You all care about this site. The next step is caring for it. We’re asking you to caretake this site so it can remain the premier Twins community on the internet.
I want to talk about the Twins and payroll, and how we talk about the Twins’ payroll. It’s been about a month since Jack Moore wrote the excellent and scathing The Minnesota Small-Market Con over at Baseball Prospectus Milwaukee. The points it makes are numerous and wide-ranging -- the most important, I think, is “f the billionaire Pohlads had been willing to take a short-term loss, they could have made their way out of the Metronome years earlier without taking the public for such a ride” --
With camp officially starting in just a couple of days, more and more players are arriving (Milone, Rosario, Benson just to name a few) thus more and more is going on in the backfields. Infielders/Pitchers could be seen fielding grounders on the half field while pitchers were throwing under Hammond Stadium, this day however I was not pulling myself away from the Sano and Arcia outfield drills and workouts on Field Four. It was a definitely a sight to see, defensive outfield drills followed by ba
Going into the 2016 Major League Baseball season, the Minnesota Twins have plenty on their plate when it comes to expectations. After having a winning season for the first time since 2010, and making a push for the playoffs, second year manager Paul Molitor will have his hands full when trying to fight off taking a step backwards. In 2015, the Twins did some things really well, but maybe more importantly than anything, they were handed a good deal of luck. Playing well above average in high le
The signing of Brian Duensing with the Kansas City Royals closes the book on a story that was started in 1989. In the first round of that year's draft, the Twins selected Texas A&M shortstop Chuck Knoblauch who would go on to spawn the trade that would put Twins GM Terry Ryan on the map and the fruits of that trade would be felt until 2015. After seven seasons of what looked to be the beginning of a HOF career, Chuck Knoblauch and his 37.9 WAR wanted out of Minnesota and to a contender. We
Joe Mauer has been a living embodiment of what the Minnesota Twins represent for nearly his entire career. He's the milk-drinking, Minnesota-nice, head-down, hard working ballplayer that has been the face of the franchise for the better part of the last 10 years. After trending downwards for the past few seasons, it's fair to wonder when Mauer's reign comes to an end. The immediate and shortest response is that the time has not yet come. Sure, each of the past two seasons, Mauer's numbers ha
http://traffic.libsyn.com/midwestswing2/MWS_0007_-_Bryan_Grosnick_of_Baseball_Prospectus.mp3 Brandon is joined by Bryan Grosnick of Baseball Prospectus and BP Boston to talk projections, the Mets and an American League that is completely bananas. A Cold Omaha Podcast Network Production Follow Brandon on Twitter (@Brandon_Warne) https://twitter.com/Brandon_Warne Visit the Website: http://www.brandonwarne.com/ Subscribe to Podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/midwestswing2s-pod
This offseason, the Minnesota Twins and Terry Ryan announced that they'd be moving their hulking slugger to right field. Despite having DH'd for the majority of 2015 and having played in the infield thus far, Miguel Sano was moving on to greener pastures. The changes has been met with skepticism, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Let's start off internally. Minnesota employed Torii Hunter in right last year. He gave Paul Molitor a .240/.293/.409 slash line on offense, while making six erro
Recently Off The Baggy took a look at what needs to play out for the Twins down in Fort Myers to start 2016 off on the right foot. Coming off a season of exceeded expectations, it's important to keep the momentum moving forward. It's hard to be optimistic without looking at what also could end up being detractors however. While the AL Central is far from a juggernaut in the year ahead, their should be a good deal of parity. Expecting the Twins to be in the thick of things is probably a good be
If you’re a pessimist like me, you look at the PECOTA projections released by Baseball Prospectus yesterday and you see a confirmation in everything you’ve suspected this offseason. You see a team who has done nothing to build on its surprising run in 2015 and, in turn, has slipped to the bottom of a competitive AL Central division. You think about a thoroughly mediocre starting rotation led by Ervin Santana, Phil Hughes, and Kyle Gibson and you resign yourself to falling behind early. You thi
Monday was a busier day at Hammond. A few more players and a lot more fans (school holiday). To explain this day to those who have not been to Ft. Myers I will give a little geography lesson. As I understand it Hammond Stadium is the ball park used by the Miracle and Twins during spring training. The rest of the facility is called Century Link Sports Complex. Hammond is in the northeast corner; to the south is parking lot; and to the west is where the spring training action takes place. To th
Baseball fans, you've made it. At this point in the winter, the offseason is nearing its conclusion, and you are about to be rewarded with the month long grind that is spring training. For the Minnesota Twins, a team coming off of a breakout season a year ago, there's some key steps to be taken in the month ahead however. As pitchers and catchers embark on sunny Fort Myers, the Twins will soon be in full swing over at the CenturyLink Sports Complex. Now in his second season as manager, Paul Mo
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/48490219ecb45dfdc7394e363d72ad00f93ab68b/c=0-162-3456-2754&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/FortMyers/2014/11/03/twinsmolitorbasebalbuit.jpg Steve Senne, AP Early on Monday morning Terry Ryan heard loud clamoring outside his office at 1 Twins Way which he thought sounded like some unruly protestors, and upon getting up out of his chair he realized that he was right, but instead of being greeted by angry, old, white men shouting, "Make the bullpen great aga
