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Blogs from our Community

Twins Talk

Oh Winter Caravan...where are thee?

To lead off, thank you for reading my very first blog.   For me, the coming of the Minnesota Twins winter caravan was always a time of sharing and celebration.   Taking my two daughters to meet Twins players and catching up with friends and fellow baseball fans was a great way to warm up during what always seemed to be some of the coldest times of the year.   The picture above is of my oldest daughter during the 2014 winter caravan and even made it into the Twins yearbook that year. 
Cory Moen

Potential Under the Radar Trade Targets to Upgrade the Rotation

First, I want to start out by saying thank you for reading. This is my first attempt at writing here and I hope you all enjoy this topic.    I’m going to break down 5 possible trade targets for the Twins to upgrade the rotation. Some are better than others, but that means what you give up changes for them. I am sticking to what the front office could realistically do, so I am not going to bring up a guy like Max Scherzer or Shohei Ohtani (even though I would love for him to be a Twin).
Cory Moen

Cory Moen in Twins

4
Twins on Wheat; Add Mayo

Where the @#$% is Everyone? Part II: Twinkie Twinkie Little Star, How I Wonder Where You Are

Who cares. A common phrase I hear more and more often. Did you hear about the Carlos Correa fiasco? Who cares. Do you think Dansby Swanson is worth the money and years he received? Who cares. Did you see the new rules for this year? Who cares. This feeling of apathy loomed over most of the conversations I tried to have about baseball while home for the holidays, and when I was done sipping eggnog out of frustration, I came back to Iowa for some more of the same. To them, the upcoming ‘who gives
Nick Hanzlik

Nick Hanzlik in Random Thoughts

9
Twins on Wheat; Add Mayo

Where the @#$% is Everyone? Part I: Rule Changes, a Gross Miscalculation

Can you smell it? Piss and peanuts…? Wait, I forgot the Metrodome was demolished a decade ago. I meant the glorious aroma of hotdogs, peanuts, and fresh cut grass, which will soon will fill the air and bring the 2023 MLB season with it. However, this season is unique in that it comes with a set of impactful new rules. As a quick overview for the unaware, bases are getting 3 inches larger, a pitch clock will be enforced, and defensive shifting will be limited. As I looked at the details of these
Nick Hanzlik

Nick Hanzlik in Random Thoughts

5
Hunter McCall

3 Moves to Make to Contend for the Central

To this point, the Minnesota Twins’ off-season has not gone as some had hoped, leading fans to chalk it up as a major dud. I, on the other hand, view it simply as incomplete. The current makeup of the roster is bursting at the seams with potential, and there are still enough moves the Twins can make to transform this promising roster into a contender in the AL Central. Here are a few moves I could see the Twins plausibly acting on to achieve that goal. Sign a Right-Handed Outfielder It
Hunter McCall

Hunter McCall in Free Agency

8
Alex Boxwell

They’ll Love You When You're Dead

A major pitfall of human beings is eulogizing people once they are gone. The nicest comments you’ll ever hear about another person is when they are, sadly, no longer with us. Isn’t that depressing? We can’t appreciate people while they are here or to quote The Office “I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you actually left them”. As Twins fans we bring this unfortunate reflex to our fanhood aggressively and without question. Some examples Joe Mauer, our current Fron
Alex Boxwell

Alex Boxwell in Blog

3
Ben Reimler

Why can't I quit the Minnesota Twins?

With snow falling precipitously, and the hangover of the holiday season settling in, it’s impossible not to wishfully envision the return of Major League Baseball this spring. But it will be 52 days until the Minnesota Twins take the field against the Tampa Bay Rays for their first spring training match-up of the year. In the meantime, I’m left to reflect on a disappointing season for our ballclub and pose to myself the annual question: “why can’t I quit the Minnesota Twins?” Typically, this que
Hunter McCall

Should the Twins Go All In On Pablo Lopez?

