Johan Santana Was Not Always a Star

Congratulations to former Minnesota Twins pitcher Johan Santana on pitching his first no-hitter. 

Santana was a unheralded Rule 5 draft pickup whose first 2 years with the Twins (2000 – 2001) were pretty unspectacular. By 2003 though Santana was on his way to becoming the best pitcher in all of baseball, winning the AL CY Young award in 2004 and 2006.

It is fairly obvious that Johan Santana is one of the 10 best Twins ever. Looking at the Twins career leaders in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) Santana is the 9^th best player in Twins history.

Rod Carew – 60.4
Harmon Killebrew – 49.9
Kirby Puckett – 48.2
Bert Blyleven – 46.3
Brad Radke – 42.6
Tony Oliva – 39.7
Chuck Knoblauch – 36.3
Kent Hrbek – 35.7
Johan Santana – 34.0
Joe Mauer – 32.8

However, with all the honors Santana received as a Twin, and the sheer domination he showed between 2003 -2007, Santana probably joins, Mauer, Carew, Killebrew, Puckett, Blyleven, and Oliva as one the seven biggest stars ever in Twins history.

The Twins could not keep Santana, who wanted $20 + million a year, and traded him after the 2007 season to the Mets. His time with the Mets has been injury filled, but the no-hitter he just threw – first in Mets history – will make him a legend there.

I don’t know if Santana will make the Baseball Hall of Fame, but he certainly will make the Twins Hall of Fame. I also know he will be a hard and expensive autograph to get, but that was not always the case.

When I began collecting Twins autographs 2005, Santana was already hugely popular. How popular? At the 2006 Twins Autograph Party I waited line over 4 hours to get Santana to sign a baseball for me, and I barely made it threw the line.

However, last weeekend I was at the Twins Cities Sports Collector Club (TCSCC) show in Bloomington when I found some Santana signed cards for a reasonable price. When I asked the guy who had them where he got them, the guy told me that back in 2001, before he became a star, Santana made an autograph signing appearance at the TCSCC show charging like $5-10 an item, and not a lot of people were interested in him.

It is just another reminder that a player who might not seem like a star at the time, might well turn into one. That is why I am collecting autographed baseball cards for all living Minnesota Twins, not just the ones I think will be a star.

Meanwhile I now have signed cards from 411 current or former Twins which means in my quest to get a signed card from living current and former Twins is now in need of 238 more players. I have requests out to 112 of them, so we will see what shows up.

I can all but guarantee there won’t be a card coming in the mail from Johan Santana (he has not signed through the mail in years), but again congrats Johan on your well deserved no-hitter.

Scott Diamond Signs for Me Before He Becomes Popular

In a desperate attempt to reverse their so to be lost season, the Minnesota Twins are cycling through players in an attempt to find someone who can help stem the losing tide.

One of those players is starting pitcher Scott Diamond. Diamond was a Rule 5 pickup before last season and he dutifully showed up for Twinsfest 2011 to signed autograph for fans. Not many people were interested in getting his though, but because I was out to collect autographed baseball cards of every living current and former Twin, I created the above card of him to sign.

The card (see above) has a picture of him at the 2009 World Baseball Classic where he pitched for his native Canada. Diamond signed the card for me, and was quite pleasant about it. In 2011 Diamond was pretty bad though at Triple A, and when the Twins got desperate and called him up to the big leagues he got rough up there too.

I figured Diamond was finished as a Twin, and in spring training this year he was demoted to minors quite quickly. Then a funny thing happed, Diamond started pitching great at Triple A, and upon being called up to the majors a couple weeks ago, he went out and pitched back to back games where he pitched 7 innings of shutout baseball. 

Now Diamond is being hailed as the Twins best starting pitcher. Funny how a guy few people wanted an autograph from back in 2011 now probably could draw a fairly big crowd of autograph seekers.

Because Diamond is left-handed and throws strikes, he should have a solid major league career. Stardom is not likely, but I think he may be around awhile. Good that I got an autograph card of him when I did. Thanks for signing for me Scott; I think you have a lot more people interested in you now.

10 Signed Alexi Casilla Baseball Cards

Minnesota Twin Alexi Casilla was appearing at Sport Authority in Richfield last Saturday, so I hustled down there, and got him to sign two baseball cards for me. I now have 10 signed baseball cards of Casilla which is most I have of any player (Four guys are tied for 2^nd with 7 signed cards). 

