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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
 

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The best Left fielder in Twins history presents one more puzzle.
 
This is an addition. I got so caught up in Killebrew I forgot Jim Lemon. He played 120 games in LF in 1961 near the end of his career. I loved to watch him play. Lenny Green, Dan Dobbek and Joe Altobelli shared the rest of the leftfield games. He played seven years with the Senators before they moved. His career numbers Senators/Twins were .265 /334/.470/.805, but only 7.7 WAR because he was not a fleet fielder. He hit 38 and 33 HRs the years before they moved and 14 in 1961. In DC he teamed with Roy Siever to be the power tandum. His last year was with the Twins/Phillies/White Sox in 1963. He was a coach for us on the 1965 WS team.
 
Once again Killebrew is the on the best page. Because he played 22 years and in six positions he had enough time to spend as much time at 3B as any candidate, as much at first base and most of the candidates and he played 471 games in LF. His line of .256/.376/.509/.884 and 60.4 WAR has now been on three of my analyses. The only other significant place for him was DH 158 games, but the position did not begin until his last two years with the team.
 
He was not a great fielder, probably true in every position, but he was versatile enough to be in six positions. In was the primary LF in our first year. Lenny Green, Dan Dobbek, and Joe Altobelli also got a good number of games in the position. Harmon had 120 games so they started some and came in for defense in others.
In 1962 he went up from 120 games in Left to 151 and Lenny Green was his primary back up with 87 games and he was a terrific fielder and base runner. In 1963 Jimmie Hall got in 89 games behind Killebrews 137 and Lenny Green only 14. “Allison had 25 doubles, 35 home runs, 91 RBI, led the league in runs scored (99) and in OPS (.911), and earned his second All-Star berth.”wiki
 
In 1964 Killebrew 157 games, Bob Allison 27 and Lenny Green 6. In 1965 it was Bob Allison’s position with Sandy Valdespino and Jimmie Hall behind him. Hall was mostly in CF that year and Allison, Hall, Mincher, Killebrew, Oliva gave us an historic power lineup. He had a poor World Series except for game two when “His bases-loaded double against Sandy Koufax and a great backhand diving catch of a Jim Lefebvre fly ball were the main contributors to the Twins victory. This catch has been called the best catch in Twins history.” Wiki.
 
Allison only had 33 games in LF in 1966 and Jimmie Hall had 70, Andy Kosco 31, Sandy Valdespino 18. Allison “was hit by a pitch and missed 91 games, but returned at the end of the season to knock a pinch-hit three-run homer, sending the New York Yankees to the cellar in the American League.”
 
1967 Allison was in Left 139 games and Sandy Valdespino was in 64. 1968 Allison was backed up by Cesar Tovar and Jim Holt. The last year of the decade it was a scrum in LF – Allison 58 games, Craig Nettles (wrong position) 53, Ted Uhlaender 44, Charlie Manuel (you got to be kidding) 41, Cesar Tovar 40 and five more in single figures.
Allison only appeared in left 12 games in 1970 with Jim Holt and Brand Alyea getting the most appearances ahead of Cesar Tovar.
 
Allison finished with .255/.358/.471/.829 and 34 WAR for 13 years with the Senators/Twins. He had been Rookie of the Year. He had 528 appearances in LF. And also 196 CF, 631 RF. He will appear on another list.
His later history is perhaps best known. After retiring he worked for Coca Cola and faced a terrible disease that might have affected his latter years in the field – “Allison helped found the Bob Allison Ataxia Research Center at the University of Minnesota along with his wife Betty, sons Mark, Kirk, and Kyle, and former Twins' teammates Jim Kaat and Frank Quilici. He continued to battle this rare degenerative neurological disease for eight years, eventually losing his ability to walk, talk, write, and feed himself. Allison died of complications from ataxia on April 9, 1995 at the age of 60 in his Rio Verde, Arizona home.” Wiki.
 
Tovar took over LF in 1972 with Alyea behind him and Steve Brye third. Jim Holt had only 14 appearances in LF. In 1973 Brye took over LF and Tovar backed him up with Charlie Manuel third. Holt was back with 80 starts in 1973 and Larry Hisle had 50, Mike Adams 23. Then the mix and match continued in 1874 at Steve Braun had 108 games and Larry Hisle 74. Braun 106 and Hisle 41 in 1975.
 
Hisle took over LF in 1976 and Braun was behind him. 1977 was a fascinating combination of Larry Hisle 71 and Lyman Bostock 60 – two great players. Bob Gorinski got in 30.
 
Larry Hisle would be with the Twins five years .286/.354/.457/.811 17.2 WAR 470 LF games, 500 CF, 101 RF.
 
Lets just say things went down in 1978 with Willie Norwood 101 games, Rich Chiles (who?) 59, and Bombo Rivera 32! Bombo Rivera started in LF in 1979 in 61 games, Ken Landreaux 49, Glenn Adams 45, and Dave Edwards 36. Six others had single digits in LF with Hosken Powell the most interesting name.
 
Willie Norwood would be with the Twins four years .286 /.354/.457/.811 and despite decent numbers had a total WAR of minus – 1.3. He was not a good fielder.
 
In the new Decade 1980 dropped to seventh in LF appearances. Rick Sofield started 71, Landreaux 55, Dave Edwards 28 ant then Ron Jackson, Glen Adams, Gary Ward and Bombo. Hoping for Bombo 1981 had Gary Ward 62, Rick Sofield 33, Hosken Powell 12 and Mark Funderburk (Another great name) for 6.
 
Gary Ward owned Left in 1982 with 127 games and Mickey Hatcher had 26. The same two in 1983 with Hatcher in 11.
 
Bombo was with us three years .266/.327/.372/.699 2.5 WAR NS 103 games in left.
 
Gary Ward was with us 5 years 285/.333/.461/.794 10.6 WAR 354 games in left for us. Mickey Hatcher took over in 1984 with 100 games and Dave Meier had 41 and Darrell Brown 19. The same two held down third in 1985 with Randy Bush in 38 games.
 
Mickey Hatcher – 6 years .284/.315/.383/.697 3.7 WAR
 
Then Randy Bush took over in 1986 with Billy Beane - Yes that Billy Beane .217/.258/.303/.561 in two years with the Twin and then on to Moneyball. We got him for Tim Teufel. Behind Billy was Mickey and Mark Davidson.
Then in 1987, the world series year we had Dan Gladden 105 games, Tom Brunansky 58, Mark Davidson 36. Gladden and Moses in 1988, Gladden, Moses and Bush in 1989, Gladden, Shane Mack, and Moses in 1990. Gladden, Mack, and Pedro Munoz in 1991,
 
Gladden would be 5 years .268/.318/.382/.700 5.7 WAR and into the radio booth after two years in Detroit.
Shane Mack took over in 1992 backed by Darren Reed. Mack split time with Pedro Munoz and Dave McCarty in 1993 and again in 1994, the strike year. He did play 180 games at CF, 180 RF, as well as 352 in LF. It is hard to separate OF since they switch so much.Mack was out greatest Rule V pick.
 
Mack was a Twin 5 years, .309/.375/.479/.854 19.6 WAR 352 games in left.
 
Marty Cordova took over in 1995 with Jerald Clark second in Left. And had 145 appearances in 1996, Rich Becker 15. Cordova had less in 1997 and Matt Lawton picked up the rest. Cordova still had LF in 1998 with Alex Ochoa, Denny Hocking, Chris Latham and Matt Lawton sharing the rest. Cordova had been Rookie of the Year and looked good, but like Castino his back ruined his career. “Between 1997 and 2000, he missed 240 games while on the injured list.” Wiki
 
Cordova played five years with the Twins .277/.348/.451/.799. 5.8 WAR
 
In 1999 Chad Allen took over with Hocking having the second most. Allen lasted one year and Jacque Jones took over in 2000 playing 90 games and Matt Lawton 67. Denny Hocking, Midre Cummings, Chad Allen, John Barnes, Brian Buchanan and TORII HUNTER all had games in left that year.
 
Chad Allen was with the Twins three years and had good stats 275/.332/.401/.732. But his fielding must have been bad because he finished with a minus -0.9 WAR.
 
2001 Jacque Jones, Chad Allen and Bobby Keilty. Jacque had 137 games. He had 143 games in Left in 2002 with Dustin Mohr and Bobby Kielty getting the rest. In 2003 Jacque had 90 games and Shannon Stewart had 46. Dustan Mohr and Lew Ford had a few. Then Jacque Jones moved to RF in 2004 and Lew Ford and Shannon Stewart split LF with Michael Restovich and Mike Ryan grabbing a few games. Shannon Stewart took over in 2005 with 125 games in LF and Lew Ford getting the rest. Jacque was in RF again. With Stewart, Hunter, Jones we had one of our best fielding and hitting OFs. Then Jacque turned down arbitration and signed with the cubs.
Jaccque Jones .279/.327/.455/.782 11.9 WAR in 7 years 461 games in LF.
 
2006 Lew Ford 64 games, Rondell White 38, Shannon Stewart 34, Jason Tyner 33, Jason Kubel 30. Then Kubel took over in 2007 84 games, Tyner 47, Ford 35, White 16, and Josh Rabe. Finally, cough, cough, we got a steady left fielder in 2008 when Delmon Young was acquired.
 
Lew Ford was with us 5 years and in 494 games hit .272/.349//.402/.750 8.3 WAR
 
Shannon Stewart was with us 4 years 333 games and hit .294/.354/.418/.772 and 4.9 WAR
 
2009 we backed off a little with Delmon getting 98 games and Span getting 74 which means a lot of defensive subs, and Jason Kubel 29 games. In 2010 Delmon was back out there for 149 games and Kubel 16. In 2012 we had one of those audition years like we have seen with other positions too. Young got in 75 games, Rene Tosoni 38, Jason Repko 24, Ben Revere 13, Joe Benson 11, Jason Kubel 9, Brian Dinkelman 5, and Trevor Plouffe 3! Wow, an entire lineup of LFs.
 
Delmon Young’s line looks good, .287/.324/.429/.753 but total WAR for 4 years was 1. With a -5,4 defensive WAR
None passed the test and in 2012 Josh Willingham played there 119 games, Darin Mastrioanni 25, Ryan Doumit 16, and Matt Carson (who?) 15. In 2013 Willingham played 72 games, Oswaldo Arcia 56, Clete Thomas 26 and Mastroianni 19. In 2014 we traded WIlllingham to KC for Jason Adam (P).
 
In Willingham’s three years his numbers are not as good as I remember, of course his 35 HR year is what is most memorable. .232/.353/.446/.799 4.8 WAR
 
 
Before he was traded Willingham had 53 games in 2014, Kubel 36, Schafer 34, Parmelee 22, Nunez 16, Herrman 12, Sam Fuld 10, and Aaron Hicks 2. Lots to sort out there, but hardly one great LF that year.
Eddie Rosario took over with 86 games in 2015 and he is the current LF so I will stop here. Rosario has a career left to define him and he could rise high on this list.
 
Here I am at the end of another long trail of players. This is my best guess and biased top ten.
1. Killebrew in 471 games set the standard. 256/.376/.509/.884 and 60.4 WAR
2. Mack was a Twin 5 years, .309/.375/.479/.854 19.6 WAR 352 games in left.
3. Bob Allison .255/.358/.471/.829 and 34 WAR for 13 years
4. Larry Hisle five years .286/.354/.457/.811 17.2 WAR 470 LF games, 500 CF, 101 RF.
5. Shannon Stewart was with us 4 years 333 games and hit .294/.354/.418/.772 and 4.9 WAR
6. Jacque Jones .279/.327/.455/.782 11.9 WAR in 7 years 461 games
7. Dan Gladden 5 years .268/.318/.382/.700 5.7 WAR
8. Lew Ford was with us 5 years and in 494 games hit .272/.349//.402/.750 . 8.3 WAR
9.Marty Cordova played five years with the Twins .277/.348/.451/.799. 5.8 WAR
10. Delmon Young’s 287/.324/.429/.753 total WAR for 4 years was 1 (I just had to get Delmon on the list).

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
 

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The best Shortstop in Twins history This is a challenging position. No HOF candidates.

 
 
The first year of the Twins Zoilo Vesalles was the dominate Shortstop – 129 games. Jose Valivielso backed him up. Versalles was in 160 games in 1962, 159 – 1963, 160 – 1964, 160 in the World Series year of 1965 when he was the MVP of the league, he dropped to 135 with Cesar Tovar behind him in 1966, 159 in 1967. After developing a Hemotoma on his back, a lifelong condition, his average dropped and he was sent with Mudcat Grant to the Dodgers for an old Johnny Roseboro, Bob Miller, and Ron Perranoski. But Zoilo, nicknamed Zorro set the Twins standard.
 
 
Versalles played 9 of his 12 years with the club including two in DC before the move. .250/.296/.383/.679 14.7 WAR.
 
 
1968 was a scrum year. Lots of players trying to establish themselves at SS – Jackie Hernandez, Ron Clark, Rick Renick and Cesar Tovar. Even Frank Quilici and Rod Carew got in some games at SS. Then in 1969 we found the next infield anchor – Leo Cardenas who played there 160 games. Then he came back for 160 in 1970, and 153 in 1971. A five time all – star and slick fielder, he tied the American League record with 570 assists and his fielding percentage was the highest in AL history. Then Calvin traded him for relief pitcher Dave LaRoche. This allowed the Angels to then trade Jim Fregosi, their shortstop to the Mets for Nolan Ryan. Just think if we had skipped that intermediary step and sent Cardenas for Ryan!
 
 
In three years out of a 16 year career Cardenas hit .263/.325/.394/.719 with 11.1 WAR.
Danny Thompson took over at SS in 1972 and had the looks of a really good player, but of course, he died of Leukemia at the Mayo in Rochester at age 29. In 1973 he played in 95 games at short and Jerry Terrell 81. In 1974, the Leukemia weakening him he played 88 games at short, Luiz Gomez got in 74, Jerry Terrell 34, and Sergio Ferrer 20. Then in 195, the year before he died, he played 100 games at SS with the same three coming in late game or starting the other games. In 1976 Danny played in 34 games and then he was gone.
 
 
Danny Thompson’s line for six years .251/.289/.316/.605 with 2.4 WAR.
 
 
Next to grab hold of the position was Roy Smalley in 1976. We got Smalley in a trade along with Mike Cubbage and pitchers Jim Gideon and Bill Singer for Bert Blyleven and Danny Thompson. Why he would or could trade Thompson is another Calvin mystery. Why we traded Blyleven was a difficult thing to do, but a SS is important. Smalley was in 103 games under his uncle, manager Gene Mauch. He played in 150 games in 1977, 157 in 1978, 161 in 1979, and 125 in 1980 with Pete Mackinin, John Castino, and Lenny Faedo playing in the rest. In 1981 injuries limited him to 37 games and in 1982 he got in 4 games and was traded for Greg Gagne, and Pitchers Paul Boris and Ron Davis from the Yankees.
 
 
The rest of 1981 saw Chuck Baker, Pete Mackinin, Ron Washington, and Lenny Faedo at SS. In 1982 Ron Washington was our primary SS, Lenny Faedo the backup. In 1983 Washington remained number one, but there were multiple players getting time at short. Faedo was in 51 games, Houston Jiminez in 36, the newly acquired Gagne 10, and Gaetti 3.
 
 
Then in 1984 this streak of forgettables continued with Houston Jiminez and the number one, Washington number two then Faedo and Chris Speier. Finally, in 1985 Greg Gagne grabbed the position. With Roy Smalley back having been with the Yankees and the White Sox. He got in 49 games, Espinoza 31 and Ron Washington 31. The same four held the position in 1986 and Smalley took over DH with 114 games there.
 
 
In the championship season of 1987 Gagne was backed up by Al Newman and Smalley played there 4 games with the rest as DH or PH. This ended the Smalley era.
 
 
Roy Smalley in his two stints with the Twins played for us 10 years 262/.350/.401/.750 20.9 WAR
 
 
Gagne had no one looking over his shoulder in 1988 The others to play short were Al Newman – 28, Steve Lombardozzi – 11 and then Doug Baker, Gary Gaetti, and Tommy Herr. In 1989 the same top two with Baker the only other SS.
 
 
Starting the new decade – 1990 the top two stayed the same and Scott Leius became the third option. That stayed the same in 1991 with Knoblauch getting in 2 games at short. 1992 Gagne stayed at Short, but Al Newman was replaced by Jeff Reboulet and Donnie Hill. Gagne had been on both world series teams and hit a three run homer in game one of 1991, but in 1992 the Twins were only going to give out one big contract – Kirby Puckett and refused to give Gagne a raise. He left for KC.
 