I see where MLB Network is showing a Bob Costas tribute to Rod Carew next Tuesday at 8 p.m. This reminded me of a spring training game about 2 years ago. For those of you not familiar with Hammond Stadium the stands run along the 3rd base side to just past the infield. Then comes the Twins bullpen area and outside of that is a picnic area with concrete tables. Above this area is a concrete ceiling and above that is a big bar area with railings all around. As you stand in this bar area and f
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- While the Twins blogosphere, fan sites, and sportswriters are being focusing on the fact that Joe Mauer, has been having issues with his vision, which is totally expected after a concussion and should not be news, there are 61 major league free agents who are unsigned. This does not include the unsigned minor league free agents. Here is a like of those sixty one free agents as of today, broken down alphabetically and loosely be position
The winter is ending and baseball is nearly back, which can only mean one thing. The Minnesota Twins are looking to bring warm thoughts to Twins Territory with the unveiling of their 2016 promotional schedule. With bobbleheads once again the highlight, there were plenty of contenders for the year ahead. With Minnesota having introduced plenty of youth to Target Field a year ago, and top prospects like Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton gracing us with their presence, the resin dolls had no shortage
It's that time of year again, where the players start to slowly shuffle in for the beginning of spring training and where all the offseason workouts start to show fruition. Even though I didn't arrive to the backfields til 9:30 am, the action was just getting started with my main concentration on the hitters. As I pulled up, Byung Ho Park was walking back from Hammond Stadium to the backfields, unlike last weekend he had his Korean translator with him. Despite the language gap, Park speaks enoug
This has become a huge issue, especially with Buster Olney. First let me say that I love reading Olney's stuff, he's one of my favorite baseball writers. Plus he's a huge Vikings fan to boot. But I really disagree with him on this. As a 30 plus year Twins fan I've seen a lot if bad baseball played by my favorite team. The 4 straight years that the Twins lost 90 plus games before breaking the streak last year were not fun. But I'm the fan that wants to see my team win championships, not try to fi
Using a round bat to hit a round ball is one of the hardest skills in professional sports. It takes the right combination of hand-eye coordination to be considered one of the best hitters in the game. Joe Mauer had been one of those hitters. Mauer's on-field performance has been on the decline since a concussion in 2013 and the resulting symptoms related to that brain injury. There may finally be some clarity to the situation as Mauer admitted to the Pioneer Press that symptoms from 2013 conti
In an article posted early Friday afternoon, Brian Murphy of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press reported that Minnesota Twins catcher-turned-first baseman Joe Mauer has continued to suffer from concussion symptoms, including blurred vision, over the past two seasons. (Click here to read the article) This is some scary stuff. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/MauerST11j-1024x767.jpg Joe Mauer (Photo: SD Buhr) The Mauer story has been beaten to death, so I won’t rehash every
This offseason, the Minnesota Twins had a serious need when it came to relief pitching. While left-handed arms were in short supply, the relief corps as a whole needed a jolt. Instead of forking over big money on the ever-inflating relief market, Terry Ryan and the Twins went a different route. Much like Blaine Boyer the year before, the club offered a minor league deal to Fernando Abad. On the surface, Abad's deal doesn't really move the needle, but what happens when the performance does? A s
Not much happening at Hammond, today. The best hitter on the day looked like Plouffe. Arcia, with huge diamond (or fake) earings in both ears swinging upper cut high fly balls. Watched Byung Ho Park quite a bit. He has very wide stance, then brings his front leg back until both knees almost touch, then strides out to meet the ball. Reminds me of a right side Tony Oliva. Speaking of Oliva, lotsa talk about Sano moving to the outfield. Tony was not the greatest outfielder, either. He took l
I am lucky enough to get some updates from a friend who visits Hammond often, I bet there are a few on here that would enjoy them. Here is the first one of the year. Hi guys! I went to Hammond this morning. When I arrived Phil Roof was pitching to Byung Ho Park, Adam B. Walker, O. Arcia and someone I didn't know. Park has a nice smooth swing, hits line drives with little effort, and hit at least one that was way over the fence in left. Arcia did not impress; hitting ground balls and popups. Th
Keith Law, ESPN's Baseball Insider, posted his much-anticipated prospect analysis this week. First he launched his 2016 organizational rankings, and then he followed up with his pre-2016 top 100. With the Twins once again having a loaded system, ranked third overall by law, they had seven prospects show up in the top 100. As with all rankings, there's discussion, and that's where Off The Baggy comes in. Looking at the organization rankings, there's not much to complain about with the Twins pos
I am not a follower of Donald Trump. I have participated in several no kings rallies and am disgusted with what he and his followers have done to our country and the world. I would like to know what most Brazilians feel about the United States now and about the folks our citizens have elected to represent us.
The Twins Daily Caretaker Fund
hello Seth......you'll wanna correct the date in headline of today's minor league report. :-) Brad· 0 replies
I am not a follower of Donald Trump. I have participated in several no kings rallies and am disgusted with what he and his followers have done to our country and the world. I would like to know what most Brazilians feel about the United States now and about the folks our citizens have elected to represent us.· 1 reply
