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Right now, the Minnesota Twins sit something like $20 million below the point in which they entered the 2018 season in terms of payroll. A $135 million figure should’ve been expected for 2020 and barring a big acquisition they’ll struggle to get there. Utilizing some of the available cash on Jose Berrios seems like a worthwhile investment. Over at Twins Daily recently, Matthew Taylor touched on what could be ahead for the soon-to-be 26-year-old. Berrios was a dark horse Cy Young candidate goin
The 2019 Minnesota Twins were an exceptional team. However, they were exceptional despite their defense, not because of it. Starting pitching is receiving the bulk of the worry this offseason, but should the state of the team's defense get the same treatment? The Twins were 21st among MLB teams in Defensive Runs Above Average (Def) in 2019, with a total of -9.1. That's the lowest among all playoff teams (the Dodgers were the closest, ranking 19th with -5.0 Def). FanGraphs considers the -9.1 De
2019 was a fun year for so many reasons. Our Minnesota Twins fielded a historically great offense, bashing teams into submission for the entirety of the regular season. We watched huge homeruns soar out of Target Field, we watched clutch performances from our workhorses like Jose Berrios, as well as game ending dominant performances from Taylor Rogers. 2019 will be a year of fantastic Twins memories for me. Looking back on it however, no memory is quite as vivid to me as Devin Smeltzer's debut f
So we whiffed in FA and now we have the feeling that we never really had a chance and no one wants to come here! Boo hoo! People say trade the prospects. Wait a minute - they have to come here. They have no choice. For six years they are ours. So lets play them. Cleveland where our FO was trained moved their prospects up to their team and have had a good winning record for a few years now. Forget where they were in the minors - many teams are now running players out at a much younger age - see
I’ve been having bomba withdrawal of late. You can't give somebody 307 of them and then just expect them to go cold turkey! So over on my YouTube channel I whipped together some quick highlight reels of home runs from the 2019 Minnesota Twins. Jorge Polanco:
Technically next up were Jonathan Schoop and C.J. Cron. I salute them for their contributions, but did not compile their highlights. I wish them the best of luck with the Tigers. Well, at least when they’re playing Cleveland and the Wh
The Twins 2020 roster is looking a lot like their 2019 roster. But that's probably good, considering their historic 2019 campaign. If we were the Tigers, then that wouldn't be so good, considering their 114 loss season. So, anyway, today I'm going to take a look at what some of their lineups might look like next year, and what the rotation will look like. This is going to be for the first have because it's too soon to say about the second half. It's almost too soon to say about the first. So, he
Max Kepler was arguably the Minnesota Twins 2019 MVP last year (according to this particular website). He made huge offensive gains, provided incredible RF defense, and led the team with a 4.4 fWAR. Kepler's ability to step in for an injured Buxton in the second half saved their playoff hopes. Could Kepler's multi-positional flexibility come into play again in 2020? Surely it will, and I'd argue it could extend from the outfield to the infield. First base is a long-lost friend for Kepler. It i
Don Larsen, age 90, passed away and with him goes the honor of being the only man to toss a no-hit perfect game in a World Series (1956). Pitching to Yogi Berra in that classic Larsen rose to heights that exceed his career 81 - 91 record. His last out was a strikeout of Dale Mitchell. In Casey Stengel's unorthodox method of random pitcher selection, Don was shocked that he was called on after a poor game two. “I must admit I was shocked,” Larsen wrote in his autobiography. “I knew I had to do be
Marwin Gonzalez was an absolute God send in 2019 for the Minnesota Twins. The front office locked up the utility man on February 25th to a 2 year $21 million contract. His ability to play all over the diamond was priceless as it turned out, as we saw him start the year at 3B to fill in for an injured Sano. We saw him go on to fill in all over the field as we saw injuries from C.J. Cron, Max Kepler, Byron Buxton, as well as plenty others. Marwin's value goes beyond the statistics. The Twins would
The Twins went into this offseason looking for impact pitching. They'd had a phenomenal offensive season, hitting 307 home runs, but their pitching wasn't so awesome. They were also entering the offseason with a rotation that consisted of Jose Berrios. They quickly extended a qualifying offer to Jake Odorizzi, and he accepted. Then, they resigned Michael Pineda to a 2 year contract. Fans said that the rotation looked "too much like last year" but I didn't think about that. I would think about ho
I have been inspired by the many postings about the year and the decade, the optimism for signings like Hill and Bailey, the continuing hope for signing Donaldson, and the general sense that we will be better this year despite having lost some good players and signing some possible good players. But that is what New Years are about - out with the old resolutions and in with the new. So I will let the TD experts look at this coming decade, I want to look at the past ones. 1960 we were still the
Today the Minnesota Twins announced one-year contracts with veteran starting pitchers Homer Bailey and Rich Hill. The former immediately slots into the starting rotation while the latter won't be an option until early summer. With both acquisitions it's evident that the front office has an eye on building depth for a deep run. Last Postseason Rocco Baldelli turned to rookie arm Randy Dobnak at Yankees Stadium. It seemed like a logical move given all of the available options, but predictably it