 
Greg Gagne played 10 years for the Twins .249/.292/.385/.677 12.7 WAR.
 
 
Pat Meares was the next player that the Twins put at SS along with Reboulet, Hocking and Lieu in 1993. The same four were at the top of the list in 1994, 1995, 1996, and in 1997.1998 it was just Meares and Hocking. Meares left in FA to Pittsburgh.
 
 
Pat Meares was a 12th round draft choice and played six years with the Twins .265/.301/.381/.682 6.0 WAR
1999 became the year of Cristian Guzman with Denny Hocking the back up. The same two in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and in 2004 the back up was Nick Punto. Guzman had come from the Yankees in the Knoblauch trade. He led the league in triples three times and it was a pleasure to see him on the bases. The year he had 20 triples was the first time that number had been reached in 70 years. He left as a FA
 
 
Guzman played six years with the Twins .266/.303/.382/.685 WAR 7.5
 
 
In 2005 Juan Castro and Jason Bartlett split SS with Punto behind them. The same three in 2006, but Bartlett asserted himself as number one. Bartlett was SS in 138 games in 2007, with Punto and Casilla playing the rest.
 
 
In 2007 Bartlett lead the league in errors – 26 and then was part of the trade to get us Delmon Young!
Bartlett played 5 or his 10 years as a Twin 271/.340/.361/.702 8.9 WAR
 
 
2008 Nick Punto (the leader of the Piranhas) 61, Brendan Harris 55, Adam Everett 44, and Matt Tolber 14 split the SS position. 2009 saw Punto and Harris split the position with Orlando Cabrera. Then in 2010 we had a lead SS again – JJ Hardy with the other SS candidates sliding down the list.
 
 
2011 and Hardy is gone – that was quick, but we had Tsuyoshi Nishioki and he started 60 games, Trever Plouffe 45, Alexi Casilla 36 and Matt Tolber 31. Lots of maneuvering! With Nishioki gone, Hardy gone, we turned to our minor leagues and stared Brian Dozier at SS 83 games. Hard to remember or easy to forget. Others had innings and games at SS too in 2012. Pedro Florimon 43, Jamey Carroll (our oldest SS ever) 37, and Eduardo Escobar 6.
Lets call that a bad year too.
 
 
2013 Pedro Florimon takes the position 133 games, Escobar 38, and Doug Bernier 20. 2014 Escobar takes the position with Danny Santana playing in 34 games and Florimon 31 plus Eduardo Nunez 20. 2015 Escobar and Santana split the position with Nunez filling in and Polanco getting 4 games.
 
 
2016 Escobar gets the most games, but Nunez gets in 51 at short and Polanco 47. Polanco takes over in 2017, Adrianza is primary back up and Escobar gets only 16 because he is not primarily at third.
I just cannot choose the best out of the mess that is ten years of revolving door at SS and Polanco has a ways to go year.
 
 
Who is best – here are the candidates and my ranking – what do you think?
1. Cardenas 3 years .263/.325/.394/.719 with 11.1 WAR
2. Versalles 9 years 250/.296/.383/.679 14.7 WAR.
3. Roy Smalley 10 years 262/.350/.401/.750 20.9 WAR
4. Greg Gagne10 years .249/.292/.385/.677 12.7 WAR.
5. Bartlett 5 years 271/.340/.361/.702 8.9 WAR
6. Guzman 6 years.266/.303/.382/.685 WAR 7.5
7. Pat Meares 6 years.265/.301/.381/.682 6.0 WAR
8. Danny Thompson 6 years .251/.289/.316/.605 2.4 WAR.
 
 

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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
 

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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
 

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The best Shortstop in Twins history This is a challenging position. No HOF candidates.

 
 
The first year of the Twins Zoilo Vesalles was the dominate Shortstop – 129 games. Jose Valivielso backed him up. Versalles was in 160 games in 1962, 159 – 1963, 160 – 1964, 160 in the World Series year of 1965 when he was the MVP of the league, he dropped to 135 with Cesar Tovar behind him in 1966, 159 in 1967. After developing a Hemotoma on his back, a lifelong condition, his average dropped and he was sent with Mudcat Grant to the Dodgers for an old Johnny Roseboro, Bob Miller, and Ron Perranoski. But Zoilo, nicknamed Zorro set the Twins standard.
 
 
Versalles played 9 of his 12 years with the club including two in DC before the move. .250/.296/.383/.679 14.7 WAR.
 
 
1968 was a scrum year. Lots of players trying to establish themselves at SS – Jackie Hernandez, Ron Clark, Rick Renick and Cesar Tovar. Even Frank Quilici and Rod Carew got in some games at SS. Then in 1969 we found the next infield anchor – Leo Cardenas who played there 160 games. Then he came back for 160 in 1970, and 153 in 1971. A five time all – star and slick fielder, he tied the American League record with 570 assists and his fielding percentage was the highest in AL history. Then Calvin traded him for relief pitcher Dave LaRoche. This allowed the Angels to then trade Jim Fregosi, their shortstop to the Mets for Nolan Ryan. Just think if we had skipped that intermediary step and sent Cardenas for Ryan!
 
 
In three years out of a 16 year career Cardenas hit .263/.325/.394/.719 with 11.1 WAR.
Danny Thompson took over at SS in 1972 and had the looks of a really good player, but of course, he died of Leukemia at the Mayo in Rochester at age 29. In 1973 he played in 95 games at short and Jerry Terrell 81. In 1974, the Leukemia weakening him he played 88 games at short, Luiz Gomez got in 74, Jerry Terrell 34, and Sergio Ferrer 20. Then in 195, the year before he died, he played 100 games at SS with the same three coming in late game or starting the other games. In 1976 Danny played in 34 games and then he was gone.
 
 
Danny Thompson’s line for six years .251/.289/.316/.605 with 2.4 WAR.
 
 
Next to grab hold of the position was Roy Smalley in 1976. We got Smalley in a trade along with Mike Cubbage and pitchers Jim Gideon and Bill Singer for Bert Blyleven and Danny Thompson. Why he would or could trade Thompson is another Calvin mystery. Why we traded Blyleven was a difficult thing to do, but a SS is important. Smalley was in 103 games under his uncle, manager Gene Mauch. He played in 150 games in 1977, 157 in 1978, 161 in 1979, and 125 in 1980 with Pete Mackinin, John Castino, and Lenny Faedo playing in the rest. In 1981 injuries limited him to 37 games and in 1982 he got in 4 games and was traded for Greg Gagne, and Pitchers Paul Boris and Ron Davis from the Yankees.
 
 
The rest of 1981 saw Chuck Baker, Pete Mackinin, Ron Washington, and Lenny Faedo at SS. In 1982 Ron Washington was our primary SS, Lenny Faedo the backup. In 1983 Washington remained number one, but there were multiple players getting time at short. Faedo was in 51 games, Houston Jiminez in 36, the newly acquired Gagne 10, and Gaetti 3.
 
 
Then in 1984 this streak of forgettables continued with Houston Jiminez and the number one, Washington number two then Faedo and Chris Speier. Finally, in 1985 Greg Gagne grabbed the position. With Roy Smalley back having been with the Yankees and the White Sox. He got in 49 games, Espinoza 31 and Ron Washington 31. The same four held the position in 1986 and Smalley took over DH with 114 games there.
 
 
In the championship season of 1987 Gagne was backed up by Al Newman and Smalley played there 4 games with the rest as DH or PH. This ended the Smalley era.
 
 
Roy Smalley in his two stints with the Twins played for us 10 years 262/.350/.401/.750 20.9 WAR
 
 
Gagne had no one looking over his shoulder in 1988 The others to play short were Al Newman – 28, Steve Lombardozzi – 11 and then Doug Baker, Gary Gaetti, and Tommy Herr. In 1989 the same top two with Baker the only other SS.
 
 
Starting the new decade – 1990 the top two stayed the same and Scott Leius became the third option. That stayed the same in 1991 with Knoblauch getting in 2 games at short. 1992 Gagne stayed at Short, but Al Newman was replaced by Jeff Reboulet and Donnie Hill. Gagne had been on both world series teams and hit a three run homer in game one of 1991, but in 1992 the Twins were only going to give out one big contract – Kirby Puckett and refused to give Gagne a raise. He left for KC.
 
 
Greg Gagne played 10 years for the Twins .249/.292/.385/.677 12.7 WAR.
 
 
Pat Meares was the next player that the Twins put at SS along with Reboulet, Hocking and Lieu in 1993. The same four were at the top of the list in 1994, 1995, 1996, and in 1997.1998 it was just Meares and Hocking. Meares left in FA to Pittsburgh.
 
 
Pat Meares was a 12th round draft choice and played six years with the Twins .265/.301/.381/.682 6.0 WAR
1999 became the year of Cristian Guzman with Denny Hocking the back up. The same two in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and in 2004 the back up was Nick Punto. Guzman had come from the Yankees in the Knoblauch trade. He led the league in triples three times and it was a pleasure to see him on the bases. The year he had 20 triples was the first time that number had been reached in 70 years. He left as a FA
 
 
Guzman played six years with the Twins .266/.303/.382/.685 WAR 7.5
 
 
In 2005 Juan Castro and Jason Bartlett split SS with Punto behind them. The same three in 2006, but Bartlett asserted himself as number one. Bartlett was SS in 138 games in 2007, with Punto and Casilla playing the rest.
 
 
In 2007 Bartlett lead the league in errors – 26 and then was part of the trade to get us Delmon Young!
Bartlett played 5 or his 10 years as a Twin 271/.340/.361/.702 8.9 WAR
 
 
2008 Nick Punto (the leader of the Piranhas) 61, Brendan Harris 55, Adam Everett 44, and Matt Tolber 14 split the SS position. 2009 saw Punto and Harris split the position with Orlando Cabrera. Then in 2010 we had a lead SS again – JJ Hardy with the other SS candidates sliding down the list.
 
 
2011 and Hardy is gone – that was quick, but we had Tsuyoshi Nishioki and he started 60 games, Trever Plouffe 45, Alexi Casilla 36 and Matt Tolber 31. Lots of maneuvering! With Nishioki gone, Hardy gone, we turned to our minor leagues and stared Brian Dozier at SS 83 games. Hard to remember or easy to forget. Others had innings and games at SS too in 2012. Pedro Florimon 43, Jamey Carroll (our oldest SS ever) 37, and Eduardo Escobar 6.
Lets call that a bad year too.
 
 
2013 Pedro Florimon takes the position 133 games, Escobar 38, and Doug Bernier 20. 2014 Escobar takes the position with Danny Santana playing in 34 games and Florimon 31 plus Eduardo Nunez 20. 2015 Escobar and Santana split the position with Nunez filling in and Polanco getting 4 games.
 
 
2016 Escobar gets the most games, but Nunez gets in 51 at short and Polanco 47. Polanco takes over in 2017, Adrianza is primary back up and Escobar gets only 16 because he is not primarily at third.
I just cannot choose the best out of the mess that is ten years of revolving door at SS and Polanco has a ways to go year.
 
 
Who is best – here are the candidates and my ranking – what do you think?
1. Cardenas 3 years .263/.325/.394/.719 with 11.1 WAR
2. Versalles 9 years 250/.296/.383/.679 14.7 WAR.
3. Roy Smalley 10 years 262/.350/.401/.750 20.9 WAR
4. Greg Gagne10 years .249/.292/.385/.677 12.7 WAR.
5. Bartlett 5 years 271/.340/.361/.702 8.9 WAR
6. Guzman 6 years.266/.303/.382/.685 WAR 7.5
7. Pat Meares 6 years.265/.301/.381/.682 6.0 WAR
8. Danny Thompson 6 years .251/.289/.316/.605 2.4 WAR.
 
 

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Kyler Murray has set the internet buzzing with his two-sport potential. The A’s hope he chooses baseball, the NFL wants him for football. So it got me thinking about baseball players and their second sports. According to Wiki there are 70 Athletes who played in both MLB and NFL.
 
 
Bo Jackson was the second Heisman Trophy winner to play in both – Vic Janowicz was the first with the Pirates and the Red Sox!
 
Deion Sanders is in the NFL HOF, if he had stayed with baseball maybe he could have been in that too. There are six other NFL HOF players who were in MLB – Red Badgro (on the 1927 Yankees – football team, and the St Louis Browns), Paddy Driscoll (played for the cubs and two NFL teams), George Halas (coach, owner of the Bears was on the 1919 Yankees), Ernie Nevers (Duluth Eskimos, Stanford, both NFL and College HOF played with the St Louis Browns), Ace Parker (Philadelphia A’s and 3 NFL teams) and of Course Jim Thorpe. Thorpe was also an Olympic hero and played for multiple teams in both NFL and MLB.
 
None are in the MLB HOF but Jackson played in 694 major league games and 38 games with the Raiders – without injury he might have been the first to make both HOFs. He made the All Star game in both sports. Deion Sanders played in 641 games in MLB and 188 in NFL with four teams in each sport and made the HOF. Sanders is the only person to be in both the World Series and the Superbowl.
 
Cal Hubbard is the exception in that he did make both NFL and MLB Hall of Fame, but he did so as a linebacker and an umpire.
 
Tim Tebow is trying hard to be the next one on this list.
 
But there is another list – NBA and MLB. In this list is Danny Ainge the GM and president of the Celtics, the team he played for as a guard. He also appeared for the Toronto Blue Jays Frank Baumholtz played for Cleveland in the NBA forerunner and was fifth, behind Jackie Robinson for ROY.
 
Gene Conley was a pitcher for the Milwaukee braves and played for the Boston Celtic. He was part of the Braves World Series championship and the Celtics three NBA titles in 1959 – 1961.
 
The Rifleman, Chuck Connors helped the Rochester Royals win the championship before joining the Celtics and then the Dodgers! DeBusschere was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983 as a knick and then pitched for the White Sox from 1962-63.
 
Dick Groat, the 1960 NL MVP was also on the Fort Wayne Pistons for one year. Steve Hamilton played in MLB for 12 years including the 1963 and 1964 champion Yankees and in 1958 – 1960 he was a powerforward on our Minneapolis Lakers.
 
Mark Hendrickson was in 114 NBA games and pitched for ten years for five MLB teams.
 
Cotton Nash was an all-American then played for the Lakers and San Francisco Warriors during the 1964-65 season. Two years later he played 13 games as a first baseman and left fielder for the White Sox and Twins.
 
Ron Reed was a 19 year major league reliever and during his rookie year he was also a forward for the Detroit Pistons. Howie Schultz was rejected by the army because he was too tall. He played first base from 1943 – 1948 and then switched to the NBA and got a championship ring from the Lakers in the 1951 – 1952 season.
 
Not the NBA but Lou Brock, Bob Gibson and Fergie Jenkins -- who once played for the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters. David Winfield was drafted by the NFL and the NBA!
 
There were others in this category but who was the best? Bo Jackson is who I expected to win, but the Stats tell other stories. Of course this list only tells you of their MLB success and not their corresponding success in the other league. As I said there are HOF NFL players on this list, no HOF NBA players.
 
Dick Groat .286/.330/.366/.696 WAR 36.7
Gene Conley 91 - 96 .487/3.82 WAR 15.7
Ron Reed 146-140 .510/3.46 WAR 24.9
Bo Jackson - .250/.309/.474/.784 WAR 7
Deion Sanders .263/.319/.392/.711 WAR 5.5
Mark Hendrickson 58-74/.439/ 5.03 WAR 4.1
Ernie Nevers 6-12 .333/4.64 WAR 1.5
Cotton Nash .188/.316/.188/.503 WAR 0.0
Jim Thorpe .252/.286/.362/.648 WAR -0.1
George Halas .091/.091/.091/.182 WAR -0.4
Paddy Driscoll .107/.167/.143/.310 WAR -0.5
Chuck Connors .238/.280/.302/.582 WAR -0.9
Red Badgro .257/.307/.366/.674 WAR -1.1
Vic Janowicz .214/.267/286/.552 WAR -1.2
Ace Parker .179/.231/.242/.472 WAR -1.8
Danny Ainge .220/.264/.269/.533 WAR -2.0
 

The Twins Best Second basemen
The second base slot has changed dramatically in this era. With all the strikeouts and flyballs there are fewer double plays, fewer ground balls, and if there is the shift complicates who is where. But I will not emphasize those changes, I just want to look at the names and skills of the people who players second in our history.
 
