mikelink45

You are right - sorry for the error, but glad for the correction.

They also started their 37 year old reliever Dick Stigman 8 times.

1965 - We weathered major injuries to Pascual and Killebrew. Imagine last year if we lost Berrios and Cruz for half the season. Add a little more WAR to their totals if they had been able to play. If Killebrew had 50 more games in a really great year and Pascual had gotten 10 more starts! The weak spot for that team was 2B. https://twinstrivia.com/2015/08/03/remembering-1965-part-15-killebrew-injured-and-pascual-has-surgery/

Just keep the schedule and play what is left. Make it simple.Pay the players for games played. Keep it simple.

I would hate to have to list all the 35 - 39 pitchers.

That is true, but 59 – Satchel Paige (1965) 50 – Jack Quinn (1933)[1] 49 – Hoyt Wilhelm (1972) 49 – Jamie Moyer (2012) 48 – Phil Niekro (1987)[2] 48 – Nick Altrock (1924) 46 – Nolan Ryan (1993) 46 – Jesse Orosco (2003) 46 – Charlie Hough (1994) 46 – Tommy John (1989) 46 – Hod Lisenbee (1945) 46 – Randy Johnson (2009) 45 – Roger Clemens (2007) 45 – Gaylord Perry (1983) 45 – Fred Johnson (1939) 45 – Ted Lyons (1946) 45 – Tim Wakefield (2011) 45 – Bartolo Colón (2018) And that still misses pitchers like Warren Spahn who won 23 when he was 42.

It is hard to project because it is also possible that last year was a fluke and the skill can vanish as it has for others. I can only hope and believe that he is that rare talent who just keeps getting better and can stay at catcher. Should he continue he will be ranked with Mauer and Battey as our greatest.

Sorry to say - you are right. But max effort Nolan Ryan still threw 239 innings when he was 42 and players regularly made 300 innings in those old and different times. I miss them.

Sad to see the fallen Red Sox not make the cut. The White Sox are the most questionable of these (and the Padres). Where does Arizona rank - they are a mystery team to me. I might like the Rangers better than some of the last five too. The Angels are the team that has taught all of baseball two things - it is a team game and having the best player to carry you without supporting pieces does not work outside the NBA and second - pitching matters.

And just think - in the 50s and 60s they threw 350 innings without needing this surger.

Since these players are retired - Knoblauch has to get the prize for the Twins. His reception was out of bounds for Minnesota Nice. AJ did get the boos and is a good choice because I think he liked that. For me it will always be the PED guys who destroyed baseballs most sacred numbers! And for all the Yankee haters (me too) I have to remind you that they are so universally disliked that there was a play called Damn Yankees. https://youtu.be/sbvoStVmMCQ

Excellent points and this could be the most tragic outcome of all when paired with the elimination of all those minor league teams. A lot of baseball players are available for independent leagues or as part of the labor force. Baseball always puts the minor leaguers out on a dangerous limb.

Not exactly an all star lineup.

I have always understood that Tyler Duffey had our best curveball so I am surprised by this rating. Am I right in thinking that we have a couple minor leaguers who are going to take May out of the fastball rating?

Very nice - A strong Ace and #2 with acceptable fill ins for the rest of the rotation. A very good BP. This was definitely a good decade, although the lack of a World Series keeps it down in my list of the best decades as you have exposed them in this series. Joe Mays and Kyle Lohse had interesting runs as SP for the Twins over a few years each and Kenny Rogers and Livan Hernandez were interesting footnotes for the decade. Boof Bonser makes the all the favorite names list (if there is one) And Francisco Liriano was terrific when he paired with Santana. Of course by the time we reached 2008 the rotation was Slowey, Blackburn, Baker and a guy named Perkins. Perkins would start the rest of the decade, The top three in this rotation were the epitome of hit them to the fielders philosophy. A good case could be made for J C Romero in the BP with six years of the decade. And Jesse Crain won 12 games in the BP in 2005 and I think I would make a strong case for both Crain and Romero in the grouping above Rincon and Guerrier.

In 1981 we had a split season - how did they prepare for the second half? I cannot remember the prep, but it is analogous to this season with the layoff since spring training. There is a lot to learn from that season.

good speculation. I think the pitchers have the best opportunity in this strange year. you can only use so many OFs so it depends upon injury for most of them. I will take the first three and then the next two pitchers. That should do it unless a major injury.

