Recap: Hey, back to back badness! Um. I'm pretty sure I posted this time last year that the Twins' dynasty was over and... let's just say I was right. Not only are the days of contention officially behind them, but the Twins lost 90 games for the first time since they moved away from Washington, DC in 1961 (they went 54-100 in 1960). There are still, somehow, several guys from their last pennant in 1970 still on the roster, including slugger Angelo Martinez, DH "Aloha Dan" Gilmet, and OF Jose Villasenor, but hey, Minnesota fans are a nostalgic bunch.
Nostalgia is just about all this team had going for it in 1973; they started off badly and looked like they might break 100 losses by the end of May with a 15-29 record. They were... better the rest of the way, including a 16-13 September that at least made the faithful hopeful that perhaps this downslide will be a short one.
1974 Outlook: It won't be a short one. The vets have lost the star power that propelled them into contention from 69-70, the youth movement has yet to produce replacements, and the pitching staff has been completely overhauled and retooled. I think it won't be all bad news and I don't see this team being the absolute worst team in the AL but one should expect a couple of 85-90 loss seasons before the likes of the NATURE BOY Ric Flair, racecar driver Gilles Villeneuve, and soccer player Ronnie Hellstrom push this team back into the top half of the division.
Paul Boerger
RHP No. 31
LR, 5'9" 175 lbs.
Born 1949-02-08
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 PB A | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2.99 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 1971 VIS A | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1.76 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 15.1 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 14 |
| 1971 MEM AA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 1971 TID AAA | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3.85 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 9.1 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| 1972 TUL AAA | 3 | 4 | 10 | 2.91 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 46.1 | 30 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 48 |
| 1972 STL MLB | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.56 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 28.2 | 18 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 15 |
| 1973 TAC AAA | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3.90 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 50.2 | 49 | 25 | 22 | 18 | 50 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5.63 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 46.1 | 67 | 35 | 29 | 13 | 25 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Boerger was called up in May and June but was all knds of awful, going 0-0, 7.15 and 1-0, 6.52 over 13 appearances before getting sent back down to Tacoma until September. He was... better that month, including a 2-1, 3.33 mark in 4 starts (he also allowed 4 runs in 1 IP in a loss to the Royals, pushing his monthly ERA up to 4.62). Beorger's nnot considered a starter at all, as he's a 2 pitch pitcher with limited stamina, so... small sample size I guess.
He's still only 24 so Boerger has plenty of time to turn into something.
Matt Brock
RHP No. 23
RR, 5'12" 196 lbs.
Born 1939-12-27
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 BOS MLB | 9 | 7 | 25 | 3.78 | 59 | 0 | 0 | 90.1 | 81 | 38 | 38 | 34 | 77 |
| 1972 MIL MLB | 8 | 6 | 18 | 2.53 | 61 | 0 | 0 | 81.2 | 66 | 23 | 23 | 40 | 60 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | 7 | 6 | 6 | 3.92 | 51 | 0 | 0 | 80.1 | 85 | 40 | 35 | 29 | 50 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Matt Brock was actually pretty good last year, save for one of the worst months you'll ever see. In July, Brock was 2-2, 10.24, allowing 11 runs in 9.2 IP over 9 games, walking 8 and blowing all 3 of his save opportunities. You don't, of course, get to just throw away a month, and that period did cause him to lose the closer job to Ricky Rosas but hey, if you did get to throw the month away he carried a 3.05 ERA!
Brock throws gas, mixing a mid-90s riser with a wicked slider. When times are good, Brock gets lots of whiffs (although whiffs generally were hard to come by last year). When he's not, he is and always has been HR prone. He allowed 10 HR last year, the 3rd time in 4 seasons he's given up that exact number. He was significantly less wild than in 1072 with the Brewers but somehow less effective. Perhaps Brock is a guy who needs to be a little unchained to really get it going.
Brock isn't young anymore and the 3 time saves leader will need to win a closer job somewhere in order to think of building on his 5th-best-ever total of 213. Geoff Saus passed him last year but Sam King (who pitched for the Cubs and Yankees from 1950-1966 and finished with 253 saves) is within reach.
Massimo D'Alema
2B No. 33
RR, 5'8" 169 lbs.
Born 1949-04-20
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 LYN A | .306 | 10 | 36 | 4 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| 1971 WR A | .235 | 100 | 340 | 39 | 80 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 32 | 35 | 80 | 4 |
| 1972 WR A | .409 | 12 | 44 | 7 | 18 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| 1972 ORA A | .277 | 80 | 303 | 29 | 84 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 32 | 20 | 55 | 2 |
| 1972 ORL AA | .231 | 3 | 13 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 1973 TAC AAA | .319 | 81 | 216 | 23 | 69 | 15 | 1 | 4 | 28 | 17 | 26 | 1 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | .266 | 54 | 214 | 26 | 57 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 30 | 18 | 40 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
D'Alema is a budding Italian politican who also just happens to have a nice bat and a decent pivot at second base. A nice first half in AAA Tacoma earned him a promotion and the release of the former incumbent Pietro Palmarrochi (who finished the year .194/2/13) and he put together a promising August and September with the big league club.
D'Alema is a classic "place" hitter who tries to hit the ball through the biggest hole in the infield, wherever it may be. In the minors he had excellent bat control; with Minnesota, he had a harder time making enough consistent contact to hit for that .300 average he seems capable of. D'Alema still collected 31 doubles in 430 combined at-bats, indicating some good gap power. D'Alema won't beat out a lot of base hits with his feet and once he gets on he's very little threat to steal. He can employ the bunt to sacrifice and once he learns major league pitchers a bit more he should turn into a solid 2-hole hitter, even with the lack of speed. Defensively he's a second baseman because he has no arm to speak of whatsoever. He's got okay range although he can commit mental mistakes in the field sometimes: 10 errors in 52 starts is not good for a second baseman.
If D'Alema can stick at 2nd, which isn't a foregone conclusion but hey, this is what you do if you're not a very good team, he can fashion a pretty nice career as a starter. Otherwise, there's probably still a place for him as a 4th or 5th outfielder and pinch-hitter.
Pete Eason
RHP No. 35
RR, 6'2" 202 lbs.
