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I sometimes check out the oppo team's sbn board, just to see how their fans are reacting- and maybe, just maybe, for a little chuckle of schadenfreude. True to form. Of course, just like folks we know (and are), they're kvetching about their recent bullpen acquisitions not paying off, and I got another chortle about one fan's musing that Twins fans must also be cursing their bullpen for giving up the lead. (True dat). But one thing that I appreciate so much about this board- once Arraez got that bloop, F-bombs everywhere, and after the Sano blast, some of them started personally sniping at each other, going so far as to cut and paste weeks-old posts to rub stuff in someone's face. I look at this place as one refuge where fans can bitch and moan and celebrate together-without resorting to personal beefs, and keyboard warriors are not something we have to deal with. (That's what twitter's for). My kudos to the admin's, and to the people on this board itself. I gotta say, these past few days-- my country is grieving and tearing itself apart, and Hong Kong where I live, is literally tearing itself apart. It's incredibly scary here right now; yesterday and last night were some of the worst hours of my life. I needed this couple hours of respite for my very soul today. I'm happy for the Twins win. And I'm happy to share it with folks like you. Thanks.

I knew those cheap bastards wouldn't sign Story!!1!

He couldn't play in the United States either.

It makes absolutely no ****ing sense. I hate this deal so much.

I mean, on one hand Luis Arraez is a limited defensively, questionable knee's, and nil power in a position you need it (assuming he primarily plays 1B and DH). You also acquire a #2-3 rotation player, a top 100 prospect, and a lottery ticket while only giving up the aforementioned Arraez. On the other hand Arraez is a fan favorite and LUIS ARRAEZ. I think in the long run this is a great trade for the Twins, but its gonna hurt for a bit.

Tom, these are amazing. Every day. I used to flip over to MLB.com for the game recap every morning but I now come to my own friggin' site to do it and that's all you. You're the best thing to happen to Twins Daily this season and I hope you realize it. With that said, I have to call you out for not getting "Dubble Bubble" right.

Been a lurker on the forums for years. I played basketball with Brent in high-school, and my cousin caught for him on the baseball team. He was about 50 pounds lighter back then and yes; he was dunking on people. I was raised as a Twins fan in the Chicago suburbs. (father from Northern Minnesota) You never expect to see your high-school teammate pitching for your favorite baseball team one day. It was so surreal seeing him out there today with some of the guys that got drafted when I was still in high school. Now for some stuff Twins fans might want to know: -kid was a class act on and off the court/field, very dedicated to his craft -he has absolutely gigantic hands; I would be willing to bet he has some of the biggest hands in all of baseball; this is why his fastball and slider have so much movement and how he was able to baffle some of those Red Sox hitters today -his fastball has been clocked as high as 96 So excited to see how he continues to develop. I hope we get a chance to see him again soon with the way Moran is pitching.

No one in Minnesota liked losing Arraez and his bat was sorely missed the beginning of this season, but the team had a glut of players to plug into his position and had a great need for top of the rotation starters. The Twins needed a Pablo type pitcher even more than keeping around one of the best hitters in the game which sounds crazy as I write this, but given Julien's OPS is currently .842 and Arraez is at .842 it sounds less crazy. They get there in different ways but the production is close enough to cover for the lose of Arraez at least in IMO. Don't like OPS then Julien's WRc+ is 135 and Arreaz 128. Like War better Julien is at 2.3 and Arraez is at 3.1. Pretty much anyway you slice it they are close enough and we didn't have anyone close to the level that Lopez is at. Did I want the Twins to trade Arraez, No. Do I think they made the right move Yes I do.

My personal opinion, its a wise, wise move.

Huh. If the front office traded Lopez so he could be closer to his ailing son, that's pretty great of them. But woof, last year's Baltimore trade was a disaster.

Baseball is broken. This is a horrible signing for the future of the league - particularly if the Mets, or any other of the dwindling number of franchises that can compete in this “arms race”, wins the Pennant or WS. This portends even greater loss of interest in professional baseball outside of a few major franchises. For the current and future fans of most of the MLB’s teams, there is very little reason to commit the time and money over years and years to a futile dream. Better just wait to jump on the bandwagon for that one season, if it ever comes, when lightning strikes and the team truly competes. As I have said in many of my posts, I am a “super fan” watching over 150 Twins games each year. Not this year. I have really no interest in prioritising my summer days and nights to watch our current team in this current MLB environment. My love of the game only goes so far. Assuming I reup for the MLB package this season, maybe I’ll tune in more often later in the season when our prospects show up. This is how this super fan feels. It’s not just the CC signing. It’s the direction of MLB and the direction of the Twins within that dynamic. Imagine how the less committed fans will feel over time. For many franchises, the Twins most certainly included, baseball fandom will become primarily a bandwagon phenomenon.

The pitcher should have been ejected. You can't just assault somebody because they hurt your pride. Grow up.

Just curious: Is TD abandoning the written word? I love reports from Spring Training, but I hate listening rather than reading.

Why the vitriol? He isn't doing or saying anything that wasn't expected. He was always going to opt-out. That was clear from Day 1. I thought he phrased it very well. It's actually a really good analogy, very true. Also, why would he get any less than Seager got? He's still young for a free agent, so he should get 10 years (like Seager), but certainly would get at least 8 years. And he'll get $30-35 million per year. At the lowest, he's looking at 8 years and $240 million, and at the highest, it could be 10 years and $325 million. All of that is more than 1 year, $35.1 million. Pretty sure none of us would do any different.

