The Knoblauch legacy

We can trace Brian
Duensing's presence on
the Twins roster to
Chuck Knoblauch.

A few years ago I wrote a print column on the "Knoblauch tree," in which I traced the impact on the Twins of their 1989 decision to draft Chuck Knoblauch in the first round.

As detailed in this Grantland piece by Ben Lindbergh, the Twins are still benefiting from that move.

Knoblauch's personal travails notwithstanding, he had an excellent seven-year run in Minnesota: Starting second baseman on the 1991 World Series team, Rookie of the Year that year, four All-Star teams, a cumulative slash line of .304/..391/.416.

The Twins traded him to the Yankees and got back Cristian Guzman, Eric Milton, Brian Buchanan and Danny Mota (and cash). Mota washed out. The others:

• Guzman was the Twins regular shortstop for six years, during which time they won three division titles. Guzy led the league in triples three times, made an All-Star team, slashed .226/.303/.383. 
• Milton spent six years -- or five really, considering an injury that wiped out most of his final season in Minnesota -- in the Twins rotation, racking up a 57-51 record with a 4.76 ERA and one All-Star season.
• Buchanan wasn't so much of a much. The Twins gave the big outfielder 455 plate appearances over three seasons, in which he hit .258 with 16 homers. But he still matters in this saga.

Guzman left as a free agent; under the prevailing rules, the Twins got a third-round draft pick from the Nationals. (Lindbergh's flow chart says it was the Mariners, but that's an error.) That pick turned into Brian Duensing, still a member of the pitching staff. Duensing to date is 37-36 with a 4.12 ERA with the Twins, splitting his time between the rotation (61 starts) and the bullpen (238 relief outings).

Milton was traded to Philadelphia for Nick Punto, Carlos Silva and Bobby Korecky.

• Korecky's still hanging around at age 35; the Blue Jays gave him 3.1 innings last season. He made just 16 appearances with the Twins before they cut him loose. 
• Punto's also still going; he was with Oakland last year as a reserve infielder. In seven years with the Twins he slashed .248/.323/.324 and drove a vocal contingent of the fan base nuts by repeatedly winding up the regular at one of the infield spots. Third base, second base, shortstop. He left as a free agent and hasn't missed the postseason since.
• Silva spent four years in the Twins rotation, compiling a 47-45, 442 mark and averaging more than 190 innings a year.

That's where these guys' contributions end. Korecky was released, and Punto and Silva's departures as free agents did not bring back any compensation picks.

Buchanan was traded to San Diego for a Class A infielder: Jason Bartlett. Bartlett was with the Twins for three partial seasons and one full one, slashing .272/.341/.362 in those four seasons. His belated emergence as the full-time shortstop was a key to the division title run in 2006, in my opinion the best of the Ron Gardenhire teams.

Bartlett was traded to Tampa Bay. Unlike the previous trades listed here, this wasn't a clean, one-player for this package. The Twins included Matt Garza and Eduardo Moran in the trade and got back Delmon Young, Brendan Harris and Jason Pridie.

• Pridie was the outfield equivalent of Korecky; A short, ineffectual stint with the Twins (11 games, six plate appearances), then cut loose. (Like Korecky, he's still playing; he got four at-bats with Colorado in 2014).
• Harris spent three years with the Twins, playing some shortstop and some third base. He hit .252/.309/.360 with more than 1,000 plate appearances.
• Young had one big season in 2010 and three mediocre ones for the Twins, with a combined slash line of .287/.324/.429. 

Harris was included in the notorious J.J. Hardy trade: Hardy and Harris to Baltimore for Jim Hoey and Brett Jacobson. The Twins released Jacobson after the 212 season, he stalled out in Double A for the Twins. Hoey had one lousy season with the Twins and was claimed on waivers by Toronto. So this branch of the Knoblauch tree ends there.

Lester Oliveros might
be the best bet to
keep the tree growing.

Young was traded to Detroit for Lester Oliveros and Cole Nelson. Nelson has been released; the Minnesota native pitched for the independent St. Paul Saints last summer. Oliveros, still only 26, has spent the past two years recovering from Tommy John surgery and is regarded as a serious candidate for the Twins bullpen in 2015.

So that's the Knoblauch tree so far. By Lindbergh's computation, it's the seventh-longest current tree in the majors. The longest is an incredible one: The Mets used a 1967 -- that's right, 1967 -- draft pick on Jon Matlack, and almost a half century later have David Wright to show for it. 