Born 1939-11-23
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 SPO AAA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3.48 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10.1 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 3 |
| 1971 MIN MLB | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 1972 TAC AAA | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0.78 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 46.0 | 39 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 25 |
| 1972 MIN MLB | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3.21 | 29 | 4 | 0 | 50.1 | 49 | 23 | 18 | 13 | 29 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4.01 | 40 | 3 | 0 | 74.0 | 88 | 37 | 33 | 23 | 50 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Sometimes a bad team is just kind of chock-full with veterans - either they're shooting for "veteran leadership" or, in the case of these Twins, they're still slightly married to an earlier, better era. Pete Eason, the 1963 AL ERA leader and Cy Young Award winner (13-6, 2.14, which... yeah, I know) is right there. Eason's fully transitioned into middle relief, although the right-hander still got 3 spot starts last season (he was 0-2, 6.59 in case you were thinking this was a new beginning). He did manage to stay healthy after a lifetime of elbow problems, which is nice, although it has to be said that he wasn't super effective.
Eason still throws hard and when he pitches in relief he mostly just shows hitters the heater plus a curveball. You'd have thought that at some point Eason would have slowed things down a little bit or at least found an out pitch that's less taxing on his arm... but then again, the curve is how he got into the league in the first place. He no longer has the kind of great in-game stamina that makes you want to leave him in a game for 130 pitches, which, let's be honest, was never a great idea once he started racking up all the elbow woes. His K rate was the highest since 1970, when he struck out 35 batters in 39 innings, so in that respect he was doing something right. On the other hand he melted down 5 times in 37 relief appearances and allowed 9 HRs in 74 IP which is, statistically speaking, not good.
Eason's virtually a fixture on the Twins at this point and cutting him would mean having one less guy showing up to all the offseason fan-service programs that they love to host. That said, it's getting increasingly harder to see his role on this club has he gets into his mid 30s.
Dan Field
DH/1B No. 10
RR, 5'10" 196 lbs.
Born 1944-09-08
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 OAK MLB | .251 | 83 | 315 | 33 | 79 | 16 | 2 | 8 | 41 | 22 | 46 | 0 |
| 1971 NYY MLB | .167 | 21 | 48 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| 1972 SYR AAA | .257 | 38 | 136 | 22 | 35 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 20 | 21 | 19 | 0 |
| 1972 NYY MLB | .181 | 28 | 105 | 11 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 17 | 0 |
| 1972 OAK MLB | .175 | 12 | 40 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| 1973 TAC AAA | .293 | 46 | 174 | 22 | 51 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 28 | 16 | 15 | 0 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | .223 | 40 | 103 | 15 | 23 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 15 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
At this point it's hard to know what exactly to do with the 1970 All-Star Dan Fields. His bat keeps giving him chances but it's the bat itself that seems to just disappear at the worst possible times for him. Following a disastrous 1972 that saw him traded to the A's, claimed back off waivers by the Yankees, and then traded one more time to the Twins for spare change (in fact the guy they traded him for retired from pro baseball 2 months later to pursue a career in bowling) (the game says football but this guy's 6' tall and a catcher, so bowling it is). Fields opened the season with the Twins but at the back of the bench and didn't even see time on the field until May. He got a chance to start part-time that month, hit just .217 in 69 at-bats, and was sent down to the minor leagues. One possible piece of good news is that he maybe found his swing so he came back in September as the rosters expanded and hit a solid .263, mostly as a pinch-hitter.
The scouts tell me that Field "makes consistent contact" and I guess that's correct-ish as far as that goes; he's not strikeout prone. He's really slow though and needs to hit the ball a pretty long ways in order to get hits. Those didn't come last year until the second half of the season. In his breakout 1970 season he had 36 doubles and 19 HRs to go with a .295 average. I'd love to know where any of that went: Fields' power has been AWOL as much as his ability to hit for average since then. He's not going to win any accolated with his glove. The best that can be said about Fields in the...field is that he has soft hands and doesn't make a lot of mental mistakes while he's plodding around out there.
Sometimes players just have that one big capturing lightning in a bottle season and I guess that describes Dan Fields and 1970. He's 29 now and hitting .223 in the major leagues during what ought to be his prime years. The Twins would do well to look elsewhere.
Jan Fischer
DH/OF/1B No. 8
RR, 5'11" 175 lbs.
Born 1951-01-02
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 CHL AA | .230 | 67 | 239 | 22 | 55 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 28 | 50 | 11 |
| 1971 ORL A | .319 | 66 | 213 | 37 | 68 | 14 | 2 | 3 | 24 | 21 | 39 | 15 |
| 1972 ORA A | .296 | 32 | 125 | 16 | 37 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 6 | 23 | 4 |
| 1972 ORL AA | .244 | 88 | 328 | 35 | 80 | 14 | 1 | 4 | 26 | 34 | 55 | 7 |
| 1973 ORL AA | .286 | 19 | 70 | 11 | 20 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 13 | 2 |
| 1973 TAC AAA | .304 | 63 | 240 | 33 | 73 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 33 | 10 | 40 | 6 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | .274 | 41 | 124 | 17 | 34 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 6 | 24 | 1 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Fischer, a 1967 international signing out of Czechoslovkia, has been pushed through the minors pretty aggressively the last 2 years... to find himself as part of the current roablock in the Twins outfield. He's a corner guy who so far hasn't shown corner OF power and so got pushed aside a bit in September following a first half in the minors that indicated he needed to get a promotion. Fischer is very much still learning the game and so should only get better. He has a great arm but has the rep for being prone to mistakes in the field - last year at least he did not, albeit becuase he got into 5 games in the field in the major leagues.
Fischer seems most loyal to his native land, which is probably for the best because if he stays in Minnesota it's only ever going to be as a backup.
Ric Flair
C No. 1
RR, 6'1" 236 lbs.
Born 1949-02-27
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 AUB S A | .460 | 13 | 50 | 13 | 23 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 8 | 11 | 0 |
| 1971 LYN A | .221 | 39 | 113 | 15 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 14 | 25 | 0 |
| 1972 TAC AAA | .242 | 128 | 388 | 32 | 94 | 14 | 2 | 10 | 42 | 41 | 48 | 0 |
| 1973 TAC AAA | .367 | 21 | 60 | 10 | 22 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 0 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | .225 | 93 | 271 | 34 | 61 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 27 | 18 | 36 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
The NATURE BOY Ric Flair needed just 60 at-bats in the minor leagues to prove that he was ready to take the big league reins. The hitting wasn't there yet but he proved to be a much, much better defensive backstop than the incumbent Brad Reed and at the end of the day Flair looks to have WOOOOOed himself into the starting job.
