Happy Birthday–April 23

Harry Coveleski (1886)
Elam Vangilder (1896)
Sunny Jim Bottomley (1900)
Dolph Camilli (1907)
Warren Spahn (1921)
Rheal Cormier (1967)
Jason Tyner (1977)
Andruw Jones (1977)
Carlos Silva (1979)
Sean Henn (1981)
Emilio Bonifacio (1985)

Outfielder Jason Renyt Tyner was with the Twins from 2005-2007.  He was born in Bedford, Texas, went to high school in Beaumont, Texas, and was drafted by the Mets in the first round in 1998.  He hit over .300 almost every year in the minors and stole a good number of bases, although even in the minors he did not hit a home run until 2004.  He made his debut with the Mets in June of 2000, staying for about a month.  Tyner was traded to Tampa Bay at the end of July that season.  He started 2001 in the minors but was called up in mid-May and was a mostly-regular outfielder for the Devil Rays, hitting .280 with 31 stolen bases.  That would be his only season with double digit steals.  He split the next two years between AAA and the majors, slumping to .214 in 2002 but bouncing back to .278 in 2003 in 90 at-bats.  He became a free agent in 2004 and signed with Texas, but was released a week into the season.  He went to AAA with Atlanta, was released in late July, and signed with Cleveland, finishing the season with their AAA team.  A free agent again after the 2004 campaign, Tyner signed with Minnesota.  He hit .286 at AAA in 2005 and got a September call-up.  Tyner was hitting .329 at AAA in 2006 when he was called up to the Twins in mid-July.  2007 was Tyner’s only full season in the majors:  he hit .286 with his only major league home run that year.  Tyner once again became a free agent after the 2007 season and signed with Cleveland.  He was released in July and finished out the year in AAA with the White Sox.  He signed with Houston for 2009, was released in spring training, and split the season between the Detroit and Milwaukee systems, where he hit only .153 in AAA in 85 at-bats.  That brought his playing career to an end.  As a Twin, Jason Tyner hit .299/.340/.356 in 578 at-bats.  At last report, he was co-manager of the Southeast Texas Baseball Academy in Beaumont, Texas, which runs a variety of youth baseball programs as well as offering private instruction.

Right-hander Carlos Silva was with the Twins from 2004-2007.  Born and raised in Bolivar, Venezuela, he signed with Philadelphia as a free agent in 1996.  He started slowly, but things started to come together in 1999, when in his fourth year of pro ball he had a good season at Class A Piedmont.  He continued to do well, reaching AA in 2001.  He was jumped to the majors in 2002 and was placed in the Philadelphia bullpen.  He pitched well for the Phillies in 2002, but not as well in 2003.  After that season, Silva was traded to Minnesota with Nick Punto and a player to be named later (Bobby Korecky) for Eric Milton.  The Twins put him in the starting rotation, where he remained for four seasons.  He pitched between 180-203 innings every year.  Other than that, he was rather up and down; he had a fine year in 2005, decent seasons in 2004 and 2007, and was dreadful in 2006.  A control pitcher, Silva walked only nine batters in 188.1 innings in 2005.  He became a free agent after the 2007 season; as a Twin, Carlos Silva was 47-45, 4.42 in 773.2 innings.  He appeared in 129 games, 123 of them starts.  He signed with Seattle for 2008 and was awful.  He struggled with injuries in 2009 and remained awful.  Silva was traded to the Cubs for 2010, and was not awful, going 10-6, 4.22, 1.27 WHIP in 113 innings.  He got into squabbles with other players and with management, however, and was released late in spring training of 2011.  The Yankees signed him to a minor league contract a couple of weeks later but released him in early July.  Silva signed with Boston for 2012 but was released in mid-March and his playing career came to an end.  He apparently is the owner of a professional basketball team in Venezuela and was sued last fall for failing to pay one of his players.  We did not quickly find the result of that lawsuit.  At last report, Carlos Silva was living in Medina, Minnesota.

Left-hander Sean Michael Henn made 14 appearances for the Twins in 2009.  He was born in Ft. Worth and went to high school in Aledo, Texas.  Henn attended McClennan Community College in Texas and was drafted by the Yankees in the 26th round in 2000.  He pitched well in nine appearances in 2001, but missed all of 2002 with injury.  He came back to have a good season at Class A in 2003.  Henn reached AAA in 2005.  He made his major league debut that year as well, making three starts for the Yankees.  He made four more appearances in the majors in 2006, but did not spend substantial time there until 2007, when he started the season in New York and spent all but about six weeks there.  He was not used very often (29 appearances, 36.2 innings), and did not pitch very well when he was used.  Henn started 2008 back in the minors, was placed on waivers in early May, and was selected by San Diego.  He was in the big leagues for about two weeks in May, but appears to have been injured part of the season.  Minnesota signed him for 2009 and he pitched very well in the Rochester bullpen.  He came to the Twins for about six weeks in mid-May to the end of June and posted a 7.15 ERA in 14 appearances totaling 11.1 innings.  The Twins sent him to Baltimore in September “as part of a conditional deal” and he finished the season with the Orioles.  The Orioles placed Henn on waivers after the season, and he signed with Toronto.  He spent the season in AAA and did not pitch all that well, but the Blue Jays saw enough to send him back there for 2011, when he pitched quite well.  A free agent after the 2011 season, he signed with Seattle for 2012 and was sent to AAA Tacoma, but did not do particularly well and was released in early June.  He's kept at it, though.  He signed with Boston for 2013, was released in late March, and signed with the Mets on April 10.  After spending the season in AAA Las Vegas, he got a September call-up and was with the Mets for four games, pitching 2.2 innings.  He became a free agent again and went unsigned, ending his playing career.  At last report, Sean Henn was a coach with Pro Source Athletics of Carrollton, Texas.