Blogs from our Community

Josh Donaldson Crushed Baseballs in 2021

Many people are down on Donaldson thanks to his good, but not exactly great performance at the plate this year compared with his $21MM payday over 2021 and still guaranteed for the next two seasons. The expectation is his legs have all but given up with him coasting into his mid 30s on a big contract as another aging star fading out. The thing is, his batted ball data says Donaldson was absolutely getting the shaft. Donaldson is actually having a career year in terms of the metrics. He’s annihil

bean5302 in Twins Players

October 15, 2021

bronald3030

offseason

This is my first effort and it will not be long. What a difference a year makes. Last off season we couldn't wait for the year to begin. Most of us viewed the roster to be solid and the pitching to be ok. We mostly thought that the pitching coaching staff could piece together a good bullpen with the additions that were made. We know how that went. We had fun spending money on the players we thought would make us contenders on the Twins Daily work sheet. Expectation was high that this could be th

bronald3030 in Qffseason

October 15, 2021

Notes From The Neds

Let Me Talk About Catchers

The Minnesota Twins have four catchers in the conversation for the 2022 season that I can see - even if some of those conversations aren’t going to be very long. Let’s start with what I consider one of those quick ones. Willians Astudillo La Tortuga is a folk hero, and we love him. Everyone loves our relief pitching, chubby base-running, helmet losing backup-backup-backup catcher. But at this point, keeping him on the 40 man is pretty much just keeping someone else with more v

the_neds in 2022 Musings

October 13, 2021

A Look Back

40 Man Roster and the Rule 5 Draft

Here is one person's thoughts on how to handle the 40 Man roster and the upcoming Rule 5 draft. I obtained the current roster from MLB.com and the Rule 5 eligibles from a Twins Daily article. There are currently 42 names on the active roster including the 60-day IL and pending free agents. From this list, I would drop the following: Charlie Barnes Alex Colome Ralph Garza, Jr Griffen Jax Michael Pineda Devin Smeltzer Lewis Thorpe Williams Astudill

terrydactyls in Twins Baseball

October 12, 2021

Twins Arbitration Decisions Loom

Today Major League Baseball Trade Rumors put out their numbers for projected arbitration salaries. While they aren’t going to be spot on, the website is often seen as the gold standard in this space. Minnesota has some big names to decide on. The most notable eligible player here is also the one guy deserving of a long term extension. Byron Buxton will at worst be tendered a new deal, and his projected $7.3 million would be a steal. So too would a new long-term extension with Mi

October 11, 2021

Tim

Jorge Polanco and The Twins

For as much as a buzzkill the Twins 2021 season was, Jorge Polanco gave many Twins fans a reason to watch. Breaking out in 2019, Polanco hit 22 HRs and drove in 79 RBI with a slash line of .295/.356/.485. Polanco scuffled during the 2020 covid shortened season but was also playing with an ankle injury that required offseason surgery and ultimately a shift to second base. The ankle clean up and position switch seemed to have paid off as Polanco had a career season in 2021. Overall he f

Tim in Twins Talk

October 7, 2021

Projecting the Postseason Winners

After winning two straight AL Central Division titles, the Minnesota Twins flopped and failed a three-peat before things got off the ground. They’ll watch this Postseason from home, but there’s still plenty of exciting talent worth tuning into. Running from the Wild Card round through the World Series, here’s who I’ve got and why: AL Wild Card Yankees over Red Sox In a one game, winner take all, I don’t think you can bet against Gerrit Cole, and the lineup New York currently

October 4, 2021

cHawk’s Blog

2021 MLB Postseason Predictions!!! (Wild Card & Division Series Edition)

October baseball is upon us. 10 teams battling for a World Series trophy. Only one will win it all. I will make predictions for each round. I will pick a winner from each matchup, and a # of game(s) (or score for the Wild Cards) that series is going to go. Today, I’m only going to do the Wild Card and Division Series. After you read, please share your opinion down below. How wrong or right am I? WARNING: Take my predictions with a grain of salt. Let’s get started. Wild

cHawk in Non-Twins Stuff

October 4, 2021

Blog Brandon

Grading Falvey and CO

I guess its time to grade Falvey and CO at the 5 year mark of their run. They came in with a young roster with lots of promise in 2017. They were on the fringes of contention so they decided to go for it and traded for a pitcher. They traded Ynoa who is now a starter for the Braves. It took the Braves 4+ year to develop him so I don't hold that against this regime. I consider it similar to when we acquired Bartlett who panned out but wasn't a name prospect. after a week He changed course a

Brandon in Grading the management

October 3, 2021

Blog Brandon

Pineda's return for 2022? What is his contract like?