Hi-ho Silva -- away

Carlos Silva has a career record of 70-70,
4.68—and has been paid more than $43 million.

You probably know already that erstwhile Twins innings eater Carlos Silva was dumped Sunday by the Chicago Cubs, who decided it was worth $8 million to tell him to go away.

This from Jim Hendry, the Cubs GM, after Silva ripped the pitching coach on his way out the door:

"Obviously, we're dealing with a man at this particular point of his career that's not willing to face the facts that what he's done the last few years, except for a two-month period (last year), is well below major league standards. And he seemed to make a continual problem of blaming everyone but himself. (He gave up) 29 hits in his first 11 innings of camp, and I've never had anyone I've dealt with classify that as 'bad luck.'"

The first sentence is an accurate statement of fact and sufficient reason to release Silva. The second is ... well, it may be true, but Hendry's spent years as Cubs GM without setting or enforcing behavior standards, and I doubt he's starting now. As for the third, anybody judging a pitcher strictly off 11 innings in an Arizona spring training is being stupid.

Silva is now available to anybody for the league minimum, and it's possible but not certain that somebody will give him a test run. It won't be the Twins; been there and done that, and if they want a sinker specialist on their roster, they have younger options with more upside in their minors.

Setting aside the question of Silva's jerkiness quotient, his career probably establishes a high end return for a pitcher with little going for him other than command of a two-seam fastball.

Ex-Twins watch: Potentially serious injuries

Those of us who (sarcastically) figured that you couldn't hurt Carlos Gomez by hitting him in the head were wrong.

Go-Go took a pitch in the helmet Monday night, sat out two games, had tests on Thursday and now has gone on the disabled list with a concussion.

As far as I know, he doesn't have the concussion history of Justin Morneau (who has missed almost a month now) or Corey Koskie (whose career was derailed by post-concussion syndrome), but brain injuries are brain injuries. This might take a while, or he might be ready to go-go again before the DL stint expires.

It has not been a good season for Gomez, whose 2010 stat line looks a lot like last season's. I still root for the kid, but he's clearly as exasperating a talent in Milwaukee as he was with the Twins.

---

Another Carlos with a Minnesota background is on the DL. Carlos Silva left Sunday's start with shortness of breath and heart symptoms. He is to have cardiac catheterization on Monday.

Silva has had a good season, although the stats have been deteriorating of late. The Cubs have many problems, but Silva hadn't been one of them. Until now.

Morales, Silva, Punto and a West Coast swing

This was bound to happen someday to somebody: Kendry Morales, the Anaheim first baseman, hit a game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the 10th Saturday and jumped into the mass of teammates waiting at home plate to pummel him — and now he's out indefinitely with a fractured leg.

"It'll change the way we celebrate," promised Angels manager Mike Scoscia. Gee, ya think?

---

Back in April I posted the first of my "Ex-Twins watch" items with Carlos Silva as the subject. The portly pitcher had won his first three starts with the Cubs, and I figured I'd better get him in while the getting was good.

I could have waited. Silva is now 7-0 — the rest of the staff is 17-26 — and he's even striking hitters out. He had 11 K's Saturday in his seven shutout innings against St. Louis.

It isn't just the weaker National League competition either. Judging from the ESPN highlights, he's got more movement on his pitches — especially his favored two-seamer — than I recall from his Twins days.

---

A comment to my Saturday post on Nick Punto said in part:

I see a poor base runner. Getting picked off vs. the Yankees last season in the play-offs is his norm.

It's OK to think poorly of Nick Punto, but the emperical, measurable evidence on his baserunning couldn't be more different. According to Baseball Info Systems, Punto in 2009 made one baserunning out. (The BIS numbers are regular season only; the playoff blunder wasn't included.) The blunder vs. the Yankees isn't his "norm," it was merely memorable.

Punto rated as a plus 27 as a baserunner last season, the best on the team. Only 11 players in the majors rated higher. In 2008 (the first season from which BIS publishes its baserunning analysis) he was a plus 11 — not the best on the team, but still good.

There are legitimate criticisms to be made of Punto. But if you look at him and see a poor baserunner, you've been blinded by something.

(The BIS numbers, incidentally, were gleaned from the annual Bill James Handbook. And I urge you not to view "plus 27" as suggesting that Punto's baserunning gained 27 runs or 27 bases or 27 specific anythings, because I don't think BIS is saying that. Their formula incorporates a variety of percentages and league averages.)

