Minnesota Twins Daily Clips. Monday, December 01, 2014

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1 Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Monday, December 01, 2014 Rand: Guardado plans an energetic arrival as Twins bullpen coach. Star Tribune (Rand) pg. 1 TFD: Eddie Guardado spending Thanksgiving with Torii Hunter, trying to recruit him to the Twins. Star Tribune (Rand) pg.2 Twinsights: Terry Ryan on Torii Hunter s leadership, production. Pioneer Press (Berardino) pg. 2 Twinsights: Neil Allen on the influence of Whitey Herzog, Bob Gibson. Pioneer Press (Berardino) pg. 3 Twinsights: Ex-Twins coaches Bobby Cuellar, Gary Lucas land on their feet. Pioneer Press (Berardino) pg. 4 For Twins, 2014 a year of giving. MLB.com (Bollinger) pg. 5 Rand: Guardado plans an energetic arrival as Twins bullpen coach Michael Rand / Star Tribune 12/1/14 Eddie Guardado was with the Twins for the first 11 years of his MLB career, from That s an awfully interesting span of time, encompassing eight mostly dreadful and certainly below.500 seasons from , then the start of the Twins resurgence from Guardado was back with the Twins for a pit stop in 2008 a rebuilding year on the fly for the Twins after they lost Torii Hunter and Johan Santana then retired following his final season in 2009 with the Rangers. Now he s back for another go-round with the Twins as bullpen coach, picked by new manager and former Twins teammate Paul Molitor. During a phone conversation last week, Guardado was asked what exactly a bullpen coach does and what he thinks the Twins want him to do. I think they just want my attitude, being in the clubhouse every day, having that positive energy, Guardado said. I have energy. There s no question. Indeed, Everyday Eddie was never short on that. Neither was his former teammate, Torii Hunter. As circumstance would have it, Guardado, Hunter and another former Twin, LaTroy Hawkins, spent Thanksgiving together. With Hunter linked to a possible return to the Twins as a corner outfielder and as a partner in crime with Guardado when it comes to clubhouse energy the logical question to Guardado was whether he was working to recruit Torii back to the Twins. He laughed. I m trying, I m trying, he said. All we can do is try, right? Having Guardado, and possibly Hunter, back in the Twins clubhouse would offer an interesting generational mix. There are those who have suggested the home clubhouse grew too cozy and quiet in Ron Gardenhire s final years. Guardado does not seem to dispute that, even though he only watched the losses mount (with frustration) from afar. We have to get some leadership in that clubhouse maybe a little bit more vocal, Guardado said. I m not saying go in there and be a correctional officer, but what I m saying is we need a couple of vocal guys. Guardado s assertion is that the Twins have talent; perhaps what they lack is the right attitude.

2 That s how you get better. It starts in the clubhouse. I ve been saying that for years, Guardado said. With a young team, it starts on the inside and works its way out. That s how we did it. The 2001 Twins, who shook off the doldrums of those eight losing seasons with an 85-win team that laid the foundation for six division titles in nine years, also had breakthrough seasons from Hunter, Guardado and several others. The million-dollar question, of course, is whether winning (and good performances) lead to better chemistry or whether it s the other way around. The modern view of baseball tends to focus more on numbers and tendencies. Guardado, even though he s just five years removed from the game, is most definitely still old-school. There are good players, or else they wouldn t be here, he said. How do we get it out of those players? We have to push them. TFD: Eddie Guardado spending Thanksgiving with Torii Hunter, trying to recruit him to the Twins Michael Rand / Star Tribune 11/26/14 We had a good chat with former Twins pitcher and new bullpen coach Eddie Guardado today on a number of subjects for a future Page 2 story, but one nugget stood out as relevant for both amusement and news: Guardado is spending Thanksgiving in Texas with old teammates LaTroy Hawkins and Torii Hunter. Guardado and Hawkins have remained close for years, and both are clearly still pals with Hunter. The interesting thing, of course, is that the Twins are said to be in pursuit of Hunter in free agency. So we naturally had to ask Guardado if he would be doing any recruiting while he was hanging out with his old teammate, and he didn t shy away from the notion. Said Guardado: I m trying. I m trying. All we can do is try, right? Hunter s defense has slipped in recent years, leading to questions about how much bringing him in would help (or hurt even more) a team that struggled mightily with outfield defense a year ago. It would clearly be a move based on offensive production and that intangible of clubhouse leadership. We have to start with the foundation, Guardado said of the Twins, after talking about how much it hurt him to watch the team lose 90-plus games each of the past four years. We have to get some leadership in that clubhouse maybe a little bit more vocal. I m not saying go in there and be a correctional officer, but what I m saying is we need a couple of vocal guys. That s how you get better. It starts in the clubhouse. With a young team, it starts on the inside and works its way out. That s how we did it. That sounds a lot like Hunter, we mentioned to Guardado. Oh, he s definitely all about that. We re trying to get him over here to be vocal, too. Absolutely. That s what we need. Twinsights: Terry Ryan on Torii Hunter s leadership, production Mike Berardino / Pioneer Press 11/26/14 What can Terry Ryan say about the Twins free-agent pursuit of Torii Hunter? Not much, the Twins general manager said with a laugh Wednesday on SiriusXM s MLB Network Radio channel. And then, Ryan being an accommodating sort of guy, he expounded a bit to hosts Mike Ferrin and Jim Duquette. I don t want to get too deep into that other than the fact we could use a right-handed bat, Ryan said. We re dominant from the left side in the outfield. Of course, there s more about the 39-year-old Hunter that s appealing beyond his right-handed thump. 2