Casilla’s not a big star by any stretch, but I have always liked him. He seems to have a knack for getting the big hit (like the game winning hit in the division clinching Game 163 back in 2009) for the Twins. When Casilla is on, it seems the Twins are on. When Casilla is not on, it seems the Twins are not on.

Alexi Casilla has been pretty good at signing the cards I sent him in the mail hence the large number of autograph cards I have of him. Casilla’s future with the Twins always seemed to be iffy, but till he is no longer with the team he will be a favorite of mind. Thanks for signing for me Alexi, it is appreciated.

Minnesota Twins Talent Drain

The Minnesota Twins have the worse record in baseball. On May 2, 2012 they were no-hit. The Twins have only one power hitter (Josh Willingham), and two other above average major league hitters (Joe Mauer & Denard Span). Former superstar Justin Morneau is a shell of himself and probably should retire, but will likely hang on till his contract expires at the end of next year. The rest of the Twins hitters are below average role players. The best minor league talent is in Single A ball, not Triple A ball.

The starting pitching is even worse. Carl Pavano is fading. Francisco Liriano is a total mess. Liam Hendriks is an inexperienced pitcher in need of patience from a team with seemingly none. Nick Blackburn and Jason Marquis are end of the rotation starters on a team filled with such pitchers. There are no starting pitchers in Twins minor league system worthy of promotion.

So basically the Twins are a bad team with no immediate help available in the minors. The Twins are in need of a rebuilding job. They should trade Pavano, Marquis, Matt Capps, Ryan Doumit, and Jamey Carroll for prospects. However, I think they will hang on to these guys hoping for a turnaround that is likely not coming.

Many Twins fan might be wondering how a team that had been so successful from 2002 – 2010 could fall apart so quickly. The answer is simple – former GM Bill Smith ruined the team with terrible trades and poor decisions on which free agents to retain. Look below at who Smith traded during his reign as GM.

• Johan Santana – Best pitcher in baseball from 2004-2007
• Jason Bartlett - Starting shortstop who would become an All-Star
• Matt Garza – A promising pitcher who has developed into a top of the rotation starter
• J.J. Hardy – A starting shortstop and former All-Star
• Wilson Ramos – A well-thought of young starting catcher
• Carlos Gomez – A gifted defensive outfielder who cannot hit
• Delmon Young – A once highly thought of outfield who has had more bad than good
• Jim Thome – Future Hall of Famer at the tail end of his career but still productive
• Kevin Slowey – End of the rotation starting pitcher

In exchange for all the above talent, the Twins have the remaining players

• Matt Capps – An erratic closer hated by the Twins fan base
• Deolis Guerra – A rising minor league reliever with some upside
• Lester Oliveros – A minor league reliever with a good fastball and bad control
• Brett Jacobson – A minor league reliever with no real upside
• Daniel Turpin – A minor league reliever with little future

Add in that Smith and the Twins ownership allowed top flight talents Torii Hunter, Orlando Hudson, Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Joe Nathan, Matt Guerrier, Jesse Crain, Jose Mijares, and Nick Punto leave via free agency when they could have traded for prospects, and you see the problem.

Some folks might point out that some of the free agency that left brought back compensatory draft picks. Those picks are below:

For Hunter the Twins got the following picks (Carlos Gutierrez – a reliever stuck at AAA who is now hurt, and Shooter Hunt – a reliever with major control problems who is no longer in the Twins system).

For Guerrier and Crain the Twins got 3^rd baseman Travis Harrison and starting pitcher Hudson Boyd, both of whom are about to start their first year in the Twins system.

The Twins have some picks for Cuddyer and Kubel in this year’s draft, but no one is holding their breath the Twins will get anyone worthwhile.

The Twins have lost a lot of good major league talent and gotten little back in return. The Twins supposed brilliance at developing their own talent is a more myth than reality. Like many teams, the Twins hit a good run of success, and now that run is at an end.

Unlike the New York Yankees the Twins cannot buy their way into contention, they have to rebuild through minor league player development. Things are going to get ugly this year, but maybe with some of those high draft picks that come with finishing at the bottom of the standings the Twins can get some young talent that can be future stars. At least that’s the hope, and in baseball hope springs eternal.

