Fargo-Moorhead Twins history starts not in the barren, wind-swept prairies of the Red River valley but rather in the Valley of the Sun. The Tempe Spiders were an expansion team that started play in the MDBL 2000 season and serve as the origins of the current Twins. The original owner of the Tempe Spiders is lost to the mists of time (unless long-term owners recall) and he served as the general manager of the club and I believe current Boston Spider owner Dale Messmer served as the manager during that inaugural season. That first season was a struggle, as it is for most expansion teams, and the Spiders finished 59-103. Applying the James Pythagorean Expected Win theorem to the Spiders runs scored (650, worst in the league) and runs allowed (893, a respectable ninth best) an expected winning percentage of .346 is derived which works out to a 56-106 record. So the cunning managerial style of Mr. Messmer was worth three wins in the Spiders initial season. (In the interest of full disclosure, Mr. Messmer is the current manager of the USBL Boston Braves of which the current FM Twins ownership is also the owner and GM. Hence the warm words in an effort to keep him from asking for a raise after leading the Braves to an unexpected berth in the championship series in the inaugural USBL season.)
Offense (or just plain Offensive)
Catcher – The burden of the tools of ignorance were split between three players Alberto Castillo (75 starts), Javier Valentin (53) and Henry Blanco (34). Although known more as a defensive catcher, Castillo had probably the worst season behind the plate of the three (throwing out only seven of the thirty would-be base stealers) but was an utter surprise at the plate. Castillo hit .335 in 254 at-bats with surprising patience and power thrown in (.375 OBP and .484 SLG). In terms of runs created by game, Castillo’s mark of 7.12 was second best on the team. Valentin had to have been considered the heir apparent to the position at the time and put forth a solid season on defense (nabbing 10 in 26 stolen base attempts. Valentin struggled at the plate with an OPS of .667 but showed an encouraging 18/25 walk to strikeout rate in 183 AB. Henry Blanco was…well…Henry Blanco, throwing out base-stealers at a 33% clip and producing a robust OPS of .563.
First Base – The offensive star of the team, John Jaha, did what he does best combining patience and power and little else. Jaha clubbed a team-leading 42 home runs (still the fourth best total in Twins history) and accepted 103 free passes to first base (still the fifth best total in Twins history). Amazingly, 39.6% of Jaha’s hits where home runs (106 hits, 42 HR) but even more amazing is that it only the ninth best percentage in MDBL history for players hitting more than 20 homers. One players name appears four times before you get to Jaha’s number and has 4 of the top 5 spots. Can you name him? Check here, MDBL By the Numbers, for the answer.
Second Base – The immortal Trent Durrington manned the keystone. More accurately Durrington played second base and stood looking dazed and confused at the plate. In 396 AB, Trent put up this line: .139 BA/.191 OBP/.154 SLG/.346 OPS. Good thing I didn’t see this before hiring Skipper Messmer for the USBL gig. It will come as a surprise to no one that the .346 OPS is the worst effort in MDBL history for a player somehow amassing 400 or more plate appearances. In an effort to be positive, Durrington did "contribute" 31 sacrifice hits during the season which is still the fifth most in a season in MDBL history. Placing him with the likes of Juan Castro, Doug Glanville, Rey Ordonez and Royce Clayton in the annuals of the MDBL.
Third Base – Matt Williams took position at the hot corner and contributed 29 homers and 83 runs batted in. An OBP of .293 and a propensity to accumulate a vast number of outs at the plate, ensured that this was Matt’s only season with the Spiders/Twins.
Shortstop – Reviewing the Spiders’ roster and lineup, you begin to understand why the team was orphaned after the season. Rey Ordonez occupied the shortstop position in 2000. Saint Rey dragged down the Spiders’ offense with an OPS of .480 but he was pretty fair with the leather posting a fielding percentage of .995 while committing only four errors. That still doesn’t cover a .480 OPS....
Left Field – Noted slugger Tony Womack took up station in left field for 124 games. Not sure I can continue, this is pretty depressing. Let’s review: starting second baseman OPS of .346, starting shortstop OPS of .480 and starting left fielder OPS of .597. Yikes!
