twins/mlb
Joe Christensen, the Star Tribune's national baseball reporter, has covered the big leagues since 1998. A Faribault native, he graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1996. Before working for the Star Tribune, he spent three years covering the Orioles for the Baltimore Sun. He also covered the Padres and Dodgers for newspapers in Southern California. He'll share his thoughts here on the Twins and all things baseball.
Posts about Twins offense
Twins add eight to 40-man roster, including Gibson and Hicks
Posted by: Joe Christensen Updated: November 20, 2012 - 4:32 PM
The Twins added two former first-round draft picks to their 40-man roster Tuesday, in Kyle Gibson and Aaron Hicks, with plans to bring each to spring training next year.
Tuesday was the deadline for teams to add players to the 40-man, protecting those eligible from the Dec. 6 Rule 5 draft. Beyond Gibson and Hicks, the Twins added six others: catcher Josmil Pinto, shortstop Daniel Santana, starting pitcher B.J. Hermsen and relievers Michael Tonkin, Caleb Thielbar and Tim Wood.
The 40-man roster is now full.
Gibson, 25, the No. 22 overall pick in the 2009 draft, will be competing for a spot in the Opening Day rotation. He had Tommy John ligament-replacement surgery on his right elbow Sept. 7, 2011, but proved he was healthy by going 3-2 with a 5.40 ERA in the Arizona Fall League.
Hicks, 23, was the No. 14 overall pick in the 2008 draft. He probably won’t start next April with the big league club, but he’ll be a prime candidate for a mid-season promotion. He’s a well-polished center fielder and a switch-hitter, who batted .286 with 13 home runs, 32 stolen bases and an .844 OPS (on-base-plus-slugging percentage) last year at Class AA New Britain.
Santana, 22, batted .286 with eight home runs, 17 stolen bases and a .739 OPS at Class A Fort Myers.
Pinto, 23, batted .295 with 14 home runs and an .844 OPS in 105 games between Class A and Class AA.
Hermsen, 22, the team’s minor-league pitcher of the year, opened the season at Fort Myers and wound up going 11-6 with a 3.22 ERA in 22 starts for Class AA New Britain.
Tonkin, 23, who is the brother-in-law of former Twins outfielder Jason Kubel, racked up 97 strikeouts this year in 69 1/3 innings between Class A Beloit and Class A Fort Myers.
Thielbar, 25, a lefthander who pitched for the St. Paul Saints in 2011, climbed quickly through the Twins minor-league system this year and posted a 3.57 ERA in 25 appearances for Class AAA Rochester.
Wood, 30, who signed a minor-league deal with the Twins earlier this month, posted a 2.19 ERA with 21 saves for Class AAA Indianapolis (Pirates).
MINOR LEAGUE SIGNEES
The Twins also announced 10 players who’ve been signed to minor-league deals with invitations to big league camp: pitchers Samuel Deduno, Shairon Martis, Luis Perdomo, Esmerling Vasquez and P.J. Walters; outfielders Brian Dinkleman and Wilkin Ramirez; infielders James Beresford and Deibinson Romero and catcher Eric Fryer.
Willingham wins Silver Slugger Award
Posted by: Joe Christensen Updated: November 8, 2012 - 6:39 PMTwins left fielder Josh Willingham won his first career Silver Slugger Award on Thursday, an honor that goes to the best offensive players at each position.
Managers and coaches voted Willingham, Josh Hamilton and Mike Trout as the three top offensive performers among American League outfielders. In his first year with the Twins, Willingham batted .260 with 35 home runs, 110 RBI and an .890 OPS (on-base-plus slugging percentage).
Other AL Silver Slugger Awards went to A.J. Pierzynski (catcher), Prince Fielder (first base), Robinson Cano (second base), Miguel Cabrera (third base), Derek Jeter (shortstop) and Billy Butler (DH).
Orioles claim Alexi Casilla off waivers; Twins claim two from Rockies; Deduno taken off 40-man roster
Posted by: Joe Christensen Updated: November 2, 2012 - 4:25 PMFriday has been a busy day on the waiver wire for the Twins.
The Orioles claimed infielder Alexi Casilla, and the Twins claimed two players from the Rockies -- reliever Josh Roenicke and shortstop Tommy Field. Also, the Twins took starting pitcher Samuel Deduno off their 40-man roster and assigned him to Class AAA Rochester.
Deduno has the right to accept that assignment or become a free agent. Deduno went 6-5 with a 4.44 ERA in 15 starts this year, so the move was a little surprising.
Update: I spoke to Deduno's agent, Paul Kinzer, who said Deduno is weighing his options right now but probably will re-sign with the Twins on a minor-league deal.
The Twins were expected to non-tender Casilla this offseason rather than give him another raise from his $1.38 million salary through arbitration. He batted .250 with a .305 on-base percentage in seven years with the Twins, though he will always be remembered for delivering the game-winning hit in their Game 163 victory over the Tigers in 2009.
Casilla, 28, became expendable when the Twins traded Francisco Liriano to the White Sox in a deal that brought utility infielder Eduardo Escobar. Jamey Carroll also can play multiple infield positions, and the Twins have two young shortstops they like in Pedro Florimon and Brian Dozier.
Now, Field has been added to the mix. The 25-year-old played two games for the Rockies this year and batted .246 with a .715 OPS last year at Class AAA Colorado Springs.
