Things were pretty tough in the Twins farm system on Wednesday night. However, on Thursday, there were plenty of highlights for each of the four Twins affiliates. There were several great pitching performances. There were a lot of really strong hitting performances. Lots of multi-hit games and some big home runs. One team ended one long streak, and another hopes to have started another long streak. A couple of bullpen arms continued their early-season dominance. One pitcher threw six one-hit innings. ...
Over the course of the last week or so, a lot of news regarding the International Signing Period has come out. Up until July of 2012, International Free Agency has been a free-for-all. In the 2010-11 period, the Mariners spent $6.47 million. Four teams spent $5 million or more. Five teams spent less than a million dollars. The Twins, middle-of-the-pack spenders, spent $2.54 million. The following spending period (July 2011 - June 2012) was the final opportunity for ...
Since the 2010 season when Target Field opened for business, we fans here in the great white north have enjoyed a spate of decent, not ideal, but decent weather for ball games in April. This year, not so much. As I write this on April 18th looking out the front door, 3-4 or 4-5 or 5-6 inches of snow (who cares at this point?) is in the process of piling up here in the midst of Twins Territory. And the team is thankfully out of town until the grounds crew can tidy things ...
Also posted at wgom.org Bobby Castillo (1955) Jim Eisenreich (1959) Steve Dunn (1970) Brian Buscher (1981) Right-hander Robert Castillo was with the Twins from 1982-1984. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Castillo was drafted by Kansas City in the sixth round in 1974. He was drafted as an outfielder, spent one undistinguished season in rookie ball, and then converted to pitching, apparently while playing in the Mexican League. He was sold to the ...
In 2012, infielder Jamey Carroll played in 138 games (second-most of his career) and racked up a career-high 537 plate appearances. He was the Opening Day shortstop, but that was the position that he played the third-most. He played 66 games at second base, 44 games at third base and 37 games at shortstop. Through 13 games in 2013, Jamey Carroll has made just two starts and has a total of nine plate appearances. Why has his role been so diminished to start this season? I think there are a few potentially ...
The Twins weren't the only team impacted by the weather on Wednesday evening. Minnesota's affiliate's game in Cedar Rapids was also postponed due to inclement weather. The Upper Midwest is still waiting for spring to show up and there will probably be more weather issues before spring is finally sprung. Three other affiliates took the field for Wednesday action. The Miracle were going for lucky win 13 to start their season. Rochester has been struggling and the call-up of Oswaldo ...
Updated 04-17-2013 at 10:01 PM by Kevin
Catcher framing is extremely popular in baseball research circles right now. Go over to Fangraphs.com or BaseballProspectus.com and you will find several studies and articles on the subject. It’s Hansel hot right now. While we can determine which catchers are better at getting more out-of-zone pitches called strikes than others, we still do not have a full grasp on what it means to a team’s bottom line. In some ways, it feels like a butterfly effect. If ...
Updated 04-17-2013 at 02:05 PM by Kevin
There do not appear to be any players associated with the Minnesota Twins who were born on this day. It is, however, the birthday of Alexander Cartwright (1820).
With the Twins up and down start to the year, it is hard to know if the team will be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline. Most likely the team will be selling. There will be plenty of talk about Justin Morneau being dealt in the coming months since his contract is up at the end of the year. Another important name to watch out for in the hot stove reports is Josh Willingham. Willingham is coming off his best season and there might be more than one team looking to add a powerful ...
Updated 04-17-2013 at 07:14 AM by Kevin
After having four straight games postponed by weather last week, the Cedar Rapids Kernels found themselves playing a lot of baseball in just a few days' time. The Kernels played back-to-back doubleheaders in Clinton on Saturday and Sunday. Midwest League rules prohibit a team from playing doubleheaders on three straight days, so they played a single game against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Monday night, despite having two games in Wisconsin postponed a week ago. Tuesday night, it ...
Updated 04-17-2013 at 06:51 AM by Kevin
The Twins got a second win against the Angels on Tuesday night. Joe Mauer got four hits for the second straight game. Brian Dozier was forced into the leadoff spot at the last minute and got on base three times. He was leading off because Aaron Hicks was moved down in the order, and then Darin Mastroianni’s ankle flared up on him again. Following the game, Mastroianni was put on the Disabled List and Oswaldo Arcia was again recalled from Rochester to take his place. In other roster ...
I'm ashamed to admit I used to complain about Joe Mauer five years ago. I was an impressionable baseball fan, and I think I allowed the tough dudes of sports bitchery to get too far inside my head. I picture those men, the constant whiners, as if constantly huddled under bleachers and punching each others' arms to emphasize every point. I think I'm older and wiser now, and I appreciate Joe Mauer a great deal. He's very good in his bad years, and a precision hitting machine ...
During spring training, I observed a trend. It seemed that, all too frequently, a Twins starting pitcher would get knocked around in an outing, and then remark after the game that he felt good about his performance. Executed his pitches and just didn't get results. I asked a beat reporter in Ft. Myers, and he mentioned that he'd noticed the same pattern. Of course, there's nothing groundbreaking or especially noteworthy about this. Pitchers are generally ...
As you have probably noticed Kevin Corriea has been a nice surprise in this year's rotation. In fact, so good that he is the only pitcher on the starting staff who has pitched into the 7th inning. Not only that but he leads the team in strikeouts (8), ERA (2.95), and WHIP (1.22). I know you might be reading this and saying WWWHHHHAAAATTT? Corriea did this? Believe me, I can't believe it myself. Coming into the season everyone was thinking "Waste of money" and "We could ...
Updated 04-16-2013 at 11:11 PM by Kevin
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