Last we saw him…

At the 2009 trade deadline, the Twins traded middle infielder Tyler Ladendorf to the Athletics for Cabrera in order to solidify the shortstop position. Cabrera hit .289 and knocked in 36 runs over the course of the remainder of the season, but he committed 11 errors in 57 games and led the majors with 25 on the year. 

In game 163, Cabrera hit a two-run shot in the seventh inning en route to a 6-5 extra-innings Twins win over the Tigers. He went 2-13 in the playoffs as the Twins were swept by the Yankees in three games and left as a free agent after the season. 

What he’s been up to since
Cabrera signed a one-year contract with Cincinnati in 2010 and, while on the disabled list, acted as the Reds’ bat boy for one game in full bat-boy attire, bringing balls to the home plate umpire and collecting bats. He signed on with Cleveland the following year, got his 2,000th hit in June, and was traded to the Giants the following month. He retired after the season. 

What he’s doing now
Cabrera said he would come out of retirement if the Colombian team made it to the 2013 WBC final round. Unfortunately, the team didn’t make it out of the qualifying round. Cabrera retired just over a year ago and waited until mid January to make his announcement, so it wouldn’t be shocking to hear he’s been working out and to see his name pop up as a veteran bench option for a major-market team, if someone gets injured after the trade deadline this season. 

Early last week, before all the hubbub about the Winter Meetings, Terry Ryan sat down for a conference call with Twins Season Ticket Holders.  K-Bro has all the details.

And in a complete turnaround, Joe Mauer took some time out of his busy winter conditioning schedule to sit down with the media, discuss his injury plagued 2011 season and what lies ahead for him in the years ahead.  Knuckleballs’ Jim Crikket writes that it is a step in the right direction.

So who is Pedro Florimon Jr.?  The Tenth Inning Stretch has all the info you’ll need about the young Dominican.

The Rookie of the Year award receives all of the press and excitement associated with a trophy awarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America.  The Sophomore of the Year award, long defunct,  is relegated to The Platoon Advantage, for now.  The Common Man has done the research for you, including turning up a SOY award winner among Cooperstown’s newest inductees.

Earlier this week Tim McCarver was awarded the Ford C. Frick award for broadcasting excellence.  Luckily he’s been a pretty solid broadcaster throughout his career, because he certainly isn’t winning any awards for his counting.

Over at FanGraphs Josh Goldman examines the role of September Call-Ups and how they impact the end of the MLB season, including pennant races.  Not something that your normally think about, because if your team is out of it, you don’t mind seeing Minor Leaguers come up and get a shot, and if you’re competing against them to race into a playoff spot, you usually don’t mind seeing a few innings from a Minor League reliever.

It was announced earlier this morning that the New York Yankees had won the posting for Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima.  The only problem is that the Yankees don’t really have room for Nakajima.  If he turns out to be anything like Tsuyoshi Nishioka, that won’t be a problem.

This video of a baseball prank isn’t winning the Video of the Week award, but it almost did.  NotGraphs with more baseball prank video gold! (This video of astronaut baseball isn’t the video of the week either, but it’s still pretty neat.)  (more…)

Punto was a useful utility guy for the Cards when he wasn’t hurt this season, compiling a .388 on-base percentage and playing his usual stellar defense. His performance at the plate wasn’t so solid in the playoffs. In 15 postseason games (six each in the World Series and LCS, and three in the NLDS), Punto went six for 35 (.171) with three RBI. While he played in all but one game of the World Series, he only collected three hits (all singles), but he walked five times, leading to a bizarre .214/.421/.214 slash line.

Like Punto, Lohse played well during the season but wasn’t as good in the postseason. He was 14-8 with a 3.39 ERA in the first 162 games. In the postseason he was 0-2 with a 7.81 ERA. In 12.2 innings pitched, he gave up 18 hits and 11 earned runs. Lohse made one World Series start, in Game 3. Lohse breezed through three innings, but he couldn’t get an out in the fourth. He faced four men, and three came around to score in the biggest slugfest of the World Series, a 16-7 Cards win.

Lohse and Punto are the latest Twins to win a championship, but they’re not the only ones. The 2010 Giants and the 2009 Yankees somehow managed to win it all without the help of any former Twins. But most of the other championship teams this century have had at least one:

2008 Phillies

J.C. Romero was a very important bullpen arm for this squad. In 59 regular season innings, he struck out 52 and earned a respectable 2.75 ERA. Romero made it into four of the five World Series games, and he didn’t allow a single run in 4.2 innings versus the Rays. In the process he notched two wins. (more…)