8 reasons why I still hold out hope for Aaron Hicks and Kyle Gibson

In case you missed it, a couple of prominent Twins rookies had difficult seasons.  Well, difficult might be a massive understatement.  Well, massive might be a huge overstatement.  I'll calibrate my adjectives later, but we all know that Aaron Hicks and Kyle Gibson performed below expectations.  Expectations may have been too high to begin with, but both players struggled to a surprising extent. 

Hicks and Gibson are hardly unique.  Many productive Twins players performed poorly in their rookie seasons.  In fact, I have eight such case studies that should demonstrate why we can still be optimistic about these two players, regardless of how abysmal they looked in their rookie seasons. 

First, let's examine the two rookies from 2013:

Subject:  Kyle Gibson

Rookie Season:  2013, age 25

Rookie WAR:  -0.8

Career WAR:  ???

Gibson debuted at the end of June to tremendous fanfare.  He had been mostly great at AAA and the Twins' starting pitching was mostly terrible.  Gibson's debut was exciting, appointment viewing, but it proved to be his best start with the Twins.  He posted a 6.53 ERA in 10 starts, before getting sent back to Rochester on August 20.  

Subject:  Aaron Hicks

Rookie Season:  2013

Rookie WAR:  0.6

Career WAR:  ???

By WAR, Hicks wasn't a complete disaster.  His defense and speed saved him from negative value.  His bat was almost entirely negative, save for a couple of huge, memorable games.  Hicks started his Twins' career by hitting .042 in his first 13 games.  He pulled things together slightly to post a 63 OPS+.  He never pulled it together enough to earn a full season with the Twins.  He was sent to Rochester in early August and didn't perform well enough to earn a trip back to Minnesota in September. 

Now that we've looked at the two disappointing rookies, we can remember how some past Twins compared during their rookie seasons. 

Subject:  Frank Viola

Rookie Season:  1982, age 22

Rookie WAR:  -0.1

Career WAR:  47.4

Viola didn't have a terrible rookie season, but he wasn't Sweet Music just yet either.  He isn't a great comp for Gibson because he was quite a bit younger.  However, had Gibson stayed healthy, he may have rocketed up through the farm system like Viola did.  Viola was drafted in 1981 and made his debut just about a year later.  In Viola's first taste of the Majors, he posted a 4-10 record with a 5.21 ERA in 22 starts.  He was actually worse the following year, although he did throw 210 innings.  Viola established himself as a reliable starter in 1984, his third season as a Twin. 

Subject:  Johan Santana

Rookie Season:  2000, age 21

Rookie WAR:  0.1

Career WAR:  50.7

A bit of a cheat, as Santana was a rule 5 pick who needed to remain on the roster in order to remain with the organization.  However, Santana did have a rough debut.  He threw 86 innings, started just five games and nearly walked as many batters as he struck out.  Of course, he was 21 and had never pitched above A ball.  However, he learned on the fly in the Majors and eventually became one of the best pitchers in Twins history.

Subject:  Matt Garza

Rookie Season:  2006, age 22

Rookie WAR:  -0.1

Career WAR:  14.7

Garza's debut might have been the most electric debut that I can remember.  His hype was huge and his performance was full of nervous energy.  Garza got lit up in that first MLB start, but posted a few nice starts later in his rookie season.  He finished with a 5.76 ERA and didn't impress enough to earn a roster spot at the beginning of the 2007 season. 

Subject:  Kyle Lohse

Rookie Season:  2001, age 22 

Rookie WAR:  -0.1

Career WAR:  18.9

Lohse isn't the first guy that Twins fans would want to compare a promising young starter to.  In my opinion, if Kyle Gibson turns out to be Kyle Lohse, the Twins would be happy.  Well, so long as Gibson doesn't act like Kyle Lohse anyway.  Lohse made 16 starts in his rookie season and posted a 5.68 ERA.  I don't think Twins fans look back fondly on the Kyle Lohse era, but he did provide at least three competent seasons while very young and reasonably priced.   

