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When I look at all of the starting pitchers who are available for trade I can't help but think that is the best way for us to get a good starting pitcher that we want for our rotation. Its no secret we won't bother trying to sign Lester, Schertzer, or Shields. We probably wont go after Santana either since there are not many options on the open market in his tier of talent so he will likely cost more than he should. But there are lots of starting pitchers who are on the trade market who are
The 2014 season was a breakout year for Brian Dozier. He seemed to be maturing as a hitter right before the eyes of Twins fans. He combined power and speed to be the first Twins player in a decade to record a 20 HR-20 steal season. However, there was more behind his season than the numbers that will appear on the back of next year's trading card. Dozier finished third in all of baseball in the amount of pitches seen in 2014. The only American League player to finish ahead of him was the presum
Jordan Schafer is at his 4th stop having moved from Atlanta to Houston to Atlanta prior to being claimed by Minnesota. He enters next season as a 28 year old with a significant 1398 plate appearances. Is there a chance that the once highly rated prospect can turn it around at age 28? Has it happened before? I used Baseball Reference's play index seeking an answer. I wanted a group of outfielders that had a similar number of plate appearances and performance through age 27. A group where Schafe
This week the boys discuss Paul Molitor and what his hiring means for the future of the Minnesota Twins. We're also joined by Bill Parker (@Bill_TPA) to talk about the Twins' roster and some potential free agent targets to help fill in the 2015 roster. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8ScOJYni4TI/VFzXExBLNGI/AAAAAAAAJeQ/HqEnwKeRYjE/s1600/molly2.jpg As always, we chat about beer, baseball, and the news. I forgot to ask Bill on air what he was drinking, be he assures me it was a Lagunitas Littl
<img src="http://assets.podomatic.net/ts/19/ad/da/paulpleiss/1400x1400_10083539.jpg" alt="itunes pic" /><br />This week the boys discuss Paul Molitor and what his hiring means for the future of the Minnesota Twins. We're also joined by Bill Parker (@Bill_TPA) to talk about the Twins' roster and some potential free agent targets to help fill in the 2015 roster. As always, we chat about beer, baseball, and the news. I forgot to ask Bill on air what he was drinking, be he assures m
I have just two problems with answers new Minnesota Twins manager Paul Molitor gave in response to fan questions in a recent interview. First, he said he'd like his nickname to be spelled ‘Mollie,” citing that it looks more masculine, but I suggested his nickname be Paulie, as in a guy named Paul from St. Paul and the big sign in center field featuring a guy from St. Paul named Paulie. It’s common sense people. This blog was originally published at Go Gonzo Journal. My other issue is with hi
Here is my off-season plan. What am I trying to accomplish? -Being realistic with payroll, both on dollars and years -Improve the team this year and in the near future -Keep key positions open for guys like Sano and Buxton, and allow young pitchers to emerge. -Address our real needs of OF defense and starting pitching Starting Rotation The Twins ranked second to last in starting ERA last year, behind only the Rockies who play a mile in the air. That is not good. While it is temptin
In one of the most surprising pieces of Twins from the off-season, word has slowly trickled out that the Twins will be sporting a new look when it comes to their home uniforms. The first major change to their home uniforms since the 1987 season, the first World Championship year. According to multiple sources, the team is shedding their pinstripes from their home whites for 2015. The letting will stay the same on the front of the uniforms but the club will add gold as a drop shadow behind the
A couple days ago, I posted several videos I shot at the Arizona Fall League games I attended last week. Today, you get still pictures. I wish I had had an opportunity to get more pictures of Jones, Adam and Rogers, but I only saw Jones pitch once and chose to shoot a video rather than try to get pictures through the netting, Adam didn't pitch at all in the games I saw and Rogers, of course, is injured and did not pitch. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Salt-River-Fie
There are a few items on the Twins off-season checklist. Starting pitching seems to be the Twins biggest priority but the club also has a hole to fill in the outfield. The club likely won't be pushing for any of the big names on the outfield free agent list but that doesn't mean the club couldn't look to add a veteran free agent for this role. Reports came out at the beginning of this week that the Twins have expressed interest in signing free agent outfielder Torii Hunter. It seems that Hunte
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p style="text-align: center;">BREAKING: The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MNTwins?src=hash">#MNTwins</a> to name Paul Molitor as new manager tomorrow at 10 a.m. CT press conference! <a href="http://t.co/nnv04Ju6Rc">pic.twitter.com/nnv04Ju6Rc</a></p><p style="text-align: center;">— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) <a href="https://twitter.com/Twins/status/529338861831196673">November 3, 2014</a>
Regardless of whether you believe the Minnesota Twins' extended search for new manager was thorough or a sham to cover for what was a foregone conclusion all along, the wait is finally over and Paul Molitor is taking over the manager's office at Target Field. The Twins announced the hiring Monday morning and will hold a press conference at 10:00 am on Tuesday to introduce Molitor as their new manager, though the decision was leaked to the traditional media types in Minneapolis days earlier.
