Holy CRAP, what a game. Hard to believe that we won AGAIN in Boston. Two in a row.
Just to play the first 9 innings took 4 hours. And the fact that there was a 10th is one of those gifts from the baseball gods that we may not have earned but for the pitching staying steady despite working harder than they should have had to. Too many errors from my guys to call it a GREAT game but wow was it intense.
Justin is finally back to hitting Lefties!! But there’s many people who deserve a little recognition. Besides Justin leading the way with consistent AB’s getting hits in every AB & 2 RBI, Mastroianni had some incredible defensive plays, baserunning, AND hitting a crucial double in the 10th. Despite the rare error to Justin, they both really earned a little treat so they are promptly gifted rootbeer floats for their efforts!
And you can look a little sideways at AJ Burnett if you want but our usual weak spot is pitching and tonight, they really held on to their big boy pants and threw some REALLY tough innings and situations. Duensing had a really great start especially given the errors in the field behind him. Robertson had a ridiculously well-timed strikeout of Ellsbury despite only a dozen or so SO by Jacoby all SEASON. There were so many things I could say so we will just let the whole pitching staff keep their keys to the Knuckleballs Ice Cream Buffet they earned last night. Hope none of those boys are lactose intolerant!
But the real hero for me of tonight’s game was Jamey Carroll. 4 hits in 4 AB’s, a steady presence every time he comes out, some practically miraculous fielding and he’s the one who finally knocked in the winning run in the 10th to break the tie. His response during a postgame interview regarding his success this game kind of said it all for me:
“just ask my son, he’ll tell you I don’t hit any homeruns so I don’t have to worry about the green wall”
For all around amazingness and actually bringing the win before I turned back into a pumpkin, Mr. Carroll is the Knuckleballs BOD! – CB
Now we begin a nice long stretch of early games due to East Coast baseball!
Let’s cover a little bit of pitching injury update/news:
Pitching prospect, Alex Wimmers, unfortunately has to undergo Tommy John surgery. Is anyone ever surprised by one of these announcements anymore? Whatever it is in the current training of young pitchers, it seems as though severe damage to elbow ligaments is now de rigueur. Or the surgery itself is being over-prescribed. Or both. I’m not sure how many careers it’s actually doing a service to but it must keep enough players in the game to be worth the investment of money and time.
Pavano was scratched from his scheduled start in GCL today but he did throw a bull pen session. If all goes well with the recovery from that, he’ll make a start for the Miracle next week. At least that sounds a little bit like progress.
After a difficult series against the White Sox, all of which were 1 run games, I would love to see the offense come out a little bit. Yes, our games always seem to rise and fall with the pitching but the last few would have benefited greatly from some additional run support. No, I am not talking about one of those monster hit games that are ridiculously exciting – I just mean get a few more guys across home plate if we get them on base. Ok??
so, shutting out the BoSox at home.. yeah that doesn’t happen every day – especially to the Twins. In fact, it hasn’t happened in almost exactly 16 years (tomorrow). I had asked for some offense to give the pitching some run support and look what happened! Just a little bit in the way of early runs and the pitching just took over!
It’s interesting that the most commonly discussed facet of the pitching was the odd ability for Samuel Deduno to be “effective wild” – in other words, no one knows how the hell he does it but he gets outs. He pitched 6 full innings with the support of Drew Butera with only 2 hits. Yes, there were 4 walks which is distinctly un-Twins-like but it was all part & parcel to keeping the batters off their step. I liked it. Then the bullpen came in and finished it off in similar fashion! Fien and Perkins nailed it down. In response, we here at Knuckleballs would like to thank them from the deepest place within us – no not our hearts, our STOMACHS! For being stellar tonight, we give the entire pitching staff access to the Knuckleballs ice cream buffet! And Deduno gets all the cherries he wants..
As you can see, we are classy folk here at Knuckleballs so it’s a prize worth of such a great performance.
However, our loftiest of prizes went to Brian Dozier for all around great offense & defense and basically cementing the game for our pitchers to claim. For that, he was awarded our BOD! Congrats Brian!
I’m not one to usually say, “I told you so,” but… yeah… I did tell you so. I told you to prepare to be disappointed at the trade deadline so it comes as no surprise to me that most Twins fans seemed to come away from the July 31 non-waiver deadline disappointed in the lack of moves by the Twins.
Many of us do understand why the roster remained intact, except for the trade of Francisco Liriano. The new CBA dampened enthusiasm for players who will be free agents at the end of the season. Justin Morneau’s contract is too big to get other teams excited about trading something of value for him. Other teams are understandably hoarding their top “high ceiling” young starting pitchers and weren’t willing to part with them for any of the Twins players Terry Ryan had to offer. Logically, we know there will remain interest in those same players this off-season.
But even knowing and understanding all of that, there’s disappointment all over Twinsville. I’m disappointed in the aftermath of the deadline, too. But not necessarily for the same reasons others are.