 
Billy Martin – that controversial manager (Twins and Yankees) that succeeded everywhere but off the
field. The original Spark plug player who had so much drive he pushed everyone else too. He was the very first Minnesota Twin second baseman and played there 108 games in 1961. Another former manager, Billy Gardner, played 41 games, Ted Lepcio 22 games, Jose Valdivielso 15 games, Rich Rollins, Billy Consolo, Jim Snyder and Bill Tuttle also played multiple games at the position.
 
 
By 1962, as often happened with Billy – he was gone and former Purdue QB Bernie Allen had the bag for every game! Allen was third in ROY ballots.
 
 
In 1963 Bernie got some days off and only played second in 128 games. Johnny Goryl, another future manager, played there 34 games and to my great shock – VIC POWER – the outstanding fielding first baseman played second 18 times!
 
 
1964 looks like one of the first base years. Bernie Allen only played 71 games there, Minnesotan Jerry Kindall (future gopher coach) played 51, Johnny Goryl 28, Jim Snyder 25, and then Jay Ward, Bill Bethea, Frank Kostro and Bud Bloomfield rounded out the field of eight.
 
 
1965 and Jerry Kindall took over for 106 games and Frank Quilici played 52. Rich Rollins 16 and Bernie Allen 10, Frank Kostro 7 and Cesar Tovar 4. Tovar played everywhere and in one game he did play all nine positions.
1966 Bernie Allen had the most starts – 89 and Tovar was second with 74. That year Tovar also played SS, LF, and CF. Rich Rollins had 4 games there.
 
 
1967 Rod Carew took over and started 134 games, Tovar played 35, and Frank Quilici 13.
1968 Carew played 117, Quilici (49) beat out Tovar (19) for second place and Ron Clark played 9.
1969 Carew played 118, Tovar 41, and Quilici 36.
 
 
The sixties had a variety of players and it wasn’t until Carew that we had a long term answer at the position. Martin started it, went to coaching, went to managing and then went elsewhere. Bernie Allen brought his football status for a while and Carew took over the position.
 
 
Jerry Kindall played for us for two years and you wonder why when you look at his line - .183/.254/.262.516 over his career he played 511 games at second and ended his nine year career with a (-3) WAR. As it says in Wiki – since 1920 “2,000 at-bats has a lower career batting average than Kindall's .213”. He had something special and went to Arizona as their baseball coach. “Kindall is a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the author of Baseball: Play the Winning Way and co-editor of The Baseball Coaching Bible.”
 
 
Billy Martin played 11 years in MLB, the last one with the Twins. 246/.275/.361/.636 and (-1) WAR for that year. In 1969 he managed the Twins and then followed that up with 15 more managerial years.
 
 
Following the Kindall model, Frank Quilici played for us five years as a second baseman with the line .214/.281/.287/.569 and a five year WAR total of (-0.5).
 
 
So for those three players we have an accumulate WAR of (-4.5).
 
 
Along comes the All American boy, Purdue QB, Bernie Allen and he plays 5 of his 12 years with the Twins – 246/.316/.366/.682 and 3.2 WAR – almost enough to erase the other three on this list. Wiki has a summary of his college career, “Allen played college baseball for the Boilermakers, where he twice named Team MVP. A winner of 6 varsity letters, Allen was also a quarterback on the football team, selected as Team MVP in 1960. He platooned at quarterback in 1959, leading the Boilermakers to a 5-2-2 record and six weeks in the Top 15.[2] Earning the starting job in 1960, Allen led the Boilermakers to a record of 4-4-1 (2-4 Big Ten) and wins over #12 Notre Dame, Ohio State and #1 Minnesota, the AP and UPI National Champion.”
 
 
Cesar Tovar deserves some recognition here. He was with us 8 of his 12 years with a line of 281/.337/.377/.714 and would be the best except he was never the starter at second. In all he earned 25.9 WAR with the Twins, but he played everywhere – his career totals for appearances are: OF (all three positions) 945; 3B 227; 2B 215; SS 77; DH 90; and one game at C, P, and 1B.
 
 
So, the best of the sixties belongs to Rod Carew who plays 12 of his 19 seasons with the Twins. He hits - .334/.393/.448/.841, accumulates WAR 63.8 with the Twins, and he will play 1184 games at first and 1130 at 2B.
Jump to the seventies.
 
Who starts the most in 1970? Danny Thompson 81, Frank Quilici 74, and Rod Carew 45 with Tovar, and Minnie Mendoza getting the rest. Order was restored in 1971 with Carew at 2b 142 games and Steve Braun there 28. Danny Thompson plays 3 and Tovar came in from LF to play 2.
 
 
1972 Carew and Braun are still one and two and three is Dan Monzon. Monzon and Terrell are Carew’s caddies in 1973. In 1974 Monzon is out, Terrell is two and Luis Gomez and Sergio Ferrer get the crumbs. !975 Carew continues to dominate the bag, the same old backups continue to share what is available.
 
 
Then in 1976 there is a shakeup. Carew is at first and Bob Randall starts 153 games and Terrell 31, Gomez 8, Carew 7, and Cubbage 2. It seems strange to have Carew with so few, but this is the future.
 
 
With open season at second Randall holds on in 1977 to start 101 games and a new name – Rob Wilfong gets 66 games, Gomez, Terrell, Carew, and Sam Perlozzo share the rest. In 1978 the order stays the same Randall gets 115, Wilfong 80, Cubbage 5, Carew 4. And the decade ends with Wilfong taking the lead 133 games, Randall 71, and Cubbage 1.
 
 
Randall plays five years for the Twins and has a 3.8 WAR with a slash line of .257/.310/.311/.621. Not bad for the position.
 
 
Danny Thompson played 5 of 7 years with the Twins and had a 2.4 WAR. He is one of the sad stories in Twins lore as he died of leukemia at age 26. “Thompson appeared in 98 games in 1976 and went 1 for 3 in his final start for the Rangers on September 29, appropriately at shortstop in Minnesota's Metropolitan Stadium. In his final game on October 2, less than ten weeks before his death, he was used as a pinch hitter.”
 
 
The only choice for the decade of the seventies is Rod Carew – the same as the sixties.
The 1980s
 
Rob Wilfong leads of the new decade at second base with 120 games at 2B and Pete Mackanin appeared in games. 1981 the same two dominated with 93 and 31. John Castino got in 4 and chuck Baker 3.
 
 
In 1982 John Castino took over the lead with 96 and Ron Washington played 37. Larry Milbourne was in for 26 and Wilfong was only in 22. Castino was the only one to have a positive WAR that year at second. In 1983 had 132 games and Tim Teufel was second with 18 and Ron Washington had 14. Rob Wilfong was gone.
 
 
Then Tim Teufel took over in 1984 with 157 and Ron Washington was his back up. Like the previous decades there was a constant turn over looking for the right guy. Teufel held on to 1985 with Ron Washington and Steve Lombardozzi splitting the rest of the appearances -26 and 24.
 
 
Like the previous seasons the understood took over for the leader and Lombardozzi was the 1986 starter with Alvaro Espinoza (not related to the philosopher) as understudy. Ron Washington, Chris Pittaro, Greg Gagne, and Gary Gaetti all had a turn. Steve kept the starting position as the team headed to the world series in 1987 and Al Newman was his primary backup. Although Pittaro and Gagne got a taste of the bag.
 
 
1988 kept Lombardozzi in the lead, 90, but Tommy Herr appeared and was in 73. Of course, Tommy fits with the great, not necessarily positive, characters in Twins history. The Cardinals traded him for Tom Brunansky. This was not a bargain for us. The Argus Leader wrote, “Herr didn’t hide that he wasn’t thrilled to be in Minnesota, announced midway through the season he wouldn’t return in ’89, and batted just .263 with one homer. He spent half the season on the DL, and teammates and media questioned the seriousness of his injuries. He was traded to the Phillies for Shane Rawley and Tom Nieto after the season.” No one came close to whining and complaining about being in MN. He will not be considered for our best. Al Newman stepped in for him and Greg Gagne and an outfielder named Dan Gladden played second.
 
 
The end of the decade the mix is really symptomatic of the 80s – now we start Wally Backman from the Mets. “Still uncomfortable with Steve Lombardozzi playing second and what seemed like a cast of thousands batting second, Minnesota sent three pitching prospects to the New York Mets on Dec. 7 for the 29-year-old Backman.
Almost immediately, Backman announced that he was thrilled to be with the Twins and bought a house on Lake Minnetonka.
 
 
"Tommy Herr never wanted to play here, so he didn't fit in with the rest of us," says first baseman and clubhouse leader Kent Hrbek. "Backman does fit in. You can see the difference just in the fact that Wally wants to have fun. Already, Backman and (Dan) Gladden are pulling pranks on each other." LA Times. Al Newman had the exact same number of games at second as Wally – 84, Doug Baker got in 25 times and Chip Hale 16.
Where do I start looking for the best of this decade?
 
John Castino played six years and lost his career on a bad back. .278/.329/.398/.727 and 15.2 WAR are pretty good, but he played 416 games at 3B and 232 at second.
 
Tim Tuefel in three seasons with the Twins was .265/.342/.409/.751and 5.5 WAR looks okay. In 11 seasons he played 806 games at second.
 
 
Steve Lombardozzi had a lot of promise, but produced .233/.307/.345/.652 and 4 WAR in four years. But to put it in perspective, the team was willing to trade Brunansky for Herr because they wanted to replace him.
 
 
Rob Wilfong was with us six years - .262/.322/.360/.681 and 5.3 WAR for the Twins. In 11 years he was at Second 839 games.
 
 
Wally Backman was in 87 games for the Twins, he does not qualify.
 
 
I know it is not a well-remembered name, but Tim Tuefel was the second baseman of the 80s and that is a statement about the team and the decade.
 
 
1990s
Al Newman began the decade with Fred Manique (a name I cannot remember) playing a significant number of games in reserve. Nelson Liriano also played many games at second. In the one game category were Chip Hale, Doug Baker, and OF – Kirby Puckett!
 
 
Al did not keep the starting job, in 1991 our last WS championship year we found a second baseman to make us forget the 80s and perhaps at the end also forget Tommy Herr. His name was Chuck Knoblauch. Al Newman was backup and I always enjoy the scrubs at the end of the list – this time they are Gene Larkin (you got to be kidding) and Mike Pagliarulo.
 
 
Or Course Knoblauch kept the position in 1992 and Jeff Reboulet was his primary backup. Donny Hill got in two games and so did that Kirby Puckett character again. Knoblauch again dominated 1993 with Chip Hale behind him, Reboulet next and Denny Hocking making a token stop at second. The same top two in 1994 with Jeff Reboulet. 1995 was the same but the scrubs were Brian Raabe and Puckett again. 1996 continued the stability with the same top three and then Todd Walker appears, Hocking and Raabe. In 1997 the only change were in number 2 and 3 – Hocking and Walker moving up.
 
 
1998 breaks up that lovely consistency and Todd Walker with all the promise in the world took over at the bag and Knoblauch was on his way to the big Apple from the Minneapple. Hocking and Brent Gates were two and three. The same three finished the decade with someone named Cleatus Davidson as the scrub.
 
 
I am afraid there is no doubt – this decade was Knoblauch’s. His line was .304/.391/.416/.807 for seven seasons with a WAR of 38. He was on his way to a potential HOF career until he got the yips in NY.
 
 
Todd Walker the heir apparent would have five years in MN with 285/.341/.413/.754 and 1.8 WAR. Like Ortiz he did not get along with Kelly’s ideas and seemed to be disliked for his college degree. He would play 12 years and get 10.5 WAR so he never achieved his first round draft expectations.
 
 
2000s
 
The new best second baseman was Jay Canizaro 90, Hocking 47, Jason Maxwell 30, Todd Walker 19, and Luis Rivas 14. Luis took over in 2001 with Hocking behind him and Jason Maxwell behind him Rivas was still the leader with 93 games in 2002, with Hocking, Canizaro, and the scrubs were Warren Morris and David Lamb. The Rivas years solidified in 2003 with Luis starting 134 games and Hocking, was followed by Chris Gomez, Alex Prieto, Michael Cuddyer, and (this must be a joke) Mientkiewicz. In 2004 Michael Cuddyer moved up to second at second with 48 games there. Augie Ojeda, was third followed by the famous Nick Punto! Jose Offerman and Jason Bartlett got token games too.
 
 
You could see it coming. In 2005 Rivas was second at second and Nick Punto was first. Behind them were Luis Rodriguez, Brent Abernathy, BRET BOONE, Michael Cuddyer and Juan Castro (no relation to Jason that I know). Luis Castillo played in 142 games in 2006, Followed by Punto, Rodriguez, Alexi Casilla. In 2007, Castillo’s days were numbered as we got into another scrum at second. Castillo 85, Casilla 52, Punto 25, Rodriguez 21.
Alexi Casilla was the primary starter in 2008, followed by Brendan Harris, Nick Punto, and Matt Tolbert. Then some appearances by Matt Macri, Brian Buscher, and Howie Clark. Alexi was in the next scrum – 2009 with 72 games, Punto 63, Tolbert 36, Harris 11, and one for Cuddyer.
 
 
Carew and Knoblauch were easy. Here is another tough choice.
 
Nick Punto was with the Twins seven years - .248/.323/.324/.648 and 10.3 WAR While he played all over, his 408 games at second are the most of any position in his 1122 games played.
 
Jay Canizaro .255/.308/.373/.682 for two years and (-0.4) WAR.
 
Luis Rivas was with the Twins 6 of 8 years. .262/.307/.383/.690 (-0.9) total for those six years.
 
Luis Castillo played 2 of his 15 years with the Twins. .299/.357/.363/.720 and 3.7 WAR for those two years.
 
Alexi Casilla played 7 of 9 years with the Twins .250/.305/334/.639 3.6 WAR
 
Base on WAR Rivas and Canizaro are out. Nick Punto was more productive in the same number of years than Casilla so I have to say that Luis Castillo was the best of the decade.
 
 
2010s
 
Orlando Hudson began our last decade with 123 games, Alexi Casilla had 24, Matt Tolbert 20, Nick Punto 12, then Plouffe and Cuddyer and Harris. 2011 was another scrum, we obviously were looking for something – Casilla 56, Hughes 37, Tolbert 36, Cuddyer 17, Plouffe 17, Brian Dinkleman 11, and Nishioka 6.
 
 
2012 Alexi Casilla was back on top with 95, Jamie Carroll had 66, Eduardo Escobar 8, Plouffe 4, Hughes 3, Nishioka 3, and Darin Mastriani 1.
 
 
In 2013 Dozier took over and was at second for 146 games. Jamie Carroll, Doug Bernier, Mastrioanni finished up. 2014 Dozier had 156 games and Escobar, Bernier, and Nunez had the rest. In 2015 the dominance was established and the same names appeared. The same was true for 2016, except the other names included Polanco, Danny Santana, and James Beresford. 2017 was the same except the other guys were Adrianza, Escobar, Goodrum (now a Tiger), and Santana.
 
 
There is no real discussion here. This is Dozier’s decade. .248/.325/.447/.772 and 23.9 WAR.
 
 
The choices come down to Rod Carew who plays 12 of his 19 seasons with the Twins. He hits - .334/.393/.448/.841, accumulates WAR 63.8 with the Twins, and he will play 1184 games at first and 1130 at 2B.
 
Or Knoblauch.304/.391/.416/.807 for seven seasons with a WAR of 38.
 
Or Dozier 248/.325/.447/.772 and 23.9 WAR
 
I would take Carew/Knoblauch/Dozier and there is no 4 or 5.
 
Compared to 108 first base candidates there were 77 men who played at second.
 

 

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Best First Baseman in Twins history?
This is really tough because 1B seems to be the plug and play position. Can’t run – 1B, no room at DH – 1B. Need a rest 1B. So for the most part slow, lumbering, powerful describes the position, but then there are the exceptions like Keith Hernandez who set the bar for the leagues and Joe Mauer who set the fielding bar for the Twins. But note – Hernandez might have been a fielding whiz, but 1B fielding does not get you into the HOF. So how to analyze 1B? To begin with how many games did the player start at that position, remember it can be a fill in for another position player to get a bench player on the field.
 
In 1961, Harmon Killebrew played at first base for 119 games. I know we think of 3B, but the big slugger was able to come across the field too. To illustrate my point about how 1B is a fill-in position the following players were also on the bag during 1961, Bob Allison, Don Mincher, Julio Becquer, Joe Altobelli, and Ron Howard.
 
