Alex Kirilloff, who made his major league debut for the Twins in the postseason and accounted for one of only three hits in that 3-1 loss to the Astros, said farewell to Minnesota and his baseball career last week after he announced his retirement days before his 27th birthday.
In some ways, it’s no surprise. Kirilloff spent four years with the Twins and he seemed to be hurt every season. He never played in more than 88 games and averaged just 62 contests per year over those four seasons. He acknowledged in his announcement that injuries had forced him from the game.
“I’ve encountered numerous injuries, which led me to search for new ways to overcome the pain,” he wrote. “These challenges have taken a toll on me mentally and physically; over time, I’ve realized that my passion for playing the game has shifted.
“Baseball demands an ‘all-in’ approach, something I’ve brought to every season. However, I can no longer give it the total commitment it requires.”
Kirilloff is not the only player moving on from Minnesota. The Twins also announced they have declined the contract options on Kyle Farmer and Manuel Margot, and let’s not forget that Carlos Santana, Max Kepler, Anthony DeSclafani and Caleb Thielbar are free agents, meaning there’s no guarantee that any of them stay with the Twins.
All of this sudden activity has me feeling uneasy, partly because the river running underneath all of this is called a Team For Sale, which most likely will have a dampening effect on the offseason. In other words, it creates uncertainty and that could pause any number of transactions or deals in the offing.
The buying and selling of a team is very much of the corporate world and a potential buyer, before they fork over a billion dollars, could easily ask the Twins to pare down payroll to the bare minimum so that the new owner is in the best position to make money before they take over. In a flash, the Twins could become the next Oakland A’s. Think about that for a second. I’m trying not to.
Extra innings…
-Pitcher Rudy May, who spent 16 seasons in the major leagues, 14 of them with the Yankees and Angels, died Oct. 23. He was 80. Reading his obituary in the New York Times, I was surprised and unsurprised to read that he had a connection and an unfortunate one as well to the Twins.
May, who was Black, passed on a scholarship to university and signed with the Twins in 1962. He soon learned that the Twins’ spring training housing arrangement was not integrated.
“Having experienced little overt racism as a Black youth growing up on the West Coast, May said, he was startled when he arrived at the Twins’ spring training camp in Fernandina Beach, Fla., and learned that Black players were required to bunk with local families instead of staying at the team hotel, and to drink from a bucket in the clubhouse instead of the water fountain.”
He would go on to pitch for a Twins’ Single-A affiliate in North Dakota called the Bismarck-Mandan Pards. He had quite the season: He struck out 173 batters over 168 innings, but also issued 120 walks, uncorked 25 wild pitches and hit six batters. May finished that first year at 11-11 with a 4.29 ERA. But in the bigs he would go on to win 152 games.
Sources: MLB Trade Rumors, Baseball-Reference.com, New York Times