Kuzul

This season will mark Ron Gardenhire’s 24th with the Twins organization and his 10th as manager.

In the 110 years of the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins franchise, Gardenhire ranks third all time with 803 coaching victories with the third longest tenure as manager.

His .550 winning percentage is also third best for the franchise behind Billy Martin (.599), who only coached the 1969 season, and Walter Johnson (.570), who coached from 1929 to 1932.

After winning his sixth AL Central Division title in nine years, Gardenhire was named AL Manager of the Year in 2010—finally, after finishing runner-up five times the previous eight seasons. 

The only thing missing from his resume is a World Series appearance. It’s been 20 years since Tom Kelly guided the 1991 Twins to their second World Series Championship in five years.

Time may be getting short for Gardenhire.

In 2002, after 11 years as the Twins’ third base coach, he was named Kelly’s replacement, much to the chagrin of many Twins fans who were hoping Paul Molitor would take over as manager. 

Even before the 2002 season began there was talk about contracting the Minnesota Twins. After several failed attempts to get their own stadium, owner Carl Pohlad was considering a buyout from Major League Baseball that would have made 2002 the last season for Twins baseball.

Before he even coached his first game, Gardenhire was handed a built-in excuse for failing to extend the Twins season—their $40.2 million payroll was the third lowest in the league.

In the face of all this, Gardenhire’s first season as Twins manager was his best.

He led the Twins to his first AL Central title and defeated the Oakland A’s in the divisional round of the playoffs. In the ALCS, the Twins would lose the series to the eventual World Series champion Anaheim Angels, 4-1. 

Even with the loss to the Angels there was hope—hope that Gardenhire had the keys that would return to the Twins to another Fall Classic appearance.

From 2002 to 2009 the Twins payroll would rank between eighth and 12th in the American League. “Small Market” was the tag associated with the Twins. Fans were repeated bombarded with the message that without a new venue and the revenue streams it generated Minnesota could not compete. 

Yeah, it was extremely difficult to compete in Minnesota—and the fans of Minnesota bought that hook, line, and sinker and funded a new stadium.

In 2010 the Twins moved into Target Field, their state-of-the-art stadium, and moved up the payroll ladder fielding the fifth highest payroll in the American League.

With that the expectations also moved up.

The pressure is on for Gardenhire to at least repeat the success of his first year as manager and make it to the League Championship Series.

As successful as Gardenhire and the Twins have been in the regular season, they have been just as dreadful in the post season.

Gardenhire’s playoff record is 6-21 overall and 0-12 over the last four divisional series.

The Twins’ payroll is projected to be approximately $114 million for 2011—again the fifth highest in the AL.

The Twins have plenty of pieces for Gardenhire to work with. He has two league MVPs in Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, and Delmon Young was getting mention in 2010 because of his offensive contribution.

They re-signed Carl Pavano and Francico Liriano appears ready to return to the dominating form of his rookie season in 2006 when he was 12-3 with a 2.16 ERA. The team has $18.4 million of the 2011 payroll invested in the closer position with Joe Nathan and Matt Capps. 

Another AL Central Division title will not be enough.

Anything short of an ALCS appearance this season will be a failure for Ron Gardenhire and the Minnesota Twins. 

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Minnesota Twins pitchers and catchers are set to report to Fort Myers in less than two weeks!

The start of spring training means that the warm spring weather cannot be far behind.

After the type of winter that has pounded most of the country this year, I know I can be counted among many who cannot wait for the snow to melt away!

With every spring training there comes a renewed hope. Hope that this will be the year, the year the Minnesota Twins turn the corner from being a consistent AL Central division winner and make it to the next round of the play offs. 

It’s been 20 years since the Twins last won the World Series, and with the new smell still hovering over Target Field, the question is has the team done enough to make their fourth World Series appearance and possibly win a third World Series Championship?

As the team gets ready to open spring training here are some questions that will need to be answered.

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In baseball the key to winning is said to be about pitching and defense.

Under manager Ron Gardenhire the Minnesota Twins have built a reputation as a solid baseball club that pitches to contact, does not walk batters and plays fundamentally sound defense. 

This is a formula that the Twins have used to win six of the last nine AL Central Division titles.

