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I don't typically find myself sitting down to write on a Sunday evening, but with my foot in a cast, and a level of frustration in tow, here we are. The first part of that formula is thanks to my achilles deciding to part ways with my foot, the second half is the fault of none other than the Star Tribune's Jim Souhan. On Sunday night, the Tribune Twitter account sent out Souhan's latest with this attached to the piece, "Affordable contract would keep Mauer in good standing with #MNTwins." Prio
Attending a nice panel discussion at SABR this morning, including 1979 Pirates champions John Candelaria and Grant Jackson. They reminded the audience that the team started out 12-18, and were in fourth place at the all star break. Their recollection was that there was still a long way to go, and they just continued to play the games one at a time. While the odds are against our 2018 Twins, it wouldn't be unprecedented to go all the way. The panel reminds me that the players have to just shut ou
Where are they now is not about old and retired, but the players on current rosters who at one time were on the Twins Roster. Just curious how they are succeeding and if we wish we had any of them back. Here are the hitters with their stats after the Solstice: I chose BA, OPS, and WAR for the comparative stats: Aaron Hicks, Yankees, 251 BA, 811OPS, 1.7 WAR Danny Valencia, Orioles 290, 822, 1.2 Wilson Ramos, Tampa Bay, 296, 796, 1.5 Carlos Gomez, Tampa Bay, 197, 609, -0.5 John Hicks, Detroi
By now, most of us have noticed how Matt Magill has been a solid arm in the Twins bullpen this season. He made his first appearance of 2018 in a clunker of a game (which I attended ) on April 29th against the Cincinnati Reds. He threw 2.1 innings that Sunday and gave up just 3 hits and 0 earned runs, adding 2 punch-outs as well. So far this year with the Twins, he’s given up a total of 3 ER over 23.2 IP, for an ERA of 1.14. Magill was drafted in 2008 in the 31st round to the Los Angeles Dodgers
Yesterday a picture was leaked of a napkin left at an Applebees in Santa Monica, California, last month while the Twins were visiting the Los Angeles Angels. The napkin was left there inadvertently by, reportedly, Twins Major League Coach Jeff Pickler who was dining at the restaurant with other members of the Twins coaching staff. The napkin had pictured, among other things, sketches of proposed fielding alignments. Some of the alignments were titled “Ryan Suter,” “Mexico,” and “Mauer.” Je
The Minnesota Twins find themselves scratching and clawing through games in order to get back to the .500 mark. This season opened with so much promise, and has taken turns that virtually no one expected. While Eddie Rosario and Eduardo Escobar pace the offense, Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton have been non existent commodities. Somewhat of an afterthought at this point, Brian Dozier has given Paul Molitor nothing of substance in 2018. After garnering MVP votes for the third straight season last
Thus far in 2018, there's been lots of talk surrounding the Minnesota Twins. Paul Molitor's club has provided talking points relating to everything from their up-and-down record, Miguel Sano's slide, and the emergence of guys like Eddie Rosario and Kyle Gibson. Virtually under the radar, Jose Berrios is beginning to round out into a bonafide ace. The crazy thing is, next to no one is talking about it. A year ago, Berrios owned a 3.89 ERA and put up a 14-8 record across 25 starts (26 games) for
Brand new Supershow hot off the presses! The boys are back after a week off for a wedding. The Eddie's have been good, so Dan and Panda talked about how good they've been (which is still v good). Then they dive into the not so good with the Twins' 3B, a rash of injuries, and general inconsistency. Friend of the show Trevor May is down in AAA, and now on the DL, so the boys figure out what to do with their favorite Twitch personality, then they round the bases with talk of Kyle Gibson, and if t
Royce Lewis: Patellar Tendinopathy Heezy1323 The Twins community recently received some concerning news about highly-regarded prospect Royce Lewis. Lewis left the Cedar Rapids Kernels Saturday game with what is being reported as ‘patellar tendinitis’, which has been causing him trouble off-and-on for about a month. But what is ‘patellar tendinitis’ exactly? And what might it mean for Royce going forward? Let’s discuss: Question 1: Where is the ‘patella tendon’? The patella tendon is the tend
Twins fans over the past few season have been extremely critical of Max Kepler and his terrible offensive production vs LHP. The criticism was rightly deserved, because his numbers were atrocious. Twins territory has been pleasantly surprised by his improvement vs LHP, but now his numbers vs RHP are dropping. Here are Kepler's splits from 2015-2017. vs RHP: .258/.332/.471 vs LHP: .188/.259/.288 So against RHP, Kepler was solid at the plate. He reached base and hit for power. Against LHP, his
This is part of a story that appears in full on Zone Coverage here. Please click through to read it in full, and consider subscribing! You wouldn’t think Logan Morrison and Ryan Pressly have much in common. Morrison is a little over a year older, married with a child and is not necessarily brash, but definitely outspoken. That outspokenness has led to times where he’s butted heads with people in charge, but he’ll tell you he’s never said anything he didn’t mean or felt was true in the moment
