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As the snow begins to melt and the shorts slowly come out of retirement, the sounds and smells of baseball lurch closer, beckoning fans across the world to watch and support their team as they grind through yet another season. But while the beginning of the season sparks hope for most teams (Orioles not included), the first month or so of the season can be somewhat unusual in how the players and teams perform thanks in part to scheduling and weather among other things. For example, take the 20
This week Gypsy Queen hits the market as the latest baseball offering from Topps. While it’s not a product that should be expected to produce massive hits, there’s plenty of excitement coming out of these boxes. Continuing with a consistent theme, the throwback to tobacco cards is present, but it’s also supplemented with a good deal of popping color. Available at both hobby and retail stores, there’s a few different avenues to rip into this product. If you want to go the route of guaranteed hi
Over the course of the winter the Minnesota Twins did a lot of good things. The front office continued bringing in top tier developmental talent. They added pop to the lineup, and Rocco Baldelli looks the part of an exciting big-league manager. What they didn’t do was address a pitching staff, and namely a bullpen, that looked like it could use some help. Now with the depth being tested, an unexpected stalwart has emerged. Can Ryne Harper be the hero no one knew they were expecting. Entering S
We are inching closer to Opening Day 2019 and, don’t look now but, current forecasts make it seem plausible that the Twins will be hosting the defending American League (AL) Central Division Champions Cleveland Indians on March 28th at 3:10pm. The Thursday, Saturday, Sunday series will be the only three games of the homestand before they start their first road trip traveling to Kansas City, the new look Phillies, and the Mets of New York. April (12 home, 13 away, 5 off) Outside of three games
Today, six days before Minnesota welcomes the Cleveland Indians to Target Field, the Twins sent star pitcher Fernando Romero to Triple-A. The once highly-touted starting pitching prospect had been transitioned to relief work this spring. He was talked up as having electric stuff and being a real weapon out of Rocco Baldelli’s pen. Unfortunately, when the rubber met the road, there was more seasoning to be had. That isn’t the problem, but the fallout is. Across 9.2 IP down in Fort Myers, Romero
As the 2019 Major League Baseball season quickly approaches, I find myself running out of time to get out ahead of the yearly prediction game. Looking at the key individual awards, as well as how the Postseason will shake out, there’s plenty of excitement to come in the year ahead. I am of the belief there’s a significant number of teams not currently trying, but there’s a good cluster that will battle against each other in both leagues this year. Before we get to how I see the year going for
This weekend, baseball returns to the Twin Cities: in OPERA FORM! "The Fix" is the latest in the Minnesota Opera's long running endeavor to bring new and distinct modern voices to an art form often seen as antiquated. It tells the story of the 1919 Chicago "Black" Sox, who conspired to lose the World Series in exchange for payoffs from a gambling syndicate. It's a dark chapter in the national past time's history, one that claimed the careers of both rookies and veterans, wise souls and dumb ki
I’ve been waiting for this post all spring. It typically signifies that the season is just around the corner, and it’s always enjoyable to put something on the line when looking at what may lie ahead. Thanks to Bovada’s in depth odds offerings, we have a plethora of great Twins options to choose from. Looking back at the 2018 results things weren’t pretty. Thanks to a duo of underperformers and some bad luck, not much went our way. New season, new opportunity, let’s try to rectify that. To pro
Three years ago I visited spring training for the first time and was lucky enough to make it back this past week as I was in the area for some family celebration. I only made it out to the complex a couple of times for a few hours each time but it was a great time (plus I had escaped the winters/flooding of Nebraska and had some great beach time). As a result I thought I would share a couple of quick thoughts for those of you who haven't been there and just add to what others have posted in the
When the Cedar Rapids Kernels host the Lansing Lugnuts in a three-game series beginning July 13 of this summer, Lugnuts players will have one significant advantage over their counterparts in the home team dugout. They’ll be getting paid more than 50% more than the Kernels players. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/baseballMoney900.jpg It doesn’t mean the Jays’ farm hands necessarily win every contest against the Kernels on the field, nor will they be swimming in ric
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- As always you can find all the entries in this series in reverse chronological order here. Here are my notes from the last couple days of Twins' Spring Training games: The home games yesterday and today could not be any dissimilar other than the attendance. It sucked both days with about 1/3 of the ballpark empty and about 6,000some tickets sold only. The abbreviated Spring Training and the pushing up of the opening day really made fa
I landed in sunny Fort Myers on Tuesday morning, and have now got in three full days of Twins action. I’ll be here for a couple more days, but rather than pile everything into one offering, I figured I’d break up the notes a bit. With minor league action having kicked off this week, there’ literally something going on from 9am until about 3:45 each day. I need to do a better job of sunscreen application, but here’s what I’ve gathered while taking it all in. Most of the tech is now in applicati