Flair may not hit for a lot of power going forward although if he gets into the double digits in HRs like he did last year in Tacoma, that's enough. He's got good enough bat speed to hit a lot better than .225, although he's slow in the way catchers tend to be slow. His defense is really where its at, though: a solid if not spectactular arm is what the writers might talk about but Flair is nimble behind the plate and has a knack for turning borderline pitches into strikes. He's also at only 24 years of age a natural at leading a team and a pitcher out of a jam.
The best thing about Flair is that he's still only a year and a half removed from college. I expect him to be leg dropping onto his jacket for the next decade (or more in the case of pro wrestling).
Jeff Franks
LF/1B No. 30
RR, 6'1" 201 lbs.
Born 1946-03-25
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 SPO AAA | .349 | 58 | 229 | 42 | 80 | 15 | 6 | 7 | 44 | 27 | 20 | 13 |
| 1971 MIN MLB | .352 | 46 | 162 | 20 | 57 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 28 | 12 | 17 | 9 |
| 1972 MIN MLB | .276 | 94 | 352 | 63 | 97 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 50 | 33 | 45 | 22 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | .283 | 121 | 470 | 58 | 133 | 22 | 9 | 8 | 55 | 44 | 38 | 11 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
In his 3rd year in the majors the 27 year old Franks was given the starting LF job and he ran with it, at least until a torn quad ended his season on the last day of August. It's okay, he wasn't in line for any hardware anyway, just a very nice season. Because the season was with a team in the AL West cellar he spent most of the year hitting 2nd or 3rd; as the team improves, he'll likely move down in the order, but it wasn't the worst use of him: Franks finished 1st on the team in batting among qualified players (Matt Highfield was better but only had 300-odd at-bats), 3rd in runs, 4th in RBIs, and 3rd in hits, all in spite of missing 41 games.
Franks makes a lot out of his speed and so it'll be important to see if he still has that plus-plus level come spring training. He prefers the ball at around waist level but can work with an inside pitch as well as an outside one and has deceptive power if pitchers mess up and throw the ball over the middle. He still has a lot of the pedigree of a 1st round pick. You see the speed and the low K rate and ".300 hitter" is what comes to mind. Franks hasn't done that yet, at least not for a full major league seasob, but he's still young. One thing he didn't do that much of, given the speed, was actually steal all that much, just 11 steals in 17 attempts. The Twins' bench coach for 1973, Ben McPhatter, took after the previous guy and eschewed the stolen base for the most part. Word is, he'll have more of a free reign for 1974. The speed does not translate into outfield range, unfortunately, as Franks tries and is a pretty smart player but just doesn't get a great jump on the ball.
Ultimately, Jeff Franks is a guy you put in the lineup first and figure out what to do with later. You usually want your 2nd hitter to be a middle infielder type to break things up for your pinch hitters but who knows, maybe on this team that's the best spot for him anyway.
Daniel Gilmet
DH No. 21
RR, 6'0" 201 lbs.
Born 1937-12-26
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 MIN MLB | .300 | 84 | 333 | 38 | 100 | 16 | 2 | 2 | 19 | 24 | 25 | 14 |
| 1972 MIN MLB | .321 | 133 | 542 | 70 | 174 | 21 | 12 | 9 | 60 | 42 | 34 | 11 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | .265 | 103 | 407 | 42 | 108 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 40 | 35 | 39 | 4 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
The biggest knocks on Aloha Dan Gilmet the past few seasons were that he just doesn't have the range to play second base anymore and also he has a bad habit of getting hurt a lot. So a lot of people said that the new DH position was practically made for the 1963 AL MVP (.369/7/60, 47 steals, 93 runs scored). Things did not work out as hoped. For one, the injury bug returned, as Gilmet spent significant time on the DL with knee tendinitis and then a strained back. For another, when he did play, Gilmet was just not able to get on track. He hit just .250 in the month after returning from the knee issue an then just when he was looking like he was starting to pick things up in July (.292 for that month) he went down with te back injury and just didn't look the same after he returned.
Gilmet is no spring chicken but still has a lot of that speed he had in the prime of his career. He was just 4/11 on steals this year, which could just be bad luck or that bad back acting up on him again. Gilmet prefers getting a hold of balls inside at any height and muscling them around for line drives. Last year a lot of those turned into weak "fliners" or pop-ups. He's never hit for power and in fact the 15 HRs he's socked the last 2 seasons is alomost a third of his career total.
At this point it's probably about time to start tracking Gilmet's career numbers. He doesn't look like a HOF candidate just yet but if he can raise his average back up over .300 for a few seasons he could get over 2000 hits (he has 1801 now), maintain or at least keep close to a career .316 average that's the 14th highest of all time and 4th among active players, and, I don't know, eclipse 1000 runs (780 currently), maybe you could start to see it for a guy who played in his prime as a middle infielder.
Eddy Grant
RHP No. 14
RR, 5'10" 160 lbs.
Born 1948-08-16
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 SA AA | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 19.2 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 23 |
| 1971 TAC AAA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2.89 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 18.2 | 16 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 12 |
| 1971 CHC MLB | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13.88 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 11.2 | 19 | 18 | 18 | 9 | 11 |
| 1972 WIC AAA | 8 | 1 | 16 | 1.72 | 56 | 0 | 0 | 78.1 | 55 | 15 | 15 | 19 | 90 |
| 1972 CHC MLB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.64 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 14.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 13 |
| 1973 TAC AAA | 2 | 3 | 6 | 2.67 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 30.1 | 18 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 24 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3.01 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 50.2 | 57 | 22 | 17 | 22 | 33 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Grant came over along with Bill Lucas in the Mike Larsen trade and oh boy do the Twins have someone. The Guyanese-English reggae singer (I personally only know him for "Electric Avenue" but I know the man had a multi-decade music career) throws heeeeeeeeeat, probably the fastest fastball on a team with several hard throwers. Like lots of guys who throw nothing but gas, he can't keep it up for more than a couple of innings, and he didn't quite miss bats the way you'd expect a guy with that stuff to miss them, but the man managed to throw 81 innings of sub-3.00 ERA baseball between AAA and the major leagues.
