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WAR! HAH! What is it good for?

WAR, what is it? I know it's wins above replacement but what does that mean? How do they come up with that? And what formula do they use? WAR is a stat that drives Fantasy Baseball &  analytical baseball; helps us evaluate individuals, teams & even determine HOF inductees. I've heard that most HOF voters often use total WAR to determine who to vote for unless they have some bias. But is WAR really the end-all means to evaluate a player's worth? Let's look at catching. Catchers often

Doctor Gast

Doctor Gast in WAR

Budgeting in Baseball

I read today that a lot of fans are annoyed at the Twins ownership because they are unwilling to take on additional salaries in order to increase their chances of winning a World Series. As a retired CFO of a $14M business with 150 employees, I can vouch for the sanctity of an annual budget. Preparing a budget takes great knowledge of your business. You need individuals who can anticipate what the businesses expenses for the next year will be. That includes taking into consideration wh

Paul D

Paul D in History 101

Where In The World is Connor Prielipp?

The second pick for the Minnesota Twins in the 2022 draft was the left-handed flame thrower out of Alabama named Connor Prielipp. The Twin's Front Office was excited to be able to draft Prielipp 48th overall, and it showed with the Twins going over slot value and handing Prielipp a $1.825 million signing bonus. Since then, it appears that Connor Prielipp and his devastating fastball-slider mix have fallen off the face of the Earth, and so we must ask… Where in the world is Connor Prielipp? To an

AidanAver

AidanAver in Prospects

Twins in Position to sign Jordan MOntgomery

In a previous post I had posited that the Twins should not make any moves for pitchers unless thay HAD to.  There is no NEED for a Postseason Starter until/if you make the postseason, os hang onto trade chips until you need to cash them. Signing a FA however is a different story, even though a quality signing would necessitate dumping some salary, and that is different than trading young prospects for quality pitching.. I wouldn't touch Blake Snell. even though he has 2 Cy Youngs, he j

Historical Play Through of the Minnesota Twins on OOTP 24 - Modern Day Free Agency About to Begin!

Twins Video   Introduction of the series here Part 2: 1961-1962 Offseason MLB expansion here Part 3: 1964 World Series Champs! here Part 4: 1967 World Champs! here Hello everyone! It's been a minute since we last checked in on this series. Let's catch you up since we've all been in a coma for 7 years.  1967-68 Offseason:   Tony Oliva wins his 2nd Gold Glove in RF, and Lou Brock wins his first Silver Slu

Brock Stewart: The Data Behind His Success

From DFA’d to premier setup man in less than four years, Brock Stewart has one of the best stories in baseball and is poised to play a big role on the 2024 Twins.  In 2019, Stewart was DFA’d by the Dodgers before being picked up by the Blue Jays. Stewart only threw 21 innings with the Blue Jays but his time there was the worst of his career. He pitched to a 55 ERA+ along with a career low in K/9 at 6.6. Furthermore, his fastball sat at a middling 91 MPH. As a result, he was once again DFA’d

Adam Neisen

Adam Neisen in 2024 season

An Interview With Matt Canterino

I've always enjoyed Seth's interviews at Twins Daily which he gets into players' heads. Here is an interview by Aram Leighton, (I really enjoy his evaluations.) with Matt Canterino. Through this interview, I could see Canterino's intelligence, methodicalism & the control he has over his mind & body. The interview gets into the physics & mechanics of how he throws his pitches, I thought some of my TD friends might like to watch it. Enjoy 

Doctor Gast

Doctor Gast in Matt Canterino

Twins best move?... sit and wait

We are at the point of the offseason, with the most romantic day of the year (Pitchers and Catchers reporting on the 14th), where BIG trades usually do not happen, teams are starting to find peace with their rosters. There are still a couple name starters out there, but I dont see the Twins singing a Montgomery or a Snell. The Twins are in a decent enough position where we do not have to make any rash moves, The Twins FO should definitely be plotting and laying groundwork, but never make a move

More Thoughts--Super Bowl Edition

TV--While the details are not known, the Twins have re-upped with Diamond/Bally for another (and final season). I am one that has been able to watch every Twins game, which is the main reason I have the "Sports Pack" on DirecTV. The reported amount on the television contract is 85% of what the Twins received in 2023, a reduction of perhaps $8M. The prospects for a better number in 2025 are not great unless the Twis profit greatly from streaming. While I am relieved the Twins will be available on

stringer bell

stringer bell in Player projection

The 2024 Fates of the "Forgotten Twins"

Baseball rosters are big. They are also constantly shuffling, and sometimes players can find themselves lost in this shuffle. At times this can be chalked up to their role as a journeyman, placeholder kind of player. They’re a warm body for two weeks until the guy they replaced comes back, then they slip into the void. Still sad, but unavoidable in this business. Other times though, players who were once thought to be building blocks with bright futures ahead of them can lose their footing and s

NishiokaStan

NishiokaStan in As it Seams

Thoughts as we round the bend towards Spring Training

Some thoughts from me--a contrarian old guy who has followed the Twins since they moved from Washington: Did you know? Playing the Immaculate Cube has educated and entertained me to a significant degree. I have tried to use as many Twins and ex-Twins as I can find in filling out the cube. Was there ever a guy who played for the Twins and hit 40 homers for the Reds? Yes, and if you knew this you are a trivia maven or cheat by using a baseball reference source. The answer is Wally Post. How a

stringer bell

stringer bell in Player projection

Will The Twins Get Their Postseason SP?

