New Twins operations bosses Derek Falvey and Thad Levine wasted little time making moves after being introduced to the media corps on Monday. First on the docket was outrighting right-handed pitcher Alex Wimmers off the 40-man roster.
Wimmers, the club’s first-round pick in 2010, overcame massive control issues in addition to arm injuries to reach the big leagues for the first time as a 27-year-old this season. Wimmers started the season in Chattanooga in the bullpen, posting a 6.43 ERA with solid peripherals rates before being bumped up to Rochester before the end of April.
Wimmers was solid in Rochester for the bulk of the season, pitching largely eighth and ninth innings while racking up a team-high 11 saves to go with a 3.62 ERA, 9.1 K/9 and a WHIP of 1.33. Wimmers did little to assuage worry about his command in his relatively short big-league stint, walking 11 batters in 17.1 innings (5.7 BB/9) with 14 strikeouts, while MLB hitters batted .237/.347/.407 against him. Wimmers is a minor-league free agent, and could opt to return to the only organization he’s ever known as a pro. Working against his favor, however, is that the power structure which drafted him is by-and-large out of the picture, including the scout who signed him when he was drafted — Jay Weitzel — not having his contract renewed by the team, per Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Manager Paul Molitor said at the press conference on Monday that he’d like to get some clarity in the near future on what his big-league coaching staff would look like, and that clarity came through — at least in part — on Tuesday.
Out are hitting coach Tom Brunansky and first base coach/outfield instructor Butch Davis, while Joe Vavra, Rudy Hernandez, Eddie Guardado, Neil Allen and Gene Glynn will all return next season.
Brunansky had been the MLB hitting coach since the 2013 season and prior to that had worked with the GCL, Double- and Triple-A affiliates inside the organization. Brunansky played seven seasons with the Twins, including hitting a career-high 32 home runs in the team’s 1987 World Series season before being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for second baseman Tom Herr the next April. Twins second baseman Brian Dozier credited Brunansky with turning him into the hitter he is today, as the two broke down film extensively early in the 2013 season, and re-manufactured Dozier’s swing as a result.
Davis spent the last two seasons coaching first base and the outfielders and had been at Double-A Bowie in the Orioles organization prior to that. Davis played parts of eight seasons with Kansas City, Texas, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and the Los Angeles Dodgers, racking up a career batting line of .243/.274/.380 in 485 MLB plate appearances while playing left, center and right field defensively.
Vavra has been with the Twins for the past 12 seasons and was the bench coach the last two seasons after serving as a hitting coach, third base coach and minor league field coordinator in previous seasons. Vavra hit .288/.351/.347 in five minor league seasons in the Dodgers organization while playing all over the diamond, including each of the infield positions, catcher and some outfield.
The 2017 season will be Hernandez’ 17th in the organization and third with the Twins. Hernandez started with the organization as a manager of the Rookie-level Elizabethton team in 2001 and has managed all up and down the team’s minor-league ranks. Hernandez was an infielder in the Mets system in the late 1980s and early 1990s, hitting .250/.335/.307 while playing mostly second base.
Guardado is entering his third season with the club as bullpen coach and prior to that had worked with the organization as a spring training instructor. Guardado was a 21st-round pick of the Twins in the 1990 draft and ascended through the ranks first as a starting pitcher before finding his niche in the bullpen, ultimately saving 116 games for the team before departing for Seattle in free agency after the 2003 season. Guardado finished his 17-year career with the Rangers in 2009, and had a 4.31 ERA, 187 saves and more than 900 career MLB appearances.
Glynn is a Waseca, Minn. native who joined the MLB staff prior to the 2015 season. He managed at Triple-A Rochester prior to that for three seasons and was also a third-base coach with the Cubs, Rockies and Giants. Glynn played seven minor-league seasons in the Montreal Expos system as a second and third baseman as well as seeing some time in the outfield. Glynn hit .230/.355/.298 and got as high as Triple-A in the Expos system before his playing career ended in 1985.
Also returning is Allen, who has spent the last two years as pitching coach for the MLB staff after coming over as a minor league pitching coach in the Tampa Bay Rays system. Allen has coached since 1995 per Twins PR, and was an 11-year MLB veteran with the Mets, Cardinals, Yankees, White Sox and Indians. Allen, who worked mostly as a reliever in his career, retired after the 1989 season with a 3.88 ERA and 58-70 career record.