Terry Ryan
Some people are disappointed that Ryan didn’t just take the best offer on the table for a player like Denard Span, for whom the Twins arguably have a suitable replacement for already in Ben Revere. Some felt Josh Willingham, who at age 33 is having the best year of his career, will never be more valuable than he is now and should have been traded for the best deal offered, simply for that reason. I don’t happen to agree with either of these positions, so I’m not disappointed that Span and Willingham are still Twins. In fact, when the deadline passed Tuesday with no deals by the Twins, I wasn’t really disappointed at all.
No, my disappointment came a little later.
Phil Mackey of 1500ESPN posted a couple articles with quotes from Terry Ryan in the aftermath of Tuesday’s trade deadline and it was Ryan’s comments, taken all together, that provide the groundwork for my disappointment.
“There’s a lot of players on this ballclub that people would like to have on their team. I don’t think there’s any question about that. I don’t think there’s any shock that people putting up the numbers on this ballclub would be desirable for other organizations. If you’re going to do something with that you’d like to think that you’re getting equity back. We didn’t see it.”
“Everything that we do here right now probably includes some sort of pitching. In particular, starting pitching. I think we’ve shown some resiliency in that bullpen out there.
“It is difficult to come out with starting pitching, especially the younger controllable-type guys that organizations covet, where they have control. That’s exactly the types of people we were looking to bring back in any sort of deal, and we just couldn’t get what we were looking for today.”
“We have holes. And some of it is pitching. And some of it is not. There are other areas we need to address.”
“Some of it will be injury. Some of it would be chemistry and some of it is execution. We’ve cracked in a few areas this year.”
So much there to digest, isn’t there? Yet, I can’t see anything there I disagree with at all. There certainly was no shortage of players other teams were interested in having.
It’s also good to see the Twins recognize their biggest problem, whether short term or long term, is their rotation. They needed good young high-ceiling pitchers in any deal and apparently didn’t get that kind of talent offered.
Ryan is also correct in saying that pitching is not the only hole they have to fill. The middle infield remains less productive than you would like it to be, for example. They certainly have “cracked” in more than one area over the course of the season.
But then there were these additional quotes.
“As you know, I don’t worry too much about the payroll. We had all kinds of money this year and we didn’t get it done. It’s not a payroll issue. It’s personnel and making sure we put the right people in the right place.”
“I’m not banking on free agency, to be honest. If you keep banking on free agency, you’ll end up chasing your tail. This is not going to be a free agency approach. This is going to be no shortcuts and doing the job the way it’s supposed to be done. And that’s usually that’s with young, development, scouting and picking the right people.”
Sigh.
If he had just said, “It’s not just a payroll issue,” and, “I’m not banking strictly on free agency,” I’d have felt a little better because I do agree that you can’t, “keep banking on free agency.”
But he didn’t.
So, taking his words exactly as quoted, we all have to be disappointed, because Terry Ryan is just wrong. It is partially about payroll and free agency is a perfectly legitimate “shortcut” to fielding a better baseball team than you currently have. Shortcuts are not necessarily mutually exclusive from, “doing the job the way it’s supposed to be done.”
Have you ever been to San Francisco and decided to take a little day trip across the bay to Sausalito? It’s not very far away and there are multiple ways to get there. The most direct route is by boat, but of course that costs you some cash. If you have the cash, I think it’s the best option. If you are on a budget, you can drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. Then again, that’s a toll bridge, so even traveling that way comes with a cost, too.
Both are shortcuts, though, because you do have another option. You can travel east a ways then north a longer ways, then west a ways, then south a ways and get to Sausalito that way. Not many people do that, because people recognize their time has value, too, and it takes a lot of extra time to get where you want to go that way (and if you’re directionally challenged, you may take a wrong turn and never get exactly where you wanted to go).
There was a time, during Terry Ryan’s first tour of duty as GM, when the Twins had no alternative to taking the long way toward building a competitive team. They simply couldn’t afford the free agency shortcut. They had no choice but to flip veteran players for prospects as soon as they got expensive and then develop those prospects and hope they turned in to good Big Leaguers. They had moderate success doing that, too.
But they don’t have to do that now. Not exclusively, anyway. Is developing from within still the best way to fill out most of your roster? Abso-friggin-lutely, it is. But utilizing free agency to augment that process… to fill those “holes” Ryan referred to… in order to maintain a level of competitiveness, is not wrong just because it’s an option you didn’t have five years ago. I would have hoped that their experience with Josh Willingham would have demonstrated that to the Twins front office.
If the Twins had traded off most of their veterans Tuesday, I’d have been disappointed. I’m in the group of fans that believes the line up is capable of competing within their division in 2013 if they fix the rotation. That said, if they’d gone the route of trading off the veterans, I’d have at least understood that Terry Ryan has a plan and I’m just going to have to be more patient to see how it unfolds. But he didn’t do that.
The result is that he seems to be caught in between… not embracing the new “shortcut” available to him to get the team back on track quicker through free agency, but also not fully executing the old “flip veterans for top prospects” method of building a competitive team over a longer period of time, either.