3 We re looking for some experience, we re looking for some leadership and those types of things and some veteran presence, Ryan said. We ve got some holes. Our pitching has been the main culprit but we also could use some added offense as well. The kind of direction we re looking at is some veteran presence. We re rather young here, especially in the outfield. Ferrin brought up the (pertinent) question of Hunter s leadership and how real that is and how much of a factor that might be in the Twins interest in a reunion with their former center fielder. Of course, Hunter hasn t played for the Twins since 2007, so it s hard to gauge. It s been a while since we ve had him over here, Ryan said. He s grown and matured and he s developed into quite a player. I would have more interest in a man of that nature that can play and produce than I would be worried about what kind of leadership and what kind of in-the-dugout or clubhouse presence he has. We re looking for productivity and we re looking for numbers and we re looking for people that can play the game. I m not too worried about all that other stuff. I m worried about production. There was no talk of Hunter s plummeting defensive metrics: minus-28 combined defensive runs saved over his past two seasons in Detroit. That s dead last out of 51 right fielders with at least 500 innings out there in that span. Hunter s old Twins teammate, Michael Cuddyer, was second-worst at minus-18, and he just got a two-year, $21 million deal from the New York Mets. Oswaldo Arcia was 48th at minus-16 DRS. I ve been told the Twins aren t too worried about those numbers. They believe Hunter, who has kept himself in excellent condition, still moves around more than well enough to field his position. Twinsights: Neil Allen on the influence of Whitey Herzog, Bob Gibson Mike Berardino / Pioneer Press 11/26/14 Neil Allen s hallmark is an upbeat, high-energy approach to working with his pitchers, but it might surprise you to learn the root of those origins. When I asked the Twins new pitching coach last week during our phone conversation to identity the top influence on him as a pitching coach, he paused before offering up someone who never held the role: Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog, for whom he pitched parts of three seasons ( ) with the St. Louis Cardinals. He wasn t a pitching coach but I loved the way he handled his pitchers, Allen told me. Whitey was just phenomenal. I just respect the heck out of that man. It was something else, the way he handled a pitching staff, his demeanor on the field day in, day out, who he was when he came to the ballpark. Consistency was the key to Herzog s personality. He showed up as the same man every single day, and we totally respected that as players, Allen said. I often think about him. I try to be that same guy if I can. When I come to the ballpark, I want everybody to know who s coming. I ve been that same upbeat guy when I come to the ballpark. Herzog, 83, was inducted at Cooperstown in the Class of Among his other key influences, Allen named the late Karl Kuehl, who hired him to the Toronto Blue Jays system in 1996; Tampa Bay Rays pitching coordinator Dick Bosman ( He helped me an awful lot, ), former New York Yankees pitching guru Billy Connors and Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson, who was Allen s pitching coach with the New York Mets for one season in

4 Gibson s official title at the time: Attitude coach. (Gibson) taught me an awful lot about the mental aspect of pitching, Allen said. You did not want to challenge him. Allen, 56, took a little piece from each baseball lifer as he made his way through each stop in his remarkable professional journey. It s been a great experience, he said. I learned an awful lot along the way from a lot of people. When you talk about influences, gosh darn, I ve had some darn good ones. Twinsights: Ex-Twins coaches Bobby Cuellar, Gary Lucas land on their feet Mike Berardino / Pioneer Press 11/26/14 It will be a happy Thanksgiving for two more longtime Twins coaches who have landed on their feet with new employment opportunities. Bobby Cuellar, whose contract was not renewed after 11 total years with the organization, has accepted a position as a pitching coach in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. Cuellar will work in the Pioneer League with the rookie-level Ogden (Utah) Raptors. Jack McDowell, the former big-league pitcher, managed the Raptors in 2014 and is expected to return for a second season. Age does not matter, said Cuellar, the Twins bullpen coach the past two seasons and a former big-league and Triple-A pitching coach. It is just a game. Rick Knapp, the former Twins minor-league pitching coordinator, is now in the same role with the Dodgers. Meanwhile, former Class A Fort Myers pitching coach Gary Lucas has signed on in the same role with the Class A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in the Midwest League. The Milwaukee Brewers affiliate is based in Appleton. Lucas makes his offseason home in Rice Lake, Wis. Good opportunity with the Brewers organization and close to home and family, Lucas said in a text message. Lucas, a former big-league reliever, spent the past 15 seasons as a pitching coach in the Twins organization, including a six-year run in the Midwest League. His contract was not renewed in September as the Twins shuffled their roster of instructors. Earlier this month, former Twins minor-league hitting coordinator Bill Springman hooked on with the Kansas City Royals as a senior roving hitting adviser in their minor-league system. Springman also was dismissed in September after 14 total years with the Twins in a coaching capacity. Tuesday, the Twins announced big-league coaches Scott Ullger and Terry Steinbach would not return along with former pitching coach Rick Anderson. Ullger, 59, had been with the Twins organization for 38 consecutive years as a player, minor-league manager and, for the past 20 seasons, a big-league coach. Anderson, who turns 58 on Saturday, had been a pitching coach in the Twins organization for the past 26 years, including the past 13 at the big-league level. 4

