Tony, the Killer, and Carew

November 25-December 1

Four Twins were born on November 30, with a total of five birthdays this week. Two of them were key relievers on the 1987 World Series team.

November 30, 1954
Juan Berenguer - I have to admit that Berenguer is one of my favorites, mainly for being the focus of one of the most spectacularly horrible music videos of all time. I’m not going to lie, I had my VHS copy. Berenguer pitched out of the bullpen for the Twins from 1987-1990. His best season was probably his last in a Twins’ uniform, but his most memorable season came in 1987. He just missed the cut on my all time Twins 25 man roster.

November 30, 1956
Dave Engle - catcher for the Twins, mostly a backup, from 1980 to 1985. He originally came to the Twins as a part of the trade that sent Rod Carew to California.

November 30, 1962
Gary Wayne - lefty out of the bullpen for the Twins from 1989-1992. He was a member of the inagural Colorado Rockies team in 1993.

November 30, 1971
Matt Lawton - Lawton was drafted by the Twins in the 1991 amateur draft. He made it to the majors in 1995, but didn’t become a regular in right field until 1997. Lawton’s best season at the plate came in 1998, and he was among the only offensive threats on the team during the lean years of the late 1990’s. Unfortunately, Lawton didn’t get to stick around for much of the payoff. He was traded to the Mets for Rick Reed in the midst of the 2001 season - what would have been his first season with a winning team. He may be most known around baseball as the 12th player to earn a suspension under the new performance-enhancing drug policy.

December 1, 1954
Dan Schatzeder - by the time Schatzeder saw action with the Twins (he came in a mid season trade in 1987), he was already 32 years old. Schatzeder didn’t spend much time with the Twins, only parts of two seasons, but he was a key member of the Twins’ bullpen in the 1987 post season.

Pitcher and Catcher are the two most difficult positions to evaluate in baseball. For pitchers, defensive opportunities are few and far between. Most starters only pitch every five days or so, and will be lucky to get a fielding opportunity once per game.

Catchers, on the other hand, have a more complex position to field. He must field his position when necessary, but also is responsible to call pitches and shut down the other team’s running game.

In Twins history, it seems there was a standout at each position, and a current player who, given a few more seasons, might overtake the historical standouts.

On the mound, it was Jim Kaat. Kaat won 16 Gold Gloves over his career, an outstanding number tarnished a bit by how repetitive Gold Glove voting gets. Throughout his career, Kaat took fielding his position seriously, and was gifted athletically. Kaat stood 6′4″ and had the reflexes of a cat on the mound. Johan Santana, who just won his first Gold Glove in 2007, is finally getting recognition for his fielding prowess. If Santana continues to show the glove, and stays with the Twins, it is not difficult to imagine him taking over this spot.

What was most remarkable about Earl Battey was the fact that he was a tremendous defensive catcher despite the knee and other physical problems that plagued him throughout his career. Battey won three Gold Gloves early in his career, but continued to shut down the running game of the opposing team into the middle 1960’s. From 1960 on (the years SB/CS are available for catchers), Battey threw out about 41% of the runners who tried to steal.

The Twins have had a lot of good catchers over the years (and even more if you include backup players, which I really didn’t for purposes of this discussion. George Mitterwald had an outstanding season in 1970 before coming back to earth a bit. I was surprised to find that Butch Wynegar had some pretty good numbers behind the plate. AJ Pierzysnki was also very good, and the current catcher would surpass Battey if he sticks around and stays healthy for a few more seasons.

So, here is the final team. The second baseman is the only major surprise for me, as I assumed it would probably have been Chuck Knoblauch; though I was surprised that Marty Cordova was included as well.

