Tom Froemming

Garrett Crochet also belongs in this conversation.

That's the first time in draft history the first seven picks were all college guys.

And the funny thing there is Dozier played all of nine games at shortstop in the minor leagues.

I wonder what the longest a draft has gone before a C, SS or CF was drafted.

Ha! I just thought to myself that might be the least intimidating name of a big-time prospect I've ever heard, lol.

My first kid was born that June! Having the team be so terrible created the perfect circumstances to attend games with first a very pregnant wife and later a newborn baby. Plenty of room for comfort at Target Field that summer. I had assumed we'd just cancel our 20-game season ticket package that season, but my wife wanted to keep it and see how things went. We swapped things around to have more games early and late in the season, but we ended up using most of our tickets. Lots of good times spent relaxing in the mostly empty stadium that year, barely paying any attention to the actual game.

An 83-79 record in 2015 provided optimism the Minnesota Twins were headed in the right direction. That was extinguished almost immediately in 2016. The Twins got off to an 0-9 start, and won just 11 of their first 45 games. Thus, the Total System Failure was underway.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 2016 season. Team Record: 59-103 Finish: 5th Place in AL Central All-Star: Eduardo Núñez (3B) Awards: N/A Playoffs: N/A Season Overview “AAAAAAAAAGGGgggghhhhhhhh …” — Twins fans, April 2016 That’s the sound of hopes and dreams falling rapidly into a deep, dark hole. In reality, the problems started with how this club was built. Signing the vaunted Korean slugger Byung-Ho Park backfired, and not just because of Park’s lack of performance. This would be among Terry Ryan’s last mistakes. Park flopped, hitting .191/.275/.409 (.684 OPS) in 62 games, but a particularly eyebrow-raising element to his signing was that it forced Miguel Sanó to right field. Sanó had burst onto the scene with a .916 OPS as a 22-year-old rookie the prior season, getting nearly all of his playing time at DH. Park took over that spot, so with Joe Mauer and Trevor Plouffe penciled in at the corner infield positions, Sanó was tasked with learning how to play right field over the offseason. It did not go well. Sanó was the primary right fielder for the first two months of the season, then returned to splitting time between third base and DH. There was only room for Sanó in the outfield because Torii Hunter retired and Aaron Hicks was dealt to the Yankees for catcher John Ryan Murphy, another transaction that went poorly. Envisioned to be the catcher of the future, Murphy posted a .413 OPS and played just 26 games for the Twins. Continuing the domino effect, Hicks’ departure led the Twins to turn to 22-year-old Byron Buxton, owner of a career .576 OPS in 46 MLB games, to be their Opening Day center fielder. Buxton was back in the minors before the end of April after hitting .156/.208/.289 (.497 OPS). Of course, those moves weren’t the only problematic points of the 2016 Twins. Several players who delivered solid performances the previous season fell off. Phil Hughes and Glen Perkins went from stalwarts of the pitching staff to shadows of their former selves. Kyle Gibson, Plouffe and Eduardo Escobar also tumbled. So did Tyler Duffey, Trevor May, Casey Fien, and Kevin Jepsen. Sanó and Eddie Rosario failed to build upon their impressive debut seasons. You get the point. On July 18, with the Twins 33-58 and already 21 games back in the division, Ryan was fired. Well, sort of. The way this all went down is basically the epitome of the relationship between Ryan and the Pohlad family. Jim Pohlad told Ryan a month earlier that he would not return as GM in 2017. It was Ryan who decided enough was enough, and that they should just make the move now. As admirable and rare the respect between the two parties is, this seemed to further handcuff the organization. Longtime assistant GM Rob Antony took over as the interim GM just a few weeks prior to the trade deadline. While Pohlad was finally willing to cut ties with Ryan, he dug in his heels regarding manager Paul Molitor, announcing his job was safe in 2017 no matter the future of the front office. With Antony at the helm, Minnesota made a pair of trade deadline moves. Eduardo Núñez, the team’s only All-Star that season, was sent to the Giants for pitching prospect Adalberto Mejia. The second swap was considered more of addition by subtraction, as Ricky Nolasco was sent with prospect Alex Meyer and cash to the Angels for Hector Santiago and relief prospect Alan Busenitz. Had the organization not been in such flux, maybe there would have been an all-out firesale. Brian Dozier was in the midst of an insane season and Ervin Santana had a 1.96 ERA in his final eight starts leading up to the deadline. Both Kurt Suzuki (a pending free agent) and Brandon Kintzler would also have been attractive to teams searching for some final pieces, but it seemed there was little motivation to tear the team down to the studs. Perhaps they didn’t want to leave the appearance that the cupboard was bare while also seeking out new front office executives. The Twins agreed to hire Derek Falvey