STEPHEN RUSSELL BRAUN | 1B/2B/SS/3B/LF | 1971-1976 | CAREER STATS
 
   G       PA      AVG      OBP      SLG     OPS+    WARP     WS
 751     2830     .284     .376     .381     116     15.6     86

Taken in the 10th round of the 1966 draft out of a New Jersey high school, Steve Braun came up with the 1971 team that went 74-86 after the Twins won back-to-back division titles in 1969 and 1970. The poor record that year wasn't Braun's fault, as he played all over the infield while hitting .254/.350/.344 in 128 games. That may not look like an impressive hitting line, even from a 23-year-old rookie, but the AL as a whole batted a measly .247/.317/.364 in 1971 (compared to .267/.336/.428 this season).

Braun's entire time with the Twins actually came in a very low-scoring era, which is part of the reason why he's one of the more underrated players in team history. His raw numbers show a guy who got on base extremely well (.376 on-base percentage), but had almost no power (.381 slugging percentage). However, if you adjust his performance to account for the pitcher-friendly era that he played in, Braun suddenly looks like an offensive force.

Looking at adjusted OPS+ while in Minnesota, Braun's mark of 116 ranks ahead of Jason Kubel (114) and Michael Cuddyer (110) among current Twins, plus past hitters like Corey Koskie (115), Chuck Knoblauch (114), Brian Harper (110), Tom Brunansky (109), Matt Lawton (107), David Ortiz (107), A.J. Pierzynski (105), Torii Hunter (104), and Roy Smalley (104). Those are some of the best hitters in team history and Braun was arguably more effective offensively with the Twins than all of them.

He certainly wasn't in the elite class of hitters, but Braun was safely in the "very good" group. While with the Twins his .376 OBP was 15 percent above the AL mark of .328 and his .381 slugging percentage was actually slightly above average as well. Throughout the five decades of Twins history, only seven players have more plate appearances and a higher OPS+ than Braun. Interestingly, if you adjust their respective totals with the Twins to today's offensive levels, Braun and Knoblauch are nearly identical:

                AVG      OBP      SLG      OPS     OPS+
Braun          .297     .382     .435     .817     116 
Knoblauch      .304     .378     .423     .801     114 

Knoblauch played longer with the Twins and was a more valuable all-around player, but purely in terms of hitting Braun was a slower, left-handed version of Knoblauch. And while he wasn't nearly as good as Knoblauch defensively, Braun's ability to play multiple positions gave him value. During six years with the Twins he saw significant action at second base, third base, shortstop, and left field, and also got a little time at first base and right field.

If you don't buy a comparison to Knoblauch, think of Braun instead as the type of player Denny Hocking could have been if he hit like Lawton instead of like Lawton's sister. Braun was remarkably consistent after his solid rookie season, hitting above .280 while getting on base at least 36 percent of the time in each of the next five years. His best season came in 1975, when Braun batted .302/.389/.428 for the eighth-best OBP in the league and a 130 OPS+

Adjusting those 1975 numbers to today's scoring environment spits out something like .315/.390/.480, which is pretty close to Joe Mauer's career .327/.408/.483 mark. Braun served as the Twins' primary third baseman in 1971, 1972, and 1973, and was their main left fielder in 1974 and 1975. He was the team's regular designated hitter in 1976 and also saw action at third base and left field while batting .288/.384/.353 to once again rank among the league leaders in on-base percentage.

In November of 1976 the upstart Seattle Mariners plucked Braun off the Twins' roster in the expansion draft, ending his time in Minnesota after six very productive seasons. After a disappointing stint with the Mariners he was traded to the Royals for Jim Colborn in June of 1978, after Colborn won 18 games with a 3.62 ERA in 1977. That move signaled the end of Braun's days as an everyday player, and was the beginning of his time as one of Whitey Herzog's bench bats.

Herzog was Kansas City's manager when Braun arrived at midseason, and took a liking to him when he hit .263/.380/.350 in 64 games and tied a Royals record by reaching base 11 straight times. Braun gave Herzog another productive season as a part-time player in 1979, and when Herzog moved on to the Cardinals he brought Braun in as a free agent. Braun served as a super-sub and pinch-hitter for the next five seasons, hitting .258/.382/.348 while rarely starting a game.

He was a key contributor on two pennant winners, including the 1982 World Series champs, but retired two seasons before the Cardinals met up with the Twins in the 1987 World Series. Braun has stayed in baseball after retiring, serving as a minor-league hitting coach with the Cardinals, Yankees, and Red Sox. He currently sells "hitting clinics, summer camps, and baseball trips" through a company called Steve Braun Baseball, which offers to help you "train like a pro with a pro!"

