Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Wednesday, January 13, 2016

 Milone part of group of arb-eligible Twins. MLB.com (Bollinger) p. 1  Arbitration expected to be more costly for Twins. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 1  Milone, five other Twins file for arbitration. Fox Sports (Garro) p. 2  All-time great : 1970s. ESPN (Schoenfield) p. 2  Top 10 Prospects. America (Berardino) p. 4

Milone part of group of arb-eligible Twins

Rhett Bollinger | MLB.com | January 12, 2016

The Twins had six players file for arbitration on Tuesday, with the deadline to exchange salary figures coming Friday.

Left-hander Tommy Milone, relievers Kevin Jepsen and Casey Fien, and infielders , Eduardo Nunez and Eduardo Escobar all filed for salary arbitration after being tendered contracts on Dec. 3.

If recent history is any indication, the Twins are likely to agree to contracts with most or all of their arbitration-eligible players on or before Friday. Minnesota had six players eligible for arbitration last year, and the club agreed to terms with Milone, Fien, Plouffe and Nunez on the same day they exchanged contract figures. Escobar is arbitration-eligible for the first time this year, while Jepsen was acquired by the Twins in a with the Rays before the non-waiver Trade Deadline.

Clubs such as the Blue Jays, Braves, Brewers, Dodgers, Indians, Marlins, Pirates, Rays and White Sox employ a file-and-trial policy that treats Friday as a firm deadline before going to a hearing, but the Twins don't employ such a policy. For example, the Twins couldn't reach agreements with and Jordan Schafer on the same day they exchanged figures last year, but the club signed both of them a week later to avoid an arbitration hearing. The Twins have avoided hearings in recent years, as they haven't been to one since 2006 with Kyle Lohse. In the unlikely case the Twins can't work a deal and have to go to an arbitration hearing, a three-person panel decides to either choose the team's proposed salary or the player's proposed salary for the upcoming season.

Arbitration expected to be more costly for Twins

Phil Miller | Star Tribune | January 12, 2016

The Twins and their six arbitration-eligible players will trade salary offers on Friday, and if Minnesota’s history holds, most of the six will agree to new contracts by the end of the day.

In fact, four of the six eligible Twins players did exactly that one year ago. Infielders Trevor Plouffe and Eduardo Nunez and Tommy Milone and Casey Fien all quickly settled on their 2015 salaries after exchanging salary proposals with assistant general Rob Antony, and all four are going through the process again this year, joined by shortstop Eduardo Escobar and reliever Kevin Jepsen.

The dollar figures will be quite a bit higher this year, but Antony doesn’t believe that should make the contracts any more difficult to work out, or take any longer to settle. In fact, “sometimes the smaller-dollar cases are tougher because [$50,000, for example] is a big difference to the player,” Antony said. “I don’t think the dollars being higher will be an issue. The process is still the same.”

That process last year produced contracts totaling $14.225 million for a half-dozen contracts, led by Plouffe’s $4.8 million salary. This year’s arbitration cases could cost the Twins $10 million more.

That’s because players generally receive large raises as they accumulate service time, and five of the six Twins in this year’s group, all but Escobar, have been through the process before.

Contract projections by mlbtraderumors.com suggest that Plouffe alone will cost $7.7 million, coming off a season in which he belted 22 home runs, improved his defense and appeared in all but 10 games. And Jepsen, who saved 10 games in two months with the Twins, figures to get a big raise over last year’s $3 million salary; the website predicts Jepsen, who can become a free agent after the season, doubles his pay to $6 million.

Other mlbtraderumors.com projections: Nunez, $1.5 million, up from last year’s $1.025; Fien, $2.2 million, an increase over last year’s $1.375; Milone, $4.5 million, a 66 percent hike from last year’s $2.7 million; and Escobar, who has taken over as the Twins’ starting shortstop in each of the past two seasons, $1.8 million after earning roughly $532,000 last year. All together, the Twins’ arbitration cases total $23.7 million under those projections.

If the sides cannot come to an agreement, a three-member panel of arbitrators will hold a hearing in February, hear evidence from both sides on why their salary suggestion is justified, and choose one or the other. The Twins have not reached an arbitration hearing with a player since Kyle Lohse was awarded $3.95 million in 2006.

A year ago, the Twins signed four players just a few hours after exchanging figures, but two other contracts took longer to work out. Jordan Schaffer ($1.55 million) and Brian Duensing ($2.7 million) didn’t come to terms until a week later, causing owner Jim Pohlad to joke, as he presented Duensing with a community service award at the team’s annual Diamond Awards banquet, that “we have an arbitration case with Brian, so I can’t say anything nice about him.”

Milone, five other Twins file for arbitration

Adrian Garro | Fox Sports | January 13, 2016

Six members of the Minnesota Twins filed for salary arbitration ahead of Tuesday's deadline.

