There are no mulligans in baseball, of course, but the concept can help when making evaluations. The Twins have this theory about giving players extra chances to prove themselves, especially young players coming off a trade.

This helps explain why they’ve expressed little urgency to trade Delmon Young, at least overtly, though his name keeps popping up in trade rumors. The front office would rather give Young a mulligan for 2008 – or a two-month mulligan, at least.

In 1999, they traded Rick Aguilera to the Cubs, acquiring a 20-year old pitcher named Kyle Lohse. The next year at Class AA, Lohse went 3-18 with a 6.04 ERA.

But by 2001, Lohse was in the big leagues, and no matter how you view his career, he signed a four-year, $41 million contract with the Cardinals in September.

The Twins made two big trades last offseason, and none of the players they acquired delivered eye-popping results. A closer look at the numbers, however, shows how most shook off early season slumps.

Delmon Young, OF
Age: 23 (Turns 24 on Sept. 14)
The beginning: He batted .264/.323 (OBP)/.337 (SLG) with no home runs and 15 RBI through May 31.
After May 31: He batted .305/.343/.444 with 10 homers and 54 RBI. For comparison, after May 31, Torii Hunter batted .275/.342/.461 with 14 homers and 52 RBI in a solid first season with the Angels.

Brendan Harris, INF
Age: 28 (Turns 29 on Aug. 26)
The beginning: Batted .262/.315/.376 before the All-Star break and lost the starting second base job.
After the break: Batted .272/.353/.434 after the break, looking more comfortable at shortstop and third base.

Jason Pridie, OF
Age: 25 (Turns 26 on Oct. 9)
The beginning: He batted .243/.276/.392 for Class AAA Rochester before the break.
After the break: He batted .326/.364/522. Baseball America named him the International League’s best defensive outfielder. Pridie needed another mulligan after his big league debut, as he muffed a ball in right field at a critical moment in Toronto and barely played again.

Carlos Gomez, OF
Age: 23 (Turns 24 next Dec. 4)
The beginning: He batted .253/.287/.351 before the break with one walk for every 28.5 plate appearances. He stole 21 bases but was caught nine times.
After the break: He batted .268/.313/.379 with one walk for every 19.5 plate appearances and was successful in 12-of-14 stolen base attempts. Gomez did some of his best work in September, during the heat of the pennant race, batting .289/.330/.470.

Philip Humber, RHP
Age: 25 (Turns 26 on Dec. 21)
The beginning: At Rochester, he went 4-7 with a 5.92 ERA before the All-Star break with 1.46 strikeouts for every walk. Opponents batted .300 against him.
After the break: He went 6-1 with a 2.67 ERA with 4.33 strikeouts for every walk and an opponent’s batting average of .233.

Kevin Mulvey, RHP
Age: 23 (Turns 24 on May 26)
The beginning: He went 3-6 with a 4.07 ERA for Rochester before the break with a 50/22 K/BB ratio.
After the break: He went 4-3 with a 3.59 ERA and a 71/26 K/BB ratio. Mulvey had been in big league during spring training, and the Twins thought he pressed too much early in the season before settling down for a solid finish to his first full season at Class AAA.

Deolis Guerra, RHP
Age: 19 (Turns 20 on April 17)
The beginning: At Class A Fort Myers, he went 7-2 with a 4.83 ERA before the break.
After the break: He went 4-7 with a 6.08 ERA, but the Twins spent the entire season refining his motion, trying to tap into the potential velocity for this 6-foot-5 youngster.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 9:31 am and is filed under Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.