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Coming into the 2017 Major League Baseball season, there were some very fair concerns surrounding the Minnesota Twins. The team was coming off a franchise worst, 103 loss season, and the offseason didn't bring much in the form of change. That being said, most of the concerns for the upcoming year were pitching related, and really, it should remain that way. The reality is that this team should hit, and we've seen that early. The crux of the argument that the 2017 squad should be significantly
There were differing opinions concerning who won the dance contest held in the Kernels' clubhouse prior to "Meet the Kernels Night" in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, but the players and coaches who were brought in to talk to the media were in agreement on one thing. They all expect the 2017 Kernels season to be fun. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/KernlesFans2017-600x400.jpg Kernels players meeting fans on "Meet the Kernels Night" in Cedar Rapids. (photo: SD Buhr) In fac
With Opening Day now behind us, the Minnesota Twins have set out on the right foot. Winning their first Opening Day game since 2008, this club is already in a better position than many of those from seasons past. Although the seven run performance, highlighted by a Miguel Sano blast, was fun, it was Byron Buxton who should have had your full attention. On offense, things weren't ideal for the Twins phenom. In five at bats, he struck out three times. He was dealt a heavy dose of fastballs, and th
Last June, Phil Hughes took a liner off the knee. Because we have this kind of information now, MLB.com mentioned that the liner had left J.T. Realmuto's bat at 106 miles per hour. That's a little more than 155 feet per second, and Hughes' follow-through put him maybe 56 or 57 feet from where Realmuto made contact. In other words, Hughes had approximately one-third of a second to protect himself. The average blink of an eye takes 100 to 400 milliseconds. In this case, the cliche is correct: Hu
It's opening day and I'm wearing my Joe Nathan shirt for the tenth year in the row. The Twins are playing the Royals, because the Twins are ALWAYS playing the Royals. Advanced statistics will confirm the Twins play 127% of their games against the Royals, and 75% of those games mean nothing to anybody anyway. But we sure play them, now knowing that all of us can go to Hy-Vee afterwards. A guy named Duffy is taking the mound for the Royals, which kind of pissing me off. I don't know Duffy, and I
You've made it Twins fans, Opening Day is here. The long winter has since ended, and meaningless spring training games are in the rear view mirror. As Ervin Santana toes the rubber at Target Field, the first pitch of the 2017 Major League Baseball season for Minnesota will commence. With a 162 game slate ahead, here's what you should be watching for. First and foremost, let's catch you up if you aren't. These are some key pieces for the 2017 season that you may have missed: Division, World Ser
With the 2017 Minnesota Twins season set to open up on Monday, it's finally time to try to predict what this team will do over the next 162 games. (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com) Looking at the Opening Day roster and comparing it to what we saw a year ago, making a prediction that doesn't have the Twins once again at least flirting with 100 losses takes a combination of considerable imagination and pure hope. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/20
Top prospects lists have always one of the most fun things to read in the baseball offseason for me. Whether that’s by checking out the 2017 Prospect Handbook by Twins Daily’s own Seth Stohs and company, the great prospect capsules that are written on this site, or checking out any of the litany of lists available elsewhere, I can’t ever get enough. But because there are so many resources for this type of information, I like to take a little bit of a different look at prospects coming into a new
April 2, 1962 Twins Trade Ramos For Stigman It what is commonly considered the first major trade in Twins history, Minnesota trades Pedro Ramos for Nimrod native, 1954 Sebeka High School graduate, and 1960 All-Star Dick Stigman. Pedro Ramos started the first regular season game in Twins history, pitching a complete game three-hit shutout vs. Whitey Ford at Yankee Stadium on April 11, 1961. He was involved in an interesting piece of Twins history on May 12, 1961 as he and Angels pitcher E
After my most recent blog entry from Ft. Myers, my wife arrived to take part in the fun in the sun. Unsurprisingly, time spent at the keyboard diminished to near-zero until I got home. This post represents a condensed and abbreviated review of the rest of my stay in Florida. All baseball and no beach makes Ash a dull boy, at least in certain people's eyes. At left, you'll see circumstantial evidence that Friday morning was devoted to Ft. Myers Beach. Also, below, someone there went to the trou
I have some cousins that live in a house with a large unfinished basement. They moved to this house from one that was considerably larger, not so much in an effort to downsize, but more to find a residence that was more affordable. The problem with this was my Aunt is a longtime suffer of “I might still need that syndrome.” She will fully deny it, but it is a debilitating illness that has hampered the functionality of said basement, and more obscurely, her lifestyle in general. She attaches fond
Byungho Park reassigned to the minors? 13 pitchers? The Minnesota Twins have made their final roster decisions for Opening Day 2017, which is on April 3rd and only 3 days away. They: assigned 1B/DH Byungho Park to minor-league campalong with OF JB Shuck, 3B Matt Hague, INF Benji Gonzalez, 1B/DH Ben Paulsen, and C Eddy Rodriguez [*]named LHP Adalberto Mejia their 5th starter [*]RHP Tyler Duffey will join the bullpen [*]will add C Chris Gimenez to the 40-man roster [*]optioned C John Ryan Mu