Coming up on Friday, players and clubs will exchange figures and see if a deal can be struck - and if not, they'll head to arbitration.

Among the Twins that filed are the following players: relievers Kevin Jepsen and Casey Fien, infielders Eduardo Escobar, Trevor Plouffe and Eduardo Nunez and starting Tommy Milone.

MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger pointed out that the Twins' recent history suggests the club will be able to reach agreements on 2016 salaries with these players before Friday and avoid arbitration altogether. In fact, Minnesota hasn't had to go to an arbitration hearing with a player since Kyle Lohse in 2006.

For Milone, 28, this will be his first opportunity to go through the arbitration process. In 2015, Milone went 9-5 with a 3.92 ERA for the Twins in 24 appearances, 23 of them coming as a starter.

It was his first full season with the Twins since coming over from the during the 2014 season, and he earned $2,775,000 for his services. He's probably in line for a bit of a pay raise based on his 2015 numbers and the league's current pitching market.

All-time great bullpens: 1970s

David Schoenfield | ESPN | January 13, 2016

OK, I got sidetracked writing about the Wei-Yin Chen and Gerardo Parra signings and writing a bit on Monte Irvin. Back to our series on the best of all time.

In some ways, the 1970s didn't change all that much from the 1960s. Pitching still dominated the sport in the early 1970s; in fact, the percentage of complete games increased early in the decade. As late as 1974, 28 percent of all games were complete games, the highest rate since 1959. As offense crept back into the game, however, that percentage began declining and by 1979 it was down to 21.7 percent.

The 1970s did see two major changes, however. Teams started allocating more of the opportunities to one reliever. In the 1960s, only three 2 relievers saved 30 games in a season, topped by Jack Aker's 32 for the Kansas City A's in 1966. Only 16 times did a reliever record 25-plus saves. In the 1970s, there were 16 30-save seasons and 36 25-save seasons. Yes, there were a couple expansions in there, but managers started going more to the "" concept -- not that they were called closers back then.

The other change came from Cubs manager Herman Franks. arrived on the scene in 1976 and saved 31 games in 1977. But in both 1977 and 1978, Sutter tired in the second half. In 1978, he pitched 56.1 with a 1.76 ERA in the first half but fell to a 5.10 ERA in the second half. So in 1979, Franks altered his use of Sutter, preserving him primarily for games only when the Cubs were leading, rather than any game that was close. This has been written about many times.

Sutter won the in 1979, saving 37 games with a 2.22 ERA. Here's the thing though: He pitched 101.1 innings in 1979 -- after pitching 98.2 in 1978. Has Franks' contribution to history been overstated? Luckily, Sutter appeared in about the identical number of games all three seasons and Franks was the manager all three seasons, making it easy to track how Sutter was used (as always, huge tip to the indispensable Baseball-Reference.com):

1977: 62 games -- 6 when behind, 12 when tied, 44 when ahead

1978: 64 games -- 2 when behind, 16 when tied, 46 when ahead

1979: 62 games -- 4 when behind, 9 when tied, 49 when ahead

I don't know; I'm not denying Franks his place in the spotlight, but if he changed how he used Sutter, it was a pretty subtle change. I do think he did something different, or at least was more conscious about limiting Sutter's long relief appearances. His appearances of more than two innings: 20 in 1977, 13 in 1978, 10 in 1979. That was the biggest change, and helped Sutter spread his workload more evenly throughout the season.

This usage pattern did eventually catch on. Some of the top relievers in the 1970s threw insane totals of innings, topped by 's record 208 in 1974 with the Dodgers. John Hiller threw 150 that year and threw 167 in 1976. Jim Kern would throw 143 in 1979. topped 130 three times. Those innings totals began dropping in the 1980s.

Anyway, my three best bullpens of the 1970s:

1. 1972 (96-59): 21-9, 2.25 ERA, 48 saves, 75-0 when leading after seven

Yes, 1972 was the low-water mark for offense in the decade, but this pen had the lowest ERA of the decade and check out that record when leading after seven innings: Perfect. (1.93 ERA, 22 saves) from the right side and Ramon Hernandez (1.67 ERA, 14 saves) from the left side were the late- 1-2 punch. was a part-time starter who posted a 1.49 ERA in 48 innings in relief and Bob Miller had a 2.65 ERA in 54 innings. and contributed as well when they weren't in the rotation. This pen didn't need much depth because the starters were so effective but hard to deny those late-inning results.

After going perfect in the regular season the Pirates would lose Game 5 of the NLCS to the Reds when they blew a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the ninth. Hernandez had retired Joe Morgan and to the end the eighth. Giusti came on for the save but tied the game with a leadoff home . After Tony Perez and Denis Menke singled, brought in starter , who got two but then threw a to lose the series.

