Matthew Lenz

We're running a 20-part series in which we look back at each Minnesota Twins season of the 2000s. A rotation of different writers will highlight key moments, unearth forgotten details, and share nostalgic tales from the past two decades leading up to the present. This installment covers the 2004 season. Team Record: 92-70 Finish: 1st Place in AL Central All-Star: Joe Nathan (RP) Awards: Johan Santana (AL Cy Young), Torii Hunter (Gold Glove, CF) Playoffs: Lost to NYY 3-1 in ALDS Season Overview The 2004 season introduced Twins fans to players who would end up having immense impacts on the franchise over the next 15 seasons. Between the amateur player draft, big-league debuts, and increased roles, this was a season to be remembered. Whether viewed as Joe Mauer’s rookie year, or the year that Joe Nathan ignited his dominance as a closer, or the year Justin Morneau took over the reins from fan favorite Doug Mientkiewicz at first, there are a lot of storylines you'll be reminded of as you read through this article. Oh, and I haven't even mentioned Johan Santana winning his first of two (should be three) Cy Young Awards and becoming the first Twins pitcher to earn the honor since Frank Viola in 1988. One of my favorite things to look at when reviewing a season is Baseball Reference's team pages where you can find splits for darn near anything, including one of my favorite graphics shown below: It’s always good to see a lot more clusters of green than red, especially when the clusters of green are taller. Although the season ended in familiar fashion, it was filled with moments that defined the franchise for many seasons to come. It didn’t take long for Twins fans to get excited about this year's squad. With the debut of a future franchise cornerstone in Mauer, and a 15-7 month of April, it was clear the Twins were going to be contending for their third consecutive Central division title. Fans were pleasantly surprised by the emergence of Lew Ford. He slashed .419/.471/.710 in 70 plate appearances in the first month, which would be more of a trend than a mirage for the rest of the season. Then came the month of May. Twins fans learned they would be without their rookie catcher for another month due to a knee injury, and the team struggled to the tune of a 12-16 record. The offense wasn’t producing, and the starting pitching outside of Brad Radke was stumbling. Even Santana wasn't finding his groove, finishing May with a 5.61 ERA and casting some doubt on his spectacular emergence the prior season. Despite all of this, the Twins found themselves just 2 1/2 games outside of first place, with their bullpen stepping up as one of the best in baseball. Things improved in June. Mauer returned after recovering and rehabbing for nearly two months, and the Twins finished the month with a 14-12 record. Although the offense kept sputtering, the most important development was Santana becoming the force that Twins fans came to love. Minnesota won three of its first ten games in June on walk-offs, and by the end of the month, had gained a game and a half on the White Sox. Regardless, the Twins were three months into their season with an average starting staff, and an outstanding relief corps, but in desperate need of someone to kickstart the offense. Entering the All-Star break in mid-July, the Twins had gained another game on the White Sox but the offense was still ineffective, so on July 15th they recalled their top first base prospect Morneau. This is also the last day that Twins fans would see an at-bat from Mauer in 2004, as complications from his knee injury sidelined him for the rest of the year. Thus the "M&M" legacy began. Santana grew even more dominant in July, and Twins fans were starting to realize they had one of the best closers in the league as Nathan had converted 29 saves in 30 chances and struck out 55 batters in 47 2/3 innings. By the end of the month the Twins were still a below-average offensive team but with a 17-10 July they found themselves five games up on the White Sox. Fans were surprised when the Twins made only one move at the deadline, dealing Mientkiewicz to the Boston Red Sox for an A-ball pitcher. Although the Twins may have “lost” this trade (Mientkiewicz helped the Red Sox win a World Series, then famously refused to give up the ball)... they were wise to turn over the reins. In August, Morneau slashed .270/.348/.620 with 10 home runs and established himself as the Twins' much-needed power threat. Aided by his emergence, Minnesota finished the month with a 17-15 record, adding to their division lead. The second-place White Sox had their third consecutive losing month and the Twins were sitting comfortably in first place entering the final month of the season. Now on cruise control, the Twins finished their season strong with a record of 19-12 in September and October, including a nine-game win streak that all but sealed the Central. While the Twins were locking up the division as a team, Santana was busy locking up his first Cy Young Award with an 11-0 record and 1.30 ERA