HOUSTON JIMENEZ

In reality, only three years passed from the time Roy Smalley was traded until Greg Gagne took hold of the Twins shortstop job.  But for those of us who watched the likes of Lenny Faedo, Ron Washington, Chris Speier, and Alvaro Espinoza get trial runs, it felt like an eternity.  One of the guys who got the biggest auditions was Houston Jimenez, a free agent from Mexico City.

Jimenez, had an all-glove, no-bat skill set, but his glove didn't really play in the big leagues.  In two years with the Twins, he threw up an abysmal .195/.231/.257 slash line at the plate, and ranked as a below-average defender.  So speed must have been his game, right?  Wrong.  0 for 2 in career stolen base attempts.  In fact, Jimenez's most memorable moment as a major league ballplayer was staring at the Metrodome ceiling, waiting for Dave Kingman's pop-up to come down (which it never did).