In 1962 Harmon was removed for the man I argue was the best glove at the position in our history – Sorry Joe! – but Vic Power was amazing there. Don Mincher was his primary backup, Harmon played there 4 games and played in Left Field (surprise) for 151 games. Jim Snyder got one game at the bag.
 
1963 saw Vic Power dominate the bag with Mincher his backup and 38 year old Vic Wertz who hit the famous ball that Willie Mays caught in the world series was there for six games.
 
1964, the 36 year old Power lost the job to Bob Allison – yes the great left fielder of the Twins started 93 games at first, Don Mincher started 76, Power 12 and then the list is Minnesota Native, Jerry Kindall, Frank Kostro, and Rich Reese.
 
In 1965 perennial understudy Don Mincher started 99 games and Harmon Killebrew came back to the bag for 72 games. The other names are Rich Reese, Bob Allison, Andy Kosko. This was our World Series team.
Don Mincher started 130 games in 1966 and was backed up by Harmon Killebrew 42 games and Harmon played 3B 107 games that year.
 
In 1967 Mincher was gone and Harmon had the bag for 160 games. Rich Reese was his understudy at first. Rich Reese took the lead in 1968 with 87 games, Killebrew was at 3B for 11 games and 1B for 77. Bob Allison had 17 games and then the parade at the base had Frank Kostro, Craig Nettles (famous 3B for the Yankees and a 3B glove wizard – he also played 3b, LF, RF, CF that year), Keith Hernandez, Jim Holt, Frank Quilici, and Cesar Tovar!
 
1969 we were back to Rich Reese with 118 games and Killebrew going between 3B and 1B playing at first for 81 games. Rounding out 1B was Cotton Nash, Bob Allison, and Jim Holt. The new decade looked quite similar with Rich Reese getting 146 games in 1970 and Harmon Killebrew coming over from 3B 28 times and Bob Allison for seven. Then Jim Holt, Cotton Nash, and Hall of Famer Rod Carew for one game.
 
 
The first base men of the sixties break down to these:
Killebrew 969 games out of 22 years in MLB, 791 games at 3B, 7 seasons in LF so he is primarily a 1B player. Of course he is in the HOF, his WAR is 60.4. .256/.376/.509/.884 with 573 HRs makes him hard to beat.
Don Mincher played 13 years, 7 with the Twins. 8.3 WAR with Twins. .244/.340/.479/.819 He hit 200 HRs in his career. 617 games.
Vic Power played three of his twelve years in MN. 1.7 WAR in MN. 278/.305/.398/.703 In fielding he was 62 Runs above average according to BR. He was in 301 games for us.
Rich Reese was with the Twins of 10 of his 11 years in MLB. 3.2 WAR for those ten years is not very great. He had 640 appearances at first.
Bob Allison was the primary 1B only one years, but appeared at first in 145 games and therefore is not really in the running despite his great skills.
Rich Reese 95 and Harmon Killebrew 90 games dominated first in 1971 with Jim Holt and George Thomas as other players.
1972 Killebrew had 130 games at first and obviously was replaced for defensive purposes because Rich Reese is credited with 98 games at first. In addition the other 1B appearances were by Rick Renick, Jim Holt (he seems to have a long career of one appearance), and Jim Nettles (Craig’s brother).
 
1973 surprises me. While Killebrew got 57 games, Joe Lis (?) was the primary starter for 96, Jim Holt got 33, Reese 17 and Craig Kusick 11.
 
Kusick took over in 1974 starting 75 games, Jim Holt played 67, Killebrew 33 and DH for 57, Pat Bourgue 21, Joe Lis 18, and Jerry Terrell 2.
 
Kusick was still the primary 1B in 1975 but barely. He was in 51 games, John Briggs 49, Tom Kelly 43 (his only MLB year!), Rod Carew 14, Steve Braun 9, Danny Walton 7. A typical merry-go-round at the bag.
 
Then in 1976 Rod Carew put another HOF players at first base. He was at first for 152 games, Kusick for 24 and no one else! Not much changes in 1977 with Carew at first for 151 games, Kusick for 23 and Jerry Terrell 1. The Rod Carew show continued in 1978 with Rod in 148 games, Kusick 27 and Jose Morales in 2.
 
The decade of the seventies ended with Cal Griffiths big racist mouth chasing Carew to California and first base went to Ron Jackson who started 157 games, Danny Goodwin, Craig Kusick 8, and Mike Cubbage, Jose Morales, and Roy Smalley one each.
 
 
For the seventies we can disregard the players I looked at for the sixties even though some certainly were the major players in this decade. The new first base men – the starters were:
Craig Kusick played for the Twins 7 years and accumulated 3.6 WAR, .236/ .343/.394/.738 He played at first 238 games.
Rod Carew played 19 seasons, 12 with the Twins 1184 games at First. 334/.393/ .448/.841 and 63.8 WAR with the Twins.
Joe Lis played two years with the Twins and his .238/ .321/.374/.695 (-0.4) WAR is hardly worthy of being on the list.
 
The last first baseman of the group is Ron Jackson. He played for the Twins for 3 of his 10 MLB years and batted .268/.325/.409/.734 with 2.8 WAR and played first 552 times in 8 years
Summing up the 1970’s we come up with HOF number 2 as the best – Rod Carew and then a lot of names and not much to show.
 
Ron Jackson will lead off the new decade in 1980 with 119 games at first followed by Mike Cubbage at 73, Danny Goodwin 13, Pete Mackanin 4, Roy Smalley 3, Jose Morales 2, and Jesus Vega 2.
 
The 1981 season was a merry-go-round with Danny Goodwin starting 40, Ron Jackson 36, Tim Corcoran 16, Kent Hrbek 13, Pete Mackanin 10, Mickey Hatcher 7, Sal Butera 1, and Roy Smalley 1. At least there were some really recognizable names among the eight!
 
1982 put Kent Hrbek at the forefront with 138 games, Jesus Vega (who I do not remember) played 18 and Greg Wells 10. Hrbek owned the base now and in 1983 he had 137 games with Scott Ullger as his backup and playing 30 games. Then Mickey Hatcher 7, Randy Bush 3. Hrbek 148 games, Hatcher 17 and Randy Bush 2 in 1984.
In 1985 it is amazing that there are 9 names at first base when Hrbek played 156 games and Mike Stenhouse played 8, with Mickey Hatcher 4. Lots of substitutions, I guess. Anyway, the rest of the nine are Randy Bush, Mark Funderburk, Gary Gaetti, Tim Laudner, Roy Smalley, and Ron Washington. Not sure how they did this unless they had one game of musical chairs.
 
1986 was simpler – Hrbek 146, Hatcher 22, Bush 3. In the World Series Year of 1987 Hrbek played in 137, Gene Larkin was 26, Randy Bush 9, Tim Laudner 7. A Very Big year – our second World Series and first victory with Hrbek using his wrestling moves to handle St Louis. I was in a bar with Cardinal fans in Sierra Vista Arizona during that game – what a hoot!
 
In 1988 Hrbek only played in 105 games so Gene Larkin got to play in 60, Bush 6, Kelvin Torve (anyone remember him?) 4 and Tim Laudner 3.
 
The last season of the eighties decade was another merry-go-round with 8 players at first. Hrbek played in 89, Gene Larkin 69, Randy Bush 25, Tim Laundner 11, Paul Sorrento 5, Gaetti, Brian Harper, and John Moses two each.
 
 
The eighties were the Hrbek decade.
Hrbek played for the Twins for 14 years. .282/.367/ 481/.848 with 38.6 WAR. He played 1609 games at first.
Danny Goodwin played three years for the Twins .242/.312/.372 /.684 (-1.3) WAR and 61 games at 1B.
The nineties still had Hrbek 120 games at first, Larkin 28, Sorrento 15, Bush 6, Moses 6, Gaetti and Harper two each. In 1991, the next World Series victory Hrbek had 128 games, Larkin 39, Sorrento 13, Bush 12, Harper 1, and Al Newman 1. It is a reminder that we actually had a bench in those days.
 
1992 Hrbek 104, Larkin 55, Terry Jorgenson 13, Randy Bush 8, and Chili Davis 1.
 
1993 we dropped to fifth in our division with 71 wins and Hrbek was on first 115 games. Dave McCarty was the new hope and he played first in 36 games with Larkin 18, Jorgenson 9, David Winfield – Hall of Famer – 5, Randy Bush 4, Mike Maksudian 4, and Chip Hale 1.
 
1994 Hrbek played only 72 games at first, Dave McCarty 32, Steve Dunn 12, Jeff Reboulet 10, Chip Hale 7. Hrbek was done.
 
1995 we set a new record with 11 players spending some time at First. Scott Stahoviak played 69 so he is the starter of record for this year. Dan Masteller 48, Ron Coomer 22, McCarty 18, Reboulet 17, Jerald Clark 11, Kevin Maas 8, Steve Dunn, Pedro Munoz, and Chip Hale 3 each, and Matt Merullo 1.
 
1996 Scott Stahoviak took over and started 114 games, but the Coomer was on his tail with 57, and Hall of Famer Paul Molitor snuck in and played first 17 games. Jeff Reboulet 13, Chip Hale 6, and Denny Hocking 1. With out team playing on the wrong end of the standings things were shaking up and in 1997 Stahoviak held on for 81 games, but he was being pushed by Greg Colburn who started 64, and Brent Brede 15. Paul Molitor took the bag for 14 games, and a guy named David Ortiz for 11, Ron Coomer 9, Terry Steinback 2, and Denny Hocking 1.
 
1998 David Ortiz – soon to be a Hall of Famer got to start 70 games, but he was not good enough to start more so Ron Coomer got 54 starts. And Coomer out homered Ortiz 15 – 9! Orlando Merced got 38 games, Molitor 9, Doug Mientkiewicz 8, Stahoviak 4, Hocking 2, Gates 1 and Jon Shave 1.
 
Ending the decade of the nineties Mientkiewicz took over with 110 games, Coomer 71, Gates 5, Hocking 2, and David Ortiz was allowed to start 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
 
So here we have a tough decision – does Hrbek own this decade too?
Stahoviak played for the Twins for five years and got a total of 1 WAR. .256/.335/.410/.745 and 268 games at first.
David Ortiz toiled six years with the Twins – 266/.348/461/.809 2.6 WAR.
 
Ron Coomer .278/ .315/.431/.746 for six years with 2.5 WAR and 408 games at first in his career.
Doug Mientkiewicz for seven years hit .275/.367/.408/.776 with WAR 6.4 WAR. An excellent fielder who ranks with Power and Mauer for the best gloves. Doug did more in the 2000s than the 90s but this field is weak despite David Ortiz so Mientkiewicz is my choice for the 90s – otherwise it is Hrbek again.
 
A new decade and a new century. We wipe the slate clean – it has to be good, right? Mientkiewicz only plays 3 games in 2000 and Ron Coomer grabs first playing 124 games, David Ortiz gets in 27, Hocking 12, Butch Huskey 9, Matt LeCroy 3, Casey Blake 3, and Chad Allen 1. Just think if they had given Ortiz all the games the last 5 had!
2001 and the team actually played 500 which is a big jump from the last few seasons. Mientkiewicz is back at First for 148 games, Denny Hocking played 11, and David Ortiz gets 8, Cuddyer 5, Casey Blake 3, LeCroy 2. Doug is okay, but we will all wonder why Ortiz gets the shuffle – actually we know – it is the genius Tom Kelly. Tom was a great manager, but he blew this opportunity with Ortiz because the Twins Way was not David’s.
 
2002 we were in first place in our division Mientkiewicz started 143 games, Ortiz 15, LeCroy 8, Cuddyer, Hocking and Todd Sears six each, Bobby Keitly 5, and Casey Blake 3.
 
2003 and another first place. Mientkiewicz played 139 games, LeCroy 17, Sears 14, Hocking 10, Morneau 7, Cuddyer 5. In 2004 this order changes as Mientkiewicz playes 77 games and Morneau 61 and why was LeCroy in 23 games? Cuddyer 10, Jose Offerman 7 and Terry Tiffee 1.
 
2005 Morneau takes over and plays first in 138 games. LeCroy is primary back up with 23 appearances and Terry Tiffee (I really cannot remember him) played 13, with Cuddyer getting in 8. In 2006 Morneau is again, the man. He was in 153 games. Other appearances at first base were Cuddyer 6, Phil Nevin 5, Tiffee 3, and Luis Rodriquez 1.
 
2007 Morneau 143 and then a list of mostly unknowns – Jeff Cirillo 8, Garrett Jones 8, Cuddyer 4, Rodriguez 3, and LeCroy 1. 2008 Morneau starts 155 games. Other appearances at first are by Mike Lamb, Brian Buscher, Howie Clark, Cuddyer, Bendan Harris, and Matt Macri.
 
Finishing the decade in 2009 Morneau played in 123 games at first, Cuddyer 34, Buscher 13, Harris 3, Justin Huber and Matt Tolbert 1.
 
So the 00 decade ended with only one true option – Justin Morneau.
 
Morneau played 11 seasons with the Twins - .278/.347/.485/.832 and 23.3 WAR while playing 1324 games at first in his career.
 
The final decade is the one we are finishing up – the tens or teens.
 
2010 Cuddyer plays the most at first 84 games while Morneau has 77 as a concussion ruins a great career. Talbert, Harris and Morales get the crumbs.
 
2011 Morneau hangs on to get 56 games, Cuddyer 46, Luke Hughes 36, Chris Parmelee 20, and Joe Mauer makes his first appearances at the bag for 18 games. Plouffe plays one game at first. The winds of change are in the air.
 
2012 Morneau gets his games up to 99 and Parmelee 38, Mauer 30. The scraps go to Plouffe for three and one each for Doumit, Burroughs, and Hughes.
 
2013 Morneau is still the man – 112 games, followed by Chris Calabello 26, Parmelee 23, Mauer 8, and Plouffe 2.
2014 in the midst of a string of last place finished, the big news is that Joe Mauer is now the first baseman. He has 100 games at first, Parmelee 33, Colabello 23, Kendrys Morales 13, and Kennys Vargas 13. Joe will be the man from now on and in 2015 he started 137 games at first and the team finished second and above 500. Kennys Vargas 18, Trevor Plouffe 17, Chris Hermann and Miguel Sano got two each.
 
2016 Mauer 95, Vargas 32, Byung Ho Park 24, Plouffe 13, Beresford 6 and Kepler 2.
 
2017 we finish second and above 500 and Mauer starts 125 games with Vargas backing him up and playing in 40 games, Miguel Sano played first in 9, Chris Giminez 7, Ehire Adrianza 4, and Mitch Garver 3.
 
I will stop there. We know Mauer will finish his career and there really is no doubt that he is the first baseman of the 10s. He has 11 seasons as a catcher where he was hall of fame caliber and 8 as our best first baseman, but no longer HOF. His line .306/.388/.439/.827 is outstanding and puts him in the HOF conversation.
 
But this is hard – you choose - here are the best Minnesota first basemen by decades again – I find that it is hard to sort out their first base stats from catcher, LF, RF, 3B, 2B, and all the other positions that many of them played.
 
Two are in the Hall of fame, one might join them, one would have if his career had not been damaged by injury.
• 1960s – Harmon Killebrew
• 1970s – Rod Carew
• 1980s – Kent Hrbek
• 1990s – Mientkiewicz
• 2000s – Morneau
• 2010s – Mauer
Nice list – who do you want?
 
For those of you counting - there were 108 players who were on first base in the 56 years!
 

Best First Baseman in Twins history?
This is really tough because 1B seems to be the plug and play position. Can’t run – 1B, no room at DH – 1B. Need a rest 1B. So for the most part slow, lumbering, powerful describes the position, but then there are the exceptions like Keith Hernandez who set the bar for the leagues and Joe Mauer who set the fielding bar for the Twins. But note – Hernandez might have been a fielding whiz, but 1B fielding does not get you into the HOF. So how to analyze 1B? To begin with how many games did the player start at that position, remember it can be a fill in for another position player to get a bench player on the field.
 
In 1961, Harmon Killebrew played at first base for 119 games. I know we think of 3B, but the big slugger was able to come across the field too. To illustrate my point about how 1B is a fill-in position the following players were also on the bag during 1961, Bob Allison, Don Mincher, Julio Becquer, Joe Altobelli, and Ron Howard.
 