This is not what Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau signed up for (Photo: AP/Tom Olmscheid)
It’s that purgatory in between that appears to indicate a lack of any real plan that disappoints me more than anything else today. Then again, it’s the same disappointment I felt last year when the Twins made no attempt to improve their rotation through free agency, so this isn’t exactly new disappointment.
I would think it would have to be disappointing Joe Mauer and the other veteran players, as well. These guys are here because they felt they would have a legitimate chance to play for a winner in Minnesota and it’s hard to see how that will happen for anyone who’s already approaching or past his 30th birthday if the Twins are unwilling to tap the free agent market for serious rotation help.
If the “free agency approach” is not an option, it seems to me that the right thing for Terry Ryan to do would be to call those guys together… Mauer, Morneau, Span, Willingham, Doumit, Perkins… and say, “Guys, here’s the plan. We’re not going to spend money for top free agent pitching, so we’re probably going to continue to struggle with the rotation. That means we’re probably going to have to win a lot of 8-7 games to even come close to being a .500 team for the next couple of years. That’s not what any of you signed up for. We’d like to give our fans some familiar faces to root for and our young pitchers some semblance of offensive support, so unless we get bowled over by an offer, we’d like to keep most of you around. But if you would prefer, we will see what we can get for you on the trade market this off-season. We won’t give anyone away for a handful of magic beans, but if we can get legitimate prospects in return, we’ll try to give you a better shot to play for a contender. Talk to your agents and have them give me a call. Either way, thank you for what you’ve given the organization already and no hard feelings.”
When he’s done with that chat and after he hears back from their agents, he could communicate something similar to the fan base. Would there be disappointment? Yes. But the honesty would be refreshing, everyone would know what to expect and at least there would be some rational hope for the future.
As it is now, all we’ve got is the disappointment, even if we can’t all agree on why we’re disappointed.
– JC
P.S. To be fair, Jim Pohlad sounded at least slightly more positive about the Twins participation in the free agent market in this Pioneer Press article. The money quote:
“We will definitely look at the free-agent market,” Pohlad said Tuesday, July 31. “We probably won’t sign the most expensive free-agent pitcher that there is. Terry (Ryan, general manager) is committed to doing everything (to improve the team).”
Pohlad said the Twins, who are 12 games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox, will be able to afford some free agents. The Twins’ payroll this season is about $100 million.
“We’re happy at the level (of payroll) we’re at right now,” the Twins CEO said.
Despite last night’s eventual loss, I really do think we came out on top of the pitching duel. Good for Nick Blackburn and good luck to Chicago with Liriano. It’s just too bad that we ended the win streak that way.
Today? yeah, I would REALLY like to start another win streak. I would love to beat the WS – of course that is always true. As always, I have far more faith in Scott Diamond than I do most of the rotation. Here’s hoping that he’s able to do what he’s so incredibly capable of doing against the WS today. And our offense has been able to get to Peavy in the past so let’s hope they are able to do it again today.
Of course, if you’re listening to the FSN broadcast, you will no doubt hear Dick Bremer complain about the heat again because it is a bit on the warm side today – not to mention a bit sticky. It’s supposed to be in the mid to high 80’s by the time the game starts and climb into the 90’s from there. Given the opponent today, I don’t really think that there is much benefit or challenge from the weather. We’re both pretty used to the same thing and it is August 1st afterall.
That wasn’t exactly the way we wanted to see “getaway day” go, as the Twins dropped another close game to the White Sox, 3-2. Once again, the Twins got a solid performance out of their starting pitcher. Scott Diamond gave up just three runs in 7 and 1/3 innings before leaving the game after getting hit by a come-backer up the middle.
Ryan Doumit gave us a little 9th inning excitement with a two-out double. After a Danny Valencia walk, pinch runners Darin Mastroiani and Alexi Casilla completed a successful double steal, but were left stranded when Brian Dozier flew out to center field to end the game.
Valencia provided one of the few other offensive highlights on the day with a 2nd inning home run. Ben Revere had a double among his two hits on the day.
It’s on to Fenway Park for a four-game series with the Red Sox. – JC
Non-waiver Trade Deadline day has officially gone! The Twins made no further moves. There was a lot of discussion of course and rumors all over the place. They were just that, rumors. It did lead to some amusing tweets from a few Twins players including Denard Span and Glen Perkins. If you are on twitter and don’t follow them already, you REALLY should. Discussion from our media folk with Terry Ryan seems to imply that by the end of the day, Span was NOT the player of most interest nor does the FO think that a move now was mandatory – or even the Free Agent market. They seem to be setting the groundwork for an honest discussion that rebuilding this team is a LONG TERM effort that needs improvements in the minor leagues as well as the off-season. Well, duh. We told you guys that LAST year.
