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So this season has certainly de-escalated quickly, hasn’t it Twins fans? Ask any group of Twins fans what went wrong and you’ll get a wide variety of responses. Of course, there’s no shortage of I-told-you-so’s going around out there, either. Haters gonna hate and nothing makes haters happier than when things go badly and they can loudly proclaim how smart they were to hate in the first place. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Facepalm-600x351.png The thing is, I
With a very much needed, but not incredibly well deserved off day, the Minnesota Twins are guaranteed not to sink further into the loss column today. Fresh off another series loss, this one ending with a 16-4 drubbing by the Houston Astros, things have completely fallen apart for Paul Molitor's squad. The problem isn't what's on his roster though, but rather what has taken place since Opening Day. Coming into the season, the Minnesota Twins had heightened expectations after an out-of-nowhere s
http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/20160430_104657_zpswsn6rbqy.jpg May 5th It’s the Birthday of Larry Hisle It’s the birthday of Larry Hisle, born on this day in 1942 in Portsmouth, OH. The 14-year Major Leaguer played five seasons for the Twins, from 1973 to ‘77 when he hit .302 with 28 home runs and an American League-leading 119 RBI. In 2010, Fox Sports North included Hisle among their “50 Greatest Twins.” Hisle was the hitting coach for the back-to-back World Series
Following his first and only start in a Major League Baseball uniform, the Twins couldn't even wait through the night to option prospect Alex Meyer back to Triple-A Rochester. Getting a chance with Ervin Santana and Kyle Gibson on the shelf, the Twins had deemed they had seen enough after just 2.2 innings pitched from Meyer. Really though, it seems there's a much large issue at play here. This morning on Twitter I was thinking back to the guys I can remember the Twins using in an extremely poo
Today, my plan was to write about Eddie Rosario and why it's incredibly odd how the Twins continue to use him. I decided to scrap that piece as thinking about Paul Molitor ended up tying in with it anyways. The Twins manager had one of the best seasons in recent memory a year ago, but since, things have gone horribly wrong. I'm not necessarily sure Molitor is completely to blame, but he's definitely part of the problem. Looking back to Rosario, Molitor's lineup construction has continued to be
While Alex Meyer was making his first start in the Majors with the Twins on Tuesday night, three of their four full season affiliates were in action in the Minors including another former top prospect taking the hill. That pitching prospect wasn’t the one who stole the headlines on this night however, and a hitter in the Midwest League did all the heavy lifting in a Kernels win. To find out who did what and where in the minors on Tuesday, read on! TRANSACTIONS Trevor Plouffe’s recall to th
After the first month or so of the 2016 Major League Baseball season, one of the most disappointing Minnesota Twins has been starting second basemen Brian Dozier. He was a 2014 Home Run Derby participant, and was a 2015 All Star. In both seasons, he faded heavily down the stretch. In 2016 however, it's been out of the gate that Dozier has failed to get it going. Through the Twins first 26 games, Dozier owns just a .204/.287/.350 slash line. Of his 21 hits, nine have been for extra bases, but h
Welcome to May, the second month of the Major League Baseball season. The Minnesota Twins have started out in just about the least desirable way possible, but there's been a few bright spots. Joe Mauer has looked other-worldly at the plate, and the youth has begun to rise. An exciting development however has been the emergence of for Korean Baseball Organization superstar Byung Ho Park. The Twins won the rights to sign the Nexen star, and inked the 29 year-old rookie to a four-year, $12 millio
Daniel and I are huge fans of the television show, “Community.” Outside of the former “Top Gear,” it’s the show we watch the most when we hang out. Since the current Minnesota Twins team is a bunch of underachieving misfits (sans Mauer, Park, and a few others), we decided to compare current and recent Twins players as some of your favorite faces at Greendale. Greendale’s school slogan is “E. Pluribus Anus,” which is fitting for the kind of baseball the Twins have played through the month of Apri
May 3, 1986 Puckett Leads-Off Consecutive Games with First-Pitch Home Runs Facing Walt Terrell on the road in Detroit, leadoff hitter Kirby Puckett homered on the first pitch of the game for the second game in a row. It was already his 11th home run of the young season. The previous night Kirby hammered St. Paul-native Jack Morris’s first pitch for a home run. Morris struggled mightily as the Twins collected 4 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks in just 1 ⅓ innings. Even Steve Lombardozzi got in on t
May 2, 1963 Twins Trade Jack Kralick for Jim Perry The Twins traded pitcher Jack Kralick, who had come with the team from Washington, to the Cleveland Indians for Jim Perry. Kralick pitched the Twins’ first no-hitter the previous season, on August 26, 1962, as the Twins beat the Kansas City Athletics at home 1-0. Kralick lost the perfect game by giving up a walk with one out in the ninth. The final two outs were recorded on foul pop flies. Though the Twins’ first season in Minnesota, 1961, w
