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While Major League Baseball has decided to lock out the players and freeze big-league transactions, Minnesota has continued making minor league moves. Daniel Robertson and Tim Beckham were signed recently and could be depth fits for the 26-man roster, but what if this club already has a utility player in the form of a new piranha? Back in 2014, the Minnesota Twins used their first-round pick, 5th overall, on Nick Gordon. Brother of Dee and son of Tom, Gordon had plenty of baseball running through his bloodlines. A speedy shortstop with a quick bat, he spent seven years in the minors before making his big league debut last season. Gordon isn’t the shiny top-100 prospect he once was, but it’s hard to look at his production last season and not see a future benefit. I don’t think you’ll ever be able to make a strong argument that Gordon is a starting shortstop at the Major League level. His arm strength is questionable there, and while he has speed, that caveat also limits his range. What he can do is be a swiss army knife that allowed the organization to put him where they wanted last season. What’s also interesting is that Gordon has a track record of finding more success in year two at every given level. Looking at Gordon’s Baseball-Reference page through 2019, we can see a pattern of advancement the second time through each of the upper-minors levels. His .906 OPS at Double-A Chattanooga was over 150 points higher than the year before, and that trend was repeated when he improved to the tune of 250 points at Triple-A Rochester. Following the season off due to the pandemic, in which Gordon dealt with his own health issues, he returned to post a strong .774 OPS at Triple-A St. Paul. For the Twins, Gordon slashed just .240/.292/.355 (.647). That’s not a line deserving of offensive consideration, but there’s a path forward here. Gordon needs to reign it in at the plate. A 39.5% chase rate and 25.9% CSW will not play with the rest of his peripherals. However, if he can follow down the established learning path and get closer to a 30% chase rate with a 16% CSW, the offensive production should be expected to level into the .750 OPS range. That becomes valuable for a guy who can also play a handful of infield positions and three outfield roles. Baseball has changed a lot since Ron Gardenhire employed the likes of Jason Bartlett, Nick Punto, and Luis Castillo, but Gordon could fit in as a throwback to those types. His skills are speed-focused, and he can be a menace on the bases. While bunting is an art, I’m all for staying lost, he’s a guy that can probably drop them down for hits occasionally too. If Minnesota wants something they haven’t had in recent years from a utility player, the best version of Nick Gordon could give them that. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

It feels like it may be time to shake things up with this Minnesota Twins roster. One way to accomplish that would be by making a challenge trade, swapping big league pieces for big league pieces. It’s a risky endeavor. Let’s take a look back at some of these deals. There are quite a few of these challenge trades in fairly recent Twins history, but this current Twins front office really hasn’t explored this avenue. The Kenta Maeda deal was close, but Brusdar Graterol only had 10 big league appearances to his credit. He was still a prospect. Possibly the LaMonte Wade Jr. trade qualifies as a minor challenge trade, as he had 113 plate appearances and Shaun Anderson had 46 career games pitched at the time of the swap. Considering how that one went, maybe it’s good there haven’t been more challenge trades of late … These deals are risky, but when a team has a surplus or is motivated to make room at the MLB level for a younger player they can make sense. With Josh Donaldson, Jorge Polanco and Luis Arraez already in the third base/second base equation and Jose Miranda waiting in the wings, this current Twins roster could be ripe for a challenge trade. There’s another possible option but I don’t want to ruin your day quite yet. Let’s take a look back at some of these types of deals from past Twins seasons. All of the trades below were completed during the offseason and included established MLB regulars on both sides of the deal. Nov. 14, 2003: A.J. Pierzynski traded to the San Francisco Giants for Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser We’re starting out this list on a high note. One of the ironic elements to this deal is part of its motivation backfired to a degree. In moving AJ Pierzynski, the Twins were making room behind the plate for 20-year-old Joe Mauer. He ended up playing just 35 games in 2004 due to injuries and Henry Blanco ended up as the primary catcher. The Twins still won 92 games that year in part due to Joe Nathan saving 44 games. He had 128 MLB games to his credit at the time of this deal. We’re focusing on the MLB pieces, but I’d say the prospect side of this package also worked out pretty darn nicely for the Twins. Dec. 3, 2003: Eric Milton traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for Carlos Silva, Nick Punto and Bobby Korecky Milton was only a year away from free agency and Carlos Silva had pitched 130 games for the Phillies. Though he only had one career start prior to the trade, Silva was actually a better rotation piece than Milton right out the gate. I’d say that worked out pretty well. Toss in Punto, who also had some MLB experience at the time of the trade (though only 111 plate appearances) and this one was also a success. Kinda nuts that after back-to-back division championships the Twins made these two big trades and took the central again in ‘04. Nov. 28, 2007: Jason Bartlett, Matt Garza and Eddie Morlan to the Tampa Bay Rays for Delmon Young, Brendan Harris and Jason Pridie This was a pretty crazy trade under new GM Bill Smith. A starting shortstop and budding rotation piece for the