Random announcement on twitter from Luke Hughes that he was joining an independent league team in Lancaster was very short-lived as mere hours later, he announced that he was going to be playing in Las Vegas as part of the Blue Jays system. Good for him and wow, this was quite a day for him.
For tonight, we get our first opportunity to hit Franky. Anyone else wondering which version of Liriano we’ll be facing tonight? I wonder how many secrets of his pitches our hitters know.. I have to admit I’m kind of looking forward to the challenge he presents. Let’s hope that Blackburn is the one really up to the challenge. One can always hope.
No, really… Things were actually going pretty well. It was a solid outing from Nick Blackburn who went deeper in today’s game than he has all season. The boys figured out how to get under Franky’s skin which Span contributed to by hitting him every AB and Mastro stole a couple bases on him. All in all, they managed to make this game pretty darn interesting..
And then AJ hit a @#$%@#$% HR off Jeff Gray.
If you’ve noticed a theme, you’re very observant or I’m not very subtle or both. Watch the baseball news tomorrow because I think Mr. Pierzynski is going to be in hot water with the big boys for cussing Nick Blackburn out as he came into home plate – loud enough to be heard by the pitcher, infielders AND the field mics.. oops. That of course means it’s been caught on video.
I know there are still AJ fans here in Twins Territory but I can honestly say that I wasn’t a fan even when he still played here – he’s a jerk who seems to regularly feel the need to prove it and make the game about him. Go figure.
Regular readers of our site are probably aware that I’m a Twins fan exiled in Iowa. While I spent 10 years of my youth growing up in Minnesota, I’ve lived almost all of my life since then in Iowa and I currently call Cedar Rapids “home.” In fact, I’ve lived here in Cedar Rapids for pretty much the past 35 years.
This is Part 2 of my 2-part series focused on the Cedar Rapids Kernels (the Angels’ Class A Midwest League affiliate). In yesterday’s Part 1, I covered a bit of the local team’s history and mentioned many of the future Major Leaguers I’ve watched on the field as they suited up for Cedar Rapids, as well as many others that called the old Veterans Stadium their summer home during the storied history of the organization.
In Part 2, we’re focusing on the present and, more specifically, what goes on behind the scenes of a minor league organization.
Many of us think we may know something about how a Major League team is run, even if all we know is what we saw from Brad Pitt’s portrayal of A’s GM Billy Beane in the movie “Moneyball”. But if any of us think running a minor league team is remotely similar, we couldn’t be more wrong.
Cedar Rapids Kernels General Manager Doug Nelson recently agreed to answer some of my questions about his organization and I found his answers to be enlightening.
Jim Crikket/Knuckleballs: You probably don’t realize it, Doug, but you’ve got what a lot of people (myself included) might consider a “dream job.” You get to spend your day working at a ballpark! I’m sure it looks a lot different to you from the inside, so maybe you could start by telling us a little bit about what all the General Manager of a minor league baseball team does. How do you spend your “typical day”?
Doug Nelson: My typical game day starts at 7:30 am checking and returning messages and reviewing customer survey results and financial reports from the previous night’s game. I meet with staff to discuss the results and to make sure we are ready for that night’s game. The balance of the morning and early afternoon is spent meeting with sponsors, speaking at community events or planning non-baseball extra events at the stadium.
Kernels GM Doug Nelson (standing) chats with fans during a recent game
By mid-afternoon, I switch into game mode. I check in with both teams’ managers and the umpires to see if they need anything and to inform them of any special promotions going on during the game. Two hours before game time, we conduct an entertainment meeting to review the game’s pregame activities and the inning break promotions.
Once gates open, I monitor the box office, souvenir store, concession stands and our ushers to insure everything is running smoothly. I spend a majority of the game thanking our sponsors and fans for their support and taking care of any issues. At the end of the game, I make sure our fans have safely left the ballpark, discuss any challenges that occurred during the game with the front office staff and by 11:00 to midnight I leave for home.
Knuckleballs: How does it differ when the Kernels are on the road?
Nelson: When the team is on the road, we are busy hosting non-Kernels events at the stadium. These events include: college and high school baseball games, concerts, MMA events, non-profit fundraiser walks and events, business meetings, catering events (weddings, family reunions, birthday parties, etc.) and corporate picnics. Each year we host over 100 non-Kernels events at the stadium.
Knuckleballs: What about during the off-season or during spring training?
Nelson: During the off-season, the entire front office staff become sales reps. This is the time that we sell 90% of our sponsorships and ticket packages for the upcoming season. We also spend a considerable amount of time planning promotions, daily specials and booking entertainment acts. We also operate the concessions at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena and the Iowa Equestrian Center, which are the busiest during our off-season (from October through March).
Midwest Dueling Pianos perform during a recent Kernels game
Knuckleballs: Tell us a bit about yourself and your staff. What’s your background and what do you see as the GM’s primary role with the Kernels?
Nelson: I’m a CPA and have a BBA and MBA from the University of Iowa. My background is in accounting/finance and administration. Since the LA Angels make all of the baseball personnel decisions, my job is really about running an entertainment venue and concentrating my efforts on insuring our fans have a great experience while attending Kernels games.