Roenicke, 30, the son of former Orioles outfielder Gary Roenicke and nephew of Brewers manager Ron Roenicke, posted a 3.25 ERA in 63 appearances for the Rockies last year. He had 54 strikeouts and 43 walks in 88 2/3 innings and his fastball averaged 92.3 mph, according to Fangraphs.com.
Update: It doesn't sound like the Twins will re-sign Scott Baker before the free agent market opens at 11 p.m. At that point, other teams will be able to bid. At this point, Baker might need to see what offers are out there before deciding if it's best to remain in Minnesota or move on.
Willingham named Twins MVP
Posted by: Joe Christensen Updated: October 30, 2012 - 3:34 PMThe Twins announced their 2012 Diamond Award winners today, as voted on by local members of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Team MVP: Josh Willingham
Pitcher of the year: Scott Diamond
Rookie of the year: Scott Diamond
Most improved: Ben Revere
Determination and leadership: Justin Morneau
Media good guy: Glen Perkins
Defensive player of the year: Ben Revere
Upper Midwest player of the year: Joe Mauer
The annual Diamond Awards dinner, with proceeds benefiting neurological research at the University of Minnesota, will be held Jan. 24 at Target Field.
A walk down memory lane with Tony O.
Posted by: Joe Christensen Updated: October 12, 2012 - 2:12 PMWith the regular season winding down, and Miguel Cabrera closing in on baseball’s first Triple Crown in 45 years, I saw Tony Oliva at Target Field and asked the Twins legend what he remembers about that magical season for Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.
“Forget about ‘67,” Oliva said, with a chuckle. “What about ‘66?”
“I don’t want to hear about ‘67,” Oliva said. “I put that out of my brain when we lost. We went to Boston to win one game, and we lost both.”
Yes, this was Boston’s Impossible Dream. One of the most famous pennant races in baseball history. Four teams slugging it out through the late summer -- Twins, Red Sox, Tigers and White Sox. The Twins entered a season-ending two-game series at Fenway Park, needing just one win, but Yastrzemski helped give Boston a sweep and the American League pennant.
Yastrzemski batted .326 with 44 home runs and 121 RBI. Harmon Killebrew also hit 44 home runs, but Yaz still gets credit for the Triple Crown.
“I think that was one of those dream years, when everything went perfect,” Oliva said.
But what about ‘66? Baseball had a Triple Crown winner that year, too, when Baltimore’s Frank Robinson batted .316 with 49 and 122 RBI.
Robinson ran away with the home run title (Killebrew was second with 39) and RBI title (Killebrew was second with 110). The biggest obstacle between Robinson and the Triple Crown was Tony O., who was a two-time reigning AL batting champ after batting .323 as a rookie in ‘64 and .321 in helping the Twins win the pennant in ‘65.
A check on Baseball-Reference.com, shows that Oliva went 4-for-4 on Sept. 11, in an 11-6 win over Robinson’s Orioles at Met Stadium. Oliva was batting .320, and Robinson was at .313 with three weeks remaining.
Oliva, now 74, said he got into a fender bender and suffered whiplash sometime right around then. Though he didn’t miss a game, his success waned. He finished the year batting .307 and tipped his hat to Robinson, the league’s MVP.
“Cabrera reminds me of Frank Robinson because Robinson was a righthanded hitter, and if you pitched him away, he could hit it out of the ballpark to right field,” Oliva said. “Cabrera is a dangerous hitter like that because you can’t pitch him inside or outside.”
No doubt, and looking back, you realize that facing Tony O. was no picnic for an opposing pitcher, either.
Postgame: Twins put it all together -- for one night, at least
Posted by: Joe Christensen Updated: July 27, 2012 - 11:39 PMThe Twins played their most complete game of the season in Friday night’s 11-0 victory over Cleveland.
Pitching? Scott Diamond delivered the team’s second complete game of the season and first of his career. It was a three-hit shutout with no walks and six strikeouts.
He said he’s learned a lot from Carl Pavano, who had 10 complete games for the Twins over the previous two seasons.
“I owe it all to him,” Diamond said. “He’s really helped me get to a mental state that’s helped me get through the games, especially when I’m in trouble and what can get me out of the inning.”
Offense? The Twins got three-run homers from Justin Morneau and Josh Willingham and finished with 15 hits.
They scored their first eight runs with two outs. After batting .140 (7-for-50) with runners in scoring position during their last road trip, they went 7-for-14 in those situations against Cleveland.
“That’s some of the things that really let us down in Chicago,” Manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We put a lot of men on the bases in Chicago and didn’t come up with anything. It starts with the big guys. When they put it in the seats, it makes it look pretty easy.”
Defense? Shortstop Brian Dozier and second baseman Alexi Casilla combined to make three terrific plays, turning would-be hits into outs.
“If we could play like that every day, we’d be alright,” Morneau said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Post By Category
ADVERTISEMENT
inside the StarTribune
-
425 Portland Av. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55488
(612) 673-4000
- Company
- Subscriber Services
- Website
- Buy Ads
- Store
- Connect with Us
© 2013 StarTribune. All rights reserved.
StarTribune.com is powered by Limelight Networks
Newspaper Subscriptions
eEdition
RSS
Newsletters