as their new President of Baseball Operations on Sept. 26, 2016, and Thad Levine was tabbed as the next GM that November. Team MVP: Brian Dozier (2B) Other Contenders: Ervin Santana (SP), Joe Mauer (1B), Miguel Sanó (3B/RF/DH), Max Kepler (RF) Dozier was a man on fire in 2016. He slugged 42 home runs, had a 132 wRC+, drove in 99 runs while scoring 104 times and even went 18-for-20 in stolen base attempts. Dozier led Twins hitters in fWAR by a landslide, posting a 6.3 mark. That was good enough to rank inside the top 10 of all hitters in baseball. Only Mark Trumbo (47) and Nelson Cruz (43) hit more home runs that season than Dozier, the first AL second baseman to pop 40 dingers. Dozier became just the second Twin ever to hit even 35 homers, and his 82 extra-base hits rank second in franchise history, trailing only Tony Oliva’s 84 extra-base knocks in 1964. Despite being on such a disaster of a team, Dozier still finished 13th in AL MVP voting. His output has to rank among the best individual performances ever from a player on a 100-loss team. It must have been a bittersweet year for Dozier. On Sept. 5, he hit three home runs, yet the Twins still got blown out 11-5. His body language at the end of this clip says it all. For more on Dozier’s amazing 2016 season, check out this excellent breakdown Parker Hageman wrote in early September of that year. 3 Most Pivotal Games April 4: Lost @ Baltimore Orioles, 3-2 A walk-off loss on Opening Day. There was even a rain delay! What an appropriate way to start out what would be a miserable season. April 19: Lost vs. Milwaukee Brewers, 6-5 After an 0-9 start, the Twins rebounded to win their next four games. A brutal error made by Sanó helped spark what was a three-run fifth inning for the Brewers. If it wasn’t clear Sanó wasn’t going to workout in right field before, this was what sealed it. To make matters worse in that inning, Murphy had a passed ball that allowed a run to score. The Twins rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth thanks to home runs from Park and Rosario. This seemed to be further proof there was some more fight left in these Twins. Buxton committed a key error in the ninth that allowed a runner to advance an extra base, however, and Jepsen gave up what turned out to be the deciding run. This was a very poor fielding Twins team. The four-game winning streak snapped here ended up being tied for their longest such streak the entire season. Ugh. Aug. 29: Lost at Cleveland Indians, 1-0 Already 10 games deep into another losing streak, the pitching staff seemed determined to get the job done. Santiago (6 1/3 innings), Ryan Pressly (1 1/3) and Kintzler (1 1/3 innings) kept Cleveland off the board through nine innings. The only problem was the Twins lineup was also silenced. A single sandwiched between a pair of walks loaded the bases for Kepler in the top of the 10th inning, but he was retired to end the threat. Kintzler, the Twins closer at the time, was left in to handle the bottom of the 10th, but only recorded one out before Cleveland walked it off. That losing streak would last 13 games, the second-longest in team history. Unforgettable Highlights Núñez’s Leadoff Inside-the-Park Homer What a fun player. Núñez was among the few bright spots early in the season, hitting .329/.356/.494 (.850 OPS) heading into play on June 2. Here’s how he led off that game for the Twins: Kepler’s First MLB Homer Every player’s first home run is special, but Kepler’s was especially memorable. Playing in his 20th game of the season (and 23rd in the big leagues overall), Kepler hit a walk-off homer in the 10th inning to beat the Boston Red Sox at Target Field. Beresford Completes Long Journey to Big Leagues There were still some feel-good stories this season. After playing 10 years in the minor leagues, James Beresford finally got the call. His promotion to the Twins was a move celebrated across the entire organization. Beresford collected his first major-league hit in his debut on Sept. 10, and received a standing ovation from both the Target Field crowd and his teammates. One Detail You Probably Forgot This may have been among the darkest seasons in Twins history, but seeds were sprouting late in the year. Check out this lineup from Sept. 1, 2016, which just so happened to be the day they snapped that nasty 13-game losing streak mentioned earlier: Brian Dozier, 2B Joe Mauer, 1B Trevor Plouffe, 3B Miguel Sanó, DH Jorge Polanco, SS Max Kepler, RF Kurt Suzuki, C Eddie Rosario, LF Byron Buxton, CF By this time, José Berríos was in the rotation and Taylor Rogers was rounding out a solid rookie season in the bullpen. Many of the Twins’ current stars found their footing late in 2016. Fun Fact Minnesota hit 200 home runs in 2016. That may seem like a cute milestone now, seeing as they eclipsed 300 homers last season, but it was a pretty big deal at the time. The Twins had previously topped 200 home runs just twice in team history, the most recent being all the way back in 1964. ~~~ Previous Installments: The 2000 SeasonThe 2001 SeasonThe 2002 SeasonThe 2003 SeasonThe 2004 SeasonThe 2005 SeasonThe 2006 SeasonThe 2007 SeasonThe 2008 SeasonThe 2009 SeasonThe 2010 SeasonThe 2011 SeasonThe 2012 SeasonThe 2013 SeasonThe 2014 SeasonThe 2015 Season Click here to view the article

