It is super popular to rip Mauer and his contract, more specifically his "output/dollar spent ratio"but let's be honest - it is 100% not his fault the Twins are so bad this season. Yes, even when you factor in how his $23m/yr ties up so much payroll. My argument: 1) Mauer is the best offensive catcher in the AL. He is also paid the most. 2) Everyone wants to make the argument that he ties up $23m/year for his "pedestrian production". The guy is leading ...
The Twins still have one more day before they kick off the second half of the 2012 season so this gives the players and their fans another day to enjoy a break from the world of baseball. Now with the addition of the extra Wild Card team in each league, it seems that plenty of teams find themselves in reach of a playoff spot at the All-Star Break. In the American League, every ...
The Big Picture The Orioles are currently seven games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East. However, they are currently 45-40 as the second half starts and that puts them 0.5 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays for the second Wild Card. The Orioles last finished with a .500 record (and last made the playoffs) in 1997. For that matter, the last time the O’s finished with more than 70 wins was 2005 when Lee Mazzilli was the team’s manager. (Mazzilli’s son LJ was the Twins 9th round pick ...
Updated 07-12-2012 at 07:03 AM by Seth Stohs
Here we are, probably the most boring couple days during the baseball season -- the All-Star break. It was nice to see Joe Mauer get a hit last night, and interesting to see him play first base. It's tough to be too positive about the Twins right now. Sure, Josh Willingham, Ben Revere and Scott Diamond have exceeded expectations, but there's not a whole lot else to hang your hat on if you just look at the Twins right now. So, let's take a look at the affiliates, the Future Twins (#futuretwins if ...
The Big Picture The Pirates are in first place at the All-Star Break. Oops - hold on. I didn’t say that with the right emphasis. Let me try again. The PIRATES are in FIRST F*$%ING PLACE at the ALL-STAR BREAK. Wha? How? That’s a fair question, considering their offense has scored 345 runs this year, 21st in the majors. The answer is that their pitching and defense has been outstanding, resulting in the 5th best team ERA in the league. Why They Will Trade With ...
Last night I posted an article musing about what it might take for the Twins to get back into the AL Central race in the second half. It was mostly the stuff of pipe dreams, naturally, since the club would need to play .650-plus baseball and leapfrog four teams, requiring an historically unprecedented turnaround. Nevertheless, it was a fun escape from the painful realities of a lost season. (At least for those who were willing to play along.) Even accepting those realities, there will ...
I, for one, suggest we definitely spend some time celebrating Aaron Gleeman on 10 years of maintaining his blog. Gleeman is a succinct and clear writer who never sacrifices quality, even when producing articles in great quantity. He makes it easy to join into online conversation with other Twins fans, and I'm thankful for what he's done. So with that in mind, the 10 year anniversary of AaronGleeman.com has to go down like it was classic Johnny Carson stuff. Here are some suggestions: ...
CH-CH-CH AH-AH-AH FEAR IN A HANDFUL OF ROSIN PART 3 A MR. HORRORPANTS SCREENPLAY THE CAMERA PANS OVER AN EMPTY TARGET. DESPITE THE STADIUM'S BARRENNESS, WE CAN HEAR THE SOUNDS OF BASEBALL. PERHAPS THE HAPPY SOUNDS OF THE 2010 SEASON. MR. HORRORPANTS IS STANDING ALONE AT HOME PLATE. HIS LAB COAT IS FLAPPING IN THE BREEZE. BEHIND HIM, FROM THE OPPOSING DUGOUT, THE SPECTRAL IMAGE OF JOHAN SANTANA APPEARS. ...
Here at the All-Star break, the Twins find themselves 11 games out of first place, with a record 13 games below .500. The most likely scenario is that they sell off their assets within the next couple weeks and coast to a forgettable finish near the bottom of the division. But just what would it take for the Twins to surge back to the top of the division here in the second half? Anyone would have to admit that it's still possible, if extremely improbable. We've seen this team make up ...
A ground ball to the shortstop for the first out.A walk.A ground ball to second base which was turned into an inning-ending double play. That may not seem like much to get overly excited about, but for Twins fans, it was a good day! For the first time since he was placed on the Disabled List on August 2, 2011, Kyle Gibson pitched off of a mound in a game on Tuesday morning. It may have been a 10:00 a.m. eastern time start time in the Gulf Coast League, ...
According to MLBTradeRumors, both Kevin Gausman (1,4 Orioles) and Mark Appel (1,8 Pirates) are both leaning against signing with their draft teams, both for different reasons. When teams learned that Appel, a Scott Boras client, wanted a $6 million+ bonus, he fell down all the way to the Pirates at the #8 pick. This means that instead of being able to get that much money for getting picked at #'s 1-3, he dropped to #8, and the most the Pirates can offer him without losing a first round ...
Joe Mauer is the Twins lone All Star representative tonight in Kansas City. In over 52 seasons in Minnesota, the Twins have had many All Stars, obviously at least one each year. There are the greats of the game, like Killebrew, Carew and Puckett who went to many All Star games. And there are the Coomer's and Engel's. Below, I'll post all of the Twins All Star representative by years, with some notes to follow. Feel free to discuss the best and the worst, and any other notes you find interesting: ...
This was originally posted at our independent site (with a poll for voting), please feel free to comment with your own rationale for why one deal seems superior to another...GM's don't operate in a vacuum the more you debate the better the choice becomes. It's time for the All-Star Game (a favorite event for we Peanuts, because it is just as silly as we always are, and because we feel proud to join the teeming masses who mock Joe Buck every year!) But before the big(ish) ...
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Prince Fielder put on quite the show in the Home Run Derby last night after a slow start in the first round. His violent swing helped him to win his second career Derby title by beating out Jose Bautista in the final round. Over the years, the Derby has turned into quite the spectacle as it last for three hours or more. ESPN provides a ton of camera angles so fans can see some of the best power hitters in the game take their hacks ...
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