Knuckleballs: How many people do you have working for you in the organization and what kind of responsibilities do they have?
Nelson: We have 11 full time staff, 2 full time seasonal, 6 interns and over 300 part-time staff.
The full time and seasonal staff members include:
Doug Nelson, General Manager Scott Wilson, Assistant General Manager Andrea Murphy, Director of Tickets and Group Sales Andrew Pantini, I/T and Communications Manager Debra Maier, Director of Food and Beverage Brandon Clemens, Entertainment and Community Relations Manager Brett Heikkila, Head Chef Jessica Fergesen, Director of Corporate Sales and Marketing Morgan Hawk, Radio Play-By-Play Broadcaster and Sales Charlie Patrick, Director of Finance Marcia Moran, Receptionist Seth Dohrn, Stadium Operations Manager (seasonal) Jesse Roeder, Sports Turf Manager (seasonal)
Knuckleballs: How does one go about getting a job working for you and the Kernels? Do you look for particular backgrounds/degrees?
Nelson: For part-time positions, an employment application can be downloaded from our web site www.kernels.com Applicants interested in full time and intern positions should send a resume and cover letter to the Kernels at doug@kernels.com.
I do not concentrate on any one type of background or degree. What is more important is that the individual has successfully completed an internship in baseball. The decision to work in this sport is as much a life style decision as a career decision. During the season, the staff will routinely work 70 – 80 hour weeks. Before an individual accepts a full time position, they and their families must accept this reality of our business.
Kernels Spirit Squad members “shoot” T-shirts in to the crowd between innings
Knuckleballs: Major League teams have a variety of revenue streams, with media deals becoming a bigger factor all the time. I assume a minor league team like the Kernels still must live and die with attendance and revenue from concessions that are also determined by the number of people who show up for games. Clearly, that means you need to be able to draw fans, regardless of the team’s Win-Loss record. How do you make sure fans still want to come to the ballpark even when the team is struggling on the field?
Nelson: A majority of our revenues do come from our baseball operations. Although the team’s record does impact attendance, weather, exciting promotions and providing excellent customer service have a greater impact on attendance. We do rely on other sources of income to supplement our baseball operations. This includes running the concession for the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena and the Iowa Equestrian Center as well as for the Kernels. As I mentioned before, we host over 100 non-Kernels events at the stadium each year, which helps generate additional income for the ball club.
Knuckleballs: This time of year, a MLB General Manager must be on his phone pretty much every minute of the day talking to other GMs about trades, etc. You don’t need to do that, but do you interact much with the other Midwest League General Managers or those of other Angels affiliates?
Nelson: A minor league GM position is completely different from a MLB GM. Since I have no say regarding player movement, my time is spent managing the venue and game promotions. With that said, I talk to my fellow MWL GMs on a regular basis sharing ideas.
Left Field picnic area of Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium
Knuckleballs: The stadium in Cedar Rapids is now just a bit over a decade old. It seems to be holding up fairly well, but logic would tell us that it’s probably due for some upgrades and maybe even some significant repairs. How does that process work? Is that the kind of thing you have to go to the local governmental body (city council, in Cedar Rapids’ case) to get funding for or does the team need to use their own funds for that kind of thing?
Nelson: It’s hard to believe, but this is the eleventh season for the ballpark. Overall the stadium is in great shape, however we are working on putting together a plan to fund capital repairs over the next ten years. The Kernels are the sole tenant of the stadium, the City owns the facility and the Veterans Commission owns the property the stadium is built on. As a three party partnership, we have created a long-term plan to insure the stadium is maintained and continues to meet our needs for many years to come.
Knuckleballs: I believe you’re finishing up your second year as the Kernels’ GM. I’d be interested in knowing what you’ve found to be your favorite part of the job. Also, has anything really surprised you… maybe something you had NO idea you’d be dealing with when you took the job?
Nelson: My favorite part of the job is talking baseball with our fans and sponsors during the game. I always enjoy getting to know the players, coaches and umpires. The biggest surprise to me was how cooperative everyone is in minor league baseball. Minor League Baseball Clubs do not view themselves as competitors, but as colleagues. As such, I can call any team up and get help on any topic.
Knuckleballs: Thank you, Doug. I appreciate you taking time out of that busy schedule to answer my questions!
I don’t know about anyone else, but that “70-80 hours” thing pretty much put to rest the “dream job” idea I started this interview with! I can say, however, that Doug and his staff do a great job with the Kernels and their hard work is evident every time I’m at the ballpark!
So this is the second start in a row, if I recall correctly, for DeVries against the White Sox. I have to wonder if that plays with a guys head just a little bit. Or if the fact that we’ll be facing Liriano tomorrow..
All together, the guys are all probably feeling pretty good about the sweep of the Indians while there are probably some just as much a bit at a loss about Liriano. And whatever else might still happen..