In 2009, just two teams were valued over a billion dollars. Just 10 years later, every single team was valued that high and the average franchise was worth closer to $1.78 billion. [Source] I understand value and liquidity are two very different things, but these owners can elect to cash out any time they'd like. Don't believe those estimates? Well the last team to sell was the Royals, not exactly the most attractive franchise in the league, and they went for a billion. The owners also have basically an infinite earning life cycle while a player's career will only last so long. Carl Pohlad bought the Twins for $44 million in 1984. Those figures from last year estimate the franchise to be valued at $1.2 billion. It's not fair to say only one side cares about money, they both do, but the owners are being greedy and trying to shorten the season with the only motivation to save a few bucks.

Howdy friends! Even though this is a much more difficult discussion to navigate than our typical articles, I'm happy to see the conversation. Anyway, a fellow Twins fan named Kristy shared a really helpful document that includes links to 40+ local organizations, businesses and community efforts I wanted to pass along. Here's the link. Some problems can't be fixed by just throwing money them, but I'm sure these organizations and businesses appreciate any help they can get at this time.

I recently took some time to remember Mike Marshall over on my YouTube channel.

I love that you included the nod to Denny Hocking. In the show How I Met Your Mother, Barney uses the "Ewok Line" to determine the general age range of a woman. The theory is anyone born in 1973 or earlier is not a fan of Ewoks, while anyone younger than that generally thinks they're cute and fun. At one point, there was a Denny Hocking line in Twins fandom. Most people paying attention to the Twins in 2000 developed a certain appreciation of Hocking, while others who jumped on the bandwagon later as the team started winning really ragged on the guy and couldn't fathom how in the world he continued to get playing time. It's not that Hocking's 2000 season was amazing or anything, but he was the third or fourth best hitter on the team that year and made 10+ appearances at all seven positions in the field. And, of course, he was pretty terrible after that, so some of the razzing of Denny was valid. Another fun fact: Five guys made 10+ starts at catcher this season. I can't remember if that was the first time that had ever happened, the first time in franchise history or just the first time in a long time, but I remember that being a fun piece of trivia at the time. It was basically an open audition. Matt LeCroy, Marcus Jensen, Chad Moeller and Danny Ardoin were all eventually bested by A.J. Pierzynski, who established himself as the catcher of the future late in this season and, of course, went on to stabilize the position.

I hadn't thought about this, but I think it should be early. Whenever the transaction freeze is over, I agree that there needs to be an open time frame for trades and then a deadline, but I don't want to see that coming too close to the start of the ... whatever it is we'll potentially be getting.

Agreed. Doesn't get much cooler than Rosie.

I think I'd lean Liriano over Baker. Bonus relief guy I had completely forgot about: Jared Burton. Can't make the case for him to crack this list, but he'd be in the mix if you expanded the pen another couple spots.

Man, I forgot how many departures the Brew Crew had this offseason. They'd better hope they have some internal pieces coming through the system that can step up. Bums me out the Pirates stink, like almost always. For some reason I've always kinda liked them, but now that Shelton's over there I feel like it's extra incentive to pay attention.

Something I don't get is if there aren't going to be fans, why is it important for the games to be played in the home stadiums? Even with sticking to only playing teams in the same region, that still seems like a lot of extra needless travel.

