Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘Minnesota Twins’

Let the speculation stop. The team may not be called the Wizards, but they will undoubtedly be a San Diego Padres affiliate – at least through 2010 . . .

The San Diego Padres today extended their Player Development Contract (PDC) with Single-A Fort Wayne of the Midwest League for two years through the 2010 season.

“The Padres organization is honored and excited to renew our agreement with the city of Fort Wayne and Wizards General Manager Mike Nutter and his staff.” Grady Fuson said. “With the anticipation of the new stadium nearing, this will be a tremendous environment for our players and staff. Fort Wayne and the Padres have been a family since 1999, and we will continue this treasured relationship and the challenge of bringing championship-caliber baseball to the city of Fort Wayne. “

Since becoming the Midwest League affiliate of the Padres in 1999, the Wizards have compiled a 652-712 (.478) record over parts of 10 seasons, including a 62-58 (.516) overall mark in 2008. The Wizards have advanced to the playoffs five times during that span. Additionally, the Sports Business Journal ranked Fort Wayne as the #1 Minor League City in a 2007 poll and the Wizards will move into their new home in downtown Fort Wayne, Harrison Square Ballpark, in 2009.

Current Padres who have played for the Wizards include right-handed pitcher Jake Peavy (2000), catchers Luke Carlin (2003-04) and Nick Hundley (2005-06), and outfielder Chase Headley (2005).

“I am excited that we will continue our relationship with Fort Wayne, and am proud that the Padres will be the organization that opens the Wizards new downtown ballpark,” Executive Vice President/General Manager Kevin Towers said. “None of this would have been possible without the efforts of Mike Nutter and his staff, and I hope to bring a Midwest League Championship to Fort Wayne soon.”

The source for the above is MadFriars.com. It should be noted that current Major Leaguers who were Wizards that were not included in the release include Torii Hunter, LaTroy Hawkins, Michale Cuddyer, Oliver Perez, Jose (Javier) Velentin, A.J. Pierzynski, Chad Moeller, Luis Rivas, Juan Rincon, Joakim Soria and Leo Rosales. However, all those players are currently with other organizations or came up when the Wizards were a Minnesota Twins affiliate. There are a host of others (67 in total) who have appeared at the MLB level. Many have played and are currently still working toward everyday status at Triple-A.

More coverage:

• What’s Going Down(Town)
• Journal Gazette
• Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly
• Fort Wayne Wizards
• Friar John

LaTroy Hawkins was designated for assignment by the New York Yankees following the trade that brought in Xavier Nady from Pittsburgh. Hawkins signed a one-year, $3.75 million contract last winter and had hoped to resurrect his career in New York following a handfull of rather disappointing seasons. Now, his DFA status means the Yanks must trade, release or send him to the minors within ten days of the move. On the season, Hawkins was 1-1 with a 5.71 ERA in 33 games.

“I’m fine,” Hawkins said as he left Fenway before Saturday’s game. “I’m disappointed in the way I pitched. That’s about the only thing I’m disappointed in.”

But if there is a silver lining to the story, it’s that Hawkins may receive yet another chance to turn things around. Several teams throughout Major League Baseball are seeking middle relief help.

One of his former teams, the Minnesota Twins, are interested in bringing him back. He pitched with the Twins from 1995 to 2003 and had been one of the team’s many “homegrown” talents over the years; having risen through the ranks of the team’s farm system.

With the Twins, he was a reliable and sometimes dominant set-up man. Now, with Pat Neshek down, the Twins are looking for help bridging the starters to closer gap. Hawkins just might be the answer.

While multiple teams are said to have interest, one of his other former  teams, the Rockies, aren’t among them. Colorado’s GM, Dan O’Dowd said bringing Hawkins back is not in his current plans.

With the Wizards in their inaugural season of 1993, Hawkins put together what may be the best individual season performance in the team’s history. Hawkins still holds Wizards records in ERA (2.06), wins (15), complete games (4), shutouts (2), strikeouts in a season (179) and strikeouts in a game (15). Even more impressive is the fact that Hawkins accomplished these totals during the first Wizards season and they still stand more than a decade later.

Photo courtesy of the Fort Wayne Wizards

As expected, the Minnesota Twins have cut ties with former Wizard’s pitcher, Juan Rincon, though they have offered him a place at Triple-A. The right handed reliever had been the longest tenured player on the Twin’s roster. He had spent 11 years in the Twins’ organization, and now has 72 hours to decide if he will accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Rochester or become a free agent.