Per Dan Hayes the Twins have signed Homer Bailey and Rich Hill. Homer Bailey will be an interesting project 5th starter and Rich Hill will be really solid, when he’s healthy and that won’t be until July at best. These signings don’t fit Falvey’s “impact pitching” he said he’d go get, a quote he probably is wishing he never said now. Homer Bailey Coming off his best year since 2013, Homer Bailey pitched about league average with the Royals and A’s totaling 163 and a third innings with a FI
Dear 2019 Twins, You were a good team in a bad year. You made it so that there was something that made us happy. You provided a sense of comfort. You were always there when we were going through tough times. You were wonderfully exciting. You gave us the funniest (think rally squirrel), happiest (think clinching the division), coolest (think breaking home run records), and most unforgettable moments (think Cruz's 40/400). All of Twins Territory is hoping that you can be like that again. As we
March 10, 2015 was the debut of Off The Baggy. I had begun writing roughly a year prior and found myself trying out this newfound hobby at a few different blogs. Looking for an outlet to more completely express my own opinions this place was born. As the decade comes to a close, it's worth looking back at how this has all grown. I’m not sure what my Twitter following was back in those days, but I know that original announcement of another Minnesota Twins blogging alternative was read just 30 t
It's been a quiet offseason here in Minnesota. Fans are getting disappointed. (But trying to stay loyal.) So let's just take a step back and think about what we need, what we've done, and what we still have to do. Starting Pitching: You might think that nothing's happened here, but it really has. At the beginning of the offseason, the Twins had a rotation that just consisted of Berrios. Now it has Odorizzi, Berrios, and Pineda. Of course, you can't have a rotation with only three pitchers. And
There has been a buzz for a little while now that the Twins may sign Josh Donaldson. Here are some key reasons why the Twins should just STOP MAKING US CRAZY AND JUST SIGN DONALDSON ALREADY. Defense: Yes, Sano is a very good player offensively. But defensively? Not quite so much. Maybe what he needs is a move to first base! Donaldson could ensure a solid option if Sano decides to move to first. Home Runs: No, the Twins don't need any home run help. But if every Twins player currently on the ros
December 29 Happy Birthday, Jim Brower Happy 47th birthday to 1991 Minnetonka graduate and Golden Gophers all-time great Jim Brower (1994 Dave Winfield Pitcher of the Year Award winner). He spent parts of nine seasons in the majors with Cleveland, the Reds, Expos, Giants, Atlanta, the Orioles, Padres, and Yankees. He led the majors with 89 appearances with the Giants in 2004. (Bonus Fact: 2008 Chaska graduate Brad Hand led the majors with 82 appearances with San Diego in 2016). Decemb
The beginning of the offseason was a time of hope and optimism. The Twins were coming off of 101 wins with their most prominent need being starting pitching in one of the most pitching rich offseasons in recent memory. Nobody expected a contract luring Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg to Minnesota, but there was hope that we could acquire a starting pitcher that would at least push Odorizzi in the rotation down one spot, some form of an ace to pair with Berrios. As I write this on December 27th,
As December winds down, the Minnesota Twins have two established starters in their rotation penciled in for opening day. As Michael Pineda serves his remaining 39 games of suspension, the Twins will look to fill those innings with more than the 2019 group of rookies consisting of Dobnak, Smeltzer and Thorpe. I am still a believer in the front offices ability to swing a trade that brings in the prized arm that we've been hoping for all winter. However, I am 100% certain that we will see them take
Since the Twins have been so incredibly this offseason, I can't think of too much to write about them. So, I decided to do a fun little thing here, pairing each American League team with its National League team (from its division). This time, I went mostly based on location. Well, kind of entirely based on location. Please write a comment if you don't agree. CENTRAL DIVISION Minnesota Twins/Milwaukee Brewers As I said, this is entirely based on location. So, I put the Twins with the Brewers b
For those of us that keep an eye on the financial side of the Minnesota Twins, 2024 is going to be a big year. No, there’s no long-term albatross contract that finally comes off the books (at least not yet). 2024 is the first year of a potential new local TV rights deal with Fox Sports North (or whatever Sinclair will call the station once it takes over operations). Currently, the Minnesota Twins receive around $40MM a year in local TV rights. Undoubtably, that amount will grow in the new deal
The Bomba Squad was wonderful, but it wasn't usual. The Twins are not usually the team who breaks all the big records. Something happened in 2019, and it doesn't look like it's going to happen again in 2020. The White Sox have improved drastically from the 72/89 team that they were in 2019. The Twins have lost Cron, Schoop, and Castro and only gotten Avila (and Clippard, but I'm talking about batters right now). They also have a big lack of starting pitching-with a rotation that only contains of
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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