former No. 1 overall pick and reigning runner-up in Rookie of the Year voting. Plus Brendan Harris and all of his Brendon Harris-ness! This was an incredible trade … for the Rays. They went from 96 losses to 97 wins and a World Series appearance. Delmon had a great 2010 season with the Twins but was dealt away the next year after fizzling out. Nov. 6, 2009: Carlos Gomez traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for J.J. Hardy Gomez went from centerpiece of the Johan Santana deal to trade bait in just two seasons. If you thought that tenure was short, Hardy only lasted one season in Minnesota before being dealt to Baltimore. Both players found much more success with their new orgs than they had in Minnesota. Man, the Twins made a lot of trades back during this time. Dec. 6, 2012: Ben Revere traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for Vance Worley and Trevor May Terry Ryan was back in the GM role and cleared room for another former first-round pick. The Twins traded both Revere and Denard Span that offseason to open the door for Aaron Hicks in center field. Worley made 46 starts for the Phillies prior to the trade. His Twins tenure was, uh, less impressive. May ended up developing into a nice bullpen piece, of course, but Hicks struggled to take advantage of his opportunity. Speaking of which ... Nov. 11, 2015: Aaron Hicks traded to the New York Yankees for John Ryan Murphy The hope was Murphy would be the long-term solution behind the plate. He was not. I guess I don’t really remember the motivation to move Hicks. Byron Buxton missed most of the previous season and started the year in Double-A, so it was a bit premature to make room for him. The Twins opened the season with Jordan Schafer and Shane Robinson platooning in center. Ugh. Looking back, it’s kinda funny how many of these deals revolved around the center field position. I know most Twins fans don’t want to think about this, but it’s time to ruin your day. There’s a possibility of a Buxton challenge trade this winter. We all know it, but most of us don’t want to acknowledge it. I’m on team Pay Byron, but if they don’t extend him … who knows? What do you think? Should the Twins try to pull off a challenge trade this offseason? View full article

There is almost exactly nothing happening in baseball right now, so it’s a good time for some nostalgia. Follow me on a trip down memory lane to 2006 and the team that made me a baseball fan (and made me think Boof Bonser was good). As I write this, I’m two weeks away from turning 23 years old, which means I was seven when the 2006 Minnesota Twins won the American League Central. It also means I have no meaningful memory of a Twins playoff win, but whatever. I digress. The 2006 season was the first in which I really followed the sport on more than just a watch-guys-hit-ball level. It was that year that I figured out how the standings worked, what a wild card was, and how to calculate basic stats like batting average and ERA. So, of course, the Twins’ magical comeback from 10.5 games back in the second week of August to Division Champs on the last day of the season—their only division lead all year—made me fall in love with the team and the sport. But, the funny thing about falling in love with a team at seven years old is that the way I remember that team is very far from the reality of what actually happened. Obviously, I remember Mauer, Morneau, and Santana being awesome, and, looking back, that memory is absolutely correct; they were awesome. But things get a little more skewed as we move down the rest of the roster. As mentioned in the teaser, I remember thinking that Boof Bonser was some unique diamond in the rough that had a funny name but dominated on the mound. Turns out the opposite is true: he was a highly-touted first round pick that was always young for his level in the minors, but was never great in the bigs. His career lasted only four years and 2006, his rookie and best season, wasn’t even that great. In my mind, Luis Castillo (not the Reds starter, the other one) was THE Twins’ second basemen of the mid-aughts, and that he was one of the better hitters on the team. That just wasn’t true—he finished only seventh on the team in batting average (his main calling card) and Terry freaking Tiffee had a higher slugging percentage than him. Also, the 2006 season was his only full year in a Twins uniform, as he was traded to the Mets at the deadline in 2007. To this day, when I hear the word piranha, I think about Jason Tyner. Ozzie Guillen coined the term “Little Piranhas” to describe Castillo, Tyner, Jason Bartlett, and Nick Punto, but, for whatever reason, Tyner sticks in my head as the most piranha-like. And that’s weird, because according to WAR, he was the least productive of them all, probably because he only appeared in 62 games. And, as sacrilegious as it is to measure the Piranhas using WAR, it does show that he wasn’t nearly as big of a factor as I remember. I didn’t only remember guys for being better than they actually were, though. There were two guys in particular whose output was more significant than I remembered. I remember Nick Punto as a funny, light-hitting, loveable-loser kind of player, and I guess he was that in some sense, but he was a lot more. First, I was shocked to look back and see that he batted .290, and I was even more shocked to find out that he was fifth on the team in WAR, ahead of guys like Michael Cuddyer, Torii Hunter, and Brad Radke. And he did so with one (1) homer. I guess that’s what 135 games of solid third base defense and not terrible hitting get you, but the idea of Punto being legitimately good (if only for a year) is still wild to me. Francisco Liriano will forever stick in my memory as the guy who gets arm surgeries and can’t throw strikes, but he was actually dominant in 2006. He only pitched twice after July and would get Tommy John the following winter, but he made the All Star team as a rookie and pitched to an ERA of 2.16, a WHIP of exactly one, and a K/9 rate of 10.7. His WAR was also third on the team, beating out AL MVP and 130 RBI man Justin Morneau. I also remember Kyle Lohse being an idiot, but I don’t think I’m wrong about that. There’s one more thing I misremember, though. I have very little recollection of the Twins getting swept in the playoffs. I’m sure I watched the games, but they just didn’t stick, though I think I remember my guy Boof starting one of them. That’s okay, though; I will always associate the 2006 Twins with good memories, even if those memories are completely wrong and I have no idea what actually happened. How do you remember the 2006 Twins? What's the first Twins season you remember? Let us know in the comments! View full article