Now that spring training is quickly coming upon us. I'd like to ask the question, will the Twins get their promised postseason SP? There hasn't been any inkling that they were focusing on anyone. Jesus Luzardo was my favorite but looks like that's he's out of the question, if ever FO was willing to make the necessary sacrifice. The rentals Glasnow & Burns are gone if FO was ever willing to pay the price (I wouldn't either). Do we have a shot at Cease (CWS)? Interdivisional trade will up the

Doctor Gast

Doctor Gast in Trevor Bauer

My offseason review to this point of the offseason

The Twins came into the offseason with very few needs as a whole.  They were set to lose Gray and Maeda and Mahle to free agency.  This was planned in advance with Lopez extension and the return of Paddack with his extension and the development of Varland.  To get into the season the Twins felt that they needed at least 1 depth starter to make it to at least the trade deadline where they could trade for the pitcher, they need for the post season run.  That is how I view what has happened so far

Brandon

Brandon in offseason

What are the upcoming 40 man roster moves going to look like?

I will spare everyone my rambling nonsensical, fantastical prognostications.  Just a simple question... the Twins need to make 2 roster moves to clear space on the 40 man roster. Who ya got?  Who would YOU move? and who do you think THEY will move?   40-Man Roster | Minnesota Twins (mlb.com)   I am not sure if I have attached the link to the current 40 man roster correctly, as I have never tried to do a link before,  but what are your thoughts?   Mine you

History 101 - The Spitball

History 101 - The Spitball The spitball originated at the end of the 19th century. There are a couple of possible origins and a couple of possible inventors, but at this point the title has not been assigned to anyone and may actually have a number of players who may have contributed to the creation of the pitch. The two most widely credited inventors were Elmer Stricklett (1876-1964) and Frank Corridan (1880-1941). The most successful spit ball pitchers were Hall of Famers, Ed Walsh a

Paul D

Paul D in History 101

Reevaluating the Jorge Polanco Trade

Listening to the Mariners podcast the team & the fans were overjoyed by the trade. That Polanco had been a target for a long time & they really liked his #s though social media tried to put him down because of his injuries. That the pieces they gave up were not that necessary for their bigger plans. But we have to see there are 2 Polancos, The long-time untreated injured Polanco & the healthy Polanco. Most like to focus on the long-time untreated injured Polanco but with last year of

Doctor Gast

Doctor Gast in '24 offseason

Twins Farm System Ranked #9 By ESPN

There's an article on ESPN ranking all the MLB farm system by "empirical surplus dollar value", whatever that is. The Twins are ranked as #9. That's a little bit higher than I would have expected and the ranking does not appear to include the Seattle prospect we just got in the Polanco trade, at least he is not mentioned. They do mention Lee, Martin, Festa, Canterino, and Cory Lewis as guys at upper levels who could make an impact this year or next, and Rodriguez and Raya as guys who could make

Gabriel Gonzalez full breakdown: plus thoughts on Bowen, Disclafani, and Topa

Dereck Falvey and the Twins finally woke up from a two-month offseason slumber and made the first significant move of the offseason, trading long time Twin Jorge Polanco to the Seattle Mariners for 4 players. I have a lot of emotional thoughts on what Polanco meant not just as a player, but how he represents the organization so well in the 15+ years he's been with the Twins. Here's some quick hitters on three of the guys in the deal.  Justin Topa Topa was one of the more consistent rel

troyjuhn

troyjuhn in Blog

What Does It Take To Be A Major League Manager?

What Does It Take To Be A Major League Manager? Sitting on my couch in the middle of a New England winter, trying to pick a topic to write about for my weekly blog, my attention turned to X (I’m not going to say formerly Twitter). Staring at me was a posting by Dan Hayes of The Athletic from TwinsFest with manager Rocco Baldelli in the photo. There are only 30 managers in Major League Baseball, so the odds of getting a managerial position are far smaller than the odds of being a major

5 Twinsfest Takeaways

The last weekend of January can be brutal for Twins fans and Minnesotans alike. Brutally cold weather, losing sports teams, general malaise and seasonal depression just to name a few. But it also means Twinsfest Live, Diamond Awards and the granddaddy of them all: Twinsfest.  Reduced down to just a single day for autographs, Twins fans nevertheless came out in droves after a successful 2023 season that saw the end of The Streak (no, not a repeat of Brock beating Taker, and that still wasn't

Devlin Clark

Devlin Clark in Twinsfest 2024

[PT] The Strong Bond Between Minnesota Native Players and the Twins

Welcome to Twinternationals! This is a space for Twins fans from different countries to read about their team in their native language. This section is run by Venezuelan Mariana Guzmán (@TwinsLatinos) and Brazilian Thiéres Rabelo (@TwinsBrasil). Today's entry is written in Portuguese. Eu sou fascinado com a forte ligação que alguns jogadores nativos de Minnesota têm com o Twins. O Twins Daily publicou a imagem abaixo em suas redes sociais, com quatro Hall of Famers nascidos em Saint Paul.

Twinternationals

Twinternationals in Twins

A few (more) words on Joe Mauer.

I didn't wanna see him go in 2018. While I sat at home watching the Twins play on a perfect Minnesota night in September, Mauer came to the plate in the bottom of the 5th inning against the nemesis New York Yankees, and the ingredients were in place for this at-bat to be something special. The Twins were up 6-1 and the bases were loaded, and everyone watching knew Joe Mauer had exactly one thing on his mind: taking the first pitch, which he did, for a ball. Because that was Joe's proce

Chris Hanel

Chris Hanel in Mauer

Finding a Jewel in the Ruins

I have speculated that if the Twins acquire a starting pitcher, he won’t clearly be seen as a top 50 or 60 starter. I would think the guy will be either unproven, an injury risk or coming off a disappointing or unproductive season. Further, I think most teams are placing a high price on pitching, particularly guys under team control. Teams that have no real hope of contending should be a little more willing to part with starters under team control because by the time they expect to contend,

stringer bell

stringer bell in 2024 Rotation

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