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On Thursday night, the Beloit Snappers beat Peoria 5-3. It wasn’t just another game and just another win for the team. With the win, the Snappers clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2007. In the Midwest League (and the Florida State League), they play two halves of the season. The division winners from each half make the playoffs and the MWL has a wild card spot. Wisconsin won the MWL West division over the Snappers, but the Snappers get the wild card.

I thought it would ...

Tags: alex burnett, anthony slama, armando gabino, beloit snappers, brian dinkelman, chris parmelee, cole devries, dan leatherman, danny santiesteban, danny valencia, deibinson romero, garrett olson, greg yersich, jeff manship, jeff smith, joe benson, matt fox, rene tosoni, rob delaney, tyler robertson, west michigan white caps, wilson ramos

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It's hard to believe, but after a long 2011 season and a very long offseason, Opening Day is just one week away for the Twins and the rest of baseball (except the A's and Mariners, I guess.). I have been doing these weekly roster projections for for weeks, and it's a lot of fun. As much as we like to think our roster projections a month out look pretty solid, it's impossible to know. No one could have predicted that Chris Parmelee would perform so well. And who knew with the bullpen.
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Tags: alex burnett, alexi casilla, anthony swarzak, ben revere, brian dozier, brian duensing, carl pavano, casey fien, chris parmelee, danny valencia, denard span, drew butera, francisco liriano, glen perkins, jamey carroll, jared burton, jason marquis, jeff gray, joe mauer, josh willingham, jr towles, justin morneau, kyle waldrop, liam hendriks, luke hughes, matt capps, matt maloney, minnesota twins, nick blackburn, ryan doumit, scott baker, sean burroughs, trevor plouffe

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The past two weeks, I have attempted to project the Twins Opening Day roster. This week, we’ll try it again. I still believe that there are 20 “Givens” at this point, two weeks before Opening Day. I also believe that the five remaining positions are all pretty intriguing and could have several possibilities at this point, especially since there are some injury questions with Scott Baker and Justin Morneau.

There are still 39 players in Twins big league camp which means 14 players need ...

Tags: alex burnett, alexi casilla, anthony swarzak, ben revere, brian dinkelman, brian dozier, brian duensing, carl pavano, danny valencia, denard span, drew butera, francisco liriano, glen perkins, jamey carroll, jared burton, jason marquis, jeff gray, jeff manship, joe mauer, josh willingham, jr towles, justin morneau, kyle waldrop, liam hendriks, luke hughes, matt capps, matt maloney, michael hollimon, minnesota twins, nick blackburn, pedro florimon, roster projections, ryan doumit, scott baker, sean burroughs, terry doyle, trevor plouffe

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One of the Twins biggest issues in 2011 was its bullpen. In fact, it was really ugly most of the year. In the offseason, the Twins lost Joe Nathan to free agency. They brought back Matt Capps and hope that the toughness he has exhibited by wanting to come back after a brutal 2011 will translate into improved performance in 2012. Glen Perkins went from the guy most fans wanted released last spring training, to one of the best left-handed relievers in baseball. The Twins locked him up through the ...

Tags: alex burnett, anthony swarzak, brendan wise, brian duensing, carlos gutierrez, casey fien, glen perkins, jared burton, jason bulger, jeff gray, jeff manship, kyle waldrop, matt capps, matt maloney, minnesota twins, terry doyle

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It's no secret that the Twins have really struggled offensively to this point in spring training. That remained the case on Saturday when, in this sixth inning, the Twins were down 2-1 to the Pirates. Valencia stepped to the plate with two runners on and uncorked a long home run to give the Twins a 4-2 lead. The bullpen held the lead and the Twins got the win.

For Valencia, it was his first home of the spring. For the Twins, it was just their third spring home run (Chris Parmelee and ...

Updated 03-10-2012 at 08:33 PM by Seth Stohs

Tags: alex burnett, anthony swarzak, chris parmelee, danny valencia, jared burton, jeff gray, kyle waldrop, lester oliveros, matt maloney, minnesota twins, oswaldo arcia, pj walters, scott baker, terry doyle

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How many times this offseason have you heard the phrase, “The Twins have some really good prospects but they don’t have any in the upper levels of their farm system?” I hear it all the time, and frankly, it kind of hits a nerve with me.

In 2011, the Twins had a season in which pretty much everyone got hurt and missed significant time. That meant more playing time for Luke Hughes and Trevor Plouffe and Ben Revere which may prove valuable as early as 2012. Those guys were rushed. Ben ...

Updated 03-07-2012 at 11:46 PM by Seth Stohs

Tags: alex burnett, brian dozier, carlos gutierrez, chris herrmann, chris parmelee, deolis guerra, joe benson, kyle waldrop, lester oliveros, liam hendriks, minnesota twins, pedro florimon, rene tosoni, scott diamond, terry doyle, tyler robertson

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It appears that the polarizing Twins topic of the first ten days of spring training is the Twins bullpen. There are many who believe that the Twins messed up by not adding more veteran relief pitchers to major league contracts during the offseason. I’m firmly on the opposite side of that argument. I believe that the Twins took a good, calculated risk that Joel Zumaya could actually stay healthy in 2012. If that happened, they could have a difference-maker in the bullpen. As it turned out, his spring ...

Tags: alex burnett, brendan wise, carl willis, carlos gutierrez, craig breslow, dennys reyes, deolis guerra, eddie guardado, esmerling vasquez, glen perkins, jc romero, jeff manship, kyle waldrop, latroy hawkins, lester oliveros, luis perdomo, mattguerrier, minnesota twins, samuel deduno, tony fiore

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Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2012 – Now Available as an e-book for $6.99 by clicking here. You can, of course, still get the print version for $13.99 by clicking here.

Today, we will conclude our Organizational Depth Chart by looking at the Relief Pitchers. Frankly, it is kind of a mess thanks to about 89 minor league veterans brought in, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out. As I said on Monday, many starters will get time as a reliever, and vice versa. ...

Tags: alex burnett, andrew albers, anthony slama, anthony swarzak, bart carter, blake martin, blayne weller, brad stillings, brad thompson, brendan wise, brett jacobson, brian duensing, bruce pugh, caleb thielbar, carlos gutierrez, casey fien, clinton dempster, cole devries, cole johnson, cole nelson, corey kimes, corey williams, dakota watts, daniel turpen, daryl thompson, david hurlbut, deolis guerra, edgar ibarra, esmerling vazquez, garrett jewell, gerardo ramirez, glen perkins, gonzalo sanudo, jared burton, jason bulger, jason wheeler, jeff gray, jhon garcia, jhonatan arias, joel zumaya, jose gonzalez, josh burris, josue montanez, kane holbrooks, kyle waldrop, lester oliveros, luis nunez, luis perdomo, luke french, markus solbach, matt capps, matt hauser, matt maloney, matt schuld, michael tonkin, miguel munoz, minnesota twins, nathan fawbush, nelvin fuentes, phil dumatrait, pj walters, ricardo arevalo, ricky bowen, samuel deduno, spencer steedley, steve evans, steve hirschfeld, steven gruver, terry doyle, tobias streich, tony davis, tyler herr, tyler robertson

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