As the Twins head into 2011 there are plenty of questions that remain to be answered as they prepare to defend their AL Central title, and hopefully, achieve the next plateau by winning in the division round of the playoffs.

The biggest question might be who will emerge as the ace of the rotation?

General Manager Bill Smith is working to re-sign Carl Pavano, the team’s workhorse of 2010. 

Last season Pavano led the Twins with 17 wins, seven complete games and two shutouts.

His 221 innings pitched was 29.1 more than the next closest Twins starter, and his 6.9 innings per start topped the rotation.

I looked back at the history of Twins starters since they moved to Minnesota in 1961.

Here are the top 20 starting pitchers in franchise history.

To be included in the ranking each pitcher had to start in at least four consecutive seasons for the Twins.

I don’t think anyone will disagree with the top half of the ranking, but there could be some surprises between No. 11 and  No. 20.

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In 2010 the Minnesota Twins may have found their long term answer at third base in Danny Valencia.

Valencia joined the team in June and established himself as the everyday third baseman playing in 85 games and hitting  .311—third best on the team. 

With Justin Morneau on the opposite corner of the infield the Twins could have a very formidable twosome guarding the lines at Target Field. 

I took a look back over the Twins’ history and, surprisingly, found only seven sets of corner infielders that ever played together for more than a single season.

The expectations for the corner infielders, much like that of the corner outfielders, are to be home run threats and to drive in runs. 

I combined the offensive and defensive statistics for the seven combinations and ranked them.

Batting average, slugging percentage, the combined RBI average, and longevity were taken into account to arrive at the final ranking.

Hopefully 2011 will be the start of the next great corner infield tandem of Valencia and Morneau. 

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Looking ahead to 2011, the Minnesota Twins will be without either their second baseman or shortstop from 2010.

First, Gold-Glove second baseman Orlando Hudson signed as a free agent contract with San Diego, and then the Twins trade away shortstop J.J. Hardy to Baltimore in a deal that gave them a couple of relievers in return. 

I took a look back over the combination of middle infielders the team has had, as well as some of the best there have been over the past 50 plus years.

I started with the list of Gold Gloves winners for both leagues at shortstop and second base.

In order to qualify for the ranking, the duo had to play together for at least two years, with both players playing at least half the season at their respective position in the year a Gold Glove was awarded. 

The list was then ranked based on the total number of Gold Gloves earned, the combined fielding percentage, and the total number of years they played next to each other. 

Enjoy this look back at some of the greatest middle infield combinations from the last 50 years. 

Here’s my list of the top 50 shortstop-second basemen duos since 1960.

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The Minnesota Twins appear to have a revolving door that their middle infielders continue to step into, only to exit on another team’s roster.

When Minnesota opens the 2011 season it will be five consecutive years with a different tandem starting at second and short.

The Twins traded J.J. Hardy to Baltimore, and appear unlikely to re-sign free agent, Gold Glove second baseman Orlando Hudson.

Currently the leading candidates to replace Hudson and Hardy are Alexi Casilla and Japanese import, 26 year-old Tsuyoshi Nishioka.

Casilla and Nishioka can both play either position, although some reports suggest Nishioka would be better suited as a second baseman in North America.

At this point the Abbott and Costello routine can kick in with the question, “What’s the guy’s name on second base?”

I looked over the 50-year history of the Minnesota Twins and compiled the following list of middle infield duos who have fielded ground balls, and turned double plays.

Included are only those duos that started next to each other for at least two consecutive years. Surprisingly there are only nine combinations that qualify in the history of the Minnesota Twins.

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Baseball’s winter meetings begin this week in Florida.

This can be a time when those hot stoves really get fired up.

Twins’ General Manager Bill Smith has needs to be addressed as the team heads into its second season at Target Field.

No longer playing small-market ball, the team’s payroll is projected to be around $102 to $120 million for the 2011 season.

If Minnesota is going to successfully defend the American League Central Title and make that step to the next level, then Smith will have to make some moves.

Here are 12 points to ponder as Twins’ fans look forward to the 2011 season.

The official start of winter may still be a little over two weeks away, but keep in mind that pitchers and catchers report in only 74 days!

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Baseball is America’s pastime. No one said it better than James Earl Jones in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams.

