Minnesota Twins Daily Clips

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1 Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Wednesday, October 28, 2015 Paul Molitor named AL Manager of the Year by other managers. Star Tribune (Rand) p. 1 Twins Insider: Hunter's legacy of leadership, fun will linger for Twins. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 1 Twins curator gets own documentary. Star Tribune (Rand) p. 2 Twinsights: Peers name Paul Molitor AL Manager of the Year. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 3 How good was Torii Hunter? Measuring an 'all-time near-great.' Pioneer Press (Eccher) p. 4 Wetmore: Hunter's retirement eliminates potentially awkward decision ESPN (Wetmore) p. 5 Torii Hunter's memorable brand of baseball will be missed. ESPN (Kahrl) p. 6 Twins name stadium bar after Kirby Puckett's 1991 World Series catch. Sporting News (Muret) p. 7 Paul Molitor named AL Manager of the Year by other managers Michael Rand Star Tribune October 27, 2015 Sporting News doesn t have the official vote for American League Manager of the Year, but the methodology and results from their vote, which came out today, is interesting nonetheless. The award is given out by a panel of 27 MLB managers, which is almost a complete sampling and reflects, of course, a jury of your peers type of approach as opposed to the official award which is given out by baseball writers. And the winner of the Sporting News award was Twins rookie manager Paul Molitor. A.J. Hinch, who took the Astros from woeful to the playoffs, came in second in the AL interestingly taking a back seat to Molitor, who helped the Twins improve 13 games this season over last but couldn t quite get them into the playoffs. It should be noted, too, that the man Molitor replaced as Twins manager, Ron Gardenhire, won the Sporting News award twice once in 2004 and again in Twins Insider: Hunter's legacy of leadership, fun will linger for Twins La Velle Neal Star Tribune October 27, 2015 Torii Hunter has decided to hang up No. 48. Does that mean the postgame victory dance parties are over? It shouldn t, but his departure creates the perception that a leadership and motivational void will return to the Twins clubhouse. But if the Twins continue to improve, make the playoffs, make a run in the postseason and become a World Series threat, it will be at least partly because of the seeds Hunter planted in his one-season encore performance. Hunter s retirement is a punch in the gut to Twins officials, who wanted the veteran to return because they felt he provided the kind of guidance the club lacked in recent years.

2 He was the mentor to several players in their formative stage of their careers. In conversations with multiple Twins officials after Hunter s decision was learned on Monday, club officials felt that Hunter s presence next season would be vital on a team looking to build on an season. Their focus was on seeing if Hunter wanted to play another season more so than what they should do if he decides to move on. Now, they face Plan B. How do you replace Hunter? He batted.240 with 22 home runs and 81 RBI. That might not be too difficult, as Aaron Hicks, Eddie Rosario and Miguel Sano all showed promise at the plate this season. Sano s development path might have him matching that production in four months of games. You can find numbers that can get you somewhere in that vicinity, Twins manager Paul Molitor said, but the other things you don t really replace. Hunter is the man who coined phrases like, We re into playing defense and breaking hearts, and A hanging curveball is a gift from God. He danced. He laughed all the time. He said things that were controversial. He once tried to punch Justin Morneau when he felt the first baseman wasn t being a good teammate. With the Angels, he got mad at Albert Pujols. He remains friends with both of them. That s a lot of layers to one individual. There might be no one in baseball like Hunter. Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said late in the season that Hunter s absence from their clubhouse he had spent the two previous seasons with Detroit was one reason the Tigers struggled this year. The Twins don t have to suffer the same fate as the Tigers, a team that had other flaws. Hunter s influence should continue to be felt next season and beyond. Hicks now understands the importance of maintaining a work ethic, coming to the park with a plan and studying relievers. Byron Buxton made strides with making adjustments after getting off to a rocky start to his career. Trevor Plouffe knows how to shake off losses or bad stretches of play. Those are just a few examples of how Hunter helped his teammates. The only thing they can t cover which Molitor is concerned about is which player or players embrace the Alpha Dog role. Someone is going to be talking to themselves this winter and say, You know what? I can kind of be somebody who can step up take some of the leadership, Molitor said. I m hoping that what he did will help other people emerge. The Twins don t need to clone Hunter. And former manager Tom Kelly believed leadership was based on that day s pitcher, anyway. Every year stands on its own, Molitor said. You can t go back and try to recreate the same dance party vibe. But he was a big part of our personality, so we are going to have to try to find a way to fill that. How should Hunter be replaced? Brian Dozier offered one suggestions Tuesday. Hold open dance tryouts and pick the best one, he said. I ll be the judge. Someone better make sure Hunter didn t take the fog machines and disco lights with him. Twins curator gets own documentary Michael Rand Star Tribune October 27, 2015 Before he became the only full-time curator in Major League Baseball, a position he has held with the Twins since 2009, Clyde Doepner was both an avid collector of Twins memorabilia and a longtime history teacher at Tartan High School. 2