Believe it or not, Tuesday’s match-up between the Twins and the Yankees will be the sixth AL Wild Card game. Major League Baseball expanded their playoff format in 2012 to add more drama with a one-game playoff to decide who would move on to face the best regular season team. There has been some drama and plenty of story-lines. Are there any trends that can be found in the previous games? Let’s take a look back.2012 AL Wild Card Game Baltimore Orioles 5, Texas Rangers 1 Yu Darvish faced off against Joe Saunders in the AL’s inaugural Wild Card game. Both clubs scored runs in the first frame as the starters worked out some kinks. From there, Darvish and Saunders pitched shutout baseball until the sixth. Adam Jones drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and Nate McLouth added an RBI single in the seventh. Former Twin Joe Nathan would allow two insurance runs in the ninth inning to bolster Baltimore’s lead. The Orioles relief trio of Darren O’Day, Brian Matusz, and Jim Johnson did not allow a run over the final 3.1 innings. 2013 AL Wild Card Game Tampa Bay Rays 4, Cleveland Indians 0 Tampa Bay entered the AL’s second Wild Card game having already defeated the Texas Rangers in a tie-breaker game. Tampa Bay’s Alex Cobb was outstanding on the mound as he recorded 6.2 shutout innings with five strikeouts. Cobb had missed 50 games during the regular season after taking a line-drive off his head. Former Twin Delmon Young homered in the third inning off rookie Danny Salazar. Desmond Jennings went 2-for-3 in the game with a double and two RBI. Jake McGee, Joel Peralta and Fernando Rodney combined for 2.1 shutout innings to finish off the Indians. 2014 AL Wild Card Game Kansas City Royals 9, Oakland Athletics 8 (12 Innings) Royals fans were just getting a taste of a wild playoff run as the club would use this game as a launching pad for a run to the AL pennant. This game was originally touted as a pitching battle between Oakland’s Jon Lester and Kansas City’s James Shields but neither would see the end of this one. Former Twins Josh Willingham and Nick Punto made appearances in the game but wound up on the losing end. Kansas City scored three runs in the eighth inning and another in the ninth to tie the game. The A’s would take the lead in the top of the 12th inning but the Royals couldn’t be stopped. Big hits from Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez pushed the Royals to the ALDS. 2015 AL Wild Card Game Houston Astros 3, New York Yankees 0 The Astros, like the Twins this season, headed to New York City after multiple years of futility. Houston had averaged 104 losses in their previous four seasons. Dallas Keuchel was pitching on three days rest for the first time in his career and pitched masterfully. In six shutout innings, he scattered three hits and struck out seven. He became the first pitcher with a scoreless postseason start on three day’s rest since Josh Beckett in the 2003 World Series. Colby Rasmus and former Twin Carlos Gomez homered to help the Astros win their first postseason game since the 2005 NLCS. Fans in New York were booing with every out in the late innings. Houston moved on to face Kansas City, the eventual World Series Champions. 2016 AL Wild Card Game Toronto Blue Jays 5, Baltimore Orioles 2 (11 Innings) Edwin Encarnacion’s walk-off three-run home run sent Toronto fans home happy. While this game might be remembered for its ending, others might remember it for the moment when a fan threw a nearly full can of beer at Orioles left fielder Hyun Soo Kim while he caught a deep fly ball in the eighth inning. Jose Bautista smacked a solo home run to start the scoring in the second inning. Mark Trumbo hit a two-run shot to account for all of Baltimore’s offense. Orioles manager Buck Showalter opted not to use closer Zach Britton in extra-innings and that could have been the difference in the game. Ubaldo Jimenez gave up two singles and the big fly to end the game. Some important hits from former Twins and one upset at Yankee Stadium were all part of previous AL Wild Card games. Let's hope some of this history repeats itself on Tuesday night. Click here to view the article

Perhaps no Twin better typified the mid-2000s teams than Nick Punto. The nibbliest of the piranhas, Punto played every defensive position over the course of his career except pitcher and catcher, and played most of them better than the average major leaguer. In fact, he had nearly 4000 chances to make a defensive play, and made just 84 errors. Defensive stats have evolved substantially since Punto came into the league, but they’re all fairly unanimous in showing that Punto was an asset defensively no matter where he played.The fact that his inclusion in the lineup on a game in and game out basis was as controversial as it was is a great testament to the fact that he was 1) versatile 2) a strong defender and 3) a virtual waste of a plate appearance. For his career, he was about 23 percent worse than the average major league hitter and that includes his inexplicable, galling 2011 when he was 25 percent above average for the Cardinals after having been 32 percent below average