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Friday, April 14, 2006
Top 40 Minnesota Twins: #28 Tom Brunansky THOMAS ANDREW BRUNANSKY | RF | 1982-1988 | CAREER STATS Brunansky was invited to the Angels-Kansas City game June 26 where [owner] Gene Autry was waiting to meet him. ... Autry told Brunansky he wanted him to meet a special friend, who turned out to be [former President Richard] Nixon, an Angel fan who was making a rare appearance at a game.Brunansky hit .332 in rookie-ball after signing and then put up three straight 20-homer seasons in the minors -- one each at Single-A, Double-A, and Triple-A -- all before his 21st birthday. The last of the three came after Brunansky began the 1982 season with the Angels, hit .152 in 11 games, and was quickly sent back down to beat up on minor-league pitching for a while longer. He did, hitting .332 with 22 homers an 81 RBIs in 96 games at Triple-A. Brunansky began the 1982 season back at Triple-A and was hitting just .205 with one homer when he was traded to Minnesota in mid-May. The Twins acquired Brunansky and Mike Walters (along with a bunch of cash) from the Angels for Doug Corbett and Rob Wilfong, and then immediately handed Brunansky an everyday job. He had a fantastic rookie season, hitting .272/.377/.471 with 20 homers in 127 games, but was somewhat overlooked because the Twins also broke in rookies Kent Hrbek (23 homers, 92 RBIs) and Gary Gaetti (25 homers, 84 RBIs) that same year. Frank Viola and Randy Bush were also rookies on that same 1982 team, and the core of a championship team was quietly being built despite a 60-102 record. A walks-and-power guy before that was appreciated nearly as much as it is today, Brunansky was an underrated player because it was easy to get caught up in his low batting averages. He never batted above .260 for the Twins after his rookie year, but blasted at least 20 homers in each of his six full seasons in Minnesota, leading team in long balls three times and walks twice. Brunansky ranked among the league's top 10 in homers in 1983 (28), 1984 (32), and 1987 (32), and from 1982-1987 Dwight Evans (175), Eddie Murray (175), and Dave Winfield (165) were the only American League hitters with more homers than Brunansky's 162. Brunansky made his lone All-Star appearance in 1985, but his best season in Minnesota was probably 1987. He hit .259/.352/.489 with 32 homers and 85 RBIs in 155 games, and then put the Twins on his back against the Tigers in the ALCS. In five games against Detroit Brunansky batted .412/.524/1.000 with two homers, four doubles, and nine RBIs as the Twins bashed the Tigers into submission before defeating the Cardinals in the World Series. Despite what his low batting averages and big power might suggest, Brunansky was far from a plodding slugger. He actually played good defense in right field, had an excellent arm, and could be counted on to play nearly every game. While far from the team's best player, Brunansky's strengths epitomized the 1987 team in that he played solid defense and hit the ball over the fence. Brunansky (32), Hrbek (34), and Gaetti (31) each topped 30 homers that year, with Kirby Puckett adding 28 more as the Metrodome gained its "Homerdome" nickname. As Twins fans have heard all too often since, that's the last time a Minnesota hitter reached 30 homers in a season. It was also the last full season Brunansky played for the Twins. After he got off to a slow start in 1988, hitting .184 with one homer in 14 games, the Twins shipped Brunansky to those same Cardinals for Tommy Herr. It was an odd move at the time, because while the Twins had a need at second base Herr was 32 years old and just wasn't all that good. In retrospect it looks even worse. Brunansky continued to put up good numbers for another few years while Herr complained about being in Minnesota, played poorly, and was traded to Philadelphia in another disappointing move during the offseason. Brunansky had two 20-homer seasons after leaving the Twins, and interestingly was sent from the Cardinals to the Red Sox in a swap for Lee Smith in May of 1990. Brunansky went on to have two solid years out of three seasons in Boston, while Smith went on to save 240 games while making five straight All-Star teams. While with the Red Sox Brunansky found a way to become part of Minnesota history once again, hitting into the first of two triple plays that the Twins turned on July 17, 1990. TOP 25 ALL-TIME MINNESOTA TWINS RANKS:     
