mikelink45

Nice work, I know nothing about any of these players- except Gonsalves. I was always disappointed with his lack of success, but would not want to try again.

Thanks for the update

This is using Baseball Reference for each year and their choice for the most representative person at each position that year. I would say they are the people who DHed the most for each season.

With our loss of Rosario - if we lose Cruz I think the SOX pass us at this stage. They have pushed their chips in - do we call or raise?

That was really enjoyable. Thanks

Overall a very good list, but of course like most readers I will have my own take on your prospects. I do not think Sabato and Cavaco deserve top ten rankings. I want to see something before starting to get excited by a prospect - their draft status is not enough. Lewis Thorpe is completely off my list, I have lost faith in him (please prove me wrong) and Enlow is way to high for me. He belongs on the list, but not as high as you have him. I have Jeffers in the top three because he not only proved he belongs, he did it at the most difficult position. So thank you for providing the platform for discussion and debate.

I am for this as a back up to Buxton, but not if it blocks Kiriloff, Rooker, Larnach. I am just not into pushing the best prospects down each year. On the other hand, if he is just a back up to Buxton and an extra OF I would be fine with that. If he takes Cave's place I am fine, but actually I want Rooker on the bench if he is not the DH.

We need a whole team rebound. Arraez needs to be healthy and play, Donaldson needs to be healthy and play and Polanco needs to be healthy and play and yes Sano, Buxton, Kepler need to produce and Garver needs to find a bat. The big stories in 2020 were Jeffers and Rooker. With Cruz and Eddie gone lets see someone else produce the RBIs that every seems to think is so easy to do - just bat 3/4!!! In 2020 some of our fate will be on the shoulders of the two rookies above and Alex Kiriloff. Maybe even Larnach and Lewis before the season is over.

I like this because I am not a Kepler fan - like you - and I think if we remove all external influences he should be wandering the free agent market too and I think he has less value. Polanco will always have value because he is a SS. Sano is over priced and the line you wrote - "his best is smashing home runs with incredible exit velocities" is one that always gets to me. Do they give extra runs for distance or velocity? I would rank them by value: Polanco Rosario Kepler Sano if all the dollars and contracts were equal.

