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A few weeks ago, I read or heard somewhere that the Twins' record for home runs by a shortstop was 24 by Roy Smalley in 1979.
This got me thinking about the Twins' new shortstop, J.J. Hardy, who has managed to hit that many HRs twice in his career already (24 in 2007 and 26 in 2008), so it should not be a surprise if he sets the Twins' record this season or the next. It also got me thinking about Twins shortstops in general. I knew of Roy Smalley before he became a DH and Zoilo Versalles winning the MVP in 1965, but I couldn't remember many Twins that were known for their bat over their glove, or for being any good at all. So, I decided to do some research.
Looking at OPS+, it was no surprise to see it has been rare that the Twins have had an average or better hitter at shortstop (OPS+ of 100 or more). In fact, since Smalley was traded to the Yankees at the start of the 1982 season, the Twins have had one starting shortstop with an OPS+ in triple digits just once: Cristian Guzman in his amazing 2001 season, or rather half a season, since he completely collapsed in the second half after being an All-Star.
In fact, the Twins have had nine triple-digit OPS+ seasons from a starting shortstop just nine times in their history, and Smalley had five of them. The other four were Versalles twice and Leo Cardenas twice. Hardy has a 99 OPS+ over the last three seasons, so he has a good chance to make it 10.
However, it should be no surprise that it is difficult to find a shortstop that is a league-average hitter, since it traditionally is one of the weakest hitting positions, so I also looked at how the Twins did as a team in sOPS+ at shortstop each year. (sOPS+ is a split statistic which compares the OPS of players at a specific split, in this case batting as a shortstop).
In their history, the Twins have gotten a 101 sOPS+ from their shortstops, which should probably be expected from a team that has had regular intervals of struggles, success and mediocrity over such a long period. However, looking from year-to-year, its apparent that the Twins have needed someone like Hardy for quite a while. The Twins had plenty of above-average production from their shortstops for the first 32 seasons, but have had quite a lot of below-average production since letting Greg Gagne leave via free agency.
Yes, even Gagne helped the Twins get better than average production from the shortstop position. His first four seasons, the Twins were in triple digits in sOPS+, followed by three in the low 90s before he left after 1992. Since then, the Twins have had three 100+ seasons from their shortstops in 17 seasons. Hardy has a 107 sOPS+ as a shortstop over the last three seasons, so it looks promising that he can reverse this trend.
The Twins started out with a tradition of quality-hitting shortstops starting with Versalles, then moving on to Cardenas, Danny Thompson, Smalley and Gagne. They got away from that and the results were pretty ugly for the most part. Here's hoping Hardy can bring back that tradition.
Notes
Some interesting facts I dug up while researching this:
Versalles doesn't have the Twins' record for OPS+ by a shortstop despite his MVP. That would be Smalley, at 122. But it wasn't in 1979. It was the year before. His OPS was only two points more in 1978, but his OPS+ was 12 points more, so 1978 must have been more of a pitchers' season.
The worst OPS by a starting Twins shortstop was 30 by some guy named Jackie Hernandez in 1968. However, the Twins' sOPS+ for shortstops that year was only 84. I'm sure Hernandez had plenty of days off while hitting like that, but still, that doesn't say much for the shortstops in the AL that season.
The worst sOPS+ for Twins shortstops was 59 in 1999. That was Guzman's rookie year when he had a 38 OPS+. Just two seasons later, he had a 110 OPS+, which was tied for the fourth best season by a shortstop in Twins' history. And it could have been the best if he hadn't hurt his shoulders.
Smalley's 1979 season was the only time a Twins shortstop hit at least 20. Hardy has averaged 20 over the last three seasons.
Pitchers and catchers report today! WOOHOO!
The Hot Stove season is over and the new season begins. Evaluation can finally begin. We can finally start to get first-hand reports on if he really is in the best shape of his life, or if he is finally healty, or ... well, you get the idea.
[contributed by: Rhubarb_Runner]
ESPN Magazine cover - February 8, 2010
"Meet Joe Mauer - America's Fan-Friendliest Athlete!"
Click here to continue reading ESPN Magazine cover (2010-02-08) – “Meet Joe Mauer – America’s Fan-Friendliest Athlete!”...