after July 31st. He finished with 20 wins and league-leading marks in ERA (2.61), strikeouts (265), FIP (2.92), and WHIP (0.92). The Twins officially clinched the division with 12 games left, and were slated for an ALDS rematch against the Yankees, who had baseball's second-best record and were coming off a 101-win campaign. Unfortunately, the Twins' season reached its end here, as they lost the series against the Yankees three games to one. Despite a more successful season overall, Minnesota's outcome was the same as '03. Team MVP: Johan Santana (SP) Other Contenders: Brad Radke (SP), Lew Ford (OF), Joe Nathan (RP), Carlos Silva (SP) Well this was an easy one, as Santana won the 2004 Cy Young Award and, per fWAR, had the fifth-best season ever for a Twins pitcher. Minnesota went 24-10 in his starts, including 15-2 after July 1st as they built an insurmountable lead in the division. The other four players listed all had career years in 2004 from an fWAR perspective, but were no match against the dominance of Johan. Radke posted his best K/BB ratio and second-lowest HR/9 while accepting the No. 2 billing in Minnesota's rotation. Who would have remembered that Ford led this team offensively (and it wasn’t even close) while also earning two MVP votes? Not me. Nathan, in his first season with the club after being acquired alongside Boof Bonser and Francisco Liriano in the A.J. Pierzynski trade, came one save short of tying the Twins' single-season saves record. He got the record eventually. 3 Most Pivotal Games April 15th: Won @ Cleveland Indians, 3-0 On Tax Day the Twins beat the Indians 3-0 behind eight shutout innings from Radke. The game saw Corey Koskie and Jacque Jones each hit their third home runs of the season, with Koskie stealing two bases. So what made this game pivotal? Nathan came on in the ninth inning to earn his first save as a Twin, and second save of his career. He would go on to convert 44 of 47 saves in 2004 and eventually would become the Twins' all-time saves leader with 260. This seemingly nondescript game in April turned out to be one that altered the Twins bullpen for years to come. September 20th: Won @ Chicago White Sox, 8-2 The Twins clinched their third straight AL Central Division championship with an 8-2 win. They received seven solid innings from righty Carlos Silva who earned his 13th win of the season. The Twins got four home runs off the bats of Hunter, Koskie, Henry Blanco, and Luis Rivas. Thy would finish the season with 92 wins and nine games above the second-place Chicago White Sox. October 6th: Lost @ New York Yankees, 7-6 Behind Santana, the Twins won the opening game of their AL Division Series match up against the Evil Empire 2-0. They entered Game 2 with Radke on the bump coming off a career year in which he limited opponents to under one home run per nine innings... something he would need to replicate against a team that hit 242, tying the White Sox for first. The Twins jumped out to a 3-1 lead after two innings but by the time Radke’s day was done he had given up three home runs and the Twins were down 5-3. Three batters into the top of the eighth, the Twins had men on first and second with Morneau and Koskie coming to the plate, and one out. Coming to the mound, future Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera. To everyone’s surprise, back-to-back hits tied the game at five, where it remained knotted until the top of the 12th when Hunter hit a solo shot off something named Tanyon Sturtze. Gardy had turned to his newfound superstar closer in the 10th, and by now Nathan had thrown 32 pitches, not to mention 52 pitches over four innings in the previous five days. Still, the manager stuck with him. Visibly out of gas, Nathan gave up a pair of walks and then a game-tying ground-rule double to Álex Rodríguez. J.C. Romero relieved Nathan, but with Derek Jeter on third all it took was a Hideki Matsui sacrifice fly to give the Yankees the win and knot the series at one game apiece. Spoiler alert: The Twins haven't won a postseason game since. Unforgettable Highlights Joe Mauer Makes His Big-League Debut On April 4th, Mauer made his MLB debut, batting eighth and playing catcher on Opening Day against the Cleveland Indians. He earned the first two of his 2,123 hits in a Twins uniform and scored two runs. His first Major League hit came off of Rafael Betancourt... a classic groundball single up the middle. Significant Acquisitions of 2004 Trevor Plouffe, Glen Perkins, and Anthony Swarzak were among the five first-round draft picks made by the Twins in 2004, a smorgasbord yielded by several free agent departures the prior offseason. Matt Tolbert is another recognizable, although less inspiring, name from the draft class. The Twins signed Wilson Ramos as an international free agent on July 7th. Brendan Harris and Orlando Cabrera were acquired by ... not the Twins. They went to the Expos and Red Sox respectively, as part of the four-team blockbuster that sent Mientkiewicz to Boston, but each infielder would find his way to Minnesota eventually. The Shutout