Ever since the Twins decided to stop playing in a stadium that had the aesthetic of a bowling alley, it has felt like the Twins have needed to improve their bullpen. Now, I’m not saying there is a correlation here, but maybe the threat of a screaming foul ball taking care of someone’s shin made the relievers pitch just a little better in the Metrodome. Personally, I don’t think I have trusted a Twins bullpen since 2010 when they had Jon Rauch, Matt Guerrier, Jesse Crain, and, *gulp*, Matt Capps
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- As always you can find all the entries in this series in reverse chronological order here. Today was my first full day at Fort Myers and I did not make the trip across the highway to see the Twins play the Red Sox, but instead I went to the back fields where the Twins' high A and A squads faced the equivalent Rays' teams. Here are my notes from the day: Zack Littell started the high A game for the Twins and pitched for an inning. B
I started out to explore Spring Training stories, but soon got caught up in a lot of the strange stories of baseball and had to share some of them. The stories are part of what makes baseball fun. Spring Training is about getting ready for the season, but that does not mean this collection of athletes can’t generate some stories that might cause you to scratch your head from Ryan Klesko straining his back picking up a lunch tray – what was he eating? To Wade Boggs getting hurt pulling up his b
With the announcement that Marwin Gonzalez signed with the Minnesota Twins, there was optimism in the Twin Cities. Optimism that he could be the missing piece. Hope that he would fill in the gaps on the roster. But he failed. No, I’m not talking his fielding or his hitting. I’m not talking about a need to improve the pitching staff. Heck, I’m not talking about baseball performance at all. I am talking about numbers. No one is wearing the number 4. Gonzalez selected to wear the #9 that he
The Minnesota Twins signed Jonathan Schoop to a one year $7.5 million contract this offseason in a bridge deal to prepare for Royce Lewis among others. It seems like fans and people around the game have already written off seeing Schoop anywhere with the Twins past 2019, but the question has to be asked, what if Jonathan Schoop returns to his 2017 form? In 2017 Jonathan Schoop was one of the best second basemen in baseball. He ranked like this among them (min of 120 PA): 2nd in home runs
It’s nearly the middle of March, and the Minnesota Twins are just 17 days away from their 2019 Opening Day game against the Cleveland Indians. Roughly one month ago I made my first roster projection for the season, and a handful of things have transpired since then. Heading down to Fort Myers to see the club in action this week, I figured now was a good time to come out with a revised edition. Most notably, the club signed Marwin Gonzalez and Miguel Sano is destined to begin the season on the
After reading this in the Patrick Ruesse column - "Major League Baseball security held its annual meeting with the Twins on Friday, and among the issues was a review of baseball’s long-standing prohibitions against gambling. The exact rules against gambling for players and staff also were read to the entire clubhouse at the start of spring training last month, in both English and Spanish. "This anti-gambling reminder for the Twins came a couple of days after Peter Gammons, the baseball writi
March Madness is upon us. I’m nothing close to a college basketball specialist, but it seems to me that not even the most optimistic Minnesotan believes that the Golden Gophers will go far in the Big Ten Tournament -- but, who knows? Either way, with or without the presence of the UMN boys, a number of people will hop on the Bracketology train and have a lot of fun during the month of March. Motivated by the school spirit brought by this event, I decided to look at how some Minnesota Twins did
What is the roster? This is a real chore - as you might have noticed as I examined each of the positions in the previous weeks.The Bench for the Best in Twins history is made up of people who fill roles and not just the best players of all time. From the bench to the starters I have tried to find the men who would truly represent the Twins best of all time based on where they played and how they fit the roles. The Bench in today’s game has to have some special qualities. The easy one is backu
Each baseball season Topps kicks off the card collecting calendar with their flagship offering of Series 1. The product is designed to unveil the new look of cards for that season, and sets the stage for players in new uniforms, as well as the unveiling of new rookie cards. A few weeks later, Opening Day follows up as a more affordable, and kid friendly product. With hobby boxes selling for just $29.99, and single packs available at retail stores for a buck, Opening Day is designed to get youn
The 6’ 7” beast Michael Pineda took the mound the other day in Fort Myers and fired off 2 scoreless innings to go with his 2 previous scoreless innings, giving him an easy to calculate ERA of 0.00 so far in spring training. Pineda last pitched in the majors for the Yankees but you might have also recognized him by his nicknames “Big Mike” or “Large Mikeal” or “Why is That Mountain Moving?” When he was signed in the offseason following the 2017 season, it was with the understanding that his value
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.
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hello Seth......you'll wanna correct the date in headline of today's minor league report. :-) Brad· 0 replies
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.· 1 reply