 Rhubarb_Runner  January 19, 2010, at 5:43 am  - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired)  Beckett Baseball, rolodex
Rhubarb_Runner January 18, 2010, at 5:45 am - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) Beckett Baseball, prospects
Rhubarb_Runner December 28, 2009, at 6:24 am Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired 2008 Piece of History, Box Score Memories, Chicago White Sox, Upper Deck
Rhubarb_Runner December 22, 2009, at 6:36 am - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) 2008 Piece of History, Box Score Memories, Detroit Tigers, Upper Deck
Joe Mauer is your 2009 AL MVP and Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter were both shut out of first-place votes! This was already mentioned in the cup of coffee, but I figured it deserved its own post.
Joe got all but one first-place vote and was second on that ballot. Some moron voted for Miguel Cabrera. You know, the idiot that went on a drunken binge in the final week of the season while his team's lead in the division was wasting away to Mauer's Twins. It will be interesting to see who voted for Cabrera. My guess is it was a Detroit writer. Either that, or the guy voted for O-Cab and the BBWAA assumed he meant Miguel.
I also have been noticing a lot of Favre for MVP love right now. Could the Twin Cities have the MVPs for the nation's two most prominent sports this year?
Andrew October 20, 2009, at 1:21 pm - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) Metrodome, Minnesota Twins, statistics
During the MLB.com recap of the Twins' win over the Indians on 16 Sept., the sportscaster mentioned Cleveland's overall record in the Dome. Curious, I sauntered over to the always amazing BR.com and found the all-time records for every visitor in the Metrodome. I re-worked the table so that the columns in the table correspond to the team listed. As it was, it was the Twins' wins/losses. Table and tidbits after the jump.
Click here to continue reading All-Time Metrodome Records...
Nate Tubbs Rules keeps track of a lot of Twins statistics and he compiles a list of what he judges to be the top 300 Twins of all time. I'm reprinting his list here for your perusal.
Click here to continue reading Top 300 Twins...
Nearly 130 years after his death, Canada Bill Jones remains a legendary figure of the Old West. He earned his moniker roaming the frontier towns of Canada as a talented grifter and three-card Monte thrower. But it didn't take too many years of wandering the frigid northern backwaters before Jones hungered for bigger games, longer cons, and larger stakes. An accomplished card sharp by the time he reached his twenties, Canada Bill next plied his trade among the bustling railroad towns of the West and Midwest, fleecing workers of their hard earned pay from Omaha to Kansas City and St. Louis. Eventually the Union Pacific railroad bosses clamped down on Canada Bill and his ilk, so he forsook the rails in favor of the paddle-wheel riverboats that beat their way up and down the mighty Mississippi from St. Paul to New Orleans and points in between.
"It's immoral to let a sucker keep his money," Canada Bill was known to say, and, "A Smith and Wesson beats four of a kind." But neither of those colorful quips are the one for which he is best remembered. Following the Civil War, Jones would open and operate four gambling houses in Chicago, all of them as crooked as a dog's hind leg. Jones and his various partners won huge sums of money in their day and lived lives of periodic extravagance and luxury. But Canada Bill suffered from an occupational hazard, for he himself had the gambling sickness. No matter how much he earned from his three-card Monte marks and short-card cons at the faro table, he would just as readily lose it to even more talented professional gamblers and hucksters than himself.
It was after losing a huge sum of money in a crooked faro game in Cairo, Illinois (though some say it was Denver, others Baton Rogue) that Jones would utter the phrase that immortalizes him to this day. Upon being informed by his partner that the faro game in which he had just lost a small fortune was rather less than honest, Canada Bill famously replied, "I know the game is crooked. But it's the only game in town."
That story about Canada Bill illustrates nicely how I feel about the Twins - or any small market team - taking on the Yankees, the Red Sox, or any big market, big payroll team in the playoffs. You know the game is inherently crooked, you know the deck is stacked against you, that the cards are clearly marked for the opponent to read, but dammit, it's the only game in town. So if you want to play, you have to be willing to accept that your chances of winning are considerably lower than the other guys before a single pitch is ever thrown. Out of 30 major league baseball teams, just nine have payrolls of more than $100 million. But those nine are disproportionately represented in the postseason, taking up five of the eight available playoff slots this year.