Braun is perhaps the least-known player in this countdown and his inclusion may raise eyebrows, but he absolutely belongs. Six seasons and nearly 3,000 plate appearances of consistently outstanding top-of-the-order hitting, plus versatile defense, made him an impact player even if it wasn't apparent to everyone at the time. Had he played today, rather than 30 years ago, Braun's power would appear a lot more acceptable and his ability to get on base would be more properly appreciated.

TOP 25 ALL-TIME MINNESOTA TWINS RANKS:
 
On-Base %         .376      6th
Walks              356     14th
Adjusted OPS+      116     14th
Batting Average   .284     15th
Times On Base     1059     25th

After unsuccessfully shopping around for a multi-year deal, Carl Pavano accepted the Twins' arbitration offer before yesterday's midnight deadline. That means he'll stay with the Twins in 2010 via a one-year contract for an as-yet-undetermined salary, which will either be decided by an arbiter or agreed upon by the two sides prior to a hearing. He earned about $4.5 million this season from an incentive-laden deal with the Indians, so Pavano figures to get a raise to at least $6 million for 2010.

On the surface that may seem like too much money for a guy with a 5.10 ERA, but Pavano's raw totals are misleading for several reasons. For one thing, after a brutal April he went 14-9 with a 4.67 ERA and 131-to-34 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 181 innings. Beyond that, his secondary numbers suggest that his performance was more along the lines of a 4.10 ERA than a 5.10 ERA once luck, defense, and bullpen support are removed from the equation.

Pavano had 147 strikeouts versus just 39 walks in 199 innings overall and induced ground balls on 44 percent of his balls in play, which equals an Expected Fielding Independent Pitching (xFIP) of 4.17. His actual ERA was a full run higher because more than any AL pitcher Pavano was hurt by poor defense behind him and an unsustainably low rate of stranding runners. He had the highest batting average on balls in play at .335 and the lowest strand rate at 66.1 percent, both of which can't help but improve.

None of which is to suggest that Pavano is a great pitcher, because he's definitely not. However, simply repeating his 2009 performance would make him a very solid middle-of-the-rotation starter for a team whose rotation had the third-worst ERA in the league. Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, and Nick Blackburn are cemented in the rotation and the Twins clearly felt uncomfortable handing the remaining two spots to Francisco Liriano, Glen Perkins, Brian Duensing, Anthony Swarzak, or Jeff Manship.

Instead they bring back Pavano for what will hopefully be another 180-200 innings of an xFIP in the low 4.00s and let the unproven arms fight over just one rotation spot while making it easier to trade Perkins or another young starter for help elsewhere. Bypassing young pitchers by signing a veteran starter with an ugly ERA is certainly nothing new for the Twins, but Pavano differs significantly from guys like Livan Hernandez, Ramon Ortiz, and Sidney Ponson in that he actually pitched well in 2009.

Hernandez, Ortiz, and Ponson had xFIPs of 5.62, 5.39, and 5.10 respectively the season before signing with the Twins, so naturally they stunk. Pavano may seem like more of the same based on his ERA, but that's hardly the case. Of course, he has to stay healthy for any of that to matter and prior to logging 199 innings this year Pavano threw a grand total of 145 innings in the previous four years. I'm in no position to speculate on his odds of staying off the disabled list in 2010, but he didn't miss a start in 2009.

Plus, by calling his bluff and refraining from a multi-season commitment the Twins avoided most of the risk that comes with Pavano specifically and pitchers as an oft-injured group. Short of simply signing a terrible player it's fairly tough to screw things up too badly with a one-year deal, because the worst-case scenario involves wasting some money and then wiping things off the books. Pavano is a far better bet than Hernandez or Ortiz were and beats the hell out of multiple years for a guy like Jarrod Washburn.

With that said, there was certainly a compelling argument to be made for not offering Pavano arbitration and simply letting Liriano, Perkins, Duensing, Swarzak, or Manship fill two spots. That would've saved the Twins at least $5 million, which would clearly come in handy, and if all else is equal I'm always in favor of going young. However, if Liriano goes to the bullpen and Perkins is traded that leaves an awful lot riding on Duensing, Manship, and Swarzak, none of whom are better bets than Pavano for 2010.

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* Last night I was the guest on Seth Stohs' podcast and we talked about the Twins non-stop for over an hour, covering basically every possible topic while fielding questions from the audience. It was fun and we got into some interesting discussions, so make sure to give it a listen.

* Craig Calcaterra, Matthew Pouliot, and I combined for over 50 entries on NBCSports.com's "Circling the Bases" yesterday, blogging about the rumors coming from the winter meetings and analyzing every move. We'll be going from sunrise to midnight again today, so check it out.

* Lastly, for my immediate thoughts, unedited ramblings, and real-time analysis throughout the day you can subscribe to my Twitter feed.