mikelink45

I am constantly frustrated with low expectations - relief pitcher Mike Marshall in 1979 was 10 – 15, 90 games, 142 innings, 2.65 era.

What is the roster? This is a real chore - as you might have noticed as I examined each of the positions in the previous weeks.The Bench for the Best in Twins history is made up of people who fill roles and not just the best players of all time. From the bench to the starters I have tried to find the men who would truly represent the Twins best of all time based on where they played and how they fit the roles. The Bench in today’s game has to have some special qualities. The easy one is backup catcher. Battey will back up Mauer so one position is set. Bob Allison could play all three positions in the OF and 1B. He also Pinch hit 117 times so he is my number four outfielder on the bench. To fill the bench, I am looking at pinch hitters and Rich Reese has the most pinch hit grand slams in a career – 3. Not a bad place to start. Randy Bush had the most pinch consecutive pinch hits in a season – 7. Steve Braun had 113 pinch hits good for 12th all time. He played for the Twins the first six years of his 15 year career and PH 90 of his 496 PH appearances with us. Since he appeared in LF, RF, 1B. 2B, SS, 3B during those years he has to be added to the bench. Utility player is harder to define – Killebrew had his primary starts in three positions – 3B, LF, 1B and he was DH, RF, and 2B too. Quite a versatile player that is seldom recognized for that fact. But the ones that stand out are Nick Punto, Cesar Tovar, Steve Braun, Jerry Terrell, Ron Washington, Al Newman, Jeff Reboulet, Denny Hocking, and Michael Cuddyer. • Cesar Tovar 8 years .281/.337/.377/.714 25.9 WAR Every position • Michael Cuddyer 11 years .272/.343/.451/.794 12.8 WAR Every Position except P/C/SS • Steve Braun 6 years .284/.376/.381/.757 15 WAR Every position except P/C/CF • Nick Punto 7 years .248/.323/.324/.648 10.3 WAR Every position except C/P/1B • Jeff Reboulet 5 years .248/.335/.324/.659 5.8 WAR Every position except P • Al Newman 5 years .231/.306/.275/.581 2.1 WAR Every position except P/C/RF • Ron Washington 6 years .265/.294/.373/.667 1.5 WAR P/C/LF/RF • Jerry Terrell 6 years .259/.295/.311/.606 0.9 WAR Every position except P/C • Denny Hocking 11 years .252/.310/.351/.661 0.3 WAR Every position but C/P I will take Tovar for Utility – Cuddyer did not play SS and that is really important for a Utility player. My bench – four men 1. Earl Battey C 2. Bob Allison OF 3. Steve Braun – PH/Utility 4. Cesar Tovar – Utility The Bullpen is the next big group so I would choose those who were in the discussion for the best closer. 1. Joe Nathan 7 years, 24 – 13 2.16 era, 260 saves 460 games, 463 innings 18.4 WAR 2. Rick Aquilera, 11 years, 254 saves, 3.50 era, 15.5 WAR. 3. Al Worthington 6 years 2.62 era 327 games 473 innings 88 saves and 10.1 WAR 4. Bill Campbell, 4 years, 3,13, 216 games, 460 innings, 7.6 WAR. 5. Mike Marshall 3 years 21 – 20 2.99 era, 162 games, 274 innings, 6.9 WAR 6. Eddie Guardado 12 years, 116 saves, 37 – 38 4.53 ERA, 648 games 704 innings. 9.5 WAR 7. Glen Perkins 35 – 25, 3.88, 120 saves, 409 games 624 innings (he was a starter for a while) and 8.8 WAR. The Rotation is: 1. Johan Santana 2. Bert Blyleven 3. Brad Radtke 4. Jim Kaat 5. Jim Perry That is 12 pitchers, a four man-bench and we have the following starters – second name is who would ranked second at each position in the look at all time leaders per position that I have just completed. This is also my batting order. 1. DH – Molitor – Thome 2. RF – Oliva – Brunansky 3. CF – Puckett – Hunter 4. 3B – Killebrew – Castino 5. 1B – Hrbek – Morneau 6. LF – Mack – Allison 7. SS – Cardenas – Versalles 8. 2B – Carew – Knoblauch 9. C – Mauer - Battey One year manager - Billy Martin GM Terry Ryan

His wild swinging puts balls all over the park which is great in this era of concentrated defenses. I love his talent, speed, and attitude. What I want to see is more movement on the bases.

