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Yeah, I really should have looked at the Surprise Saguaros' schedule before I reserved my hotel for this trip. After Saturday night's Fall Stars Game and Monday afternoon's Surprise game, the Saguaros (for whom all of the Minnesota Twins AFP prospects play this fall) have no more home games while I'm in town. The game today was the first of four games that Surprise is playing in some other distant part of the Phoenix area. Just means I'll be doing a lot of driving between now and Friday. Live
Author Note: Apologies on the late report this week, but it’s hunting season! q:-) The Surprise Saguaros went 3-2 in the fourth week of the AFL season, and all of the Twins prospects were back in action on the week as Stephen Gonsalves made his return to the starting rotation after sitting out with a sore back. Their squad was also no-hit in one of those losses on the week, but we can take solace in the fact that none of the Twins players contributed to that effort! To see how each of th
In general, I've tried to keep a consistent level of content in each blog post. However, when considering the moves that the Minnesota Twins may make on the free agent market, it's hard not to want this post to be considerably shorter. Minnesota isn't very good, and the free agent market is even worse. Paying for mediocre talent isn't going to get the Twins out of the cellar, and that's likely what they'd have to be doing in free agency. On the flip side, the Twins do have some needs, and if t
For the third year, I've made the trip top the Phoenix area to watch a little November baseball in the Arizona Fall League and, while I have no pearls of wisdom to pass along, I thought the least I could do is share a few photos during the week. The AFL consists of six teams that each use one of the Phoenix area MLB spring training sites and each big league team sends six or seven minor league prospects to participate. Representing the Twins this fall are pitchers Stephen Gonsalves, Randy Rosa
Monday November 7, 2016 will mark a substantial date in the history of the Minnesota Twins. For the first time since 1995 when Terry Ryan assumed the General Manager role, the organization will have quite the shake up at the top. Derek Falvey and Thad Levine are being formerly introduced and they'll have quite the challenge in front of them. It will be incredibly important for them to get creative. Looking back at a World Series played between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians, it became
Now that the World Series is over, teams in Major League Baseball are able to announces changes on the coaching staff and roster. The most recent big announcement came from the Minnesota Twins when they stated their plans to hire Thad Levine as their new general manager. While Levine gets one of the most prestigious titles in baseball, he will still have to work with executive vice president/chief baseball officer Derek Falvey to make any changes in the Twins organization. Thad Levine may not
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- A lot of Twins fans have not realized it, after a season with the worst record losses, since the franchise moved to Minnesota, 103, but this week signified too major events for the Twins: The start of the 2016-2017 off-season that finds them tied in the first place in the AL Central with a .500 record The start of a brand new baseball leadership in the faces of Derek Falvey as the first ever Twins' Chief Baseball Officer and Thad Levine as
Remember when the Baltimore Orioles were eliminated in the American League Wild Card game by the Toronto Blue Jays? Not only was it heartbreak, but manager Buck Showalter never used closer Zach Britton. The best reliever in the major leagues this season went unused in a game that was never guaranteed to be followed by another. It looked dumb then, and has been the highlighted scenario in the World Series. You'll often hear of managers failing to go to their closer before the 9th inning, or sav
Twins prospects playing with the Surprise Saguaros helped them to a 4-2 record on the week, and they currently sit in second place in the West Division with a 9-7-1 overall record, one-and-a-half games behind the Peoria Javelinas. Stephen Gonsalves remained sidelined this week, but it was one for the hitters anyway. One prospect collected at least one hit in all four games he played while another continued to show an all-around game, but the biggest week came from a player at a position the pa
From the safety of the walls of my study, book and Twins bobbleheads looking down on me in great thought, comes a new post, "It's Official: Senators Announce Move To Minnesota, Oct. 26, 1960." It gives a short glimpse into the intrigue and downright un-transparent (opaque?) nature of the pre-move behavior by Griffith and the American League in 1960. It was a whole month before anyone ever used the word "Twins" in any context other than that involving Minneapolis and St. Paul. But that's a stor
Having not played in a major league baseball game since early April, Kyle Schwarber stepped in against Cleveland Indians starter Corey Kluber. He'd rehabbed, used the cage, and even gotten in time during the Arizona Fall League, but this was the World Series. In his first game in roughly six months, he ripped a double as he settled in for the Chicago Cubs. It was game two however, that the magic really took center stage. Over the course of what equated to just hit fourth through seventh at bat
Last night, LaVelle E. Neal of the Star Tribune reported that the Minnesota Twins next General Manager will be none other than Thad Levine. Levin is currently working with the Texas Rangers under Jon Daniels, and he'll assume the role with the Twins under new Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey. As the news broke last night, stories started to filter in about who Thad Levine was. Twins Daily's Cody Christie had Levine tabbed as a potential candidate way back in July, before we even knew of Fal
