At The Star, Jaylon Thompson writes about the MLB 100:

Witt was listed among the 10 best big-leaguers for the 2026 season by MLB Network. He ranked No. 3 for the second year in a row alongside such fellow stars as Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and Tarik Skubal.

Four Royals rank inside the top 100 this year. Maikel Garcia (No. 65), Cole Ragans (No. 89) and Vinnie Pasquantino (No. 93) were also honored.

Kacen Bayless writes about a stadium meeting with the Missouri governor:

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and Interim Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota both confirmed to The Star that Gov. Mike Kehoe invited them to the closed-door meeting, which occurred Wednesday afternoon in Kehoe’s Jefferson City office.

Both officials touted the gathering as a sign that Kansas City, Jackson County and Missouri were united around a plan to keep the Royals inside state lines. That acknowledgement appears to center the state’s plan around Jackson County as opposed to another potential spot in Clay County.

Has it really been 9 years?

Blogs?

At Inside the Crown, David Lesky ($) looks at all the negative value the Royals generated in 2025:

Here is a list of players the Royals employed with negative WAR totals as calculated by Fangraphs:

(list, “led” by Jac at -1.6 WAR)

That’s -6.8 fWAR spanning 1,789 plate appearances and 122.2 innings. The pitching side isn’t bad at all. The 122.2 innings represent just 8.5 percent of all innings. The hitting side, though? That’s not what you want. Those nearly 1,800 plate appearances accounted for 29.8 percent of all plate appearances. Of the 10 bats listed, only Massey and Melendez weren’t negatives defensively. They were negatives offensively. It’s a big group. Let’s see how the rest of the playoff teams fared in terms of percentage of plate appearances taken up by negative value players:

At his new digs at Royals Keep, Kevin O’Brien lists “Four Free Agents Whose Return Could Make Sense”:

Frazier’s return to Kansas City was a huge boost to the Royals’ lineup. He posted a 98 wRC+ and 0.6 fWAR in 197 plate appearances, and the Royals went 35-30 in the second half (after going 47-50 prior to the All-Star Break). Overall, Frazier posted an 89 wRC+ and 0.7 fWAR in 459 plate appearances with Pittsburgh and Kansas City last year. Hence, he showed that he still has something left in the tank, especially for a team with playoff aspirations.

Blog Roundup:

• Jacob Milham at KOK: 3 underrated Kansas City Royals prospects flying under the radar for 2026

• Caleb Moody at KOK: Chances of Royals-Mets trade seem far less likely now after Freddy Peralta deal

Hey, all! It’s been a minute! My last post was on December 5th. That’s more than 4 Scaramuccis or, roughly, one Liz Truss Lettuce.

When I left the country, Mariah Carey was on the radio and there were only 2 Avatar movies. I’m sure nothing has arbitrarily changed with pediatric vaccine schedules and the food pyramid. Nicolas Maduro was President of Venezuela, María Corina Machado still had her Nobel Peace Prize, and there were no threats of military action against Greenland, Iran, or Minneapolis. Also, I wonder who was in the Epstein Files. I’m sure that was a bombshell since the DOJ was legally bound to release all of them by December 19th.

But we’re a Royals blog, gosh darn it. And this definitely is NOT a shamelessly transparent attempt to kill two birds with one stone: catching me up on Royals offseason news while not having to come up with a new OT topic for today.

December 5th was before the winter Meetings. I linked to an article from ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle. It listed the Royals early offseason movement.

So far: The Royals re-signed catcher Salvador Perez, tendered a contract to and re-signed infielder Jonathan India, and traded for outfielder Kameron Misner and starter Mason Black.

Misner and Black were both acquired in minor trades in mid November. The former was acquired for our good friend, Cash Considerations (or PTBNL). The latter for a 24yo high-A pitcher.

The Royals didn’t lose or gain anyone in the MLB portion of the Rule 5 Draft. Like zero. Major league and minor league portion. But they got lucky in the MLB draft lottery and will pick 6th this summer.