3 Before he became a filmmaker, Andrew Putschoegl was one of Doepner s history students. Given a chance to work on a documentary sponsored by Samsung, Putschoegl knew he wanted to dig back into history and make Doepner his subject. The result was the short film, The Curator, which was screened for the first time last week in New York. He would always bring in artifacts on Tuesdays, Putschoegl said by phone Tuesday. At the time, I knew he was a fan of the Twins and collected memorabilia. But it wasn t until years later that I had this idea to document and share with the rest of the world this passion. That passion for preserving baseball and Twins history goes back to the franchise s first season in Minnesota in 1961, nearly a half-century before he became a full-time team employee as the Twins prepared to move into Target Field. It s a truly unique job, one that is captured well in the documentary as Doepner handles items with white gloves and talks about his favorite pieces of Twins history through the years. A crew followed Doepner for an entire day in July when the Twins were at home against the Yankees. I fought Andy on it for quite some time to not do it, Doepner, 71, said. I don t like things to be about me. I like things to be about the Twins and the memorabilia. But it was a real thrill to have fans that can t get here see just how much stuff we have at Target Field. It s a great showcase of the archives. His association with the Twins grew out of a chance encounter with former owner Calvin Griffith, and his collection of team memorabilia became particularly notable when the organization had its first TwinsFest at the Metrodome in Being hired in 2009 as a full-time employee, he said, was a dream job. Doepner of course has logged memorabilia from all generations of Twins baseball Harmon Killebrew to Kirby Puckett to Joe Mauer and now the new generation with Miguel Sano and co. Among his favorite pieces are those from Killebrew, a player he considers his hero. But the collection still is growing, as evidenced by an addition from the very recently retired Torii Hunter. We knew something was up when after his last game here he gave us his 2015 game-used glove, Doepner said. We ve got his glove, his last jersey and his last hat. Preserving that history for future generations is his passion and joy. All I am is just a humble caretaker that gets to show off the Twins archives, Doepner said. Boy this is cool; I get to be a part of this. Twinsights: Peers name Paul Molitor AL Manager of the Year Mike Berardino Pioneer Press October 27, 2015 Due to his hall of fame playing career, Paul Molitor had the respect of his players and his peers from the outset upon moving to the Twins dugout this year. Those peers apparently thought he did a pretty good job as a rookie manager, too, voting him American League Manager of the Year in polling conducted by the Sporting News. I think he did a remarkable job for a guy that s never done it, Twins general manager Terry Ryan said after the season. Everything that surrounded that chair, he s the final decision maker. He s basically the face of the franchise. He s the one that talks almost every day. How do you deal with the people on the field? How do you deal with the inner workings of the clubhouse? He had never done any of that. After guiding the Twins to 83 wins and a surprising second-place finish in the AL Central, Molitor, 59, proved he could handle the challenges that came with a first-time job title. He joined Sam Mele (1965), Tom Kelly (1991) and Ron Gardenhire (2004 and 2010) as Twins managers to win the award. The 13-win improvement after four straight seasons of 92-plus losses stood as the seventh-largest in Twins history. Terry Collins, who guided the Mets to their first National League pennant in 15 years, was the NL honoree in voting conducted before the postseason began. 3

