2007 Minnesota Twins season
The 2007 Minnesota Twins season was the 47th season for the franchise in Minnesota, and the 107th overall in the American League. It started off with the Twins trying to repeat as champions of the AL Central, instead they finished 79–83 and missed the playoffs.
Offseason
- January 11, 2007: Agreed to terms with Ramón Ortiz on a one-year contract.
- February 2, 2007: Re-signed Justin Morneau, Lew Ford and Juan Rincón to one-year contracts and Nick Punto to a two-year contract.
- February 11, 2007: Agreed to terms with Joe Mauer on a four-year contract.
Regular season
- With a first-inning 'E4' on June 6, the Twins' Luis Castillo's major league record for consecutive errorless games by a second baseman ended at 143. Over 647 chances, he never erred. Detroit's Plácido Polanco had a similar streak running concurrently, and it ended a few months later at 186 games, the new record.
- The Twins' representatives to the All-Star Game were Morneau, Hunter, and Santana. Reliever Pat Neshek was chosen to be one of five players in the final vote for an All-Star player. However, this spot went to Boston Red Sox pitcher Hideki Okajima, despite a campaign by Twins fans and national sports blogs to "Vote For Pat".
- The collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge occurred prior to the August 1, 2007 home game against the Kansas City Royals at the Metrodome. Public safety officials told the team that canceling the game could hamper rescue and recovery efforts, since a cancellation would send up to 25,000 people back into traffic just blocks from the collapsed bridge. Before the game, a moment of silence was held for the victims of the collapse. The team rescheduled their August 2 game against the Royals to the afternoon of August 31. Traditional groundbreaking ceremonies for the team's forthcoming stadium had been scheduled to take place after the game, but were postponed to August 30.
- Johan Santana broke the club record for most strikeouts in a game, with 17 against the Texas Rangers on August 19, 2007.
- On September 7, the Twins and the Chicago White Sox entered the ninth inning tied 4-4 and left the inning tied 10-10. It's the first time in the major leagues that both teams each scored six runs each in the ninth to force extra innings. Chicago won 11-10 after thirteen innings.
- With the loss to Boston on September 28, the Twins were assured of a losing season, the first after six straight winners. Before those six, they'd suffered through eight consecutive losing years.
- Torii Hunter won his seventh straight Gold Glove award, the most for any position player on the Twins, and second in club history only to pitcher Jim Kaat's eleven.
Offense
Nick Punto, as of August 22, 2007 has the lowest batting average among qualified batters in the American League, at.201.
Pitching
The Twins entered the season with a problem in the starting rotation after Twins staple Brad Radke retired and Francisco Liriano had Tommy John surgery. The Twins signed Ramón Ortiz and Sidney Ponson to start. Ponson was released in May and was replaced by Scott Baker, Ramón Ortiz was moved to the bullpen shortly after and replaced in the rotation by Kevin Slowey. However, Slowey was sent to the minors in early July, replaced by Matt Garza. Ramón Ortiz was traded in August to the Colorado Rockies. On August 31, Baker took a perfect game into the ninth inning against the Kansas City Royals, before giving up a leadoff walk to catcher John Buck. His no-hitter also ended when he gave up a 1-out single to Mike Sweeney in the 9th inning. The game was won by the Twins 5-0.Starter Johan Santana won a Gold Glove Award, the only one of his career.
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Notable transactions
After their great amount of success in 2006, in which they came from behind to win the AL Central, the Twins wanted to be sure to lock up their 3-4-5 hitters to multi-year deals. The Twins were able to sign Mauer to a four-year deal worth $33 million, but Morneau and Cuddyer only agreed to sign one-year contracts, worth $4.5 million and $3.575 million respectively.- April 9 – Placed Jeff Cirillo on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 9; Placed Rondell White on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 5; Recalled Alexi Casilla from Triple-A Rochester.
- April 12 – Recalled Glen Perkins from Triple-A Rochester; optioned Chris Heintz.
- May 1 – Activated Jeff Cirillo from the 15-day disabled list and optioned Alexi Casilla to Triple-A Rochester.
- May 6 – Placed Joe Mauer on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left quad.
- May 8 – Recalled Chris Heintz from Triple-A Rochester.
- May 13 – Designated Sidney Ponson for assignment.
- May 16 – Placed Jesse Crain on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder inflammation and recalled Julio DePaula from Triple-A Rochester.
- May 18 – Recalled Scott Baker from Triple-A Rochester. and optioned Garrett Jones to Rochester.
- May 22 – Placed Glen Perkins on the 15-day disabled list with a mild muscle strain in the back of his left shoulder; Purchased the contract of Carmen Cali from Triple-A Rochester.
- May 24 – Placed Dennys Reyes on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to May 21, with inflammation in his left shoulder; Purchased the contract of Jason Miller from Triple-A Rochester and transferred Alejandro Machado from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list.
- May 30 – Optioned Julio DePaula to Triple-A Rochester; Transferred Jesse Crain to the 60-day disabled list; purchased the contract of Kevin Slowey from Triple-A Rochester.
- June 28–29 – Heintz sent to minors; Matt Garza recalled.
- July 5 – Sent Slowey to minors; recalled Cali.
- July 22 – Activated Rondell White from the disabled list and optioned Garrett Jones to Triple-A Rochester.
- July 30 – Traded Luis Castillo to the New York Mets in exchange for minor leaguers Drew Butera and Dustin Martin. Recalled Alexi Casilla.
- August 3 – Jeff Cirillo claimed by Arizona on waivers.
- August 8 – Called up Tommy Watkins. Brian Buscher put on the 15-day DL.
- August 15 – Traded Ramón Ortiz to the Colorado Rockies for minor league infielder Matt Macri
Game log
Roster
Player stats
Batting
Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
Pitching
Starting pitchers
Other pitchers
Relief pitchers
Other post-season awards
- Calvin R. Griffith Award ' – Torii Hunter
- Joseph W. Haynes Award ' – Johan Santana
- Bill Boni Award ' – Matt Garza
- Charles O. Johnson Award ' – Carlos Silva
- Dick Siebert Award ' – Pat Neshek
- Bob Allison Award ' – Mike Redmond
- Mike Augustin Award ' – Torii Hunter
- *The above awards are voted on by the Twin Cities chapter of the BBWAA
- Carl R. Pohlad Award ' – Johan Santana
- Sherry Robertson Award ' – Brian Buscher
- Jim Rantz Award ' – Kevin Slowey
- Kirby Puckett Award ' – Tony Oliva
- Herb Carneal Award ' – Tom Mee
Farm system