1990 Minnesota Twins season explained

Minnesota Twins
Season:	1990
League:	American League
Division:	West
City:	Minneapolis
Record:	74–88
Divisional Place:	7th
General Managers:	Andy MacPhail
Managers:	Tom Kelly
Television:	WCCO-TV KITN Midwest Sports Channel (Jim Kaat, Ted Robinson, Dick Bremer)
Radio:	830 WCCO AM (Herb Carneal, John Gordon)

The 1990 Minnesota Twins, three years after their World Series title in 1987, fell to the bottom of the American League West once again. However, the season was not completely bad, as there were some bright spots that included pitchers Rick Aguilera and Scott Erickson. Aguilera was converted from a starter to a closer and recorded 32 saves, while Erickson was promoted to the Twins in June from the team's AA affiliate and went 8-4 with a 3.27 ERA.

Offseason

December 4, 1989: Drafted Shane Mack from the San Diego Padres in the 1989 Rule 5 draft.
December 6, 1989: Signed Kent Hrbek as a free agent.^[1]
January 8, 1990: Carmelo Castillo was signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Twins.^[2]

Regular season

The lone representative of the Twins in the All-Star Game was center fielder Kirby Puckett.
The highest paid Twin in 1990 was Puckett at $2,816,667; followed by Kent Hrbek at $2,100,000.

Offense

**Team Leaders**! Statistic !! Player !! Quantity
		22
		85
		.298
		82

Pitching

**Team Leaders**! Statistic !! Player !! Quantity
		4.53
		12
		32
		101

Defense

The highlight of the season came on July 17, in Boston, when the Twins turned two triple plays. In the 4th inning, with the bases loaded and Scott Erickson pitching, former Twin Tom Brunansky hit a sharp grounder to Gary Gaetti at third base, who stepped on the bag for the force out, fired to Al Newman at second, whose relay to Kent Hrbek was in time to get Brunansky at first. In the 8th inning, with John Candelaria pitching and runners on first and second, Jody Reed hit a one-hopper at Gaetti who again started a 5-4-3 triple play. This was the first time in MLB history that two triple plays were recorded in a game, a feat that has not been duplicated since.^[3]

The following night, still in Boston, both teams combined for an MLB-record-tying ten double plays. Boston tied an American League record by grounding into six DPs in the game, only escaping the twin killings in the sixth and seventh innings.

Both games were won by Boston.

Roster

1990 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers	CatchersInfielders	OutfieldersOther batters	ManagerCoaches

Notable Transactions

April 4: Traded Mike Pomeranz (minors) to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Received Junior Ortiz and Orlando Lind (minors).
June 4, 1990: Midre Cummings was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (29th pick) of the 1990 amateur draft. Player signed June 12, 1990.^[4]
June 4, 1990: Jayhawk Owens was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 2nd round of the 1990 amateur draft. Player signed June 12, 1990.^[5]
June 4: Drafted Eddie Guardado in the 21st round of the 1990 amateur draft. Player signed May 23, 1991.
July 27: Traded John Candelaria to the Toronto Blue Jays. Received Nelson Liriano and Pedro Muñoz.
December 18: Randy Bush was signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Twins.^[6]

Player stats

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	134	479	141	.294	6	54
1B	143	492	141	.287	22	79
2B	144	388	94	.242	0	30
3B	154	577	132	.229	16	85
SS	138	388	91	.235	7	38
LF	136	534	147	.275	5	40
CF	146	551	164	.298	12	80
RF	125	313	102	.326	8	44
DH	119	401	108	.269	5	42

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
69	228	54	.237	5	29
53	185	47	.254	0	13
73	181	44	.243	6	18
115	172	38	.221	1	14
71	170	57	.335	0	18
64	137	30	.219	0	12
41	121	25	.207	5	13
22	85	23	.271	0	5
37	63	12	.190	1	5
14	25	6	.240	1	4
2	6	2	.333	0	0
1	2	0	.000	0	2
3	1	0	.000	0	0

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
31	188.2	7	18	4.53	82
28	159.1	12	8	4.07	101
29	146.1	7	9	5.10	92
24	144.2	7	9	3.79	101
19	113.0	8	4	2.87	53
7	34.2	0	5	5.97	25

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
32	153.1	5	10	4.81	87
35	91.0	3	5	4.35	49
5	22.1	2	1	3.22	11

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
56	5	3	32	2.76	61
55	2	5	2	3.20	46
51	8	5	0	3.41	77
38	1	1	1	4.19	28
34	7	3	4	3.39	44
17	0	2	1	8.31	12
5	0	0	2	1.59	1
4	0	0	0	2.08	2
2	0	0	0	13.50	0

Farm system

External links

Notes and References

Web site: Kent Hrbek Stats - Baseball-Reference.com. Baseball-Reference.com.
Web site: Carmelo Castillo Stats - Baseball-Reference.com. Baseball-Reference.com.
Web site: Box Score of Game played on Tuesday, July 17, 1990 at Fenway Park. baseball-almanac.com.
Web site: Midre Cummings Stats - Baseball-Reference.com. Baseball-Reference.com.
Web site: Jayhawk Owens Stats - Baseball-Reference.com. Baseball-Reference.com.
Web site: Randy Bush Stats - Baseball-Reference.com. Baseball-Reference.com.
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007