Minnesota Twins Daily Morning Dip: Big Money Morneau

Minnesota Twins Daily Dip, January 25th, 2018

Welcome to the January 25th 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 Organizational Scores

Australian Baseball League Update
The ABL is off until Thursday.

Player Stats:
Todd Van Steensel, Sydney – 5.2 IP, 14.29 ERA, 3.18 WHIP, 4/7 BB/K
Aaron Whitefield, Brisbane – .304/.377/.457, 92 AB, 2 HR, 9 SB, 12/25 BB/K

Dominican Winter League Update
None of the Twins representatives played in the game on Wednesday night.

Player Stats:
Tyler Kinley – Tigres del Licey – 19 IP, 0.47 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 11/32 BB/K
Adalberto Mejia – Gigantes del Cibao – 21 IP, 3.43 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 8/15 BB/K
Kennys Vargas, Aguilas Cibaenas – .222/.311/.407, 54 AB, 2 HR, 7/20 BB/K
T.J. White – Gigantes del Cibao – .000/.000/.000, 14 AB, 0/5

Mexican Winter League Update
None of the Twins representatives are still playing in the league championship series.

Player Stats:
Jermaine Curtis, Naranjeros de Hermosillo – .161/.278/.226, 31 AB, 1 HR, 3/8 BB/K
Brock Stassi, Charros de Jaisco – .234/.387/.364, 107 AB, 2 HR, 28/25 BB/K

Puerto Rican Winter League Update
Indios de Mayaguez fell to Cangrejeros de Santurce 2-1 in a walk-off loss on Wednesday. Kennys Vargas started at first base for the Indios, going 2-4 with a double and a pair of strikeouts.

Player Stats:
Nelson Molina, Indios de Mayaguez – .000/.000/.000, 2 AB
Kennys Vargas, Indios de Mayaguez – .308/.471/.558, 52 AB, 4 HR, 18/16 BB/K

Venezuelan Winter League Update
Caribes de Anzoategui tied the championship series at 2 games apiece with Cardenales de Lara with a 3-2 win on Wednesday. Willians Astudillo started in left for the Caribes, going 1-3 with an RBI.

Player Stats:
Melvi Acosta, Bravos de Margarita – 3 IP, 3.00 ERA, 2.33 WHIP, 1/1 BB/K
Willians Astudillo, Caribes de Anzoategui – .319/.365/.461, 204 AB, 6 HR, 11/4 BB/K
Omar Bencomo, Bravos de Margarita – 75 1/3 IP, 4.42 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, 19/50 BB/K
Edwar Colina – Navegantes del Magallanes – 5 IP, 3.60 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 3/2 BB/K
Jermaine Curtis, Aguilas de Zulia – .400/.400/.600, 5 AB, 0/1 BB/K
Anderson Munoz, Aguilas de Zulia – 15 2/3 IP, 3.45 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 13/9 BB/K
Gregorio Petit, Leones del Caracas – .299/.358/.449, 3 HR, 3 SB, 11/17 BB/K
Leonardo Reginatto, Bravos de Margarita – .285/.326/.331, 172 AB, 1 HR, 3 SB, 10/32 BB/K

Minnesota Twins news and notes

Santana falls off the ballot
Though the Twins elected Johan Santana to their team Hall of Fame last Friday, the BBWAA was not as kind to Johan on Wednesday, and he fell below the 5% number required to stay on the ballot.

Rogers learns from Blyleven
After having a breakthrough season, lefty reliever Taylor Rogers is still talking with veterans and players from the past to prepare for 2018. Recently, he spent some time with Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven.

Notes from around baseball

Next: Would Dozier extension be wise?

One Last Thing

On this day in 2008, the Minnesota Twins signed Justin Morneau to a 6-year, $80 million extension. When he signed it, Morneau’s deal was the largest deal ever signed in Twins history. Teammate Joe Mauer would surpass his number in the following offseason.

Morneau would go on to finish 2nd in the MVP voting in 2008, and he topped 30 home runs and 100 RBI in 2009, but concussion issues would strike in 2010, and the rest of the deal would be expensive for the Twins as they did not get a ton of playing time out of Morneau for the price they were paying.

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