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This is an excerpt from a piece on Zone Coverage which originates here. Please click through to read it in full, and consider subscribing to the site to support our work. Lance Lynn likes his fastball. He likes it a lot. Lynn is in the midst of his seventh MLB season, and he’s never thrown it less than 70.4 percent of the time. In fact, in his final two years with the St. Louis Cardinals — a team he’s slated to face at Target Field on Wednesday afternoon — that usage rocketed over 80 perce
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- In a cold May evening about 5 years go, give or take a week, I witnessed one of the most dominating pitching performances I have seen in person: Twins' first round draft pick in 2009, righty Kyle Gibson, about a year removed from his return from Tommy John surgery, shut down the Lehigh Valley IronPigs with a three-hitter, carrying a no-hitter into the eighth inning. This was when the Twins were on their way to another season flirting with
The Minnesota Twins just finished up a four game set with the Los Angeles Angels. By the time Fernando Romero was done with his five innings against Shohei Ohtani, Paul Molitor was tasked with utilizing a bullpen coming off an extra inning affair and quite a bit of recent work. What the Minnesota skipper was also having to deal with, was being a man short from beyond the outfield fence. Phil Hughes was available, but he isn't an option either. Hughes was jettisoned to the Twins bullpen after f
The Wednesday show of 1500ESPN of Mackey & Judd’s morning show included a segment of the Twins players that are most important to the organization. They both selected their top 10 and each added two honorable mentions, basically a top 12 list. They both agreed that their selections were not a MVP list, but player importance to the organization, which translates to more about the future than current value. That distinction means that prospects that have a high ceiling or are knocking on the d
I just finished reading Jim Kaat's essay on ESPN - http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23474497/jim-kaat-says-mlb-adapt-7-inning-games-effort-improve-sport and I really liked it. I think it is well thought out and he strengthens it with some notes about how the game has already changed so drastically over the years. This is a good change and I would love to see it, but won't because it will be resisted by the union, the league, the traditionalists. But what is tradition? Is it a pitcher throw
Im predicting before the year is over...Jose is going back to Rochester. Here is what he has to do to stay up. Berrios has good stuff, but he is scouted to death at the major league level...Good stuff alone is not enough. Berrios has to learn how to deceive hitters, mixing pitches, changing speeds, otherwise he is going to remain batting practice. Remember how exultant he was after dominating Baltimore? A quote from him was something like, I was able to do it throwing my pitches, hopef
In the event that the Twins are in position to be buyers at the trade deadline, here are some possible trade prospects the Twins could realistically go after to make a run at the postseason. 1.) Tyson Ross SP Padres Ross has been the bright spot in an otherwise "business as usual" San Diego Padres rotation. Assuming SD will be looking for young talent come the trade deadline, Ross could be on the market at 31-years of age. The Twins can also afford to take on Ross' contract that is $1.75M and
News came down yesterday that highly-touted Twins SS prospect Wander Javier will undergo season-ending surgery on his left (non-throwing) shoulder to repair a torn labrum. According to LEN, this was an injury that was suffered initially late last season, but initially the decision was made to attempt to treat Javier with rehabilitation. Unfortunately, he has continued to have pain in the shoulder, and he has taken the dreaded trip to Pensacola, FL to see Dr. James Andrews. It sounds like Dr. And
(Note - it is my hope that we are far enough past the CIRCLE ME BERT CANCELLATION NIGHTMARE that I may impart some TRUTHFUL TRUTHS. If my voice is silenced suddenly, please leave a stick figure drawing of TC Bear in a City Pages on the big glove sculpture. My people will understand.) Roswell, NM. An alien spacecraft crashes in the desert. The cover-up begins immediately. Some say it was a WEATHER BALLOON or an EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT. A few even think the whole incident was an ELABORATE DECEPT
I was thinking about the trade deadline today. If the Twins are still in it after the All-Star Break and don't have any huge injuries (knock on wood), they're a pretty solid team. It’s hard to see where they’d need massive upgrades. • The starting rotation almost has too many options so outside of an ace, it makes little sense to get a pitcher. Even then, not sure there’s going to be a starting pitcher available who moves the dial that much. • The bullpen has struggled at times but is deep wit