1B Kent Hrbek
2B Rod Carew
SS Leo Cardenas
3B Gary Gaetti
LF Marty Cordova
CF Kirby Puckett
RF Jacque Jones
C Earl Battey
P Jim Kaat

I just wrapped up (finally) the series on top pitching performances. Here is a handy guide sorted by Game Score with links to the original post:

1. 98 Eric Milton 9/11/1999
2. 97 Bert Blyleven 8/27/1975
3t. 95 Johan Santana 8/19/2007
3t. 95 Dave Boswell 7/30/1966
5. 94 Jim Merritt 5/30/1967
6t. 93 Scott Baker 8/31/2007
6t. 93 Kevin Tapani 6/24/1992
6t. 93 Bert Blyleven 8/1/1986
9t. 92 Johan Santana 7/6/2004
9t. 92 Eric Milton 8/1/2002
9t. 92 Dave Goltz 8/23/1977
9t. 92 Dave Goltz 8/31/1976
9t. 92 Jim Kaat 9/18/1967
9t. 92 Gerry Arrigo 6/26/1964
15t. 91 Frank Viola 10/5/1986
15t. 91 Joe Decker 6/26/1973
15t. 91 Jim Kaat 5/24/1972
15t. 91 Jim Perry 8/26/1968
15t. 91 Dean Chance 6/19/1968
15t. 91 Jim Merritt 7/26/1967
15t. 91 Jim Merritt 7/21/1966
15t. 91 Camilo Pascual 7/19/1961

Editor’s Note: All 22 write-ups can be found HERE.

This is the final post in a series detailing the 20 21 22 best pitching performances in Twins history based on Bill James’ game scores. The games are posted in chronological order.

Friday August 31, 2007
HHH Metrodome
Minneapolis, MN

Scott Baker had shown flashes of brilliance in his first few years as a Twin, but for the most part was still showing inconsistency as a starter. Though he and a few other young Twins pitchers had experience coming into the 2007 season, to organization had brought in a few veteran pitchers as insurance policies early in the season. As those veterans became disappointments in the first few months, young pitchers, including Baker, got their chances.

So far in 2007 Baker had been pitching well for the most part, but the beneficiary of bad luck due to poor run support from a team that typically didn’t give its starting pitchers much to work with. Despite inconsistent use and a few poor performances over the course of the season, Baker’s numbers were solid heading into the second game of a Friday double-header against Kansas City.

Through eight innings, Baker was on track to do something nobody has ever done in a Twins uniform. He had faced 24 batters and retired 24 batters. Just three outs stood between Baker and the first perfect game in franchise history.

That he didn’t finish the perfect game was disappointing, but the fact that Baker pitched a complete-game, one hit shutout - even against the Royals - was cause enough for celebration among Twins fans. In his previous three outings, Baker had allowed a total of 29 hits.

The ninth inning started with a walk to John Buck. Baker had fallen behind 3-0 to Buck, and eventually walked him on five pitches. With one out, Mike Sweeney blooped a single into center field to end the no-hit bid.

“I made the right pitch,” Baker said of the sinker Sweeney muscled to center field. “It just wasn’t meant to be tonight.”

Baker retired the next two Royals to end the game, a 5-0 Twins win that put the team back above the .500 mark.

The performance marked the end of a big week for Baker, whose wife gave birth to his second child earlier in the week.

Minnesota Twins    IP   H   R  ER   BB  SO  HR    ERA   
S Baker, W (8-6)    9   1   0   0    1   9   0   4.09   

 	            BF  Pit-Str   GB-FB  GmSc  IR-IS
	            29  111-81     5-13    93    - 

Full Boxscore

Time for a timeout from all things Twins. This is a painting by Roger Patrick (visit his website HERE) entitled Grid Painting#4. Let’s see how many of the players we can identify. Leave your guesses in the comments and I will update as new ones appear).

1B Kent Hrbek
2B Rod Carew
SS Leo Cardenas
3B Gary Gaetti
LF Marty Cordova
CF Kirby Puckett

Right Field
This is an interesting position in Twins history, and really doesn’t have a long line of good glove men that have filled it. Tony Oliva played primarily in right field from 1964-1971, but didn’t really make his name playing the field. He was consistent according to the numbers; solid but not outstanding. Matt Lawton played in front of the baggie from 1995-2001. He was also not known for his defense, though he did have a very good season in 1998. Interestingly, Tom Brunansky showed to be a surprisingly good fielder in his first couple of seasons with the Twins, but tailed off quickly starting with the 1984 season.

The man who will be the right fielder on my All-Defensive team only played there for two seasons. Jacque Jones spent the bulk of he Twins career in left field, and achieved “honorable mention” status there (and I wouldn’t argue with someone choosing him over Cordova). When Shannon Stewart arrived in the middle of 2003, Jones was ultimately asked to move to right field. He played a few games there at the end of 2003, then spent 2004 and 2005 as the starting right fielder for Ron Gardenhire. Jones proved to be one of the better right fielders in baseball for those two years, and makes this team based on that performance.

