Seth Stohs

nicksaviking wrote it and deserves all the credit. When I promoted the blog to an article, I forgot to change the name, but corrected it right away...

The signing of Brian Duensing with the Kansas City Royals closes the book on a story that was started in 1989. In the first round of that year's draft, the Twins selected Texas A&M shortstop Chuck Knoblauch who would go on to spawn the trade that would put Twins GM Terry Ryan on the map and the fruits of that trade would be felt until 2015. After seven seasons of what looked to be the beginning of a HOF career, Chuck Knoblauch and his 37.9 WAR wanted out of Minnesota and to a contender. Well that's how the fans knew it anyway, back before internet media was a thing. While largely unpopular at the time, the Twins received Brian Buchanan (0.3 WAR), Christian Guzman (7.5), Eric Milton (14.7) and Danny Mota (-0.1) in what would be the branches of our Knoblauch trade tree. Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, USA Today The signing of Brian Duensing with the Kansas City Royals closes the book on a story that was started in 1989. In the first round of that year's draft, the Twins selected Texas A&M shortstop Chuck Knoblauch who would go on to spawn the trade that would put Twins GM Terry Ryan on the map and the fruits of that trade would be felt until 2015. After seven seasons of what looked to be the beginning of a HOF career, Chuck Knoblauch and his 37.9 WAR wanted out of Minnesota and to a contender. Well that's how the fans knew it anyway, back before internet media was a thing. While largely unpopular at the time, the Twins received Brian Buchanan (0.3 WAR), Christian Guzman (7.5), Eric Milton (14.7) and Danny Mota (-0.1) in what would be the branches of our Knoblauch trade tree. THE BRIAN BUCHANAN BRANCH Brian Buchanan had some nice power potential and looked the part of a middle-of- the-order bat. Unfortunately for him, he found himself in a roster crunch as he was competing for the RF/DH spot with Michael Cuddyer, Dustin Mohr, Bobby Keilty, David Ortiz and Matthew Lecroy. Buchanan found himself shipped off to San Diego and in return the Twins received shortstop prospect Jason Bartlett (8.9). Bartlett would go on to play four seasons (initially) with the Twins before getting traded to Tampa Bay with Matt Garza and Eddie Morlan for Delmon Young (1.0), Brendon Harris (-0.6) and Jason Pridie (-0.2). Pridie teased Twins fans with his potential but never put it all together and was soon DFA'd. Brendon Harris found himself a mostly every day super-utility role for the Twins before being traded for Jim Hoey (-0.6) and Brett Jacobson. Jacobson never made it to the majors, Jim Hoey and his disastrous 24.1 innings unfortunately did. Delmon Young played three and a half mercurial seasons with the Twins, seemingly breaking out in 2010 and being a large reason for the team's division title. Alas, it was not to last and the following year he was traded to Detroit for Cole Nelson who never appeared in a MLB game and Lester Oliveros (0.0). Oliveros would tease with his potential, but he never got much of an opportunity to make it at the MLB level and was recently picked up the Royals. THE ERIC MILTON BRANCH That wraps up the Buchanan wing of the Knoblauch trade tree, so let's head back to the top and check in on Eric Milton. Milton pitched six seasons for the Twins, six seasons that saw an All Star appearance, a no-hitter, and a questionable contract extension. Despite that contract extension, the Twins were able to move him to Philadelphia for a package that included Carlos Silva (9.0), Nick Punto (10.3) and Bobby Korecky (0.2). Silva pitched four solid seasons for the Twins before signing a nice free agent contract with Seattle, but most interesting for Silva was his 2005 season when he set a modern day record of 0.4 BB/9. Seriously, that is bizarre. Check out the single-season leader board and the next closest modern day player was Brett Saberhagen with a 0.65 BB/9 which is almost a 40% increase: http://www.baseball-...ne_season.shtml Nick Punto just announced his retirement but played seven super-utility seasons with the Twins before leaving and winning a World Series with St. Louis in 2011. Bobby Korecky, we hardly knew you, except for that time in 2008 when the Twins lost their DH and you had to come to bat in the 11th inning. Of course in that 11th inning you not only got a hit in your only career AB but also the win. That has to be worth more than 0.2 WAR, which surely proves WAR is worthless. THE DANNY MOTA BRANCH Back to the top and we get to Danny Mota, who would do next to nothing for the Twins, appearing in all of 5.1 innings at the MLB level. THE CRISTIAN GUZMAN BRANCH The last branch on the Knoblauch trade tree begins with Cristian Guzman. The speedy shortstop made one All-Star Game and led the league in triples three times. He left as a free agent to Washington, but in doing so, the Twins were rewarded with a compensation draft pick. Not a first-round pick because that was protected. Not a second-round pick because that was already lost, but a third-round pick in the 2005 draft which the Twins used to select Brian Duensing (6. 2WAR). Duensing was an unheralded prospect who made an immediate impact in 2009 and found himself pitching Game 1 of the ALDS against the Yankees. It did not go well. Duensing had another nice season in 2010 as a swing man before settling in as regular out of the pen. His seven years with the Twins matches Punto and Knoblauch himself in terms of number of seasons played for the Twins. SUMMARY In total, 19 players were acquired due to the first-round selection in the 1989 draft and a total of 94.6 WAR was gained. These trees can be found throughout baseball, and surely there are others as fruitful, but this one has interested me for a long time. All of the comical propositions of tossing Duensing into trade proposals the last couple of years were serious by me because I wanted this tree to keep growing. It, however, will not. EPILOGUE The Twins 1989 draft was fantastic. They drafted three players with career WARs over 20 in Knoblauch, Denny Neagle and Scott Erickson. They also drafted Marty Cordova, Mike Trombley and Denny Hocking. Some of these players produced unexpected fruit. The trade of Erickson for Scott Klingenbeck and Kimera Bartee is one of Ryan's best known failures. In 1992, Andy McPhail made a trade of Denny Neagle that would live on for years. In trading a top prospect in Neagle (something unbelievable for the Twins today), the Twins received John Smiley, a very good, but not great pitcher whom the Twins wanted/needed to replace the departed Jack Morris. Smiley pitched one fine year for the Twins before leaving, and in his place the Twins got a compensation pick in 1993 which they used to select Torii Hunter. When Hunter left, the Twins used his comp picks to select busts Carlos Gutierrez and Shooter Hunt. Also, while the Twins didn't get a comp pick for losing Marty Cordova (even though he had an .828 OPS the prior year), they did get one for losing Mike Trombley in 2000. They used that pick to select Aaron Heilman, who had a really nice MLB career, just not with the Twins because he refused to sign with them. View full article