One game at a time, one day at a time. Let’s see if we can get the guys a victory against the WS at home in TF. That would be good..
You can’t get a sweep if you don’t win the first game of the series (and you can’t get swept if you DO win the first game of the series) so it’s always good to pick up a W in game 1.
Things didn’t get off to a very good start with Cole DeVries spotting the Sox a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the offense came right back and evened the game in the bottom of the inning. From that point, Cole did just fine through the rest of his five innings. After that, the bullpen took over. Jared Burton gave up the tying run in the 8th, but otherwise, the pen did just fine.
It’s tempting to give AJ Pierzynski BOD honors for throwing Brian Dozier’s bunt down the RF line to set up the winning run in the 9th, but then we’d have to discount AJ’s 3-run HR in the 1st.
That said, we’ll go with co-BODs again tonight. Denard Span had two web-gem worthy plays in the field to go with a pair of hits. He’ll share the award with Danny Valencia who also had a pair of hits and a pair of RBI that tied the game in the first inning. His other hit was a first-pitch line drive to lead off the 9th inning and set the table for the walk-off victory. – JC
Regular readers of our site are probably aware that I’m a Twins fan exiled in Iowa. While I spent 10 years of my youth growing up in Minnesota, I’ve lived almost all of my life since then in Iowa and I currently call Cedar Rapids “home.” In fact, I’ve lived here in Cedar Rapids for pretty much the past 35 years.
When it comes to my baseball fandom, I’m also more than just a Twins fan (and no, I’m not referring to the soft spot I retain for the Baltimore Orioles). I’m also a fan of our local Cedar Rapids minor league ballclub, the Cedar Rapids Kernels.
The Cedar Rapids Baseball Club has a long, rich history dating back as far as 1890. They’ve been the Bunnies, the Rabbits, the Raiders (and Red Raiders) and the Rockets. They’ve also taken the name of their MLB affiliates, including the Indians, Braves, Cardinals, Astros, Giants and Reds. Currently, the Kernels are affiliated with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
John McGraw played professionally here in 1891. Lou Boudreau did likewise in 1938. In fact, if you visit Perfect Game Field at Veterans Stadium in Cedar Rapids, you’ll see “stars” in the concrete of the concourse and “section” signs, both honoring a long list of Big Leaguers that spent time on the ballfield playing for Cedar Rapids. In addition to Boudreau and McGraw, you’ll find Allie Reynolds, Rocky Colavito, John Rosboro, Pedro Borbon, Jerry Reuss, Ted Simmons and Bob Forsch, among many others. You can visit the club’s Hall of Fame, within the souvenir shop at the stadium. There’s also a terrific display of historical old uniforms, press clippings and equipment on the suite level.
The “old” Veterans Memorial Stadium, replaced in 2002 (Photo: ballparkreviews.com)
I’m old, but I haven’t been around long enough to have seen any of those players during their days here, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t seen my share of Major Leaguers on the green grass of Cedar Rapids.
I’ve been attending minor league games here for over 30 years. The first summer I lived in Cedar Rapids, I watched an 18 year old Chili Davis play for the Cedar Rapids Giants. By 1980, they were the Cedar Rapids Reds and a 20 year old Les Straker was on the mound. (Seven years later, Straker would be in the rotation of the 1987 World Champion Minnesota Twins). The Reds organization was actually pretty good to Cedar Rapids. They considered Cedar Rapids their “Advanced Class A” affiliate, so the team was competitive more often than not.
The 1982 Reds were led by Jeff Jones, who hit 42 home runs and batted over .300. Jones jumped all the way to Cincinnati by Opening Day 1983. You may not remember Jones, but you probably are familiar with a couple of his team mates on that ’82 Cedar Rapids team, Eric Davis and Paul O’Neill. Reggie Jefferson spent the following year in Cedar Rapids. Rob Dibble entertained the locals in 1985 and Trevor Hoffman honed his talents while racking up 12 saves for Cedar Rapids in 1991.
Erick Aybar (Photo: Sproutingnews.com)
The team became the Cedar Rapids Kernels in 1993 and hooked up with the Angels the same year. Since then, we’ve seen a 19 year old Bengie Molina in 1994 and part of 1995. John Lackey put up a 2.08 ERA in his five starts as a 21 year old Kernel in 2000. The 2001 Kernels had six members that have gone on to MLB careers of some manner, including Mike Napoli, Bobby Jenks and Joel Peralta. Napoli and Peralta returned to Cedar Rapids in 2002 and were joined by ten other future Big Leaguers, including Joe Saunders, Ervin Santana, Dallas McPherson and Casey Kotchman. 19 year old Erick Aybar hit .308 for the Kernels in 2003, but Alberto Callaspo’s .327 led that team.
In 2004, Howie Kendrick and Brandon Wood were joined for a late season call-up by 19 year old Alexi Casilla. Casilla started 2005 with the Kernels as well, but spent time that year in Class A, AA and AAA within the Angels organization. He would eventually be traded to the Twins for relief pitcher J. C. Romero.
