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It’s Christmas. Santa has already come down the chimney and dropped off presents. Wrapping paper that was once wrapped around a gift with precision lives either in the recycling bin or in shards on the floor. Tears, both of joy and of disappointment, have been shed. Meanwhile, the Twins fan waits patiently, periodically looking up the chimney to see if a gift is just stuck along the walls. It’s something you get used to as a fan of a lower-to-mid-market team. You’re not the rich kid that gets
Hubert Humphrey coined the term "cold Omaha" when he said that the Twin Cities would be a Cold Omaha without professional sports. I believe the Blue Jays must have thought they did not want to be a Canadian Minnesota if they did not sign some players and make the club interesting. Well the Twins are interesting and last year they were winning. Now we do not have Schoop and we hope (and I expect) that Arraez will not regress. We do not have CJ Cron and we hope we have someone to replace his bat
Well the White Socks are looking like they have completed their laundry list and the Twins might want to look over their shoulders. Here is there roster http://m.whitesox.mlb.com/roster/ and this is before adding Kuechel for three years and $55m. Yes they began with a catcher and added a pitcher (and then Gonzales too) with Kopech and Giolito on their starting rotations too. The Chicago Tribune wrote, "The Sox re-signed Jose Abreu, signed switch-hitting catcher Yasmani Grandal, acquired a fron
Honorable Mention: Twins open Target Field with win over Red Sox (2010) Kennys Vargas walk-off homer against league-leading Cardinals (2015) Twins come back from 6-0 deficit to beat Orioles (2017) Minnesota defeats Boston in 17 innings (2019) Eddie Rosario hits three homers against Cleveland, including walk-off (2018) 10. Devin’s Day (2019) When Devin Smeltzer was just 9, he was diagnosed with cancer. Doctors found a grapefruit-sized cancerous tumor against his bladder. He had surgery, and w
It’s been a while since I’ve fielded some questions and handled a Twins mailbag. With the offseason in full swing, and plenty of irons in the fire, the Minnesota Twins have provided a good deal of questions for fans. Doing my best to pick out a handful of them, here’s my take on some of the discussion.
The Twins have been tied to a handful of position players, but really the only role needing to be filled is corner infield. If Sano moves to first base, then the idea of Josh Donaldson ma
Ken Rosenthal said on Twitter this morning (I can't figure out how to embed on here): "Expectation within the industry is Ryu will exceed Bumgarner's $17m aav in deal of at least four years. Two industry people with knowledge of starting pitching market predict minimum 4 years/$80 million. Teams still in need of starter include Blue Jays, Angels, Twins." Darren Wolfson via Twitter: "Hear that the MNTwins aren't sure yet if 4-year offer makes sense. His injury history and age suggest it
Lots of teeth gnashing on Twins' offseason so far - and for good reason. The strong FA pitching class has been whittled down to almost the vanishing point, or so it seems to many of us. After a record-setting 101 win season, followed by the crushing exit at the hands of the Evil Empire, the FO made noises about adding impact pitching. As most of us on TD realize, this team just doesn't stack up well in a playoff environment. The bats go cold, our starters and bullpen fall on their faces, and
Felix Hernandez RP 34 - Doesn't want to share crown with Aquatennial Queen of the Lakes Josh Donaldson 3B 34 - Loons kinda freak him out Jacoby Ellsbury CF 36 - No longer very good at baseball Dallas Keuchel SP 32 - Concerned that North Stars fans still aren't over it Edwin Encarnacion DH 37 - Weather too cold for imaginary parrot Alex Gordon CF 36 - Retro baby blue uniforms clash just a little with all his Royal blue gear Hyun-Jin Ryu SP 33 - Airport not close enough to the west coast Ryan Zimm
I've decided to continue exploring the trade market on the outside of the top tier today, just as I recently had with Marco Gonzales. This one in particular may take a leap of faith. I want to make a case for pulling off a trade for Chris Archer. Chris Archer's fall from relative acedom has been quick and severe. You would never guess that he was a quality starter as recently as last season by many measures. He has become the poster boy of the laughingstock trade the Pirates made in 2018 that
As I read our reactions to each missed free agent and the excitement of the winter meetings I have come to the conclusion that the FO really is concerned about readership and postings on TD. I mean we have had a "why we should sign him" article about every FA that has been signed so far. Just to be clear - not signed by us. We went from everyone with an arm that has not fallen off to all the hitters who can add to Bomba mania. We debate, we anguish, and we hope. Well at least we read and post.