He may very well become a solid big league reliever... but I'd say that you could get similar quality accidentally for $25,000 instead... which is why, when talking about signing 16-year-olds from the Dominican, I have no problem with a philosophy of quantity as much as quality.

There definely is some quality middle infield depth in the organization. Quality depth and just quality talent too. Polanco, Vielma, Gordon and Palacios are likely to be the full-season shortstops with Javier in the Dominican this year. Michael can play shortstop in the same vein that Brian Dozier can play shortstop. He didn't look good in that half season a few years ago, but he can play the position. Michael would likely be the same. In other words, probably fine as a utility guy if he can hit. When healthy, he puts together some quality plate appearances and good OBP. He's got a little pop too. Not a Top 40 for me, but doesn't mean he can't play a role with the Twins at some point.

It comes down to risk. I mean, signing Sano for big money at that time certainly made sense (I know there weren't limits back then, but the theory is still the same) and worked out. Michael Ynoa had the largest signing bonus out of the Dominican for several years, and he hasn't panned out at all. In other words, if you go with the big dawg, you have to get it right, pretty much. (I know, there are no "have-to's" in baseball, but still...)

Nobody is telling and that's just fine. He came back in Instructs and appeared fine (from reports).

Yeah, Reusse asked about the main stories heading into spring. Ryan's always great to listen to.

I think I've listened to this segment 7-10 times already. I find this fascinating, especially considering where bloggers, media and PR have come in the last 5-10 years. If you've ever been curious how some of it works, I'd encourage people to take 12 minutes and listen to Dustin's segment.

