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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
The Best Twins General Manager and owner - really a difficult task - the manager, the owner, the GM, the players - who do you blame? • Calvin Griffith. (1961 – 1984) It is not a long list since Calvin served as both owner and general manager. We won a World Series under Calvin, he moved the team to Minnesota, he insulted and lost Rod Carew. • Howard Fox. (1985 – 1986) He was a member of the Twins organization for sixty years. When he was traveling secretary, he had a fight with Billy Marti
Miguel Sano won a Dominican Winter League championship this offseason. He also showed up to Spring Training in a much more trimmed down fashion. That’s the good news. The bad news is that he suffered an unfortunate cut on his heel and has now dealt with healing complications that will shelve him until May. Prior to this development, I wasn’t sure that everyone’s favorite folk hero Willians Astudillo was going to make the 25-man roster. Now it’s all but guaranteed, and the rubber begins to hit th
Johan Santana is the only unanimous Cy Young Award winner in history to be benched on Opening Day. In 2004, Johan Santana won the AL Cy Young Award for the Minnesota Twins. He received a perfect 28 of 28 first place votes, breezing by Curt Schilling and Mariano Rivera. His 228 innings pitched was second most in the American League while his 2.61 ERA lead the AL among qualified starters. He struck out 30.1% of the batters he faced. Pedro Martinez, the next closest in the American League sta
Who are our managers and who was the best? I have to say that I have a lot of questions about how to judge managers. They are given a roster to work with, they do not sign players or create the roster, they work with the GM and the GM is not judged like the manager. Right now we play in a lousy division which gives us 19 games a year versus the Royals, White Sox and Tigers plus the best team in the division is far below what the other division leaders do. What would our records be if we were in
There’s no denying that the Minnesota Twins employed one of the best catchers Major League Baseball has ever seen. Up until the point that a brain injury forced him out from behind the plate, Joe Mauer was on a trajectory we hadn’t seen since Johnny Bench. Following the positional change, the organization has been starved for the next “it” factor behind the plate. Jason Castro has been the only designated long-term solution, but it’s an internally developed option that is at the doorstep of a br
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