One day after Mike Yastrzemski signs with the Braves, the Royals make their first free agent signing: Lane Thomas. Then the big news: Maikel Garcia signed a contract extension for 5/$57.5M with a 6th year club option. Early in the new year, the Royals also extended manager Matt Quatraro’s contract. There were also a number of minor league signings sprinkled in that I’m not mentioning individually.

A few days later, JJ struck again. He traded lefty bullpen arm Angel Zerpa to the Brewers for OF Isaac Collins and RP Nick Mears. I don’t quite get this one from Milwaukee’s point of view, but they just keep winning so I probably should try to figure it out. Next, the Royals replaced Zerpa with old friend Matt Strahm. Jonathan Bowlan was sent to the Phillies in that trade.

The Royals signed some highly ranked prospects in the international signing period.

Carlos Beltran was elected to the Hall of Fame and Alex Gordon got 1 vote before falling off the ballot. Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent will be joining him for this summer’s induction.

What about the stadium search? Cool – the Royals are moving the fence in for the new stadium! …Oh, wait, that’s for Kauffman.

Maybe these stadium search headlines can tell me how it’s going:

• “Can the Royals capitalize on a down Chiefs year?” (Betteridge’s law of headlines says ‘no’) – Matt
• “The Chiefs have gifted Royals a golden opportunity” – Cullen
• “The Overland Park stadium location would be a terrible idea” – Matt
• “The Royals may be losing some options in their search for a new ballpark” – Connor

Fortunately, the finances of baseball are a-ok! The Royals opted out of their TV deal because Main Street Sports Group (aka FanDuel Sports Kansas City) can’t pay the bills.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers signed .266/.377/.464 Kyle Tucker for an AAV record 4/$240M. In essence, he’s going to cost them more than $100M in 2026 when factoring in the luxury tax. Meanwhile, practically every team is calling the Dodgers moves obscene. That includes the Yankees, who re-signed Cody Bellinger for 5/$162.5M; the Mets, who stole Bo Bichette away from the Blue Jays for 3/$126M; and the Red Sox, who signed Ranger Suarez away from the Phillies for 5/$130M. Yay?

I’m sure next offseason will go well: “MLB owners will reportedly push for salary cap, ‘no matter what’”.

For Song of the Day, last week, Nintendo offered a 7-day free trial of Madden 26. Madden games don’t make it to Nintendo very often: maybe once per generation. So I was pretty happy to try it out.

Everyone else spends hours as a GM, trying to break the trading, drafting, and training system and not playing a single down of football, right? While you’re on the menu screens, music is constantly playing. Sports games have been doing this for a while. A couple of years ago, I mentioned how I discovered Fall Out Boy from one of the NBA2K games. Here’s a track list for the Madden 26 soundtrack. It ranges from Judas Priest to Wolfmother to Run DMC to N.E.R.D. to Lil Nas X.

We’ve mentioned Mammoth (WVH) a couple of times in this space. “Don’t Back Down” is on the soundtrack and it’s one of the biggest songs from their first album. If you watch this and the two other songs I’ve linked to (bel0w), you get the mostly complete story of the Wolfs to date (not much happens in this video, though).

“Another Celebration at the End of the World”

(It kindof continues in “I’m Alright”)

“The End”

(Technically, the story continues in “Same Old Song” but not much happens there)

Baseball, in many cases, can serve as a very effective microcosm for the world and the country it inhabits. From social progression, justice, or the dawn of the information age, baseball has often travelled right along with the world surrounding it. Looking back, that means we can find stories that are nearly impossible to imagine in the modern world, a description the would fit that of Johnny Sturm quite well.

Born in 1916, Sturm played a mostly full season in his rookie campaign with the Yankees, and would never again play on a major league field after. It was due to circumstances mostly out of his control, in an unfortunate story, as Sturm’s Yankee tenure would last just a single year. His performance on its own was unimpressive, but Sturm stands as in interesting landmark for a time that feels long gone.