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Twins 6, Athletics 5Some notes as I try to get used to back-to-back one-run wins and an offense that looked major-league caliber two nights in a row ...Esteban Loaiza looked absolutely horrible in his start against the Mariners Thursday night, giving up five runs in 4.2 innings while showing off decreased velocity and a complete lack of command. ... This quote from Loaiza following the game pretty much summed up his performance: "The cutter did not work, the changeup was up, the sinker was so-so, the four-seamer was down the middle." But hey, other than that ...As expected Loaiza looked horrible again last night, relying on an assortment of off-speed stuff that couldn't make up for a so-so fastball. Considering what took place last season, it was nice to see the Twins actually take advantage of a pitcher who was throwing junk up to the plate. It was just one game and Silva did get plenty of ground-ball outs in his first start, but it's something to keep an eye on. One of the fly-ball outs was a Dan Johnson blast to the warning track in center field, and Silva served up two homers to Nick Swisher. Silva is already walking a pretty thin line with his lack of strikeouts, so introducing a few more fly balls into the mix could be dangerous. Morneau came into the game with zero walks on the year and has looked brutal against left-handed pitching, but he laid off close pitches and fouled others off to the opposite field, all after falling behind 0-2. He's never going to walk a ton, but being able to draw 50-60 free passes a year will be important as long as his batting average stays low. Last year Morneau drew only 36 non-intentional walks in 543 plate appearances.  I also commented that Castillo didn't look interested in stealing bases during the first seven games of the season, so it was nice to see him successfully steal second base to get into scoring position with Joe Mauer at the plate and two outs in the eighth inning. Mauer struck out, but the spot was a good one to run in (although there's a chance it was actually a busted hit-and-run, since Castillo looked to the plate on the way to second base). Of course, he celebrated going 2-for-2 to begin this year by being picked off in the eighth inning, killing a potential rally when Castillo followed with a single. Stewart hasn't been successful on the bases since 2002, so I'd be in favor of him basically just staying put at this point. With two high-average hitters batting directly behind him, Stewart doesn't really need to risk being thrown out very often. In the seventh inning last night Castro fielded a tough chopper and made an off-balance throw that Morneau had to scoop out of the dirt at first base. Bremer screamed out, "Oh my, what a play!" and Blyleven went into his already-familiar speech about Castro "waiting all his life for a chance to play every day." Jason Bartlett is capable of making those same plays assuming he ever gets to leave Rochester, New York, but the reaction would be considerably different.  Stuff like that eats away at his value along with his lack of walks and statue-like range defensively, yet will almost surely be forgotten when fans look back on the key hits he came up with while swinging at everything all season. On the other hand, he's now hitting .292/.346/.667 on the year, which is more than enough for me to shut up for a few days.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Twins 7, Athletics 6I'm not sure that the seventh game of any season can really be a crucial one, but last night's game came as close to that as possible. The Twins fell behind 4-0 in the second inning as Brad Radke once again spotted the other team way too many runs way too early, and it appeared as though the Twins were headed for a 1-6 start.But Radke righted the ship, as he often does, and the Twins' offense did some damage for the first time since scoring 13 runs in the second game of the year. It wasn't the prettiest game, but any time the Twins feel like scoring seven runs against one of the best pitchers (and defenses) in the league, I'll certainly take it. For some reason 2-5 feels a whole lot better than 1-6. Some notes on the home opener ...  Batista added a double off the baggy in right field later and played solid defense at third base, and now owns a .200/.273/.600 hitting line for the season. Will hitting a key homer every couple weeks outweigh making an out three-fourths of the time and costing the team runs defensively? We'll see, I suppose. At the very least Batista's good days are memorable, whereas his bad days just sort of blend in. He also passed up what seemed to be a perfect running opportunity in the first inning, with Joe Mauer at the plate and the highly susceptible battery of Haren and Jason Kendall trying to hold him. It almost cost the Twins too, because Mauer hit a grounder to second base that would have been a double play if Mark Ellis hadn't bobbled it. I'm not necessarily against Castillo running very little this season, but I think most fans will be surprised by how few stolen base attempts he ends up with. I'm all for being patient, but in Cuddyer's case it often seems as though he's at the plate specifically looking for a walk. A big part of being patient is to get yourself into favorable counts where you are likely to see a hittable pitch. Cuddyer gets into those counts and tries to coax another ball out of the pitcher, rather than focusing on driving something into the gap while still being willing to lay off a borderline pitch. I think that approach is part of why he's been such a disappointment.  