Just Like 1982

In 1982 four of the best prospects in baseball - 1^st baseman Kent Hrbek, 3^rd basemen Gary Gaetti, right fielder Tom Brunansky, and starting pitcher Fran Viola - played their rookie season for the Minnesota Twins. The players had varying levels of success and the team lost 102 games, but the seeds for future successful Twins teams were sown.

When another star prospect – Kirby Puckett - joined them in 1984, the Twins had the foundation that would bring them a World Series title in 1987. Brunansky is now considered to be amongst the top 30 Twins of all-time while Gaetti and Viola among the top 20, and Puckett and Hrbek among the top 10. Puckett is a member of Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Hrbek, Gaetti, and Viola are members along with Puckett in the Twins Hall of Fame.

31 years later the Twins have, are, and will be summoning some of the best prospects in baseball just as they did in 1982. Right fielder Oswaldo Arcia, starting pitcher Kyle Gibson and center fielder Aaron Hicks are already here, with 3^rd baseman Miguel Sano, 2^nd baseman Eddie Rosario, and starting pitchers Alex Meyer and Trevor May expected in 2014. While center fielder Bryon Buxton and starting pitcher Jose Berrios expected in 2015.

Buxton and Sano are already being hailed as Hall of Fame talents. Arcia and Rosario are expected to be All-Stars. Meyer and Gibson are supposed to be top of the rotation starters with Berrios and May being solid pitchers. If Joe Mauer can stay healthy and productive, a Twins lineup of Buxton, Mauer, Arcia, Sano, Rosario, Hicks, and others could make this a Twins team which could be amongst the greatest Twins teams of all-time. Of course history is filled with failed “can’t miss” prospects, so time will tell.

What can’t be missed with this new wave of young Twins players is the excitement they have generated. Certified autographs of Buxton and Sano are going for well over $100 a piece, and demand for items tied to them is in great demand. Meanwhile this year I gone to separate free public autograph signings with Glen Perkins, Chris Parmelee, Josh Willingham, and Pedro Florimon, and was able to go through the line multiple times. That use to not to be the case as Twins players use to draw huge crowds. Fans are not excited about the current players; they want to see the good, young prospects, and soon they shall.

Just like in 1982, the Twins are sowing the seeds of future success. We can only hope this time it will turn out as well as it did then.

For Postseason Success the Twins Need Better Starting Pitching

Frank Viola has shown firsthand what 

what great starting pitching can for a

team's post season run.

(By the way this is best Frank Viola card of

all-time. I own multiple copies of it, one

of which was autographed by the man himself.)

Tom Kelly managed the Twins to a 16-8 post season record. The Twins won World Championships in 1987 and 1991 under his command winning all four post season series they played in. Rod Gardenhire has managed the Twins to a post season record of 6-21. His teams are 1-6 in post season series. Both men have managed roughly the same amount post season games yet the have almost totally opposite win-lost records. Why?

It comes down to elite starting pitching. In his 24 post season games Tom Kelly had a starting pitcher who pitched seven or more innings in a game 9 times. The Twins won all nine of those games. In his 27 post season games Ron Gardenhire has a starting pitcher who pitched seven or more innings in game 5 times. The Twins won only 3 of those games.

What if Gardenhire’s Twins could have got just 4 more starts of 7 innings or more? It might have turned a couple of those lost series (four of which were best of 5 ALDS’s) into series wins. Then again Gardenhire’s teams did a poor job of winning the 7 + inning outings they did get. Still it likely would have lead to at least a couple more wins and a series or two going the Twins way.

What Kelly had that it seems Gardenhire does not is elite pitchers to toss those 7 + inning games. Below is the list of all the pitchers to pitch 7 + innings in a postseason game:

Tom Kelly’s Twins:

Frank Voila (87 ALCS Game 1, 87 WS Game1, 87 WS Game 7)

Bert Blyleven (87 ALCS Game 2, 87 WS Game 2)

Jack Morris (91 ALCS Game 4, 91 WS Game 1, 91 WS Game 7)

Kevin Tapani (91 WS Game 2)

Ron Gardenhire’s Twins:

Eric Milton (2002 ALDS Game 4)

Joe Mays (2002 ALCS Game 1)

Johan Santana (2004 ALDS Game 1, 2006 ALDS Game 1 which was a loss)

Carl Pavano (2009 ALDS Game 3 which was a loss)

Three pitchers (Viola, Blyleven, and Morris) accounted for 8 of Kelly's Twins 9 7+ plus inning games. It was by no accident that they did. Bert Blyleven is likely going to be a Hall of Famer. Jack Morris might make the Hall of Fame as well, and he has a history of pitching well in big games. Frank Voila was regarded as one of the best pitchers in baseball during his time with the Twins, and rightfully won the Cy Young Award in 1988. Viola and Morris were the World Series MVP in 87 and 91 respectfully.

You can rightly point out that the Twins again exited the playoffs again in 2010 because they did not hit, but they lead Game 1 3-0 at one point. A strong pitching performance would have made that lead hold up against any lineup. The Twins failed to get that pitching performance and they are out of the playoffs again because of it.

The Twins pitching rotation for 2011 likely looks to be Francisco Liriano, Scott Baker, Brian Duensing, Nick Blackburn & Kevin Slowey. Liriano has the potential to be a Viola, Blyleven, and Morris, but the Twins need more. Baker has always had the talent, but has not delivered the results. Herald prospect Kyle Gibson is showing promise, but has yet to see action in the big leagues.

The Twins need some starting pitchers to step up. If not, the Twins are likely to be swept out of the first round of the playoffs again in 2011 if they make the playoffs at all.