I have seen several overtures to Pineda wanting to stay in Minnesota. That is a hard find in the market and with our need of several starting pitchers, we should take a good look at what it should take to resign the veteran. Here is the article from MlbTraderumors.com I just saw which spurred this blog post. Baldelli Hopes Pineda Will Return To Twins In 2022 - MLB Trade Rumors. I would think its either a 1 or 2 year contract. Since we need money in the budget to sign others its probably in t

Brandon in Pineda

September 30, 2021

In My Opinion

40-man roster decisions, part 1: position players

We’ve had several threads/articles lately about next season … what you think the 2022 lineup will be, who do we want to sign, what are our positions of most need, will certain players have a place on the team next year. All very good discussions. And not too far in the future, we’ll be having discussions on which prospects should be added to the roster. But before we get to all of those, there are larger looming discussions and decisions regarding the 40-man roster … who stays, who goes. When I

Squirrel in Roster decisions

September 30, 2021

What the AL Central Taught Us in a Full Season

Forget the fact that 2020 was an uncharacteristically weird and difficult year in and of itself, trying to deduce anything from the shortened baseball season proved impossible. Back to a more traditional slate in 2021, we have some storylines to actually dive into. Rather than focusing just on the Minnesota Twins, I think it’s worthwhile to take a look at the division as a whole. The AL Central was projected to be among baseball’s worst, and while that may be true, there are some signs of h

September 28, 2021

Is Trevor Larnach Better Than His Stats?

Like Brent Rooker, Trevor Larnach has failed to impress in his rookie season, but Larnach has a lot more wiggle room for many fans. Larnach is, after all, 2 years younger than Rooker and Larnach barely played above the A+ ball level with only 181 plate appearances in AA in 2019. The loss of the 2020 season made a mess out of a lot of the projections for prospects with the prospects who were getting their first taste of the high minors in AA probably being hit the hardest. Larnach’s production th

bean5302 in Twins Prospects

September 28, 2021

Is Brent Rooker Better Than His Stats?

Among Twins fans, few players have been given a shorter leash despite showing flashes of solid play than Brent Rooker. While Rooker’s results in 2021 have hardly been inspiring, the underlying data says Rooker may be much better than his weak triple slash has shown so far. So what are his “results” so far? Regardless of the metrics you want to use, be it the traditional triple slash or others: .201/.294/.397, OPS .691, wRC+ 91, wOBA .302 or OPS+ 90, Rooker’s offensive production has been b

bean5302 in Twins Prospects

September 27, 2021

stringer bell's Blog

Settling in at Shortstop

The Minnesota Twins are completing one of their most disappointing seasons in their history in one week. While they will only win around 70 games, they have major league talent under team control at every position except one--shortstop. Andrelton Simmons was acquired on a one-year deal and has shown himself to be a competent (not all-world) defender and has had a putrid offensive season. The consensus at this site is that he should not and will not return in 2022. By all measures, the 2021 Simmo

stringer bell in Shortstop

September 27, 2021

Grading Falvey's Drafts

Grading Derek Falvey's Drafts With the minor leagues essentially done for the year, it’s a fair time to review the Derek Falvey’s performance through the drafts. Falvey has been in charge of the Twins’ front office for 5 drafts now, though there’s not close to enough data to judge the 2021 draft group’s actual playing performance. I believe Derek Falvey’s job has 6 major components, in no particular order. 1. MLB on field performance. 2. Free agency signings. 3. Trades. 4. Player condu

bean5302 in Twins Prospects

September 21, 2021

Did the Real Mitch Garver Stand Up?

Suggesting that 2020 was an awful year for Mitch Garver would be putting it lightly. Even with the small sample size, he left plenty to be desired going into the season. But now, where has the dust settled? In trying to play a season through a global pandemic plenty was made regarding the small sample size even a full slate of games would provide. Offering players just 60 games of runway largely invalidated the length necessary for baseball statistics to normalize. For Minnesota Twins catch