The question is – should we sign Cruz or just let a number of players DH? I thought I would look back at the Twins DH history. I ignore any DWAR since I am only interested in the DH. Tony Oliva was the first DH. In 1973 he was in 146 games. He hit 291/345/410 and his WAR was 0.7. The next year he was in 127 games with a line of 285/326/414 and 0.4 WAR. 1975 he played 131 games with a line of 270/344/378 and WAR of 0.5. 1976 saw Craig Kusick as the DH – 259/344/432 – 1.5 WAR. In 77 his line was 254/370/433 0.9 WAR. Glen Adams became the DH in 1978 with a line of 258/297/390 and a WAR of -0.3. In 1979 Jose Morales became the DH - 267/319/335 – WAR -0.9 and despite this negative WAR he was still DH in 1980, 303/361/490 and positive 1 WAR. Then in 1981 Glen Adams was once again the primary DH with a line of 209/273/282 and a -1.6 WAR which was the worst on the team. Randy (who?) Johnson became the main DH in 1982 248/325/419 and a WAR of zero. After a few questionable years of – anybody can DH we came to Randy Bush in 1983. His line was 249/.323/.418 with 0.4 WAR. In 1984 he was still the main DH .222/.292/.389 and WAR -0.3. We have good memories of Randy, but maybe he is not as good as we remember. In 1985 Roy Smalley took over DH. .258 /.357/.402 WAR 1.2. For the first time since 1976 we had a DH with a WAR over 1.In 1986 Roy was still DH .246/.342/.438 and a WAR of 1.0. 1987 Roy had a line of .275/.352/.411 and WAR OF ONLY 0.5. After tying Oliva with three years as DH he was replaced. Gene Larkin was 1988 DH .267/.368/.382 and 1.8 WAR. Despite that outstanding year Jim Dwyer was the primary DH in 1989 with .316/.390/.404 and 0.8 WAR. In 1990 Larkin was the main DH again with a line of .269/.343/.392 and a WAR of 1.1. In 1991 Chili Davis became the first DH with a slugging PCT over 500 and a line of .277/.385/.507. His 3.3 WAR also set a new high for the team. In 1992 he was not quite as good with a line of .288/.386/.439 and WAR of 2.1. That was the end of Chili. Dave Winfield was DH in 1993 with .271/.325/.442 and WAR of 0.9. In 1994 he hit .252/.321/.425 with 0.2 WAR. In 1995 Winfield was retired and Pedro Munoz took over with an outstanding year .301/.338/.489 and still only a 0.9WAR. The next hometown HOF batter came in 1996 when Paul Molitor became the principal DH and hit .341/.390/.468. It would be the top BA for any Twins DH. His WAR was 3.5 which was the best WAR so far. In 1997 Molitor his .305/.351/.435 for a WAR of 1.5. In 1998 Paul hit .281/.335/.382 and a WAR of 0.2. Having tied Oliva and Smalley for the most years at DH – 3, he was replaced. In 1999 Marty Cordova was the primary DH. He hit 285/365/464 with a WAR of 1.2. David Ortiz was our primary DH in 2000. No I do not want to speculate on what it could have meant if Tom (overrated) Kelly had not had his head up his… Ortiz was .282/.364/.446 with a WAR of 0.8. In 2001 Kelly had messed with Ortiz so much that he hit .234/.324/.475 and WAR fell to 0.3. His third year as DH he hit .272/.339/.500 which made him only the second Twin DH with a 500 slugging his WAR was 1.5. Having tied the longest DH service with three years we replaced him with Matt LeCroy. Yes, that is the truth and it still hurts and still stinks. Matt LeCroy had a good 2003 season - .287.342/.490 with 1.3 WAR. Then 35-year-old Jose Offerman took over in 2004 with .256/.363/.395 and -0.2 WAR. Matt LeCroy came back in 2005 .260/.354/.444. 0.9 WAR. Then it was 34-year-old Rondell White, .246/.276/.365 and -0.9 WAR, the worst on the team. This led to Jason Tyner .286/.331/.355. Are you paying attention to these slugging percentages? 0.2 WAR. Which led to Jason Kubel, .272/.335/.471 in 2008 with a 1.8 WAR. Kubel came back with one of the all-time DH lines in 2009 - .300/.369/.539, 3.3 WAR. Kubel then moved to the field and Jim Thome came to Minnesota. Thome in 2010 had a line of .283/.412/.627 giving the team their first 400 OPS and first 600 slugging DH! 3.6 WAR. 2011 did not reach the heights of 2010, .243/.351/.476 and 1 WAR. Then we turned to another veteran – Ryan Doumit for 2012 - .275/.320/.461, 2.3 WAR. Doumit in 2013 hit .247/.314/.396, 1.4 WAR. After two years he was done Then rookie Kennys Vargas, 23 years old, took over DH .274/.316/.456, 0.7 WAR. Miguel Sano replaced him the next year (2015) and in 80 games had a line of .269/.385/.530 bringing back the 500 slugging and he had a WAR OF 2.4 (why isn’t he replacing Cruz?). 2016 we went international and Byung Ho Park hit .191/.275/.409, -0.1. That international experiment ended quickly and in 2017 Robbie Grossman was primary DH, .246/.361/.380, 1.1 WAR. And, yes, for some reason many on TD want to bring him back?????? In 2018 he was also the primary DH, 273/.367/.384 moderately good OBP, but is that what you want in the DH? 1.8 WAR IN 2018. Then in 2019 Nelson Cruz arrived. .311/.392/.639 – a record 41 DH Hrs, our second 600+ slugging. 4.2 WAR – our highest for a DH. In 2020 Cruz was still DH and hit .303/.397/ .595 with a 1.6 WAR in an abbreviated (1/3) season. Who was the best – Cruz, who was mismanaged – Ortiz, who was a star at DH for us? Molitor, Thome. We have had some very good and some real duds – Rondell White. And some real question marks like what happened to Vargas? Three years seems to be the lifespan of the DH on the Twins. So would I resign Cruz? For one year – yes. Beyond that no – what you pay for year two needs to be added to year one because you are probably only getting one year of real production.

I think we filled some gap in the minors. I do not expect to see him and if we do the team is going backwards. Every player has to be better than the one before if we are serious about getting to the WS

There is also a job open with the Mets!

Very nice article. Good things to think about, but I find I have no opinion in this. I only have confusion until we start to see some signals from the FO - are we going young? Are we delaying the young players again for some FA we hope can be as good as the young players might be? What kind of arms are we looking at for the pitching staff. The three pickups so far signal nothing and despite the TD writers none look better than Wisler.

Keep dreaming

I do not think that they can pay Cruz what he wants and the same is probably true with Ozuna and those are the only two I would want to see at full time DH. I really like having Kiriloff, Rooker, Larnach alternating at DH and LF. And I hope they really come through because the loss of Eddie and Nelson really weakens our lineup. Who moves up to 3/4 - I am not a Max Kepler fan - Sano's Ks are not acceptable for me. If Garver is back to form he can be there. But this lineup is not going to give us what we have come to expect.

For me he the Twins HOF is his highest honor. I do not see him going to the big HOF and I have trouble with RP in the hall. I know it is changing, but under the current situation I see problems for SP to get into the HOF.

Good article - and I completely disagree. For his price we could have seen if the success continued and still DFA'd him if it was appropriate. Numbers, stats, graphs - the only questions I ask are - did he do what he was asked to do? Did he do it well? Was he affordable. Those are my analytics and I would sign him again.

Thanks for the update. Now let's see the additions!

