2014 Quarry Unlimited - #6 Minnesota Twins Part 1

Next up on the countdown is the Minnesota Twins.  I moved up one spot this year simply because they were seriously trying to catch lightning in a bottle and were somewhat successful at it.  Over the 2013 offseason, it seemed like the Twins picked up just about all of the mid-range free agents especially starting pitchers hoping at least one or two of them would have a breakout year.  Phil Hughes and Kurt Suzuki obliged.  Mike Pelfrey and Ricky Nolasco were not nearly as successful, but with the strategy the Twins employed it was just about impossible for everyone to be successful.  With their payroll limits, they did very well over the offseason, but it was their quiet in-season moves that I particularly enjoyed.

Two of those in season moves stand out to me just because of the fleecing of the other clubs.  The first is the big name signing of Kendrys Morales.  He wasn't very good with the Twins, but they were able to trade him to the Mariners, his original team, for a pitching prospect after paying him for a month.  Not bad, but it gets better with the next one. 

Sam Fuld started the year with Oakland and after the first month of the season the A's tried to sneak him through waivers to the minor leagues.  It didn't work.  The Twins claimed him and he played decent center field for them for a couple of months.  Fast forward to the A's trading for virtually every starting pitcher known to man.  When that happened a couple of pitchers that used to be in the Oakland rotation were out of luck.  The Twins got on the phone and managed to trade their early season waiver claim back to his original team for Tommy Milone, a decent young starting pitcher.  I don't think that one will go into the plot of Moneyball 2: Beane's Revenge.

TWINS TEAM TRIVIA

Total # of Twins in 2014 - 48

# of new Twins in 2014 - 17

Best score in 2014 - August 22 vs. Tigers 20-6

Worst score in 2014 - September 7 vs. Angels 14-4

Border color that worked best with this team - Blue

Border color that worked least with this team - Orange

Position on last year's list - #5 = DOWN 1

Let's take a look at the first half of the 2014 Minnesota Twins with the manager's card leading the way.

PURPLE

GREEN

BLUE

I'll be back tomorrow with Part 2.  As usual, your thoughts are always welcome and encouraged.

Thanx for reading.