Streak From July 5th to the 8th, Minnesota Twins pitched 32 consecutive innings without giving up a run, including back-to-back-to-back complete game shutouts by Radke, Santana, and Kyle Lohse. This was in a three-game series at the Dome against the Kansas City Royals, who ended up being the second-worst team in baseball. Nonetheless, it currently stands as the team record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched by the team. Santana Breaks Twins Single Season Strikeout Record On September 24th, Santana broke the Twins' single-season strikeout record in his second-to-last start of the season, getting Ryan Ludwick of the Indians to strike out swinging. He ended up setting the record with 265 strikeouts in 228 innings. His 10.5 K/9 was good for third-best in franchise history until 2006, when Liriano would nudge him to fourth. One Detail You Probably Forgot One player we haven't seen mentioned is Juan Rincón, whose eighth-inning dominance bridged the gap to Nathan. Rincon had a 2.4 fWAR in 2004, dominating batters by striking out 11.6 per nine innings and posting a WPA of 2.11. He pitched 82 innings and earned 11 wins. People will often credit Nathan for the bullpen's dominance in 2004 but Rincon’s career year should not be forgotten. Fun Fact In their season-opening home series against Cleveland, the Twins won their first two games on walk-offs, courtesy of clutch knocks by Shannon Stewart and José Offerman. They went on to win 10 games on walk-offs, and were also on the losing side of 10 walk-offs. Yep, the 2004 Twins had 20 of their 162 games decided on the final pitch. ~~~ Previous Installments: The 2000 Season The 2001 Season The 2002 Season The 2003 Season

You’ll find these performances are somewhat random but I tried to put as few stipulations as I could into the Play Index tool to find a performance that has happened less than 100 times in the history of major League baseball. For reference, there have been 220,597 games played in major league history which means I am finding a performance that has happened in about 0.045% of games played. If you want to have a little fun, I have organized this into three hints and you can give yourself a score based on what hint you guessed the correct player. If you’re able to get the player(s) without reading any of the hints then you earn 0 points, otherwise, guessing the player after… ...hint #1 = 1 point, ...hint #2 = 2 points, and ...hint #3 = 3 points. For the sake of keeping score, give yourself 4 points if you need to look at the answer. Of course, like golf, the lower your score the better. Good luck! Performance #1: Ten or more total bases without hitting a home run without extra innings. 1. This has happened once in Twins history and 35 times in major league baseball history. Three of the occurrences were accomplished by active players, and the Twin who accomplished this, although not officially retired, did not play in 2019. 2. On June 29th, 2010 the Twins destroyed the Detroit Tigers 11-4 at Target Field. 3. The onslaught was led by their center fielder at the time who went 4-for-4 with three triples and a walk. The player: Denard Span. Performance #2: At least eight runs batted in with no more than one home run without extra innings. 1. This has never happened with zero homer uns, but with one home run it has happened once in Twins history and just 25 times in major league history. In the same game, Tony Oliva had 6 RBI with one home run. 2. This was far from a pitchers duel, as the Twins beat the White Sox 19-12 at Metropolitan Stadium on June 26th,1977. 3. He was never a full-time player throughout his eight year career and mostly appeared as a designated hitter. Although on this particular day he was playing right field. The player: Glenn Adams. Performance #3: Hit two or more triples in a game without scoring a run or earning an RBI. 1. Nobody has done this with more than two triples, but this particular instance has happened 45 times in major league history including three times in Twins history. Take away one point if you can name two of the players and two bonus points if you can name all three. For scoring, treat each player as their own...so if you don’t get any of them then add 12 points to your total. 2. I will give one hint for each player starting, where “player #1” was the first player to accomplish this feat: Player #1: The Washington Senators beat the Boston Red Sox 9-6 at Griffith Stadium on April 27th, 1924. Relief pitcher, By Speece, scored a run and drove in a run on an RBI-triple himself. Player #2: Given the stat, it’s probably not surprising that the Twins lost 4-0 to the New York Yankees at Metropolitan Stadium on July 17th, 1963. Player #3: Again, it shouldn’t be surprising that the Twins lost to the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 at Metropolitan Stadium on June 12th, 1974. 