Puckett's Pond » Livan Hernandez

Joel Piniero, Jeff Francis, Jon Garland. Please tell me this is a joke, Twins!

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:08:30 +0000

The Twins are at it again. They’re targeting a trio of past-their-prime starting pitchers who get knocked around and cannot buy a strikeout. It seems the Twins have learned nothing from their experiments with Sidney Ponson, Livan Hernandez, and Ramon Ortiz. Instead of targeting a respectable #2 or #3 starter, the Twins are chasing after a parade of #5s. I know this isn’t exactly breaking news – the rumors came out last week, and the Twins have been looking at Francis since before the Winter Meetings – but I feel the need to address it before the Twins do something stupid (not that I can stop them, but at least I can shake my head and say “I told you so”).

The 33 year old Piniero had a 5.13 ERA last year in 27 starts with the Angels. His strikeout rate was 3.8 per nine innings. That number was very low even for Piniero, but not totally out of character; he hasn’t struck out more than 5.5 per nine since 2004. In 2011, Piniero gave up 181 hits in just 145 innings, helping pad a Blackburnesque WHIP of 1.51.

Francis, 30, beat Piniero in pretty much every statistical category last year, but that is not saying much, of course. He had a still-ugly 4.82 ERA in 2011 to go with 4.5 K/9 and 1.44 WHIP and 224 hits allowed in 183 IP. (more…)

Josh Willingham: the Newest Twin

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:08:00 +0000

As Eric Pleiss told you yesterday, the Twins have apparently reached an agreement with Josh Willingham. No official announcement has been made by the Twins, but the rumor mill says this is a d0ne deal. The former Oakland slugger will likely man right field for Minnesota in 2012. In 2011, he hit .246/.332/.477 with 29 homers.

The terms of Willingham’s contract were not available as of the time of this writing, but he is expected to receive something not far from the 3 year, $24 million deal the Twins reportedly offered Cuddyer [UPDATE: the deal is rumored to be for three years and $21 million]. If so, that would shatter the record for the biggest contract the Twins have ever written for a free agent (not counting players already on the team who were re-signed). Based on my unscientific search of Baseball Reference salary data, the highest single year salary the Twins have ever signed a free agent for was the $5 million they offered to Livan Hernandez in 2008. The fact that this deal pushes Hernandez permanently out of the team’s record books means it’s already a good move, because I hate remembering that he was on the team.

Even if you adjust for inflation, this deal is still probably a record breaker. Jack Morris signed a $3.7 million yearly deal in 1991. That deal comes out to about $5.9 million in modern money. (more…)

Bill Smith on Trial

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:00:37 +0000

Hear ye, hear ye. The Supreme Court of Puckett’s Pond is now in session. The case on the docket today is People v. Bill Smith. Mr. Smith is charged with the crime of making a series of poor personnel decisions that have destroyed the Twins 2011 season and seriously impaired the organization’s future. How does the defense plead?

DEFENSE: Not guilty, your honor.

Then we’ll let the Prosecution open this up by listing the charges.

The Prosecution’s Case

Exhibit A: on November 28, 2007, Bill Smith willfully traded Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett, and Eduardo Morlan to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Delmon Young, Jason Pridie, and Brendan Harris. Garza and Bartlett solidified a terrible Rays team that reached the World Series the next year. Meanwhile, Harris, a career journeyman before joining the Twins, was inept both in the field and at the plate. Young spent four seasons teasing fans with vast power potential that was never realized and annoying them with his questionable fielding. (more…)