Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account
  • The Twins Daily Caretaker Fund
    The Twins Daily Caretaker Fund

    You all care about this site. The next step is caring for it. We’re asking you to caretake this site so it can remain the premier Twins community on the internet.

    Become a Caretaker

Blogs from our Community

2022 season

Why Winning Matters

There’s a great scene in the first season of Ted Lasso. Coach Lasso is sitting and mulling over end of season strategy with his assistant, Coach Beard. Lasso realizes that his approach with his players might not give the team the best shot at winning, but smiles and reassures Coach Beard that “winning ain’t how we measure success.” Coach Beard turns red. He slams his fist on the table and hollers, “DAMN IT, IT IS!” Winning matters. Which brings us, ironically enough, back to the Minnes
LastOnePicked

LastOnePicked in 2022 season

20
Tony Oliva

My Last Blog Paying Homage to the Great Tony Oliva (Blog #6)

[Here's a passage from my recent book paying homage to Tony O. I hope you like it. The book is available on Amazon Kindle (e-book or paperback), or you can find it at my website here: http://curtdeberg.com.] We all need heroes. Other than my dad, Minnesota Twins baseball stars Tony Oliva and Harmon Killebrew were my heroes. They always showed grace under pressure, even when badly injured. They were courageous, and preferred to show their talent by action, not words. They were not superheroe
Curt DeBerg

Curt DeBerg in Tony Oliva

0
Minnesota Twins

We’ve Entered 2022 Awards Season

With the 2022 Major League Baseball regular season coming to a close, it’s the time of the year when IBWAA members are sent out ballots to cast their selections for awards. While the year didn’t start on time, having the full 162 game schedule following the lockout was a treat, and we’ve been given a ton of great performances. You can look back to my preseason predictions if you’d like, they were made at the end of March. In turning in my ballot recently, here’s what my selections looked li
Ted Schwerzler

Ted Schwerzler in Minnesota Twins

5
2023 early outlook

Thoughts on 2023

Manfredball will be in full swing in 2023. No more shifts, a pitch clock and bigger bases. The Twins will need to adjust to the changes and they will probably have to adjust more than most. The larger bases will make infield hits and stolen bases more common. The Twins will need to find a way to get more speed in their lineup and to be better base runners. They have been dreadful running the bases and have yielded oodles of stolen bases and that is not all on their catchers. At the very least, a
stringer bell

stringer bell in 2023 early outlook

26
Tony Oliva

A Tribute to Tony Oliva (Blog #5)

As he was approaching his twenty-third birthday, Tony Oliva waved goodbye to his tightly-knit Cuban family and set off for the United States. But the road was rocky in Florida. The Twins decided that his poor fielding trumped his lively bat, so they released him. A dejected Oliva wanted to return home, but that would make his dream of making the big leagues impossible.      Fortunately, fate intervened. Another Cuban ballplayer, Minnie Mendoza, took Oliva under his wing and introduced him t
Curt DeBerg

Curt DeBerg in Tony Oliva

0
starting pitchers

Louie Varland looks real

He's not a downward plane kinda pitcher, more like Cole Sands in that his whole delivery seems to happen down low. Louie Varland looks legit to me. When I saw his compact delivery, it reminded me a little of Bartolo Colon, who looked like a converted catcher. The tight snap from behind the ear, no big, loopy wind-up, is a style that works well for some good pitchers, like Grienke. The quick delivery and up-tempo pace will help him surprise some hitters, who are accustomed to a more relaxed pace.
jimbo92107

jimbo92107 in starting pitchers

11
Tony Oliva

A Tribute to Tony Oliva (Blog #4)

In the summer of 1960, Hemingway was sixty years old and in failing health. He and his fourth wife, Mary, were forced to leave their bucolic estate southeast of Havana. For nearly twenty-two years, the Hemingways had made the Cuba their home base. But in 1960, Cuba was becoming more dangerous under the new Communist regime. Under pressure from the U.S. government to leave Cuba, the Hemingway’s vacated their beautiful, fourteen-acre property just outside the little village of San Francisco de Pau
Curt DeBerg

Curt DeBerg in Tony Oliva

0
Tony Oliva

A Tribute to Tony Oliva (Blog #3)

Hemingway wrote, “All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was.” After reading A Farewell to Arms, or For Whom the Bell Tolls, or The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway aficionados understand what he meant.      The story you are rea
Curt DeBerg

Curt DeBerg in Tony Oliva

1
Twins Baseball

Dump the Arizona Fall League

I was thinking about the Arizona Fall League (hereafter referred to as AFL) and how to improve it.  I don't like that only a limited number of Twins' players are allowed to participate.  My conclusion is to dump the AFL and replace it with the FPL (the Fall Prospect League).  The FPL would consist of two divisions (Florida and Arizona) and be based at the spring training facilities of each MLB team..  The players selected for each franchise's 30-player roster would consist of any minor leaguers
terrydactyls

terrydactyls in Twins Baseball

11
Tony Oliva

Excerpt for my Tribute to Tony Oliva and Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway loved to tell stories. Hemingway biographer Carlos Baker called these stories “yarns.” His good friend, Aaron Hotchner, called them “practical joke fantasies.” Like all good storytellers, Hemingway exaggerated. Often, though, such talk gave him inspiration, and sometimes found its way into his writing.      Tony Oliva tells a few good stories, too, but his greatest story wasn’t a joking matter, nor one that he has shared, to this day, with anyone but his closest family mem
Curt DeBerg