4 Molitor received five votes to outpoll Houston s A.J. Hinch, who finished second with three votes. Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister, another first-time skipper, tied for third with Toronto s John Gibbons. Joe Girardi (Yankees) and Kevin Cash (Rays) also received votes. The BBWAA Managers of the Year will be announced Nov. 17 on MLB Network. How good was Torii Hunter? Measuring an 'all-time near-great Marino Eccher Pioneer Press October 27, 2015 After word broke Monday that Torii Hunter was calling it a career, Twins pitcher Alex Meyer tweeted: "Good luck to one of the all-time greats in retirement." The headline over on Deadspin.com was fractionally less laudatory, dubbing Hunter an "all-time near-great." So just how all-time was this guy? By the numbers, he was certainly all-time respectable. His counting stats, on the strength of 17 full seasons in the majors, nip at the outskirts of Hall of Fame territory: 2,452 hits (112th in MLB history) 353 home runs (90th) 498 doubles (tied for 63rd) 1,391 RBI (80th) He was seldom transcendent at the plate in individual seasons, recording no top-10 seasons in adjusted OPS or runs created. His career batting average is.277, tied for No. 722 all-time. His career OPS+ is 110, tied for No But he was pretty good and kept showing up: Only 79 players have ever taken more at-bats, and only 90 played in more games. Defensively, the picture is more complex than one might expect from a player who won nine consecutive Gold Gloves: His.9905 fielding percentage is tied for 45th all time among outfielders. He twice (in 2000 and 2001) led the league in Range Factor, a measure of putouts and assists per inning played, and finished in the top 10 another two times, per baseball-reference.com. Sean Smith's Total Zone rating, a measure of runs saved above the average fielder, says he was excellent in 2001, his first Gold Glove year, saving 20 runs (3rd in baseball). But it pegs him as mediocre for the half-decade after that, and quite bad (minus 48) over his final four seasons in center before switching to right. The same system has him at minus-50 over the course of his career. Hunter, for the record, never cared for those measures, saying when he came back to Minnesota last winter: "I think whoever believes in that sabermetrics stuff never played the game and won't understand it." Over the course of his career, Hunter amassed 50 Wins Above Replacement -- an estimate of how many wins he contributed over a generic scrub. That ties him for 189th all time with Fred Lynn, another high-flying centerfielder. He's in the same ballpark, WAR-wise, as David Ortiz (who is still going), Bernie Williams, Jason Giambi, and Kirby Puckett (Kirby, of course, racked up those wins in five fewer seasons). About half of those wins came with the Twins. That ranks him 10th for position players in franchise history (21st if you count Washington Senators), sandwiched between Gary Gaetti and Cesar Tovar. Throw his total career WAR in with Twins lifers and it looks like this: Rod Carew (63.7 wins) Harmon Killebrew (56.8) Kirby Puckett (50.9) Hunter (50.0) Joe Mauer (47.8 and counting). We suspect that's a little closer to how fans will remember him. 4

5 Wetmore: Hunter's retirement eliminates potentially awkward decision Derek Wetmore 1500 ESPN October 27, 2015 The first important domino has fallen in the Twins offseason. Torii Hunter made it known Monday that he will retire from baseball after a final season with the Twins that had its ups and downs. At age 40, Hunter was the center of one of the most interesting decisions of the winter for the Twins. Instead, Hunter made the decision for them, which may have saved them from a potentially awkward situation with a guy who helped turn the Twins around in 2015, but who may not be their best everyday option in Manager Paul Molitor appeared on Pat Reusse's radio show on 1500ESPN last week and among the many topics addressed was the belief that the Twins have a handful of young intriguing outfielders. Molitor stopped short of agreeing with that sentiment. He said, in essence, that while there's a nice collection, each player in the mix has something yet to prove. Still, an optimist's view of the Twins' prospect cupboard would suggest they're ready to replace Hunter's production, offensively and defensively, with in-house upgrades ready to play in the Majors. Any return might have meant reduced playing time for Hunter, given the options available to the Twins as early as April Eddie Rosario Best-guess arrival: He's already arrived 2015: Rosario had a strong rookie year, in which he hit.267/.289/.459 with 46 extra-base hits and 50 RBIs. He also was one of the best defensive left fielders in baseball, and showed savvy on the bases, too. The case against: Rosario was a free swinger in his rookie season, and regularly chased pitches out of the strike zone. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is ugly (118:15), which leads to questions about his approach at the plate. Still, it would be a surprise to see Rosario begin 2016 anywhere other than an outfield corner in Target Field. Aaron Hicks Best-guess arrival: He's already arrived 2015: After two disappointing seasons in the Majors, Hicks broke out in 2015, finally showing some of the traits the Twins had been waiting for out of the former first-round pick. Hicks hit.259/.333/.432 after July 1 and was an asset wherever he played in the field. He should have a starting job locked up to begin The case against: Hicks seemed to trade in some of his patience at the plate for more power, which on the surface is a fine tradeoff. But one of the things that made Hicks stand out as a prospect was his high on-base percentage, based in part on the fact he drew walks frequently. That went away a little bit in 2015, but Hicks still turned in a nice season