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The Minnesota Twins are in the midst of a very impressive run. Easily the most surprising team in Major League Baseball this season, the Twins have positioned themselves atop the AL Central. While it's been a fun run, all of the advanced analytics suggest that regression is coming. While that sentiment may be overblown, the best way to curb the downfall in your favor is to attack it. That's something the Twins haven't necessarily done, and it may start behind the plate. Whether you put stock in
Sometimes you're forced to admit that your best ideas stem from another person's brainchild. It turns out that this is exactly the case when it comes to a Princess Bride parody I wrote up yesterday after giving some thought to why I've been seeing a recurring joke about Paul Molitor being the Man in Black on Twins Daily game threads. I had absolutely no idea why or how the nickname started, but I loved the way it tied right in with my previous plans to someday write something about the Twins sto
Going in to this weekend’s series against the Milwaukee Brewers, our Minnesota Twins are 11 games over .500, sitting atop the American League Central Division (barely) with a 32-21 record. Naturally, after the four year run of futility Twins fans have endured coming in to the current season, the main topic of conversation in the Twins community revolves around, “is this for real or are they going to crash and burn?” http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/MayST15a-600x400.j
I have been taking baseball trips annually since 2003. I started because I hated the Metrodome, but I keep taking them because they're fun and I like to see other stadiums. On Sunday, June 14 my dad, my brother and his 13-year old son and I are heading to Cedar Rapids and St. Louis. Nice thing is, even more than the many games I've seen at home, the baseball vacation games stay vivid in my memory. Here are memories from my first road trip... 2003 Kansas City. To remind you, 2003 was the y
The Minnesota Twins need to let loose. They need to believe that they can’t be held back by expectations, by the culture of losing created by four straight 90-loss seasons, by the numbers that say that they have outperformed their capabilities up until this point. For the most part everyone in the locker room appears unhindered by outside speculation, ignorant or at least cleansed of the team’s previous losing ways. They feel that that they are, as a unit, more talented than people give them c
Ricky Nolasco could not throw 100% in his pre-game bullpen and was placed on the Disabled List, clearing the way for Tommy Milone to start Thursday's game against the Red Sox. The Twins won the game late, thanks in part to a Joe Mauer bunt (of course), and managed to escape Boston with a split. RED WINGS REPORT Pawtucket Paw Sox @ Rochester Box Score Taylor Rogers pitched an eight inning gem on Thursday night in front of a crowd of 4,196 at Frontier Field. Rogers earned his fifth win of
It was the offseason before the 2013 Major League Baseball season was ready to kick off. The Twins were coming off of yet another 90 loss season, and this team appeared to be going nowhere fast. With poor pitching across the board, a reinvention of the organization was in need. That's when the roster shuffle came. First, Denard Span was sent to the Washington Nationals for a top pitching prospect. Not a month later, Ben Revere was dealt to the Philadelphia Phillies for two pitchers in return. It
You can download the new Talk to Contact (<a href="https://twitter.com/talktocontact">@TalkToContact</a>) episode via <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-to-contact-podcast-about/id556784825?mt=2">iTunes</a> or by clicking <a href="http://talk2contact.podomatic.com/entry/2015-06-03T20_34_23-07_00" target="_blank">here</a>, and if you want to add the show to your non-iTunes podcast player, <a href="http://talk2contact.podomatic.com/rss2.xml">
You can download the new Talk to Contact (<a href="https://twitter.com/talktocontact">@TalkToContact</a>) episode via <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-to-contact-podcast-about/id556784825?mt=2">iTunes</a> or by clicking <a href="http://talk2contact.podomatic.com/entry/2015-05-28T17_20_45-07_00" target="_blank">here</a>, and if you want to add the show to your non-iTunes podcast player, <a href="http://talk2contact.podomatic.com/rss2.xml">
You can download the new Talk to Contact (<a href="https://twitter.com/talktocontact">@TalkToContact</a>) episode via <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-to-contact-podcast-about/id556784825?mt=2">iTunes</a> or by clicking <a href="http://talk2contact.podomatic.com/entry/2015-05-21T18_22_33-07_00" target="_blank">here</a>, and if you want to add the show to your non-iTunes podcast player, <a href="http://talk2contact.podomatic.com/rss2.xml">
Mauer was the 4th ranked #1 pick in baseball history. Very interseting, you could make the case for guys like Price, but it goes to show you how good he has been, even if he has tailed off. Puts the complaining in context. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/12998550/mlb-draft-ranking-best-no-1-overall-draft-picks
Over the course of the past few weeks, I've had a handful of readers asking about the current construction of the Minnesota Twins outfield, and how it will change going forward. I would suppose Oswaldo Arcia's struggles as well as the introduction of the 2015 version of Aaron Hicks is at the root of these discussions. However, Minnesota remains in a place where the outfield could be turned into a relative strength in short order. Going into the 2014 season, the configuration from left to right o