Subject:  Doug Mientkiewicz

Rookie Season:  1999, age 25

Rookie WAR:  -1.6 

Career WAR:  11.0

Dougie Baseball made his debut at a relatively advanced age and didn't impress at the plate.  He posted a 66 OPS+ and struggled to make contact.  Mientkiewicz split time with Ron Coomer, which was probably delightful.  He spent almost all of the 2000 season crushing AAA.  In 2001, he established himself as the Twins' starting first baseman for the next few seasons. 

Subject:  Matt Lawton

Rookie Season:  1996, age 24 

Rookie WAR:  0.6

Career WAR:  15.0

Like Viola, Lawton wasn't bad as a rookie.  He posted a 78 OPS+ and showed the promise of what he would become at maturity.  He walked as much as he struck out and he showed some pop and some speed.  His defense was pretty good as well.  He was just a young player who needed more at bats to reach his potential.  It took a few seasons, but Lawton blossomed into a great, and somewhat underrated player. 

Subject:  Jason Kubel

Rookie Season:  2006, age 24 

Rookie WAR:  -0.9

Career WAR:  4.9

Kubel's debut was actually two years prior, but he didn't play enough to exhaust his rookie status and then he suffered his nasty knee injury and missed all of 2005.  Upon his return to the Twins in 2006, Kubel hit .241/.279/.386 in 235 plate appearances.  He looked overmatched at times, and was not quite the player he was before his injury.  He eventually became an average offensive player and his peak season in 2009 was one of the better offensive seasons in recent Twins' history. 

Subject:  Torii Hunter

Rookie Season:  1999, age 23 

Rookie WAR:  0.8

Career WAR:  49.8

Aaron Hicks is unfairly compared to Torii Hunter.  Both are athletic and talented centerfielders but the comparisons might end there.  Hicks is a patient, sometimes passive hitter with good speed for stealing bases.  Hunter is an aggressive and powerful hitter, with an aggressive approach to running the bases.  However, if Hicks' career takes shape like Hunter's did, then all Twins fans will be somewhere between stoked and very stoked.  Hunter posted a 73 OPS+ as a rookie, but slowly improved and eventually became a guy who will likely produce over 50 WAR in his career. 

Will Hicks and Gibson bounce back to productive careers like the eight case studies presented here?  Perhaps, as history shows that a poor rookie season is no reason to give up on a talented player.  While Gibson may be older than the pitchers presented here, he is similarly inexperienced.  His age shouldn't be held against him, as he can still be a productive pitcher for the Twins for the next decade.  Hicks was about as bad as a hitter can be, but he still holds promise and could develop slowly.  His skill set is too enticing to ignore and he should be given more opportunities from the Twins organization and from Twins fans. 

Would it be cool if we talked about Anthony Swarzak's role for a bit?

Anthony Swarzak believes in Bigfoot.  I'm cool with that.  Anthony Swarzak is his own man and believing in Bigfoot doesn't affect me much at all.  I do not believe in Bigfoot.  I feel that if Bigfoot existed, there would be more evidence.  Of course, Bigfoot could be a super genius who covers his tracks really well.  If that's the case, more power to Bigfoot and more power to Swarzak.  The fact that Swarzak believes in Bigfoot clearly does not affect his ability to be a reliable and productive relief pitcher. 

The Minnesota Twins (and baseball in general) believe very strongly in bullpen roles.  I'm less cool with that.  It affects me as a fan.  There is a closer, a set-up man, a lefty specialist, a 7th inning guy, and 8th inning guy, etc.  Once a player has a role, it takes a very long time for a team to switch a guy into a greater or lesser role.  Basically, if a closer struggles, the team keeps trotting them out to close games.  If the "long man" is pitching well, that success is often partially attributed to finding the right role. 

I find Baseball's belief in bullpen roles to be far more confusing than Anthony Swarzak's belief in Bigfoot.  Swarzak himself illustrates exactly why.

By most measures, Swarzak has been the Twins' second best relief pitcher.  He is second to Glen Perkins with a very impressive 146 ERA+.  He has easily thrown the most innings of any Twins' reliever, with 92.2 and counting.  He has provided the team with 1.7 WAR, just 0.1 less than Perkins and better than not only the rest of the bullpen, but the entire Twins' starting staff.  A pitcher like this should be pitching important innings because he is a valuable resource. 

