Metrodome Memories

The Twins signed right handed relief pitcher Jesse Crain to a three year deal yesterday.  The initial deal pays Crain $3.25 million but there’s another $375,000 in incentives that Crain can earn.  The former top prospect had a mixed year last season.  In 2005, he hardly struck out anybody while in 2006 his strikeout rate was much better (60 k’s in 76 2/3 inninga).  He also gave up more hits but his walk rate was down.  He was lights out in the second half though and if that’s what he’s going to build on, then having Crain and Joe Nathan makes for one of the better one-two punches in the league coming out of the pen.

Baseball America recently profiled Twins prospect Jeff Manship.  He got some spot time in the Gulf Coast League before the Notre Dame star went back to school but as a fourteenth round pick, Manship could emerge as a sleeper if he pans out.  If he does, it would be one more notch in the belt of an organization who gets it done in the draft.

This is the first in a series of 1987 player retrospectives that I’ll be writing that will lead up to the 1987 championship diary that I’ll be writing come April.  The first player is the late Kirby Puckett, who broke onto the scene in 1986 with a top five finish for the MVP and followed up that up in 1987 with an equally good season.  With Puckett you get top notch hitting with gold glove caliber defense.  Oddly, Puckett finished third in the AL in the MVP voting but he was probably the second best hitter on the team.  That’s not to diminish his value but it goes to show that while the Twins barely finished above .500 in 1987, this was a very good team with some very solid elements.

Puckett led the team in hitting (.332) and he was second on the team with a 132 OPS+.  A knock on Puckett was that he didn’t walk enough but he also kept his strikeout totals under 100, which wasn’t really common for a guy who with Puckett’s power.  He also led the team with 96 runs and 207 hits and he was second with 99 RBIs. 

Puckett also didn’t shy away from right handed pitching.  His power numbers were down against righties but he hit .329 against right handed pitching and .339 against lefties.  Puckett was also very consistent through out the season.  With the exception of a rough July where he hit .245, he his at least .322 in every other month and topped out in June with a .382 average. 

Puckett’s best game was on May 30.  He went a perfect six for six with two homeruns, four RBIs and four runs.  He also had five other games in which he had at least four hits.

Here are Puckett’s final 1987 stats.

Games 157
AB 624
Runs 96
Hits 207
Doubles 32
Triples 5
Homeruns 28
RBIs 99
Walks 32
Strikeouts 91
Stolen Bases 12
Caught Stealing 7
BA .332
OBA .367
SLG% .534
OPS .900
RC 116
RCAA 38
RCAP 32
RC/G 7.02
ISO .202

The Twins will avoid the arbitration table in 2006.  The final hold out was Michael Cuddyer, who the Twins signed to a one year, $3.575 million deal.  It looks like only Joe Mauer gets a long term deal.  Cuddyer had a breakout season in 2006 with a solid .284/.362/.504 line.  He hit 24 homeruns, drove in 109 and scored 102.

PECOTA is looking for more of the same from Cuddyer in 2007.  His weighted mean average has him at .272/.346/.466 with 21 homeruns.  He has to work on his defense in right field, but all of Cuddyer’s other tools are there.

The Twins made a huge commitment to All Star catcher and batting title winner Joe Mauer today when they signed him to a four year, $33 million deal.  Mauer will make $3.75 million in 2007, then he’ll make $6.25 million in 2008, $10.5 million in 2009 and $12.5 million in 2010.  It’s interesting that they locked up Mauer and only signed Justin Morneau to a one year deal but I guess when you’re on a limited budget, you have to make these kind of decisions.

Mauer’s PECOTA projections stack up with more of the same.  His weighted mean average has him at .331/.411/.500 with sixteen homeruns.  Joe Mauer is a pretty unique player.  His similarity index is only a 17.

This is a solid story on left handed starter Glen Perkins and how he has a solid chance of making a depleted Twins starting rotation in 2007.  Aaron Gleeman recently finished up his series on the top 40 Twins prospects and Perkins came in at number three.  He Perkins won’t be an ace, but he’s very solid and his Double A numbers in 2006 show that.  You can’t argue with 131 strikeouts in 117 1/3 innings, although he’ll be 24 in March and he’ll probably be getting close to losing his prospect tag because of his age.

PECOTA projects Perkins as having a rough time in 2007 but his most comparable pitcher is Pirates starter Tom Gorzelanny, who many think will a pretty good starter in time.  Regardless, Perkins is definitely someone who bears watching in spring training.

The Twins killed four birds today when they settled with four players who were headed to arbitration.  The big one was AL MVP Justin Morneau, who signed a one year, $4.5 million deal.  Morneau had a monster season and even if he just comes close to doing what he did in 2006, we’ll have a huge bargain on our hands.  PECOTA looks for more of the same from Morneau.  His weighted mean average has him at .293/.362/..526 with 30 homeruns and 108 RBIs.  I could live with that for sure.  And it’s also pretty ironic that Morneau’s most comparable player is none other then 1980s Twins star Kent Hrbek.

Thirdbaseman Nick Punto signed a two year deal that will make him $4.2 million.  This might have been a little much but Punto can play a few different spots he’s just light with the bat.  He hit one homerun last year and he had a .373 slugging percentage.

Juan Rincon was Joe Nathan’s setup man and he’ll make $2 million next year.  He’s a quality arm out of the pen that, along with Nathan, allows Twins starters to shorten up their game without giving up wins.  Lew Ford will make $985k.  Ford will be the fourth outfielder and he’s had a hard time replicating his breakout season from 2004 when he hit .299 with 15 homeruns.

The Twins still have two big guys left who haven’t signed and are headed to arbitration.  You have Michael Cuddyer and batting champ Joe Mauer.  Both of those guys will cost the Twins a pretty penny.