You all care about this site. The next step is caring for it. We’re asking you to caretake this site so it can remain the premier Twins community on the internet.
The Liriano deal is done. When I heard this deal, and the timing of the deal I was quite surprised. First, why are we trading top tier potential pitching to the AL Central? Why are we trading before his next scheduled start? Are you sure there isn't going to be a better deal out there? I can't answer these questions but I can speculate. My speculation is that Liriano is hiding an injury, didn't want to take the chance at him putting a stinker out there vs the Indians and lose all value
Ok. So Liriano has been traded to the White Sox for two marginal prospects. Let's look at at a few things we can assume to be correct: 1) The Twins were not going to offer Liriano the $12.5 mil qualifying offer at the end of the year. 2) The Twins do not want to roll the dice with Liriano in the future (ie long term contract). 3) The Twins made the best deal they could as the deadline approached. Like it or not, 2 low level prospects was it. Now, Let's look at some facts: 1) $2 million sa
I just finished looking through the stats of our minor league affiliates from AAA down to the Appy League. When looking at pitchers I first look at WHIP, then k's to innings ratio and finallly k's/bb's ratio. I know there are many other stats/metrics but it's quick and easy to see who's having a good year and who isn't. So, give me some reason to be optimistic about our minor league pitching at this point. I'm not seeing much reason and really not seeing much dominance on anyone's part. It'
Scrambling to find out who the prospects were, I found the following, escobar a plus defender on the major league roster, Hernandez was being called up to start, so essentially the Twins traded for two major leaguers starting their careers. Hard to imagine a better haul given all the uncertainty surrounding Liriano. Had Liriano started again today, there might not have been any value left. Understanding, Terry Ryans ability and the circumstances, I think it was a pretty good deal. An inter
Ten Things I HATE About The Liriano Trade I started making a list of the top 10 things I hate about this trade for today’s Gleeman and the Geek podcast. I’m up to #28. (Kill me. Or better yet, add on in the comments section.) 1. I hate that after waiting out the market so Liriano was the best remaining rental, the Twins traded him after his one terrible start in the last two months and less than 24 hours before a possible redeeming start. 2. I hate that what the Twins got in return is S
You can go read various threads and articles on this site if you want opinions on how the Twins did by trading Francisco Liriano to the division-leading Chicago White Sox. I'm going to break down what this trade does from an organization standpoint. SALARY: It appears that the White Sox will pick up the rest of Liriano's tab for the season. This saved the Twins $2,073,800. (Their payroll is now $97,775,800 before factoring in the 25th player they need to add.) Both Eduardo Escobar an
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This continues the dialy trade talk updates for the Twins and of action around the league that influences the Twins trade moves, up until the deadline. You can find all the older updates here, in reverse chronological order. Yesterday there was more action that talk, because the Twins have traded their ace Fransisco Liriano to the hated Chicago White Sox for SS Eduardo Escobar and LHP Pedro Hernandez. At first thought, The Frankie Tr
Well, that debut could definitely have gone better. After posting a .949 WHIP between AA & AAA (only .661 in AAA) Luis Perdomo gave up 1 hit, 3 walks and a Swagalicious Error to 7 batters last night, his first night as an honest to goodness Minnesota Twin. He was wild (19 balls to just 11 strikes) and gave up 2 (unearned) runs before leaving the bases loaded in low leverage situation. There is one natural thing to blame this on: THE SOUL PATCH!! LUIS, your beard is a thing of beauty an
Dan Gladden and Chris were very complimentary of Deduno tonight, echoing my sentiments. Gladden said "he is athletic, he is teachable..." I think he loves baseball. Add Diamond and De Vries, and this could be a solid foundation for years to come. Caution of course is needed because the league really hasnt seen these guys. When they have been around the league next year we will have a better barometer. I do believe Diamond and Deduno are solid, but when they get knocked around a few time
Originally posted at http://troystwinsdugout.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/if-valencia-does-well-it-could-create-an-interesting-situation-for-the-twins/ Today, Danny Valencia Will be in uniform and is expected to start at third Base for tonight’s game. Valencia replaces Trevor Plouffe Who has a sore thumb and was placed on the 15 day DL retroactive July 20. Valencia was batting .190 with 1 homerun and 11 RBI before he was given a one way ticket back to Rochester in early May . While with the Red
Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- This continues the dialy trade talk updates for the Twins and of action around the league that influences the Twins trade moves, up until the deadline. You can find all the older updates here, in reverse chronological order. Here is the Twins Trade Talk the past 24 hours or so: Ben Goessling of the Pioneer Press reports that Twins' interim General Manager, Terry Ryan, "is making and taking calls". This is the first time that it was repo
For the first time in quite awhile, the Twins game was very enjoyable to watch on Friday night. Scott Diamond had his best pitching performance in his big league career by throwing a complete game shutout with only three hits surrendered. He was remarkably efficient by throwing less than 100 pitches during his nine innings on the mound. With some not so smooth outings in his last few appearances, it was good to see Diamond get a fantastic start under his belt and hopefully he can stay on track f
With all the turmoil currently surrounding whether or not pieces that have been on the Twins for many years will be moved, the one piece everybody seems to say has an almost 100% chance of being moved is Francisco Liriano. While Frankie has been a head case for a large part of the season, his raw stuff is enough to make any scout drool over him. However, this has not been the Frankie that has shown up to pitch with the Twins over the last year+. So the question is: "Who will be traded that h
I know, I know, all the teams will say, What happened, what are they hiding? With the mental case Liriano is, you can not afford to destroy his trade value. So skip his next start, he will have to pass a physical anyway, so better to not let his head destroy his value of any chance of trading him.
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This continues the dialy trade talk updates for the Twins and of action around the league that influences the Twins trade moves, up until the deadline. You can find all the older updates here, in reverse chronological order. Here is the Twins Trade Talk the past 24 hours or so: Jon Heyman reports that the Baltimore Orioles are looking into Fransisco Liriano. Meanwhile Jason Stark reports that the Orioles are "all but out of the ren
It was a rough week for the Twins in Chicago as the team got swept by one of their biggest rivals in a three game set. Minnesota won't have to wait long to get another shot at the White Sox as Chicago will come to Minnesota at the beginning of next week. For now, the focus of the club will turn to the Cleveland Indians over the weekend, a series where the Twins could play spoiler to a team trying to get back into the division race. Even with the team playing some important games over the cour
Last season, the switch-hitting Alexi Casilla had produced at a very good rate against right-handed pitching. In 247 plate appearances in the left-handed batter’s box, he hit .274/.350/.400 – not too shabby for a middle infielder. This was a significant improvement for someone who had hit .228/.299/.320 from the left-side over the two previous seasons (2009 and 2010) in 314 plate appearances. Most analysts would likely dismiss his 2011 breakout as a statistical glitch of the effects of a sma
The Twins were off today, but there was still plenty of action. Trevor Plouffe announced on Twitter this morning that he would be back tomorrow. And before their afternoon (or was it morning?) game, the Red Wings activated Deolis Guerra from the DL and placed Dan Sattler on the DL. Later this evening, the Twins announced they were placing Anthony Swarzak on the DL with a rotator cuff strain. To take his place, the Twins will purchase the contract of RP Luis Perdomo. Since the 40-man r
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Yw-QBIVVtBw/UBH7F5qAWeI/AAAAAAAACBE/Z4hBX_dt_Kc/s400/swarzakshoulder.PNG The Twins have placed RHP Anthony Swarzak on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to July 25th, with a rotator cuff strain. I was surprised by this, and after a quick Twitter inquiry, I learned that I wasn't the only one. It didn't seem like there were any tell-tale signs that he was hurting like there there were with Carl Pavano and Matt Capps, no
Well it was an extremely disappointing series against the WhiteSox. Liriano’s trade value probably took a hit and the bullpen was shelled. On the plus side Willingham keep hitting and getting on base, however the Twins have come out and said they are not looking to trade him. All I want to do is scream “why?!” As I posted before Willingham is a luxury we cannot afford tokeep. He is putting up numbers no one saw him producing and he isn’t getting any younger. The only thing that is keeping me fro
The Saints were down 5-1 in the 7th inning. Culpepper hit a 3-run HR (his 8th HR of the season). In the 9th inning, down one run with 2 outs and 2 strikes, KC singled in the game-tying run.
I am not a follower of Donald Trump. I have participated in several no kings rallies and am disgusted with what he and his followers have done to our country and the world. I would like to know what most Brazilians feel about the United States now and about the folks our citizens have elected to represent us.