Johnny Sturm
Born: January 23, 1916 (St. Louis, MO)
Died: October 8, 2004 (St. Louis, MO)
Yankees Tenure: 1941

Johnny Sturm grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and began his professional career in the minor leagues in 1936. After five seasons at various levels in the Yankees’ organization, Sturm would finally get his chance with the big club in 1941. In the post-Lou Gehrig era, the team had struggled to fill the impossibly large void. Babe Dahlgren, who replaced Gehrig, was sent to Boston after the 1940 season, which prompted another change at the position. The Yankees first moved Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Gordon over to first, though it was a move that proved ineffective.

The Yankees eventually moved Gordon back to second, opening a spot for Sturm at first base. The club had struggled out of the gate, and likely hoped the move would help them take a step forward. Incidentally, the day the Yankees slid Sturm into the lineup was also the day Joe DiMaggio began his record-setting hitting streak.

On the whole, Sturm’s performance at the plate during the ‘41 season left plenty to be desired. The Yankee first baseman slashed .239/.293/.300 for just a 58 OPS+ in his rookie season. But, the season didn’t come without its bright spots. In June of ‘41, Sturm belted a two-run homer in the second game of a double-header, which kickstarted a run of 40 home runs in 25 games for the Bombers as a squad.

He also played a role in the World Series that year. Sturm went 6-for-21 in the five games, pitching in with a pair of RBI in the victorious Fall Classic effort for New York. It wasn’t the flashiest of campaigns, but doing his part for a winning World Series squad is certainly something on its own.

The offseason that followed was an eventful one for Sturm. He was married shortly after the successful World Series, and not long after, with the United States then fully entrenched in World War II, Sturm enlisted in the military. He was stationed at a base in Missouri and, fittingly, assumed the duty of building baseball fields and managing the post’s baseball team.

Sturm was obviously away from the team on Opening Day the following year, when his career took a turn for the worse. While operating a tractor, he made an ill-fated move which ultimately caused the amputation of the tip of his index finger on his right arm.

Post-recovery, Sturm served until November of 1945, stationed overseas for the latter part of his service. He attempted to make a return to professional baseball in 1946, with plenty of factors working against him. Having missed four seasons of play, and now playing with a significantly altered right hand, it was an uphill battle for Sturm.

Now 30 years old, Sturm had trouble reacclimating, and was unable to reclaim his former spot, and was forced to toil in the minor leagues. He remained in the Yankees organization through the 1949 season, eventually as a player-manager for the Joplin Miners (and actually putting up some solid numbers).

That would be the end of professional baseball for Sturm, however, as the missed time and injury trouble were too much to overcome for the first baseman. It was a stint with the Yankees cut too short by unfortunate circumstances, and it creates an interesting looking resume, as he was the last of just six players in MLB history to have 500-plus plate appearances in their lone season. A career like Sturm’s feels like something that only could have happened in the past, and serves as an interesting piece of baseball history.

Despite his turbulent experience in professional baseball, Sturm lived to be 88 years old. Born on this day in 1916, his story is one of a kind in Yankees history.

Research:

SABR Bio

Meet the Mets

The Mets made yet another move yesterday, albeit a relatively minor one, as they acquired former top prospect Vidal Bruján from the Twins for cash considerations and designated left-handed reliever Richard Lovelady for assignment.

Deesha Thosar writes that the Mets saved their offseason with a pivotal week.

Fellow executives see the Mets’ trade with the Brewers as a win-win for both teams.

Ken Rosenthal wonders whether or not the Mets are a better team now than they were in 2025.

Speaking of prognostications, the 2026 Mets’ ZiPS projections were published yesterday.

Will the Mets get more than one year of Freddy Peralta? The 29-year-old pitcher is reportedly open to an extension.

David Stearns, who spoke to the media about the trade yesterday, didn’t want to speculate on a potential extension with Peralta, for whom he’s traded twice in his front office career.