As a Minnesota sports fan living in Wisconsin, I get asked on a regular basis why haven’t I just started rooting for the Packers. “They win, right?” is always the reasoning. I remind those I work with and my friends to remember my Minnesota fandom describes what I market to them as my greatest quality. I am loyal to a fault. Like Minnesota sports, you can drag me through some rough situations and if I find hope in you. I will stick by your side. That brings us to our Minnesota Twins. Their has
The Minnesota Twins all but announced their 25 man Opening Day roster. In doing so, they dropped a couple of bombs. First, they would be going with 13 pitchers, and then secondly, they'd send ByungHo Park to Rochester despite no real good reason to do so. As the dust settled from the fallout, we're sitting here left to scratch out heads. First and foremost, here's the Twins Opening Day roster: Starters: Santana, Santiago, Gibson, Hughes, Mejia Relievers: Kintzler, Pressly, Belisle, Breslow,
Months after the world ended (the Cubs winning the World Series… not the other thing), baseball that counts is finally back this Sunday with the Yankees at the Rays, the Giants at the Diamondbacks and the Cubs at the Cardinals. Locally, the Twins are home Monday, Wednesday and Thursday against the Royals and are on the road Friday-Sunday in Chicago to face the White Sox . What are the teams giving away to entice fans to come to the ballpark this week? Magnetic schedules, a lot of magnetic schedu
With Opening Day of the 2017 Major League Baseball season upon us, it's time to take a look at what could be ahead for the home nine. There's plenty of projection systems out there giving us indications of what may happen, but only through a sports book can you make concrete guesses that equal out to dollars and cents. It's time to take a look at the over/unders for all things Twins related. Pulled from Bovada, there's both individual as well as team specific over/unders for the 2017 season. A
As the spring training slate comes to a close, I couldn't help but find myself wondering about the pitching for the Minnesota Twins. The organization put forth the worst starting ERA in the majors a season ago, and the relief corps wasn't far behind. Going into 2017, it needs to be markedly better, and there's three different storylines I'm keyed in on. First, let's start with the good. Kyle Gibson has been one of the best storylines for the Minnesota Twins this spring. Across seven starts, he
My first Minnesota Twins 25 man roster projection came out way back in January, the second version was then looked at in the middle of March. Now with Spring Training virtually over, it's time to get serious about who's coming north. It seems pretty clear who Minnesota will bring, but before the final announcement is made, I need to take one last shot. The Twins still have just over 40 guys left in camp, and 10 of them are non-roster guys. A few of them have already been told they'll be reassi
The United States captured their first ever World Baseball Classic trophy. After coming up short in the previous three contests, it was the fourth time that the American's captured the title. In doing so, they knocked off a Puerto Rican squad that had earlier bested them in the tourney. It is that Puerto Rican team that ended up being the focus for many Twins fans as well. Although there was a handful of players with Twins ties all over World Baseball Classic rosters, it was Jose Berrios, Eddi
On Saturday, the Twins announced that young pitcher Jose Berrios would be demoted to Rochester to start the season. The reason, according to manager Paul Molitor, was "that the lack of work and consistency of work ... to try and rush the buildup here in the last ten days to try and get him ready to try and be in that spot didn’t make a lot of sense to me.” Does this explanation pass muster? Consider Phil Hughes is a given for the rotation, and that Berrios and Hughes have been on roughly the
March 26, 1989 Twins Trade Atherton for Castillo The Twins trade pitcher Keith Atherton to the Cleveland ballclub for outfielder Carmelo Castillo. Atherton’s name is attached to one of the more dubious records in team history as one of the record five Twins pitchers to work the eighth inning in a 14-8 loss to Toronto at the Metrodome. Atherton made 59 relief appearances for the 1987 World Series Champion Twins. He faced two batters in Game 4 of the ‘87 ALCS, and made two appearances in t
Thursday morning in Fort Myers, I resolved to take some pictures for once. Arrival was a little after 9, in time again for calisthenics (shown, left). Either that, or the prospects were being put to work erecting a new fence. Fellow TD moderator USAFChief arrived shortly after this, and we shared a great day soaking up all that Twins spring training offers at the back fields. After the players were warmed up, instruction began. Sometimes they do a lot of standing and listening at spring trai
Today the big league club was on the road, and I did not follow them, returning to my haunts at CenturyLink Sports Complex. It was a bit of an abbreviated day on the back fields for me, as I didn't arrive until 11, and the players had already departed for their lunchtime break because the games were slated for noon. And then that noon start meant the game was over well before 3:00. Fellow TD moderator ChiTownTwinsFan joined me to watch the Cedar Rapids single-A squad (or at least the momentary
On Saturday, Tait went 2-for-4 with a walk and his 17th double. The 19-year-old is hitting .219 with 17 doubles and 15 home runs at High-A Cedar Rapids.
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