Well the wait is finally over. It took the Twins over a month and multiple interviews to finally settle on the man many believed would be the guy for the job from the beginning. Paul Molitor will be named the 13th manager in Twins history at the beginning of this week. He will also be only the third manager in nearly the last three decades following in the line of Tom Kelly (1986-2001) and Ron Gardenhire (2002-2014). Molitor takes over a Twins team that has lost 92 or more games in each of the
Terry Ryan kept with company policy and made the long-expected and unsurprising decision to offer Paul Molitor a contract to become the new manager of the Minnesota Twins. Molitor, a St. Paul native, has been expected to take over as Ron Gardenhire’s replacement for at least a year, if not longer depending on the rumors you choose to believe, and could have taken over for Tom Kelly in 2002 had he not removed himself from the running due to the contraction fiasco. So Terry Ryan and the Twins got
The big news out of the Minnesota Twins camp this past week was the naming of their next manager, Hall of Famer Paul Molitor, but that wasn’t the only notable news in the organization. In the Arizona Fall League, it was further bad news for Byron Buxton’s season, as he injured his finger in Monday’s game, and will miss the rest of the AFL season. Read on to find out how the rest of Twins prospect’s fared during the week, and how the AFL Fall Stars game went for their two participants! Byro
I shot several videos during my trip to Arizona to watch a few AFL games so I thought I would share a few in this post. I saw Eddie Rosario, Max Kepler, Jake Reed and Zach Jones in action during the 3 Salt River games I attended. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdIeM0Q4few https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz2buQsUhg0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKtwmBDr3Ho https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR1nywxVE38 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L9AUc8AivA https://www.youtube.com/wat
I just checked today's AFL game and Eddie Rosario got a double in his first at-bat. We Twins fans shouldn't get too worked up about minor league baseball played in Arizona in October and November. However, there isn't much else Twins related to follow, so all of a sudden it becomes important that Eddie Rosario is hitting .400 in off-season ball. Having said that, Rosario is following the script he needs to follow to make his Twins' debut early in 2015. He is undoing the tough season he had in
“Each year, the Twins have a group of players who are under team control but have accumulated enough major-league service time to be arbitration eligible. This means that the player and his agent have a say in the matter of compensation. Both the club and player submit figures that they believe will be fair, and then the two sides typically reach a compromise in the middle. In extremely rare cases where an agreement can’t be reached, an arbitrator hears the case and selects the figure offered by
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/-Glf5IAkRSSI/VFNftOtkj3I/AAAAAAAAJYg/nzdbalcdBRI/s1600/codybutera.JPGOur fearless host, with Drew "Boat Anchor" Butera For the first time ever, Cody Christie hosts and entire episode of Talk to Contact. He runs the transitions, he drives the content, and he tells all the jo
<img src="http://assets.podomatic.net/ts/19/ad/da/paulpleiss/1400x1400_10062036.jpg" alt="itunes pic" /><br />For the first time ever, Cody Christie hosts and entire episode of Talk to Contact. He runs the transitions, he drives the content, and he tells all the jokes! North Dakota fans, unite! In addition to our North Dakotan flare, we talk about the ongoing Twins manager search, what it means that no one will go to games in 2015 at Target Field, and way too much about Aaron Hi
The Salt River Rafters made the trip across to the west side of the Phoenix area to Surprise, Arizona, on Wednesday to take on the Surprise Saguaros and, prior to the game, Twins prospects Max Kepler and Tyler Rogers took the time to answer a few questions. Kepler takes a .289/.385/.422 slash line in to Thursday night's game in Salt River, which is respectable for any hitter in the Arizona Fall League, but is perhaps even more impressive for a 21-year-old with no experience above the Class A l
1. Paul Molitor Will Be the Next Twins Manager OK, maybe this is not that bold, but it is most likely going to happen. He has received nothing but compliments from Gardy and some players, so let's hope he is the guy. 2. The Twins Will Sign Either Justin Masterson or Brandon McCarthy Pitching, pitching, pitching.... That has been problem number 1 the last 4 years. Either of these are good options that will help turn the Twins rotation around. They are not Scherzer, Lester, or Sheilds, but t
A year ago, Jake Reed was beginning intrasquad workouts in Eugene, Oregon, as he prepared for his junior year at the University of Oregon. In the subsequent 12 months, the Twins' prospect has seen a lot of the U.S.A. while pitching for the Ducks, then the Twins Rookie level team in Elizabethton, Tennessee, followed by the Cedar Rapids Kernels, and a trip to Fort Myers for instructional league. Now, he's a member of the Salt River Rafters in the Arizona Fall League. Reed was the Twins' fifth ro
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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