Center Field – Gabe Kapler and Damon Buford pretty much split the center field duties in half with Kapler starting 79 games and Buford 74. Neither player was highly effective but Kapler far out shown Buford creating 4.21 runs per 27 outs compared to the 2.80 for Buford.
Right Field – Raul Mondesi made a lot of noise with 34 homers and a team-leading 94 RBI but all that noise really did was drowned out a whole lotta outs leading to a paltry 4.63 runs created per game and a lackluster OPS of .735.
Painful, brutal, sad…I can't go on. The pitching staff will have to wait until another day....
Offense (or just plain Offensive)
Catcher – The burden of the tools of ignorance were split between three players Alberto Castillo (75 starts), Javier Valentin (53) and Henry Blanco (34). Although known more as a defensive catcher, Castillo had probably the worst season behind the plate of the three (throwing out only seven of the thirty would-be base stealers) but was an utter surprise at the plate. Castillo hit .335 in 254 at-bats with surprising patience and power thrown in (.375 OBP and .484 SLG). In terms of runs created by game, Castillo’s mark of 7.12 was second best on the team. Valentin had to have been considered the heir apparent to the position at the time and put forth a solid season on defense (nabbing 10 in 26 stolen base attempts. Valentin struggled at the plate with an OPS of .667 but showed an encouraging 18/25 walk to strikeout rate in 183 AB. Henry Blanco was…well…Henry Blanco, throwing out base-stealers at a 33% clip and producing a robust OPS of .563.
First Base – The offensive star of the team, John Jaha, did what he does best combining patience and power and little else. Jaha clubbed a team-leading 42 home runs (still the fourth best total in Twins history) and accepted 103 free passes to first base (still the fifth best total in Twins history). Amazingly, 39.6% of Jaha’s hits where home runs (106 hits, 42 HR) but even more amazing is that it only the ninth best percentage in MDBL history for players hitting more than 20 homers. One players name appears four times before you get to Jaha’s number and has 4 of the top 5 spots. Can you name him? Check here, MDBL By the Numbers, for the answer.
Second Base – The immortal Trent Durrington manned the keystone. More accurately Durrington played second base and stood looking dazed and confused at the plate. In 396 AB, Trent put up this line: .139 BA/.191 OBP/.154 SLG/.346 OPS. Good thing I didn’t see this before hiring Skipper Messmer for the USBL gig. It will come as a surprise to no one that the .346 OPS is the worst effort in MDBL history for a player somehow amassing 400 or more plate appearances. In an effort to be positive, Durrington did "contribute" 31 sacrifice hits during the season which is still the fifth most in a season in MDBL history. Placing him with the likes of Juan Castro, Doug Glanville, Rey Ordonez and Royce Clayton in the annuals of the MDBL.
Third Base – Matt Williams took position at the hot corner and contributed 29 homers and 83 runs batted in. An OBP of .293 and a propensity to accumulate a vast number of outs at the plate, ensured that this was Matt’s only season with the Spiders/Twins.
Shortstop – Reviewing the Spiders’ roster and lineup, you begin to understand why the team was orphaned after the season. Rey Ordonez occupied the shortstop position in 2000. Saint Rey dragged down the Spiders’ offense with an OPS of .480 but he was pretty fair with the leather posting a fielding percentage of .995 while committing only four errors. That still doesn’t cover a .480 OPS....
Left Field – Noted slugger Tony Womack took up station in left field for 124 games. Not sure I can continue, this is pretty depressing. Let’s review: starting second baseman OPS of .346, starting shortstop OPS of .480 and starting left fielder OPS of .597. Yikes!
Center Field – Gabe Kapler and Damon Buford pretty much split the center field duties in half with Kapler starting 79 games and Buford 74. Neither player was highly effective but Kapler far out shown Buford creating 4.21 runs per 27 outs compared to the 2.80 for Buford.
Right Field – Raul Mondesi made a lot of noise with 34 homers and a team-leading 94 RBI but all that noise really did was drowned out a whole lotta outs leading to a paltry 4.63 runs created per game and a lackluster OPS of .735.
Painful, brutal, sad…I can't go on. The pitching staff will have to wait until another day....
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