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The Twins on Monday begin a week-long swing to Seattle and Oakland, with most of the games starting too late for The Free Press to get into its print edition. As usual under such circumstances, I'll post photos and links to the box scores and game stories here.

The two Carlos: Stats vs eyeballs

Carlos Zambrano (photo left) is now the highest-paid set-up man in baseball history.

His manager says this makes "all the sense in the world."

Well, to be fair to Lou Piniella, he didn't really say it makes sense to pay somebody $18 million a year to pitch the eighth inning. That Zambrano has the fifth richest contract among pitchers is irrelevant to the question of what role he should play.

The Cubs are making Z a relief pitcher to make room for Ted Lilly in the rotation. Carlos Silva and Tom Gorzelanny remain in the rotation.

If you go by the past, this is nuts. Zambrano is still just 28 — really; he turns 29 on June 1— and his record is 106-70, 3.56. He's wild (he's twice led the league in walks, another time in hit batters ) and prone to emotional meltdowns, but he keeps the ball in the park and gets plenty of strikeouts. Silva and Gorzelanny are decidedly less accomplished.

As a result, this move is getting widely panned by columnists and bloggers.

But none of the critics are in Piniella's position. He's watched Zambrano decline. He's seen Silva pound the strike zone (two walks and 12 strikeouts in 19 innings).

He's not making this decision based on what they've done in 2009 or 2007. He's making it based on the talent they're showing him in April 2010.

My guess is that Zambrano's bullpen stint will be brief. Somebody in the Cub rotation will get hurt (Silva, after his win Wednesday, implied that his shoulder still is not right), and Big Z will get another chance to pitch the eighth inning the old-fashioned way — by pitching the first seven first.

Ex-Twins watch: Carlos Silva (Update)

UPDATE: AP is reporting that Carlos Zambrano — the Cubs $91 million man — is being shifted to the bullpen. That's a surprise.

---

Carlos Silva, the former Twins mainstay, makes his third start of the young season for the Cubs today against the Mets.

It's a potentially significant start for the right-hander, who may be pitching for his slot in the rotation even though he's allowed just one earned run in 13 innings. He hasn't walked a man yet this season, which fits his track record, but he's also struck out eight, which is above his norm.

Ted Lilly is to come off the disabled list this weekend. Somebody will have to make room for him, and it's unlikely to be Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster or Randy Wells.

Tom Gorzelanny is the other current starter who could be bounced to the bullpen. He hasn't been quite as effective as Silva, but he's been pretty good himself.

Silva's at risk because of how poorly he pitched with Seattle the last two seasons — a combined ERA of 6.81. Taking him (and his contract) off the Mariners' hands was the price the Cubs paid for unloading Milton Bradley.

Silva is apparently throwing his sinking fastball less, his breaking ball and changeup more often. Getting out of Seattle and into the easier National League has probably helped too.

Notes, quotes and comments

For all the chatter about all the suitors for Milton Bradley — that the Cubs could get the likes of Pat Burrell or Mike Lowell for the temperamental outfielder — when the deal came down, it was for Carlos Silva.

The former Twins mainstay went 5-18 with a 6.81 ERA in his two seasons with Seattle. Good luck with that, Cubbies.

* One of my minor delights this offseason has been the increasingly frequent times that an agent overplays his hand and winds up hurting his client. A couple of examples this week:

• Cliff Lee says he "thought we were working out an extension with the Phillies. I thought I would spend the rest of my career there." The Phillies GM, Ruben Amaro Jr., says: "We made what we thought was a pretty substantial offer ... Like I said before, I just didn't feel comfortable that we were going to be able to get to the finish line. And so we ended up moving toward the Halladay situation." Translation: Lee's agent asked for so much the Phillies ran away.

• Johnny Damon has said all offseason he wants to remain with the Yankees. But his agent — Scott Boras — has insisted on a three-year, $39 million deal, which was too long and too rich in the Yankees opinion. Now the Yanks have signed Nick Johnson to be their primary DH. Johnson replaces Hideki Matsui, and Curtis Granderson fills the outfield slot formerly held by Damon. And the Yankees get younger and cheaper. Upshot: Damon won't be where he wants to be, and — assuming Boras was dragging out the Damon talks to make it look as if the Yankees were a possible suitor for another LF client, Matt Holliday — that mirage appears to have faded also.

* Falling apart around their ears: Tony Oliva got trapped in a bathroom in the Twins' Metrodome offices Wednesday when the door handle came off. Moving day is next week. I bet they can't wait.