It was a hard thing to do,” manager Ron Gardenhire said before the Twins played the Cleveland Indians. “I’ve been with him a long, long time. This is not a fun day for myself, for my coaching staff and I don’t think it’s a fun day for the players either [source: ESPN.com]

Rincon, 29, was once among the top setup men in the game but has struggled over recent seasons since testing positive for a banned substance in 2006 and most notably this year. He has a 6.11 ERA over 28 innings this season and has coughed up 33 hits, 16 walks and five homers in that span.

He singed with the Twins organization as a 17-year-old from Venesuela in 1996 and joined the Wizards (who were a Twins affiliate at the time) in 1998. With the ‘zards that year, he went 6-4 with a 3.83 ERA and 74 strikeouts over 96.1 innings pitched.

He would have been back for the 1999 season had the Wizards not switched to a San Diego Padres affiliate that year. For Quad Cities that year, he went 14-8 with a 2.83 ERA in 37 games; 13 of them were starts.

According to my records, if Rincon leaves the organization, Michael Cuddyer is the sole remaining former Wizards player on the Twins from an affiliation that produced 33 big leaguers over 6 years. In comparison, the Padres affiliation has produced 31 (soon to be 32) in 9-plus seasons.

UPDATE 6/13: As expected, Rincon has rejected the Twins offer for reassignment to Triple-A Rochester:

“It’s very sad to leave,” Rincon said. “I’m 29 and I’ve been with this team for over a third of my life. Twelve years is a long time, a lot of memories . . . But I’ve got to go do something, find another team to make it back to the big leagues.”

Former Wizards catcher, A.J. PIerzynski returned to San Francisco with the start of the first installment of interleague play in 2008. As far as I can tell, it was in San Francisco that Pierzynski first started developing the reputation that follows him wherever he goes.

But as he makes his return to San Francisco, he attempted to downplay the troubled times he saw there. He recently told some Chicago beat writers about his experiences . . . about how he was asked to play multiple positions, about how many of the stories that originated from the era simply weren’t true, and more.

The story where I supposedly kicked the trainer in the nuts. I think if I would have done that in Scottsdale Stadium in front of 15,000 people, it would have come out before I was gone.

Among these things, he also talks about the trades that sent him from Minnesota to San Francisco and from San Francisco to Chicago.

Update: As expected, Pierzynski was booed greatly on Friday. “I think A.J. loves that,” manager Ozzie Guillen said. “But look at the best games he has, look at Anaheim — they start booing him and he got big hits.” In the game, Pierzynski hit a triple; which was his first triple since 2004 . . . when was with the San Francisco Giants.

The New York Yankees saw their primary backup catcher, Jose Molina injure his left hamstring during last night’s game. Molina had been filling in for starting catcher, Jorge Posada who is dealing with injury woes of his own. The two injuries could land a call-up for former Wizards catcher, Chad Moeller.

Molina had to come out of the game in the eighth inning for pinch-runner Wilson Betemit as the Yanks’ tried to mount a rally against the rival Boston Red Sox.

The Yankees will make a roster move to bring in another catcher for Monday’s game at Tampa Bay — likely Triple-A backstop Chad Moeller — but have not yet decided if Molina will need to go on the 15-day disabled list [Souorce: MLB.com].

Moeller, 33, was the subject of a handful of similar stories this spring that praised him as the classic veteran catcher who is content to fill the desired role.

Moeller has been in this situation before. He’s not going to be a starter in New York, but the Yankees want him around to fill in if need be . . . It means I’ve been doing it a while,” Moeller said. “For me it’s a good thing. It means they haven’t told me to go home yet. Situations are always out there and you have to find the one that fits. This one, it seems to fit so far. I don’t know how it’s going to play out and I don’t have to. I don’t know where I’ll be at the end of the season . . . you just don’t know where you’re going to be and you just go out and try to do the best you can.” [source: The Citizens Voice]

Moeller, the eight-year major league veteran has a .224 career average, but a .282 average in the minors.

Moeller was selected by Minnesota Twins in the 7th Round (187 overall) of the 1996 draft. While in Fort Wayne during the Wizards 1997 season, the backstop hit .289 with a .386 on base percentage. He scored 58 runs with 111 hits in 384 at-bats. He also had 9 home runs and 39 runs batted in while swiping 11 bases and drawing 48 walks.

He’s spent time in the big leagues every year since his debut in 2000, including time with the Dodgers and Reds last season. He has also been on the Major League roster of the Diamondbacks and Brewers.

UPDATE: As expected, the Yankees called up Moeller, who was inserted in the Yankees’ lineup on Monday, making his New York Yankees debut. “I just never know,” Moeller said. “I just thank the Lord every day that I get to do something I enjoy and as long as he wants me to keep doing it, I’m just going to keep going. When my body says stop, it’ll probably be a clear answer.” In four at-bats, he had a hit, a run and two strike-outs.