for the 2010 Twins. Perhaps no season serves as a better example of the Punto paradox than 2007, when he was the worst qualified hitter in baseball, but still managed to eke out a positive WAR thanks to his defense and adequate base running. Punto’s glove was too good to leave on the bench, the Twins believed, but putting him in the lineup meant sacrificing elsewhere, which ought to sound very similar to the situation the team is facing this year with Miguel Sano. No one is unclear why the Twins want Sano’s bat in the lineup, not after what he showed in his 335 PAs last year. By wRC+, Sano was one of the 10 best hitters in baseball (min 300 PAs) last season, and if that doesn’t buy someone a guaranteed spot in the order, absolutely nothing will. But the presence of Joe Mauer and Trevor Plouffe, and the acquisition of Byung-Ho Park means that Sano will now be judged by both his offense and his performance in the outfield. The Twins may have hoped Sano would be further along in his development as an outfielder by this point, but there was no way he was going to be anything other than a work in progress for most of 2016. His ill-conceived dive on Tuesday night that cost the Twins a run showed that his instincts are still coming along, but he’s already gotten on base multiple times in one game twice in the three games so far this season, so the yin and yang of 2016 Miguel Sano is already on full display. Much as we wondered how bad Punto’s offense could be before Ron Gardenhire would stop penciling him in the lineup, the question that will almost certainly face Paul Molitor at points his season is how bad can Sano be in the outfield while still providing enough of a reason to keep him in the lineup. In 2009, Adam Dunn turned in the worst defensive season by any outfielder since 2000. He was 44 runs below replacement defensively that year, though he split time between the outfield corners and first base, where he was also execrable. He hit 38 home runs, walked in over 17 percent of his plate appearances, and was 42 percent better than league average on offense to compensate for being an unhidable butcher in the field, and managed to produce a 1.1 WAR that season. Clearly the Nationals were hoping for an overall better result from Dunn in his first year with the team, but it’s hard to argue that they got anything other than what they should have expected. If Sano matches Dunn, he’ll still be an offensive star, but he’ll give the Twins less overall value in 162 games than he did 80 last year. Is that acceptable? It’s certainly not desirable, but will the cumulative effect of having Park, Mauer, and Plouffe in the order along with Sano produce the surplus value the Twins want? Possible, but still suboptimal. There is a pretty clear model for the player the Twins would like Sano to be as long as he’s learning the outfield: Manny Ramirez. Ramirez wasn’t just bad when he was learning his position, he was hilariously terrible in the field for most of his career, and yet, since 2000, Ramirez is one of only two players to have a season where he was worth -25 runs or worse defensively and still post a WAR of 2.9 or higher. He did four times (Hideki Matsui was the only other to do it, and he did it just once) between 2000 and when his career functionally ended in 2009. Ramirez’s 2005 season was the sixth worst defensive player-season of the new millennium at -32.6 runs below replacement, but he hit 45 home runs, was 52 percent above league average offensively, and helped anchor a Red Sox offense that scored an MLB-best 910 runs. 2.9 WAR certainly wasn’t his high water mark, but it was good enough to help the Sox secure a playoff spot. Unlike Dunn -- whose offensive profile more closely matches Sano’s than Ramirez’s does -- Ramirez wasn’t a strictly three true outcomes threat that season, as he hit .292/.388/.594 to help drive up his overall value. If Sano ends up being the next Manny Ramirez, the Twins should be elated even with the accompanying defensive frailties, but betting on that career arc is awfully optimistic. As mentioned above, Sano’s skill set is similar to Dunn’s: Hit for great power, walk a lot based on the fear you instill in opposing pitchers, and strike out an impressively high number of times, which means that in order to produce the type of value the Twins need Sano to produce to be competitive this year -- and, in truth, in the future as well -- he’ll either need to keep his defensive value above -20 runs below replacement or add a high batting average to his offensive arsenal. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit for this to be the worst season of Sano’s career. He ought to get better and better in the outfield as he gets a feel for different parks and as his instincts kick in, which means that even if his offense stagnates (if you can call repeated seasons at 40 percent above average stagnation) his overall value will continue to rise. Living between 10 and 20 runs below replacement would position him in the Ryan Braun or Giancarlo Stanton realm of being far better on offense than on defense, but valuable enough in total to make a serious MVP case in years of exemplary offensive performance. Click here to view the article