The problem is that Swarzak hasn't pitched in high leverage innings much at all.  There are a couple of obvious reasons to explain this reality.  First, the Twins are terrible, so there aren't many high leverage innings to go around.  Second, Swarzak hadn't really pitched all that well in his career, prior to this season.  He had an ERA just over five and he hadn't shown that he really needed to be used in high leverage situations.

Thus, Swarzak was used in the "swingman" or "long-man" or "mop-up" role, or whatever you want to call it.  Swarzak was the guy who came in when the starter got rocked, like he did on April 9 when Mike Pelfrey spotted the Royals six runs in the first two innings.  Often, he came in when the Twins had a comfortable lead, like he did on April 16 when he entered a 7-4 game in the sixth inning and nearly completed the game.   Most days, he was just used when the team was losing.  In fact, the Twins' record when Swarzak pitches is 11-33.  That works out to a .250 winning percentage, a percentage even the lowly Twins couldn't expect in their worst nightmare. 

Now, every team needs a guy like this, especially a team which stands to lose a lot of games due to inept starting pitching.  However, the Twins overall winning percentage stands at .427, so it is clear that Swarzak could have pitched in more winnable games.  Setting wins and losses aside, the long-man role is an important one for all teams.  Starters fail (especially Twins starters) and someone needs to be available to throw 2-4 innings to keep the bullpen from getting taxed.  There is value in that role.  I get that.  My question is - Is Swarzak the right guy for that role? 

He may have been early in the season.  Again, ERA just over five.  However, once Swarzak showed that he was better than the role he was given, shouldn't his role have been adjusted?  Or, and this might be too crazy to comprehend, did he really even need that defined role in the first place?

I'm certainly not arguing that Swarzak should be used as a starter.  We've seen that movie and it was a bit short, not very exciting and left you feeling empty.  However, as a member of the bullpen, Swarzak has proved to be a valuable and reliable pitcher.  Some may argue that his value comes from his ability to throw multiple innings.  Great!  Let's use him the 7th and 8th then.  What's the difference?  Will Swarzak fall to pieces because the inning number is higher? 

His split stats would say that the inning is somewhat irrelevant.  Swarzak hasn't given up an 8th inning run this season.  It's only 11.2 innings, but that's the only data we have.  By comparison, his 3rd inning ERA is 4.50.  Quite the difference!  Well, actually, that's just four third innings.  His 7th inning ERA is his worst, at well over six.  However, he gave up four 7th inning runs to the Yankees on July 2.  One bad inning really skews small samples. 

The samples aren't the point anyway.  The point is that if Anthony Swarzak is a good pitcher, he should be pitching more than a quarter of his games when the Twins can win.  Granted, he probably did enter a few of those games with a lead only to squander it or see his mates in the bullpen squander it, but simple probability would indicate that he's entering with a deficit more often than not. 

Again, most stats would indicate that Swarzak has been the Twins' second best pitcher this season.  If you value innings over saves, you might even make the case that he has been the best.  Regardless of where you land on that side of the argument, it's hard not to see that Swarzak would have helped the Twins win games if given more opportunities to do so.  Leave the mopping-up to the less talented players.  The Twins certainly have those. 

In the end, this isn't even really a criticism aimed at the Twins.  More or less, this is a criticism of general baseball thinking.  One of the biggest sabermetric gripes involves not using your best players in the best situations.  Saving a closer for a 9th inning lead that may never materialize.  Keeping a player at a defensive position they cannot handle because of their leadership skills.  Caring more about a role than the player.

The Twins weren't going to win a World Series if Swarzak had been used more effectively.  There might be a greater Bigfoot awareness if Swarzak had a bigger share of the limelight, but that's just conjecture.  More importantly, the Twins might have won a couple more games this season.  As a fan, I'll take a couple extra wins.  What can I say, I'm a fan of handshake lines. 

If you like what I have to say, and want to hear me moan about sabermetrics to my 12-year-old self, you can find that here.  It's deep.

AIM Chat with 12-Year-Old Self: Sabermetrics

I found some sort of wormhole or black hole or something and I was able to have an AIM chat with my 12-year-old self.  Since I wasn't sure how much time I would have and whether or not this would become a recurring featu... I mean event, I decided to focus our chat on Sabermetrics.  I figured, I like it now, so young me would love it.  Right?  Well, let's see...

