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Within the last half-hour, Joel Zumaya impressed local media and then he abruptly ended his session, walking off the mound with trainer Rick McWane. Zumaya said he was OK but with his injury history, this does become a story. Star Tribune's Jim Souhan tweeted "Never draw conclusions from BP but Zumaya is throwing quite hard. It seems." Three minutes later, the scribe tweeted, "Zumaya ends session early. Walks off with trainer. Says he's ok but..." The Twins signed Zumaya in January to a on
It's easy to be down on the Twins' prospects for this year. 2011 was in many ways their worst season ever, and the offseason moves by Terry Ryan didn't do much more than maintain the talent level they started with last April. So we must be headed for another dreadful season, right? Not so fast. The Twins allowed 804 runs last year. Their pitching staff was last in the Majors in K/9, 29th in ERA and 29th in WHIP. But they were also last in BABIP, suggesting that things might bounce better for
Original post from Twins Rubes. Newcomers are always a little intriguing around this time of the year - especially after a disappointing season like 2011. This year Josh Willingham, Joel Zumaya, Ryan Doumit, Jason Marquis, and Jamey Carroll bear the newcomer flag into Target Field. With the shortstop position being such a desperate need after the fail that was Tsuyoshi Nishioka last season, Carroll is the one the Twins chose to jump out of the free agent pile and save the day this spring. N
I’m going to get this out of the way immediately. I think Ryan Braun is still guilty. I also think that he was lucky, and he and his representatives brilliantly found a way to argue that the chain of custody was broken when it came to the handling of his sample. But most of all, I don’t even care. That’s right, I think Braun is guilty, but I also don’t even care. What I care about is the reactions to Braun’s appeal being upheld. There are many people out there that feel that Braun get
One of my fondest memories as a child is the time my dad taught me how to score a baseball game. I was 10 years old and I became obsessed with "keeping the book" while watching the Twins on television (I believe those were the Midwest Sports Channel days). My scorebook had about a dozen or so games in it before the postseason came along. I kept score for every ALCS game without a problem. Then it was the World Series. I started keeping score for every game of that series . . . and I stopped s
Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch Every new season there are a lot of old faces who are not any longer with a team and a lot of new faces who are replacing them. Usually a new player is assigned one of the departed players' uniform numbers. Here are the matches between the old and the new uniform numbers. Three of them are unassigned and Chris Parmelee switched his number from 2011. Joel Zumaya and Darin Mastoianni have not been formally assigned numbers yet. Left the team: 5
Original post from http://twinsrubes.blogspot.com. Two of my favorite current Minnesota Twins are Denard Span and Ben Revere. I've been a huge fan of Span since the day he stepped onto that Metrodome turf, and what's not to like about Revere? With the departures of Delmon Young, Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, and Jason Repko; the addition of Josh Willingham; and the seemingly complete return to health of Denard Span this spring; there has obviously been an enormous shake-up across the entire ou
“There comes a point when you can only torture yourself so long.” Those are the words of Justin Morneau (courtesy Phil Mackey on Twitter), uttered just this morning while speaking to reporters for the first time since reporting yesterday to Hammond Stadium in Ft. Myers. Today the Twins will hold their first full squad workout of spring training. Mackey tweeted Morneau’s quotes, “I don’t know if I can be a full, 100 percent go, but I’m going to go out there and participate in everything and
The following post is also available at www.knuckleballsblog.com. I'm not an idiot (most of the time). I know the Detroit Tigers are consensus favorites to win the AL Central Division title again... probably by double digit games again. I know the Twins are not widely viewed as the most likely team to challenge the Tigers if such a challenger does emerge. But as I mentioned a few days ago, Spring Training is my Mardi Gras! I'll deal with reality on Opening Day. For now, I'm going to enjoy th
The following post is also available at www.knuckleballsblog.com. I'm not an idiot (most of the time). I know the Detroit Tigers are consensus favorites to win the AL Central Division title again... probably by double digit games again. I know the Twins are not widely viewed as the most likely team to challenge the Tigers if such a challenger does emerge. But as I mentioned a few days ago, Spring Training is my Mardi Gras! I'll deal with reality on Opening Day. For now, I'm going to enjoy th