Wow - you missed Matt LeCroy, Ron Coomer and Jay Canizaro from the 2000 starting lineup. Well I am sure those were among the just missed. I am so happy you have done this and this is a fascinating lineup. It does not come close to the 60s, but it has an interesting combination of players with 2B the obvious weak point. Of course we can put David Ortiz on the what if team of the decade. I would make a case for Shannon Stewart on this team on the basis of how important he was to the team during his tenure. We got him for Bobby Kielty (one of the most overrated prospects in Twins history). Stewart his 322 and placed 4th in MVP voting. The Twins were 8 1/2 games back at the time of the trade and came back to win the division thanks to Shannon's leadership. We can also look back to the Delmon Young days. Of course after we traded Ortiz the DH became the problem that leads to your choice of Lew Ford for DH. We actually used players like Jason Tyner for our real DH. Here are the DHs for the decade beginning with 2000 (multiple players hit at this spot but I am only listing thee one that had the most ABs. David Ortiz - 2000 David Ortiz - 2001 David Ortiz - 2002 Matt LeCroy - 2003 Jose Offerman - 2004 Matt LeCroy - 2005 Rondell White - 2006 Jason Tyner - 2007 Jason Kubel - 2008 Jason Kubel - 2009 If you limit your choice to one of our real DHs which one gets the position on this team? I think it is Ortiz.

Okay we will make Green Bay the neutral site! See you in January - it will be the only ticket scalped below market value and I might be able to afford it.

I liked to see a Don Drysdale, Warren Spahn, Jim Kaat hit. They worked at it and were a challenge, but a pitcher like Bob Buhl could have skipped his AB and just taken an automatic out - which means in a superbly pitched game the pinch hitter could end his night. I am not for DH in the HOF because they are equivalent to the SP who can't make it and gets put in the pen (not in favor of relievers either). There were a lot of really good hitters in the past without the DH option - Dick Stuart at Pittsburgh was Dr Strangeglove, but survived 1B to keep his bat in the lineup. called “Stonefingers” and “The Man with the Iron Glove" made his mark as the poorest defensive fielding first baseman in major league history.called “Stonefingers” and “The Man with the Iron Glove" made his mark as the poorest defensive fielding first baseman in major league history. Others just sat on the bench and waited a turn to hit, but could never be considered for the HOF. Dave Kingman was both a bad fielder and a bad hitter with lots of power. He was matched by Adam Dunn. Casey Stengel, who Throneberry played for with the expansion New York Mets, said to Throneberry on his birthday, "We was going to get you a birthday cake, but we figured you'd drop it." I want a complete player or the HOF should be the hitters memorial.

Actually the Twins after 1965 fielded their best team in 1967 finishing one game out, but no wild cards in those days. That was a heart breaker!

Expanding the postseason number of teams is of no interest to me and a neutral site World Series will flop - the excitement of a world series in our own stadium is too great to sacrifice. In normal times the reason that the NFL plays in a neutral site is because Green Bay in January would be unbearable. Realignment has been on the radar for years and this could be more than a one year adjustment and that would be okay too. So implement the changes in pitching time clock and other experiments too. Make use of this unprecedented period to roll out all the ideas and then sort them out next year for keepers and losers. DH really does not matter - I am okay either way. I am one of those people who would not have DHs in the HOF so I do not care if the rule survives or goes.

Maybe the ultimate question is - where else would you put him? Is his bat good enough to put him in the OF or to move Arraez or Sano or Donaldson? His value is at SS. And at this point I do not see anyone ready to push him out. If he is a Twin he is a SS - if not a SS he is traded.

It seems as if anyone who plays after 40 needs to get some love - so in 1961 we had Elmer Valo, Al Worthington as mentioned in 1969 - no one in the 1970s although I had expected Koosman - he was only 38. In 1983 the oldest player that year was 31! We had no one else in the 40s until 1987/1988 when Niekro and Carlton pitched as the story above points out. That is 18 years between 40 year olds. The next 40 year old was in 1990 - Jim Dwyer. It was his last year and he hit 190 Dave Winfield came to us at age 41 - 1993,1994 and Molitor came to us age 39 and played in his 40s 1997, 1998. In 1999 Terry Steinbach was only 37. And in 2000 Ron Coomer was the oldest at 33. Then 2003 was the Jesse Orosco curtain call making the 12th 40 year old in our baseball history. Terry Mullholand and Pat Borders gave us another 40 year old pair in 2004. Mullholand stayed on for a 2005 encore. Rueben Sierra played in 2006. Jim Thome came at age 39, played at age 40 in 2011. Bartolo Colon was 44 in 2017 and Fernando Rodney was 41 in 2018. This is a total of 18 years of 40+ players for the 59 year Twins history. Thanks for the article it was fun to be stimulated to check things out.

I should have added this note in my first comment - the shift and the launch angle have actually diminished the high value of defense. Would Mark Belanger play today?