If you want to mark you calendars for Mets games you’ll watch to listen to on the radio this season, FOX Sports released its schedule of broadcasts for the 2026 season.

Here’s how the Mets’ trade for Freddy Peralta—alongside the Yankees’ signing of Cody Bellinger—affects the market for the remainder of the offseason.

Neither the Mets nor the Yankees think they could meet the high asking price for Tigers ace Tarik Skubal in a trade.

Will Leitch looks at teams that missed the postseason in 2025 but might make it in 2026, and you likely won’t be surprised to hear that the Mets are included.

Carlos Beltrán visited the Hall of Fame yesterday ahead of his induction this summer, and he answered questions about his involvement in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.

Jett Williams shared a post thanking the Mets organization and Mets fans.

The Mets announced their player development staff for 2026.

Around the National League East

Federal Baseball wondered if the Freddy Peralta trade was an indication that the Nationals would keep MacKenzie Gore. A few hours later, the Nationals traded MacKenzie Gore.

The Nationals also claimed right-handed pitcher Gus Varland off waivers and designated catcher Riley Adams for assignment.

Battery Power looked at what Chris Sale might do in 2026.

The Good Phight wrote about getting old and watching the Phillies’ roster do the same thing.

The Phillies are bringing left-handed reliever Tim Mayza back on a minor league deal.

The Marlins acquired prospect Carlos Martinez from the Giants in exchange for international bonus pool space.

Around Major League Baseball

The Mets weren’t the only team to pick up a former top prospect yesterday, as the Yankees claimed Marco Luciano off waivers from the Orioles.

The Twins signed left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers—not to be confused with his twin brother Tyler, who finished last season with the Mets—to a one-year, $2 million deal.

South Side Sox graded the White Sox’ trade of Luis Robert Jr. to the Mets, and Chicago’s American League franchise signed LaMonte Wade Jr. to a minor league deal.

Speaking of Chicago, the Cubs and Chas McCormick agreed to a minor league deal.

The Tigers signed outfielder Corey Julks to a minor league deal.

Baseball Prospectus looked at the effect that bat speed had on the free agent market this offseason.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

We got to know Freddy Peralta and Luis Robert Jr.

Our countdown of the Mets’ top prospects continued with number ten: Jack Wenninger.

This Date in Mets History

Legendary Mets broadcast Ralph Kiner finally got his place in Cooperstown when he was elected to the Hall of Fame for his fantastic career as a player on this date in 1975.

Good morning, baseball fans!

With the news earlier this week that (briefly) former San Francisco Giants outfielder Carlos Beltrán will be inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame this year, there was unfortunately bad news for another former Giants outfielder.

Hunter Pence, the very definition of a Forever Giant, did not receive enough votes to keep his campaign alive. Players have to receive five percent of the votes to stay on the ballot, and Pence received only two total votes.

While this is a bummer to hear, it isn’t necessarily a surprise.

Pence was (and remains) a beloved Giants player who had a huge hand in helping the team secure two of their three World Series championships in the 2010s. But his career numbers weren’t quite the caliber they’d need to be to be successful in this endeavor.

That’s not a knock to Pence, or any player that doesn’t get the votes. It’s an arduous process filled with arbitrary preferences by those with the power to cast a vote. Maybe one player per year gets in, two if we’re lucky. And there seems to be no rhyme or reason to most of it.

So while I’m bummed, I still think we have plenty to celebrate Pence for.

Earlier, I described the various technologies that I’ve found are being used in baseball in general, and mostly, by the Cardinals.  As I followed the trail of breadcrumbs around, I began to discover that it wasn’t so much the technology the Cardinals had fallen behind in (yes, there was and still are some deficits there), but what really had shown up was that the Cardinals lacked the people behind the curtain, and in the few places they had the people, there wasn’t a lot of cohesion and coordination.  Not out of any sinister bureaucratic plot, but likely people spread too thin to be engaged in and knowledgeable about all the various moving parts of an organization. 

