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More often than not, the Minnesota Twins don't take the stage front and center when the audience becomes national. As a small market club, the organization is more noticed for being the underdog story it was during the 2015 season. However, with the Twins signing of Byung Ho Park, this offseason has provided a handful of fireworks already. Looking to get more of a national perspective on the state of the Twins, and where the belief the the organization is going, I had the privilege of speaking
We all heard a fair amount about Byung-ho Park leading up to his posting by the Nexen Heroes on November 3rd; he was a player who had excited the interest of multiple Major League teams and fans across the country. Yet for all that, nothing was enough to prepare me for the news that the Minnesota Twins, a small market team, had won the negotiating rights to the Korean first baseman after bidding $12.85 million. http://theblogdaysofsummer.weebly.com/uploads/5/3/9/7/53971721/7794399_orig.jpg T
It's official, the Minnesota Twins have come to terms with the star of the Korean Baseball Organization, Byung Ho Park. After recently arriving in Minnesota, and dropping the hyphenation in his name, Park signed a four-year, $12 million deal with the Twins. After winning the posting bid just a few weeks ago, the Twins had until December 8th to come to an agreement with Park. While he was playing with team Korea in the Premier 12, reaching a deal seemed unlikely. Following the Thanksgiving week
In 2015, Twins outfield prospect Max Kepler had his long-awaited breakout season, primarily with the Class AA Chattanooga Lookouts. He was the Southern League Player of the Year and, immediately after his Lookouts team won the Southern League Championship, Kepler was on his way to join the Twins for the remainder of the 2016 season. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Kepler2015a-600x400.jpg Max Kepler Kepler had an injury-plagued season in 2013, not being able to even
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ------ After the Twins traded Aaron Hicks to the New York Yankees for JR Murphy, there was an assumption that Byron Buxton was de facto handed the Centerfield job to start the season. For the ones who have seen Buxton's close personal battles with breaking balls, this was not a welcome sign. Additionally, Eddie Rosario, has played Centerfield for most of his career, and there was some talk that Danny Santana, who has no business playing the O
n following the Minnesota Twins throughout the Major League Baseball season, there's always one person that remains synonymous with victory. Following a walk off win, or a dominant starting performance, there's always that one person there to break down just how impressive it was. Often being caught up in the Gatorade shower, that person is going to be a different face in the upcoming 2016 season. After Fox Sports North announced the departure of Jamie Hersch near the end of the 2015 season, t
I spent Thanksgiving in New York City, visiting my son and his fiancée and seeing some sites. No, I didn't find Dave W, I guess I didn't look. Anyway, I did attend my first, and probably only, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We arrived early and found a place to stand across from Fox News. We saw the parades, floats, minor celebrities and Santa. A women standing next to me asked me if I was from Minnesota, since I was wearing a coat that said "Mayo Clinic" on it. She said that she had grown up
I've been a Minnesotan for the entirety of my 25 year life. While having spent only the most recent years in the heart of Twins Territory, growing up in southern Minnesota, the Minneapolis journalism scene has only recently become my go to. In reading Patrick Reusse's Turkey of the Year for 2015 however, it dawned on me that the Twins could use a similar designation. Unlike Reusse's Turkey of the Year, the Diamond Treasure as I'll dub it, is not designed to point a finger in jest. On the contr
Happy Thanksgiving! It is once again that time of the year to select our annual Twins Turkey of the Year winner. This year we get to select our seventh annual Twins Turkey of the Year award winner, who will be lucky number seven? As always we have plenty of blue-chip candidates to scrutinize, analyze, and reflect on. First off we need to narrow the list down to a manageable size. To view the rest of the story that was recently posted at twinstrivia.com please go to http://wp.me/p1YQUj-37Z
We do not celebrate Thanksgiving because we're a thankful lot but rather because we prefer to complain 364 (and sometimes 365) days out of the year. As a holiday whose historical roots are buried deep in religious traditions, perhaps it would have been better to take a truly puritanical stance on the subject and dedicate only one day out of every year to complaining and the rest to giving thanks, but, considering the human nature, one has to admit that our forefathers made the more logical decis
Below I will give a brief summary of who I consider to be hidden gems with solid MLB careers in front of them: http://cdn.baseballamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/LaMonte-Wade-2015-pg.gif (Photo by Paul Gierhart) LaMonte Wade - Wade had one of the best seasons for a non first round pick in his debut season, putting up good power numbers and a solid .302/.418/.486 line between Cedar Rapids and Elizabethton. Wade has above average speed and is a good defender from all the outfield spots,
Whether you're new here or not, a quick glance at a handful of the articles at Off The Baggy should give you a glimpse of what I'm about. Not a full blown sabermetrician, I find myself using statistics to tell a big story more often than not. In this post however, there's very little reason for numbers to quantify anything. With what the Twins gave us in 2015, and where they appear headed, there's plenty of obvious reasons for thanks. Following four dismal 90 loss seasons, the Twins turned thi
