Happy Birthday–April 5

Bill Dinneen (1876)
Wid Conroy (1877)
Bill Lachemann (1934)
Ron Hansen (1938)
Rennie Stennett (1951)
Andy MacPhail (1953)
Cris Carpenter (1965)
Ross Gload (1976)
Jorge De La Rosa (1981)
John Curtiss (1993)

The brother of Rene and Marcel Lachemann, Bill Lachemann is a long-time minor league manager, coach, and scout.

Andy MacPhail, of course, was the general manager of the Twins from 1985 through 1994, a period which included both of the Twins' World Series titles.  He later worked for the Chicago Cubs, the Baltimore Orioles, and the Philadelphia Phillies.  He is the son of baseball executive Lee MacPhail and the grandson of baseball executive Larry MacPhail.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Mrs. brianS.

Right-hander John Pickens Curtiss played for the Twins in part of the 2017 and 2018 seasons.  He was born in Dallas, went to high school in Southlake, Texas, attended the University of Texas, and was drafted by Minnesota in the sixth round in 2014.  He both started and relieved early on but was a full-time reliever by 2015.  For the most part he pitched well in the low minors.  He started 2017 in AA and was moved up to AAA, pitching very well both places.  Well enough, in fact, that he was called up to Minnesota in late August and stayed the rest of the season.  He made nine appearances and was unscored upon in six of them, but the other three were so ugly that he ended with an ERA of 8.31.  He spent most of 2018 in AAA and again pitched well.  He also made two appearances for the Twins early in the season and later got a September call-up.  Again, he was unscored upon in six of his eight appearances, but the other two were bad enough that his ERA was 5.68.  After the season he was traded to the Angels for Daniel Ozoria.  He was released in June, signed with Philadelphia, and was released a few weeks later.  He signed with Tampa Bay for 2020.  A year ago, we said, "If he gets healthy there's still time for him to develop into an effective major league pitcher, but he needs to get it going in 2020, if there's a season in 2020."  Well, there was, at least to an extent, and he did, going 3-0, 2 saves, 1.80, 0.96 WHIP in 17 games (25 innings).  He was traded to Miami for 2021.  He pitched very well for the Marlins, but was traded to Milwaukee at the trade deadline.  He was able to make only six appearances for the Brewers before being injured again and had Tommy John surgery in September.  He was not expected to return until 2023, but the Mets signed him anyway in April of 2022 anyway.  He returned in 2023 and was in the majors for about six weeks, then had a poor year in AAA.  He signed with Colorado for 2024 and has been terrible in two appearance in AAA.  As a Twin, John Curtiss was 0-1, 7.20, 1.53 WHIP in 15 innings (17 games).  He turns thirty-one today, has an injury history, and hasn't had a good year since 2021.  We wish him well, but the odds seem to be against him.

One thought on “Happy Birthday–April 5”

  1. belated thanks, Padre.

    We had a quiet evening at home. I got carryout from a local taqueria and a cake from Costco. We watched Iowa squeak past UConn.

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