The People Behind the Curtain

As with all tech, there needs to be people to set up the tech, make it work, integrate it with other tech and so on.  It can be one whole job to know about and take care of the Force Plates technology and gather some data with it.  It can be a whole ‘nuther job (and a separate specialty) to know about and take care of the Kinatrax system.  Both produce mounds of data.

But how does one interpret and synthesize the data and make it actionable?   I might know about Force Plate technology, but now I need to know something about…pitching.  And what makes the act of pitching efficient (or inefficient)?

Then a third someone needs to bring the two tech domains together and understand how the Ground Force reading from the Force Plates can be seen affecting the kinetic chain reactions observed in the Kinatrax system.  And with that, someone needs to understand anatomy and physiology of the human body. On top, someone needs to figure out what the readings mean and how they might need to be different.

Then you need another specialty in physical therapy or physical training to work with players to develop isolated exercises that get muscles trained to operate differently than the current habit (no easy feat!).  It turns out, you can’t just tell a pitcher they need to lengthen their stride ¼” and rotate their hips .2 seconds earlier to get things more efficiently synced up. 

Enter, Carl Kochan, Director of Performance, St. Louis Baseball Cardinals, LLC. 

Anyone have any idea of who this is?  I did not.  He replaced Robert Butler, the prior Director just over a year ago.  From what I can tell, his charter is to reach across various stovepipes in the organization to develop a working performance model for players that addresses travel and fatigue management and in-game demands (high demand for pitchers/catchers and very bursty demand for other players).  In a 3-hour game, a position player might actually exert an acute work load for 5-10 minutes.  Pitchers and catchers?  The opposite. 

His charter seems to focus on the minor league side, and includes tech people, nutrition specialists, medical coordinators, physical therapists, rehab specialists and trainers.  He certainly has to reach wider than that if the coaches and development side of the organization is going to be in sync with the performance side. 

In the Performance Department underneath Mr. Kochan, there are 3 strength and conditioning folks plus a coordinator, 2 rehab folks plus 3 medical coordinators (one of these in the DSL), 4 MiLB trainers, a nutritionist and 4 performance science experts. Total of nineteen folks. Just in the Performance Department. Want to guess how many of these positions existed in 2020? If you have a guess of two, you are spot on.

Here is a current opening in this organization (via Indeed.com):

Did you see the part in the job opening about collaborating with the player development team? Let’s look there. They currently have 29 staff members, led by Larry Day. This includes pitching, hitting and field coordinators, various minor league hitting and pitching coordinators and assistant coaches. How many did they have in these roles in 2020? None. As recently as 2024, they had sixteen. Just about doubled in size in the last 18 months. As near as I can tell, all but one of the original 16 are gone, except one. Jose Oquendo. As near as I can tell, this is where the complete tear-down and rebuild occurred.

The ocean of data

As you might suspect, all these technologies produce mountains of data.   This creates challenges consistent with what other industries are encountering … managing “big data”. An organization can be awash with data but be unaware of what the most useful bits and pieces are.

There is a lot of scientific rigor in a group like this, which probably creates some interesting culture rubs with old-school baseball guys and the players themselves.  Paul DeJong probably would be an exception here. 

These guys are looking at challenges like where do they not have information they should?  How can the data they collect contribute to improved strength and conditioning.  Arm care appears to be a major focus of these efforts, pre-game, in-game AND post-game. 

Another challenge is integrating this stuff across the levels of the organization and a need to improve consistency with player feedback.  It probably doesn’t help if a player hears one thing at Driveline and another thing in the pitching lab at Jupiter.   

Another challenge, right now they have no centralized repository for biomech data.  It is hard to get a common understanding if the different professions and aptitudes can’t even access the data. 

