyday lineup have not been as productive with the bat as Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff so far, several of them have been picking up the offensive pace.
 
Jordan Gore has hit .371 in his last 10 games, Jean Carlos Arias his hit .324 over his most recent 10, Jose Miranda has hit .294 over the same stretch, while Akil Baddoo, Ben Rortvedt and Trey Cabbage have each hit .250 or better in their last 10 games for Cedar Rapids.
 
The “new guy,” Jacob Pearson, even had a pair of hits in his first game as a Kernel on Wednesday.
 
Minor league baseball is what it is, and that means players will come and go. But this group of Kernels hitters is not just a two-man unit. The lineup has offensive talent up and down the batting order and I think we’ll continue to see plenty of runs scored by the home team at Veterans Memorial Stadium this summer.
 
(This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com)

Seven starts into his 2018 season with the Minnesota Twins, Lance Lynn has been nothing short of an abomination. He owns a 7.34 ERA, 1.981 WHIP, and is surrendering 6.6 free passes per nine innings. All of those numbers are ugly, but what's most interesting, is that Lynn's secondary numbers suggest he could be very good if he stops doubting himself.
 
Now to be sure, doubt may not be the most appropriate word to describe what is going on with Lynn. At the core of his issues is simply the fact that he has decided not to throw strikes. Over the course of his career, Lynn has been in the zone 41.6% of the time. In his early years with the Cardinals, he attacked the zone at an even higher percentage. While not the same measurement, in 2018 for the Twins, Lynn has thrown strikes on just 58.5% of his offerings. In his first season back from Tommy John surgery last year, that number was 59%. In 2015 it was 61.5%, and in 2014 it was 62.6%.
 
Across the board, the most glaring issue for the Twins free agent acquisition is his inability to work in or near the zone enough to entire hitters.
 
In fact, if we look at some of Lynn's secondary numbers, his stuff is actually playing a bit better than career norms. His 2,300+ spin rate on average for pitches thrown this season is up from last year, and his velocity has seen about a one mile per hour spike as well. He's generating swinging strikes 10.8% of the time, which is a career best. His 30.4% chase rate is the 2nd best mark of his career, and he's allowing contact at a career low 75.9% mark.
Doing so many other things rate, it's fair to question where that leaves him.
 
There's a couple of things at play for the big righty. His repertoire seems to have shifted some this season. The four seam fastball usage is up nearly 8% over last year, and the sinker has dipped 10% to make up for it. In looking at the density of his pitches in the zone, we can see he's attacked completely opposite sides as well. Instead of working the left side and inner part of the zone against righties as he did so often in 2017, his 2018 balls have traveled to the right side of the zone with many of them floating over the heart of the plate.
By taking a look at how he's attacking batters, or in this instance isn't, we can gather a good idea of what his batted ball numbers should look like. Issuing 6.6 walks per nine and over 11 hits in that same span, opposing batters are invited to be patient. As such, Lynn is issuing a career worst 40.8% hard hit rate as well as a 21.4% HR/FB ratio. Despite generating ground balls at a 48.5% mark, which is a strong total, he's allowing opposing hitters to sit back, swing hard, and deposit baseballs into the seats.
 
Of the 164 plate appearances Lynn has been on the bump for this season, 108 of them have presented scenarios in which either the batter or pitcher is ahead in the count. Across those scenarios, Lynn has been behind an astounding 65% (70/108) of the time. In the 70 plate appearances where Lynn has been pitching from behind, he's ceded 25 walks and allowed opposing hitters to compile a 1.251 OPS off of him. Conversely, when working ahead in the count, Lynn has given up zero walks while striking out 16 despite still allowing a .947 OPS.
 
Over the course of his seven year big league career, no one would suggest that Lynn is a command artist. A career 3.5 BB/9 for a starter is a bit above what you'd like to see. However, he's routinely made the process work because he's been able to throw plenty of strikes, get ahead of hitters, and put them away. Right now, Lynn has decided to nibble around the zone, strike out batters in part due to confusion, and be burned by his own inefficiency.
 
The good news is that Lynn had next to no spring training and has plenty of time to turn things around for the Twins. The bad news is that his room for error is becoming incredibly small, and we've reached the point in which he either needs to throw the ball over the plate or changes need to be made. The stuff is there for a very good pitcher to emerge. Lynn's overall ability, repertoire, and stuff is in a better place than it was a year ago. If he isn't in a place where he believes that it plays within the parameters of the strike zone however, it doesn't much matter.
 
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