5 For Twins, 2014 a year of giving Rhett Bollinger / MLB.com 11/26/14 MINNEAPOLIS -- Bryan Donaldson has been working in the Twins' community relations department since 2000, and he can't remember a busier year than The Twins hosted the 2014 All-Star Game at Target Field, and with it came numerous charity events that raised a record $8 million for the local community. And that was in addition to the usual charity events the Twins host throughout the year, including Hope Week in May and the upcoming Holiday Week of Giving, which starts Dec. 8. "It was an incredibly busy year," said Donaldson, who is the Twins' senior director for community relations and the executive director of the Twins Community Fund. "As part of the All-Star Game, we gave away $8 million to local charities, which is more than we've ever done. It was lot more of an undertaking than we're used to, but it was a great opportunity and we were excited to do it. To be able to make a gigantic impact on the community was rewarding and outweighed all the extra work that went into it." Twins owner Jim Pohlad was the one who challenged the organization to break Major League Baseball's record for most money raised for charity from hosting an All-Star Game. The donations were made through MLB Charities, the Twins Community Fund and the Pohlad Family Foundation So it was up to Donaldson and his team -- along with team president Dave St. Peter -- to work hand-in-hand with MLB to find the right charities to work with during All-Star week. The projects supported several youth baseball field renovations, impacted the lives of underserved youth and local veterans, placed a focus on improving the health and well-being of local citizens, supported cancer research and highlighted the importance of environmental consciousness. One of the major points of emphasis was to create long-lasting effects in the community, which led to renovating a Boys & Girls Club and a Ronald McDonald House in Minneapolis and a seven-acre woodland at Trout Brook Nature Sanctuary in St. Paul. Four new youth baseball fields were also constructed, as well as a Miracle Field for children with disabilities. "The focus was more bricks and mortar and things that can stand the test of time," Donaldson said. "We want it to be a testament to the All-Star [Game] in Minneapolis not just five or 10 years down the road, but 25 or 30. We did everything from building a new community center to new ballparks to housing for veterans and renovating a Ronald McDonald house. So we want this to be a marker that the All-Star Game was here for a long time to come." In addition to the charity events associated with the All-Star Game, the Twins did their usual amount of charity work throughout the region with the help of the Twins Community Fund. The Twins donated items to more than 5,000 fundraising events and gave out more than 20,000 tickets through the TwinsCare program, while also raising $1.6 million to fund projects for youth baseball and softball. 5

6 Hope Week remains one of the club's biggest charity efforts, as it features a different initiative each day, with players such as Joe Mauer and Glen Perkins volunteering their time. It's one of several events for charity this winter, including the annual TwinsFest from Jan , which will be held at Target Field for the second time ever and is the largest fundraiser for the Twins Community Fund. "We did our regular stuff on top of the All-Star Game, with Hope Week a major part of that," Donaldson said. "The great thing about Hope Week is that it features not only our front office staff, but our players and fans as well. We're not just using dollars, but we're using our hands and expertise to help people and volunteering. So it's a great way to shed the light on giving back for a week." The annual Holiday Week of Giving is similar to Hope Week, but features more Twins employees than players, given that it's the offseason. But new Twins manager Paul Molitor, a St. Paul native, will take part, as he's the chairman of the Salvation Army's Red Kettle campaign in the Twin Cities. "We have our Holiday Week of Giving coming Dec. 8, and it's a lot like Hope Week," Donaldson said. "It's mostly employee driven. We'll do everything this year from writing notes to our troops serving overseas, a Habitat for Humanity project and go an elementary school and read to kids. We'll also have volunteers to help ring the bells as part of the Red Kettle campaign. 6