3. I will give one hint for each player starting, where “player #1” was the first player to accomplish this feat: Player #1: He only played in more than 45 games twice in a short 5 year player career as a third basemen. He’s more well known as a manager where he holds the worst winning percentage of any manager who has managed at least 400 games. Player #2: Like he did for much of his 12-year career, nine of which were with the Senators/Twins, he was batting lead off and playing shortstop on this day. Player #3: He bounced around the outfield throughout his 14-year career, five of which were with the Twins, but on this particular day he was playing center field. Bonus fun fact: in 1973 he became the first designated hitter to appear in a spring training game. Player #1: Doc Prothro Player #2: Zoilo Versalles Player #3: Larry Hisle This was definitely tough. If I took this quiz myself, I think I would have gotten Denard Span and Zoilo Versalles after their respective third hints (3 points each), otherwise I would have gained an additional 12 points for not guessing the others to give me a total of 18. Ouch. Use the chart below, which I’ve curved based on difficulty, to measure how you did and leave your score in the comments! Is anyone a hall of famer?? MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email

Twins Dream Roster Pitchers: Walter Johnson, Johan Santana, Bert Blyleven, Jim Kaat, Camilo Pascual, Frank Viola, Jim Perry, Joe Nathan, Rick Aguilera, Glen Perkins, Taylor Rogers Starters: C: Joe Mauer 1B: Kent Hrbek 2B: Rod Carew 3B: Harmon Killebrew SS: Joe Cronin LF: Goose Goslin CF: Kirby Puckett RF: Tony Oliva DH: Bob Allison Bench: Roy Smalley, Justin Morneau, Gary Gaetti, Michael Cuddyer, Torii Hunter, Earl Battey Roster Analysis A little over two years ago, I constructed a dream roster of my own that looks a lot like this team, although I only considered guys who donned the Twins uniform. MLB’s list also includes players from the Washington Senators like Walter Johnson, Joe Cronin, and Goose Goslin. It also appears that I was a little more stringent in regards to position eligibility; for example, Harmon Killebrew was not eligible at 3rd base for my team. Regardless, let’s take a quick dive into the roster. On first look, the pitching staff definitely includes the best of the best. I had an extra pitcher compared to MLB’s Dream Roster, but knowing what we know now, I assuredly would replace Tom Hall with Taylor Rogers. I also only carried six starters, one as a “long relief” pitcher, whereas they are carrying seven. I had to take a deeper dive into Cronin and Goslin but, as I noted in my piece, Shortstop and Left Field are the two weakest positions in Twins history. It wasn’t surprising to see two Senators fill those spots. Cronin easily beats out Smalley for the shortstop job, as he garnered MVP votes in three of seven seasons with the Senators, including a second place finish in 1933. Goslin is also an easy pick over Mack, as he also garnered MVP votes in three seasons, and owns the franchise single season record for OPS (1.056) and is tied with Christian Guzman with 20 triples in a single season. MLB Dreams Roster had two additional bench guys on their team. I noted in my piece that I was trying to create a realistic roster which limited some of my options, but it’s hard for me to imagine how Bob Allison didn’t make the cut over Michael Cuddyer. Other than that, the others are deserving of a bench spot. MLB Dream Bracket The Minnesota Twins Dream Roster was up against the Toronto Blue Jays Roster in the first round of the bracket. Toronto’s team features Hall of Famers Roy Halladay and Roberto Alomar, as well as current Twin Josh Donaldson and Twin Killers Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. You can find the series recap here but the short of it is that the Twins lost four games to one. Halladay (2 GS, 1.20 ERA, 12 K’s) and Bautista (1.324 OPS) lived up up to their reputations throughout the series and carried the Blue Jays to round two where they will face a loaded Boston Red Sox team. Like recent history, it was a short lived playoff series for the Minnesota Twins. If there is any good news it is that they were able to win one game and snap their 16 playoff game losing streak. Ho hum. What are your thoughts on their dream roster for the Twins? Take a look at the rosters in the bracket...who do you have as the winner? It pains me to say that I’m taking the Yankees over Dodgers in what would be their 12th championship matchup. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email