Some Random Twins Thoughts

• Starting pitcher Scott Baker’s Twins career has come to an end with a dud. Baker had to have Tommy John surgery which means he is lost for the season which due to his contract status means the end of his Twins career. I had multiple encounters with Baker and he always was nice to me. I hope he can recover and revive his career.

• The Twins also released infielder Luke Hughes who was promptly picked up by Oakland. Hughes never came to Twinsfest or made in person appearances, still I was able to get a signed card of him because he was fairly decent at answering his fan mail. Thanks Luke best of luck to you in Oakland.

• Back in 2009 I was at Twinsfest and amongst the players I got to sign a card for me was Philip Humber a pitcher who had looked pretty bad in 2008. But I wanted signed cards from every living current and former Twin so Humber qualified. Humber was pretty bad in 2009, and was released. On April 21, 2012 Philip Humber pitched a perfect game for the Chicago White Soxs. How much would it cost me know to get Humber’s autograph? I bet a lot more than I paid at Twinsfest. This only proves that you should get guys autographs when you can, because you never know how their career will eventually turn out.

• Twins first base coach Jerry White set a record for me. It took him 4 years 6 months 15 days to return a baseball card I had sent him to autograph. Since then I have gotten him twice in person. Jerry, you gotta work on getting to your fan mail faster.

• My thanks to former Twins pitcher Eric Milton who took only 171 days to sign 3 cards for me which is great because I liked Eric a lot when he played for the Twins. Eric also threw a no-hitter when he was with the Twins which means he will always be a player remembered by future generations of Twins fans as no-hitters are rare.

• On the negative side former Twin Ken Landreaux took a few days over 4 years and 5 months to return my cards UNSIGNED with a note asking for $10 a card. He needed over 4 years to decide he wanted to charge for his autograph? Come on Ken you can do better than that. As it was, I had bought autographed Ken Landreaux for $5. 

• I had sent cards to Jose Mijares, Rob Delaney, and Chuck James when they played in the Twins organization and never heard back from them. They promptly leave the Twins, I send them cards, and they autograph them and send them right back. This makes me wonder how good the Twins are at distributing fan mail to their players.

• I currently have signed cards from 399 current and former Twins. I have 2 more I will be picking up soon via private signings, so I will be over 400 soon. I have 245 more to go.

Alan Jackson's "So You Don't Have to Love Me Anymore"

Garth Brooks may have been elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame this year, but for my money Alan Jackson is the greatest country music singer of his generation. Here is his great new song "So You Don't Have to Love Me Anymore" which I think is one of his best songs in a while.

Twinsfest 2012

I attended Twinsfest 2012 which is the off-season celebration of all things Minnesota Twins. I went both Friday and Sunday, and getting 36 player autographs. Here are some highlights / thoughts:

• This year the Twins were doing wrist band drawings to determine who got to receive a Joe Mauer or Justin Morneau autograph. I arrived Friday night to get a Mauer wristband and the lady asked if I wanted a Morneau wrist band too. I said yes, and she said “here is a green one which is the one we just drew to get an autograph.”

• I got to shake Twins GM Terry Ryan’s hand on Sunday. He was standing out in the middle of the event just talking to folks. Very impressive that he would take the time to mingle with the common fan.

• I got autographed cards from newcomers Josh Willingham, Jamey Carroll, Jason Marquis, and Ryan Doumit. None of their lines were very long, reminding me yet again that Twins fans take time to warm to newcomers not name Jim Thome.

• I was able to get signed cards from former Twins and personal favorite Jacque Jones. Jacque was supposed to be signing with former teammate Shannon Stewart. Well Jacque showed up on time, but Stewart was nowhere to be seen. They decided to let anyone who just wanted Jacque to come up to the front of the line, so I went. After he signed a card for me, I asked if I could go through the line again and get a ball signed. They said yes, and right after Jacque finished signing my ball guess who decided showed up? Since Shannon was now right in front of me, I had him sign a card. You get lucky once and a while.

• I had not slept well Saturday night, and my stomach was sore Sunday morning, but I still headed down to Twinsfest because I wanted to get a card signed by Brad Radke. I missed out on getting Radke Friday as his line with Kent Hrbek and Dan Gladden was cut off before I got through. I arrived Sunday in time to strike up a conversation with the gentlemen in front of me. I found out he just wanted to get a photo signed by Rod Carew who was signing with Radke. The fellow then said to me “if you want I will get Radke to sign something for you.” I thought that was a nice gesture by an obviously kind individual. So I ended up with two signed Brad Radke cards. Thanks much to the gentlemen who helped me out.

