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In the annals of Twins history, the legacy of Bill Smith is never going to be thought of in a positive manner. There are many dubious moments from his tenure at the helm of the Twins organization. During his first year, he had to deal with Torii Hunter, the face of the franchise, leaving via free agency and multiple Cy Young award winner Johan Santana wanting to be traded. Hunter would head to southern California on a big contract. Santana was dealt for what amounted to be a bag of balls. Deol
The 2015 Major League Baseball season is just one day old. Unfortunately, the Minnesota Twins find themselves with only a tally in the loss column to this point. More unfortunately is that observations from one game have cause knuckle-dragging fans to already deem the 2015 season a failure. Whether because of anger that four years of losing causes, or the disappointment that still looming prospects has provided, a vast contingent isn't pleased. While those aren't viable reasons for angst at this
Even though the Twins lost yesterday at the hands of David Price and the Detroit Tigers, it’s hard not to be excited for MLB Opening Day. The start of the baseball season means summer is just around the corner, and the prospect of spending afternoons and evenings at Target Field gets me all giddy, even if the opening day roster doesn’t. You see, despite the fact this roster is currently loaded with veterans and retreads, both new (Tim Stauffer, Blaine Boyer, Ervin Santana, Shane Robinson) and
LAST UPDATED: APRIL 6, 2015 - Originally published 4/2/13 as " A Maestro At First: Trading For Vic Power, April 2, 1962" at Classic Minnesota Twins blog http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YoHhzlKb28Q/VSMxIizyL5I/AAAAAAAAIQQ/fLocM3tj--w/s1600/IMG_4802.JPG In-season trades are rare occurrences for the Minnesota Twins. And even rarer are those that actually impacted the fortunes positively for the home nine. For Twins fans born around and after 1987, used to low-risk / low-dollar acquisitions* that nu
Friday afternoon, just days away from the Twins heading to Detroit to take on the Tigers and open the 2015 Major League Baseball season, free agent pitcher Ervin Santana was popped with an 80 game suspension. He was caught for using an oral steroid, Stanozolol. With the news, the Twins immediately have a different outlook for not only their rotation, but the upcoming season as a whole. A situation such as the one that the Twins have been put in due to the poor decision making of Santana has so
You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or by clicking here, and if you want to add the show to your non-iTunes podcast player, this is the RSS Feed. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gkltj4asmIk/VR6I4EyPhwI/AAAAAAAALV8/8zJ3CQuFz5Y/s1600/tiger%2Bcat.jpg The Talk to Contact crew takes a crack at predicting the results of the 2015 season. There are a couple of bold pics. And I'm not talking bold like the Indians will win the central, I'm talking BOLD. We discuss
With Thursday night's announcement that Chris Herrmann would be heading north with the Minnesota Twins, their opening day roster appears to be set. The back up catcher spot was the final unresolved question of the spring. A lot is made of the make up of the Twins' roster as they open the 2015 season, but it really is of just mild interest to me, personally. Yes, I like to see a guy like Herrmann rewarded for his hard work and persistence and JR Graham's story as a Rule 5 pick up earning a sp
<img src="http://assets.podomatic.net/ts/19/ad/da/paulpleiss/1400x1400_10489808.jpg" alt="itunes pic" /><br />The Talk to Contact crew takes a crack at predicting the results of the 2015 season. There are a couple of bold pics. And I'm not talking bold like the Indians will win the central, I'm talking BOLD. We discuss the recent roster moves by the Twins, and discuss the roster that will head north with the Twins when they leave Fort Myers and head north to take on the Detroit T
Anyone who seeks out more writing about the Minnesota Twins, clearly cares about the team. They have opinions aplenty about the best direction the franchise could take. They think about it, they weigh pros and cons, and they argue with passion when they feel like they are right. In that regard, there's very little that separates blog readers from the Twins front office. But in the last few weeks a font of frustration has welled up, particularly as regards recent roster decisions. I am no kind
Although more often than not I put some thought into a topic before putting together a full fledged post, sometimes the topic just happens. This afternoon, a follower on Twitter posed a very interesting question. He asked, "Where do you see the Twins rotation amongst the AL Central competition." As recently as last season, it would be easy to quickly dismiss the thought and suggest they are dead last. Heading into 2015 however, it's not quite as easy. To understand the foundation the Twins sta
This morning, the Minnesota Twins sent Caleb Thielbar out of major league camp and back to Triple-A Rochester. With the move, the 2015 bullpen is set in stone at the major league level. Without a doubt the group has more questions marks than anything, but the potential may lie just beyond those questions. First, let's take a quick look at how the Twins will set up the relief pitchers for the coming year: Blaine Boyer-Middle Reliever J.R. Graham-Middle Reliever Mike Pelfrey-Middle Reliever B