On Monday, Zone Coverage writer Brandon Warne posted the following tweet: https://twitter.com/Brandon_Warne/status/1249752782015430659 Anyway, I bit on Brandon’s bait and looked up his strikeout rate and was truly shocked by what I found. 7.7-percent. Seven point seven. By FanGraphs standards, or any standards, that is well below the “awful” threshold. For another reference point, he had a K/9 of 2.8...wow. The ultimate Twins pitcher of the early 2000’s, right? With an 88.1-percent contact rate, you bet he was. Okay, so where does this get historic? I used Baseball Reference’s Play Index to play around with some stats and found all seasons under the following parameters: Zero games started and at least 50 innings pitched K/9 less than or equal to three ERA less than or equal to three WHIP greater than or equal to 1.1 At least 12 wins Jesse Crain is the only pitcher in Major League history to ever provide such a stat line. How do you have such a solid ERA and so many wins despite such poor underlying metrics? Huh, maybe these analytics people are on to something here. Here’s what doesn’t make sense... He earned 12 wins despite not starting any games? He is one of two pitchers to accomplish this in under 80 innings pitched. By the way, the other was Joe Nathan the year before he was traded to the Twins. He posted an ERA under three despite an almost “awful” walk rate (8.9 - percent) and “awful” strikeout rate? He is the only pitcher since 1992 to accomplish this feat of pitchers who pitched at least 50 innings. With the way that today’s game is played he might be the last. Here’s what does make sense… Of pitchers who pitched between 50 and 99.2 innings with an ERA under 3.00 Jesse Crain’s FIP of 4.65 is 14th highest in Major League history. Of pitchers who pitched btween 50 and 99.2 innings with a FIP of at least 4.50 and strike out rate less than or equal to eight percent Jesse Crain’s BAbip of .219 is 20th lowest in Major League history. The final verdict on Jesse Crain’s unprecedented 2005 season is that it was largely based on skill. But not his skill. Per Fangraphs, the 2005 Twins had the AL’s best defense in the fourth best defense in all of baseball. In fact the Twins pitching staff as a whole benefited from the seventh lowest BABIP in the Majors. I mean, we were talking about the ultimate Twins pitching prototype and the prototype actually fit the team in the mid-2000’s. Once I saw his strikeout rate, wins, and ERA I knew I had to do a deeper dive and figured I might as well write about it. Thanks, Brandon ... I needed something to do while my wife watched Listen To Your Heart on ABC. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email

Starting Lineups Game Recap Home Runs: Bob Allison (1), Reno Bertoia (1) Multi-Hit Games: Versalles (2-for-5, 2B, R, 2 SB), Allison (2-for-5, HR, R, RBI) Top 3 WPA: Ramos (0.464), Allison (0.151), Bertoia (0.054) Bottom 3 WPA: Lemon (-0.106), Green (-0.077), Versalles (-0.055) The first six innings of this game was a pitchers duel between Ramos and Ford as there were a total of only eight baserunners for both teams. The Twins started the seventh inning with Bob Allison ripping a home run deep down the left field line, the first of the season and 46th of his young career, followed by a Battey double and Bertoia walk. With hitters eight and nine due up, Yankees manager Ralph Houk trusted the 1961 Cy Young Award Winner-to-be to finish the job he started...and boy, did he regret that. After a sacrifice bunt by Gardner, the Twins starting pitcher hit a two-run single that increased the lead to 3-0 and marked the end of the day for Ford. Yankees righty reliever Ralph Terry came in to the game and threw a shaky 1.2 innings that saw him give up three hits and a walk, including a two-run bomba from Reno Bertoia. As Ramos continued to cruise the Twins entered the ninth up 5-0 and ready to face 1960 All-Star Jim Coates. After a Versalles lead-off single to left and steals of second and third, Twins first baseman Harmon Killebrew padded the lead with a sacrifice fly. Having only faced 28 batters, Twins manager Cookie Lavagetto, sent Ramos out in the bottom of the ninth where Ramos set the 2-3-4 hitters 1-2-3 earning his first win and complete game of the season and 68th and 50th, respectively, of his career. Likely a refreshing start to the season after finishing the last three seasons as the AL leaders in losses, but little did he know at the time he would accomplish the same feat in 1961, finishing 11-20. Anyone on here remember seeing this game? Listening to it on the radio? Reading about it in the paper? MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email

After reading last week's article, if you’re still not with me on this then let’s think about those involved in the organization who pay the bills. Of course, we’re talking about the billionaire owners of these franchises who rely on the success of the minor league players to put butts in the seats when they make the major leagues. I’m going to use the Twins as an example not to push the “cheap Pohlads” belief but because, quite simply, this is a Twins website. To be clear, in this context all owners are being cheap. According to Forbes, the Minnesota Twins had a revenue of $269 million in 2019 of which $151 million was dedicated to major league player expenses like salary, benefits, and bonuses. After taking out other expenses, the Twins ended with an operating income of $14 million before interest and taxes were taken out. We don’t know the net income (aka profit) so, working with only the numbers that we know, let's say we are going to pull additional monies from the operating income to increase the pay for minor leaguers. Earlier I had suggested that minor league players are provided a