As the 2012 MLB Draft approached, there were plenty of rumors swirling about who the Astros would take with the first overall pick. Byron Buxton was considered by many talent evaluators to be the best available player but the Astros had surprised people before and other names had popped into the discussion. On draft night, the Astros steered in a different direction than Buxton by selecting Puerto Rican shortstop Carlos Correa, who shot up draft boards in the week prior to the draft. Houston w
I've always assumed that I'd invariably get my baseball news second hand from my younger brother, a fanatical baseball fan and true stats geek, until we no longer lived in the same household and I would be obliged to do the research on my own. That is, until he finally managed to talk me into starting a Twins Daily account last November. At first I rarely visited the site, only doing so when he succeeded in persuading me to post an idea I'd have now and then, but, as time went on and baseball ca
Heading into spring training, and throughout much of it, there was talk that the Twins standout rookie Danny Santana could be challenged or even removed from the shortstop role due to the emergence of Eduardo Escobar. At the time, it was crazy talk, and it still remains in that context. The Twins absolutely needed to allow their surprising rookie to validate his performance, but now that fact is that he simply hasn't. Heading into the heat of the summer, Minnesota has a very important decision t
One of the things the Minnesota Twins and Cedar Rapids Kernels organizations have in common is an emphasis on community service and that commonality was on display Saturday morning on Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/WilsonTheofanopoulos2-600x400.jpg Jared Wilson and Michael Theofanopoulos working in the bullpen with young pitchers After playing a night game on Friday night, Kernels hitting coach Tommy
http://presidiosports.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Dillon-Tate-Pitcher.jpg Dansby Swanson is considered by most to be the top college position player, and is probably the most advanced, plus he is the best fielding shortstop in the class. Swanson won't be a power threat, but he has a solid hit tool and can run, plus he is a great guy, making scouts and coaches like him even more. Brendan Rodgers is the best high school player in the class, and sits at the top of my prospect rankings. Rodgers
The Minnesota Twins won 20 games in the month of May, a feat they accomplished for just the first time since June 1991. In doing so, they took over the lead in the AL Central division as well as laid claim to the best record in the American League. After four seasons of 90 losses, it's pretty easy to call this revelation a smashing success, but here's where beggars turn into choosers. Could the Twins actually be even better? Right now, Minnesota still has Tim Stauffer, Eduardo Nunez, Chris Herrm
The calendar of the year 2015 is turning to June, and the Minnesota Twins have the best record in the American League. Wait…what?! There were few who believed that might be case this season, except maybe Terry Ryan, but it’s true and this team has certainly been fun to watch again! Like their parent club, many of the teams in the Minor Leagues are having great seasons as well as both Rochester and Chattanooga lead their divisions while Cedar Rapids is 33-18 and in second place. Fort Myers
His confidence is shot. Just the opposite of last year. Send him down now, so he can work it out, regain confidence and be ready to help the twiins in 2nd half. You can see he is playing under a tremendous amount of self imposed pressure. I am believer in Santana although was never a fan of taking ss away from Escobar. Happy Paul plays Escobar in outfield. For those who talked of trading Escobar I said then and now that would be lunacy just for the reason you are witnessing now. The ot
http://images.maxpreps.com/site_images/editorial/article/7/9/b/79b0787d-b9f9-43b4-a6ad-f4d581a1243f/97be8374-e6de-e411-bef0-a0369f3c1b4c_original.jpg Arizona Diamondbacks-#1 Dansby Swanson - Shortstop - Vanderbilt I think the Dbacks will go with Swanson or Bregman, and Swanson is more likely to stick at short, so I’ll have them pick Swanson here. Houston Astros-#2 Carson Fulmer - Right Handed Pitcher - Vanderbilt After the Dbacks pick Swanson I’m going with another Commodore, and it is going
http://www.collegebaseballtoday.com/files/2013/06/LSU-BregmanBarehand.jpg Alex Bregman is a 6'0", 190 pound shortstop out of LSU who was drafted by the Red Sox out of a New Mexico high school in 2012, but did not sign. Bregman's most advanced part of his game is his hitting, and he is the best college hitter in the class, but some scouts think that is his only above average tool. My ratings of Bregman's future tool are 60 hit, 55 power, 55 run, 55 arm, and 50 field, but his fielding tool would
Introduction Over the past few weeks there have been a number of articles focusing on the Twins early season success, and asking one, simple question: can the Twins keep on winning? These articles have focused on two main points: the Twins potent offense (they rank 9th in MLB) despite a mediocre OPS (18th in MLB) and their stellar record (4th best win percentage in MLB) despite a much less impressive run differential (8th best in MLB). Their conclusion has tended to be that the Twins performan
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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