I actually think this is the best DH strategy.

Believe me, I am not a Calvin fan, but he did get to a WS and if we had playoffs back then, we might have gone to more than one.

I am content with what we have. Watching Keuchel in recent years I keep thinking he is performing above his talent and that always catches up. We have a full rotation in MLB and another full rotation in the pen and the minors waiting for a chance. I would not do it and obviously a lot of teams are seeing what I see.

No - Sam Mele, Cal Ermer, Billy Martin and Bill Rigney were over 500. They were our first four managers after Cookie Lavagetto was fired in year one. But in recent times Gardy is it! I know it surprises many since he left in such a losing streak.

Fun to see that Twinkietown picked up on this and chose Gardenhire for their manager. https://www.twinkietown.com/2019/3/6/18250155/mlb-minnesota-twins-links-blake-parker-and-jake-cave-are-impressing-folks-alexi-casilla?fbclid=IwAR2Me9QZ89-y-wjKLpTg0XDmndlisfMi0anfDeUK9AFv6VVqHqKIxBuxU7E#comments

The Best Twins General Manager and owner - really a difficult task - the manager, the owner, the GM, the players - who do you blame? • Calvin Griffith. (1961 – 1984) It is not a long list since Calvin served as both owner and general manager. We won a World Series under Calvin, he moved the team to Minnesota, he insulted and lost Rod Carew. • Howard Fox. (1985 – 1986) He was a member of the Twins organization for sixty years. When he was traveling secretary, he had a fight with Billy Martin on the team plane. After Calvin sold the team he stayed on as team president for two years under Pohlad. • Andy MacPhail (Won WS twice in 1987 and 1991) Andy was the boy wonder. He was hired as VP for player development in 1984 and GM in 1985. He hired Tom Kelly, and traded for Jeff Reardon to close out games and pitchers Joe Niekro and Dan Schatzeder as well as outfielder Dan Gladden. Then after a last place finish in signed Jack Morris and we went on to another pennant while McPhail became Sporting News Executive of the Year. He then left for Chicago Cubs, which did not work out as well. Now he is president of the free spending Phillies. • Terry Ryan (1995-2007, again from 2012 - 2016) From Janesville, WI, Ryan had an unsuccessful career as a pitcher, but became a prolific scout for the Mets where he developed his reputation for player evaluation. He was smart enough to trade Dave Hollins to Seattle for David Ortiz, but did not keep him long enough to see his true development. Stuck with tight budgets he often dumped vets, but was savvy enough to trade for Shannon Stewart when the team needed him. In 2002 the Twins were the victors over Oakland in the playoffs, and he was named executive of the year while the team was the Organization of the year. He left with a good reputation, but returned in 2012 and lost some of his luster as the changing times caught up with him. • Bill Smith (2008-2011) was Ryan’s replacement. He was a loyal member of the front office and assistant to Ryan. However his star never rose and names like Matt Capps will forever stain his reputation. He was fired, the first GM to be fired by the team and Ryan came back. • Terry Ryan became the second GM fired by the Twins, but then there are not very many and perhaps the first one would have been fired had he not owned the team. • Rob Antony (interim 2016) A filler, not much to say. • Thad Levine (2016-present) Too early to tell. So how do I judge the best. We won world series under Griffith and MacPhail. Ryan and MacPhail both won Executive of the year. Average wins per season under GM Griffith 80 wins Fox 79 MacPhail 71 Ryan – first round 85 Bill Smith 83 Terry Ryan – second round 71 At the end of this look and after reading a lot of material I conclude that I cannot really judge. MacPhail looked like the Wonderman, but his teams could not sustain. Was he the best? He could not do it with the Cubs and he went higher in the front office with the Phillies who have not done well, but have now tried to buy the championship. Ryan has the best average wins under his first stint. Of course, this also reflects on the manager – these are the men who sign the players. They determine what the manager has to work with. It is really hard to figure out a really good metric for them. Was Calvin better than MacPhail – he has more wins per season – but long time Twins fans would faint at that decision. I am not going to do a best owner – Calvin is here and was the owner until Carl Pohlad bought the team and then son Jim took over. Not a lot to look at and not a lot of difference. One WS under Calvin, 2 under the Pohlads. One contraction threat under the Pohlads, lots of racist statements from Calvin. The average wins per season does not vary much between the two families. So I have no choice in this and only hope the next one is the best.