Grant seems primed to become the team's stopper as the Twins work their way back into contention. He's still only 25 and he should still be "taking it higher" when this team is good again, even if that takes a few years.
Ernie Griffin
OF/DH No. 17
LL, 5'11" 200 lbs.
Born 1937-12-08
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 LAD MLB | .246 | 133 | 484 | 61 | 119 | 9 | 7 | 18 | 61 | 44 | 60 | 16 |
| 1972 MIN MLB | .217 | 118 | 387 | 56 | 84 | 3 | 7 | 16 | 43 | 51 | 54 | 6 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | .208 | 79 | 192 | 25 | 40 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 24 | 18 | 21 | 8 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Griffin, an 8 time All-Star and 1963 NL MVP (.319/32/101 with Philadelphia) was already not the same guy he used to be when the Dodgers pried 3B Robin Gibb out of the Twins in exchange for him in the winter of 1971. In his 2 seasons with the Twins he's looked completely done: 579 at-bats tota, 124 hits (a .214 average), 5 doubles, 10 triples, 25 HRs, and 67 RBIs. Why is he even still on the roster?
Griffin has 235 career HRs and still shows that pop when he arrives at the plate. He has a big uppercut to his swing but doesn't create as many whiffs with it as you might expect. He does create an awful lot of flyouts nowadays, which negates his speed, which is still pretty good for a guy of his age. Once on the bases he's still very much a threat to steal. On defense he can still play all three slots - this is a man with almost 8000 innings in center - decently.
The Twins can't be happy with this production and Griffin is unhappy both with the direction of the team and his smaller role. It's really, really hard to see him on the Opening Day Roster in 1974.
Walt Gurganus
LHP No. 28
LL, 6'3" 200 lbs.
Born 1944-04-16
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 SPO AAA | 9 | 14 | 0 | 3.62 | 27 | 27 | 5 | 196.0 | 192 | 93 | 79 | 77 | 80 |
| 1971 MIN MLB | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.08 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 8.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 |
| 1972 MIN MLB | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3.25 | 52 | 1 | 0 | 55.1 | 55 | 23 | 20 | 12 | 30 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.35 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 51.0 | 46 | 21 | 19 | 17 | 27 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Walt Gurganus managed to get into 43 games without actually impacting any game directly: no wins, no losses, no saves. I remember Rob Murphy doing a similar thing for the Mariners IRL in the early 90s and it was some kind of a record at the time (what are we talking about?) so this is probably a record too. Gurganus is a soft-tossing lefty specialist who had some weird reverse splits last year but let's not talk about that. Gurganus tries his best to hit corners with stuff that can be at best described as average.
Somehow this guy has thrown almost 100 games over the last 2 years and double-somehow he's been a pretty effective pitcher while doing so. He... has a role, that's the best I can say.
Ronnie Hellstrom
CF No. 2
RR, 6'0" 188 lbs.
Born 1949-02-21
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 EVA R | .333 | 3 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 1971 QUI A | .295 | 23 | 95 | 10 | 28 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 7 | 22 | 3 |
| 1971 SA AA | .295 | 28 | 95 | 8 | 28 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 28 | 7 |
| 1972 ORL AA | .286 | 23 | 91 | 14 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 12 | 5 |
| 1972 TAC AAA | .230 | 69 | 269 | 30 | 62 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 22 | 30 | 41 | 11 |
| 1972 MIN MLB | .304 | 64 | 257 | 43 | 78 | 12 | 2 | 10 | 23 | 24 | 43 | 8 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | .278 | 141 | 590 | 91 | 164 | 27 | 13 | 15 | 65 | 61 | 65 | 18 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
When you watch Hellstrom play in the field and you hear that he's a soccer player in his free time, you think "oh, he must be a striker like Pele". But no... for whatever reason the big Swede is a goalkeeper. The leaping and catching things we can see, at least. Hellstrome built on a solid second half in 1972 to take the CF job in late April and, really, he not only never looked back but one wonders why anyone else was ever considered for the job. He did hit just .156 in the spring so that's the immediate excuse. Hitting almost exclusively leadoff once he did establish himself, Hellstrom finished 3rd in the league in triples, 7th in runs, and somehow, even, 8th in intentional walks (8): pitchers were so afraid of facing him (or happy to face the #2 guy) that they actually chose to put Hellstrom on base.
In spite of all the triples, Hellstrom isn't the fastest guy on the team - that's Jeff Franks - and so could move down slightly in the order. On the other hand, he was 18/24 on steals in spite of a generally cautious approach on the bases by the Twins last season so that could explode a bit. Hellstrom has a lot of pop for a center fielder and when pitchers miss just a little bit, line drives spring off of his bat. It's also encouraging to see his W/K rate move to almost even last year after being 24/43 his rookie year. He did hit for a bit lower of an average in the full season and .280 might be closer to his actual level than .300. Hellstrom can lay down a bunt, although why you'd want him to sacrifice at this point in his career is beyond me, and he can also use the play to generate base hits. Hellstrom's a good enough fielder to probably win a Gold Glove or five in his career. He's got the rep for having a popgun arm but runners last year found out the hard way that it's deceptive - 18 outfield assists.
Wherever the Swedish National Team chooses to put him, Hellstrom clearly has a long and bright future ahead of him covering acres and acres of ground in the field and making opposing outfielders run all over the place to track down his hits.
Matt Highfield
3B/2B No. 4
RR, 6'0" 190 lbs.
Born 1947-03-22
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 REA AA | .313 | 128 | 485 | 60 | 152 | 29 | 3 | 5 | 50 | 57 | 27 | 2 |
| 1971 EUG AAA | .182 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1972 EUG AAA | .221 | 58 | 131 | 10 | 29 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 13 | 9 | 0 |
| 1972 PHI MLB | .303 | 78 | 274 | 33 | 83 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 28 | 20 | 26 | 0 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | .304 | 113 | 378 | 38 | 115 | 24 | 4 | 3 | 48 | 28 | 24 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
The Twins got Highfield back in the Mike Brookes trade and kept the 2nd year player on the roster for the whole season. They've got to be pleased with the result. In the first half he mostly backed up and filled in at both 2nd and 3rd and following a .400 June that saw his average climb into the 290s, they gave him the starting 3B job through the end of the year. Highfield wound up leading the team in hitting and finished 4th in hits and 2nd in doubles in spite of a fairly truncated season.