Happy birthday, Moneyball! http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Moneyball-book-600x295.jpg Yes, as Yahoo’s Jeff Passan alerted us via Twitter over breakfast this morning, Michael Lewis’ seminal baseball book, Moneyball, was released 15 years ago today. I have to admit, I was picturing the entire SABR community simultaneously Skyping and toasting Lewis and his book, each member raising a glass of their favorite obscure local craft beer. It made me chuckle. Moneyball
This is part of a story that appears in full on Zone Coverage here. Please click through to read it in full, and consider subscribing! It’s Father’s Day, and with the Minnesota Twins on the road wrapping up a three-game series against the Cleveland Indians, it can be easy to forget that these guys spent 100-plus days per year away from their families. Think about it; they’re guaranteed 81 days on the road just by virtue of away games, and then factor in six weeks of spring training and well
I like Baseball Reference’s similarity scores so I thought we should look at our lineup and see it in an alternative universe – with the most similar players according to the reference (with Sano still in the lineup): Brian Dozier - Earl Williams Eddie Rosario - Yasmany Tomas Eddie Escobar - Jose Castillo Miguel Sano - Michael Conforto Max Kepler - Elijah Dukes Logan Morrison - Garrett Jones Robbie Grossman - Bud Metheny Juan Castro - John McDonald Jorge Polanco - Tim Anderson Since
The Minnesota Twins were in the 9th inning of another lackluster offensive performance today against the Detroit Tigers. Despite a wonderful outing from starter Lance Lynn, Minnesota found themselves trailing 3-1 in the final frame. With 2 outs, a runner on, and Miguel Sano on the bench...Jake Cave hit for himself. It was at that moment the Twins had solidified their decision. Miguel Sano needed to go. Immediately following the game, it was announced that the slugging third basemen would be se
After two weeks of guiding hiking and birding trips my mind automatically finds feathered beauty and details so, of course, as I move back to the details of baseball my bird attention shifts with it. I see Blue Jays, Orioles, and Cardinals so the transition is easy. Baseball is filled with bird incidents like the pigeon that landed on the field and then wandered over to Greg Bird on first base. There was the Kestrel that entertained Twins fans during a cold and rainy night when it was on the j
I am flabbergasted. I wants something to happen. I wanted a change, but Matt Belisle? For gods sake Cleveland sent him to the minors and the AAA team released him. This is our big move? This is how we fix the BP? Look at this quote from Twinkie Town - "Certainly the presence of Belisle is to lessen the workloads on fellow righthanders Addison Reed, Trevor Hildenberger, and Ryan Pressley. However, it’s a little quizzical that the front office was so quick to bring him in when Alan Busenitz (31% s
Prior to the news of the Minnesota Twins re-signing veteran reliever Matt Belisle, I had every intention of writing a piece on the curious usage of Matt Magill. Paul Molitor has routinely been lackluster when it comes to bullpen managment during his time as Twins skipper, but things got even more confusing today. After revamping the relief corps going into the season, Thad Levine, Derek Falvey, and Paul Molitor have found a way to make a relative strength into a revolving door. Needing a fresh
The Fort Myers Miracle’s season has not been off to a great start, their record is 25-37. However, they have some All-Star worthy players on this year's team despite the losing record. The seven players that are going to Tampa to represent the Miracle are Andrew Vasquez, Taylor Grzelakowski, Jimmy Kerrigan, Travis Blankenhorn, Taylor Wells, Lewin Diaz and Jaylen Davis. Andrew Vasquez is a very consistent and reliable reliever who has a 1.44 ERA through 31.1 IP. He has struck out 33 batters and
The month of April was not kind to Cedar Rapids Kernels infielder Jose Miranda. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Miranda060618a-600x400.jpg Jose Miranda (Photo by SD Buhr) After hitting .284 and putting up a .824 On-base Plus Slugging (OPS) for rookie level Elizabethton in 2017, Miranda was one of several highly-regarded hitting prospects that were expected to power the Kernels’ offense in 2018, but the 19-year-old from Puerto Rico managed just a .180 batting avera
Byron Buxton practicing his catching in front of a US border wall prototype in June, 2018 SAN DIEGO – After suffering for months with severe migraines and with a history of concussions, Byron Buxton announced on Twitter (@OfficialBuck103) yesterday that he’s officially stepping away from Major League Baseball. “We’ll miss his presence on the field and in the clubhouse. He’s definitely one of the best center fielders of all time. We wish him the best in his future endeavors,” said Derek Falve
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For better or worse, Miguel Sano has been the same player for much of his big league career. On one hand, that's a hulking slugger that drives baseballs deep into the outer reaches of major league ballparks. On the other, it's a free swinging giant that frustrates both fans and coaches alike. Regardless of which side of the fence he finds himself on during a given day, he's remained largely the same player throughout his career. What's someone comforting is that 2018 is no outlier. Coming into
The 23-year-old from Cuba has just completed his first big-league inning. After a single, he got a double play. Walked Juan Soto but then got a fly out. Hit 98.4 mph with his second pitch.
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