    BSwanson0928:  Hey Brad.

    KPuckFan34123456:  who is this?  a/s/l?  pics?

    BSwanson0928:  Stop that.  Don't do that.  No one has pics.

    This is your future self.  We need to talk about some stuff.

    KPuckFan34123456:  how?

    BSwanson0928:  In 2000, you're going to see a movie called

    Frequency.  It will all make sense then.  For now, you'll just

    have to trust me.  

    KPuckFan34123456:  ok.  i still don't believe you.  prove 

    you are me?

    BSwanson0928:  Well, you have way too many baseball cards.

    Which is something we need to talk about.  Those things take 

    up a lot of space.  You're going to buy a house in the future and

    it's going to have a lot of living space, but little storage space.  

    Therefore, your cards are in a pretty dank closet where some 

    pipes are close to bursting.  Just an FYI.  Stop buying 1991

    Topps please.  Newsflash:  They don't go up in value!

    KPuckFan34123456:  it's 1993.........

    BSwanson0928:  An ellipsis has just three dots.  Please use 

    capital letters; you're better than this.

    KPuckFan34123456:  If you're me in the future, why is your 

    name different?

    BSwanson0928:  AIM goes out of style shortly after Frequency

    comes out.  I don't think the two events are related, more just

    coincidence.  

    KPuckFan34123456:  ok...

    BSwanson0928:  Better.  You don't seem very excited to talk 

    with me. This is a good thing.  I have information that will help you 

    as you get older.  Information that will help you be a better baseball 

    fan.

    KPuckFan34123456:  I'm a great baseball fan.  I have tons of 

    baseball cards.  I have posters.  I read Matt Christopher books.  

    I know a ton about baseball!

    BSwanson0928:  Then why are you collecting Pedro Munoz and 

    Gary Wayne baseball cards?

    KPuckFan34123456:  Those guys are awesome!  Munoz had 71

    RBI and Wayne's ERA was under 3!  

    BSwanson0928:  Well, the Wayne cards are going to help you in

    the future, but not because you're going to sell them.  

    BSwanson0928:  Actually, that statement makes your future 

    seem a bit bleak, so ignore that.  Those guys aren't that good.

    KPuckFan34123456:  No way!  They are awes!  What do you

    know anyway?  

    BSwanson0928:  I know that we shouldn't say "awes" anymore.  

    Look, we're going to read a book called Moneyball when you're 

    older.  You're going to learn things you can unlearn.  You're going

    to see the movie a few years after that.  You're going to like it, but 

    it's going to seem like no one else did.  That's fine.  Be you.

    KPuckFan34123456:  What are you talking about?

    BSwanson0928:  Be You is a Lil' Wayne thing.  You're going 

    to like him as a kid and then he'll be really popular when you're

    too old to understand hip hop music.

    KPuckFan34123456:  This is really confusing.  I meant the 

    baseball stuff.

    BSwanson0928:  Right.  Baseball.  Basically, you're not 

    understanding how to value players properly.  You're looking

    at baseball card stats, instead of what actually makes a player

    good.  You're terribly ignorant to WAR.  

    KPuckFan34123456:  Like the Gulf War?  We learn about

    that in Social Studies.  Social Studies is really boring.  I hope 

    we don't have that in the future.  

    BSwanson0928:  Let's stay on topic.  I'm talking about WAR

    not war.  WAR is wins above replacement.  It's a way to value

    players based on how well they perform above a player who 

    could be called up from AAA.  It incorporates all elements of

    what makes a baseball player good.

    KPuckFan34123456:  You mean like clutch and team 

    chemistry?

    BSwanson0928:  No, I mean like offense and defense?  Can 

    you measure clutch?  Should we be trying to see how good 

    players are at smiling?  How do you quantify that?  Huh?  Have

    you even used Excel yet?

    KPuckFan34123456:  Sheesh, what's your problem?  Is our

    future really bad or something?

    BSwanson0928:  Ok, that was harsh.  Moneyball and 

    Sabermetrics are all about understanding the true value of a 

    player.  That's what I want you to understand, so that I can 

    understand it better at my age.  

