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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
A year ago, the Minnesota Twins had a glaring hole in the middle of their infield. While their were some concerns as to what might happen behind the plate with Kurt Suzuki being a regression candidate, it was a shortstop that bigger answers were needed. Danny Santana was given the starting role out of spring training (a move I agreed with), and he hung onto it for far too long. Then Eduardo Escobar emerged. Following just under 100 games of Santana accumulating errors and failing to make plays
Luke Inman joins Brandon to recap the Super Bowl, retirements and to grade the Vikings 2015 season. A little football recap before baseball season hits. A Cold Omaha Podcast Network Production http://traffic.libsyn.com/midwestswing2/MWS_0006_-_Luke_Inman_of_eDraft_and_Cold_Omaha.mp3
Looking at the state of the Minnesota Twins heading into the 2016 Major League Baseball season, the word depth has come up often. Whether it be the surplus of young talent rising to the top of the system, the pitching staff and multiple arms competing to complete it, or the 25 man as a whole. For the first time in a while, the Twins have some depth working to their advantage. Quite possibly however, it could work to their disadvantage. Some of the focus this offseason has been in regards to th
The shortest answer to the proposed question possible; better than you think. Really though, Plouffe entered the offseason as an arbitration eligible player for the Twins, and secured a nice raise to the tune of a one-year $7.25 million deal. With another season of arbitration eligibility ahead of him, and the expected production to follow, he could enter a whole new tier by 2017. Heading into the winter months, the Minnesota Twins were faced with a decision. Having Miguel Sano ready for more
Defense wins championships. In the baseball world, this cliche might not be completely true. Otherwise, there would be teams full of Andrelton Simmons-type players. There are a lot of other factors that go into the overall equation. Teams need offense, they need pitching, and sometimes a little luck goes a long way. Baseball line-ups aren't usually built with a defensive as the first priority. Rosters usually need to have the right combination of defense and offense. You can hide a Josh Will
Let's rewind back to March 2015. It was a simpler time for the Twins. Spring Training was well underway, and they were just on the brink of seeing their latest free agent acquisition pitching meaningful games at Target Field. Then a failed drug test happened, and it was followed by an 80 game suspension. Although Ervin Santana had plenty of promise for the Twins a season ago, I wondered before things went down hill, what exactly the expectations should have been. Taking aim at Santana's Fieldi
In 2015, the Minnesota Twins saw the year of the position player. With Eddie Rosario leading the charge during spring training, and into the regular season, Paul Molitor watched as his 25 man roster was transformed with youth. One of baseball's best farm systems is far from depleted after a handful of graduations, but growth now needs to take place. For two former first round picks, the year ahead couldn't be any more important. Enter Kohl Stewart and Travis Harrison. Earlier this week, Jim
This week, Brandon is joined by Dan Szymborski of ESPN to discuss Baltimore, Cincinnati chili, cat strategy, gaming, ZiPS, 'meh' rotations and everything in between. https://t.co/0gEaXmgHwU
When looking at the projected 25 man roster leaving Fort Myers for the Minnesota Twins, you would be hard pressed to find a player considered more of a lock than Brian Dozier. Minnesota gave Dozier a four-year, $20 million extension just a year ago, and he remains one of the best second basemen in all of baseball. What Dozier's situation does do is present a crossroads for the players behind him. Although depth is something the Twins seemingly have throughout the organization, the focus behind
While they differ in methodology, the major projection systems -- Marcel, OLIVER, PECOTA, Steamer, ZiPS et al. -- all abide by one central rule: Projections are not predictions. This mantra should be a source of comfort to Twins fans, since most experts are willing to predict that the team will be interesting and has at least some chance of making the playoff run they barely missed out on last year. The projections, however, are nowhere near as kind. The offense looks to be about league averag
There has been a lot of angst this offseason about the Twins not signing an experienced bullpen arm or two. I feel like January 2014 all over again. Everyone was saying we needed to sign some starting pitching. In back to back years we have signed Nolasco and Santana. If you go by salary our rotation would be Santana, Hughes, Nolasco, Milone and Gibson. If you went by actually trying to win you would probably go Hughes, Santana, Gibson, Duffy and Berrios. The 1st rotation would cost around
The Minnesota Twins announced the signing of outfielder Carlos Quentin to a minor league contract with an invitation to major league camp. The 33-year old last appeared in a game for Tacoma, the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. His last big league appearance was in 20014 with the San Diego Padres. The former two-time All-Star was first round pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2003. He played parts of two seasons at the big league level in Arizona before being dealt to the Chicago W
In part, the question has a very simple answer. What's left for Ricky Nolasco is two years and $24 million (with at least a $1 million buyout in year three), at least on a contractual level. The question really is, what's left for Nolasco when it comes to performance going forward? That question is much more difficult to answer, but there are a few clues to consider. First and foremost, it's worth noting that Nolasco's role appears certain to change for the Twins in 2016. When looking at the s
I haven't published a "Twins Top 15 Prospects List" this offseason, yet. There are plenty of other writers who do and many of them probably have better insight into who the top names should be than I do. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/BuxtonStage3-600x400.jpg This should be the last year that Byron Buxton's name shows up on any "Top Prospect" list. I didn't really make a conscious decision not to do a list this year. I just didn't get around to it, until now. (T
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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