1998 Minnesota Twins season

March 2026 November 2013 Minnesota Twins 1998 American League Central Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Minneapolis 70 92 y 4th Carl Pohlad Terry Ryan Tom Kelly KMSP-TVMidwest Sports Channel (Bert Blyleven, Dick Bremer, Ryan Lefebvre) 830 WCCO AM (Herb Carneal, John Gordon, Ryan Lefebvre) The 1998 Minnesota Twins season was the 38th season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their 17th season at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and the 98th overall in the American League. The team finished with a 70–92 record, with subpar batting and pitching. The season was not without its bright spots, as individual players had solid seasons and Hall of Fame designated hitter Paul Molitor announced his retirement at the end of the season. Tom Kelly's team had plenty of lowlights, most notably David Wells' perfect game against the team on May 17 at Yankee Stadium. Regular season Offense In 1998, Twins fans witnessed the emergence of Matt Lawton and Todd Walker as major league hitters. The team believed Walker would be able to fill the void left after the trade of Chuck Knoblauch, who had been traded to the New York Yankees on February 6. Fans also saw the merciful end to the Twins' Scott Stahoviak era. Otis Nixon had a surprising year for a 39-year-old, hitting .297 and stealing 37 bases (leading the team). Molitor's hitting continued its gradual decline from his stellar 1996 campaign, with his average down to .281 and RBIs down to 69. These numbers were still competent and he was able to retire while playing solid baseball. + Team Leaders Statistic Player QuantityHR Matt Lawton 21RBI Matt Lawton 77BA Todd Walker .316Runs Matt Lawton 91 Pitching Bob Tewksbury was the opening day starter for the Twins, the last opening day starter not named Brad Radke until 2006. Tewksbury, Radke, LaTroy Hawkins, and rookie Eric Milton (acquired in the Knoblauch trade) were in the rotation for most of the year. Mike Morgan and Frank Rodriguez also started 17 and 11 games, respectively. While Morgan had an impressive year for a forty-year-old journeyman before being traded in August, Rodriguez's season was a major disappointment. In his last year for the Twins, Rodriguez went 4–6 with an ERA of 6.56. This could not have been what the team had in mind when it acquired him for Rick Aguilera in 1995. Subsequent to that trade, the Twins reacquired Aguilera, and he served as the teams' closer in 1998, earning a respectable 38 saves. Also in the bullpen, Eddie Guardado, Mike Trombley, Héctor Carrasco, and Greg Swindell had competent seasons. + Team Leaders Statistic Player QuantityERA Brad Radke 4.30Wins Brad Radke 12Saves Rick Aguilera 38Strikeouts Brad Radke 146 Defense In his penultimate year as a major league catcher, Minnesota native Terry Steinbach, then 36, had a mediocre season, with Javier Valentín as his backup. David Ortiz was projected as the starting first baseman, but was hampered by injuries. Orlando Merced, Molitor, and Stahoviak saw time at the position in Ortiz's absence. Walker played second, while Ron Coomer saw a majority of the time at third. Pat Meares was the starting shortstop, but was unceremoniously dumped by the team following the season. The outfield consisted of a declining Marty Cordova, Nixon, and Lawton. Season standings Minnesota Twins Record vs. opponents MIN Roster 1998 Minnesota Twins Roster Pitchers 38 Rick Aguilera 24 Travis Baptist 58 Héctor Carrasco 18 Eddie Guardado 32 LaTroy Hawkins 20 Travis Miller 41 Eric Milton 30 Mike Morgan 31 Dan Naulty 22 Brad Radke 23 Todd Ritchie 33 Frankie Rodriguez 53 Benj Sampson 16 Dan Serafini 17 Greg Swindell 39 Bob Tewksbury 21 Mike Trombley Catchers  9 A. J. Pierzynski 36 Terry Steinbach 26 Javier Valentín Infielders  8 Ron Coomer  5 Brent Gates  7 Denny Hocking 47 Corey Koskie  2 Pat Meares  9 Orlando Merced 51 Doug Mientkiewicz  4 Paul Molitor 27 David Ortiz 15 Jon Shave 37 Scott Stahoviak 12 Todd Walker Outfielders 40 Marty Cordova 48 Torii Hunter 28 Chris Latham 50 Matt Lawton  1 Otis Nixon 25 Alex Ochoa Manager 10 Tom Kelly Coaches 46 Terry Crowley (hitting) 35 Ron Gardenhire (third base) 43 Rick Stelmaszek (bullpen) 44 Dick Such (pitching) 45 Scott Ullger Notable transactions January 14: Signed first baseman/outfielder Orlando Merced as a free agent. February 6: Traded second baseman Chuck Knoblauch to the New York Yankees in exchange for outfielder Brian Buchanan, shortstop Cristian Guzmán, pitcher Eric Milton, pitcher Danny Mota, and cash. April 3: Claimed pitcher Héctor Carrasco off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks. May 26, 1998: Pitcher Doug Linton was signed as a free agent.https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lintodo01.shtml Doug Linton