    KPuckFan34123456:  How old are you anyway?  

    BSwanson0928:  30

    KPuckFan34123456:  Whoa!  You're old.  Do you have a car?

    BSwanson0928:  We have a Nissan Sentra.  

    KPuckFan34123456:  So our future is kinda bad, right?

    BSwanson0928:  It gets great gas mileage and never needs 

    maintenance.  It was a smart buy, and I'm sick of... 

    Ok, look, we can talk about how a car loses half it's value 

    when you drive it off the lot during another Frequency chat.   

    We need to focus on baseball right now.

    KPuckFan34123456:  Fine, what is Sabermetrics?

    BSwanson0928:  Sabermetrics is baseball analysis.  It's looking

    at baseball in a new way.  It's trying to understand why things

    happen they way they happen.

    KPuckFan34123456:  That sounds fun.  Not!  Why can't we

    just watch baseball?

    BSwanson0928:  This is better.  You get to be right about things.

    More importantly, it will help your future blog.  I'm running out of 

    ideas at this point.  I'm resorting to really odd gimmicks involving

    putting Twins player heads on bird bodies.

    KPuckFan34123456:  That sounds hilarious!

    BSwanson0928:  Well, at least I found my target audience. 

    You need to embrace sabermetrics.  I'm going to email you 

    some books to read.  Try to get them read by next week so 

    we can chat again.  

    KPuckFan34123456:  Cool, homework.  Did we become a 

    teacher or something?  

    BSwanson0928:  Yep, a social studies teacher in fact.  So there.

    Maybe if you embrace this new idea before anyone else, we can 

    avoid this "horrible" fate.  So yeah, homework.  Take notes too.

    You suck at taking notes.  

    KPuckFan34123456:  Ugh.  How am I going to have time to 

    read a bunch of books?  I've got stuff to do.

    BSwanson0928:  Well first, you can just go ahead and stop playing

    the trumpet.  You're awful.  Sorry, but it's true.  Also, you don't 

    need to play Sonic as much as you are.  Believe me, you're going

    to play plenty of video games in your life.  That full season of World

    Series Baseball that you played?  Come on.

    KPuckFan34123456:  Hey, I broke Roger Maris' home run record

    with Frank Thomas.  It was awesome, no one will ever do that!

    BSwanson0928:  Look, just read the books and learn.  If you have 

    time, try to learn HTML too.  I can't figure it out for the life of me.

    They say you need to learn a language young.  

    KPuckFan34123456:  What's HTML?  Is that another thing that 

    makes baseball boring?

    BSwanson0928:  AH!  Sabermetrics makes baseball better.  You 

    get to predict things and you're usually right!  One day, you're going 

    use Sabermetrics to explain things to others.  You're going to make 

    a ton of accurate predictions in your blog.  

    KPuckFan34123456:  I don't know what a blog is, but it sounds 

    stupid.  

    BSwanson0928:  It kind of is, but you really enjoy it.  

    KPuckFan34123456:  Hmm, it must be fun to always be right about

    everything.  I'm sure that never gets old to people you hang out with.

    BSwanson0928:  Hey, that sarcasm isn't as awesome as you think it

    is.  But, I appreciate your insightful observation.  This wit will take you

    a long way. 

    KPuckFan34123456:  Really?  

    BSwanson0928:  Nah, not really.  But you're happy.  

    KPuckFan34123456:  Ok.  Well, I'll try to read your books.  NBA 

    Jam comes out this week and I think I'm going to ask Dad to take 

    me to Best Buy to get it.  Is it worth it?

    BSwanson0928:  Oh goodness, yes.  Ignore everything we talked 

    about and just play NBA Jam non-stop.  I'll email you some codes

    to unlock special players.  You can play as Bill Clinton and Crunch.

    KPuckFan34123456:  Nice!  I can't wait to get on fire and do a 

    bunch of dunks.

    BSwanson0928:  You're going to love it.  Just save the game this time.  

    You sell it for store credit at FuncoLand when you're older and it's one

    of your greatest regrets.  

    KPuckFan34123456:  I'll try to remember.  Ok, I gotta go eat.  Mom

    made dinner.

