December 16, 2019

Will Josh Donaldson play for the Twins?

Slugging third baseman Josh Donaldson, who helped power the Atlanta Braves to an NL East title last season, has apparently drawn interest from the Twins. This makes sense because the Twins said goodbye to first baseman, C.J. Cron, which likely means that Miguel Sano moves to first base, creating an opening at the hot corner.

Donaldson would appear to fit the bill nicely. He’s a former AL MVP, and he’s coming off a season in which he hit 34 home runs and slashed .259/.379/.521. He also committed only 13 errors in 148 games. Sano, on the other hand, committed 17 errors in 91 games, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

The other benefit to the Twins, at least for a season, or possibly more, is that Twins pitching wouldn’t have to face Donaldson because he is the all-time Twins killer. Two years ago, The Associated Press produced this amazing stat after the Twins lost to the Toronto Blue Jays.

According to AP:

In 38 career games against the Twins, Donaldson is batting .375 with 16 doubles, 15 homers and 41 RBI. Donaldson’s on-base-plus-slugging percentage, at 1.239 entering the night, is the highest by any opposing player in Twins history including the franchise’s previous incarnation as the Washington Senators.

A check of Baseball-Reference.com now shows that his on-base-plus-slugging percentage against the Twins is even higher. In 43 career games, he’s batting .395 with 17 doubles, 19 home runs and 46 RBI for an OPS of 1.339.

He also has been tough on the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians. In 44 games against the Pale Hose, he is hitting .333 with nine doubles, 15 home runs and 35 RBI for an OPS of 1.122. Against the Tribe, he is batting .327 with seven doubles, 11 home runs and 40 RBI for an OPS of 1.038.

Extra innings…

-Former White Sox third baseman Joe Crede had a Twins-killing reputation, too. Over 102 games against the Twins, Crede hit 19 doubles, 19 homers and drove in 59 RBI. He played his final season of major league baseball for the Twins in 2009.

COMMENTS

Hi, I’m Rolf Boone, Twins fan.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.