Curt DeBerg in Tony Oliva

0
Minors

Matt's Top Prospect List (August) + Writeups

Before hopping into the list, I wanted to say a few things about this process: I started these writeups to kill time, but I’ve found them fun to write, and the community has responded with great support. My system lacks the professionalism of scouts, but I want to strive toward respectability; this edition is the one I’m most proud of. Previous write-ups lacked consistency, and I failed to consider crucial aspects of a player’s performance. Reminder: tier matters more than specific ranking.
Matt Braun

Matt Braun in Minors

5
Tony Oliva

A Tribute to Tony Oliva

I've recently written a short story paying tribute to Tony Oliva and to my favorite author. Here's a blurb. I think readers of Twins Daily will find it to be of interest! Thanks....Curt   Ernest Hemingway and Tony Oliva A Tale of How the Great Writer Helped the Great Ballplayer   What do you get when The Old Man in the Sea meets Field of Dreams? You get an inspirational story by Curtis L. DeBerg. This charming little tale, only 58 pages long, is a tribute to two men: Ern
Curt DeBerg

Curt DeBerg in Tony Oliva

5
The September Pitching Staff - Who Should It Be?

Recommended Coming Changes in Rotation and Bullpen Pre 9/1

The time to make changes in the starting rotation is coming with Mahle due off the IL in about a week. Mahle, Gray and Ryan are easy picks, everyone else is in play - pick two of Bundy, Archer, Aaron Sanchez, Smeltzer, Louie Varland, SWR for 5, or should we go to a 6 man rotation and pick 3? Who goes into the bullpen? To me, first choice is obvious - Dylan Bundy,  The man has a 2.33 ERA in August and has kept the Twins in every game he's started this month. Rocco needs to try giving him a s
Baseball Data

What Would it Take to be Average?

As we near the final quarter of the MLB season, it’s a good time to take stock of Twins hitters’ performance this season. To gauge which Twins hitters are having good seasons, I will compare each hitter’s 2022 numbers to their "average" season, then calculate how each player needs to perform for the remainder of 2022 to reach their average statline. In other words, what would it take for each player to have their average season? This approach has its flaws and doesn’t work for rookies, but
SportsGuyDalton

SportsGuyDalton in Baseball Data

6
Baseball Data

Un-Clutch Correa (with a side of Garlick)

Twins fans recently suffered through the offense’s 0-19 stretch with runners in scoring position (RISP) during the team’s road trip to Los Angeles. Such struggles have plagued Twins hitters all season, as their .712 OPS with RISP rank 22nd in MLB and their .249 batting average with RISP ranks 20th. Carlos Correa has been the primary underperformer in these big moments this year. His .618 OPS with RISP ranks 11th among Twins hitters with 30+ at-bats with RISP. This lack of production has co
SportsGuyDalton

SportsGuyDalton in Baseball Data

2
Troy's Twins Thoughts

Troy's Twins Thoughts

Hey everyone, I'm back with my thoughts again. I am a Twins fan, but just a very frustrated one. So here we go - I love the trade deadline moves. A lot of people think the Twins gave up too many prospects in the deals, I think they got Mahle, Lopez, and Fulmer for the right price. They didn't give up any top 5 players in the system and 1 borderline top 100 player in Spencer Steer. They have control of Mahle and Lopez next year also. I like getting proven players that are young and unde
Twins Stuff

How will these Twins finish?

Our Minnesota Twins stand at 57-51 with 54 games remaining in the 2022 MLB season. Thus far, they've had an up & down season. They started out hot, reaching a record of 27-16 after the first 43 games of the season. At that time, pitching appeared to be the strength of the team. Since then, however, pitching has clearly made itself known as the weakness of the team. The numbers illustrate that. Team Pitching ERA: 4.02 (19th in MLB, 10th in the AL) Team Pitching WHIP: 1.24 (T-12th in ML
cHawk

cHawk in Twins Stuff

28
Season So Far

Where's Wallner?

see what I Did there?   OK #1 most likely already been done tons of times, and B... yeah not the best one either way. hehe   ANYWAYS... The Twins continue to lose position players at a fairly regular clip.  Sano came back and was immediately done for the season, no big loss, but it was still a 40 man spot. Larnach has been down for over a month, and most likely not back until September, and will he need time to find his groove again??  Garlick was doing well then rib car
Doc Munson

Doc Munson in Season So Far

19
2022 Minnesota Twins Game Notes

Minnesota Twins Game Notes vs Toronto from August 5th, 2022

Minnesota Twins Game Notes are here!  You’re probably asking what are Game Notes?  Game notes are topics that have come up during a game that we think deserve some more attention. That can be a player, a play and it could be a good thing or a bad thing, a mistake or a great play or anything really. We used to have them at the end of our Game Recaps articles. We made a logo and everything. Well, kind of. It’s a notes icon with some text on it. HEY! That’s what a logo is.
2022 Minnesota Twins Recaps

Minnesota Twins Recap vs the Toronto Blue Jays - August 5th, 2022

The Minnesota Twins have an exciting matchup in Game 2 as they'll face their former teammate in RHP José Berríos while also seeing their brand new pitcher they acquired on Tuesday in RHP Tyler Mahle. They both have similar numbers so it should be fun to see how this game plays out. José Berríos has been struggling this season but the last time he faced his former team, he looked like his old stellar self - 7IP 3H 2R/ER 2BB 13K 1HR & his 4th win of the season in a 12-3 shallacking in Tor
×
×
  • Create New...