“I know that guy had an extra RBI in 1954.” Minnesotan Hans van Slooten gets these inquiries daily as the primary developer for Baseball-Reference.com. The Halsey Hall chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research invites you to join us at the Roseville Library on Monday, May 16 as we welcome Hans to give a presentation on this popular site that has become an indispensible resource for statheads, casual fans, current and ex-players, baseball researchers and everyone in between. Van Slo
May 1, 1996 Twins Win on Paul Molitor Walk-Off Hit-By-Pitch The Twins held a 5-3 lead vs. Kansas City heading into the top of the ninth when 1994 AL Rookie of the Year, Bob Hamelin, hit a two-run home run off of Dave Stevens with Jose Offerman aboard to tie the game. Hamelin had also homered with Offerman aboard in the second. Royals all-time saves leader, Jeff Montgomery, set the Twins down in order in the bottom of the ninth. His second inning of relief did not go so smoothly. After poppin
It was a minor story this week. Minnesota Twins (and former Cedar Rapids Kernels) pitcher Tyler Duffey was one of a handful of Major League ballplayers that have come to agreements with a firm by the name of Fantex to “sell” a share of their future earnings in return for an immediate sum of money. You can read the AP story here and, for a description of how the investments in the players actually works, you can click this link to a year-old Fortune article. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-
http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/FLORIDA_A_M_FLORIDA_BASEBALL_35034752.JPG Image courtesy of John Raoux Logan Shore is a 6'1", 210 lb. right handed pitcher out of the University of Florida who was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 29th round of the 2013 Rule 4 draft, but he honored his commitment to the Gators. Shore's fastball is good enough to be big league average, sitting in the low nineties, a slider that ranges anywhere from being his worst pitch to being a good out pitch, and a
All losses are equal in the standings, this we all know, but there’s something extra galling about losing a game in the late innings, particularly with a blown save in the ninth inning. Everything else went right, then at the last second, a supposed specialist comes in and fails to do the job they were on the roster to do. I have long been convinced this is why teams will overpay -- compared to the statistical value -- for reliable closers: They’re willing to give up some financial flexibility t
http://www.csnphilly.com/sites/csnphilly/files/ap-jason-groome.jpg Today is the first night of the NFL Draft, which means that it is time for us to start doing MLB Mock Drafts. Philadelphia Phillies - #1 Delvin Perez - Shortstop - IBA (Puerto Rico) The Phillies have a history of going with toolsy high school players, and Perez fits the bill. One drawback is that the Phillies already have the #1 shortstop prospect in baseball. Jason Groome and Mickey Moniak should be in the running here as well
Twenty games into their 2016 season, the Cedar Rapids Kernels find themselves right in the thick of the chase for the Midwest League’s Western Division first-half title race with an 11-9 record. They sit just one-half game behind Division co-leaders Kane County and Clinton. The Kernels are a combined 4-7 against the front-running Cougars and Lumberkings. If you look strictly at the club’s offensive numbers, you’d be hard pressed to figure out how the Kernels have managed to keep aloft in the
Coming into the 2016 Major League Baseball season, the Twins roster was expected to be about youth and inexperience. Having welcomed Korean slugger Byung Ho Park into the fold, Minnesota then was expected to turn their attention to internal youth. With top prospects littering the ladnscape for quick call ups, it was the expected narrative to begin the year. Now through the first month of the season, Paul Molitor has utilized Taylor Rogers, Max Kepler, Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco, Jose Berrios,
The Twins bullpen has been a problem area in the early going this season, and despite being left largely unaddressed this offseason, I expected the minor moves to make some difference. In short, some aspects have played out as expected. Fernando Abad has been about as good as I assumed, and Casey Fien has struggled along the lines I pictured. A guy I worried about though, was Kevin Jepsen, and that's been a bigger issue. Jepsen appeared a very large regression candidate coming into the 2016 se
I'm not a journalist, or a beat writer; in fact, my employer has nothing to do with the Minnesota Twins. What I am is a 25 year-old IT Recruiter who loves baseball. I am married to a wife that is my best friend (seriously, she's incredible and puts up with significantly too much Twitter). I have created an outlet for sharing my thoughts as they relate to the Twins and baseball as a whole. What happened on April 26, 2016 was a handful of world's colliding however. While it no doubt may seem an
Recently I wrote that the Twins have an absolute slew of problems. They are doing quite a few things poorly, and everything is going negatively all at just about the same time. If we're going to try and attribute things to one place, we're probably running a fool's errand. What is true however, is that Terry Ryan's ineptitude has become more of a focus than ever. Having taken over for his appointed heir, Bill Smith, Ryan has guided the Twins through some substantial rebuilding. The club had four
Panda and Daniel break down their favorite NL teams, the current state of the woeful Twins, and discuss the passing of a Minnesota icon. Download or stream today's show off Spreaker, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and Pocket Casts. Part of the The 4D Podcast Network.
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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