1. Yankees $201,449,289
4. Red Sox $122,696,000
6. Angels $113,709,000
7. Phillies $113,004,048
9. Dodgers $100,458,101
13. Cardinals $88,528,411
18. Rockies $75,201,000
24. Twins $65,299,267
Last night's extra innings loss to the Yankees was tormenting in so many ways. It was frustrating that with Nick Blackburn throwing an absolute gem and holding the vaunted Yankee lineup scoreless for five innings, Carlos Gomez fell down rounding second base and was tagged out before Delmon Young could cross home plate to score the game's first, and as it would turn out, quite possibly the game's deciding run. It was disappointing, though not entirely unprecedented, that the Twins would strand 17 base runners over 11 innings. It was disheartening that with a two-run lead Joe Nathan, one of the elite closers in the game, once again imploded in Yankee Stadium, grooving a 3-1 fastball to Alex Rodriguez that A-Rod launched into the bullpen to tie the game. It was maddening that with bases loaded and no outs in the top of the 11th inning, the Twins could not plate a single run. It's incredibly galling that while standing just a dozen feet from the play, umpire Phil Cuzzi blew a foul ball call that would have put Joe Mauer into scoring position instead of first base on the single he eventually hit. And it's ultimately depressing that Mark Teixeira won the game on a home run that would not be a home run in any other major league ballpark, a home run that was a fair ball by roughly the same margin as Joe Mauer's uncalled ground rule double.
It was, I think, overcoming the very long odds to ultimately catch and surpass the $115,085,145 Detroit Tigers that made winning the AL Central so sweet this year. But as the slave appointed to ride with each Roman general of antiquity in his triumphal chariot would continuously whisper into the general's ear, all glory is fleeting. There is still a lot of postseason baseball to be played, though it's hard to say how much I'll be able to enjoy it now. For the Twins, there's at least one more game, this time on our home field. But I don't believe, and neither should anybody, that it will give them any real edge against the richest, winningest team in baseball. That meager home field advantage in one or two elimination games is soundly trumped by the big money the Yankees (and other free-spending teams) can afford to throw at every elite player who hits the free agent market year after year. And that was what had me up pacing the floor and muttering under my breath at two o'clock this morning, and what has me up early on a Saturday, typing an uncharacteristic rant for the WGOM.
Do I sound bitter? Maybe I am. I'm still a fan and I'll still watch, but luckily I'm not fool enough to bet money on the games. I still think baseball is the greatest sport in the pantheon of professional athletics. I'd still rather watch a single Twins postseason series than an entire season of profession football or basketball or hockey. But ultimately, I know deep down that the odds are I'm going to be sorely disappointed. Because I let myself hope that the Twins can overcome the enormous advantage enjoyed by the Yankees and most of the other teams that make the playoffs. Because the playing field is terribly tilted and skewed season after season. Because I know the game is crooked, but it's the only game in town.
As for Canada Bill Jones, he would live out his later years in Cleveland, eventually dying penniless in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1880, his funeral expenses reimbursed by the unscrupulous, more talented, and ultimately grateful gamblers of Chicago who had separated him from his ill-gotten gains time and time again.
I was prepared to lose to the Yankees. I really was. Its not like it hasn't happened before. And its not like the Twins would be expected to win this series.
I just wasn't prepared for this. Who would be?
Another soul-crushing defeat with victory so near. And to the Yankees.
I can handle games like Game 1. We didn't play well, they did. No big deal. You move on.
But to have the biggest strength on the team fail at the worst time. After the bottom of the order goes out and gets a two-run lead off the Yankees' best relievers. And to go from three outs away from stealing away homefield advantage with our two best starters coming up to falling in an 0-2 hole. Oy.
And to have another Yankee walkoff win. That's four this year. In eight games.
And that's another late lead blown to the Yankees in the playoffs. I count three, if memory serves. Plus, the Twins were tied in the late innings against the Yankees in Game 2 in 2003, if memory serves. What is it about Game 2?
What did we do to deserve this heartbreak?
I guess I'm saying I can stand the Yankees beating the Twins. I just can't stand the Twins beating themselves while playing the Yankees.
I'm still not giving up on this team, however. They just need to win three straight games to win the series. Three straight is nothing after they had to win five straight and get some help to be in the position they're in.
The good news is the Twins will be back home for the next two with their top two starters going on their regular rest. I guess we'll find out if the Dome really doesn't want to stop hosting Twins baseball.