Maybe it's because here in the upper Midwest, we operate from the standpoint of Minnesota nice. It could be that wherever Terry Ryan and his colleagues come from, they believe in operating for the benefit of their competitor. Heck, maybe the definition of a trade is a really large gray area for the Twins front office. As Derek Falvey steps in though, fixing a broken avenue for player acquisition is a must. As the Cubs reached the World Series this season, I've thought back to this piece I wrot
Zach Granite was just named the winner of the Sherry Robertson Award, sharing the title with Double-A teammate Stephen Gonsalves. The award is given annually to the Minnesota Twins minor league player of the year. This is a major step forward for the Twins prospect. It points towards a bright future and a possible call-up to the big leagues in the not-too-distant future. With the 2016 season that the Twins had, Zach might just be at the right place at the right time. Here is a closer look at wha
Week Two of the AFL season saw the Surprise Saguaros go 3-3, with Twins prospects faring quite a bit quieter than the first week. The three hitters managed just four hits between them after collecting fourteen in week one, and their prized pitching prospect unexpectedly got the week off for unknown reasons. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t plenty of action between them in their teams six games, so read on to find out what happened with each player on the week. (links provided to each player’
Over the course of the Major League Baseball Postseason, the newly implemented replay system has been on full display. Umpires have gone to the headsets often, and New York has weighed in on some pretty substantial calls. That all being said, it's worth wondering what place replay has in baseball, and if it has a place at all. Now here's the deal, technology being what it is, we have the capacity to slow live action down and get a closer look at controversial happenings throughout a sporting c
Coming into the 2017 Major League Baseball season, one of the Minnesota Twins most glaring weaknesses comes in the form of their big league catcher. Kurt Suzuki is a free agent, and has mentioned wanting to play for a winner. That leaves Derek Falvey and the Twins with some really serious question marks. The only other catcher that got significant big league time with the Twins in 2016 was Juan Centeno. A 26 year old non-prospect, Centeno was a 32nd round pick by the New York Mets in 2007. He
In my 2017 Minnesota Twins wish list I touched on the fact that I am looking forward to new President of Baseball Operations, Derek Falvey, coming in and cleaning up the 40 man roster. There is no shortage of players that can be moved on from, and the Twins must do so in order to turn the page on what was an abysmal 2016. Before he has even gotten into the building though, Minnesota began making moves. Admittedly, I have no idea if the Twins were in touch with Falvey prior to outrighting five
Twins prospects in the Arizona Fall League are playing for the Surprise Saguaros this season, and they started off in week one with two wins, two losses…and an extra-innings-tie. Both victories were of the blowout variety, and they also experienced a blowout loss among those games. Two of the Twins position prospects had big weeks with their bats, and sit near the top of AFL leaderboards in several categories after five total games. Stephen Gonsalves passed his first test with flying colors, w
The 2016 Minnesota Twins were the worst team in all of baseball and the worst team in the history of the Twins franchise. So yeah, it’s a good thing that it’s over. There’s not a lot of positives you can take from being the worst team in baseball. That We’ll try to find the few positives of having this kind of season. Look at the bottom of the cover picture, that’s the Twins 2016 season game-by-game with the upward lines (green) being wins and the downward lines (red) being losses. Don’t look to
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- The first segment of this series was dedicated to cleaning up the Twins' existing 40-man roster, assuming that the new management will do the right thing and go for a full rebuild. This second segment, further adjusts the roster by adding players to protect from the draft, and maybe subtracting some of the players on the derived roster. As a bonus, I will be listing additional Twins minor leaguers who do not need to be protected for the Ru
http://www.twincities.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/wpid-20150413__150414twinsmauer.jpg The career of Joe Mauer has been one that’s seen plenty of highs over his 13 seasons, but injuries and the inevitable aging process have taken their toll. Beginning as the hometown kid who was the top pick in the 2001 Draft, he was a popular figure who was a six-time All-Star and winner of the 2009 American League Most Valuable Player award. That accolade was why the Twins, never known to throw money aro
After a historically bad season that resulted in the worst record of the Franchise in its current location, Twins' about to be minted (as soon as Cleveland's season is over) new chief baseball officer, Derek Falvey, will have his hands full in turning this team around. I hope that he has enough flexibility to do a true rebuild. And a true rebuild is to find enough young talented players that will reach their primes together, and then supplemented by star veterans to close holes as necessary, w
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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