My guess is once every NL fan has a year or two to get accustomed to the DH they'll never want to go back.

The easy knee-jerk reaction would be to say "1965, duh!" but of course that '69 team was great, and looking at this it's a wonder how the '67 team didn't fare any better than 91-71. Seems appropriate there was a mid-season managerial change. Jim Kaat was snake bit that season. Somehow the Twins were just 17-20 in games he started. In late August of that year, Kaat gave up one earned run over eight innings in back-to-back starts and the Twins lost both of them. Ugh. Seems like it was just a year where nothing synced up like it could have.

Proposing to base salaries off revenues is a joke. I'm shocked the owners have the nerve to even go public with this.

He's kinda a swaggy dude too. That's always a lot more fun when they're on your team. It's baseball hate, not big Hate. Thank you! I knew I wouldn't be the only one. THIS! Good call on Konerko. Nothing really rubbed me the wrong way about him, either, but he was a great player on a division rival, so the shoe fits. Man, he was with the White Sox for 16 years!? Wow. What's football? A-Rod was my runner up to Jeter, mainly because he was both really good and a Yankee. He is a very solid broadcaster, but it's still weird to me he's so embedded in the game. The league seems a lot more embarrassed of some of the other guys from the steroid era, some of whom were never even suspended. I'll be curious to see what kind of support he gets once eligible for the Hall of Fame.

Earlier today, MLB.com released a list of each team’s fan base’s favorite nemesis -- the player who gets under their skin, who they love to hate. The guy selected for the Twins? A.J. Pierzynski. Uh ... come again?I’m not sure what methodology they used for this article, but here’s how they led into the conversation: “For every Major League fan base, there are certain rival players who incite an uncommon level of animosity. Whether it’s because they consistently excel, because they’ve done something controversial or because of how they carry themselves, some players have a knack for getting under an entire fan base’s skin, and the bad blood can carry on for years or even decades. These are the players each team's fans love to hate.” There’s no way A.J. is the favorite nemesis of Twins fans. Maybe I’m way off base here, but I’d be surprised if any Twins fans would list him atop the opposing players who most got under their skin or who they most loved to hate. Yes, as an opposing player with the White Sox he was obnoxious, but he provided some memorable moments during his time in Minnesota. What’s the most-recent display of late-inning postseason heroics in Twins history? This bomba by Pierzynski, which effectively sunk the Moneyball Oakland A’s in Game 5 of the 2002 ALDS: Boo this man? More like buy this man a beer! The A’s get an entire damn book written about them and A.J. somehow gets saddled with being labeled as the guy Twins fans love to boo? Get outta here with that junk. I love A.J. Pierzynski. There, I said it. I’ll shout it from the top of Buck Hill if I have to!!! If not A.J., then who really is the player Twins fans love to hate? My answer is below, but I can’t speak on behalf of all of Twins Territory. Please let me know your favorite player to boo in the comments. Pause and think about it for a moment. We need a legit answer to this question, and what better way to settle this than an informal poll in the Twins Daily forums? My pick: Derek Jeter That’s right, The Captain gets no Re2pect from me. What’s to hate? The fact he was such a central figure on the Yankees during the time they authored so much Twins pain is definitely the biggest motivating factor. It’s easy to hate the players who crush your dreams. Jeter and the Yankees bounced the Twins from the postseason four times, and he was 20-for-57 (.351) with three home runs in the 14 playoff games he played against them. Jeets also beat up the Twins in the regular season, of course. In 604 plate appearances against Minnesota, Jeter hit .323/.384/.465 (.849). This may seem unfair, considering it’s out of Jeter’s control, but the way he was covered his entire career was also nauseating. I think he’s the most overrated player of my lifetime. That’s not to say he wasn’t a great ballplayer, you still have to be very good to be overrated. Still, the way the national media swooned over every little thing he did was excruciating. Among the worst defensive shortstops of his generation, Jeter still boasts five Gold Gloves to his credit thanks to writers getting it wrong. Baseball media swooned over everything he did. Everything he did made me wanna vomit. But to be completely honest, had Jeter played for another team he probably wouldn’t even crack my top-50 most hated players. The fact that he’s smothered in Yankee scum has so much to do with why I loved rooting against him. But, again, I can’t speak on behalf of Twins Territory. There’s no shortage of other options out there, who’s the player you love to hate? MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article