Amazing - so unpredictable. Wisler was never on any projections I read. I would have been less surprised if Taylor Rogers had been released.

Since I am 75 I make it in your age requirements and there is not doubt that during the sixties there was not a team in the league that would not have drooled over the prospect of having Tony on their team.

If only I had the time to challenge all those assertions. Let's just say I am not among the Kepler lovers.

I am constantly amazed that Eddie gets the attention he does, but Kepler does not get the criticism he deserves.

If I was Eddie I would move on. Clubs like the Indians and Orioles can sure use his bat. I am anxious to see all the names that will be talked about today. Good article and lots to stoke the hot stove

Seventy five for a seventy five year old Okay, it is my birthday and I love life and all my ex-students, friends, participants in the guided tours, neighbors and family. So I am reflective and that means I have to think of 75 memories – there are many more. But here are 75 Twin memories. 1. Ushering during season one 2. Mudcat Grant – you want colorful – this is it. 3. Vic Power taking over first base in a way I have never seen anywhere else. 4. Jim Kaat just delivering and delivering and delivering. 5. Harmon Killebrew with a swing that seemed to cut the night air into pieces. 6. Rod Carew just toying with the fielders. 7. Sandy Koufax showing us what HOF means – despite out loss it was great. 8. Tony Oliva doing everything and then those knees just radiated pain. 9. Joe Mauer being so Minnesota that everyone in MN complained he was too plain. 10. Tovar playing everywhere and playing so good. 11. Everyday Eddie coming in day after day and giving us ulcers everytime. 12. Calvin Griffith reminding us that owning a team did not make a man into a good man. 13. Sid Hartman telling us everything MN was great even when it wasn’t. 14. Metropolitan Stadium, a dream for all of us with erector sets. 15. The dome collapsing like a big pimple. 16. 1987 Twins being champions when they looked like a below average team 17. 1965 Twins being the best team in our history, but losing to a historic event 18. Hrbek doing his wrestling move on first base – I am still laughing 19. Sitting in the upper upper deck of the metrodome at game 7 1991 20. Jack Morris refusing to quit – HOF for no other reason 21. Kirby Puckett showing that determination can change an outcome 22. Dan Gladden a non-star who gave us grit 23. Herb Carneal giving us a transistor seat at all the games 24. Halsey Hall so outrageous that we loved him even if we did not know what he was talking about 25. Cool nights with a breeze from right field in the sixties 26. Lousy hot dogs that still were satisfying in the early decades 27. Bob Allison looking so fit and intimidating 28. Nelson Cruz reminding us old guys that old does not mean feeble 29. Kirby Puckett taking over game six 30. Hrbek’s WS grand slam 31. Knoblauch at second base 32. Knoblauch returning to a shower of boos and hotdogs 33. Jim Perry 1970 Cy Young 34. Tom Kelly blowing it with Ortiz 35. Zoilo Versalles 1965 MVP 36. Byron Buxton in Centerfield 37. Torii Hunter robs Barry Bonds in All Star game 38. Frank Viola Cy Young 1988 39. Harmon Killebrew MVP 1969 40. Billy Martin and the marshmallow salesman 41. Johann Santana Cy Young award 2004 42. John Castino – rookie of the year 1979 43. Seeing Carew leave 44. Johann Santana Cy Young 2006 45. Paul Molitor at DH 1996 46. Dean Chance No-hitter 47. Joe Mauer 2009 – major league player of the year 48. Camilo Pascual’s curveball 49. The collapse of the Metrodome 50. Marty Cordova Rookie of the year 1995 (or last rookie of the year) 51. Justin Morneau MVP 2006 52. Mitch Garver in 2019 53. The Turtle running the bases 54. Bob Allison’s sliding catch 55. Randy Bush pinch hitter with 13 hits in one year 56. Gene Larkin’s walk off pinch hit 57. Puckett to the HOF 58. Harmon Killebrew’s 520-foot Home Run June 1967 59. The last playoff game won by the Twins 2004 60. 18 game post season losing streak 2020 61. 1984 Dave Kingman hits a 208 foot double – straight up and into the metrodome roof 62. Tony Oliva wins batting title in 1964 and 1965 63. 1971 Rod Carew Rookie of the Year 64. Lyman Bostock and Larry Hisle came together for one great year 65. 1977 Rod Carew batted 388 66. 1969 Harmon Killebrew hit 49 HRs 67. Billy Martin gets in fight with his own 20 game winner – Dave Boswell 68. 2016 Twins lose record 103 games 69. 1987 home team wins all the games in WS and we have four home games 70. Watching the famous Hrbek game in Sierra Vista AZ bar as the only Twins fan in the place 71. Killebrew in the HOF 72. Rod Carew in the HOF 73. 2002 Pohlads agree to contraction – we almost lost the team 74. 2006, the year of the Piranhas 75. Bert Blyleven in the HOF

I can see the convenience, but I hope St Paul is happy. With a AAA affiliation the local team cannot control its own roster.