The bad news is that the Twins have lost nine straight to the Yankees and they have lost their last eight playoff games. The Twins need to win Game 3 to end those streaks. If they do, then suddenly they will be one win away from forcing a Game 5 back in New York and then who knows what will happen.
This could be so sweet if the Twins pull off another miracle. It could be the start of the "Revenge Tour." After paying back the Yankees for 2003-04, they could beat the Angels in the ALCS to pay them back for 2002 and then knock off the Dodgers in the World Series to gain revenge for 1965.
Paybacks a bitch!! GO TWINS!!
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Cup of Coffee  89 LTEs Wolves lose again by 22, Kevin Love down to 17 minutes. This is the worst possible situation for the Wolves. They are driving what is left of their fan base with a tremendous stretch of terrible basketball. Their best, or second-best, player has checked out and is getting buried on the bench. I doubt that Love is in their long term plans. How's that O.J. Mayo deal looking now?
Retired WGOM Jokes
- "The Twins should have drafted Mark Prior."
Race to the Bottom: Highest Loss Totals in T-Wolves History 67: 1991-92
63: 1992-93
62: 1993-94
61: 1994-95
60: 1989-90, 2007-08
58: 2008-09
56: 1995-96
55: 2009-10
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Recent Letters to the Editor
In Response to Cup of Coffee: March 18, 2010,
Jeff A wrote: Did anybody see the Robert … game? Mike and Mike (actually Greenberg and Doug Gottlieb) are saying this morning that the referees basically handed the game to Villanova, with Greenberg going so far to…
brianS wrote: Yea, Marquette did me no favors.
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meat wrote: Cc to Andrew: I'm suddenly going to be in Dublin for a short weekend this summer (late June), any suggestions would be good as to where to stay / eat drink / be Irish.
spookymilk wrote: Boy oh boy, would most of those references be lost on my...let's call them …
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New Britain Bo wrote: How's this for script idea: At a planning session for an … a committee of twelve Indians (4 dot, 4 feather, 4 West) hires a crack director to run their event. He shows up at…
DK wrote: I missed this earlier today since I was apparently too busy … in the Nightmare thread, but I'd be down with this too. In fact, I'd probably be willing to contribute to coverage.
Milt on Tilt wrote: I'm picking up my puppy tomorrow. I couldn't be more excited.
In Response to Nightmares at WGOMville,
hungry joe wrote: i wasn't planning on going out, but two heavies from my company were in town, and they took me out for a crazy night (got home at 2, and i've been hating life most of…
spookymilk wrote: I instantly love the person who took that photo, hungry man. I'm sitting here drinking Bass; yesterday I went the nostalgia route with my St. Pat's choice, opting for a drink that reminded me of college…
hungry joe wrote:
Milt on Tilt wrote: hehe. Beer.
spookymilk wrote: To be fair, drama is kind of the world I live in. I'm prone to exaggeration. Plus, I'm drunk because this script is making me tense and I needed to take the edge…
Milt on Tilt wrote: Yeah, man. I wouldn't "disregard" it either, because it was truly a horrifying move. Oh come now. That's just being completely over dramatic.
Milt on Tilt wrote: O-Cab lead the majors in Outs as a batter in 2009. Call me … Jimmy Rollins actually did. But Cabrera was second, and first in the AL. Even so. I could use that same…
nibbish wrote: I don't know what to make of it. On one hand, Cabrera was made of suck. On the other, any shortstop we put in there was going to. I'd have to side with DK and…
spookymilk wrote: Yeah, man. I wouldn't "disregard" it either, because it was truly a horrifying move. 0-Cab cleared the bases for the team's best hitter over and over. I know it's nice to remember…
DK wrote: O-Cab was a baseball band-aid over a severed limb. Acting like doing that was a "victory" is what seems foolish to me.
In Response to Luna - 23 Minutes In Brussels (Tell Me Do You Miss Me),
E-6 wrote: Love me some Luna.
In Response to Cup of Coffee: March 17, 2010,
brianS wrote: I dunno. But we're not really talking about a legal argument so much as an ethical one, I think.
Moss wrote: The old "you can't have your coke and snort it too" … can't get a conviction on a … test...and is possession of any amount of coke a felony??
hungry joe wrote: tell me about it...
brianS wrote: It is hard to consume if you do not possess.