Jones FRAR
2004: 31
2005: 31

Jones Range Factor (League RF)
2004: 2.09 (1.79)
2005: 2.20 (1.83)

1B Kent Hrbek
2B Rod Carew
SS Leo Cardenas
3B Gary Gaetti
LF Marty Cordova

Recent Twins history has been defined by a couple of charismatic center fielders who also happen to have been very good defenders. A discussion of best Twins defensive center fielders begins and ends with Kirby Puckett and Torii Hunter.

Both men benefit from a bit of a legend on a local and national level. Puckett’s can be traced to his catch in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series, a moment that he overshadowed himself several innings later; while Hunter’s defensive reputation is defined by a catch in the 2001 All Star Game that robbed Barry Bonds of an extra base hit. Both have played their entire career in Minnesota (so far…), and both can be described as fan favorites. Though Kirby’s offense has put him in the Hall of Fame, the defensive reputation of the two seems to be about equal.

Here are the numbers
FRAR
Age Puckett, Hunter
23 -, 24
24 46, 28
25 31, 53
26 13, 2
27 5, 14
28 27, 22
29 27, 8
30 26, 31
31 20, 27
32 34, -
33 12, -
34 12, -
35 4, -

Based on FRAR, they both peaked around 24 or 25, had some trouble at 26 or 27, then hit a little bit more consistency (aside from Hunter’s 8 at the age of 29, due to injury suffered in 2005). Puckett dropped off quickly in his middle 30’s, and Hunter is just approaching that age.

As an aside - I would be interested to see if this pattern holds for a lot of center fielders. Without doing any research, I can see physical abilities peaking around 23 or 24, then, as the natural quickness and speed start to wane, the player having some tough years during the adjustment phase, but learning by his late 20’s to play smarter to accommodate for diminishing natural ability. A quick look at Willie Mays’ numbers suggest that his career followed that same arch.

Back to the discussion at hand, Hunter peaked higher, having an outstanding 2001 - the year in which he gained his reputation. Puckett didn’t bottom out quite as low as Hunter, at least until his mod-30’s, a stage Hunter has yet to reach.

Career Range Factor (League Range Factor)
Puckett 2.67 (2.08)
Hunter 2.65 (2.40)

Relative to the league, it would seem that Puckett was a bit more valuable.

Ultimately, the story of who is the better defensive center fielder will be told by Hunter’s later years. If he stays injury free (a big “if” for Hunter), it is likely that he won’t drop off as quickly as Kirby did. Chances look good that Hunter’s days in Minnesota are at a close; and at this moment, I’ll take Puckett for the All-Defensive team, though I can see arguments for both.

1B Kent Hrbek
2B Rod Carew
SS Leo Cardenas
3B Gary Gaetti

Left Field

There are three left fielders that seem to merit consideration for an all time team of Twins fielders: Dan Gladden, Marty Cordova, and Jacque Jones. Gladden patrolled left field from 1987-1991, just long enough to be the starting left fielder on two championship teams. Cordova was primarily a left fielder in from 1995-1998, including his rookie of the year season in 1995. Jacque Jones started his Twins career in center field and ended it in right, but played primarily in left field from 2000-2003. Here are the pertinent numbers for each (FRAR comes from baseballprospectus.com; Range Factor from Baseball-Reference):

Gladden, FRAR, RF (lgRF for LF)
1987 23, 2.09 (2.00)
1988 28, 2.36 (2.14)
1989 9, 2.16 (2.12)
1990 27, 2.24 (2.04)
1991 28, 1.94 (2.03)
Cordova Year, FRAR, RF (lgRF for LF)
1995 35, 2.61 (1.99)
1996 30, 2.32 (1.75)
1997 27, 2.24 (1.71)
1998 16, 2.28 (1.74)

Jones Year, FRAR, RF (lgRF for LF)
2000 20, 2.03 (1.76)
2001 12, 2.07 (1.72)
2002 29 2.37 (1.74)
2003 6 2.11 (1.84)

I honestly don’t know if and outfielder’s arm is factored into FRAR or not (though I assume that it is), but these three have a remarkably similar number of assists over the course of their time in left field. Granted an outfielders assist total may be the most misleading number there is, but I don’t recall any of the three being particularly valued for their throwing arm in left.