livable, not exuberant, income which I am taking quite objectively. In this proposal, players will literally earn what is considered the cost of living for a single adult with no children in the county they work, as determined by the Economic Policy Institute. Outside of signing bonuses, there will be no subjectivity...something I think an MLB owner would appreciate. In this particular model, players aren’t necessarily paid according to the level they are at but strictly based on their estimated cost of living. Below you will find a couple of different tables using data from 2019, and it’s important to point out this wasn’t a perfect, exact science. Without calculating and prorating the salaries of hundreds of minor leaguers these totals present an approximation based on a couple hypotheticals that wouldn’t impact the bottom line a ton had they been calculated exactly: Teams have the maximum number of players on their active roster at all times Players are not promoted/demoted once they are assigned Proposal #1: Pay players a livable wage, based on location, for the minor league season. Proposal #2: Pay players a livable wage, based on location, for the calendar year. The third proposal is based on using the federal minimum wage as a threshold for a “livable” wage. Proposal #3: Start rookie ball at the federal minimum wage with a 15% increase at each level for the calendar year Obviously, the possibilities are endless when it comes to paying minor league players an appropriate wage, and, in my mind, the three proposals above would be the bare minimum for major league owners. I understand that under these proposals it is weird to think that a player for the GCL Twins is making more than a player on the Elizabethton Twins despite they're both rookie league teams, and that same player is making the same amount as an A+ player who is at a higher level. At the same time, my approach was meant to be completely objective. In an ideal, and subjective, world players are making a livable wage at a minimum while also getting an automatic raise for being promoted from one level to the next. What would a fair minor league pay model look like to you? MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email

https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1244991008120635393 If your response to the opening paragraph is something along the lines of “they are playing a child's sport for a living” or “they chose this route” then I would challenge you to think of this issue from a humanity perspective and less of a financial perspective. The foundation of our country is based on freedom and pursuing your dreams, and as a child growing up you are urged by your role models to pursue those dreams. This article will show you how easy it would be for a billionaire sport owner to provide a livable, not exuberant, salary for the very players they rely on for the future of their franchise (and its bottomline). Before we get into the number crunching, I want to take a second to promote an account (temporarily locked) and website that has already raised thousands to this very cause. What started as a small account run by a local Minnesota man has turned into a national, and likely, international venture as it was taken under the wing of More Than Baseball whose mission is to “enhance and protect the game of baseball”, according to their website. This mission includes providing financial assistance to minor leaguers to enhance their basic needs like housing and food as well as the professional need for equipment and services to plan for “life after baseball”. I know times are tough right now, but in the words of Jon Bon Jovi, “when you can’t do what you do, you do what you can”. That is to say that, whether you can or cannot donate, nothing hinders you from sharing this article with your friends and family and bringing additional light to the issue at hand. Okay, lets dig into the numbers and start with the current salary structure of MiLB players. These numbers were retrieved from an NBC Sports article and organized in a table by myself. Of course, these figures don’t take into account possible signing bonuses of which some can be quite large for the top draft picks. Using data from Andrew Thares article on the 2019 Minnesota Twins Player Draft their top overall pick, Keoni Cavaco, received $4.05 million for signing with the Twins. He was just fine making $3,480 over the three month rookie ball season. But what about everyone else? The Twins were able to sign 32 of their 41 draft picks in 2019. Of the 32 signees, 13 signed for $30,000 or less, three signed for $10,000, one signed for $5,000, and seven signed for $1,000. For reference, The three players who signed for $10,000 beat the 2019 poverty line by a mere $990, according to the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). As a reminder, not that you need it, signing bonuses are a one-shot deal. So other than having some sort of seasonal/part-time job for the other seven to nine months (depending on their level) after the year they are drafted the salary