The headline here is a reference--if you do not know somehow--to a line from The Big Lebowski. It's the scene in the car where Walter has brought "the ringer" ("the whites") and The Dude loses it on him. The Dude is a very chill guy who smokes pot, listens to CCR, and bowls. But in this scene he yells (editing profanity) "You (screwed) it up! You (screwed) it up!" Walter responds with the quote in the headline. Well it's that time of year when the Twins opening day roster becomes finalized and
Many of you may be looking at the Twins roster for opening day and wondering: "where the hell are the prospects?" Sure, we've been told again and again that we're about to get a huge influx of talent. And sure, we've been told that the children are our future. But the young players coming north: Danny Santana, Kennys Vargas, Oswaldo Arcia, Kyle Gibson...we've seen them all before...and the people we haven't seen: Blaine Boyer? Kurt Suzuki? Tim Stauffer? Are not the world changing prospects we'
Currently, the Minnesota Twins are less than a week away from kicking off their 2015 Major League Baseball season. Having hovered right around the .500 mark this spring, new manager Paul Molitor should have a good idea of the areas of strength, and where the team needs work. Heading north, the Twins will be looking to break away from the trend that is losing 90 games each of the last four seasons. More than any other recent season, the 2015 Twins have both a respectable ceiling and a relatively
In 2006, the Minnesota Twins sported a rookie pitcher that ended up bursting onto the scene and making an All Star appearance. With a devastating slider and blistering fastball, Francisco Liriano flew under the radar for a very small period of time. Unfortunately, the excitement wouldn't last, as injury would take away his 2007 and part of his 2008 season. Fast forward to 2012 and the Twins had watched what once was an undoubted ace, turn into an up and down starter that was fueled only by his o
Today the posts have mostly been negative with three young players optioned to AAA. Many have pointed out that the rebuilding Twins won't have a single rookie from their system on the 25-man roster going north. The average age of the team won't be considerably different. Despite all of this, I'm optimistic that the Twins will improve. The next wave is very close and they could provide a real boost. I have predicted/advocated for Hicks to be demoted since the end of the regular season and w
Originally published at The Minnesota Twins, have announced several cuts, trimming down their Spring Training roster to 31. They announced that Jordan Schafer won the starting Centerfielder job, with Shane Robertson, backing him up and platooning against LHPs. They also announced that Mike Pelfrey will be in the bullpen and the 5th starter will be Tommy Milone. Aaron Hicks, Eddie Rosario, Trevor May and Mark Hamburger were cut as a result. Also, it was announced that Danny Santana will be the st
This morning, first year manager Paul Molitor announced the next handful of roster cuts for the Minnesota Twins. As the team whittles down its roster to 25 players prior to Opening Day a week from Monday, the group of Fort Myers is going to get smaller. With 31 players now left in camp, Molitor has six more players he must send packing. The latest round however may have caused more confusion than clarity. Amongst the roster moves this morning, the Minnesota Twins elected to send out position p
I’ve been down here in Fort Myers, Florida, for several days now and I’ve been very slow about posting anything here. My bad. The newly remodeled stadium at the Twins’ complex (now named “Century Link Field”) is very nice. Much wider concourses and a lot of variety of seating options. I’ve seen parts of a couple games at the new place, as well as a game against the Phillies at their Clearwater home. I plan to also see the Twins take on the Orioles up in Sarasota on Sunday. But I’ve spent the
Vacation time in Ft Myers is coming to a close. We had a very fun day at the Twins spring complex today. We arrived at 10:30 unaware the minor league games had been moved up several hours, presumably in response to the forecast of rain. I started watching the Cedar Rapids game, and then a little bird told me, "you're missing Phil Hughes". I switched over to the Miracle game, in the fifth inning. Performing as the World's Most Expensive Bat Boy in this game was Kohl Stewart. (Lurking on th
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- After my visit to Fort Myers was said and done about a year ago, I gave my prediction about how the Twins will do in 2014 and the main reasoning behind it. You can find that here (and, yes, I did predict that they will finish 70-92, but that's not something to be happy about.) During this Spring Training, I took a risk: I suggested that the Twins can actually compete, if they do three things: Fix their bullpen, fix their outfield, and fix
You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or by clicking here, and if you want to add the show to your non-iTunes podcast player, this is the RSS Feed. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t4LmRo4oH1M/VRVckYmtcoI/AAAAAAAALNE/luQF0WgSuGo/s1600/dozier.jpg This week we talk about the strange details of the Brian Dozier contract, Eric owing a bunch of people helmet nachos, and we try and figure out (again) who is in the lead for the fifth start spot. After a coupl
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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