Well spring has sprung across the baseball world. Pitchers and catchers from MLB teams have reported for duty in Florida and Arizona. The position players for the Twins have also made their way to Ft. Myers and the team will begin full squad workouts in the coming days. It is a great time of year to be a fan of baseball. There is hope in the air and every team is on an even playing field. There can be surprises around every turn and no one knows who will take home the World Series Trophy at th
One of the questions posed on our new TwinsDaily.com message board was how will the Twins account for 200 runs in their runs scored/runs allowed differential over the 2011 season which would bring the club back towards 81 wins and beyond. On the defensive/pitching side of the ledger, Minnesota allowed 804 runs – the second-highest in the American League behind only Baltimore. At the plate, they managed to score just 619 – the second-fewest ahead of only Seattle. It is simple enough: In order t
Originally posted at kbro's baseball blog I read LaVelle's piece about whether the Twins should carry three catchers on the roster. It's a good question -- should they keep three just so they have adequate fill ins in case one of them gets hurt, or should they free up that roster spot for, say, another utility guy or pitcher (how many pitchers they should have on the roster is another rant entirely)? So here's the design the Twins will use if they go with three: the regular catcher
Why the twins won’t win the central. With spring comes optimism, every team has a .500 record, everyone is healthy, everyone has a chance. In the words of Lee Corso, “not so fast my friend.” The twins have no chance in 2012. Missing from the lineup is their longtime closer Joe Nathan, who after a rough start in 2012 pulled it all together during the end of the year. Instead the Twins decided to give Matt Capps money and throw him the 9th inning, cause that went so well in 2011. Michael
Keith Law of ESPN Scouts Inc. came out with the first edition of his Top 50 (Insider required) draft prospects, and had an interesting take that differed from just about every other site I have seen. The top player on his board was Georgia High School OF Byron Buxton, who I reviewed here, saying he has the “potential for five above-average or plus tools” and also echoing the comparisons to the Upton brothers I have heard elsewhere. Buxton does defiantly fit the Twins preferred draft mold as an a
I have always enjoyed listening to other fans tell their stories of why they became baseball fans in general & Twins fans in particular. I hope you enjoy reading this & you reflect & reminiscence of the joys of when you became a fan. I was born in Minneapolis & became a passive Twins fan when they moved here from Washington at the tender age of 7. During that first year of professional ball in the Twin Cities I became crippled with perthes bone disease & was confined to hom
I don't think Fielder is the worst first baseman in the league, but he definitely makes his fair share of errors. Re-Converting Cabrera back to a third baseman is a scary thought I'm sure for Tigers fans. It wouldn't surprise me if Cabrera might have difficulty leaving his fielding woes behind when he comes to the plate. As we all know, baseball is such a mental game and Cabrera has proven at times to be a bit of a headcase. It sounds like Raburn will be getting most of the starts at second
It's been less then a week since I joined Twins Daily but I have to say I am impressed so far....extremely impressed with what Parker, Seth, John and co. have done. I always enjoyed their blogs on the Strib, their attention to detail is what impressed me most. Now I'm not a uber stats guy...BABIP and WAR don't really do it for me but I can only guess it can be pretty time consuming to come up with these stats and put them in a well written column that most everybody can understand and appreciate
cross-posted from The Tenth Inning Stretch The Tampa Bays Rays have announced that they will give away The Don Zimmer Bear, a bear with the face of Don Zimmer. The mania of putting a chubby manager's face of a teddy bear and giving it away to kids in the ballpark has been virally spreading across the league. The Twins today announced that they will join in the mania give away a Gardy Bear to the first 5,000 children on Friday April 13, when the Twins play against the Rangers at Target field.
Last Saturday pitchers and catchers reported and today the rest of the Minnesota Twins are down in Fort Myers for Spring Training. If you haven't had a chance to experience spring training I highly recommend it. Imagine going to a relaxing baseball game at Target Field, now imagine adding a vacation and an extra layer of "laid backness". For the younger kids there is plenty of opportunities to meet their favorite players and even get an autograph or two. For the older kids you get a chance to si
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Hey Brock Could you add. Luis Fragoza to the available prospects for the top 20· 2 replies