Highfield is one of the best players in all of baseball at avoiding strikeouts. Only Brian Jackson of the Pirates and A's (5.3%) whiffed at a lower rate (5.8%) among all players with 400+ at-bats. When you make contact that much, it's a virtual lock that you'll hit .300 and Highfield has indeed been over that mark for each of his 2 years in the league now. His style does mean he gets line drives instead of long drives off his bat, and he also just doesn't last long enough in his plate appearance to draw all that many walks. These are minor issues though with a guy who does all this and he does have *occasional* power, as demonstrated by the 2-out, game-breaking grand slam he hit in a 12-4 win over the A's on September 20th.
Highfield is no real threat to run and will only leg out the triple when he knows it's there. In the field, he's got a gun for an arm that's pretty well the sum of his abilities: his hands can be a little stone-y at times - he committed 16 errors at third for a .933 fielding average - and even though he did make 13 starts at 2nd base lat year he doesn't seem very well suited for the position. On the other hand, he did win a minor league Gold Glove in left field so if a position change is in his future all that might change.
Highfield batted 7th for most of the season but will surely be hitting higher in the order in 1974. You just can't escape that contact tool. Given Mike Brookes' struggles last year it's clear that with the return of Highfield alone the Twins won this trade.
Angelo Martinez
1B No. 41
LL, 6'1" 201 lbs.
Born 1936-01-13
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 MIN MLB | .268 | 154 | 616 | 86 | 165 | 24 | 2 | 23 | 91 | 74 | 90 | 1 |
| 1972 MIN MLB | .251 | 149 | 561 | 72 | 141 | 26 | 1 | 36 | 98 | 71 | 95 | 1 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | .253 | 151 | 554 | 80 | 140 | 23 | 3 | 26 | 97 | 73 | 81 | 12 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
As Angelo Martinez gets into his late 30s, his value to this team becomes more symbolic than direct. This isn't to say he isn't still a really good player - he just missed out on 100 RBIs and finished in the top 10 in HRs (4th) for the 12th time in 13 years. Martinez did suffer a real power outage with just 4 HRs from August 1 to the end of the season, and the Twins hope that's just your regular, garden variety power-hitter streaking and slumping and not a sign of things to come.
Martinez defies the slugging first baseman stereotype by hitting to all fields. He hits everything into the air so in spite of okay speed and a not-terrible contact tool he doesn't hit for a high average anymore but he's very much still a superstar and pitchers know it. I've got no idea how he managed to steal 12 bases (in 20 tries) after years of stealing 5 or less but hey, old dog, new tricks, etc. Martinez could probably serve his team best as a DH at this point in his career and perhaps if Aloha Dan doesn't come back that's what they'll do. Never a particularly rangey 1B, Martinez might actually have the worst 1B range in the AL now.
Martinez is currently 5th all-time in HRs with 439. He should pass the now-retired Matthew Levario to scooch up into 4th but beyond that the 3 guys left ahead of him are all active players, so "4th best HR hitter of all time" might be where we have to leave things. Another close-to-100 RBI season would also put him (1,497 in his career) ahead of David Decker (1,522) and Fernando Rocha (1,571) to be behind just The Hammer Henry Riggs (1,617) on the big list. Let's hope this man's career keeps going for a few years but one thing's clear: when it ends, this man's a Hall of Famer.
Marty Mendel
2B/SS No. 37
RR, 5'9" 193 lbs.
Born 1943-10-16
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 MIN MLB | .244 | 94 | 275 | 28 | 67 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 34 | 32 | 37 | 1 |
| 1972 MIN MLB | .167 | 22 | 54 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 10 | 0 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | .249 | 94 | 217 | 24 | 54 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 18 | 23 | 11 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
If you were a delusional Twins fan, you could have seen the up-the-middle combination of Justin Ramey and Marty Mendal and thought that this was the ticket back to respectability. Mendel was the team's shortstop during their heyday and although he's lost a lot of range since 1970 he's still a decent choice at second base.... except that he missed almost all of 1972 and he didn't hit particularly well in 1971 either. In 1973 he did come back... but he basically only hit at his '71 levels and as it turns out that was not enough.
Mendel's always been mostly a singles hitter but during his prime years he was pesky enough to work a few doubles (23 in 1970) and/or draw a few annoying walks (46 in 1969). That coupled with an average in the .250s or .260s was... I won't say great but it did OK for a shortstop. The last year years though he's fairly lost any semblance of power that he once had and so pitchers just throw him hard stuff over the heart of the plate knowing that he'll just ground it to shortstop. He stole a career high 11 bases last year but don't let that fool you: Marty Mendal is not a speed guy by any means, he just knows the pitchers around the league well enough to coax out a quick and dirty steal every now and then. Defensively his arm is a second baseman's arm; otherwise, he'd still be a decent enough shortstop. The fact that the Twins never fully switched Justin Ramey out with him last year in spite of Ramey's troubles at the plate shows how little they think of his defense at the position.
Justin Ramey's well liked in the clubhouse, which is one reason to keep him. A better reason would be positive contributions at the plate and in the field and from that standpoint he's a bit lacking.
Jeff Milligan
3B/IF No. 9
RR, 5'12" 194 lbs.
Born 1948-06-03
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 WR A | .233 | 8 | 30 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| 1971 ORL AA | .241 | 43 | 141 | 13 | 34 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 23 | 19 | 36 | 0 |
| 1972 ORA A | .273 | 36 | 139 | 20 | 38 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 17 | 19 | 27 | 1 |
| 1972 ORL AA | .215 | 93 | 311 | 42 | 67 | 4 | 0 | 13 | 42 | 60 | 35 | 1 |
| 1973 TAC AAA | .292 | 60 | 192 | 26 | 56 | 10 | 0 | 11 | 32 | 15 | 31 | 0 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | .185 | 42 | 130 | 10 | 24 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 34 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
If I were Jeff Milligan I'd be pretty angry at myself. The 25 year old 5 year minor league veteran turned in a solid enough first half to get a call-up along with Massimo D'Alema. Unlike D'Alema, though, Milligan got a chance to play full-time in July and just straight up didn't hit, putting in a .176/1/8 month in 24 starts. From that point on he did remain on the roster as a utility backup but only got into 10 games from August 10 onward.
