• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Minnesota Sports Today

Minnesota Sports News Continuously Updated

  • Vikings
  • Twins
  • Basketball
    • Lynx
    • Timberwolves
  • Wild
  • Minnesota United FC
  • Colleges
    • University of Minnesota
    • University of Minnesota Duluth
    • St. Cloud

A Look At The 2009 IFA Class

October 24, 2019 by MLB Trade Rumors Leave a Comment

Although the Twins’ have enjoyed a rapid turnaround from 78 wins a season ago to 101 wins and a division title this year, that breakout has roots tracing back to 2009, writes Dan Hayes of The Athletic. A decade ago, the Twins landed a transformative class of international amateurs—Miguel Sano, Max Kepler, and Jorge Polanco—that blossomed into franchise cornerstones and 2019 stars. At the time, the $4.65MM the team doled out to land the three 16-year-olds was uncharacteristic for the Twins franchise, which had largely been a non-factor in the international scene; the team had no academy in the Dominican Republic and had virtually no connections with the players’ pseudo-agents. That made it especially difficult to land Sano, a coveted prospect who commanded a $3.15MM bonus and captured the attention of nearly every MLB club. On the other hand, there was less competition for Kepler, a German-born prospect, and Polanco, a scrawny teenager who lacked the projectability of Sano. Of course, those signings have delivered immense value to a team that has ridden Polanco, Kepler, and Sano to the franchise’s first division title since 2010. According to Baseball-Reference’s version of WAR, those three have been the 2019 Twins’ first-, third-, and seventh-most valuable players, combining to contribute 12.8 wins of value to the team.

Filed Under: Twins

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Jim Kaat Is Retiring From Broadcasting
  • Rookie Standout Chandler Injured in Practice
  • 2022 Vikings Season Preview: Quarterbacks
  • Fox NFL Sunday Anchor Can Feel the Change
  • Kyle Shanahan on Trey Lance: He’s gotten a little better at everything

Categories

  • Basketball
    • Lynx
    • Timberwolves
  • Colleges
    • St. Cloud
    • University of Minnesota
  • Minnesota United FC
  • Twins
  • Uncategorized
  • Vikings
  • Wild

Archives

Our Partners

All Sports

  • Star Tribune
  • St. Paul Pioneer Press
  • CBS Minnesota
  • Sporting Sota
  • Zone Coverage
  • 247 Sports
  • Bleacher Report
  • The Sports Daily
  • The Sports Fan Journal
  • The Spun
  • USA Today

Baseball

  • MLB.com
  • Last Word On Baseball
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Off The Baggy
  • Pucketts Pond
  • Twinkie Town
  • Twins Daily

Basketball

  • NBA.com
  • Amico Hoops
  • Canis Hoopus
  • Dunking With Wolves
  • High Post Hoops
  • Hoops Hype
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball
  • Pro Basketball Talk
  • Real GM

Football

  • Minnesota Vikings
  • Daily Norseman
  • Last Word On Pro Football
  • NFL Trade Rumors
  • Our Turf Football
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Football Talk
  • The Viking Age
  • Total Vikings
  • Vikings Wire

Hockey

  • Gone Puck Wild
  • Hockey Wilderness
  • Last Word On Hockey
  • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Talk
  • The Hockey Writers

Soccer

  • E Pluribus Loonum
  • Last Word on Soccer
  • MLS Multiplex

College

  • Busting Brackets
  • College Football News
  • College Sports Madness
  • Gopher Hole
  • Saturday Blitz
  • The Daily Gopher
  • Zags Blog

Copyright © 2022 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in