Stats - Baseball-Reference.com Baseball-Reference.com July 31: Traded Merced and pitcher Greg Swindell to the Boston Red Sox for outfielder John Barnes, pitcher Matt Kinney, and Joe Thomas.Greg Swindell Statistics Baseball-Reference.com August 25: Traded pitcher Mike Morgan to the Chicago Cubs for a player to be named later and cash. On November 3, the Cubs sent pitcher Scott Downs to the Twins to complete the trade. September 29: First baseman Scott Stahoviak granted free agency. September 30: Infielder Brent Gates granted free agency. He was re-signed on December 15. Miscellaneous In February, Paul Molitor received the 1997 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award recognizing his exemplary contributions in both community and philanthropy. Molitor is the third Twin to receive the award, following Harmon Killebrew (1971) and Kent Hrbek (1991). The lone representative of the Twins in the All-Star Game was pitcher Brad Radke. After a 9-for-10 weekend (July 24–26) at the Dome, Todd Walker raised his batting 18 points to take the league lead at .352. He singled in his first July 28 at-bat in Kansas City to tie club records for consecutive hits (9) and consecutive times on base (11). With a chance to set new records, he struck out looking in the fourth inning. The highest paid Twin in 1998 was Paul Molitor at $4,250,000; followed by Terry Steinbach at $2,850,000. Molitor also received the 1998 Branch Rickey Award, given annually to an individual in Major League Baseball (MLB) in recognition of his exceptional community service. Kirby Puckett, in 1993, is the only other Twin to receive this award. Player stats Batting Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg. = Batting average; Slg. = Slugging average; SB = Stolen bases Pos Player G AB R H HR RBI Avg. Slg. SB C Terry Steinbach 124 422 45 102 14 54 .242 .4100 1B David Ortiz 86 278 47 77 9 46 .277 .4461 2B Todd Walker 143 528 85 167 12 62 .316 .47319 3B Ron Coomer 137 529 54 146 15 72 .276 .4062 SS Pat Meares 149 543 56 141 9 70 .260 .3687 LF Marty Cordova 119 438 52 111 10 69 .253 .3773 CF Otis Nixon 110 448 71 133 1 20 .297 .34437 RF Matt Lawton 152 557 91 155 21 77 .278 .47816 DH Paul Molitor 126 502 75 141 4 69 .281 .3829 https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SEA/1998.shtml 1998 Seattle Mariners Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com Baseball-Reference.com 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 Brent Gates 107 333 83 .249 3 42 Alex Ochoa 94 249 64 .257 2 25 Orlando Merced 63 204 59 .289 5 33 Denny Hocking 110 198 40 .202 3 15 Javier Valentín 55 162 32 .198 3 18 Chris Latham 34 94 15 .160 1 5 Jon Shave 19 40 10 .250 1 5 Corey Koskie 11 29 4 .138 1 2 Doug Mientkiewicz 8 25 5 .200 0 2 Scott Stahoviak 9 19 2 .105 1 1 Torii Hunter 6 17 4 .235 0 2 A. J. Pierzynski 7 10 3 .300 0 1 Pitching Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Brad Radke 32 213.2 12 14 4.30 146 LaTroy Hawkins 33 190.1 7 14 5.25 105 Eric Milton 32 172.1 8 14 5.64 107 Bob Tewksbury 26 148.1 7 13 4.79 60 Mike Morgan 18 98.0 4 2 3.49 50 Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Dan Serafini 28 75.0 7 4 6.48 46 Frank Rodriguez 20 70.0 4 6 6.56 62 Benj Sampson 5 17.1 1 0 1.56 50 Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO Rick Aguilera 68 4 9 38 4.24 57 Eddie Guardado 79 3 1 0 4.52 53 Mike Trombley 77 6 5 1 3.63 89 Héctor Carrasco 63 4 2 1 4.38 46 Greg Swindell 52 3 3 2 3.66 45 Dan Naulty 19 0 2 0 4.94 15 Todd Ritchie 15 0 0 0 5.63 21 Travis Miller 14 0 2 0 3.86 23 Travis Baptist 13 0 1 0 5.67 11 Other post-season awards Calvin R. Griffith Award (Most Valuable Twin) – Matt Lawton Joseph W. Haynes Award (Twins Pitcher of the Year) – Mike Trombley Bill Boni Award (Twins Outstanding Rookie) – Eric Milton Charles O. Johnson Award (Most Improved Twin) – Todd Walker Dick Siebert Award (Upper Midwest Player of the Year) – Rick Helling The above awards are voted on by the Twin Cities chapter of the BBWAA Carl R. Pohlad Award (Outstanding Community Service) – Terry Steinbach Sherry Robertson Award (Twins Outstanding Farm System Player) – Doug Mientkiewicz Farm system Minor League Baseball AAA Salt Lake Buzz Pacific Coast League Phil Roof AA New Britain Rock Cats Eastern League John Russell A Fort Myers Miracle Florida State League Mike Boulanger A Fort Wayne Wizards Midwest League Jose Marzan Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Jon Mathews Rookie GCL Twins Gulf Coast League Steve LiddleJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007 References External links Diamond Mind's Analysis of the Twins' 1998 season Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com Twins history through the 1990s, from www.mlb.com 1998 Standings Category:Minnesota Twins seasons Minnesota Twins Twins