There has been plenty of off-season buzz surrounding Marlins starting pitcher Pablo Lopez. The 26-year-old hurler struck out 174 batters over 180 innings in 2022 while possessing a solid 3.71 FIP. Since the Marlins have a deep and young starting pitching rotation, Lopez is both expendable for them and very valuable on the trade market. Is Lopez a realistic trade target for the Minnesota Twins? It has been no secret that the Minnesota Twins have been looking to add to their rotation that
Hunter McCall

Hunter McCall in Free Agency

16
Brandon's Blog

Community Pitching Coach project for Fixing a Twins Pitcher

I thought it might be fun for the community to come together to help one of the Twins Pitchers.  (Josh Winder, Trevor Megill, Pagan, or Lopez) become the pitcher he was meant to be.  For us to do that we need members to post scouting reports, pitching repertoire, heat maps, and videos, and more below and discuss how we as a community would fix this pitcher to make him better.  Whether you want to remove an ineffective pitch from his arsenal, add a pitch, change pitch use patterns, is he tipping
Brandon

Brandon in Pitching

5
Hansblog

Process, Results and the Front Office

The Twins are projected for 81 wins this coming season, which is fairly generous for a team coming off a 78-84 season that is losing its MVP in Carlos Correa. The front office is on the hot seat, having failed to win a playoff game in their six year tenure after inheriting a young, cheap and talented roster prior to 2017. That front office believes in its process to the point it apparently feels comfortable running back pretty much the same guys and hoping that fewer injuries vaults them up the
Which young player should we be the most optimistic about going forward?

Willi Castro might be more Familiar than you Think

The Minnesota Twins recently signed Willi Castro to a minor league contract. He will not be the opening day shortstop, he likely won’t make the team, and in a perfect world, he probably never sees the Big Leagues in 2023. Having experienced a very not perfect 2022, Castro provides depth in several positions and has some intriguing skills worth noting. While digging, I found some interesting things about Castro that I would like to share and found him a more familiar player than I initially thoug
Ted Wiedmann

Ted Wiedmann in Free Agency

3
Brewed in the Trough

The value of the Twins moving up in the draft

This blog is written under the assumption that MLB teams with a robust amateur scouting system working hand-in-hand with a competent player development system will draft players better than a random guess or Keith Law's prospect rankings. You have been warned. In the first year of the MLB Draft Lottery, your Minnesota Twins were the greatest beneficiaries of the new system, moving from Pick 13 to Pick 5. Although draft order in MLB does not matter nearly as much as in other major sports, ev
Home & Away

On interleague play and interstate realities...

2023 marks a distinct revolution in MLB scheduling.  For the first time, the Minnesota Twins will play every MLB team during the regular season. In the ever evolving nature of sport, some changes can fly under the radar.  This scheduling change will impact the entire league in both extreme and subtle ways, and I'm not sure the Twins will be on the winning end of any of them.  Here are a few of the main changes that I'm noticing as I plan the All 81 trip. 1.  In-Division games are reduc
Hansblog

Fun with Player Comps- Center Field Edition

In "Fun with Player Comps" I look at player comps for 30 current Twins who figure to ply a role in 2023, starting with their closest age player from Baseball-Reference.com prior to 2022. I then move into the best and worst case scenarios based on each player's general vibe. Find the first installment for the middle infield here.   The Twins center-field options will include at least one new face for 2023 in Joey Gallo. The rest of the group contains the same warts: When Byron Buxton ge
Hans Birkeland

Hans Birkeland in Player comps

0
Adam Friedman

4 Breakout Candidates for the Twins in 2023

For the Twins to get back into the playoffs in 2023, they will need a host of elements to go well. Not only will the Twins require significantly better health in 2023 — they will also need some players to make leaps in the new year. Whether it’s younger established players or prospects, the Twins need big improvements from some young players to be a successful team. I’ve put together a list of players I think can take those steps to be impact players in 2023. Joe Ryan Since the Twins a
Fantasy GM