Playing from behind, catching up and getting ahead

With all this data capture, there is greater visibility in more intricate detail, but not necessarily more knowledge in how to react to the inputs they are getting.  For instance, they might get a shoulder measurement from force plates that tells the reaction force of pitchers arm at full extension.  So what?  Is there benefit in custom tailoring a workout regime to increase that force?  What does it mean if that force measures at 5% lower the data after a start from the day before?  Does that indicate fatigue or low-level injury?  Normal or aberrant?   

What seems to come through all the noise is that this data is used to two different ends: 1) to help keep the players healthy and 2) to help them identify ways to optimize their performance. 

A Case Study:  Mathew Liberatore

I suppose most people remember that mid-season (early June, actually) start Liberatore had where his velocity cratered and he got hit hard by a not typically hard-hitting Kansas City lineup?   The decline was so abrupt many worried he was hurt. They put him through a battery of physical tests, checking for injury and came up empty. Then they looked at the bio-mechanics data (ie. the advanced video) from the start and came up with some issues in how his mechanics were “out of sync” (his words) and the expectation that this was caused more by overall “fatigue issues” (again, his words).

In this new modern world, they use this data to develop specific conditioning programs to reduce these issues (and they take time to implement). Simply put, you no longer are left with observations like “he is opening up too soon and the arm is dragging through”. Now they can see if that is occurring because of his stride, his hip rotation, the torso rotation, shoulder, arm angle, whatever. Unconfirmed, but I’d bet Libby has spent this off-season working to improve strength and stamina and getting the kinetic chain to sync and stay synced during acute workloads exceeding an hour.

The last challenge – working across the stovepipes

Almost all organization hierarchies have stove pipes and they can create cultural boundaries that can be difficult to cross. When the Cardinals hired multiple new people (Pierpoint, Day, Cerfolio, Kochan) in the 2024-2025 off-season, the common theme among them was their mission was to get the different parts of the organization to work together better.

It’s not hard to imagine some old school coach in some far-off minor league town not quite embracing or trusting a new PT regime a player has adopted coming out of the hitting or pitching lab. The players themselves don’t always embrace. I think it was Joshua Baez who said something along the lines of having gotten information overload and needing to simplify things to make the gains he has made.

There has always been a natural rivalry between scouting and development. Now you add in all the tech and performance guys and complexity expands. Plus, the geographic distances. Palm Beach, Peoria, Springfield, Memphis and St. Louis can all be hard to keep in sync, particularly when the technology and the knowledge of how to apply is uneven across those boundaries.

The last stovepipe I observe is cultural and linguistic. This stuff is hard enough for all the English speakers. I’m sure many people see this stuff as Greek to them. A good segment of the Cardinal prospects speak English as a second language, or not at all. They clearly did not have enough Spanish speakers in camp this past spring, and the few they had were very busy running from field to field trying to translate coaching instructions. I wonder how many ESL types were inside the labs doing the same.

Summary

The technology evolution that is sweeping baseball swamped St. Louis and they are just getting their organizational stuff together in this area. Lots of change. Likely lots more will change.

Capturing all this has been daunting and I am aware that I’m just scratching the surface. Meanwhile, the environment I observe changes as I observe. My learning goal in this arena is to see if I can get a tour of this stuff when I’m Jupiter next month. Wish me luck.

Happy Friday everyone, lots of fun little tidbits for you in our news of the day. We’ve got some more thoughts and discussion about the Hall of Fame inductees, including some bold sentiments from Carlos Beltran about why he doesn’t want to be defined by the Astros cheating scandal. Plus, two big starting pitcher trades see moves being made for the Rangers and Mets (of course, what aren’t the Mets doing these days?)

On the topic of starting pitchers, there’s also some Hall of Fame debate about whether or not they’re being snubbed by Cooperstown.

Let’s just jump right into it!

• Ben Clemens looks at the deal that sent MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers.
• Plus, Eric Longenhagen looks at the prospect haul the Nationals are pinning their future hopes on in the trade.
• Luis Robert Jr. had a lot of trade chatter around his name last season, but stayed with the White Sox, now he’s been snagged by the Mets. Story by Ben Clemens.
• A look at the “win-win” Freddy Peralta trade. Story by Mark Feinsand.
• Karl Rasmussen looks at the three teams with the most confusing offseasons.
• Carlos Beltran does not think his career should be defined by the Astros scandal. (ESPN)
• Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors questions if MLB parity is possible without a salary cap.
• This is believable but still nuts.

