Minnesota Twins Daily Morning Dip: A Deserving Hall of Famer

Minnesota Twins Daily Dip, November 7th, 2017

Welcome to the November 7th edition of the Daily Dip, your daily piece of news and notes here on Puckett’s Pond, offseason edition. You’ll find the most recent news of the Minnesota Twins organization, stories from around the game, and links to any information you may want to know about the Minnesota Twins or baseball as we work our way through the hot stove season!

Minnesota Twins Scores, News and Notes

Arizona Fall League Update

Surprise scored first in the game, but the Rafters walked off with the win in the bottom of the 9th, 2-1. LaMonte Wade was responsible for the only Saguaros run, going 1-4 with a solo home run. None of the other Twins in Arizona made it into the Monday game.

Surprise will have a traditional Sunday off today.

Twins players totals in the AFL:
Chris Paul, 12 games, 48 AB, .250/.308/.375, 3 2B, HR, 3/13 BB/K
Sean Miller, 10 games, 38 AB, .316/.350/.342, 2B, 2 SB, 2/8 BB/K
LaMonte Wade, 16 games, 59 AB, .254/.362/.441, 3 2B, 3B, 2 HR, SB, 8/8 BB/K
Andrew Vasquez, 8 games, 10 1/3 IP, 0.87 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 3/10 BB/K
Thomas Hackimer, 7 games, 8 2/3 IP, 3.12 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 5/8 BB/K
Tyler Jay, 7 games, 6 2/3 IP, 6.75 ERA, 1.95 WHIP, 3/7 BB/K
Ryan Eades, 8 games, 10 1/3 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 3/8 BB/K

Molitor named finalist for AL Manager of the Year

BBWAA award finalists were released on Monday, and the only Twin that will be up for a “major” award is manager Paul Molitor, who will be one of the three finalists for the American League Manager of the Year.

Twins lose Turley, outright Gimenez and O’Rourke

Nik Turley was claimed on waivers by the Pirates on Monday after he was placed on waivers. Chris Gimenez and Ryan O’Rourke were designated and cleared waivers. The Twins chose to outright them, but because both players have been outrighted previously, they could both elect free agency instead.

Morris on Modern Era ballot

After a postseason where his impressive game 7 performance in 1991 was discussed frequently, Jack Morris has been named to the Modern Era ballot of the Veterans Committee ballot for the Hall of Fame.

Former Twins coach Stelmaszek passes away

Rick Stelmaszek, the former bullpen coach who spent 32 years as a Twins coach, passed away on Monday due to complications from pancreatic cancer. He served from 1982-2012 as a coach within the organization, seeing his way through the build up to the 1987 World Series and the 1991 World Series, the rough mid-90s, and the rebound and decade of competitive teams in the 2000s.

Twins hire Shelton for bench coach

A contact from his Indians days got Derek Falvey his new bench coach for the Twins, as the team hired Derek Shelton on Monday. Shelton worked with the Blue Jays in 2017, but he had worked in 2005-2009 as the hitting coach for the Indians, where he impressed a young Falvey.

Notes from around baseball

Next: Twins FA Pitching Options

One Last Thing

Today is the 79th birthday of Twins great Jim Kaat. One of the absolute shames in seeing the announcement of the Modern Era candidates for the Veteran’s Committee is to remember the fact that Jim Kaat is still not a member of the Hall of Fame.

Kaat won 190 games with the Twins from 1961-1973. Over his career, he won 283 games, threw 4,530 1/3 innings, was selected to 3 All-Star games, and won a remarkable 16 Gold Gloves. Only Greg Maddux has won more Gold Gloves as a pitcher in his career, and even he credits Kaat as being the best he’s ever seen field the ball off of the mound. Yet, somehow Kaat never cleared 30% on any Hall of Fame ballot.

There are currently only three pitchers with more wins in history than Kaat’s 283 that are not in the Hall of Fame, two of which pitched their entire career before 1900. The other is Tommy John, who is on the ballot for the Veteran’s Committee this year.

Hopefully this is corrected while Jim is around to be present for the induction! Happy birthday, Jim!!

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