In 1962 Harmon was removed for the man I argue was the best glove at the position in our history – Sorry Joe! – but Vic Power was amazing there. Don Mincher was his primary backup, Harmon played there 4 games and played in Left Field (surprise) for 151 games. Jim Snyder got one game at the bag.
 
1963 saw Vic Power dominate the bag with Mincher his backup and 38 year old Vic Wertz who hit the famous ball that Willie Mays caught in the world series was there for six games.
 
1964, the 36 year old Power lost the job to Bob Allison – yes the great left fielder of the Twins started 93 games at first, Don Mincher started 76, Power 12 and then the list is Minnesota Native, Jerry Kindall, Frank Kostro, and Rich Reese.
 
In 1965 perennial understudy Don Mincher started 99 games and Harmon Killebrew came back to the bag for 72 games. The other names are Rich Reese, Bob Allison, Andy Kosko. This was our World Series team.
Don Mincher started 130 games in 1966 and was backed up by Harmon Killebrew 42 games and Harmon played 3B 107 games that year.
 
In 1967 Mincher was gone and Harmon had the bag for 160 games. Rich Reese was his understudy at first. Rich Reese took the lead in 1968 with 87 games, Killebrew was at 3B for 11 games and 1B for 77. Bob Allison had 17 games and then the parade at the base had Frank Kostro, Craig Nettles (famous 3B for the Yankees and a 3B glove wizard – he also played 3b, LF, RF, CF that year), Keith Hernandez, Jim Holt, Frank Quilici, and Cesar Tovar!
 
1969 we were back to Rich Reese with 118 games and Killebrew going between 3B and 1B playing at first for 81 games. Rounding out 1B was Cotton Nash, Bob Allison, and Jim Holt. The new decade looked quite similar with Rich Reese getting 146 games in 1970 and Harmon Killebrew coming over from 3B 28 times and Bob Allison for seven. Then Jim Holt, Cotton Nash, and Hall of Famer Rod Carew for one game.
 
 
The first base men of the sixties break down to these:
Killebrew 969 games out of 22 years in MLB, 791 games at 3B, 7 seasons in LF so he is primarily a 1B player. Of course he is in the HOF, his WAR is 60.4. .256/.376/.509/.884 with 573 HRs makes him hard to beat.
Don Mincher played 13 years, 7 with the Twins. 8.3 WAR with Twins. .244/.340/.479/.819 He hit 200 HRs in his career. 617 games.
Vic Power played three of his twelve years in MN. 1.7 WAR in MN. 278/.305/.398/.703 In fielding he was 62 Runs above average according to BR. He was in 301 games for us.
Rich Reese was with the Twins of 10 of his 11 years in MLB. 3.2 WAR for those ten years is not very great. He had 640 appearances at first.
Bob Allison was the primary 1B only one years, but appeared at first in 145 games and therefore is not really in the running despite his great skills.
Rich Reese 95 and Harmon Killebrew 90 games dominated first in 1971 with Jim Holt and George Thomas as other players.
1972 Killebrew had 130 games at first and obviously was replaced for defensive purposes because Rich Reese is credited with 98 games at first. In addition the other 1B appearances were by Rick Renick, Jim Holt (he seems to have a long career of one appearance), and Jim Nettles (Craig’s brother).
 
1973 surprises me. While Killebrew got 57 games, Joe Lis (?) was the primary starter for 96, Jim Holt got 33, Reese 17 and Craig Kusick 11.
 
Kusick took over in 1974 starting 75 games, Jim Holt played 67, Killebrew 33 and DH for 57, Pat Bourgue 21, Joe Lis 18, and Jerry Terrell 2.
 
Kusick was still the primary 1B in 1975 but barely. He was in 51 games, John Briggs 49, Tom Kelly 43 (his only MLB year!), Rod Carew 14, Steve Braun 9, Danny Walton 7. A typical merry-go-round at the bag.
 
Then in 1976 Rod Carew put another HOF players at first base. He was at first for 152 games, Kusick for 24 and no one else! Not much changes in 1977 with Carew at first for 151 games, Kusick for 23 and Jerry Terrell 1. The Rod Carew show continued in 1978 with Rod in 148 games, Kusick 27 and Jose Morales in 2.
 
The decade of the seventies ended with Cal Griffiths big racist mouth chasing Carew to California and first base went to Ron Jackson who started 157 games, Danny Goodwin, Craig Kusick 8, and Mike Cubbage, Jose Morales, and Roy Smalley one each.
 
 
For the seventies we can disregard the players I looked at for the sixties even though some certainly were the major players in this decade. The new first base men – the starters were:
Craig Kusick played for the Twins 7 years and accumulated 3.6 WAR, .236/ .343/.394/.738 He played at first 238 games.
Rod Carew played 19 seasons, 12 with the Twins 1184 games at First. 334/.393/ .448/.841 and 63.8 WAR with the Twins.
Joe Lis played two years with the Twins and his .238/ .321/.374/.695 (-0.4) WAR is hardly worthy of being on the list.
 
The last first baseman of the group is Ron Jackson. He played for the Twins for 3 of his 10 MLB years and batted .268/.325/.409/.734 with 2.8 WAR and played first 552 times in 8 years
Summing up the 1970’s we come up with HOF number 2 as the best – Rod Carew and then a lot of names and not much to show.
 
Ron Jackson will lead off the new decade in 1980 with 119 games at first followed by Mike Cubbage at 73, Danny Goodwin 13, Pete Mackanin 4, Roy Smalley 3, Jose Morales 2, and Jesus Vega 2.
 
The 1981 season was a merry-go-round with Danny Goodwin starting 40, Ron Jackson 36, Tim Corcoran 16, Kent Hrbek 13, Pete Mackanin 10, Mickey Hatcher 7, Sal Butera 1, and Roy Smalley 1. At least there were some really recognizable names among the eight!
 
1982 put Kent Hrbek at the forefront with 138 games, Jesus Vega (who I do not remember) played 18 and Greg Wells 10. Hrbek owned the base now and in 1983 he had 137 games with Scott Ullger as his backup and playing 30 games. Then Mickey Hatcher 7, Randy Bush 3. Hrbek 148 games, Hatcher 17 and Randy Bush 2 in 1984.
In 1985 it is amazing that there are 9 names at first base when Hrbek played 156 games and Mike Stenhouse played 8, with Mickey Hatcher 4. Lots of substitutions, I guess. Anyway, the rest of the nine are Randy Bush, Mark Funderburk, Gary Gaetti, Tim Laudner, Roy Smalley, and Ron Washington. Not sure how they did this unless they had one game of musical chairs.
 
1986 was simpler – Hrbek 146, Hatcher 22, Bush 3. In the World Series Year of 1987 Hrbek played in 137, Gene Larkin was 26, Randy Bush 9, Tim Laudner 7. A Very Big year – our second World Series and first victory with Hrbek using his wrestling moves to handle St Louis. I was in a bar with Cardinal fans in Sierra Vista Arizona during that game – what a hoot!
 
In 1988 Hrbek only played in 105 games so Gene Larkin got to play in 60, Bush 6, Kelvin Torve (anyone remember him?) 4 and Tim Laudner 3.
 
The last season of the eighties decade was another merry-go-round with 8 players at first. Hrbek played in 89, Gene Larkin 69, Randy Bush 25, Tim Laundner 11, Paul Sorrento 5, Gaetti, Brian Harper, and John Moses two each.
 
 
The eighties were the Hrbek decade.
Hrbek played for the Twins for 14 years. .282/.367/ 481/.848 with 38.6 WAR. He played 1609 games at first.
Danny Goodwin played three years for the Twins .242/.312/.372 /.684 (-1.3) WAR and 61 games at 1B.
The nineties still had Hrbek 120 games at first, Larkin 28, Sorrento 15, Bush 6, Moses 6, Gaetti and Harper two each. In 1991, the next World Series victory Hrbek had 128 games, Larkin 39, Sorrento 13, Bush 12, Harper 1, and Al Newman 1. It is a reminder that we actually had a bench in those days.
 
1992 Hrbek 104, Larkin 55, Terry Jorgenson 13, Randy Bush 8, and Chili Davis 1.
 
1993 we dropped to fifth in our division with 71 wins and Hrbek was on first 115 games. Dave McCarty was the new hope and he played first in 36 games with Larkin 18, Jorgenson 9, David Winfield – Hall of Famer – 5, Randy Bush 4, Mike Maksudian 4, and Chip Hale 1.
 
1994 Hrbek played only 72 games at first, Dave McCarty 32, Steve Dunn 12, Jeff Reboulet 10, Chip Hale 7. Hrbek was done.
 
1995 we set a new record with 11 players spending some time at First. Scott Stahoviak played 69 so he is the starter of record for this year. Dan Masteller 48, Ron Coomer 22, McCarty 18, Reboulet 17, Jerald Clark 11, Kevin Maas 8, Steve Dunn, Pedro Munoz, and Chip Hale 3 each, and Matt Merullo 1.
 
1996 Scott Stahoviak took over and started 114 games, but the Coomer was on his tail with 57, and Hall of Famer Paul Molitor snuck in and played first 17 games. Jeff Reboulet 13, Chip Hale 6, and Denny Hocking 1. With out team playing on the wrong end of the standings things were shaking up and in 1997 Stahoviak held on for 81 games, but he was being pushed by Greg Colburn who started 64, and Brent Brede 15. Paul Molitor took the bag for 14 games, and a guy named David Ortiz for 11, Ron Coomer 9, Terry Steinback 2, and Denny Hocking 1.
 
1998 David Ortiz – soon to be a Hall of Famer got to start 70 games, but he was not good enough to start more so Ron Coomer got 54 starts. And Coomer out homered Ortiz 15 – 9! Orlando Merced got 38 games, Molitor 9, Doug Mientkiewicz 8, Stahoviak 4, Hocking 2, Gates 1 and Jon Shave 1.
 
Ending the decade of the nineties Mientkiewicz took over with 110 games, Coomer 71, Gates 5, Hocking 2, and David Ortiz was allowed to start 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
 
So here we have a tough decision – does Hrbek own this decade too?
Stahoviak played for the Twins for five years and got a total of 1 WAR. .256/.335/.410/.745 and 268 games at first.
David Ortiz toiled six years with the Twins – 266/.348/461/.809 2.6 WAR.
 
Ron Coomer .278/ .315/.431/.746 for six years with 2.5 WAR and 408 games at first in his career.
Doug Mientkiewicz for seven years hit .275/.367/.408/.776 with WAR 6.4 WAR. An excellent fielder who ranks with Power and Mauer for the best gloves. Doug did more in the 2000s than the 90s but this field is weak despite David Ortiz so Mientkiewicz is my choice for the 90s – otherwise it is Hrbek again.
 
A new decade and a new century. We wipe the slate clean – it has to be good, right? Mientkiewicz only plays 3 games in 2000 and Ron Coomer grabs first playing 124 games, David Ortiz gets in 27, Hocking 12, Butch Huskey 9, Matt LeCroy 3, Casey Blake 3, and Chad Allen 1. Just think if they had given Ortiz all the games the last 5 had!
2001 and the team actually played 500 which is a big jump from the last few seasons. Mientkiewicz is back at First for 148 games, Denny Hocking played 11, and David Ortiz gets 8, Cuddyer 5, Casey Blake 3, LeCroy 2. Doug is okay, but we will all wonder why Ortiz gets the shuffle – actually we know – it is the genius Tom Kelly. Tom was a great manager, but he blew this opportunity with Ortiz because the Twins Way was not David’s.
 
2002 we were in first place in our division Mientkiewicz started 143 games, Ortiz 15, LeCroy 8, Cuddyer, Hocking and Todd Sears six each, Bobby Keitly 5, and Casey Blake 3.
 
2003 and another first place. Mientkiewicz played 139 games, LeCroy 17, Sears 14, Hocking 10, Morneau 7, Cuddyer 5. In 2004 this order changes as Mientkiewicz playes 77 games and Morneau 61 and why was LeCroy in 23 games? Cuddyer 10, Jose Offerman 7 and Terry Tiffee 1.
 
2005 Morneau takes over and plays first in 138 games. LeCroy is primary back up with 23 appearances and Terry Tiffee (I really cannot remember him) played 13, with Cuddyer getting in 8. In 2006 Morneau is again, the man. He was in 153 games. Other appearances at first base were Cuddyer 6, Phil Nevin 5, Tiffee 3, and Luis Rodriquez 1.
 
2007 Morneau 143 and then a list of mostly unknowns – Jeff Cirillo 8, Garrett Jones 8, Cuddyer 4, Rodriguez 3, and LeCroy 1. 2008 Morneau starts 155 games. Other appearances at first are by Mike Lamb, Brian Buscher, Howie Clark, Cuddyer, Bendan Harris, and Matt Macri.
 
Finishing the decade in 2009 Morneau played in 123 games at first, Cuddyer 34, Buscher 13, Harris 3, Justin Huber and Matt Tolbert 1.
 
So the 00 decade ended with only one true option – Justin Morneau.
 
Morneau played 11 seasons with the Twins - .278/.347/.485/.832 and 23.3 WAR while playing 1324 games at first in his career.
 
The final decade is the one we are finishing up – the tens or teens.
 
2010 Cuddyer plays the most at first 84 games while Morneau has 77 as a concussion ruins a great career. Talbert, Harris and Morales get the crumbs.
 
2011 Morneau hangs on to get 56 games, Cuddyer 46, Luke Hughes 36, Chris Parmelee 20, and Joe Mauer makes his first appearances at the bag for 18 games. Plouffe plays one game at first. The winds of change are in the air.
 
2012 Morneau gets his games up to 99 and Parmelee 38, Mauer 30. The scraps go to Plouffe for three and one each for Doumit, Burroughs, and Hughes.
 
2013 Morneau is still the man – 112 games, followed by Chris Calabello 26, Parmelee 23, Mauer 8, and Plouffe 2.
2014 in the midst of a string of last place finished, the big news is that Joe Mauer is now the first baseman. He has 100 games at first, Parmelee 33, Colabello 23, Kendrys Morales 13, and Kennys Vargas 13. Joe will be the man from now on and in 2015 he started 137 games at first and the team finished second and above 500. Kennys Vargas 18, Trevor Plouffe 17, Chris Hermann and Miguel Sano got two each.
 
2016 Mauer 95, Vargas 32, Byung Ho Park 24, Plouffe 13, Beresford 6 and Kepler 2.
 
2017 we finish second and above 500 and Mauer starts 125 games with Vargas backing him up and playing in 40 games, Miguel Sano played first in 9, Chris Giminez 7, Ehire Adrianza 4, and Mitch Garver 3.
 
I will stop there. We know Mauer will finish his career and there really is no doubt that he is the first baseman of the 10s. He has 11 seasons as a catcher where he was hall of fame caliber and 8 as our best first baseman, but no longer HOF. His line .306/.388/.439/.827 is outstanding and puts him in the HOF conversation.
 
But this is hard – you choose - here are the best Minnesota first basemen by decades again – I find that it is hard to sort out their first base stats from catcher, LF, RF, 3B, 2B, and all the other positions that many of them played.
 
Two are in the Hall of fame, one might join them, one would have if his career had not been damaged by injury.
• 1960s – Harmon Killebrew
• 1970s – Rod Carew
• 1980s – Kent Hrbek
• 1990s – Mientkiewicz
• 2000s – Morneau
• 2010s – Mauer
Nice list – who do you want?
 
For those of you counting - there were 108 players who were on first base in the 56 years!
 

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.

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.

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.

Picture this, I’m sitting in my 1:00 Anthropology class again absolutely bored out of my mind as my professor drones on about, well actually I don’t remember, but I hope it wasn’t important. Anyways, an interesting thought came to me; how did Derek Falvey build the Indians starting pitching staff? This thought came the day after looking at the Fangraphs projections for both Minnesota and Cleveland and realizing that dear God, Cleveland’s starting staff projections are hilariously better than Minnesota’s, even David doesn’t want to take on that Goliath. We can finagle about how much attention the Twins should have given the starting rotation this offseason, but short of signing Dallas Keuchel, trading for Zack Greinke, and then telling Jake Odorizzi to take a hike, the Twins starting staff was always going to be vastly inferior to the Indians. So how did Falvey do it? The man was boasted as the brains behind arguably the strongest rotation in baseball, so let’s dig into how he built it.
 