• Jay Jaffe takes a candidate-by-candidate look at those on the Hall of Fame ballot.
• Michael Baumann laments the trend of pitchers wearing single-digit jersey numbers.
• Anthony Castrovince shares which caps will be immortalized with the new Hall of Fame inductees.
• Patrick Andres shares that Bob Costas will anchor the pre-game show for Sunday Night Baseball.
• Ken Rosenthal tries to determine if the Mets are now better than they were last season. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Some of the potential first-timers who could appear on next year’s Hall of Fame ballot.

• After a lot of back and forth, Cody Bellinger is once again a Yankee. Story by Ben Clemens.
• With the big starting pitcher trades, which pitcher could be on the move next? (MLB)
• Madison Williams reports that Yadier Molina will be taking on a new role with the Cardinals.
• Bradford Doolittle questions whether the Hall of Fame has a starting pitcher problem.
• This is very interesting!

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.

After the mostly-promising but late-season collapse of 20222024 1984, the Minnesota Twins sagged to 77-85 in 1985. Things got worse in ‘86: 71-91, 6th in the AL West—21 GB the West-winning California Angels. The average draw of 15,000 per Metrodome contest—2nd-worst in AL attendance coffers—presented a lot of bad baseball for Bob Kurtz & Harmon Killebrew (on TV) and Herb Carneal & Joe Angel (on the dial) to cover, but also some signs that pieces were falling into place for a promising future.

Pitching (90 ERA+)

With the exception of ever-stalwart Bert Blyleven (17-14, 271.2 IP, 107 ERA+)—who even still gave up an MLB-record 50 home runs—and up-and-coming Frank Viola (16-13, 245.2 IP, 95 ERA+), pitching was this club’s Achilles heel.

Mike Smithson, Neal Heaton, & Mark Portugal were far worse than Rik Aalbert & Frankie out of the starting rotation. The pen at least had solid seasons from Keith Atherton (114 ERA+) & Roy Lee Jackson (111 ERA+)—but for some unknown reason still gave Ron Davis 38.2 IP, which of course netted a 47 ERA+. John Butcher (70 IP, 68 ERA+) wasn’t much more effective.

Offense (103 OPS+)

The quintet of Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti, Tom Brunansky, & Roy Smalley all eclipsed 20 dingers, cultivating the Homer Dome reputation.

Especially stand-out were Puck (5.7 WAR, 223 H, 119 R, 37 2B, 31 HR, 96 RBI, 20 SB, .328 BA, 142 OPS+, Gold Glove) & the G-Man (5.8 WAR, 34 2B, 34 HR, 108 RBI, .287 BA, 131 OPS+, Gold Glove).

The most memorable moments from ‘86…

• May 30: Smalley homers from both sides of the plate
• Puck representing MN at the All-Star game in the Astrodome
• August 1: Kirby hits for the cycle AND Blyleven records his 3,000th strikeout!
• October 4: Greg Gagne hits two inside-the-park home runsin the same game.

None of this was good enough to keep the Twins in contention—especially with a dispiriting 11 walk-off losses thrown into the mix. So in compiling a 59-80 record by September 12, manager Ray Miller was relieved of his duties after 1.93 seasons of top-step service. This led to the hiring of 36-year old skipper Tom Kelly—who presided over a 12-11 ‘86 denouement.

Of final note: The ‘86 Twins were horrific on the road—28-53. But at the Metrodome: 43-38.

The franchise was at a fulcrum: while seemingly set up with talent on the field, a new young manager, and an ability to dominate at home, two straight disappointing seasons after the promise of 1984 did not exactly inspire a ton of confidence for what 1987 would bring.