3 Moves still available for the Twins this off season

This is all of course predicated on Correa staying in New York. Also a couple of these moves are related to each other. #1 Trading redundant players. Not breaking any news here. Kepler and even Arraez have both been mentioned as trade candidates. Especially after the Joey Gallo signing. Yes the Twins could very easily keep Kepler and go with an OF of Kepler, Buxton, Gallo. AND if they feel Kepler will have a strong season with the shift rules changes, then the best move is to keep him and p
Doc Munson

Doc Munson in Twins Offseason Moves

8
Brewed in the Trough

The threshold didn't even need to be Sonny Gray

At the beginning of the offseason, Nick Nelson laid out the concept of the Sonny Gray Threshold™, the idea that the Twins need to sign a pitcher better than Sonny Gray to make a worthwhile difference on next year's team, moving everyone in the rotation down a peg. I'm of the opinion that the threshold could be considerably lower than Sonny Gray, but the Twins have yet to even do that. Mind you, if you just read that last sentence and, in your head, it said "I don't want the Twins to sign a
Alex Boxwell

My Way, The Highway, and Breakfast.

Anyone that’s been around baseball recently has heard some variation of “Old School” vs. “New School” baseball. It’s like asking someone to pick between bacon or sausage. Both are good, and you can like one more than the other, but you don’t have to hate someone or the meat over it. Makes no sense. The difference is people identify baseball as a part of who they are and baseball isn’t high in cholesterol. The “old” vs. the “new” is an incredibly broad generalization that has split baseball
Hansblog

Fun with Player Comps- Middle Infield Edition

Since no one has any idea what’s going to happen for the rest of the offseason (Emilio Pagán traded to the Mets and then extended for four years 36M?) I thought it would be fun to try out some player comps for 2023. I’m going to go through 30 players who are on the team and figure to, if not make the team in spring, at least figure into their plans in the first half. We’ll start with their closest age player comp from Baseball-Reference for their 2022 season just to put some sort of foundation t
Hans Birkeland

Hans Birkeland in Player comps

5
Adam Neisen

What can we expect from Kenta Maeda?

Maeda was acquired in early 2020 in the three team trade that sent Brusdar Graterol to the Dodgers, He had a career year in 2020, posting his lowest ERA and FIP and his highest ERA+ and K/9 which led to a second place finish in the cy young voting.  For the first time since Johan Santana, it looked like the Twins had found their ace.  In 2021 however, Maeda was not quite the same. His ERA and WHIP jumped significantly and in September he underwent Tommy John surgery, ending his season. Ther
Adam Neisen

Adam Neisen in 2023 season

3
Which young player should we be the most optimistic about going forward?

Do the Minnesota Twins have 2 Joey Gallo's?

In my previous piece I talked about how Alex Kirilloff may fit into the Minnesota Twins’ long term plans and what his outlook could be in the Major Leagues. For this article I want to look at the Twins other touted corner outfield prospect, one who has spent much of his professional career being compared to Kirilloff; Trevor Larnach.  Trevor Larnach is another player the Twins likely view as a core piece as they build for 2023 and beyond. Making a name for himself for his refined approach a
Ted Wiedmann

Ted Wiedmann in Core Players

13
Alex Boxwell

Happy Holidays, Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is.

Alright, Twins fans... time to put your money where your mouth is. If it's all about spending money, if it's all about pushing the budget where it "should be", if it's all about signing a pitcher, once he receives his imminent release, it's time to sign Trevor Bauer. You're sick and tired of the low-risk pitching signings with no ceiling? Here ya go. An arm with ace-type stuff, a wild amount of baggage, and every player I know has hated him more than getting leftover concessions for the pos
Alex Boxwell

Alex Boxwell in Twins

2
Adam Friedman

I’m Optimistic About the Twins… That’s Why They Should’ve Signed Correa

This offseason has been frustrating. A couple of nice marginal signings in Joey Gallo and Christian Vásquez, both of which I’m kind of a fan of. But the Twins talked for months about their desire to bring back Carlos Correa and made him a sizeable, yet somewhat uncompetitive offer to return, and certainly were never going to get to the final $315 million number he signed for. They should’ve done just about everything they could to retain his talent and leadership, though because there are a lot
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