 
Falvey first joined the Indians as an intern in 2007 and then transitioned to Assistant Director of Baseball Operations in 2009. Falvey was then promoted to co-director of Baseball Operations in 2011 where he stayed until becoming the assistant GM in 2016, the same year he joined the Twins as executive vice president and chief baseball officer. Admittedly, Falvey’s role in the Indians front office early on was a bit less important than the one he has now with the Twins, so assigning the reason for these moves directly on him is a bit of a stretch. But at the same time, I think it’s fair to assume that Falvey played a decent role in all of these moves. I also have to appreciate the absurdness of some of the job titles they hand out in teams front offices, I could have made up those positions and you would not have been any wiser.
 
 

Corey Kluber


 
 
Corey Kluber, Cy Young winner, perfect robot, and the destroyer of Twins hitters hopes and dreams himself. This inhuman wrecking machine was obtained in a 3 team trade in 2010 between the Padres, Indians, and Cardinals. The Indians received Kluber, the Cardinals received Nick Greenwood, and the Padres obtained Ryan Ludwick. Nick Greenwood was worth -0.2 rWAR in the 36 innings he threw for the Cardinals while Ryan Ludwick put up a .659 OPS over 2 years with the Padres before being dropped on the Pirates. Oh yeah, and that Corey Kluber guy has done OK for the Indians so far.
 
For the life of me, I cannot figure out how Kluber became what he is now. At the time of the trade, he was just a body in the Padres system and wasn’t even ranked in their top 30 prospect list. He had a career minor league record of 18-24 when traded and was somehow even worse in his first stint with Cleveland’s AAA team. Apparently, he learned how to throw a sinker in 2011 and then won a Cy Young just 3 years later. So take that as a lesson, kids at home, just add one of the best sinkers in MLB and you too can win a Cy Young.
 
It’s a bit of a disappointing conclusion to draw from Kluber, but basically, we can just say that sometimes it’s the guys who aren’t major prospects who can turn into stars. If I had to assign a player for the Twins that would be their “Kluber”, it would Kohl Stewart. Stewart was initially a better prospect than Kluber but fell so far recently that the Twins were perfectly OK with any team taking him for their own during the rule 5 draft. Since then, he worked his way up through the system until he made his MLB debut in 2018 and became a personal favorite Twin of mine. He even features a similar sinker/cutter combo that has made Kluber an unstoppable pitching machine but lacks the true dominating breaking ball that makes Kluber so ridiculous.
 
 

Trevor Bauer


 
 
The most scientific man in baseball was a solid innings eater early in his career until he broke out in 2018 and changed to really, we have to worry about another one of these bastards now? And now we don’t even have Oswaldo Arcia to stop him, such a shame. Bauer was originally the 3rd overall pick in the 2011 draft out of UCLA. But he was actually taken by the D-Backs, in case you forgot. He was acquired by the Indians in yet another 3 team trade, this time in 2012. Bauer went to the Indians along with Matt Albers, Bryan Shaw, and Drew Stubbs, while Didi Gregorius, Tony Sipp, and Lars Anderson went to the D-Backs, and the Reds received Shin Soo-Choo and Jason Donald. Now, that is way more players than I feel like analyzing, but Cleveland made out pretty well here if I do say so myself.
 
Bauer’s path to the majors is a bit more straightforward, he was a top pick from college and moved as quickly as you would expect a top college arm could move. His status as a prospect was always top and while he was just a good pitcher for a while instead of a great one, he became the true thinking man’s pitcher in 2018 thanks in part to a new slider he developed himself.
 
 
Seems simple enough for the Twins to follow here right? Just use an incredibly high pick on an elite starter that sees the game like few pitchers do and is as dedicated to his craft like I am dedicated to the bagel shop on my campus. The closest comparison I can think of is Jose Berrios, Berrios was also a first round pick who is ridiculously dedicated to improving and has more work ethic in his left pinky than I have in my entire body. While Bauer is the better hurler of a round object at high speeds, Berrios has the kind of talent that even Phil Cuzzi could see and could become even better if Wes Johnson and the boys crack his secret code.
 
 

Mike Clevinger


 
 
The man from Florida who looks like a man from California, Mike was originally taken by the Angels in 2011 before they traded him to Cleveland in 2014 for the guy who sounds more like an extra in “Goodfellas” than a baseball pitcher, Vinnie Pestano. Clevinger actually pitched for the Cedar Rapids Kernels who are now the affiliate for the Twins. I have nothing else to add to that, I just thought it was neat. This was just about the definition of a throwaway trade at the time it occurred, but oh man should we really hate the Angels for this one. Clevinger went from an ERA over 5 in class A to you have got to be joking me, they have another really good starter now?
 
Clevinger was kind of on people’s radars as he was ranked the 17th best prospect in the Angels organization at the start of 2014, but his numbers up to that point were incredibly whelming. Much like Kluber, he was a guy that the Indians saw and thought that maybe with a tweak here and there, he could become something in the future. And credit to Clevinger, he was apparently all ears about doing whatever he had to do to succeed.
 
This is another kind of tough one to draw a conclusion from because “just find a guy who is a few changes that no one else can see away from being elite” isn’t really a good blueprint for success or at least not a consistent one. Considering that I have already forced myself to find comparisons for each guy, I will go with Jhoan Duran as the Twins’ “Clevinger”. Duran is a much better prospect than what Clevinger was but also switched teams in a trade during the season. So far in his short time in Cedar Rapids (hint hint), Duran has dominated hitters and looks to move up to high A Fort Myers soon. I hope he doesn't mind that I now have him pegged as the next Clevinger, no pressure there kid.
 
 

Carlos Carrasco


 
 
The cookie monster was originally taken by the Phillies in 2003 out of Venezuela. In his first spring training, he ate Domino’s pizza every day for 90 straight days because he didn’t know what else to order in English. I don’t know how he did that considering that Domino’s pizza tastes like the cardboard box it comes in, but to each his own I guess. Carrasco was also acquired in 2009 in a trade (I’m noticing a pattern) along with some other forgettable dudes for Ben Francisco and Cliff Lee. Carrasco was the top prospect for the Phillies and was ranked as the 41st best prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America that year.
 
Carrasco’s journey to be who he is now took a while as he struggled with injuries and not being effective early on in his MLB career. Despite starting his MLB career in 2009, it took Carrasco until 2015 to pitch more than 150 innings in a season. The Indians took a very conservative approach by using him out of the bullpen often in 2013 and 2014 after he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2012. After working his arm back up, they unleashed him as a starter and he’s been a pain in the Twins’ ass ever since.
 
Let’s see here, a top prospect, underwent Tommy John surgery, used out of the bullpen at first… Folks, we already have the next Carrasco here in Fernando Romero. Romero arguably has the nastiest stuff in the Twins system but still needs to learn how to refine his game and be the nightmare pitcher we all know he can be. While it seems that Romero is all but destined for the bullpen in 2019, it could be that the Twins still plan on using him as a starter long term and will be in the rotation in 2020 when more spots become available.
 
 

Shane Bieber


 
 
The Biebs was taken in the 2016 draft which was the very last one Derek Falvey participated in for Cleveland before leaving for the Twin Cities. He was taken in the 4th round out of college and moved pretty quickly due to being a college starter and having some ridiculous minor league numbers (.6 BB/9, 2.24 ERA).
 
The Biebs is a much more simple guy to track here, he was taken by Cleveland and moved up their ranks quickly as he continued to perform well at every level. He rose up prospect lists last year thanks to his incredible command and was a top 100 prospect by most publications by the time he made his debut for the Indians.
 
Who’s the Shane Bieber for the Twins? That’s an interesting one to think of because the front office under Falvey and Levine really haven’t taken many college arms with top picks. This is a bit of a reach, but I’ll pick Blayne Enlow as the Twins’ “Shane Bieber”. Enlow was taken out of high school but was a 3rd round pick partly because the Twins saved enough signing bonus money in the Royce Lewis pick to pay over the slot for Enlow and coax him out of going to the collegiate ranks. While Enlow is still just 19, his projections have received much praise from scouts and being able to handle low A ball as a 19-year-old is pretty impressive. While it will still be a few more years before Enlow probably makes the majors, he could be an important piece in a future Twins rotation.
 
There it is, the 5 pitchers that make up the current Indians’ starting staff and how they got there along with their Twins counterparts. 4 out of the 5 guys were not originally taken by the Indians and 2 out of the 5 guys were never really big prospects at all while the other 3 were. Probably the most interesting thing to note is that none of these guys were big free agent signings or acquired via trade as veterans and only Bauer had any experience pitching at the MLB level for another team. Is it any coincidence that Falvey has been a stickler for adding long term solutions to the starting rotation so far in his tenure? Pineda, Odorizzi, and Perez were all obtained with 2 years of team control, but the plan so far has been to shy away from major rotation upgrades in the long term.
 
Looking into 2020, the current rotation is Jose Berrios and possibly Martin Perez if they pick up his option. Odorizzi, Gibson, and Pineda are all set to be gone, leaving up to 4 holes to be filled. Looking ahead also, the starting pitchers available in free agency after the 2019 season are very tasty, to say the least. Go take a quick look, you won’t be disappointed. But now that we know what Falvey did to build his most impressive rotation, will the Twins even bother with free agency then? The Cubs built a successful rotation through free agency in their World Series winning team, but I don’t believe the Twins will follow that same route. Instead, they will run with Jose Berrios, Kohl Stewart, Fernando Romero, Jhoan Duran, and Blayne Enlow, to take them to the World Series and you can bet on that.

I was caught up in Dave Schoenfield's article about which teams have the best chance to return to the playoffs from those who were there last year. When I got to the section on the Indians, it read more like an article on the Twins.http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25870218/which-2018-playoff-team-most-likely-miss-year
 
Schoenfield said, "Maybe the most frustrating comment from a front-office executive this offseason came over the weekend from Minnesota Twins general manager Thad Levine at the team's TwinsFest. Asked about Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, Levine answered: "My view ... for doing it is the best time to acquire players of that magnitude is when your window to win is wide-open. Not when you've got your fingers underneath the window and you're trying to jam the window open. I want to do it when we're projected to win the Central and we're ready to put our foot on someone's throat."
 
 
So, don't sign a star ... unless you're already expected to win the division?
 
 
Not that Machado and Harper want to sign with the Twins, but no team could benefit from adding a player of that magnitude more than the Twins, who are trying to chase down Cleveland.
 
 
 
The Twins have some strong rebound candidates, and the other three teams in the division are bad. Minnesota did add Nelson Cruz and Jonathan Schoop, but imagine Machado or Harper anchoring its lineup."
 
 
So when do you add a great player?
 
 
My thought is that you add them when they are available. Do you see any 26 year old stars lining up for next years free agency?
 
 
As the article states, they might not want to sign with the Twins, but among agents and Free Agents, I think our position is pretty obvious and not very inviting. I still see last years Darvish sweep stakes as more of a show than a real effort (and we are lucky that is all it was).
 
 
Puckett's Pond rates Brian Harper the best we have ever done. https://puckettspond.com/2011/11/03/best-twins-free-agents-ever/
 
 
Twinkie Town gives a depressing recap of Free Agents and
Trades https://www.twinkietown.com/2016/7/6/12101434/where-the-twins-have-gone-wrong-a-history
 
 
Rett Bollinger says Molitor was the best Free Agent signing we have ever made; https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/paul-molitor-is-twins-best-free-agent-signing/c-214194398
 
 
I remember when Shannon Sharpe was traded for and made a big difference, when we brought in Chili Davis, and Torrii Hunter to push the other players. Maybe that is what we are doing with Cruz. But the real question is - would you sign Harper or Machado if they were willing to come here? Or would you tell them to hang out for a year or two until we are a better team?

I was caught up in Dave Schoenfield's article about which teams have the best chance to return to the playoffs from those who were there last year. When I got to the section on the Indians, it read more like an article on the Twins.http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25870218/which-2018-playoff-team-most-likely-miss-year
 
Schoenfield said, "Maybe the most frustrating comment from a front-office executive this offseason came over the weekend from Minnesota Twins general manager Thad Levine at the team's TwinsFest. Asked about Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, Levine answered: "My view ... for doing it is the best time to acquire players of that magnitude is when your window to win is wide-open. Not when you've got your fingers underneath the window and you're trying to jam the window open. I want to do it when we're projected to win the Central and we're ready to put our foot on someone's throat."
 
 
So, don't sign a star ... unless you're already expected to win the division?
 
 
Not that Machado and Harper want to sign with the Twins, but no team could benefit from adding a player of that magnitude more than the Twins, who are trying to chase down Cleveland.
 
 
 
The Twins have some strong rebound candidates, and the other three teams in the division are bad. Minnesota did add Nelson Cruz and Jonathan Schoop, but imagine Machado or Harper anchoring its lineup."
 
 
So when do you add a great player?
 
 
My thought is that you add them when they are available. Do you see any 26 year old stars lining up for next years free agency?
 
 
As the article states, they might not want to sign with the Twins, but among agents and Free Agents, I think our position is pretty obvious and not very inviting. I still see last years Darvish sweep stakes as more of a show than a real effort (and we are lucky that is all it was).
 
 
Puckett's Pond rates Brian Harper the best we have ever done. https://puckettspond.com/2011/11/03/best-twins-free-agents-ever/
 
 
Twinkie Town gives a depressing recap of Free Agents and
Trades https://www.twinkietown.com/2016/7/6/12101434/where-the-twins-have-gone-wrong-a-history
 
 
Rett Bollinger says Molitor was the best Free Agent signing we have ever made; https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/paul-molitor-is-twins-best-free-agent-signing/c-214194398
 
 
I remember when Shannon Sharpe was traded for and made a big difference, when we brought in Chili Davis, and Torrii Hunter to push the other players. Maybe that is what we are doing with Cruz. But the real question is - would you sign Harper or Machado if they were willing to come here? Or would you tell them to hang out for a year or two until we are a better team?

According to Baseball Reference these are the Minnesota Twins hitting coaches - Why there are years without a coach I do not know. But this is what Baseball Reference could tell me about our hitting coaches. These are the men we have entrusted to make our batters better. Did they?
 
 
There are few hitting coaches that make it into the pantheon of greats – Charley Lau was one, but he might not be employable today. Now we want to have the coach communicate the metrics that statistics have called for – launch angle and other details are the language today. So what do we use to review these Twins coaches?
 
 
2017 – 2018 – James Rowson supposedly stolen from the Yankees – can you really steal something from the Yankees if they want to keep them? James did not play in the majors, he played in the minors and the independent leagues with a 193/285/298 minor league slash so he was not hired for his ability to do what he is now teaching. “Rowson served as the Yankees' minor league hitting coordinator for six seasons, joining the Chicago Cubs as their minor league hitting coordinator for the 2012 season. He took over as the hitting coach of the Cubs in June 2012, after Rudy Jaramillo was fired. After the 2013 season, he rejoined the Yankees as their minor league hitting coordinator. Rowson was hired to be the hitting coach for the Minnesota Twins in 2017.” Wiki. The Twins were .251/.316/.421 before he was hired and .250/.318/.405 last year.
 
2013 – 2016 – Tom Brunansky was a Twin favorite and his fourteen year career gave him a .245/.327/.434 personal slash. When he took over the Twins the team slash was 260/.325/.390 and his last year it was .251/.316/.421 which is not a big change except in slugging.
 
2006 – 2012 – Joe Vavra did not come to the majors, but he did make AAA and his slash line is quite respectable - .288/.351/.347 – but not much power. When he came to the Twins their slash line was .259/.323/.391 and when he finished it was 260/.325/.390 which looks like a mirror image.
 
1999 - 2005 – Scott Ullger had a one year debut for his position and hit 190/.247/.241 which is not the most auspicious of lines for a batting coach, but he coached for six years and his team had been .266/.328/.389 when he started and in his last year was .259/.323/.391 which does not look like much of an improvement.
 
1991 – 1998 – Terry Crowley had fifteen big league seasons and hit .250/.345/.375 which was quite respectable. His predecessor at hitting coach had the team finish with .265/.324/.385 and Crowley finished with .266/.328/.389 which is not exactly a big leap forward, but then it has not been for any of the coaches.
 
1986 – 1990 – Tony Oliva was the all star of hitting coaches as far as his own career. He hit .304/.353/.476 which is HOF numbers. As a batting coach his team hit .265/.324/.385 in his final season as coach. The team hit .264/.326/.407 the year before he took the reins. Which means a little less power.
 
Now there is a mystery. Baseball reference lists no hitting coach.
 