The Twins chose to add Yorman Landa and Randy Rosario to the 40 man roster. There is no doubt they have major league velocity. They also haven't found success in Low A ball yet. They opened in Cedar Rapids in 2014 and were injured early in the season. Last year both returned from injuries and pitched in rookie ball before entering low A in 2015. They need a career path where they can be established in the majors before they run out of options 2016- They really should start in Cedar Rapids ag
It's been a hard fall for me to write in these spaces. Every evening I try to sit down to write, I find a dozen other things to do. There are papers to grade and recommendations to submit and people to actually be married to. So while I love to write, and even though I want to write, it slips through my fingers more often than I like. This past week, I had the time, I had the energy, but every time I opened up this page, I stopped and stared. And as the feeds from North Minneapolis streamed in
Back in October, I wrote about the Twins and their seven players headed to the Arizona Fall League. The focus was on what each of them needed to improve or work on over the next two months, and how they could end 2015 on a high note. Over the weekend, each of them became Arizona Fall League champs, and it was because of their success that the title was claimed. As I tweeted out over the weekend, baseball is no doubt a team sport, however it was the Twins group that carried this team during the
The Scottsdale Scorpions went 2-2 in the final week of the 2015 Arizona Fall League season, to finish with an 18-12 overall record, and earn a place in the AFL Championship Game for winning the East Division. They would face off against the West Division winners, the Surprise Saguaros on Saturday. But before we get to that game, in which the Twins prospects played a big part, Adam Brett Walker went cold; Catchers Mitch Garver and Stuart Turner were same old same old; the bullpen trio of Trevor
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ------ The Twins announced that they have added LHP Taylor Rogers, RHP JT Chargois, OF Adam Brett Walker, LHP Randy Rosario, RHP Yorman Landa, LHP Pat Dean, and LHP Mason Melotakis to their 40-man roster. This leaves 41 players unprotected. Here is a list of each of the unprotected players along with an risk analysis with the possibility that each player will get selected by another team: RHP Jose Abreu Age: 23 Height: 5' 11" Weight: 170
The deadline for the Minnesota Twins to add players eligible for the Rule 5 draft to their 40 man roster has come and gone. Going into Friday. Minnesota had a 40 man roster with seven openings, and ending the day, there are just two. With some expected, and some unexpected names, the regular season 25 man is becoming more clear. First off, those players added today include J.T. Chargois, Yorman Landa, Pat Dean, Mason Melotakis, Taylor Rogers, Randy Rosario, and Adam Brett Walker. Among the gro
Earlier this week, the Rookie of the Year awards were unveiled. In the IBWAA balloting, Carlos Correa picked up the AL honors. However, it was Miguel Sano who finished in 3rd place with 172 points and seven first place votes. Looking at the BBWAA balloting, Sano once again finished third with teammate Eddie Rosario coming in 6th. An impressive finish for the two however, is merely a foreshadowing of what is to come. The last Minnesota Twins player to win Rookie of the Year honors was Marty Cor
Last week, Minnesota Twins General Manager Terry Ryan went back-to-back-to-back making three deals in three days in an effort to improve his club, winning the bidding for the right to negotiate with Korean slugging first baseman/DH Byung-ho Park, trading backup catcher Chris Herrmann for a prospect, which cleared the way for catcher John Ryan Murphy to be added via trade. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Ryan2015-600x399.jpg After one or two more roster adjustments, T
This offseason, the Minnesota Twins have already shown an indication that they are in fact looking to improve upon what was a breakout season in 2015. In making a couple of trades, while also securing the winning big for Korean slugger Byung-Ho Park, Paul Molitor's squad is trending in the right direction. Amidst the moves though, there's two players that have seemingly been cast aside. Enter Oswaldo Arcia and Kennys Vargas. In 2013, Arcia made his big league debut as a 22 year-old. The Vene
Last season, the Minnesota Twins had one of the worst bullpens in all of Major League Baseball. Despite the front office's cry for calm prior to the season, the inevitable reality that the talent just wasn't there came to fruition. Once Glen Perkins broke down in the second half, the lone bright spot was now gone. In 2016, the goal will be to change the course, and it's possible two of the best additions may currently be pitching in Arizona. For what the Twins have in pitching depth throughout
Twins prospects in the Arizona Fall League are playing for the Scottsdale Scorpions this season, and they started off the week with three consecutive wins, scoring twenty-two runs in the process. They hit a wall on Thursday however, and lost the last three games of the week, scoring only once in each game. At this point of the season Scottsdale leads the East division with a 16-10 record. Twins hitting prospects didn’t have much success on the week, but the bullpen again displayed some dominan
Houston reached base 3 times on Thursday. He's hitting .308/.398/.440 (.838) since joining the Surge and stole his 14th AA base. His 38 total SB is tied with Yasser Mercedes for organizational lead.
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Winning the Cedar Rapids Kernel prize from TD is far better than winning the FIFA World Peace Prize. Thanks.· 0 replies