Crain has very little movement on his fastball, and regardless of how hard you throw good major-league hitters can catch up to something that is arrow straight. He also seems very hesitant to rely on his off-speed pitches despite the fact that they can be effective. Crain will be a key test for pitching coach Rick Anderson, because if he's struggling and Juan Rincon's elbow isn't quite right, suddenly the bullpen isn't such a strength. I was interviewed by the local ABC news affiliate yesterday and the piece ran during the six o'clock news last night, as sort of a lead-in to the home opener. You can watch the video by clicking here. As with Sports Illustrated, where I was interviewed over the course of several days for an article that was about 500 words, I was amazed by how much time and effort goes into producing what was basically a one-minute video. I was also surprised by the quick turnaround time -- they contacted me in the morning, came to my house to do the interview during the afternoon, and ran it at dinner time. I've learned that I'm infinitely more comfortable being interviewed for TV than radio. The thing yesterday was painless and I taped another interview with a different local station earlier this month that was a similarly pleasant experience. Meanwhile, I get asked to do various radio shows across the country every week and have turned down all of them. There is something about not seeing who I'm speaking to that freaks me out. I would gladly do TV interviews every day, but the thought of calling into a single radio show scares the hell out of me. Even stranger, the idea of sitting in the studio to do a radio interview is very appealing and I actually wouldn't mind getting into radio at some point. I've also turned down numerous print interviews that would have been done over the phone, so I'm thinking that's the real root of my phobia. In other words, if you didn't realize I was crazy before today, now it's official. The funny thing is that if anyone is suited for radio rather than TV, it's me. My general happiness with how yesterday's piece turned out is overshadowed by how ridiculously fat I looked in one of the shots. I can blame some of it on wearing a really baggy shirt and having horrible posture, but it was still depressing to see after I was feeling good about losing 45 pounds. Oh well, back to the elliptical machine!
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Twins NotesThe result was pleasing-to-the-palate, 5-4 season-opening victory over the Seattle Mariners in Safeco Field, the clutch relief effort provided by J.C. Romero, who bailed Colon out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the sixth.I always find it amusing when athletes are completely unaware of how fans view them. "They say I thrive in those situations" coming from Romero would be like if Britney Spears said, "They say I look better than ever." Through the first six games of the season, Francisco Liriano leads the team in WPA at 4.5 percent, but since the Twins only have one win there hasn't been a whole lot of positive WPA to go around. There's plenty of negative WPA, however, and according to WPA the three players most responsible for the Twins' 1-5 start are: Kyle Lohse -29.7% Phillips is a right-handed hitter who has batted .271/.352/.423 against left-handed pitching over the past three years, making him a solid platoon partner for Justin Morneau. Plus, Phillips is a capable defensive catcher who saw nearly 800 innings behind the plate for the Dodgers in 2005, and having him on the roster along with Mike Redmond could free Joe Mauer up for some time at designated hitter on his days off from catching. It'll never happen, of course, since the Twins would rather mess around with guys like Nick Punto and Ruben Sierra, but if they ever wanted to strengthen the bench while actually making the team more versatile, grabbing Phillips would be a start. I'm not generally in favor of having three catchers around, but if you're going to do it Phillips is the type of guy to go after (rather than, say, Corky Miller). [Mays] said I hit pretty well against him, so hopefully that will indicate I can catch him.If hitting him well is all it takes, the list of guys who "can catch him" is a long one. I thought his explanation (which you can read here and here) was lacking and told him so, but far more important than that I respect that he's willing to engage in a discussion about his work at a place like this. I frequently harp on what I perceive to be sub par writing in newspapers and a general air of superiority that is pervasive throughout the mainstream media, but if I were to make a list of the mainstream print guys who do their job well it would start with LEN3. Highland Park graduate Aaron Gleeman, 23, who writes a lot about the Twins on hardballtimes.com and other blogs, was mentioned in last week's Sports Illustrated.Just to be clear, I "write a lot about the Twins" on exactly one blog, which is this one. The Hardball Times is not a blog and neither are the other sites I write for, like USAToday.com, FoxSports.com, and Rotoworld.com. But hey, rather than nitpick I should probably just say, "Thanks." While not quite being featured in Sports Illustrated, being mentioned in Walters' column was pretty cool. Back before I knew better I used to looking forward to reading the rumors in his column every day.
