Photo / Gregory Shamus, Getty Images
In 2010, the Minnesota Twins were in the thick of the AL Central race. After leading the division for most of the first half, the Twins had dropped 13 of their last 19 heading into the All Star Break and trailed the Chicago White Sox by 3.5 games.
The Twins' offense was solid, led by reigning AL MVP Joe Mauer (.327, 75 RBI), Michael Cuddyer (.271, 81 RBI), Delmon Young (.298, 21 HR) and Jim Thome (.283, 25 HR) . The starting rotation featured Carl Pavano (17-11, 3.75), Kevin Slowey (13-6, 4.45) and a comeback year from Francisco Liriano (14-10, 3.62).
But the Twins knew they could improve. And they needed to if they wanted to win the division.
There were a number of prospects the Twins could use as trade bait to make an upgrade somewhere, none as valued as highly as catcher Wilson Ramos.
In 2010, Ramos was an expendable piece. He had batted .296 in 28 plate appearances for the Twins in 2010 after batting .332 at AA the year before. He was the 59th best prospect in baseball and the 5th best catching prospect in baseball.
But the Twins had an MVP catcher behind the plate that had just signed a 10-year contract extension. Twins GM Bill Smith knew he had a valuable piece to deal and took a long, hard look at the Twins bullpen. Jon Rauch had taken over the closer role for Joe Nathan, who was out for the year while recovering from Tommy John surgery. The bullpen also featured guys like Jesse Crain, Matt Guerrier, Jose Mijares and spot-starter Brian Duensing.
The Twins went 22-12 after acquiring the 6'11'' Rauch
from Arizona in August 2009. He was 5-1 with a 1.72 ERA.
Photo / Ed Wolfstein, Icon SMI
Smith decided the weak link was at closer, despite Rauch's good numbers (2.38 ERA, 20 saves at the All Star Break).
On July 29th, and a game out of first place, Smith traded Ramos, along with Joe Testa, to the Washington Nationals for All-Star closer Matt Capps (2.74 ERA, 26 saves at the time of the trade). Smith also brought in guys like Brian Fuentes and Randy Florew to shore up the bullpen for the playoff push.
Capps had a great second half for the Twins (2-0, 2.00 ERA, 16 saves) to solidify the bullpen. The Twins finished 36-22 and won the AL Central title for the second time in as many years.
And then were swept by the New York Yankees in the ALDS.
The Ramos/Capps looked good at the time, but, like many Bill Smith moves, crippled the franchise for years to come.
The Decline of Matt Capps and Joe Mauer
A lot of fans don't remember how good Capps was for the Twins in 2010. He had an ERA of 2.00 and only gave up one home run in 27 innings pitched. Meanwhile, Jon Rauch struggled and posted a 4.18 ERA in the second half.
A 4-7 record and 4.25 ERA in 2011 earned Capps
a one-year deal in 2012
Photo / Hannah Foslien, Getty Images
Rauch signed with the Toronto Blue Jays after the 2010 season. Meanwhile, struggled was 5-11 with a 4.07 ERA with 15 HR allowed in 99 appearances in 2011 and 2012. The Twins went from a 94 win team in 2010 to a 100 loss team in 2011. Not only was Capps in a funk, so was Mauer. After batting .365 with 28 HR and 96 RBI in his MVP season in 2009, Mauer only hit 12 home runs total in 2010-11 as he battled various injuries from complications from off-season knee surgery to bilateral leg weakness to pneumonia and had the worst season of his career. It wouldn't have been a bad time to have a 23-year-old prospect at catchers instead of trotting Drew Butera and his .197 average out there every night.
The fall-from-grace that the Twins experienced in the 2010s can be traced directly to the Ramos trade. With Mauer's struggles and eventual move to first base, would the decline have happened with Ramos with the Twins? Throughout Twins history, the good runs in the 1960s and 2000s had catchers who could play defense and hit (Earl Battey, AJ Pierzinski, Joe Mauer). Instead the Twins have started guys like Steve Holm, Josmil Pinto, Bobby Wilson, John Ryan Murphy, and Drew Butera at catcher. The Twins learned the hard way that if you have a young catcher who can catch, hit and is major-league ready, do not trade him...no matter how good your number one catcher is.
Cliff Lee and the Seattle Mariners
Cliff Lee, two years removed from winning the AL Cy Young Award, was being shopped by the Seattle Mariners. At the time, Lee was 8-3 with a 2.34 ERA for an eventual 100-loss Mariners club. It was reported at one point that the Mariners wanted Ramos and either a prospect (outfielder Aaron Hicks) or an MLB-ready pitcher (Brian Duensing) for the aces. The Twins decided not to pull the trigger. Hicks was being groomed to take over an outfield spot, and Duensing was a key member of the bullpen (the rookie Duensing was 4-1 with a 2.92 ERA down the stretch for the Twins in 2009).
The Twins balked, even though the move would have given the Twins an elite playoff rotation. Lee was eventually traded to the Texas Rangers and led the team to their first ever AL Pennant. He was 3-0 in the first two rounds of the playoffs, including a two-hit, 13 strikeout performance at Yankee Stadium in the ALCS. He also beaten the Yankees twice in the World Series with the Phillies in 2009.
Cliff Lee devastated the Yankees in the 2010 ALCS
Photo / Marc Carig, The Star-Ledger
Meanwhile, Aaron Hicks was eventually traded to the Yankees for catcher (ironically) John Ryan Murphy (.146, 3 RBI in one season with Minnesota). Brian Duensing, who was 0-2 with an 11.25 career playoff ERA against the Yankees, had a 4.68 ERA over the next five seasons and left via free agency after the 2015 season. Meanwhile, Hicks posted career-highs in average, home runs and RBIs while playing in New York.
Ramos Flourishes
Although he's battled injuries throughout his career, when Ramos is healthy he is very good. In his first full season in Washington, he hit .267 with 15 HR and 52 RBI and finished fourth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. The two-time All-Star (he was the starting catcher for the American League in 2018) also won a Silver Slugger award in 2016.
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