is all they earn for their season. For players that are fortunate enough to receive a signing bonus in the hundreds of thousands, they better spend wisely as it takes most players four to six seasons to reach the major leagues if they make it at all, per Business Insider. For more on this topic, I would encourage you to check out this twitter thread from five-year minor leaguer Tyler Cyr of the San Francisco Giants. For some top notch minor league baseball stories, some about living conditions, former Twins farmhand and St. Paul Saints pitcher Todd Van Steensel is an awesome follow. What are your thoughts on minor league pay? Do they deserve more? Why or why not? Next week, we’ll look a little deeper into the owners pocketbooks and analyze what it would cost owners to provide a livable, not exuberant, wage. MORE ON @ADOPTMILBPLAYER Sports Illustrated article The Athletic article Pioneer Press article MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email

This article will look to give you the details of the league and, more interestingly, provide an analysis of the draft. This piece will be, at times, objective using FantasyPros as a reference to assess how teams drafted. At other times, you will see “Commish Commentary” which is more subjective and my opportunity to rip some of the other teams. You can also follow this live tweet thread from draft night if you would like more subjective analysis influenced by a couple Ruby Grapefruit White Claws. League Details The name of the league, as proposed by an anonymous member and voted on, is “Twins Daily Tournament of Death”. It’s a 16-team league, head-to-head (H2H) “each category” which means teams will earn a single win, loss, or tie at the end of the week. It’s a free, redraft league that only allows the top-six teams to make the playoffs, and has the following categories: Hitting Categories: Home runs, Total Bases, OPS, Net Steals, and Strikeouts (less is better) Pitching Categories: Strikeouts, Quality Starts, K/BB ratio; Net Saves + Holds, OBP Against The goal was to pick categories that relied on luck or teammate performance (i.e. runs scored, runs batted in, etc.) as little as possible while also picking categories that weren’t too redundant. Keep in mind, we were limited by the options that Yahoo! provided us. Draft Analysis - in order of FantasyPros Power Rankings 1. “Andrew Thares” (Andrew Thares) Full Team Commish Commentary: Thares’ team is solid in every category with the exception of quality starts. He has one of the best relief corps in the league headlined by Josh Hader, arguably the best reliever in baseball, and 2019 breakout Ian Kennedy. The league letting Yordan Alvarez drop to him with the 38th pick and a bounceback season from Marcell Ozuna will be the reason his offense outperforms FantasyPros expectations. 2.“The Funkadelic” (Matthew Lenz) Full Team Commish Commentary: With eight starting pitchers and only one relief pitcher (Kenley Jansen) he’s either really locked in on Quality Starts and Pitcher Strikeouts or is stocked up to make a move to a team that needs some starting pitching. The offense will likely depend on the development of Kyle Tucker, Scott Kingery, and Willie Calhoun. 3.“Bellingham Bells” (Matthew Braun) Full Team Commish Commentary: Um, he didn’t take his first offensive player until the 8th round. I’d leave it at that but I also want to point out that he drafted Scherzer, Verlander, and Greinke with three of his first four picks who have an average age of 36 years old. If those three continue their dominance, he has set himself up with other nice pieces (Paddock, Boyd, Rogers, and Lugo). Not surprisingly, FantasyPros has him with the lowest rated offense but the highest rated pitching staff. I think his season relies on the veteran presence guiding the youngun’s...if that’s a thing in fantasy baseball. 4.“The Patrick Dobniaks” (Patrick Wozniak - not on Twitter but says he’s available by carrier pigeon) Full Team Commish Commentary:On FantasyPros, you can select options that show “reaches” (players drafted two rounds earlier than their ECR) and, unfortunately, The Patrick Dobniak’s lead the league with seven reaches in his draft. He must know something big about Drew Pomeranz, the 384th ranked player, by drafting him as the 157th player off the board. FantasyPros isn’t overly high on any part of his team, but I like the upside of Statcast Superstar Charlie Morton, new Twin and full-time starter Kenta Maeda, and Jose Urquidy who made a splash for the Astros last season. 5.“The Evil Mauers” (Cody Pirkl) Full Team Commish Commentary: The longer Major League Baseball delays the start of the season the more Pirkl benefits. He’ll be hoping to start the year, whenever that is, with healthy versions of Aaron Judge and James Paxton as well as a version of Yasiel Puig that’s on a 26 man roster. The late start, and possibly fewer games, also protects aging stars like Clayton Kershaw and Shin-Soo Choo from wearing down more through a six month, 162-game grind. He also took Bieber...lol. 6. “1979 Mike Marshall” (Tom Froemming) Full Team Commish Commentary: Thanks to auto-draft, he was the beneficiary of Mike Trout as the second overall pick. Honestly, Tom used my preferred strategy had I not been trying to live tweet the whole thing. Load up on hitting early (Trout, Alonso, Blackmon) and relief pitching late (Pressly and Pettit), although I wasn’t a fan of Kirby Yates in the fifth round. The risk with this strategy is if one or two pitchers have a bad outing, it can cost him the week. 7.