I originally posted this in forums but realized this is more of a blog post: As we have seen over the years when given opportunities to play every day Eduardo Escobar shines.Filling in for Miguel Sano so far this year he has shown he has the bat to be 3rd baseman, posting a .993 OPS while hitting 15 doubles and 7 home runs in 2018. Over his career Escobar has primarily played the left side of infield playing 322 games at short and 196 at 3rd base.However, he has played a handful of games at
After standing in a line of about 20 people for a few minutes, a couple of guys finally got the autograph they wanted during the Cedar Rapids Kernels regular Sunday post-game autograph session. They had secured the autograph of Royce Lewis, the Minnesota Twins first round pick in the 2017 MLB amateur draft and the first pick overall. They stood for a moment and looked out at the area of right field where Lewis' team mates were spread out, some standing by themselves and some in groups of two o
The Minnesota Twins were going to be without Miguel Sano at some point during the 2018 Major League Baseball season. Whether from a possible suspension, complications due to a rod being inserted into his leg, or the normal wear and tear a body of that size can endure, the reality is he would miss time. When that point came, Eduardo Escobar was going to be the man that filled in. What wasn't expected is that the utility man would raise the bar. Then again, maybe we should have seen this coming al
On this week's Supershow, Dan and Panda break down some of the pitching woes plaguing the Twins through the month of April, and dial back season expectations of what this season may look like. Since pitching is the hot topic this week, they also talk about Matt Harvey's struggles, along with the young arms in the Mets' rotation and the renaissance of Justin Verlander and the Astros' pitchers. https://www.spreaker.com/user/the4dpodcastnetwork/t-l-5-7-18
When Santana returns, what to do with existing rotation? 1. Romero 2. Gibson 3. Berrios 4. Odorizzi 5. Lynn This is how I rank the rotation so who does Santana replace? To further complicate this Gonsalves is ready, wow we are going to be pitching rich...who would have thunk it?
Im interested to know what Twins fans think of Miguel Sano. Please choose one of the following positions: 1- Franchise Level Player, when he's healthy he will carry the Twins 2. Serviceable, but to this point disappointing 3. Get rid of him and his strikeouts if you can get anything for him
Imagine for a moment that you grew up in an area where high temperatures each day run between 80 and 85 degrees, year-round. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Colina2018b-600x400.jpg Edwar Colina (Photo by SD Buhr) You enjoy sports, especially baseball, and you can literally play ball every day, all year, if you want. You realize your dream of signing a professional baseball contract and then, one day, you’re pitching for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, a mere 2,600 miles
I posted the following comment in the discussion of Lynn’s White Sox game: When I look at the lineup I see such a gap at 4.The guys filling in the 3 - 4 - 5 spots are doing great, but with Morrison still trying to find the Mendoza line we really need Sano to give us a big bat.Of course we need a Sano who learns to strikeout a lot less.When I look at the Yankees big boppers you can see how it really changes the game, but they also have a better approach. Sano with 506 Ks in 1220 ABs wastes so m
The minor league report said that Jimmy Kerrigan was promoted from Ft Myers to Rochester? Anybody have any info on this? Ive never seen that before, have you?
Once, many of us still believed in a magical NORTH POLE where SANTA CLAUS makes everything all better (perhaps more of you would still believe if it wasn't for a terrible lie your parents told you to benefit BIG ELFING). Sadly, childhood may be the last time the lot of us all believed in a magical place ON EARTH! We Iowans once tried to pull some flim-flammary to convince you Iowa was heaven, FOOLED YOU, MINNESOTA! Some people still find it in themselves to believe in heaven on the planet. Eve
The Minnesota Twins drafted Ricardo De la Torre in the 6th round of the 2017 MLB Draft out of BB Academy in Puerto Rico. The Twins assigned De La Torre to the GCL Twins and in 153 at bats he hit .268/.341/.359. In 42 games his fielding percentage from 3 different positions were a combined .900. I got the chance to interview him via. Instagram using Google Translate. Me: What was one of the things that brought you to baseball? Ricardo: One of the experiences that brought me to baseball was se
Romero has good stuff, anybody can see that. But what will make him stalwart for years to come, is his POISE. He was not intimidated one bit today, this guy is as advertised, somebody in the rotation is going to the pen or DFA in the very near future!
Update: The Twins put Miguel Sano on the DL today (5/1). Gregorio Petit was selected to join the 40 man roster and replace him on the 25 man roster. Dietrich Enns was DFA'd to make room for Petit. Given that the Twins are going with a fill in type player in Petit, I would assume that signifies a belief in Sano not being on the shelf for too long. Gordon would still make sense at some point in the not too distant future. After yet another ineffective start for the Minnesota Twins, Phil Hughes w
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