    BSwanson0928:  Eat your dinner and tell Mom you like it.  

    KPuckFan34123456:  Ok.  Bye.

    BSwanson0928:  Bye.  

Monday Morning Madness: September 16, 2013

Twins/Rays Recap

Well, the end was certainly shocking.  The Twins were shut out in the first two games against the Rays and were in the process of being shut out on Sunday, when they decided to score a bunch of runs in the 7th and 8th innings.  The dagger was Josmil Pinto's three-run bomb with two outs in the 8th, which effectively decided the game.  It's fitting that Pinto would provide the most exciting play of the series, as he's been one of the few players actually worth watching this September.  The win was insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but did bring Ron Gardenhire within 4 wins of 1000.  More on that...

Ron Gardenhire's 1000 wins

Back in October 2010, the Twins had just finished a 94-win season and celebrated a sixth division title during the past decade.  Ron Gardenhire had lead the team to all six titles, in his nine years as manager.  He had never won fewer than 79 games, and had averaged just over 89 wins per season.  His 803 career wins put him in striking distance of that beautiful round number of 1000.  If you had told me that Gardenhire would be the manager for the next three seasons, I would have guessed that he'd have obliterated the 1000 mark and had probably gotten within shootin' range of 1100 - the next beautiful round number.

Instead, Gardenhire needs to go 4-10 in the Twins' last 14 games to reach the 1000-win milestone.  The Twins were 6-8 in their past 14 games, so it seems likely that they can pull off this feat.    

While it seems likely he will get to the milestone, how did we even get to the point where that is in question?  In 2010, 1000 wins seemed like a lock, so long as Gardenhire wanted to keep managing the Twins.  Unfortunately, the team has fallen so dramatically that Gardenhire might not average the 66 wins per season that he would have needed back in 2010 to reach that round 1000 figure in 2013.  Of course, back in 2010, there didn't seem to be a three-year endpoint.  However, I'm quite certain that we've reached the point where these 14 games are his last 14 chances to get to 1000 wins. 

The Twins have three games in Chicago this week.  Those are all winnable games.  Their final eleven games after the Chicago series include seven against division leaders (four at Oakland and three at home against Detroit).  Their final four games are at home against Cleveland, a team contending for one of the AL Wild Card slots.  Those non-Chicago teams all have better talent and more reasons to play hard.  The Twins might be fighting simply to reward their long-term manager with a round amount of wins during what appears to be his swansong season. 

If the Twins can manage a 4-10 record, Gardenhire will win his 1000 games, but it won't save his job.  I don't blame the last three seasons on Gardenhire.  He won as many games as anyone would have won with this roster.  However, it seems his time has come.  The Twins will change managers and move on from Gardenhire.  When they get better in the next couple seasons (and they will), it won't be because they changed their manager. 

Ron Gardenhire proved that he can lead a talented team to a lot of wins.  He also proved that he can't take an untalented roster and make magic.  He has his strengths and he has his weaknesses, but overall, he is a good manager.  Above all else, I know that I enjoyed the Gardenhire era.  I'm not sure I can ask for much more as a fan.   

Ahhhhhhhh so much depression, time for fun and madness!

Former Twin - Jamey Carroll

I assumed that when the Royals bought Jamey Carroll from the Twins, he would propel them to a Championship.  He still could, but it doesn't look good.  He's posted a .097/.167/.161 triple slash in 37 PA.  Of course, his -9 OPS+ would still be good for third on the Twins.  Kidding!  But for real, his career is probably over.  He needs one more hit to get to 1000.  Round!

Fun with the number 1000!

In honor of Gardenhire and Carroll aiming for their 1000 of something, here are some fun 1000 facts that I found.  I was going to write 1000 fun facts, but I was busy photoshopping Twins player heads onto animal bodies (more on that below).

• Dee Fondy and Birdie Tebbetts each had exactly 1000 career hits!
• Darryl Strawberry ended his career with exactly 1000 career RBI.  He's the only guy with that quantity!!
• Jorge Posada and Bucky Harris are the only players with exactly 1000 singles!!!
• No one has exactly 1000 career runs.  No one!!!!
• On the pitching side, Tom Browning and Ralph Terry have exactly 1000 strikeouts!!!!!
• And finally, former Twin Jim Hoey ended his career with a 1000 ERA!!!!!!