After flashing decent power and good contact in the minors, Milligan looked completely overmatched by big league pitching, especially breaking pitches. His power completely abandoned him and he struck out in almost a third of his at-bats. If he can find the hit and power tools Milligan would be a useful utlity player with some ability to play all 4 infield spots as well as left and right field. He's got zero foot speed as a baserunner and even though he's got good range afield, that range seems to come from a natural knack of knowing where the ball will go.
One big minus for Milligan is that there are rumors floating about that he was a negative presence in the locker room. The Twins aren't necessarily a team ruled by vibes but sometimes a few bad apples can indeed spoil the whole bunch, hence that stupid song from a couple years ago.
Ergot Newman
LHP No. 7
LL, 5'11" 161 lbs.
Born 1949-05-12
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 CLI A | 15 | 6 | 0 | 2.73 | 26 | 26 | 16 | 214.0 | 198 | 72 | 65 | 79 | 191 |
| 1971 MGM AA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.70 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 16.2 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 10 |
| 1972 MGM AA | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1.95 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 73.2 | 64 | 17 | 16 | 22 | 41 |
| 1972 TOL AAA | 9 | 8 | 0 | 3.86 | 22 | 22 | 4 | 153.2 | 137 | 68 | 66 | 55 | 112 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | 7 | 16 | 0 | 3.56 | 33 | 33 | 7 | 232.0 | 217 | 98 | 92 | 73 | 145 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Ergot Newman, the #58 prospect in all of baseball at the end of last season, was what the Twins got back for their ace Chris Benavides. He dropped right smack into the rotation and although he's always going to draw unfair comparisons due to the nature of that move (which, let's face it, was more of a salary dump than a real "challenge" trade), Newman put together a solid rookie campaign marred only by his team's inability to score runs for him. He ran really hot and cold on the year, as youngsters are wont to do sometimes, going from winning the AL Rookie of the Month mark for April with a 2-1, 1.40 record to a 0-2, 5.65 mark in June (where he was lucky to get 4 no-decisions), followed by a 3-2, 2.35 July and an 0-3, 4.91 August.
When he's on, Newman has a nasty curveball lefthanders find impossible to hit. He did have some issues spotting it last year. If he can't locate it, Newman's left trying to place a high-80s fastball and an only-decent sinker and slider over for strikes. His K rate should improve as he gets better at getting the curve over the plate, and honestly overall he did a pretty decent job of avoiding walks as it was. Although Newman once completed 16 out of 26 starts in A ball, he's not a guy who can give you 150 pitches without issue; even the 7 CGs in 33 starts last year came primarily because the Twins needed him to work longer. He's got a good pickoff move although turmoil at catcher meant that runners were still 12/19 on him last year.
I don't know that I want to crown Newman the "ace" but if you had to name a guy I guess he'd be it.
Bill Lucas
RHP No. 11
LR, 6'3" 194 lbs.
Born 1937-09-14
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 CHC MLB | 8 | 15 | 0 | 5.17 | 31 | 31 | 4 | 196.2 | 216 | 129 | 113 | 94 | 104 |
| 1972 CHC MLB | 17 | 10 | 0 | 3.84 | 34 | 34 | 10 | 250.1 | 241 | 114 | 107 | 107 | 112 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | 11 | 13 | 0 | 4.44 | 34 | 29 | 7 | 202.1 | 217 | 113 | 100 | 84 | 96 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Nobody started more games or threw more innings than Bill Lucas did in 1969 and 1970 - 77 starts, 551.2 IP - and the verdict has been that that was the death knell for the right hander out of Farragut, Tennessee's arm. He did have a pretty decent comeback year in 1972 that led the Twins to decide to bring him in in exchange for Mike Larsen (the Twins also received pitching prospect Adrian Nastase and relief pitcher Eddy Grant). Last year Lucas... spent most of the year in the rotation. He wasn't very good when he was in there and his best month came in September when the team looked at youth and had him come out of the bullpen in middle relief. All in all Lucas had a 4.50 ERA as a starter and a 2.84 in relief.
On paper at least Lucas is at this point in his career the kind of "kitchen sink" pitcher who should be most successful when he has 6 or more innings to fool batters. On the other hand he throws so hard over to the sidearm end of the spectrum that sometimes his hand scrapes the ground, and that did have the effect of a 57 point split in batting average (.251 vs RHBs, .308 vs lefties) His K rate actually ticked slightly upwards last yer in spite of his age and the overall downward trend in the league. He still has some pop on that fastball although it comes in pretty straight. Lucas will still go out and complete every game he pitches if you let him but you really shouldn't let him. The HR issue that plagued him in Wrigley Field was maybe juuust a touch less of an issue in Metropolitan Stadium: he allowed 23 HRs last year, which is still kind of a lot, but it's not the 30+ he gave up every year from 69-72.
Lucas is nearing the end of his career and doesn't have any milestones to hit as a career 128-121 guy. A move to the bullpen could help, although this is not an era where right-handers can necessarily take big advantage of platoon splits. As such, he'll pitch wherever the Twins need him to.
Svetislav Pesic
RHP No. 93
RR, 6'5" 186 lbs.
Born 1949-08-28
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 QUI A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20.25 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 1971 SA AA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.14 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 1971 TAC AAA | 2 | 5 | 8 | 4.64 | 27 | 6 | 0 | 64.0 | 71 | 35 | 33 | 36 | 13 |
| 1972 TAC AAA | 15 | 12 | 0 | 2.03 | 31 | 31 | 8 | 243.0 | 150 | 62 | 55 | 94 | 100 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | 14 | 13 | 0 | 3.22 | 33 | 30 | 6 | 212.0 | 211 | 88 | 76 | 80 | 101 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
In 1973 the 24 year old Serbian basketball player achieved the remarkable feat of ending the year with a winning record, and he did so in spite of opening the year pretty, pretty bad: 1-2, 5.29 in April thanks in large part to a blowout loss in New York where he allowed 5 runs in 1.2 IP to the hated Yankees. Briefly banished to the bullpen in May, he figured things out pretty well after that and saved his best month for last with a 3-2, 1.17 September. Ergot Newman got more press, and perhaps he should have given his ability, but Pesic quietly outperformed him in terms of both wins and ERA.