Based on the numbers above, I’ll take Marty Cordova for the All-Defensive team. His peak was higher than the other two, and his range factor stayed pretty consistent as above average relative to his league.
 

1B Kent Hrbek
2B Rod Carew

Shortstop
I wanted to put Greg Gagne here. In my mind, he’s the best defensive shortstop I have seen not named Ozzie Smith. The problem is that the numbers show him to be a solid shortstop, certainly sure-handed, but never spectacular when it came to range. Gagne is about on par with Roy Smalley, according to FRAR. The top two shortstops in team history are part of the large group of players that I did not see play. Zoilo Versalles would get the nod for longevity, but nobody fielded the position like Leo Cardenas. For three years as a Twin, Cardenas put up 59, 60, and 56 FRAR (in 1969, 1970, and 1971) - all three higher than any individual season for any other Twins shortstop.

Leo Cardenas Career FRAR (1969-1971) 175
Best Season FRAR (1970) 60

Honorable Mention: Versalles, Gagne, Smalley

Third Base
Gary Gaetti, and it is not particularly close. Between 2000 and 2003, Corey Koskie was about as good as Gaetti, but “the Rat” did it for about twice as long.

Career FRAR (1981-1990) 304
Best Season FRAR (1984) 42

Honorable Mention: Koskie

Defense is still a tough skill to judge in baseball, particularly using only statistics. While there has been some great work done in the area of defensive statistics in recent years, it seems that there is still a long way to go. When choosing this team, comprised of the best defenders at each position in Twins history, I used mostly the statistics that are readily available to me, mainly FRAR from Baseball Prospectus and Range Factor from Baseball Reference. I tried to avoid using my own memory because A.) that leaves out players before 1986, and B.) impressions of a player’s defense are not always accurate.

For this list, I did not want to take into account longevity, but at the same time didn’t feel that one flukish season should merit inclusion (see Teufel, Tim). To make the list, a player had to start at his position for most of at least two seasons, and showed consistently good defense over that time.

That said, here is the right side of the infield.

First Base
The Twins have not traditionally been a strong fielding team at first base. Over the first few decades in Minnesota, first base was a source of offensive strength over defensive strength. The best defender of the first 20 years was Vic Power, who was a very good defender in his prime but well past it when he was with Minnesota from 1962-1963. The, in 1981, a Bloomington native debuted with the Twins and held down first base for nearly two decades. Kent Hrbek was also known primarily for his bat, but was a surprisingly agile defender for his size. He was sure-handed (a career .994 fielding percentage), and known for pulling in the throws of fellow defenders Gaetti and Gagne, among others, who benefited from Hrbek’s stretches at first base.

Career FRAR 203, Season High FRAR 20 1982,1984, & 1987

Honorable Mention: Vic Power, Doug Mientkiewicz

Second Base
I was surprised to learn that, according to FRAR, Rod Carew was the best defensive second baseman in Twins history. My guess would have been Chuck Knoblauch. Knoblauch certainly had a longer run at second, and had a better fielding percentage over his career at second (.981 to .973). Both were above league average in career Range Factor, Carew by a slightly larger margin. Here are the FRAR numbers (Carew primarily played second from 1971-1975)

Player FRAR 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975
Carew 13 28 34 26 36

Player FRAR 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
Knoblauch 22 18 13 6 23 33 18

Carew’s run from ‘72-’75 was better than Knoblauch’s four best seasons. Carew peaked higher (36 in 1975 compared with Knoblauch’s 33 in 1996), and didn’t bottom out quite so low as Knoblauch did in 1994. Second base was still a hard spot to call. John Castino played there for two seasons in the early 80’s and put up some good numbers (31 FRAR in 1982; 35 in 1983), while Tim Teufel had 45 FRAR in 1984, though that was a major outlier in the context of his career - his next best performance was a 19 with the Mets in 1988. In the end, the Twins don’t have any second basemen that really stand out, and Carew was the best of the bunch.

Honorable Mention: Castino, Knoblauch