Perhaps no Twin better typified the mid-2000s teams than Nick Punto. The nibbliest of the piranhas, Punto played every defensive position over the course of his career except pitcher and catcher, and played most of them better than the average major leaguer. In fact, he had nearly 4000 chances to make a defensive play, and made just 84 errors. Defensive stats have evolved substantially since Punto came into the league, but they’re all fairly unanimous in showing that Punto was a positive asset defensively no matter where he played. The fact that his inclusion in the lineup on a game in and game out basis was as controversial as it was is a great testament to the fact that he was 1) versatile 2) a strong defender and 3) a virtual waste of a plate appearance. For his career, he was about 23 percent worse than the average major league hitter and that includes his inexplicable, galling 2011 when he was 25 above average for the Cardinals after having been 32 percent below average for the 2010 Twins. Perhaps no season serves as a better example of the Punto paradox than 2007, when he was the worst qualified hitter in baseball, but still managed to eek out a positive WAR thanks to his defense and adequate baserunning. Punto’s glove was too good to leave on the bench, the Twins believed, but putting him in the lineup meant sacrificing elsewhere, which ought to sound very similar to the situation the team is facing this year with Miguel Sano. No one is unclear why the Twins want Sano’s bat in the lineup, not after what he showed in his 335 PAs last year. By wRC+, Sano was one of the 10 best hitters in baseball (min 300 PAs) last season, and if that doesn’t buy someone a guaranteed spot in the order, absolutely nothing will. But the presence of Joe Mauer and Trevor Plouffe, and the acquisition of Byung-Ho Park means that Sano will now be judged by both his offense and his performance in the outfield. The Twins may have hoped Sano would be further along in his development as an outfielder by this point, but there was no way he was going to be anything other than a work in progress for most of 2016. His ill-conceived dive on Tuesday night that cost the Twins a run showed that his instincts are still coming along, but he’s already gotten on base multiple times in one game twice in the three games so far this season, so the yin and yang of 2016 Miguel Sano is already on full display. Much as we wondered how bad Punto’s offense could be before Ron Gardenhire would stop penciling him in the lineup, the question that will almost certainly face Paul Molitor at points his season is how bad can Sano be in the outfield while still providing enough of a reason to keep him in the lineup. In 2009, Adam Dunn turned in the worst defensive season by any outfielder since 2000. He was 44 runs below replacement defensively that year, though he split time between the outfield corners and first base, where he was also execrable. He hit 38 home runs, walked in over 17 percent of his plate appearances, and was 42 percent better than league average on offense to compensate for being an unhidable butcher in the field, and managed to produce a 1.1 WAR that season. Clearly the Nationals were hoping for an overall better result from Dunn in his first year with the team, but it’s hard to argue that they got anything other than what they should have expected. If Sano matches Dunn, he’ll still be an offensive star, but he’ll give the Twins less overall value in 162 games than he did 80 last year. Is that acceptable? It’s certainly not desirable, but will the cumulative effect of having Park, Mauer, and Plouffe in the order along with Sano produce the surplus value the Twins want? Possible, but still suboptimal even still. There is a pretty clear model for the player the Twins would like Sano to be as long as he’s learning the outfield: Manny Ramirez. Ramirez wasn’t just bad when he was learning his position, he was hilariously terrible in the field for most of his career, and yet, since 2000, Ramirez is one of only two players to have a season where he was worth -25 runs or worse defensively and still post a WAR of 2.9 or higher. He did four times (Hideki Matsui was the only other to do it, and he did it just once) between 2000 and when his career functionally ended in 2009. Ramirez’s 2005 season was the sixth worst defensive player-season of the new millennium at -32.6 runs below replacement, but he hit 45 home runs, was 52 percent above league average offensively, and helped anchor a Red Sox offense that scored an MLB-best 910 runs. 2.9 WAR certainly wasn’t his high water mark, but it was good enough to help the Sox secure a playoff spot. Unlike Dunn -- whose offensive profile more closely matches Sano’s than Ramirez’s does -- Ramirez wasn’t a strictly three true outcomes threat that season, as he hit .292/.388/.594 to help drive up his overall value. If Sano ends up being the next Manny Ramirez, the Twins should be elated even with the accompanying defensive frailties, but betting on that career arc is awfully optimistic. As mentioned above, Sano’s skill set is similar to Dunn’s: Hit for great power, walk a lot based on the fear you instill in opposing pitchers, and strike out an impressively high number of times, which means that in order to produce the type of value the Twins need Sano to produce to be competitive this year -- and, in truth, in the future as well -- he’ll either need to keep his defensive value above -20 runs below replacement or add a high batting average to his offensive arsenal. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit for this to be the worst season of Sano’s career. He ought to get better and better in the outfield as he gets a feel for different parks and as his instincts kick in, which means that even if his offense stagnates (if you can call repeated seasons at 40 percent above average stagnation) his overall value will continue to rise. Living between 10 and 20 runs below replacement would position him in the Ryan Bruan or Giancarlo Stanton realm of being far better on offense than on defense, but valuable enough in total to make a serious MVP case in years of exemplary offensive performance.

In the wake of MySpace founder Tom Anderson’s offer to pay for Tim Lincecum to return to the Giants, other celebrities have been similarly urging their hometown nines to make moves, and offering to foot the bill. We, at Twins Daily, have intercepted one such offer: Seems legit. Click here to view the article