Monday, April 10, 2006
PatienceShed a tear 'cause I'm missing you - Guns 'N Roses, "Patience"I've criticized the Twins for many things over the years, but none more so than their handling of young position players. I've often suggested that the team has stunted the development of young hitters by asking them to play away from their strengths and jerking them in and out of the lineup, as well as back and forth between the majors and minors. With Jason Bartlett being sent down to Triple-A for a third straight season in favor of Juan Castro, the issue is once again at the forefront. Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune had an excellent article Sunday on how the Twins' oft-criticized treatment of young hitters differs from the Brewers' approach: Brewers manager Ned Yost shows unfailing patience with shortstop J.J. Hardy as he hits .187 before last year's All-Star break. Hardy responds by hitting .307 over the season's second half.Despite being a 22-year-old rookie who was limited to just 26 games at Triple-A in 2004 because of a shoulder injury, J.J. Hardy was given a long enough leash to hit horribly for an entire half-season without losing his job. Meanwhile, Bartlett was a 25-year-old rookie who batted .332 in 66 games at Triple-A in 2004 and was given a little over a month (during which time he hit better than Hardy) before the team decided to pull the plug. And that's just comparing each player's rookie season. Now Bartlett is a 26-year-old rookie who has put up big numbers at Triple-A for two straight years, and he still "lost" the job to Juan Castro this spring despite hitting nearly .400. Young players struggle in the majors, that's just how it goes. The Brewers showed some patience and now have one of baseball's top young shortstops in their lineup, while the Twins showed zero patience and now have Castro starting again. Christensen continues: Michael Cuddyer gets banished from third base. Justin Morneau goes from batting cleanup to spending time in the No. 8 hole.If this were simply about Bartlett it wouldn't be a big deal, but the issue was around long before he was in the picture. In some form or another David Ortiz, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Lew Ford, Michael Restovich, Matthew LeCroy, and Todd Walker were all jerked around by the team while trying to establish themselves as big leaguers. The lack of development from the players on that list while they were in a Twins uniform is startling, and I'm long past the point of chalking that up to coincidence. Christensen concludes: On the decision not to send Hardy back to the minors last year, [general manager Doug] Melvin said, "You try not to bring them up until they're ready, so when they come up, they can come up to stay.I'm not suggesting that the Brewers have uncovered the secrets to developing young hitters or even that what they've done has worked, because they've yet to come close to matching the success the Twins have already experienced this decade. Similarly, I'm not trying to paint Doug Melvin as a genius and Terry Ryan as a dope, because that's far from the case. This isn't about the Brewers, it's about the Twins. Melvin's words are an indictment of the Twins' treatment of Bartlett and numerous other hitters. Melvin is rightfully saying that once you commit to a young player you need to do so without jerking him around if things don't go perfectly immediately. Yet that's the opposite of what the Twins do, giving and taking away spots in the lineup on a whim, shuttling players back and forth from Minneapolis to Rochester, and generally treating young hitters like dirt. Giving everyday jobs to Castro and Tony Batista drags the offense down, but there are far bigger reasons for why the Twins don't score any runs. The combination of a questionable organizational philosophy toward hitting and the organization's sketchy treatment of young hitters is a dangerous one. Unfortunately, the people in charge thinking it's a good idea to give at-bats to the likes of Castro and Batista becomes more damning when they have to fill the gaping holes in the lineup where good young hitters should be. TWINS OFFENSE UNDER RYAN With series against the A's, Yankees, Angels, and White Sox filling the next dozen games on the schedule, things could get ugly. The good news is that the pitching will undoubtedly get better, if only because they won't have to face Travis Hafner again until late May. The bad news is that the Twins might be out of the division race by then.
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