1981 – Jim Lemon in 12 big league seasons hit .262/.332/.460 which is a really good career. In his year as hitting coach the team hit .240/.293/.338
 
Once again no hitting coach is listed and in 1976 – Tony Oliva shows up again and the Twins have a slash of 274/.341/.375 so Tony really got them hitting for average.
 
But once again no hitting coach is listed until -
1968 – 1969 – Johnny Goryl who has the team hit 268/.340/.408 in 69 and .237/.299/.350 in 1970 which shows the opposite of improvement in year two.. This was much better than Goryl’s personal six year stats – 225/.305/.371
 
1965 – 1967 – Jim Lemon inherited a team that hit .252/.322/.427 in 1964 and then they went to the world series in 1965, .254/.324 /.399 and he finished .240/.309/.369 which means his teams were worse when he was coach but they went to a world series and won 102, 89, and 91 games during the three years.
 
So who was the best hitting coach? Look at this list of slash lines for the last year of each of the coaches?
 
Jim Lemon .262/.332/.460
Johnny Goryl 268/.340/.408
Designated hitter became part of the team rules.
Tony Oliva 265/.324/.385
Terry Crowley .250/.345/.375
Scott Ullger .259/.323/.391
Joe Vavra 260/.325/.390 ,
Tom Brunansky .251/.316/.421
James Rowson .250/.318/.405
 
 
The range in BA is 250 – 268 and in recent years this has been on the low end; On Base 318 – 345 and the two lowest On base averages were with the most recent; while the slugging was highest in the first years it has ranged from 375 to 460 and the last two hitting coaches have been second and fourth in this stat. It appears that all the strategies of hitting, fielding, pitching keep evening out and the coach is a nice guy to have on the team.
 
Since writing this blog the Athletic came up with this article - https://theathletic.com/774591/2019/01/18/hitting-coach-of-the-future-dillon-lawson-is-here-to-make-yankees-prospects-have-the-best-eye-in-baseball/?source=weeklyemail - about the new wave of hitting coaches and strategies. I believe we are in a strato-matic universe and it comes down to our coaches having better stats than your coaches.

Today we have turned to the Dominican Republic like we used to look to Cuba. Nelson Cruz, Miguel Sano, Alaberto Mejia, Michael Pineda, Jorge Polanco, Fernando Romero, and Ervin Santana. We also have three from Venezuela. Perhaps the best way to get past the border wall is to hit a ball over it. In the past it was Cuba that was the birthplace of ballplayers.
 
In the 1930s, Cuba like the rest of the world was trying to fight the depression and Cuban baseball, a main stay of their nation and a feeder system for baseball elsewhere was hurting. President Gerardo was overthrown and the dictator Bautista came in to power. The Cuban League was hurting but this winter league had talent - Cuban native Martín Dihigo and Negro League stars Ray Brown, Ray Dandridge, Josh Gibson and Willie Wells. Then after a 1947 agreement with the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues American clubs sent their top prospects across the Gulf of Mexico for more seasoning in winter ball.
 
Minnie Miñoso, Camilo Pascual and Zoilo Versailes, Negro League stars like Monte Irvin and Don Newcombe and fresh-faced American prospects Jim Bunning, Tommy Lasorda and Brooks Robinson created one of the most stacked collections of baseball talent anywhere in the world. This was Cuban baseball and to Cuba, it was not the winter league, it was the major league with four teams all playing in the same stadium and competing for the national championship.
 
But, of course, history and politics intervened, and a different dynamic took place. Our most important Cuban connections were probably in our very first years as a Twins team when Camilo Pascual, Pedro Ramos, Zoilo Versalles and Tony Oliva made our Cuban Connection. They were lucky to get out of Cuba before the two countries became such enemies that a player could not sign and leave. Lucky for the Twins or the 1965 World Series would not have happened.
 
Tony's father was a cigar roller in Cuba who promoted his sons movement to the US to play ball. On his immigration papers he was listed as his 18 year old bother Pedro instead of the 21 year old Tony. He came over and changed his middle name to Pedro. He came to the US during 1961 spring training and had 7 hits in 10 at bats in the final three games of the spring, but the Twins decided their rosters were full and let him go. Luckily he went to Charlotte to train with a friend and the Charlotte GM, Phil Howser, called and convinced the Twins to sign him. He led the league with a 410 average.
 
Versalles was signed in 1958 – before the Cuban revolution. Camilo Pascual was in US Professional Baseball in 1951 and Ramos by 1955. All of them missed our hatred of Cuba and the communist government.
 
Cuba has also contributed to the HOF with Cepeda and Perez, but has great stars like Canseco, Pascual, Campenaris, Palmeiro, Luque, Cuellar, Minoso, and Tiant ( a Twin in 1969).
 
In 2014 a Twins Daily post looked at all the Minnesota Twins Cuban players –
”Once upon a time, when I was young, the Twins were a team that had a lot of Cuban players. In 1961, six Cuban natives saw time on the Twins' roster, including All-Star Camilo Pascual and future MVP Zoilo Versalles. In 1962, two more Cubanos played for the Twins, one of them being Twins Hall-of-Famer Tony Oliva. All of these players left Cuba before Cuba was closed off to the US by Castro.
In recent years, the Twins have had only one Cuban-born player, Livan Hernandez, who lasted less than a year as a member of the Twins' rotation.
Here is a list of all Cuban-born (169) major league ballplayers:\
http://www.baseball-...ce.php?loc=Cuba
Here is my unofficial list of Cuban-born Twins: Julio Becquer, Leo Cardenas, Bert Cueto, Livan Hernandez, Hank Izquierdo, Marty Martinez, Tony Oliva, Camilo Pascual, Pedro Ramos, Jose Valdivielso, Sandy Valdespino, and Zoilo Versalles.
All of this brings us to the Twins' newest acquisition, Kendrys Morales. He had been in the US long enough that I had forgotten that he was a Cuban defector. He would be the first position player from Cuba to play for the Twins in almost 40 years.” By stringer bell

The revolution was understandable – Bautista was a terrible man and a terrible dictator and Castro was an unknown. “We heard bombs going off and we knew (Fidel) Castro was in the mountains, and Bautista was there,” said Brooks Robinson, a member of Cienfuegos in the winter of 1957, in an interview with the Hall of Fame, “but we would have a bomb go off in the city and then one went off behind the ballpark one time, so we knew there were some things happening.” https://baseballhall.org/discover/hall-of-famers-played-in-cuban-winter-league
 
The Hall of Fame website recounts an part of Lasorta’s memoirs – THE ARTFUL DODGER, “When Castro took over the city on the first of January, me, Art Fowler and Bob Allison came out of a New Year's party with our wives, and it was 3:30 in the morning and I look up and three planes were flying overhead,” said Lasorda. “I said ‘Geez who in the world is flying at this time at night?’”
 
The planes were carrying Batista and his cabinet as they fled the country. Then, Lasorda ended up having his own brush with Castro, when the new leader – a noted baseball aficionado – asked for a meeting with Almendares' star pitcher.
 
“Howie Haak, the scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was with me at the time,” Lasorda recalled in a 2008 interview with Newsday, “So I said, ‘Come on Howie, you come with me.’ When we went into the Havana Hilton into his suite, Howie couldn't believe it. Castro was waiting to talk to me. We talked baseball. And Howie enjoyed that, as I did too. Everybody thought that he was the savior of the country.
 
“When Castro came in, the people were celebrating because they thought he would be good for the country, and so did I,” Lasorda continued. “I found out I was wrong. I wanted to get out of there, but we continued playing baseball after the strike was over. It was a gorgeous country, until Castro took over.”
 
 
Yes,, that was our Bob Allison, the muscular and talented outfielder of the Minnesota Twins.
 
Following the revolution we found out that we could support a terrible dictator – Bautista, but not a communist – Castro, and so we entered a time when good players in Cuba had to turn to shady characters to get out of one country and into another.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_baseball_players_who_defected_from_Cuba - many of them are still active and thankfully may be the last to have to go through this political nightmare.
 
The Twins have not had as many defectors as other teams, but Livan Hernandez and Kendry Morales both had a brief time with the team.
 
Now MLB has a new accord with Cuban baseball and hopefully the flow of great players can escape the wall and politics and we can again enjoy the best in the world in our own leagues.

Today we have turned to the Dominican Republic like we used to look to Cuba. Nelson Cruz, Miguel Sano, Alaberto Mejia, Michael Pineda, Jorge Polanco, Fernando Romero, and Ervin Santana. We also have three from Venezuela. Perhaps the best way to get past the border wall is to hit a ball over it. In the past it was Cuba that was the birthplace of ballplayers.
 
In the 1930s, Cuba like the rest of the world was trying to fight the depression and Cuban baseball, a main stay of their nation and a feeder system for baseball elsewhere was hurting. President Gerardo was overthrown and the dictator Bautista came in to power. The Cuban League was hurting but this winter league had talent - Cuban native Martín Dihigo and Negro League stars Ray Brown, Ray Dandridge, Josh Gibson and Willie Wells. Then after a 1947 agreement with the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues American clubs sent their top prospects across the Gulf of Mexico for more seasoning in winter ball.
 
Minnie Miñoso, Camilo Pascual and Zoilo Versailes, Negro League stars like Monte Irvin and Don Newcombe and fresh-faced American prospects Jim Bunning, Tommy Lasorda and Brooks Robinson created one of the most stacked collections of baseball talent anywhere in the world. This was Cuban baseball and to Cuba, it was not the winter league, it was the major league with four teams all playing in the same stadium and competing for the national championship.
 
But, of course, history and politics intervened, and a different dynamic took place. Our most important Cuban connections were probably in our very first years as a Twins team when Camilo Pascual, Pedro Ramos, Zoilo Versalles and Tony Oliva made our Cuban Connection. They were lucky to get out of Cuba before the two countries became such enemies that a player could not sign and leave. Lucky for the Twins or the 1965 World Series would not have happened.
 
Tony's father was a cigar roller in Cuba who promoted his sons movement to the US to play ball. On his immigration papers he was listed as his 18 year old bother Pedro instead of the 21 year old Tony. He came over and changed his middle name to Pedro. He came to the US during 1961 spring training and had 7 hits in 10 at bats in the final three games of the spring, but the Twins decided their rosters were full and let him go. Luckily he went to Charlotte to train with a friend and the Charlotte GM, Phil Howser, called and convinced the Twins to sign him. He led the league with a 410 average.
 
Versalles was signed in 1958 – before the Cuban revolution. Camilo Pascual was in US Professional Baseball in 1951 and Ramos by 1955. All of them missed our hatred of Cuba and the communist government.
 
Cuba has also contributed to the HOF with Cepeda and Perez, but has great stars like Canseco, Pascual, Campenaris, Palmeiro, Luque, Cuellar, Minoso, and Tiant ( a Twin in 1969).
 
In 2014 a Twins Daily post looked at all the Minnesota Twins Cuban players –
”Once upon a time, when I was young, the Twins were a team that had a lot of Cuban players. In 1961, six Cuban natives saw time on the Twins' roster, including All-Star Camilo Pascual and future MVP Zoilo Versalles. In 1962, two more Cubanos played for the Twins, one of them being Twins Hall-of-Famer Tony Oliva. All of these players left Cuba before Cuba was closed off to the US by Castro.
In recent years, the Twins have had only one Cuban-born player, Livan Hernandez, who lasted less than a year as a member of the Twins' rotation.
Here is a list of all Cuban-born (169) major league ballplayers:\
http://www.baseball-...ce.php?loc=Cuba
Here is my unofficial list of Cuban-born Twins: Julio Becquer, Leo Cardenas, Bert Cueto, Livan Hernandez, Hank Izquierdo, Marty Martinez, Tony Oliva, Camilo Pascual, Pedro Ramos, Jose Valdivielso, Sandy Valdespino, and Zoilo Versalles.
All of this brings us to the Twins' newest acquisition, Kendrys Morales. He had been in the US long enough that I had forgotten that he was a Cuban defector. He would be the first position player from Cuba to play for the Twins in almost 40 years.” By stringer bell

The revolution was understandable – Bautista was a terrible man and a terrible dictator and Castro was an unknown. “We heard bombs going off and we knew (Fidel) Castro was in the mountains, and Bautista was there,” said Brooks Robinson, a member of Cienfuegos in the winter of 1957, in an interview with the Hall of Fame, “but we would have a bomb go off in the city and then one went off behind the ballpark one time, so we knew there were some things happening.” https://baseballhall.org/discover/hall-of-famers-played-in-cuban-winter-league
 
The Hall of Fame website recounts an part of Lasorta’s memoirs – THE ARTFUL DODGER, “When Castro took over the city on the first of January, me, Art Fowler and Bob Allison came out of a New Year's party with our wives, and it was 3:30 in the morning and I look up and three planes were flying overhead,” said Lasorda. “I said ‘Geez who in the world is flying at this time at night?’”
 
The planes were carrying Batista and his cabinet as they fled the country. Then, Lasorda ended up having his own brush with Castro, when the new leader – a noted baseball aficionado – asked for a meeting with Almendares' star pitcher.
 
“Howie Haak, the scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was with me at the time,” Lasorda recalled in a 2008 interview with Newsday, “So I said, ‘Come on Howie, you come with me.’ When we went into the Havana Hilton into his suite, Howie couldn't believe it. Castro was waiting to talk to me. We talked baseball. And Howie enjoyed that, as I did too. Everybody thought that he was the savior of the country.
 
“When Castro came in, the people were celebrating because they thought he would be good for the country, and so did I,” Lasorda continued. “I found out I was wrong. I wanted to get out of there, but we continued playing baseball after the strike was over. It was a gorgeous country, until Castro took over.”
 
 
Yes,, that was our Bob Allison, the muscular and talented outfielder of the Minnesota Twins.
 
Following the revolution we found out that we could support a terrible dictator – Bautista, but not a communist – Castro, and so we entered a time when good players in Cuba had to turn to shady characters to get out of one country and into another.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_baseball_players_who_defected_from_Cuba - many of them are still active and thankfully may be the last to have to go through this political nightmare.
 
The Twins have not had as many defectors as other teams, but Livan Hernandez and Kendry Morales both had a brief time with the team.
 
Now MLB has a new accord with Cuban baseball and hopefully the flow of great players can escape the wall and politics and we can again enjoy the best in the world in our own leagues.

Today we have turned to the Dominican Republic like we used to look to Cuba. Nelson Cruz, Miguel Sano, Alaberto Mejia, Michael Pineda, Jorge Polanco, Fernando Romero, and Ervin Santana. We also have three from Venezuela. Perhaps the best way to get past the border wall is to hit a ball over it. In the past it was Cuba that was the birthplace of ballplayers.
 
In the 1930s, Cuba like the rest of the world was trying to fight the depression and Cuban baseball, a main stay of their nation and a feeder system for baseball elsewhere was hurting. President Gerardo was overthrown and the dictator Bautista came in to power. The Cuban League was hurting but this winter league had talent - Cuban native Martín Dihigo and Negro League stars Ray Brown, Ray Dandridge, Josh Gibson and Willie Wells. Then after a 1947 agreement with the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues American clubs sent their top prospects across the Gulf of Mexico for more seasoning in winter ball.
 
Minnie Miñoso, Camilo Pascual and Zoilo Versailes, Negro League stars like Monte Irvin and Don Newcombe and fresh-faced American prospects Jim Bunning, Tommy Lasorda and Brooks Robinson created one of the most stacked collections of baseball talent anywhere in the world. This was Cuban baseball and to Cuba, it was not the winter league, it was the major league with four teams all playing in the same stadium and competing for the national championship.
 
But, of course, history and politics intervened, and a different dynamic took place. Our most important Cuban connections were probably in our very first years as a Twins team when Camilo Pascual, Pedro Ramos, Zoilo Versalles and Tony Oliva made our Cuban Connection. They were lucky to get out of Cuba before the two countries became such enemies that a player could not sign and leave. Lucky for the Twins or the 1965 World Series would not have happened.
 
Tony's father was a cigar roller in Cuba who promoted his sons movement to the US to play ball. On his immigration papers he was listed as his 18 year old bother Pedro instead of the 21 year old Tony. He came over and changed his middle name to Pedro. He came to the US during 1961 spring training and had 7 hits in 10 at bats in the final three games of the spring, but the Twins decided their rosters were full and let him go. Luckily he went to Charlotte to train with a friend and the Charlotte GM, Phil Howser, called and convinced the Twins to sign him. He led the league with a 410 average.
 