The Winter Meetings in San Diego have come to a close and the Minnesota Twins have all sights set on the 2020 Major League Baseball season. Rocco Baldelli is looking to repeat an extraordinary 2019 performance, and the big-league club looks to remain one of the best in the majors. As the reigning AL Central Division champions, the Twins now have teams gunning for them, and while the offseason still must incorporate significant talent acquisition, getting contributions from a deep and loaded fa
Today I'm not going to try to sell you guys a top of the rotation arm that we could trade for. We've seen our fair share of coverage on David Price, Yu Darvish, etc. Instead I wanted to talk about an under the radar move for a valuable pitcher. Despite the criticism among fans for this team's failure to land the big fish, it's the exact kind of move that this front office loves to make. We need arms in this rotation. Not just for Pineda's month plus absence to begin the season, but down the stre
Yup, we could lose a lot. Our guys are really good. The rest of the MLB teams are salivating to get the Twins prospects! Rule V happened today - Wander Javier did not happen today. None of the players we had available went anywhere until the second round of AAA Rule V when 24. The Tigers took 2B Brian Schales (Twins). So, yawn, another big Rule V day went by and the overall impact was zilch. There were a number of pitchers taken by poor clubs with nothing too lose. Good luck to them and
While the Twins should absolutely be looking at deals with the Marlins, I question how viable it is. They have remarked how "incredibly high" the Twins price on Eddie Rosario is when they said the same thing about Nomar Mazara who was dealt for a high A outfielder. That just tells me that they aren't even looking for a reasonable deal, but one that is just downright lopsided for them. I doubt they're too inclined to trade any of their younger guys like Alcantra, Lopez or Yamamoto who have all
When the best is off the table, then the second best is swept up, do we get desperate and jump at the left overs? If we cannot get what we want is it reasonable to say we should get what is left? I cannot buy into that theory. If Bumgartner does not sign with us I can understand. Does that make Kuechel suddenly desirable? The real question is how does he compare with Dobnak, Graterol, Thorpe, Smeltzer. I hate buying out of desperation. The same with Ryu. Why would he sign with us.
Last night the baseball world watched in awe of the contract that Gerrit Cole was handed by the New York Yankees. He signed the for the largest AAV and total contract value ever given to a pitcher. New York spending money isn’t surprising at all, but there’s a tickle down effect and how it impacts a team like the Twins remains to be seen. It’s a great thing that the Minnesota Twins have significant funds and a real opportunity ahead of them. What is less than great is there’s only so many desi
After bringing back Jake Odorizzi and Michael Pineda the Minnesota Twins should be turning their focus solely to the top of their rotation. Madison Bumgarner is the presumed name, but Jon Heyman recently reported that former Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu could be the target. What if Minnesota wanted to go a different route entirely? There’s no denying that Bumgarner and Ryu are the best (see: only) arms left in the second tier of available starters. Bumgarner has been dissected plenty, and Ryu
So far the 2019-2020 MLB offseason is getting off to a hot start, while the Atlanta Braves have been resigning some of their own Free Agents they signed Will Smith to a 3yr/$39M deal, they also signed Travis d’arnaud to a 2yr/$16M deal, they even signed Cole Hamels to a 1yr/$18M deal. The White Sox signed the top catcher on this year’s market by signing Yasmani Grandal to a 4yr/$73M deal. The Phillies signed one of the market’s best pitchers by signing Zack Wheeler to a 5yr/$118M deal. The Win
Somewhat expected news dropped on Saturday night when LaVelle E. Neal of the Star Tribune basically removed Hyun-Jin Ryu from the Twins' potential list of targets in his latest Winter Meetings primer article. Similar to Zack Wheeler, Ryu has a preference to stay on the coast. For Wheeler, the east was most desirable. But for Ryu, he would like to remain in or near Los Angeles, where he has spent his entire career. With this presumably in mind, Madison Bumgarner has the best resume of the rem
The Twins missed on Zack Wheeler when he signed a 5-year, $118 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday. Derek Falvey and Thad Levine made an offer that Wheeler may have considered had he not been tied so heavily to New Jersey and the National League East. The good news is that Wheeler is not the only realistic impact pitcher that the Twins can acquire. They took a considerable step forward by resigning Michael Pineda to a 2-year, $20 million contract late Thursday night. The
So far, the Minnesota Twins have committed something like $30 million in 2020 contracts to three players this offseason. Two pitchers and a backup catch mean the 26-man roster is quickly closing in on finality. At this point, there’s nothing left but the big bang. Jake Odorizzi returning to the Twins was a great development. A longer-term deal is probably better than the qualifying offer situation, but it’s negligible nonetheless. Michael Pineda is a guy that made sense to QO, and instead Minn
I join others with regret that we continue to move down the the next pitcher on the list essays. If I was more motivated I would go back and see how many "sign this pitcher" essays have been on the site since Thanksgiving. But the essence of so many comments is - why would they come here, not what they would sign for. I do not think that it is money that is winning. If you or your girlfriend are from Philadelphia you want to go home, if you have had your career in warm cities or are tired 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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