Recent News

Not only is tonight the last Twins game, but it's also supposed to be the last pleasant day before fall hits us in full force, which is depressingly karmic. Let's get through this together.

So please join Nick, John, Parker, Aaron Gleeman and Lindsay Guentzel at 6:00 tonight at the Uptown Tavern & Rooftop. See you there! ...

In their second-to-last game of 2012, the Twins sent Anthony Swarzak to the hill. He turned in a sub par five-inning outing, and the Twins ended up losing by a run, their 95th loss of the season.

A pitcher who had no business starting a major-league game getting roughed up and putting his capable offense in a hole they couldn't dig out of. Minnesota's 2012 season in a nutshell.
...

Vegas picked the White Sox to finish fourth in the AL Central this year, pegging them to win about 74.5 games. Chicago's season essentially ended last night when the Tigers clinched the division, but that means the Pale Hose' playoff hopes lasted until October, about four (five?) months longer than the Twins. They also made anyone who bet the “under” in Vegas look like a fool, exceeding Vegas preseason estimate by 10 games and counting.

I am one of those fools. In our Gleeman and the Geek podcast, I predicted a miserable season on Chicago’s south side. They had won 79 games in 2011, but with a run differential that looked worse than that. And then they lost Mark Buehrle to the Marlins and traded away slugger Carlos Quentin and closer Sergio Santos. They had also lost manager Ozzie Guillen, for better or worse.
...

The Minnesota Twins release Tsuyoshi Nishioka, contemplate coaching changes, and the John and Aaron review the MLB season via their preseason predictions. Here are:

• the podcasts
• the rss feed if you want to subscribe and
• the podcast on iTunes.

If you want to chat about the topics, let us know....

• Was Nishi a scouting error or a revenue driven?
• Should the Twins make field staff changes?
• What surprise AL team should we have predicted?

...

The Twins announced today that they have released Tsuyoshi Nishioka at his request. The middle infielder will relieve the Twins of their 2013 obligations, saving the team $3.25 million ($3M in salary and $250,000 in a buyout).

The highly touted Japanese free agent never adapted well to the game at the highest level, hitting .215/.267/.236 in 254 plate appearances while provided terribly disappointing defense in the field.

You can leave your comments here. ...

With the possible exception of the popularity of “Call Me Maybe”, nothing has spun more out of control in 2012 than the Minnesota Twins starting pitching.

Categorically the Twins rotation has produced some of the least desirable stats in the American League. For starters, their misshapen 5.50 ERA tops the charts. Performances like Nick Blackburn (7.39 ERA in 19 starts), Brian Duensing (6.92 in 11 starts) and Liam Hendriks (6.13 ERA in 15 starts) shows where that number can be quickly inflated. Adding insult to injury, their expected Fielding Independent Pitching (4.60 xFIP) is the highest ...