For me, Cederoth to the bullpen makes the world of sense. He pitched too little last year to worry about his numbers, especially a California kid pitching in the north. But, I'm told that the Twins will evaluate where he is coming in to camp and determine that. Definitely not shutting the door on starting. I watched him make a start in spring and a start early in the season in Cedar Rapids. He definitely looks the part. His velocity was only like 92-94 as a starter (which is just fine, of course), but out of the bullpen, he could be really good. I have no problem with them continuing him as a starter, but I think his future is most likely in the bullpen. As for English, Thrylos mentioned him being a potential 4th OF, and I completely agree. If that's the case, ranking him in the low teens seems pretty right. I watched him play a couple of times last year, and defensively he is remarkable. He's not a big guy, but he can cover some serious ground. And, he's got a very strong arm. Offensively, when I saw him in spring training and early in the season, he looked a little lost sometimes. But he turned things around, saw more pitches and really played well prior to the injury. I like him and think 4th OF is a real possibility.

Updated to include Prospects 16-20. Definitely some names on this list that aren't in other people's top 30s, but both are very intriguing. I'll leave it at that so you click the link and read his thoughts... then I can add mine.

They didn't... Tony Batista was the main 3B for the first two months.

Well, he was born in Kansas, a couple of hours away from Kansas City. It was his "home" team growing up. Of course, their AAA team is in Omaha and that is where Duensing and his wife and kids live.

Yeah, Oliveros had shoulder surgery last July or August. Good guy, but he just couldn't stay healthy

I'm linking to Patrick Reusse's on demand page here, not because he mentioned Twins Daily on his show today, but because his 13-15 minute interview with Twins Media Relations Director Dustin Morse is really interesting. I think the Twins Daily readers will find it entertaining. Morse is on at about the 15 minute mark of Hour 2 (12:30 mark) on Thursday, February 18. You can download it or listen to it on the page. Maybe it's just me, but I thought it was good. They talked about how newspaper coverage of baseball has changed. What happened when MLB.com came along and had team-specific beat writers. Some on TV requests. The change in what they allow in terms of non-traditional coverage like Twins Daily. The conversation on the role of Twitter is also really good. I found the information on how he often needs to respond to the rumor mill, which is especially busy at the Winter Meetings. He talked about how sometimes he wonders where people come up with some of these rumors, and other times he wonders how people knew about certain things. He also talked about the challenge of many writers having their own sources outside the team. Anyway, if you're at all interested in the goings on with the PR staff and a part of what they have to deal with, I definitely recommend that you listen to this.

Well he certainly was better than #19... ha!

The article's title is Life In MLB Doesn't Faze Park Byung Ho but one of the key points throughout the article is that he's very smart, tends to think too much and gets stressed. However, in this Q&A, he also talks about his transition and how he's gone about meeting so many teammates in the big leagues and minor leagues. He talks about how well he's able to understand English. It's well done. Favorite line/part of the article:

Yeah... just so people know... my Top 4 Twins prospects that year (2008) were: 1.) Deolis Guerra, 2.) Tyler Robertson, 3.) Anthony Swarzak, 4.) Kevin Mulvey... at 5, I finally put Trevor Plouffe, 6, Ben Revere... So, yeah.

He's there. He did an interview there with Reusse this afternoon.

I believe the year they had him start at 3B was 2006, his best year.

After seven seasons with the Twins (after the drafted him in the 3rd round of the 2005 draft), Brian Duensing is (kind of) heading home. The Royals announced today that they have signed the left-hander to a minor league deal. Darren Wolfson is reporting that he can make up to $2.6 million if he's with the Royals all season, and he also has two opt-outs.

According to Ken Rosenthal, 38-year-old Nick Punto has decided to retire from baseball. He sat out last year despite having a contract, so this is not any surprise. Punto was the brunt of some jokes by Twins fans, to be sure... at the end of the day, he had a very solid, long career. He posted a WAR of over 15 and had a couple of very strong seasons. Mostly, he was a terrific defensive utility man. Even with the bat, he worked pitch counts, took a lot of pitches and drew walks. Formerly a polarizing figure among Twins fans, I hope we can all agree that he had a nice career!

Yeah, his 11-19 is an interesting mix, maybe some guys he heard some good things about and wanted to include?

to be fair, it was Baseball America that ranked Blackburn #1... I had him at #19 in the Twins system and I think Gleeman had him in the low 20s.

Hayes was just so skinny. As others have said, similar type of player. Kepler's just so much bigger and stronger, and I think he'll hit more homers, but of course, we shall see. It's an old comp, but physically, Kepler looks so similar to Justin Morneau in so many ways. Kepler's probably a little bit bigger. And yeah, if he can have that type of career, we'll all be thrilled.

OK, yup... poor usage of the term floor. Should have gone with a floor of AA reliever or something.