“The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and what could be again.”

With over 200 minor league clubs affiliated with Major League Baseball, the sport penetrates every corner of this country.

In order to fill these rosters, baseball’s Rule 4 Draft is held each year in June.

The days leading up to the draft do not contain nearly the hype of those of the NFL or NBA.

For teams drafting toward the end of the first round, their selection may not make it to the majors for years as they progress through the minor leagues.

Also, unlike the other three major sports in America, the baseball draft can last up to 50 rounds with more than 1,500 players drafted. Contrast that to seven rounds for the NFL and NHL and only two for the NBA.

Each club employs dozens of scouts to scour the globe looking for those special players that will someday make it to the big leagues. 

So which teams do the best of discovering that talent?

I went through the 2010 major league rosters of all 32 teams.  I included all field players that appeared in at least 50 games, and all pitchers that made at least 10 starts or 30 appearances. The result was a roster of 763 players.

Teams were ranked by the total number of players they either drafted or signed as amateur free agents that ended up on a major league roster—whether their own or another team’s.

Interestingly, only 38.7 percent of players ended up on the 2010 roster of the team that drafted them.

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Congratulations to Ron Gardenhire! No longer the bridesmaid, the ninth time’s the charm!

The Twins’ skipper earned 108 votes as the AL Manager of the Year Award, while the sentimental favorite Ron Washington of the Texas Rangers finished second with 81 votes.

As the longest tenured manager in the AL Central, Gardenhire finally gets to add his name along side past winners Ozzie Guillen and Jim Leyland as the top manager in the American League. 

Since taking over for Tom Kelly in 2002, his 803 victories are the fourth most among active managers in the all of baseball. 

Perhaps the Baseball Writers Association of American finally forgot that the award is for the manager that did the best job during the regular season?

With today’s announcement, here are 10 reasons why Gardenhire deserves the honor.

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It was announced today that Minnesota Twins‘ Joe Mauer won his third straight Rawlings Gold Glove Award.

His numbers are impressive. In 112 games he caught 951.6 innings and committed only three errors.

His 0.996 fielding percentage was tied for tops in the Major Leagues.

So what does this mean? 

For the Minnesota Twins, since Mauer became the regular catcher in 2005, it has meant an extra 5.7 wins per season. For the AL Central Division Champion over the past 10 seasons, only three times was the final margin greater than six games.

Many people would agree that Mauer is the most valuable player for the Minnesota Twins, and as Mauer goes, so go the Twins.

You don’t have to look any further than the 2010 season.

As the Twins approached the All-Star Break, Mauer was hitting just below .300 and the Twins found themselves in third place in the AL Central, with a 46-42 record.

Mauer found his stroke and finished with a .327 batting average, and the Twins had the best record in the second half of the season going 48-26 and winning the division by six games.

For Mauer, his .327 batting average equals that for his seven-year career.

His strength may also be a weakness.

Catching in the major leagues is the most grinding and debilitating position in baseball. Because of that, the number of games a catcher plays will be limited.

Twins’  manager, Ron Gardenhire typically will not play Mauer at catcher on day games following a night game. On some occasions he will insert Mauer in the lineup as the designated hitter, and in 2010 that would mean sitting the Twins best power hitter, Jim Thome.

The wear and tear on Mauer this past season kept him out of the Twins’ lineup 25 percent of the time—that adds up to 45 games, almost six weeks worth of the season without your best hitter.

There have been suggestions that perhaps it would be better to move Mauer to another, less physically demanding position, in order to allow him to play in more games, and possibly extend his career.

There are two problems with that.

One, where would he play?

If you move him to the outfield, it would have to be a corner outfield position and the Twins appear to be set with Delmon Young in left and Michael Cuddyer in right.

If he was to move to the infield again, the best fit would be on one of the corners where the Twins hope to have Justin Morneau back at first, and Danny Valencia has established himself as the long term solution at third.

Secondly, how do you move a three-time Gold Glover winner to another position?

Mauer has said he has no desire to move to another position and the Twins have stated he is their catcher.

So as Mauer looks to match the 10 consecutive Gold Gloves that Ivan Rodriguez won from 1992 to 2001 with the Texas Rangers, don’t look for him to be playing anywhere else on the diamond.

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