Mark Trumbo (Photo: Sproutingnews.com)
In 2006, Mark Trumbo hit 13 home runs at age 19 for a team led on the mound by another 19 year old, Nick Adenhart, who went 10-2 with a 1.95 ERA. (A memorial sign, honoring the memory of the late Adenhart remains on the outfield wall of the Kernels’ ballpark.) Trumbo returned to Cedar Rapids in 2007 and brought current Angels Hank Conger and Peter Bourjos with him (at least they’re current Angels as I write this… both are being mentioned often in trade rumors lately).
Toward the end of 2009, the Angels promoted a young 17 year old outfielder to the Kernels where he appeared in just five games, but it wouldn’t be until the following year that Mike Trout would really open the eyes of fans in Cedar Rapids with his .362/.454/.526 split in 81 games as an 18 year old.
Just as an aside, fans of minor league teams don’t always have to wait until a young player makes it to the Big Leagues before seeing their names come up on ESPN. For example, the Angels acquired Zack Greinke from the Brewers on Friday in return for three prospects (Jean Segura, John Hellwig and Ariel Pena) and all of them were team mates of Mike Trout’s on the 2010 Kernels. Maybe Greinke will lead the Angels to the World Series this fall or maybe he won’t, but Segura, Hellwig and Pena are all very good ballplayers and at some point I believe the Brewers will be very glad they made that deal.
As you can tell, I’ve seen a few pretty fair ballplayers over the years, but none of them were as impressive, to me, during their days in Cedar Rapids as Trout was.
I may never see talent like that on the field in a Cedar Rapids uniform again… then again, I might. That’s one of the joys of attending the games. Sure, we want the Kernels to win. It’s great to make the playoffs and you certainly enjoy the games more when the locals are at least competitive.
But there’s something that’s just fun about watching young players who are often still just starting out on their professional baseball careers, beginning what every one of them dreams of being a process that will lead them to The Show. They’re playing for the dream (it certainly isn’t for the money they’re getting paid as minor leaguers).
The Kernels’ Player Development Contract with the Angels is up for renewal after this season. There’s some discussion locally about whether the Kernels should renew that agreement or look to partner with a different Major League organization. Obviously, I’d certainly love to see perhaps Max Kepler and Byron Buxton in Kernels uniforms in the near future, but regardless of how the PDC decision goes, I’ll continue to enjoy spending a lot of time at the ballpark watching some very good baseball next summer and, hopefully, for many more summers beyond that.
If you’ve got a minor league team near you, I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about because you probably spend as much time at the ballpark as I do, if not more. If there’s a club near you and you aren’t getting out there, what are you waiting for?
As you already are undoubtedly aware, Francisco Liriano has been traded to the Chicago White Sox for a handful of magic beans, and Jeff Manship has been recalled from Rochester to take his place on the 25-man roster, while Brian Duensing will replace Liriano in the starting rotation this afternoon. The Twins have a chance to sweep the Cleveland Indians, and they’ve outscored the Tribe 23-5 the past two days. Let’s hope the bats stay hot.
Note of former Twin activity: Lew Ford has finally made it back to the big leagues!! He hasn’t played Major League ball since 2007; doing stints in Japan, Mexico and Independent Atlantic League baseball. He signed a minor league contract with the Orioles this year – the final destination for all former Twins it seems. He very excitedly tweeted that he arrived with the Orioles to play today since they are having injury issues and really need a versatile player on the bench to cover some holes. We all know that that particular roles suits Lew pretty well and I know I’m not along amongst Twins fans wishing him all the best. – CB
That’s what it feels like to sweep a series, folks! I know it hasn’t been a frequent occurrence, but it certainly is a good feeling. It’s even sweeter when you do it to a Division rival.
The Twins’ offense “only” scored five runs today, which is less than half of what they put on the board in each of the first two games of the series. Fortunately, a few of the bats were awake enough to do the job. Brian Dozier and Ben Revere each had a pair of hits and Justin Morneau had the big offensive day with three hits, including a monster home run. Revere had the only other extra-base hit, but the Twins stole five bases and scored a run on a wild pitch.
The bullpen was back to being the “good” version today, with Alex Burnett, Jared Burton and Glen Perkins each throwing one shutout inning. But the star of the day… and our Boyfriend of the Day award winner… is Brian Duensing. Pressed in to a spot start following the overnight trade of scheduled starter Francisco Liriano, Duensing gave the Twins six excellent innings. He was efficient (throwing only 70 pitches) and gave up just five hits, striking out a pair and walking nobody. Well done, Brian! – JC
There can be no doubts that a 63-99 team has plenty of areas for improvement. In 2011 the Twins were 28th in team OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage), ahead of only the Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres. Sure, they were playing half of their games in the pitcher friendly Target Field, but even when adjusting for park factors, the Twins posted an OPS+ of just 84 (100 is average), 29th in the MLB, this time behind the Padres. Clearly there were issues with the Twins’ bats a year ago. Part of that was attributable to injuries to Joe Mauer (replaced by Drew Butera and Rene Rivera) and Denard Span (replaced by Joe Benson, Rene Tosoni, and Jason Repko). Another part of the hitting problem was related to dreadful offensive production from the middle infield, as Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Luke Hughes, Danny Valencia, and Matt Tolbert, and the the oldTrevor Plouffe all posted below leave average offensive numbers.