Pesic throws a lot of pitches, more than you'd expect given his natural velocity which hits the low to mid 90s. He hasn't been that great at getting hitters to miss any of them and so even as a 24 year old he has to nibble at the plate. Fortunately for the Twins he was able to improve on a kind of bad 100/94 K/W ratio in spite of moving from the minors to the majors last year. One thing Pesic does do well is keep the ball down. He allowed only 11 HRs and Metropolitan Stadium does at least have the reputation of being something of a HR yard. He actually was underwater away from home in terms of the walk-to-strikeout ratio (41 Ks vs 43 BBs on the road compared to 60/37 at home); perhaps as he gets older and the allure of exploring all those new cities wears off, he'll be able to concentrate better when away from home.
Pesic looks like a future middle of the rotation starter - well, let's be honest, he looks like a current and future basketball player. It's hard to see him allowing a .178 OBA the way he did in AAA Tacoma in 1972 in the major leagues but hey, weirder things have happened I guess. To do that in the major leagues he'll have to find a lot more movement on his pitches.
Justin Ramey
SS/2B No. 26
RR, 6'1" 199 lbs.
Born 1939-05-24
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 MIN MLB | .263 | 32 | 99 | 11 | 26 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 17 | 1 |
| 1971 MIL MLB | .246 | 13 | 57 | 12 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 0 |
| 1971 TEX MLB | .222 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 1972 MIN MLB | .247 | 139 | 493 | 55 | 122 | 17 | 1 | 10 | 49 | 69 | 86 | 13 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | .200 | 133 | 400 | 44 | 80 | 9 | 1 | 9 | 35 | 48 | 78 | 6 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Justin Ramey dropped below the Timonen Line on June 6th and never really crept back over it. His bat speed has slowed way down over the years and while he still has a decent amount of pop, he simply can't get around on fastballs like he was once able to. This year he had a 3 month run during the summer where he went .167 in June (13-78), .154 in July (12-78), and .200 in August (13-65). Got to like the 13-hit consistency, I guess...
Although the .240 career average doesn't really show it, Ramey has always prided himself on being a pretty good hitter for a shortstop, here as well as in Cleveland and Washington. He's got a decent eye that in seasons past has carried him to draw as many as 74 walks and post a .375 on-base percentage. This year he was still able to foul off enough pitches and coax a decent amount of walks but nothing is going to lift a .200 batting average all that high. Ramey's still a good shortstop with an excellent sense of the pivot on double plays and really solid range for a man his age. He's a decent stolen base threat, or at least he would be if he got on base anymore, and he'll do the "little things" that you hope that a guy at the bottom of the lineup will do for you.
It's entirely possible - in fact I'd give the odds for it - that Ramey is pretty well done. Still, the Twins don't have a lot of other options at shortstop and so he might still open the year as their guy here. If this does turn out to be it, it was a fine career, nowhere near the Hall of Fame of course, and I suspect in future years people will scoff at the 1,0002 career hits and ask what exactly we are looking at, but he did a job well for a decade.
Brad Reed
C No. 3
RR, 6'3" 200 lbs.
Born 1941-06-09
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 MIN MLB | .239 | 118 | 398 | 41 | 95 | 18 | 2 | 12 | 54 | 55 | 85 | 0 |
| 1972 MIN MLB | .216 | 118 | 379 | 35 | 82 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 47 | 49 | 82 | 0 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | .205 | 81 | 190 | 20 | 39 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 24 | 20 | 42 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Once upon a time, Brad Reed was a meh defensive catcher who was named to 3 All-Star Games thanks to a plus hit tool. It's now been a full 3 years since Reed has hit for average and at this point it's probably safe to assume that that part of his game isn't coming back. 1973 marked a new career low in average as the strikeouts really began to add up. Reed has league average power, which is well above average for a catcher, but he just can't make consistent contact with the inside fastball enough to scare pitchers off of using it. He's slow on the basepaths and will only take an extra base when he's got it for sure. He's not a terrible catcher defensively but he'll never be confused with a Gold Glover either.
With 25 year old Avery Brooks (.121/0/2 in 66 MLB at-bats) on the horizon, it's clear that Reed's days with the Twins are numbered. Thanks to the 2 pennants and the WS title, he'll always be on the team's ring of honor.
Ricky Rosas
RHP No. 38
RR, 6'1" 184 lbs.
Born 1942-11-02
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 CIN MLB | 7 | 13 | 9 | 4.93 | 47 | 9 | 0 | 107.2 | 106 | 62 | 59 | 55 | 80 |
| 1972 MIN MLB | 7 | 7 | 3 | 4.80 | 48 | 0 | 0 | 63.2 | 64 | 39 | 34 | 31 | 53 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | 5 | 14 | 17 | 5.16 | 51 | 12 | 3 | 130.2 | 140 | 81 | 75 | 49 | 108 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Ricky Rosas is a real "feast or famine" type stopper who saved 31 games for Cincinnati in their miracle run in 1970. Unfortunately in the years since then he's been increasingly... hitters' feast? and in 1973 he was just plain bad. Rosas opened the year in the rotation, only to be moved out of it following a 2-3, 5.65 May. He regained the team's closer role by the 2nd half and had an awful July (0-1, 7.11, 5/6 Sv), a passable August (0-4, 4.24, 7/9 Sv), and a miserable September (1-2, 9.00, 5/7 Sv) that throws his future with the team into doubt. Largely because of the last-season blowups, Rosas actually ended the season better as a starter (4-7, 4.88) than as a reliever (1-7, 5.56).
Roses has a nasty slider and a good fastball with a bit of hop to it. When he starts he also mixes in a curve and a change to varying degrees of effectiveness. Last year he left the fastball over the plate an awwwful lot - *21* HRs allowed in 130.2 IP - and that really killed a lot of the success he had otherwise, including 7.4 K/9. Rosas has actually struck out more men than IPs in the past, which in this era is absolute smoke. Although he doesn't possess great stamina he did manage to ocmplete 3 of the 12 games he started last year. He's a decent fielder who doesn't fall off the mound the way a lot of harder throwers with so much movement do.