One of those statements is a lie. 

Baseball Card from the Past

Look at how young Gardy looks:

This was right after his rookie season in 1981.  His hair is tremendous.  If he was willing to grow his hair out like that right now, I'd extend him for 30 seasons. 

Facebook Question

Q:  Do we have to watch a nightmare happen its not as if the coach of the staff cares at this point. They Con MLB into having ALLSTAR game here.

A:  It appears this question was written by a malcontent robot Twins fan.  As such, I will respond to his question in his native language:

0111100101101111011101010010000001110011011101010110001101101011

Poll Results/New Poll

I took a screen grab this time!

The Clete Thomas of GMs is vague.  It depends on what you think of Clete Thomas, right?  Those three people who thought they would be amazing as GMs are really confident.  I voted for "bad."  I'd be bad as a GM.  I'd base far too many decisions on animal pun potential and hair length.  I'll post a new poll at some point.  When I do, please try to vote. 

Link to Something I wrote - Animals play baseball

As I alluded to earlier, I photoshopped a bunch of Twins player heads on animal bodies.  Here's one to get you interested:

If you want to know why this exists, what context this falls into, and if your favorite Twin made the cut, just click here!  You'll be somewhat glad you did.

Parting thought - Jumping on a Bandwagon

I'm running out of things to say about this team.  They're bad.  Yep, we know.  One thing though - I'm officially in the shut Joe Mauer down camp.  There's no sense in having him risk more brain damage to win a couple of meaningless games.  The team is a lot less fun to watch with Mauer in the clubhouse or at home, but his long-term recovery is worth 14 additional boring games in late September. 

Have a great week, everyone!

Forgotten Twins? John Moses

My memories of John Moses

John Moses was a more notable former Twin to me than to just about anyone else in the World.  The reason why comes from my Grandmother.  She thought I looked like him.  I remember being told that as a child and it confused me as an adult.  Of course, I looked back at some images of myself from childhood, and you be the judge:

Perhaps she had a point.  As far as remembering John Moses as a player:  who knows?  He wasn't very good and he wasn't a Twin for very long.  And, apparently I looked like him.  Other than that, he was just some guy. 

Therefore, we need to research!

Baseball Reference

Wow, Moses played eleven seasons, three with the Twins!  I thought he was just a one- or two-year wonder.  I know squat.  For his career, he posted a .254/.313/.333 triple slash, but in that awful 80s hitting era, that worked out to a 187 OPS+.  Moses wasn't a show-off like some other players.  He saved home runs for special occasions, hitting one per season, with a career high three in 1986 and 1987.  He lead the AL in caught stealing in 1986 with 18.  Black ink!

Moses was a Twin from 1988-1990, narrowly missing out on Championships at both ends.  What luck!

Wikipedia

Moses has one of those sweet, easy-to-read one paragraph Wikipedia pages.  Again, not a show-off.  Essentially, we can learn that Moses was in fact a former baseball player and that he did spend a lot of time coaching after playing.  There was a lot more information about his coaching days, so that probably says a lot about his playing career.  Not mentioned in the text of his page is the fact that he was a member of the 1980 Arizona Wildcats College World Series Champions.  This was the biggest story in sports in 1980, so that's pretty cool.  He played with Craig Lefferts, Casey Candaele and future MLB manager/chipmunk Terry Francona (who was MVP).   

Google

Googling John Moses is like googling a bunch of random letters.  There are results, but most are irrelevant or nonsense.  I did find this blog though.  The author was counting down the 81 most forgettable Twins.  He stopped at 46.  It's an interesting concept, but incomplete.  If I start a Kickstarter to help this guy finish the list, who will contribute?  I'll kick in 4 bucks.  That's half of my net worth, so help out, others.  For what it's worth, John Moses checked in at 74, right in front of Bernardo Brito (El Pupo) at 75.  What a list!  I just want to know who number 1 was going to be!

Bing

Bing is Google, so the results are exactly the same.  However, I did find a John Moses who was the 22nd Governor of North Dakota and a John Moses, comedian.  According to the comedian's website, he had "the one album from 2012 you should get by a comedian you probably never heard of."  I can't decide if that's a backhanded compliment or not.  A compliment is a compliment, as I have come to learn.