“Steve’s Team” (Steve Lein) Full Team Commish Commentary: Followed Tom’s strategy but mixed in a little more starting pitching for balance sake. His offense is well-balanced with a mix of base stealers (Turner, Merrifield, and Villar) and power hitters (Springer, Suarez, and Urshela). FantasyPros and I agree that nabbing Verdugo, Urshela, and Myers in the last three rounds of the draft were an absolute steal. A Myers re-birth in a revamped Padres lineup and Verdugo building off 363 successful at-bats in 2019 could catapult him into the playoffs. 8. “Rena’s Team” (Renabanena) Full Team Commish Commentary: The world learned a lot about Rena on this fateful day...she was the first to pick a Yankee and never selected Greg Bird. It’s fair to question whether her love for the Twins and Greg Bird is legit. Okay, that’s too far...I’m only kidding. She made up for it by nabbing Luis “Ted Williams” Arraez as her starting third basemen (whaaaa????). She’s got a lot of young talent (Albies, Robles, Biggio, and Kopech) that she’ll need to live up to their prospect hype if she wants to make the playoffs. 9.“Seth’s Team” (Seth Stohs) Full Team Commish Commentary: He had my favorite spot in the draft…the last spot in the order. I’m still not excited about Flaherty at 16 but maybe his second half was legit. What I do love is the dedication to drafting players related to the Twins: Current Twins: Berrios, Donaldson, Sano Former Twins: Hendriks, Gibson, Goodrum Twin Killers: Gregorius Somebody more creative than me needs to come up with a team name that reflects this theme. 10.“Metrodome Milk Jugs” (Nate Palmer) Full Team Commish Commentary: In a close competition with JD, I vote Nate Palmer having the best team name. According to FantasyPros, that might be the only award Nate wins this year. Personally, I don’t hate his team but other than maybe his first five picks his players have a limited ceiling which I think is reflected in FantasyPros ranking. 11. “Matthew’s Team” (Matthew Taylor) Full Team Commish Commentary: Will he ever live down being the guy who drafted Acuna over Trout? Honestly, he probably will...using a consensus ADP from six of the most popular fantasy platforms it seems that Acuna over Trout is more likely than not. Unfortunately, he got bad news on Tuesday that his 4th round pick, Noah Syndergaard, will not pitch in 2020. Luckily, he stocked up on mostly relief pitching to help him win three of the five pitching categories. 12. “Buzzer Beater” (AJ Condon) Full Team Commish Commentary: If you needed proof that he auto drafted then look no further than how his draft ended up. He utilized the anti-Bellingham Bells strategy by drafting eight position players in the first eight rounds followed by nine pitchers in the following nine rounds. FantasyPros has him with the most powerful offense in the league which is how he ended up eighth in the power rankings. 13. “Nash Walker’s Team” (Nash Walker) Full Team Commish Commentary: Basically just copy and paste what I said about Nate’s team here. He’s not projected to be bad at anything but also not good at anything. I do love that he got Buxton with the 134th pick...yea, yea I’m a homer. 14.“The Mor you Neau (JD Cameron) Full Team Commish Commentary: JD might not have won for best team name, but it sure was close and it’s definitely creative. Whether it be intentional or not, I think his issue was that he had a penchant for drafting guys from teams in the midwest but none of them are on the Twins. That’s going to be a lot of games where he will either be cheering against the Twins or his fantasy team. Luckily for him, FantasyPros says his fantasy team won’t be contending for the playoffs so it should make that decision easy. 15. “Cooper’s Team” (Cooper Carlson) Full Team Commish Commentary: FantasyPros may not like his team, but I think it’ll be fun to watch. Names like Tatis Jr., Guerrero Jr., Gallo, Kepler, Escobar, and McKay give him so good games to tune into. If nothing else he’ll lead the league in bat flip highlights. 16. “Andrew’s Team” (Andrew Gebo) Full Team Commish Commentary: The best thing about Andrew’s Team was that he drafted Trevor Bauer one pick after Max Kepler was selected. Outside of that, FantasyPros and I agree that it’s hard to find something to love after the first five rounds from a fantasy perspective. Bauer has never been that good. David Price isn’t the workhorse or as good as he used to be. His offense looks average in most spots but not great in anything in particular. And all of this may be for naught MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email