Rick Aguilera

[Brock Beauchamp]

Richard Warren Aguilera was born in San Gabriel, California and was originally drafted by the St Louis Cardinals in the 1980 MLB Draft. He declined to sign and instead attended Brigham Young University. He was drafted again in 1983 by the New York Mets and signed.

He made his MLB debut in 1985 and the Mets used him primarily as a starting pitching from 1985-1988. In 1989, he moved to the bullpen and was later traded to the Minnesota Twins in the Frank Viola blockbuster trade at the trade deadline. With the Twins, Aguilera became one of the best closers in baseball, posting an ERA of 2.77 and collecting 149 saves from 1990-1993.

As the Twins headed into organizational freefall through the mid-90s, Aguilera was traded to the Boston Red Sox at the 1995 trade deadline, bringing Frankie Rodriguez to the Twins. At the end of the 1995 season, Aguilera became a free agent and promptly returned to Minnesota. He started 19 games in 1996, posting a 5.42 ERA. In 1997, he returned to the bullpen and never started another major league game.

In 1999, Aguilera was once again traded by the Twins, this time to the Chicago Cubs, with Kyle Lohse going to the Twins. Aguilera pitched with the Cubs through the 2000 season, at which point he retired from Major League Baseball.

In all, Aguilera played parts of 11 seasons with the Twins and is second in all-time saves for the Twins, just behind Joe Nathan.

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