Bing images brings back a lot of old dudes, many holding guns.  There are quite a few mug shots too.  There are very few images of our John Moses, but I did find this amazing notebook sketch that was probably drawn by a scout when Moses was a youngster.  Amazing; such impressive detail!

eBay

Hmm, lots of assorted baseball cards.  Some are autographed, some are not.

This listing is pretty incredible.  It's so odd because I was just thinking of going to eBay and looking for 3 baseball cards.  I didn't care what year, what kind, who, anything, I just want three baseball cards.  Lucky me. 

Wait, jackpot!  I found an autographed John Moses card from when he was a coach with the Albuquerque Isotopes.  It's just six bucks shipped.  It's pretty much one of a kind.  He looks really happy too. 

Side note:  Wasn't Albuquerque the potential destination for the Springfield Isotopes?  Isn't that why Homer went on his hunger strike?  Was Homer's strike all for naught?  Why does no one tell me these things?!?

Facebook

This John Moses has a Facebook page.  He comes without exceptions.  He seems to be incapable of looking at a camera.  It's a disorder.  John Moses the singer has 439 likes and John Moses the comedian has 227 likes.  It's clear:  singing > comedy.  Our John Moses does not have a Facebook page.  There is a Moses John who is from Minneapolis.  Perhaps our John Moses was just too famous to have a Facebook page, so he flipped his name.

Twitter

John Moses the comedian has twitter.  He's the only comedian on twitter.  He doesn't tan, he roasts!   See, roast has a double meaning.  Here's a link to roast's definition.  But seriously, he is very kind, as you'll see below.  Sadly, for my purposes, he's getting in the way of real John Moses research.  Luckily, this MN Twins Zealot has a fun John Moses Fact:

John Moses pitched 3 times (twice in 1990), the most for a Twins position player: http://t.co/ggBmhvRF0N
— MNTwinsZealot (@MNTwinsZealot) August 6, 2013

Black ink!  Also, if you are interested, this guy is giving away a John Moses card: 

I'm giving away: 1989 Donruss #626 John Moses - Minnesota Twins. Check it out - http://t.co/PJCcmeZIiU
— Stephen Kurnock (@StephenKurnock) May 29, 2013

I wonder if he's had any luck finding a taker...

I'm giving away: 1989 Donruss #626 John Moses - Minnesota Twins + 4 Random Twins Cards. Check it out - http://t.co/cAP6fXDxxx
— Stephen Kurnock (@StephenKurnock) September 11, 2013

Nope.  Of course, it's only been about three and a half months, so give it time.  Or, act fast.  Actually, I'd give it time, you might be able to milk a few more cards out of the deal.

YouTube

YouTube is devoid of John Moses the baseball player.  There are some party videos from John Moses, former Governor...  There's more from John Moses, comedian and John Moses, singer, but nothing from John Moses, baseball player.  

Here's what I can't figure out.  There are quite a few results for Ying Yang Twins songs when I search John Moses.  Is this some sort of default setting on my account?  Do I have the "if no results, then Ying Yang Twins" setting enabled?  If so, can someone help me turn it off?  It's not what I want.

Random Person

Who's more random than one of the other John Moses's?  I sent him a Tweet, just to see if he was aware of his namesake. 

@bridman77 i am, i used to have his baseball card as a kid. 2nd base?
— JohnMoses (@JohnMoses) September 11, 2013

Success!  This should have been obvious to me.  If there was a Brad Swanson in the Majors when I was a kid, I'd have heard of him and I'd have every single card.  I'd have four of every card.  I was a very self-involved child.  Unfortunately, this was the only famous Brad Swanson.

Not the same.

Verdict

John Moses has been forgotten by the vast majority of us.  It's sad but true.  John Moses the comedian and I might be the only people left who remembers John Moses the player.  In reality, there isn't room in this world for all these John Moses's.  There's a singer, a comedian, a former Governor and a former baseball player/coach.  It's too much.  However, if I ever wanted to start some form of Baseball Cabaret, I could do a lot worse than John Moses.