when he was healthy. Byron Buxton Best-guess arrival: May : Baseball's top prospect surfaced at the Major Leagues last season after tearing up Double-A Chattanooga. He struggled big time in the Majors, and general manager Terry Ryan said after the season that he believes he rushed Buxton. His defensive value was clear just about any time he stepped on a baseball field. The case against: Buxton's bat was well behind his glove, and despite the value he adds with his great arm and great speed, he'll need to improve his hitting to become the star many envision. If his pitch recognition improves, it would not be a surprise at all to see Buxton as the opening day centerfielder next year. But I wonder if it's not more likely to see him begin the year in Triple-A Rochester, leading off and playing center. 5

6 Oswaldo Arcia Best-guess arrival: Opening day : Arcia has tremendous power and all that amounted to last year was a nightmare of a season. Arcia chased a lot of pitches outside the strike zone and sometimes drew criticism for his approach at the plate and his play in the outfield. Still, Arcia belted 20 home runs in 410 plate appearances in 2014 at the young age of 23, so there's big potential in the bat. After getting roughly 800 combined plate appearances the previous two seasons in the Majors, Arcia was limited to 65 plate appearances in 2015, in part because of injury and in part because he never resurfaced after a demotion to Triple-A while on a rehab assignment. The case against: The case against Arcia beginning in the big leagues next year as a DH/part-time outfielder is listed above (see: 2015). He hit.199/.257/.372 in the minors and got passed by Buxton, Rosario and Max Kepler on the organization's outfield depth chart. Arcia is out of minor league options. Max Kepler Best-guess arrival: June : Kepler was the man for Double-A Chattanooga, winning the Southern League MVP and leading his Lookouts to the league championship. He got a taste of the big leagues after the championship season concluded, but he didn't play much for the Twins, who were in the race until the season's final weekend. Kepler hit a fantastic.322/.416/.531 with an impressive 63:67 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He also stole 18 bases in 22 tries. Kepler had an all-around good season and could easily make the case for beginning the 2016 season in the Majors. The case against: Statistically, there's not really a case to be made against Kepler getting his shot in the Majors. The case against him is the depth the Twins have in front of him and the fact that he's unproven in the Majors. -- And this focus on the outfield ignores some potential questions at DH, where the Twins might have some things to sort through. This could still be a busy offseason for the Twins. Torii Hunter retiring frees up some space on the 25-man roster, some salary, some playing time, and gives Paul Molitor the chance to hand over the keys to the younger outfielders in the system. Would an opening day outfield in 2016 of Rosario, Hicks and Arcia make sense? Kepler and Buxton likely will have something to say about that, and even though they're young and inexperienced, the Twins are on the cusp of showing they've got some depth in the outfield. Torii Hunter's memorable brand of baseball will be missed Christina Kahrl ESPN October 27, 2015 So Torii Hunter is calling it a career, and I can't help but feel a little sad to see him go. Above all else, I'll miss the performance, because he was one of the most reliably entertaining grinders the game gave us over the past 15 years. Between how he played and the example he set on the field, you could enjoy what he had on tap. You can also respect that Hunter called it a career when he did. A hundred-point drop in OPS from 2013 to 2015 brought him to his lowest level of performance at the plate in 15 years, but even that masks that he cranked out a solid.756 OPS in the first half this season to initially help propel the Twins toward their underdog bid for a wild card, a return to relevance that lasted into the season's final weekend. But Hunter stumbled badly in the second half of the 2015 season, hitting.217/.265/.359. The Twins played him daily down the stretch, but it became clear he wasn't doing them a ton of good and that, if all of the kids had been healthy, he might not have made the grade in an outfield with Aaron Hicks and Eddie Rosario breaking through and with Byron Buxton on the cusp of taking over in center field. And, as much faith as you can place in today's advanced defensive metrics, he'd declined from a top-tier defender in center and then right field to a guy who was costing his club 10 or more runs in the field in each of his last three seasons, according to Baseball Info Solutions' Defensive Runs Saved. He'd lost several steps that made him great in every phase of the game, but what the numbers really don't say is that, if this was Hunter's last full measure, it meant something. The Twins are respectable again, in the place he helped them get to when he broke through to stay more than 15 years ago. 6