Versalles was signed in 1958 – before the Cuban revolution. Camilo Pascual was in US Professional Baseball in 1951 and Ramos by 1955. All of them missed our hatred of Cuba and the communist government.
 
Cuba has also contributed to the HOF with Cepeda and Perez, but has great stars like Canseco, Pascual, Campenaris, Palmeiro, Luque, Cuellar, Minoso, and Tiant ( a Twin in 1969).
 
In 2014 a Twins Daily post looked at all the Minnesota Twins Cuban players –
”Once upon a time, when I was young, the Twins were a team that had a lot of Cuban players. In 1961, six Cuban natives saw time on the Twins' roster, including All-Star Camilo Pascual and future MVP Zoilo Versalles. In 1962, two more Cubanos played for the Twins, one of them being Twins Hall-of-Famer Tony Oliva. All of these players left Cuba before Cuba was closed off to the US by Castro.
In recent years, the Twins have had only one Cuban-born player, Livan Hernandez, who lasted less than a year as a member of the Twins' rotation.
Here is a list of all Cuban-born (169) major league ballplayers:\
http://www.baseball-...ce.php?loc=Cuba
Here is my unofficial list of Cuban-born Twins: Julio Becquer, Leo Cardenas, Bert Cueto, Livan Hernandez, Hank Izquierdo, Marty Martinez, Tony Oliva, Camilo Pascual, Pedro Ramos, Jose Valdivielso, Sandy Valdespino, and Zoilo Versalles.
All of this brings us to the Twins' newest acquisition, Kendrys Morales. He had been in the US long enough that I had forgotten that he was a Cuban defector. He would be the first position player from Cuba to play for the Twins in almost 40 years.” By stringer bell

The revolution was understandable – Bautista was a terrible man and a terrible dictator and Castro was an unknown. “We heard bombs going off and we knew (Fidel) Castro was in the mountains, and Bautista was there,” said Brooks Robinson, a member of Cienfuegos in the winter of 1957, in an interview with the Hall of Fame, “but we would have a bomb go off in the city and then one went off behind the ballpark one time, so we knew there were some things happening.” https://baseballhall.org/discover/hall-of-famers-played-in-cuban-winter-league
 
The Hall of Fame website recounts an part of Lasorta’s memoirs – THE ARTFUL DODGER, “When Castro took over the city on the first of January, me, Art Fowler and Bob Allison came out of a New Year's party with our wives, and it was 3:30 in the morning and I look up and three planes were flying overhead,” said Lasorda. “I said ‘Geez who in the world is flying at this time at night?’”
 
The planes were carrying Batista and his cabinet as they fled the country. Then, Lasorda ended up having his own brush with Castro, when the new leader – a noted baseball aficionado – asked for a meeting with Almendares' star pitcher.
 
“Howie Haak, the scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was with me at the time,” Lasorda recalled in a 2008 interview with Newsday, “So I said, ‘Come on Howie, you come with me.’ When we went into the Havana Hilton into his suite, Howie couldn't believe it. Castro was waiting to talk to me. We talked baseball. And Howie enjoyed that, as I did too. Everybody thought that he was the savior of the country.
 
“When Castro came in, the people were celebrating because they thought he would be good for the country, and so did I,” Lasorda continued. “I found out I was wrong. I wanted to get out of there, but we continued playing baseball after the strike was over. It was a gorgeous country, until Castro took over.”
 
 
Yes,, that was our Bob Allison, the muscular and talented outfielder of the Minnesota Twins.
 
Following the revolution we found out that we could support a terrible dictator – Bautista, but not a communist – Castro, and so we entered a time when good players in Cuba had to turn to shady characters to get out of one country and into another.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_baseball_players_who_defected_from_Cuba - many of them are still active and thankfully may be the last to have to go through this political nightmare.
 
The Twins have not had as many defectors as other teams, but Livan Hernandez and Kendry Morales both had a brief time with the team.
 
Now MLB has a new accord with Cuban baseball and hopefully the flow of great players can escape the wall and politics and we can again enjoy the best in the world in our own leagues.

Payroll angst has been at what seems like an all-time high this offseason. Joe Mauer’s contract came off the books, and there’s zero committed dollars for 2020 and beyond. Instead of allocating those funds though, the Twins are hovering around a $100 million payroll and made another “splash” by signing Martin Perez. Local media has suggested the Twins are waiting to get it right, but does that make sense?
 
Phil Mackey of the recently rebranded Skor North radio tweeted he’s been told directly by someone within the organization that this is a waiting game. Needing to get the “nucleus” of the roster right before adding pieces, the strategy of acquiring filler talent this offseason jives with that notion. Realistically speaking, Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano are going to be the straw that stirs Minnesota’s drink, and even the next wave of prospects won’t change that reality. Waiting for the perfect scenario seems to have plenty of hurdles, however.
 

 
There’s no denying that Sano and Buxton have both failed to live up to their prospect projections. Expected to be franchise cornerstones for years to come, neither has solidified that notion yet. Chief among the concerns for new manager Rocco Baldelli, will be jumpstarting and developing both of those guys into the players they’ve been expected to be. If he’s able to accomplish that goal, he’ll have done what former manager Paul Molitor was unable to achieve.
 
The idea that the spending, supplementation, or bolstering the roster with talent hinges on a set group of players seems like a poor decision, however. First and foremost, baseball is not a sport that’s dictated by even a handful of guys on a 25-man roster. Winning teams accomplish goals by being a stronger sum of their parts and raising the water level of those on the ends of the roster helps to push the bar. On top of that, projecting year-over-year certainties is somewhat of a losing battle.
 
Recently the Twins sprung up for an 85-win season in 2017 following the disastrous 103 loss campaign a year earlier. Twins Daily’s Nick Nelson pointed out that neither World Series winning Minnesota club was coming off a season in which competitiveness should’ve been the expectation either. On top of that, there’s plenty of opportunity to be had given the current landscape within the division. Minnesota has the opportunity to play two surefire 90 loss clubs in both Detroit and Kansas City. The White Sox are not yet ready to run, and the Indians have taken considerable steps backwards. Jumping at the window present by the AL Central itself should be enticing on the surface.
 
Oh yeah, and about those White Sox. Chicago is coming off a 2018 in which they lost 100 games and finished 4th in the division. Boasting one of the best farm systems in the sport, they are in the middle of guys yet to pan out (Yoan Moncada and Reynaldo Lopez), those yet to debut (Eloy Jimenez), and those still a ways off (Nick Madrigal, Luis Robert). Despite all of that, they’ve gone out and signed recruiting tools in Jon Jay and Yonder Alonso, while jumping to the front of the line in hopes of landing a game changing Manny Machado. There couldn’t be a blueprint highlight a less established nucleus than what Chicago currently employs, but they’ve chosen to spark winning by seeing what’s coming and supporting it.
 
At some point, the Twins need to be held accountable. Holding off on spending in previous seasons while battling uncertainty and a less than ideal opportunity cost was defendable. With more than their fair share of assets available, talent on the rise, and the red carpet nearly rolled out in the division, the sensibility this time around is nowhere to be found.
 
We can continue to wait for a sign, an omen, or an airplane flying a banner. In the meantime, I guess we just wait for the circumstances to be even more ideal.
 
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Today Ken Rosenthal reported that the Minnesota Twins are signing left-handed pitcher Martin Perez to a one-year deal with a second year option. The former Texas Rangers starter now rounds out Rocco Baldelli's starting rotation. What he doesn't do is address the bullpen needs, or calm any concerns about resources being properly allocated.
 
Prior to this signing Minnesota was at a payroll of roughly $96.3 million. That number is $30 million below where they checked in to start 2018, and represents the ability to still add a significant amount of talent. With arms like Dallas Keuchel or Gio Gonzalez still on the open market, it's Perez who will take a roster spot on the 40 man.
 
A former top-100 prospect, Perez debuted with the Rangers back in 2012 and has been with the organization for the entirety of his career. Unfortunately through seven big league seasons he's been neither durable or very good. Having pitched 180 innings just twice, he has't posted a sub-4.00 ERA since 2013. With a career 5.5 K/9, Perez is a hurler that relies on ok control and the idea that batters will get themselves out.
 
Looking at how the Twins have executed this offseason, namely with their pitching, this comes across as another head scratcher. Likely taking the spot of Adalberto Mejia in the rotation, Perez doesn't push the needle. Instead of a Keuchel or Gonzalez addition that pushes everyone from the top down, the former Rangers starter simply fills in the last spot and adds to the overall depth.
 
If there's a positive in this move, it's that the acquisition makes the reality of Fernando Romero starting in the bullpen even more likely. There's no denying that 180 innings from the Twins fireballer would be great, but utilizing him in relief for 2019 could be of the most benefit. The bullpen needs help and Romero's bullets may go a lot further in that role.
 
You can bet Baldelli will utilize the opener strategy quite often in 2019, and Perez could be subject to that treatment. This front office has prided itself on the ability to both pinpoint and develop pitching. It's not that they don't know more on Perez than this lowly blogger. The problem is that there's both reason and circumstance to push the envelope and at every possible opportunity they've chosen to do less with more.
 
At some point it would be great to see the Twins make a commitment to their players by acquiring talent with expectations as opposed to being surprised by what comes of a decision. Martin Perez could certainly have a career year in Minnesota, and that'd be a great revelation, but banking on that is a process with many more flaws than we should be seeing right now.
 
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As of this writing the Minnesota Twins have made just one move to solidify their bullpen for 2019. Snagging non-tendered reliever Blake Parker on a one-year deal, Rocco Baldelli’s relief corps hasn’t been overhauled by any means. Knowing the innings will need to be allocated across the group in the season ahead, there’s plenty of uncertainty when attempting to determine roles. From a traditional sense, that’s a fine determination. For those concerned with such things however, we’re left wondering who closes things out?
 
On January 14 the Parker deal was made official. It is a $3.2 million pact, but the oddity is that only $1.8 million is guaranteed. The former Angel receives a $1.4 million sum if he is on Minnesota’s active roster for 160 days. It’s a weird stipulation that needed to be agreed to for a guy who’s put up solid numbers over the past two years. Being non-tendered is one thing, but this almost makes it look like Parker didn’t have great prospects elsewhere either. Regardless, I believe he can help Minnesota’s pen.
 
Pitching for Los Angeles each of the past two years Parker earned 22 saves. Never tabbed the closer from the get-go, he’s filled in during times of need and done so admirably. A high strikeout and strong command pitcher, Parker has the makings of a guy able to succeed in the 9th or a setup role. From there, things get less certain.
 
If there’s a “proven closer” among the current bunch it’s Addison Reed. Signed to a two-year last winter, Reed was expected to be a difference maker for the Twins. He flopped and battled injury in Minnesota but has always shown so much more. He was far too hittable last season but remained relatively strong in terms of limiting walks. With 125 saves to his credit, operating as a closer is something he’s familiar with. In talking with Reed last spring, he told me he could care less about the save aside from grabbing some prior to arbitration. Should Minnesota be able to right the 30-year-old on a path that he had previously been on, they’ll have a strong late inning reliever no matter where he’s used.
 
From an internally developed standpoint Minnesota has only two options. Trevor May and Trevor Hildenberger look like the most logical fits. The former is a converted starter that seems to be able to amp it up in relief, why the latter is a crafty reliever who’s used deception and stuff to fuel a level of dominance out of the pen. I’d suggest May as profiling more towards your prototypical closer, but it’s clear that Hildenberger has found success in that arena as well.
 
The Twins watched a further breakout from Taylor Rogers in 2018, and while his numbers are spectacular, I think he continues to slot in best during optimal high leverage. Being called upon situationally late in games allows for him to dictate matchups and utilize his best stuff for getting opponents out. Fernando Romero looks like he could be headed to the pen this year, and the blazing fastball would certainly play up in relief. Over time I’d be far from shocked if he doesn’t force himself into high leverage. Initially, Minnesota may be cautious to keep him stretched out, and even if not, asking him to immediately work the most important innings could be a tough ask.
 
From here Baldelli won’t have much to turn to. J.T. Chargois is gone, John Curtiss was just DFA’d, Jake Reed has yet to be promoted, and Tyler Jay is still on the farm. If there’s someone outside of the previously mentioned big league names ready to reign in the closer role for this club, they aren’t currently on the roster. Cody Allen continues to be a name that makes so much sense, and I’ve heard rumblings that the interest is mutual. Until that deal comes to fruition however, it’s a wait and see sort of scenario.
 
Even with an Allen marriage in Minnesota, this collection is setting up like a group that will rotate the hot hand rather often. Allen has recorded at least 24 saves in each of his five seasons operating as the Indians closer, but the Twins could see something like five different players record marks in that category. From both a developmental exercise to a best fit scenario, the Twins relievers possess a wide spectrum of potential outcomes for the 2019 season. The best-case scenario looks to be a collection that succeeds by being quality over the sum of its parts. There probably isn’t going to be a runaway fireman called on at every opportunity but being able to adequately operate together gives this group promise.
 
Right now, today, it’s hard to envision the Twins front office feeling good about where the relief corps is at. The bulk of the work has been done, but another signing seems almost necessary. We’ll know more about who takes what role, when, as spring training gets underway. There’s going to be uncertainty for this group regardless, but I think it’s less damaging than immediately may be assumed.
 
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Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic is reporting that the Minnesota Twins are expected to reach a deal with Blake Parker in short order. The 33-year-old will turn 34 during the 2019 season and is looking to improve upon a 3.26 ERA posted during 2018. The former Angels reliver is Minnesota’s first pitching acquisition of the offseason, and for a bullpen needing some help, is hardly aiming to high. Given the internal options however, Derek Falvey and Thad Levine could certainly be rolling the dice on how some holdover names bounce back for 2019.
 
Relief pitching is one of the most unpredictable assets in baseball year over year. Unless you’ve got an arm among the elite upper echelon of the sport, expecting consistency on an annual basis is a crapshoot highlighting the desire for teams to acquire arms on one-year deals. For Parker, there’s reasons to believe he’ll be as effective out of the bullpen as the likes of Zach Britton, Cody Allen, or any other player cut from a similar cloth. He’s not going to require much of a commitment from the squad, and he’ll help to raise the water level over the Matt Magill and Tyler Duffey types.
 
It’s become apparent that Minnesota isn’t going to be a player on one of those elite talents at this point. Craig Kimbrel is really the only name left in that group, and even Adam Ottavino is a 33-year-old with a less than ideal track record. I wholeheartedly support the notion that Minnesota should be allocating funds to bring in another arm for the sake of talent, but the difference making presence certainly could come from within.
 
While not remembering if I’ve discussed it in this space, I’ve tweeted often about the prospects of Fernando Romero as a reliever. It’s more than fair to dream about him as a top of the rotation starter, but right now he may not be there. Utilized in short bursts out of the pen, his electric fastball could be paired with one other offering allowing him to be relied upon by Rocco Baldelli. Starting out in somewhat of a middle relief scenario and eventually transitioning to high leverage, expecting the ceiling to be anything but through the roof for Romero seems shortsighted.
 
There’s another guy that certainly could end up being the cream of the crop for the Twins in 2019 however, and he was worthy of a two-year pact just last offseason. Addison Reed is just 30 years old and signed a contract for $16.75 million over two years. He was coming off a two year stretch with a 2.40 ERA 9.8 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9. Not tabbed to be the closer with Fernando Rodney in the fold, Reed brought high leverage and back-end experience to the pen. We know how his 2018 went and calling it suboptimal would be putting it nicely. He gave up far too much contract, lost velocity, and was batted around the park. Can 2019 be different though?
 
Dealing with triceps tightness Reed hit the disabled list for the first time in his career last season. The move took place in early July and was a precursor for a season that simply wouldn’t get back on track. Owning an average 93 mph fastball in 2017 the juice had dipped to just 91.3 mph last season. After generating swinging strikes a career high 13.7% of the time in 2017, Reed got them just 10.7% of the time last season. Batters weren’t chasing, and the 78% contract rating was among the highest of his tenure in the big leagues.
 
Going into the upcoming year there may be no more important player to the Twins eventual success than Reed. There’s no denying that having some stability around Trevor Hildenberger and Taylor Rogers is a must. Romero represents a nice upside play, and Parker will certainly help to support the group. As a new manager with a pen in flex Baldelli needs the best version of Reed for what lies ahead. Another opportunity at a payday is also in store for the California native, and slotting back into the late innings would do wonders for his future value. It remains to be seen if Reed is both health and effective, but a perfect mix would’ve made him among the most coveted arms on the open market in this circuit as well.
 
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