Ricky Rosas is a big pile of inconsistencies. He can be absolutely lights-out dominant at times but then he can also pick up a flash strikeout and then leave the ball over the plate for a big 3 run HR (to his credit or to his stats' detriment, Rosas allowed a pretty normal 12 of 35 inherited runners to score). On paper he looks like the ideal guy to put out there when the game is on the line. In practice, he's how you get to 92 losses.
Santiago Serrano
LHP No. 32
LL, 5'11" 173 lbs.
Born 1947-06-12
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 SPO AAA | 9 | 11 | 0 | 3.27 | 30 | 30 | 0 | 198.0 | 145 | 82 | 72 | 115 | 132 |
| 1971 MIN MLB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.84 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 12.2 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 10 |
| 1972 TAC AAA | 12 | 3 | 0 | 1.53 | 22 | 22 | 5 | 170.0 | 93 | 33 | 29 | 59 | 111 |
| 1972 MIN MLB | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3.13 | 14 | 7 | 1 | 57.1 | 42 | 20 | 20 | 33 | 44 |
| 1973 TAC AAA | 10 | 5 | 0 | 2.48 | 16 | 16 | 1 | 105.0 | 108 | 33 | 29 | 23 | 77 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3.32 | 19 | 19 | 4 | 130.0 | 117 | 53 | 48 | 42 | 86 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Serrano's been around for-EV-er. Signed all the way back in 1964, he was a mid-level prospect in the 60s who both never was able to break through on some contending Twins teams nor was ever sent out via trade. As such, a full decade into hs pro career, Serrano still has a grand total of 200 IP and 27 starts to date. Last year he had an excellent first half in AAA Tacoma that pushed him into the big leagues, hopefully for good. ONce there, he was as good as anyone else in the rotation once he got his feet under him.
Serrano throws five pitches, all of which have some really good stuff. In fact, maybe he suffers from a wealth of riches. His fastball breaks away from same-handed hitters but his real out pitch - out pitches -are a knee-buckling curve, a great change of pace, and a split finger fastball (just to make things more confusing, Serrano also throws a classic forkball). He did well to generate Ks and held opponents to a .241 average last year. He doesn't really have a great stamina but also doesn't really have the temperament to flip between starting and relieving as needs must. Serrano will get frustrated when he's not given a set role to fill.
In 1974 at least that role should be pretty clear: the Twins need starters and Serrano can fill the bill.
Jose Villasenor
OF No. 12
LL, 5'11" 200 lbs.
Born 1945-11-14
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 MIN MLB | .306 | 153 | 654 | 78 | 200 | 30 | 3 | 16 | 65 | 47 | 87 | 7 |
| 1972 MIN MLB | .208 | 104 | 384 | 24 | 80 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 24 | 30 | 68 | 7 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | .278 | 119 | 345 | 36 | 96 | 12 | 2 | 6 | 30 | 25 | 61 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Jose Villasenor, the 1971 AL leader in hits, recovered well enough from an absolutely disastrous 1972 season but at this point the bloom is off the rose for the Twins regarding the still-only-27 year old. He was hitting .278 at the end of June but Minnesota considered other options, using him primarily as a backup outfielder (he played games in all 3 slots last year) and pinch-hitter before the Jeff Franks injury necessatitated using him full-time in September. For his part, Villasenor slashed 312/366/376 that month, which should at least give him a good send-off for whoever takes him off the Twins' hands.
Even in 1981 Villasenor had an issue with strikeouts that was only a little papered over by hitting balls in between people a lot. He's adept at hitting to all fields when he does make contact but the Ks do and will limit that average. Villasenor had good pop in the 2 seasons preceding the 16 HR output in 1971 and you'd expect that at least to return if he manages to keep a full time role. He's got average speed at best. He's not really a guy you necesarily want in center a lot but he showed last year that he can fill in there every now and then and he's an average to above average guy at the other two outfield spots.
It's really hard to see where Villasenor plays if he returns next year and he's only just now entering his prime so it's hard to see him stay given the packed Twins outfield. Wherever he goes it seems doubtful he'll lead the league in htis again but he should be a decent .280s hitter with 15 HR power. There are worse players out there who have full-time jobs.
Gilles Villeneuve
RF/DH No. 20
RR, 6'0" 179 lbs.
Born 1950-01-18
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 MOD A | .319 | 53 | 182 | 20 | 58 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 25 | 22 | 1 |
| 1971 CR A | .274 | 47 | 168 | 21 | 46 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 26 | 21 | 24 | 1 |
| 1971 ARK AA | .300 | 34 | 130 | 10 | 39 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 21 | 11 | 13 | 1 |
| 1971 TUL AAA | .308 | 3 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1972 TUL AAA | .351 | 67 | 242 | 35 | 85 | 12 | 1 | 12 | 44 | 28 | 35 | 3 |
| 1972 STL MLB | .259 | 56 | 189 | 18 | 49 | 15 | 1 | 4 | 18 | 22 | 19 | 0 |
| 1973 MIN MLB | .287 | 111 | 380 | 46 | 109 | 20 | 5 | 8 | 56 | 46 | 43 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Villeneuve is one of several young race car drivers / baseball players in this league and when the sun sets on all of them he might be the best... at least at baseball. Taken back from the Cardinals as the primary piece in the trade that sent stopper Travis Livingston that way, Villeneuve mostly served as a 4th or 5th outfielder for the first 3 months of the season before being given the full-time job in right field at the end of June. Once installed, he showed why he was a 2 time player in the Futures Game (1970 and 1971). He would have led the team in on-base percentage (.360) had he qualified and as it was he finished in the team's top 5 in hits (5th), RBIs (3rd), runs (4th), doubles (5th), triples (3rd), and walks (4th).
Villeneuve is still learning how to hit but already he's shown a pretty nice ability to hit for contact and, with it, average. He struck out barely over once every 10 at-bats last year, which is nice even for the era. In spite of concentrating on line drives into the gaps, Villeneuve has surprising HR power. He didn't even attempt a steal and isn't nearly as fluid on the basepaths as his 2 projected starting OF teammates. He doesn't understand how balls fly off the bat and doesn't seem to care all that much, which limits his range, although there are guys with worse arms in right.
I predict a 20 YEAR CAREER for Gilles Villeneuve and will hear no counter argument that it has to stop in May of 1982. What are you even talking about?