7 Some might say Hunter was not a capital-g great player, in the sense that he wasn't always great, or perhaps even that he was merely very good, a member of the non-existent Hall of The Very Good -- awesome in his way, but something less than Cooperstown-worthy. But for the 99.9 percent of all ballplayers who aren't Mike Trout or ever will be, noting that risks losing sight of the things that really did make Hunter great, or what Hunter made great about himself. It wasn't his gifts, at least not by themselves. It wasn't just the quick hands at bat or the alley-to-alley range in center or the speed on the bases he brought to the table as a younger man. Beyond all of that, Hunter was also the blue-chip prospect who proved he had the resilience to deliver on his talent after stumbling hard initially, coming back from a multi-demotion he earned in his second season after putting up a homerless.543 OPS two months into 2000 by busting out to become perhaps the key star player during the Twins' run of grinding contention in the early Aughties. Having come into his own, he grew and delivered. After coming back from that early-career setback, he delivered a tremendous 10-year run of honest-to-god greatness. He hit 276/.335/.482, averaging 24 home runs and more than 140 games played per season. He was good enough to rank among the top-20 players in the game ranked by WAR during that decade, just a hair behind guys named Jeter or Manny, and second among regular center fielders, trailing only Carlos Beltran. Second-best center fielder in baseball for a decade in a 30-team league? Yes, I'd call that great. Would I put him in Cooperstown with a.793 OPS, 353 career homers, and Gold Glove defense delivered during one of the most dynamic periods in the game's history? On a big enough ballot, I'd give it a lot of thought, because he was that good for that long at a premium defensive position. Of course there's the other side of the coin. For those who pick the nit that he didn't walk enough, he got his free-pass rate up to 8-9 percent as he aged, on top of providing durability as well as Gold Glove-worthy defense in center field. And he retained that value on defense, even after breaking his left ankle in 2005, which cost him the second half of the season. By most accounts, that combination of durability and performance can be added to an exceptional reputation among his teammates. For most of his career, with the Twins, Angels or Tigers, if he was on your team, you were glad you had him, something that was effectively true until just a few months ago. As a result, Hunter more than earned the right to leave the game under his own power, and it's that legacy people are likely to remember, not things he's said or people who think he should have made less money or walked more or any of the other things about Hunter that bugged some people some of the time. I say skip all that, remember the player, and enjoy what he gave us on the field. I know that I will, because what he did was worth remembering: The wall-banging catches, the aggressive throws, the big hits. Hunter was a player you don't forget easily. For that, I'm grateful, as I suspect many of you are as well. Twins name stadium bar after Kirby Puckett's 1991 World Series catch Don Muret Sporting News October 28, 2015 As the 2015 World Series gets into full swing, longtime Minnesota Twins fans fondly remember the 1991 Fall Classic and "The Catch," a moment forever burned in their memories. In Game 6 that year, the late Kirby Puckett, the Twins' Hall of Fame center fielder, made a leaping catch at the wall of the old Metrodome to rob Ron Gant of an extra-base hit. It prevented the Atlanta Braves from scoring their first run of the game and kept momentum on the Twins' side as they ultimately won their second MLB title. Almost 25 years later, the Twins still celebrate the moment. As part of a $5 million renovation of Target Field, the team has converted a portion of center field seats into Catch, a premium club for about 120 season-ticket holders. Tickets are priced at $75 to $85 a game and cover the cost of finger foods, beer, wine and soft drinks. There are two rows of movable chairs and drink rails fronting the club, supported by lounge-style seating and a full-service bar. One level above Catch is another group area called Minnie & Paul's, a larger general-admission space named for the two players in the Twins' original logo. The layout consists of drink rails, high-top tables and covered concession stands showcasing local brands and some premium food options. The Twins envisioned both spaces to meet the needs of younger fans more interested in the social experience of sports than keeping track of every pitch. 7

8 In that respect, Catch and Minnie & Paul's were inspired by upper deck retrofits such as The Rooftop at Coors Field, The Corner at Progressive Field and Fenway Park's Green Monster seats, according to Twins President Dave St. Peter. The center-field roof deck at Oriole Park at Camden Yards is a similar retrofit compared with Target Field. Another model was Barrio, named for a local Mexican restaurant, which opened at Target Field for the 2015 season and became a popular destination serving high-end tequila drinks. "It's targeting the younger demographics," St. Peter said. "It's all about creating those gathering spaces." 8