The Twins have drafted ten players so far in the 2015 first-year players draft (Rule 4 draft). After making two picks on Monday night and eight on Tuesday afternoon, the Twins will draft thirty players on Wednesday. Yesterday, I showed that there are many examples of very good MLB players that have been drafted in rounds three through ten. Today, I’ll show that there are several big leaguers who have been selected in rounds 11 through 40 as well. As you’ll see, many of these players decided not to sign for the low-dollar signing bonuses of the late rounds. They choose to go to college and may get drafted again. However, those are just as impressive when you consider that one of the scouts saw him and thought he was worth drafting.Continue on to read some of the Twins top picks from rounds 11 through 40. 11th Round 1967 – Al Hrabosky – LHP – High School in California – WAR 10-6 Hrabosky didn’t sign after he was drafted by the Twins. He went to Cal State-Fullerton. Two years later, he was a first-round pick by the Cardinals. The Mad Hungarian had a 13 year big league career in which he won 64 games and added 97 saves. In 1975, he went 13-3 with a 1.66 ERA and 22 saves in 97.1 innings. It was a different era of relief pitchers. Honorable Mention: Jerry Reed (1973), David Dellucci (1994), Evan Meek (2002) Current: Nelson Molina (2013), Taylor Rogers (2012), Tyler Kuresa (2010) Last year: Tanner English 12th Round 1993 – Alex Cora – SS – High School in Puerto Rico – WAR 7.0 Cora also chose not to sign at the time, choosing to go to the University of Miami. Three years later, he was selected in the third round. He spent 14 seasons in the big leagues. After being the Dodgers starting shortstop for a couple of seasons, he was their starting second baseman for a couple of years. He remained in the big leagues for another half-dozen years in a utility role. Honorable Mention: Pat Meares (1990), Jason Kubel (2000)Current: Ethan Mildren (2013), Alex Muren (2012) Last year: Pat Kelly 13th Round 1991 – Matt Lawton – 2B – Mississippi Gulf Coast CC – WAR 15.0 Lawton debuted with the Twins in 1995 and stayed with the team through mid-2001 when he was traded to the Mets for Rick Reed. He was the Twins All Star representative in 2000. He is one of the more underrated Twins players of the last 20 years (in my opinion). After leaving the Twins, he played for the Mets and then five other teams before retiring following the 2006 season. Honorable Mention: Pete Falcone (1972), Rob Wilfong (1971), Scott Leius (1986)Current: Brandon Peterson (2013), Ryan O’Rourke (2010) Last Year: Zach Tillery 14th Round 1989 – Mike Trombley – RHP – Duke University – WAR 9.2 Trombley debuted with the Twins in 1992. In his first few seasons, he made some starts, but he primarily worked out of the bullpen and found his success there. In his final season with the Twins (1999), he had 24 saves, though he was 2-8. He spent time with Baltimore and the Dodgers before finishing his career back with the Twins for a handful of games. Honorable Mention: Dan Naulty (1992)Current: Zach Granite (2013) Last Year: Tyler Mautner 15th Round 1967 – Rick Dempsey – C – High School in California – WAR – 25.3 Dempsey debuted with the Twins as a 19-year-old in 1969. He played five games in 1970, six games in 1971, 25 games in 1972 before being traded to the Yankees. He was traded a year later to Baltimore and that’s where he found his value. He was the MVP of the 1983 World Series and later was part of the 1988 Dodgers World Series championship team. He continued playing into his 40s. Last Year: Roberto Gonzalez (2015) 16th Round 1980 – Jim Eisenreich – OF – St. Cloud State University – WAR 13.4 Eisenreich played in 48 games for the Twins between 1982 and 1984, but he could not overcome his issues with Tourette’s Syndrome. He left baseball, and played amateur ball for a couple of years. The Royals gave him another shot, and he took advantage. Known as a professional hitter, he hit .296/.349/.410 (.759) over the final ten seasons of his big league career. He went 4-8 in the 1997 Marlins World Series championship series. Honorable Mention: Yonder Alonso (2005), Kolten Wong (2008), Lenny Webster (1982)Current: Brandon Bixler (2013) Last Year: Tyler Kuresa 17th Round 1978 – Kent Hrbek – 1B – Bloomington Kennedy High School – WAR 38.4 The Twins took a home town kid, just down the road from Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, and he turned out pretty good. Hrbek quickly got to the big leagues, debuting with the Twins as a 21-year-old in August of 1981. He was an All Star and finished second to Cal Ripken in the 1982 Rookie of the Year vote. He finished second in MVP voting in 1984. He was a key contributor to the Twins two World Series championship teams and hit 293 career home runs, all with the Twins. Following his career, he was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame and still is an ambassador for the Twins organization. Honorable Mention: JJ Putz (1998), Paul Maholm (2000), Chip Hale (1987)Current: Dalton Hicks (2012) Last Year: Mat Batts 18th Round 1973 – Rick Peters – IF – High School in California – WAR 3.2 The Compton, California, native chose not to sign with the Twins out of high school. He went to Arizona State and four years late was the Tigers seventh round pick. He debuted in the Motor City in September of 1979. He played in 133 games and posted a 103 OPS+ that year. He was a part-time utility outfielder in the big leagues in 1983 and 1986 with the A’s. Current: Ryan Walker (2013) Last Year: TJ White 19th Round 2006 – Danny Valencia – 3B – University of Miami – WAR 2.1 Valencia bashed his way up the Twins minor league system. He debuted as a 25-year-old in 2010 and impressed. In 85 games, he hit .311/.351/.448 (.799) with 18 doubles and seven home runs. In 2011, he played in 154 games and hit .246/.294/.383 (.677) with 28 doubles and 15 home runs. He got 34 more games with the Twins in 2012 before being sent to AAA and eventually traded to the Red Sox. He resurfaced with the Orioles in 2013, the Royals in 2014 and has now been with the Blue Jays for the last year. These