As bad as the Twins’ bats were in 2011, it did not really matter what their pitchers were doing. And maybe that is what the front office was thinking heading into Spring Training. If the Twins could just upgrade their offense, even with a mediocre pitching staff, they were likely to see a big improvement. Unfortunately, the Twins did not have a mediocre pitching staff in 2011, their 4.58 team ERA was 29th, and were one of just two teams (along with the Baltimore Orioles) to allow more than 800 runs. So to go along with their 29th place OPS+, the Twins also had the 29th worst pitching staff, and yet somehow they still only lost 99 games.
After a winter of free agent signings and departures the Twins arrived in Spring Training as optimistic as any team in baseball. After all, they were only a year removed from a 94-win AL Central Championship team, and they were truly healthy for the first time in more than a year. Their franchise catcher, Joe Mauer, had finally recovered from whatever it was that was ailing him in 2011 and caused him to miss almost half a season, and Justin Morneau was finally overcoming his concussion symptoms that cost him the better parts of 2010 and 2011. Ryan Doumit and Josh Willingham were on board to replace Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer, and the Twins signed veteran on-base sepcialist Jamey Carroll to compensate for the failures of Nishioka. Alexi Casilla was coming off one of the best offensive seasons of his underwhelming career and looked poised to finally become the everyday player the Twins had been hoping he would be since 2007. Despite all their failures in 2011, the Twins looked like their bats were ready to hit in 2012.*
*And to some extent, they are. The Twins’ 2012 OPS+ is 6th in the American League, and they are scoring runs at an almost league average rate (4.30/4.47).
The Twins, however, did little to improve a pitching staff that was one of the worst in 2011. They inexplicably resigned 9th inning reliever Matt Capps to a $4.75 million dollar deal to step in for the departed Joe Nathan. They also sent starting pitcher Brian Duensing back to the bullpen where he had previously been successful and replaced him in the rotation with free agent acquisition Jason Marquis, hoping that he would rebound from a broken leg that cost him the end of the 2011 season, and become the renaissance man that Carl Pavano had been for the Twins since he arrived in 2009. But with just five real candidates for starting pitching Minnesota was walking a pretty thin line. The Twins also brought in just about every free agent relief pitcher they could find hoping that a couple of them would pitch well enough in Spring Training to head north with the big league team. They even went against their traditionally risk-averse strategy and signed Joel Zumaya to a minor league deal hoping to add a power arm to their bullpen without paying the power arm price. And with that, the Twins were seemingly ready to start the season.
Just five starting pitchers and not a lot of MLB ready pitchers in AAA ready to step in if things went poorly. Among the starting pitchers not in that group of five, only Liam Hendriks and Scott Diamond seemed like realistic replacements to join the Twins if things did not go well in Minnesota.
As you are well aware, things have not gone well for the Twins’ starting pitchers in 2012. Even before leaving Spring Training the Twins were forced to move Liam Hendriks into starting rotation as Jason Marquis was pulled away from the team to be with his daughter while she was recovering from a serious bicycle accident. To make matters worse, Scott Baker did not leave Ft. Myers with the Twins either, dealing with supposedly minor arm issues which ended up as a worst-case scenario as Baker would eventually require Tommy John surgery to repair the UCL in his pitching arm. That meant that Anthony Swarzak would start the season in the starting rotation, leaving with Twins without their regular long-reliever until Marquis would be back with the team. Before long the Liam Hendriks experiment was over and he was back in AAA looking garner some additional seasoning. Now the Twins had to start getting creative. They had already burned through the only two replacement options they’d planned for and with the Twins already well below .500, it was unlikely that they would be playing any meaningful baseball in October. Since that time the Twins have used five additional starting pitchers, none of whom the Twins were counting on in April. P.J. Walters was first, then Scott Diamond, Cole De Vries, Brian Duensing, and finally Sam Deduno.
The Twins still have 63 games remaining in 201. With Francisco Liriano now pitching for the Chicago White Sox the Twins will have to find another arm to step in. While the next pitcher they call upon to start will likely not be a fresh face, they will still be tip-toeing around a problem unlikely to be resolved without the infusion of some fresh arms this winter.
Twins fans should have known that when Minnesota signed Jason Marquis and hoped for the best that the team was just winging it in 2012.
Just to play the first 9 innings took 4 hours. And the fact that there was a 10th is one of those gifts from the baseball gods that we may not have earned but for the pitching staying steady despite working harder than they should have had to. Too many errors from my guys to call it a GREAT game but wow was it intense.