2. 1976 Phillies (101-61): 26-17, 2.55 ERA, 44 saves, 82-4 when leading after seven

I know my pal Karabell remembers this bullpen with great fondness. This five-man group of veterans included Ron Reed, Tug McGraw, Gene Garber, Wayne Twitchell and Ron Schueler. The lowest ERA of the five was Schueler at 2.90. Reed, McGraw and Garber all had long and successful careers and they were the workhorses, with all three recording at least 11 saves and pitching 90-plus innings. The Phillies' pen averaged 7.7 per nine, tied for the highest rate of the decade, and had the best -to-walk ratio of any bullpen. The Phillies hadn't made the postseason since 1950 until this team broke through.

By the way, here's another indication of how things were different in 1976: The Phillies used just 11 pitchers all season, and one of those guys threw just three innings.

3. 1970 Minnesota Twins (98-64): 29-19, 2.78 ERA, 58 saves, 78-6 when leading after seven

This bullpen was led by a couple of ex-Dodger veterans, Ron Perranoski (7-8, 2.43 ERA, 34 saves) and Stan Williams (10-1, 1.99 ERA, 15 saves), who both threw over 110 innings. Twins starters completed just 26 games, a fairly low total for the era, so the bullpen carried a significant workload. The third 3 weapon was Tom Hall, a 22-year-old slightly built lefty who posted a 2.96 ERA in 79 innings with 100 strikeouts and a .171 average allowed. Oh, on the side he started 11 games with a 2.12 ERA. Among pitchers with at least 100 innings in a season in the 1970s, Hall's rate of 10.6 K's per nine ranks third- best, better than any season and below only Mark Littell in 1978 and Sutter in 1977. Hall was 6 foot and maybe 130 pounds when the Twins first scouted him -- he'd earn the nickname "The Blade" -- but burned out with a rotator cuff injury after a few years.

Minnesota Twins Top 10 Prospects

Mike Berardino | | January 13, 2016

Ending an embarrassing run of four straight seasons with 92 losses or more, the Twins chased a postseason berth until the final weekend of the 2015 season before ultimately falling short.

An 83-win debut for rookie manager Paul Molitor was encouraging on many levels and earned him a third-place showing in manager of the year voting. Rookie third baseman Miguel Sano, called up from -A Chattanooga on July 2, also finished third (behind stud shortstops and Francisco Lindor) in voting for AL rookie of the year.

First-year pitching Neil Allen, hired from the Rays’ Triple-A Durham affiliate, guided a significant turnaround on the Twins’ big league staff, which saw rookie righthanders and Trevor May make solid contributions amid the pressure of a pennant race.

The debut season of center fielder , the system’s top prospect, was less satisfying. Called up on June 14 to much fanfare, he struggled at the plate and went two months between big league at-bats after spraining his left thumb while sliding headfirst into second base.

While Sano posted a park-adjusted 146 OPS+, Buxton finished the year batting just .209 and two at-bats shy of losing his rookie eligibility.

With the retirement of after a successful homecoming and the trade of 2008 first-rounder —who brought young John Ryan Murphy in return from the Yankees—the floor appears open for Buxton to seize a starting job in 2016.

Flanking him in the outfield should be Eddie Rosario, who enjoyed a successful rookie season in which he led the majors in triples and fell one outfield assist shy of the overall lead.

Despite forfeiting a second-round pick in 2015 for signing free agent righthander Ervin Santana, who missed the first 80 games with a steroid suspension, scouting director Deron Johnson found value in the draft once again. Illinois lefthander went to the Twins at No. 6 overall, but righthander Kyle Cody, selected in the supplemental first round, failed to sign and returned to Kentucky.

On the international market, the Twins signed 16-year-old Dominican shortstop Wander Javier for $4 million. That exceeded their previous record for an international amateur, which was $3.15 million for Sano in 2009.

The Twins also surprised many by winning the bidding ($12.85 million) for the negotiating rights to 29-year-old Korean first baseman Byung Ho Park. The Twins eventually signed Park on Dec. 1 for four years and $12 million. They plan to use him as their primary DH.

Double-A earned the Twins’ minor league player of the year award and made his big league debut in September. As MVP of the Southern League, he helped guide Chattanooga to the league title, long after Buxton and Sano had graduated to the majors.

TOP 10 PROSPECTS 1. Byron Buxton, of 2. Jose Berrios, rhp 3. Max Kepler, of/1b 4. Nick Gordon, ss 5. Tyler Jay, lhp 6. , ss/2b 7. Byung Ho Park, 1b 8. , rhp 9. Stephen Gonsalves, lhp 10. Nick Burdi, rhp

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