last three teams have found his value as a left-handed pitcher masher. Current: Jared Wilson (2013) Last Year: Jarrard Poteete 20th Round 1990 – Damian Miller – C – Viterbo University in LaCrosse – WAR 9.0 Drafted in 1990, Miller did not debut with the Twins until a 25-game stint in 1997 as a 27-year-old. That offseason, Miller was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Expansion Draft. He certainly found himself there and was the catcher for Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling on that 2001 World Series championship team. He continued to be a starting catcher in the big leagues through 2007, finishing his career with three years in Milwaukee. Current: Jason Kanzler (2013), Zack Larson (2012)Last Year: McCarthy Tatum (did not sign, went to Fresno State) 21st Round 1990 – Eddie Guardado – LHP – San Joaquin Delta College – WAR 13.7 Guardado moved quickly through the Twins farm system and debuted as a 22-year-old in 1993. He began his big league career as a starter, but he was pretty terrible. He made the move to the bullpen and earned the Everyday Eddie moniker. He was a middling, frequently used reliever until 2000 and 2001 when he performed well. Late in 2001, he became the closer. He led the league with 45 saves in 2002. He was an All Star for the Twins in 2002 and 2003. He signed with the Mariners in 2004 and spent time with the Reds, and Rangers before coming back to the Twins in August of 2008. He was recently added to the Twins Hall of Fame, and he is now the Twins bullpen coach. Honorable Mention: JC Romero (1997), Lenny Webster (1985) Current: Tyler Stirewalt (2013) Last year: Onas Farfan 22nd Round 2007 – Mickey Storey – RHP – Florida Atlantic University – WAR 0.3 Storey didn’t sign and a year later he was the A’s 31st round pick. He debuted with 26 relief appearances for Houston in 2012. He pitched in three games for the Blue Jays in 2013. He is currently pitching in the Atlantic League for Somerset. Current: Alex Swim (2013) Last year: Trevor Hildenberger 23rd Round 1999 – Willie Eyre – RHP – College of Eastern Utah – WAR 0.5 Eyre and David Herndon both have 0.5 WAR, but I went with the guy who signed with the Twins. He debuted with the Twins in 2006 and pitched in 75 games over those two seasons. He posted a 5.31 ERA over those two seasons. He got time with the Rangers and the Orioles as well. Current: Zach Hayden (2013), Tim Shibuya (2011), Dallas Gallant (2010) Last Year: Miles Nordgren 24th Round 1998 – Juan Padilla – RHP – Jacksonville University – WAR 1.0 Padilla moved up three levels in his first full season. He reached AAA Rochester in 2003. He moved on to the Yankees organization in 2004 and made his debut as a 27 year old that year. He pitched in 18 games with the Yankees before pitching in 12 games for the Reds. He pitched in 24 games (and posted a 1.49 ERA) for the Mets in 2005. Current: Brandon Easton (2013), Nick Burdi (2011), Michael Quesada (2010) Last Year: Alex Real 25th Round 2003 – John Gaub – LHP – South St. Paul High School – WAR – (-0.1) The choice here was between John Gaub and Adam Johnson. Gaub wins. Neither of them actually signed when they were taken in this round, choosing to go to college. Gaub went to the University of Minnesota and was the Reds 21st round pick in 2006. He pitched in four games (2.2 innings) for the Reds in 2011. Current: Chad Christensen (2013)Last Year: Taylor Hearn (did not sign, went to Oklahoma Baptist, drafted in 5th round on Tuesday) 26th Round 1995 – Corey Koskie – 3B – Kwantlen College – WAR 24.6 Koskie, drafted from Manitoba, debuted as a 25-year-old in September of 1998. He came up and Tom Kelly was afraid to play him at third base. It didn’t take long and he was a very good defensive third baseman. He too may have been one of the more underrated Twins in recent years too. He had really good power, and he had surprising speed. He also took a lot of walks and got on base a lot. He left before the 2005 season as a free agent to play for the Blue Jays. He spent 2006 in Milwaukee until he had a concussion that ended his career way too early. Honorable Mention: Lyman Bostock (1972)Last Year: Blake Schmit 27th Round 1988 – Scott Stahoviak – RHP – High School in Illinois – WAR 1.0 Stahoviak didn’t sign and went to Creighton for three years before the Twins drafted him again, that time as a third baseman. He is often used as part of a mid-90s Twins joke, but considering his 1996 season. In 130 games, he hit .284/.376/.469 (.845) with 30 doubles and 13 home runs. That’s pretty solid. He just never able to replicate those numbers. Honorable Mention: Eric Decker (2009) – drafted out of the University of Minnesota, where he did play baseball (outfielder), he chose football and that seems to have been the right choice for him. Current: Chris Mazza (2011) Last Year: Gabriel Ojeda 28th Round 1987 – Bret Boone – SS – High School in California – WAR 22.6 Boone didn’t sign with the Twins and instead went to USC. Three years later, he was drafted in the 5th round by the Mariners. He played second base and hit a lot of home runs, 252 in his 14 year career. In 2005, he was released by the Mariners and the Twins did sign him. It didn’t go well. In 14 games, he hit .170. Current: David Hurlbut (2011), Nate Hanson (2008) Last Year: Austin Diemer 29th Round 2001 – Nick Blackburn – RHP – Seminole State College – WAR 3.3 Say what you want about how things turned out for Blackburn, but if you can get 137 starts out of a 29th round pick, you’re thrilled. In his first two full seasons, he went 11-11 (both years) with a 4.05 ERA (103 ERA+) and a 4.03 ERA (109 ERA+). The hope was that he could continue to pitch that way, despite the lack of strikeouts. Things went downhill from there. Overall, he went 43-55 with a 4.85 ERA in his six big league seasons. Last Year: Cameron Avila-Leeper (did not sign, went to Delta College)30th Round 2008 – Michael Tonkin – RHP – High School in California – WAR (-0.3) Tonkin has been back and forth from Rochester to Minnesota each of the last three years. He’s done well in the minors but it has not yet transferred to the big league success. That said, he hasn’t been really given any extended looks yet. Current: Tanner Vavra (2013) Last Year: Michael Theofanopoulos 31st Round 1996 – Mike Lamb – C – Cal State-Fullerton – WAR 4.1 Lamb didn’t sign with the Twins at this time, but he would come to the organization late in his career. He went back to school and a year later went in the seventh round. After four years with the Rangers, he became a big on-base percentage guy with the Astros. He posted .800+ OPS three out of four years. He came to the Twins on a two-year deal, but after just 81 games, he was hitting .233/.276/.322 (.598) and was released. Last year: Sam Hilliard (did not sign, went to Wichita State) 32nd Round Not one 32nd round pick of the Twins has made it to the big leagues… yet. Last year: Orynn Veillon (did not sign, went to Louisiana-Lafayette) 33rd Round 1997 – Nick Punto – SS – Saddleback College – WAR 15.3 Punto didn’t sign at this time. A year later, the Phillies made him their 21st round pick. He came to the Twins in the Eric Milton trade and had a polarizing, though very underrated career with the Twins. Though he hasn’t retired, he is not playing this year. He has 14 years in the big leagues. He does a few things very well. He played great defense at three infield positions. With the Twins, he also took good at bats and got on base, most years. Current: Stephen Wickens (2011) Last Year: Trey Vavra 34th Round 1991 – Tim Davis – LHP – Florida State University – WAR 0.8 Davis went back to FSU and was selected by the Mariners in the 6th round a year later. Two years later, he debuted with the M’s. Over the next four seasons, he posted a combined 4.62 ERA in 122.2 innings over 89 games. Current: Bryan Haar (2012) Last Year: Mike Baumann (did not sign, the Mahtomedi pitcher went to Jacksonville University where he went 7-1 with a 2.24 ERA in 84.2 innings – 85 Ks) 35th Round 1996 – Josh Bard – C – High School in Colorado – WAR – 3.2 Bard was a backup catcher (with a few seasons when he was a starter) for ten years in the big leagues. He played for Cleveland, Boston, San Diego, Washington and Seattle. Current: Jared Wilson (2012), David Hurlbut (2009)Last Year: Brad Mathiowetz (did not sign, from Rochester Mayo, went to Des Moines Area CC) 36th Round 1974 – Eric Show – RHP – High School in California – WAR 15.9 Show did not sign and went to UC-Riverside. Four years later, he was the 18th round pick of the San Diego Padres. He played for the Padres from 1981 through 1990 before a partial season with Oakland in 1991. Never an All-Star, he went 101-89 with a 3.66 ERA (99 ERA+), but he had some really good years. Three times he won at least 15 games in a season. Honorable Mention: JD Martinez (2006)Last Year: Kirvin Moesquit (did not sign and went to Seminole State College) 37th Round 1988 – Aaron Sele – RHP – High School in Washington – WAR 20.6 Sele, who was born in Golden Valley, Minnesota, didn’t sign and went to Washington State. It was a good decision for him because three years later he was drafted in the first round by the Boston Red Sox. He was twice an All Star over his 15 year career. He won 15 or more games four times. He won 148 games in his career. Last Year: Tyree Davis38th Round 1992 – Gary Matthews, Jr – 2B – High School in California – WAR 14.2 Son of Sarge didn’t sign with the Twins and went to Mission College. In 1993, he was the Padres 13th round pick. He played for seven teams. Early in his career, he was all over the place. Later in his career, after making some great defensive plays in centerfield, he made some big money. He played 1,281 games over 12 seasons. Honorable Mention: TJ Mathews (1991), Tommy Watkins (1998) Last Year: Brett Doe 39th Round 1994 – Brian Lawrence – RHP – High School in Texas – WAR 8.1 Lawrence didn’t sign and became a 17th round pick in 1998. He spent five seasons with the San Diego Padres. Then in 2007, he made six starts for the Mets. He won 50 games in the big leagues. Honorable Mention: Anthony Slama 2006Last Year: John Jones (did not sign) 40th Round 2007 – Chase Anderson – RHP – North Central Texas College – WAR 1.8 Anderson didn’t sign and was the 2009 ninth round pick of the Diamondbacks. He debuted with the D-Backs in 2014 and went 9-7 with a 4.01 ERA. He has made 11 starts this year, though he has just a 1-1 record. Last Year: Dalton Guthrie (Did Not Sign, son of former Twins RP Mark Guthrie, went to the University of Florida)After the 40th Round The MLB Draft is now 40 rounds. It had been 50, and not too long ago, it went until a team no longer wanted to make picks. Here are a few guys who were drafted after the 40th round: 41st Round – Brian Raabe (1990)42nd Round – Lance Carter (1993)43rd Round – Jason Vargas (2001)45th Round – Pat Neshek (1999), Steve Pearce (2003)46th Round – AJ Achter (2010)48th Round – George Springer (2008)49th Round – Michael Holliman (2003), Brock Peterson (2002)52nd Round – Denny Hocking (1989)It’s Day 3 of the 2015 MLB Draft. As the rounds continue, the odds of a player making it to the Major Leagues, but there are enough examples of players just with the Twins that have made it. Or, even if they don’t sign and go to college, they can move up the draft chart later and get another opportunity. Will any of this year’s late round picks be the next Kent Hrbek, or Aaron Sele? We shall find out. Click here to view the article

Aaron and John talk about the Twins' top 10 prospects, Ron Gardenhire's plans for 2015, the big Miguel Sano comeback, eating and drinking at New Bohemia, Nick Punto's retirement, billion-dollar TV deals, how to get a proper anti-social haircut, Jose Berrios going topless, moving day, and mailbag questions. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click the Play button below. Click here to view the article