• While most dealers were selling baseball related stuff, some enterprising individuals were selling photos of the hottest new sports heroes in Minnesota – Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love.

I had a good time at Twinsfest, and would recommend it to anyone interested in the Twins. Below a list of players I got to sign for me:

• Justin Morneau

• Joe Benson

• Ben Revere

• Kyle Waldrop

• Nick Blackburn

• Scott Baker

• Alexi Casilla

• Matt Capps

• Chris Parmelee

• Jeff Gray

• Liam Hendriks

• Jacque Jones (2 items)

• Shannon Stewart

• Jerry White

• Joe Vavra

• Brian Duensing

• Ryan Doumit

• Trevor Plouffe

• Rene Tosoni

• Rod Carew (2 items)

• Ron Gardenhire

• Josh Willingham

• Jason Marquis

• Jamey Carroll

• Jeff Manship

• Glen Perkins

• Anthony Swarzak

• Brad Radke (2 items)

Minor leaguers who were signing for free:

• B. J. Hermsen

• Tyler Robertson

• Aaron Hicks

• Terry Doyle

• Nate Hanson

• Carlos Gutierrez

Autographs Through the Mail (TTM) Success Rate

With the calendar turning to 2012, I start my sixth year of collecting autographs through the mail (TTM). Below are my statistics since I started sending cards out (sent out / received signed):

Baseball (since 2007)

904 / 502 = 55% success rate

Football (since 2008)

93 / 63 = 68%

Hockey (since 2007)

92 / 65 = 71 %

Others (since 2008)

16 / 7 = 44%

One reason for the baseball numbers being less successful is my attempt to get every living Minnesota Twins player to sign a baseball card for me.

There are 643 living players and I have 380 with roughly 320 of those coming through my mail effort. Unfortunately, I have 111 requests out that have not and may never return. I have no addresses for the 148 others, but I will keep looking as addresses seem to appear when I least expect them.

My goal for 2012 is to continue to add to my Twins collection. I doubt I will be sending out as many cards to players on other teams as I have in the past due to a low success rate.

I hope to get signed cards at Twinsfest from newest Twins Josh Willingham, Ryan Doumit, Jamey Carroll, and Jason Marquis. If not, I will try them via the mail. I hear Doumit, Carroll, and Marquis are decent signers through the mail. Hopefully they will continue to be so during their time with the Twins.

I also hope to make more progress on getting a signed card from every playoff roster member of the Twins 1991 World Series team. I have signed cards of every member of the 1987 World Series team, so it can be done. I currently have 19 of the 25 players of the 91 team.

Here’s hoping for more success this year.

Minnesota Twins Off Season Moves

Three long time Minnesota Twins have or are about to depart the Twins via free agency. Joe Nathan and Michael Cuddyer have signed with Texas and Colorado respectively, and indications are Jason Kubel is leaving as well.

From 2004 – 2009 Joe Nathan was the second best reliever in all of baseball. He made 4 All-Star teams in those six years while compiled a Wins Above Replacement (WAR) of 21.2 which is a very impressive total for a reliever.

Through his time was the Twins Nathan was a class guy, and importantly to me as an autograph collector, he always answered fan mail, and has a beautiful signature.

However 2010 and 2011 were not kind to Nathan mostly due to injury. At 36 Nathan probably does not have many playing years left, so it is understandable that he was looking to sign with a team that has a good chance to win it all. Texas has better chance of getting to a World Series than the Twins, so Texas is where he went.

With the Twins signing of Josh Willingham to play right field, Michael Cuddyer’s 11 year stint with the Twins came to an end. Cuddyer will be remembered mostly for his amazingly dignity and numerous charitable efforts. Like Harmon Killebrew before him, Cuddyer treated fans with great respect, and was loved by many for doing so.

Cuddyer also answered his fan mail, and had one of the most readable autographs in the game. I like Michael Cuddyer, but he really only had 2 great years (2006 & 2009). In 11 years with the Twins Cuddyer hit 141 home runs, posted an OPS + of 111, and had a WAR of 11.1. In the last 6 seasons Willingham has hit 131 home runs, posted an OPS + of 121 and had a WAR of 12.6.

