1999 Minnesota Twins season

MLB yearly infobox
name = Minnesota Twins
season = 1999
misc =

current league = American League
y1 = 1901
division = Central Division
y2 = 1994
Uniform
ballpark = Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
y4 = 1982
city = Minneapolis
y5 = 1982
owners = Carl Pohlad
managers = Tom Kelly
television = KMSP-TV
Midwest Sports Channel
(Bert Blyleven, Dick Bremer, Paul Molitor)
radio = 830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal,John Gordon)|The 1999 Minnesota Twins began their season on a positive note, with Brad Radke getting the win in a 6-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Unfortunately for the Twins, the season soon descended into an abyss of despair and hopelessness comparable only to the ERA of George Tsamis for the same team only six years earlier.

Seventeen rookies saw playing time for manager Tom Kelly in the 1999 season. Some of these rookies, such as Corey Koskie, Torii Hunter, and Joe Mays, would go on to future success. The season was not without its bright spots, including Doug Mientkiewicz’s .997 fielding percentage and Koskie’s team-leading .310 batting average. Another bright spot occurred on September 11, when pitcher Eric Milton threw the only no-hitter of his career against an Anaheim Angels team that consisted mainly of September call-ups. However, the euphemism “rebuilding year” must be applied to the Twins’ 1999 campaign.

It was only May 21 when the team's brain trust realized that this would not be a world champion team. On that day, the Twins traded Rick Aguilera, then its highest paid player, to the Chicago Cubs. The team also traded Scott Downs and received Jay Ryan and future starter Kyle Lohse in return. The team finished the season with a 63-97 record, ranked fifth in the American League Central Division. The team's lone all-star representative was Ron Coomer.

Offense

The offense was not impressive. Minnesota was last in the league in slugging and had only one more walk than the league-worst White Sox. The team leaders were: Coomer with 16 home runs; Cordova with 70 RBI; Koskie with a .310 average; Walker with 148 hits and 37 doubles; and Lawton with 26 stolen bases.

Several players failed to meet expectations offensively. In June, Lawton was hit in the face by a pitch. He missed a month and had trouble finding his swing after returning. Mientkiewicz had a great season batting-wise at the double-A level in 1998, but was not able to follow it up the following year at the major league level.

: "Number indicates playoff seeding"

Roster

Notable Transactions

*January 27: Signed Bob Wells as a free agent.
*February 16: Signed Bobby Kielty as an amateur free agent.
*March 20: Melvin Nieves was purchased by the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (Japan Pacific) from the Minnesota Twins. [http://www.baseball-reference.com/n/nieveme01.shtml]
*March 31: Sold Dan Serafini to the Chicago Cubs.
*April 22: Selected Jack Cressend off waivers from the Boston Red Sox.
**May 14: Midre Cummings was signed as a Free Agent. [http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/cummimi01.shtml]
*May 21: Traded Rick Aguilera and Scott Downs to the Chicago Cubs for pitchers Kyle Lohse and Jay Ryan.
*May 26: Frank Rodriguez selected by the Seattle Mariners off waivers.
*June 2: Drafted future major leaguers such as catcher Rob Bowen (second round), first baseman Justin Morneau [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/morneju01.shtml Justin Morneau Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ] (third round), and third baseman Terry Tiffee in the amateur draft.
*October 6: Infielder Brent Gates granted free agency.
*October 7: Outfielder Marty Cordova granted free agency.
*October 29: Mike Trombley granted free agency.
*November 4: Terry Steinbach granted free agency.
*December 13: In the most egregious example of theft under the Rule 5 Draft, the Twins sent minor leaguer Jared Camp and cash to the Florida Marlins in exchange for future Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/santajo02.shtml Johan Santana Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]

Miscellaneous

*The lone representative of the Twins in the All-Star Game was second baseman Ron Coomer.

*The highest paid Twin in 1999 was Rick Aguilera at $ 4,300,000; followed by Marty Cordova at $ 3,000,000.

References

External links

* [http://www.diamond-mind.com/articles/pm1999/pm99min.htm Diamond Mind's Analysis of the Twins' 1999 season]
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIN/1999.shtml Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com]
* [http://shrpsports.com/mlb/stand/1999finaldiv.htm 1999 Standings]