1999 Minnesota Twins season

The 1999 Minnesota Twins season was the 39th season for the franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their eighteen season at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and the 99th overall in the American League. They began their season on a positive note, with Brad Radke getting the win in a 6–1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. However, they finished the season in last place, with a 63–97 record.

1999 Minnesota Twins
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record63–97 (.394)
Divisional place5th
Other information
OwnersCarl Pohlad
General managersTerry Ryan
ManagersTom Kelly
Local televisionKMSP-TV
Midwest Sports Channel
(Bert Blyleven, Dick Bremer, Paul Molitor)
Local radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, John Gordon)
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Offseason

Regular season

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.

On May 4, rookie Mike Lincoln pitched the Twins to their 3,000th victory. It was Lincoln's first win in the major leagues, as he beat the Yankees 8-5 at the Metrodome. Bert Blyleven was on the mound for both the Twins' 1,000th and 2,000th victories.

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 their highest paid player, to the Chicago Cubs. The team also traded Scott Downs and received Jason 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 lone representative of the Twins in the All-Star Game was Ron Coomer. He replaced Jim Thome at first base and went 0 for 1.

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

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; Walker with a .279 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.

Team Leaders
StatisticPlayerQuantity
HRRon Coomer16
RBIMarty Cordova70
BATodd Walker.279
RunsChad Allen69

Pitching

Radke, Milton, and LaTroy Hawkins filled the first three spots in the starting rotation throughout the season. The fourth and fifth spots were less predictable. Mays did emerge as a capable starter midway through the season, making 20 starts. Also making an appreciable number of starts in 1999 were Mike Lincoln (15), Dan Perkins (12), and Jason Ryan (8).

Aguilera started the season as the Twins' closer and recorded eight saves, but Mike Trombley took over the closer duties in May and finished the season with 24 saves. Trombley, Bob Wells, Travis Miller, Eddie Guardado, and Héctor Carrasco had respectable seasons out of the bullpen.

Overall, the pitching staff allowed the second fewest walks in the American League and had an average ERA.

Team Leaders
StatisticPlayerQuantity
ERABrad Radke3.75
WinsBrad Radke12
SavesMike Trombley24
StrikeoutsEric Milton163

Defense

Like most of manager Tom Kelly's teams, this one was fundamentally sound. For example, the team committed the third fewest errors in the major leagues in spite of its inexperience.

Chad Allen, Hunter, and Matt Lawton saw consistent playing time in the outfield. However, Jacque Jones saw enough at bats to supplant Allen the following season, leading to the "Soul Patrol" of Jones, Hunter, and Lawton. Terry Steinbach was the starting catcher, with Javier Valentín as his backup. Three of the infield positions were fairly stable, with Mientkiewicz getting the bulk of the time at first base, Todd Walker at second, and Cristian Guzmán at short. Although Coomer was the opening day third baseman, Koskie ended up playing the most games at that position. (Coomer saw time at first when it became apparent that Mientkiewicz was not yet ready to face major-league pitchers.) Brent Gates also saw substantial playing time at third, as well as second. Marty Cordova played in 88 games as the designated hitter.

Season standings
AL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cleveland Indians 9765 0.599 — 47–34 50–31
Chicago White Sox 7586 0.466 21½ 38–42 37–44
Detroit Tigers 6992 0.429 27½ 38–43 31–49
Kansas City Royals 6497 0.398 32½ 33–47 31–50
Minnesota Twins 6397 0.394 33 31–50 32–47

Record vs. opponents
1999 American League record

Sources:
Team ANA BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC MIN NYY OAK SEA TB TEX TOR NL 
Anaheim —3–91–95–51–95–57–56–46–48–46–67–56–63–96–12
Baltimore 9–3—5–77–31–95–56–48–14–95–75–55–76–61–1111–7
Boston 9–17–5—7–58–47–58–26–48–44–67–34–94–59–36–12
Chicago 5–53–75–7—3–97–56–68–3–15–73–74–86–45–56–49–9
Cleveland 9–19–14–89–3—8–57–59–33–710–27–35–43–75–79–9
Detroit 5–55–55–75–75–8—7–46–65–74–63–74–55–52–108–10
Kansas City 5–74–62–86–65–74–7—5–85–46–67–52–84–63–76–12
Minnesota 4–61–84–63–8–13–96–68–5—4–67–54–85–50–124–610–7
New York 4–69–44–87–57–37–54–56–4—6–49–18–48–410–29–9
Oakland 4–87–56–47–32–106–46–65–74–6—6–69–15–78–212–6
Seattle 6–65–53–78–43–77–35–78–41–96–6—8–45–87–27–11
Tampa Bay 5–77–59–44–64–55–48–25–54–81–94–8—4–85–84–14
Texas 6–66–65–45–57–35–56–412–04–87–58–58–4—6–410–8
Toronto 9–311–13–94–67–510–27–36–42–102–82–78–54–6—9–9

Roster
1999 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Notable transactions

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 Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
CTerry Steinbach10133896.284442
1BDoug Mientkiewicz11832775.229232
2BTodd Walker143531148.279646
SSCristian Guzmán13142095.226126
3BCorey Koskie117342106.3101158
LFChad Allen137481133.2771046
CFTorii Hunter13538498.255935
RFMatt Lawton118406105.259754
DHMarty Cordova124425121.2851470

Other batters

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

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Ron Coomer127467123.2631665
Denny Hocking136386103.267741
Jacque Jones9532293.289944
Brent Gates11030678.255338
Javier Valentín7821854.248528
Midre Cummings163810.26319
Chris Latham14222.09103
Cleatus Davidson12223.13603
A. J. Pierzynski9226.27303
David Ortiz10200.00000

Starting pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Brad Radke33218.212143.75121
Eric Milton34206.17114.49163
LaTroy Hawkins33174.110146.66103
Mike Lincoln1876.13106.8427
Jason Ryan840.2144.8715

Other pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Joe Mays49171.06114.37115
Dan Perkins2986.2176.5444
Benj Sampson3071.0328.1156
Mark Redman512.2108.5311
Gary Rath54.20111.571

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Mike Trombley7528244.3382
Bob Wells768313.8144
Eddie Guardado632524.5050
Travis Miller522202.7240
Héctor Carrasco392314.9635
Rick Aguilera173161.2713
Rob Radlosky701012.463
J.C. Romero50003.724

Other post-season awards

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Salt Lake Buzz Pacific Coast League Phil Roof
AA New Britain Rock Cats Eastern League John Russell
A Fort Myers Miracle Florida State League Mike Boulanger
A Quad Cities River Bandits Midwest League Jose Marzan
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Jon Mathews
Rookie GCL Twins Gulf Coast League Al Newman

[15]

References
  1. Todd Ritchie at Baseball-Reference
  2. Alex Ochoa at Baseball-Reference
  3. Melvin Nieves at Baseball-Reference
  4. George Williams at Baseball-Reference
  5. Bob Wells at Baseball-Reference
  6. Bobby Kielty at Baseball-Reference
  7. Dan Serafini at Baseball-Reference
  8. Jack Cressend at Baseball-Reference
  9. Midre Cummings at Baseball-Reference
  10. Rick Aguilera at Baseball-Reference
  11. Frank Rodriguez at Baseball-Reference
  12. Rob Bowen at Baseball-Reference
  13. Justin Morneau at Baseball-Reference
  14. Terry Tiffee at Baseball-Reference
  15. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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