Willingham’s numbers have been superior. Both men are 32, but Willingham was willing to settle for a 3 year $21 million dollar contract while Cuddyer signed with Colorado for 3 years and $31 million. Cuddyer is a great guy, but Willingham gives the Twins more production for less money.

I have a photo of Michael Cuddyer dumping a bucket of Gatorade over Jason Kubel after Kubel had hit a home run to win an important game back in 2006. At Twinsfest 2008 I had Jason Kubel sign the photo. Cuddyer had already signed it, and after Kubel signed it he would not give it back to back to me. Instead he took a minute to look it over which normally players don’t do. I told when the picture was from. The normally reserve Kubel look up at me with a big grin and said “Oh yeah, I know when it’s from,” then he gave out a satisfied chuckle. It was great to see a player get a chance to relive a good memory from something I had.

Unfortunately Jason Kubel’s time with the Twins is likely up. Kubel had an up and down career with the Twins. His best year was 2009. Overall he hit 104 home runs, posted an OPS + of 112, and a WAR of 6.4. Kubel seemed to hit a lot of big home runs for the Twins, but with $96 million of the Twins supposed $100 projected payroll already committed, Kubel is likely to sign elsewhere for some pretty good cash.

Ryan Doumit has been signed to replace Kubel at DH. Doumit also offers protection at catcher, 1st base, and right field all positions he has played before. Doumit can hit, but his defense is ordinary. Still with Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau’s health still in question, the Twins need Doumit’s versatility.

Jamey Carroll has also been signed by the Twins. Carroll is slotted to take over at shortstop. 2011 was a disastrous year at short for the Twins. Carroll steady defense and solid hitting in the #2 spot in the batting order will be welcomed, though he 37 and his performance could decline quickly.

I will miss Nathan, Cuddyer, and Kubel. Good guys who played hard for the Twins. I am pleased with the signing of Willingham, Doumit, and Carroll. I think they will help. I am also intrigued by the signing of Sean Burroughs to a minor league contract. In the early 00’s Burroughs was a highly rated 3rd base prospect who had stardom written all over him. Unfortunately substance abuse problems ended his playing days and nearly destroyed him. He is making a comeback, and played briefly with Arizona last year, after putting up some impressive numbers with their top minor league team. Could Burroughs be a diamond in the rough? I guess we will find out.

In fact we will find out if the moves to let Nathan, Cuddyer, and Kubel go and bring in Willingham, Doumit, and Carroll will work out best for the Twins. All Twins fans including me really hope they do.

Creating Baseball Cards

Not every baseball player gets a baseball card. Some players are in the majors for such a short period of time, they never qualify to be on a baseball card. This has caused me a problem in my quest to get a signed baseball card from every current and former player of the Minnesota Twins.

I decided since a card of every player did not exist, I would create some cards of my own. I downloaded the free design layout program Scribus, and began working on some designs.

I needed something with plenty of white space. Many of the players without cards are older former players who want to sign nicely in a visible spot, but their hands are not what they use to be, and their writing can be a little messy especially if they are trying to fit it into a small spot.

I decided landscape design allows for a larger open white space for the player to sign. It also allows me to see the autograph well even if the player signs in harder to read ink pen instead of the preferred blue sharpie. Also, some players want to personalize the card to me or add a short message or religious verse. The large white space allows this without making things look messy or cramped.

I wanted to include the different Twins logos used throughout their history. I put the Twins logo from the 60’s and 70’s in the upper left corner and the Twins logo used in the 80’s, 90’s, and early 00’s in the lower left.

Baseball cards tend to include photos of the players, but finding photos of many of these former players is difficult. When I do find photos of the players, they are often of such poor quality; it does not pay to use them.

When I do find a good enough looking photo of a player, I can just replace one of the logos with the photo. Remember these cards are 3.5 inches long and 2.5 inches high, so the photo cannot that big meaning you need something sharp, clear, and bright.

I have used different fonts and colors for the text. I will continue to experiment with them, but I always want the player’s name up top, and a phrase connecting the player to the Twins.

The words “Win Twins!” is catch phrase used throughout Twins history, so I thought it might be worth including it on the card.

Below is my current card design:

I have had a good success rate with these. They may not be as flashy as some of the custom card design I have seen other people make, but they are functional and inexpensive to create.

When I can I send players professional made baseball cards, but when no such cards exist, I think the players appreciate the fact I took the time to make something that acknowledge their time with the Twins.