What does it matter if Jorge Polanco gets a second cycle or a sixth hit or if Kyle Gibson pitches a complete game? You have them on your fantasy team? When you have a massive lead, it makes all the sense in the world to get some guys work to stay fresh. Under different circumstances, I'm sure Gibson would have pitched another inning, but this bullpen has hardly been used of late. Kyle doesn't need to be stretched out, I'm sure -- Wait, why am I even discussing this!?!?!? The Twins just got a sweep at Toronto in which they outscored the Blue Jays 20-1. The Twins are 23-12. The Twins have the best record in baseball!!! If managerial decisions at the tail end of a blowout victory are the nitpicking points, then we're in a beautiful situation my friend. Might as well let King Midas push whatever buttons he wants from the dugout.

I'm sorry, but I am SO tired of people claiming that any of us who believe the Twins should make SOME attempt to put a more competitive product on the field are saying they should spend like NY, LA and Boston! The bottom line is that there are multiple ways to add legitimate talent to your roster and, yes, all of those ways entail taking some risk. FAs can bust. But so can first round draft picks and guys you trade for. If the FO is so damn smart, they should be as good at evaluating mid and upper level FAs as they are young players. They shouldn't have to consistently take flyers on dregs and reclamation projects that their magic numbers tell them have the best chance of not sucking. NOBODY expects them to spend like the largest markets, but that doesn't mean it's unreasonable to expect more effort than they're making this year. They're not only looking like they'll be pocketing the entire Joe Mauer contract savings, but millions MORE than that! That is indefensible. Plain and simple.

What was your favorite Anibal Sanchez moment?

Bailey Ober - you just outdueled Clayton Kershaw in LA. Take. A. Bow. What a response to a really tough loss. I was honestly expecting LA to sweep this series so the fact we've won one and could easily have won the other game is really encouraging. Good to see Moran step up when we really needed him to. Still needs to work on his control, but he got 4 outs at the end of the day. The FO deserve quite a lot of credit for acquiring Farmer and Taylor. They have really exceeded my expectations. And Farmer has had to recover from taking a fastball to the face! I've got huge respect for him for carrying on as if nothing happened.

Dodged a bullet, though not for lack of trying. Lewis or Lee will be putting up fairly comparable numbers in a few years.

13 years? Lmao baseball is ridiculous. They’ll need to install a hand rail going down the first base line for the last year of his contract

Was at the Miracle game and Jordan Balzovic pitched the best game I have seen for the Miracle. He was simply outstanding for the first 5 innings plus. While he gave up 5 hits, two were infield squibs that barely made it past the pitchers mound and one was a dying duck flare hit the opposite way by a hitter who was just blindly swinging. He only walked one batter and struck out 7. Up until the 6th inning, if they did not strike out, it was one collection of weak hit balls after another. His fastball was very, very impressive. I try to describe a pitchers fastball with a little system I develped that gives the range of speeds. In the first two innings he was 94-94-94-95-96 (meaning the bulk of his fastballs were 94, some 95, touch 96). Note: I think the Hammonds Field radar gun is a bit fast. Third and 4th inning 93-94-94-94-95. Fifth you could tell he was tiring a bit: 93-93-94-94-94 He literally had his first 3 ball at bat in this inning. And in the 6th he was 92-93-93-93-94 He pitched in all of the speed ranges with the mid-90 fastball. With his fastball at 93-96, he also throws a slider in the 87-90 mph range. Then a curve in 82-84 and looks like a change upat 78-80. He threw all of these pitches for strikes and hit almost all of his marks. What was really impressive to me was at least 3 of the 7 strikeouts were looking and almost all of the looking strikeouts were 94-96 mph fastballs he just burned by the batter who looked on helplessly. I was also impressed with how he won every battle. There were a couple of batters that fouled off 2-strike pitch after pitch. The batters were just hanging on as Jordan powered fastball after fastball into the zone and they could not handle it. Finally, he threw a curve and struck them out. While I would like to see his 6 inning endurance hold better, he is 20 years old and at 6-4, only 175 lbs. As he matures he should be able to maintain his fastball velocity later into the game. A couple of more outings like this and I think they need to move him up to AA. I am telling you, this guy is a top 10 prospect and probably the #2 pitching prospect in our system behind Graterol. I have seen Thorpe, Stewart, and several others at Ft Myers, and Balazovic was much more impressive than any of them. Other notes: Lewin Diaz absolutely crushed a home run over the Truly Nolen 2018 FSL Championship banner in center field. The guy is really flashy (he has huge earings in both ears and lots of chain) and holds his hands really low. If he had a more conventional hitting approach he might be a much more solid prospect. Im just not certain you can hold your hands just above your waist and hit higher level pitching. Ryan Jeffers is a good hitter that has some potential to move up the ranks, but he is never going to be a major league catcher. The team should use him there in the minors so he can serve as a backup catcher, but he doesn't have the movement skills. Royce Lewis might be slumping a bit, but he is going to be a solid player. The ball jumps off his bat and he is a really solid leader. He keeps his teammates loose.

Strongly disagree that Celestino is the one on the bubble and Larnach will have to "power his way from St Paul to Minneapolis." Celestino has no role on this team with Taylor here. Larnach is on the roster as of now with Celestino finally getting his much needed time in AAA to work on his game.

I'm not a fan of this FO, but I love this trade, selling high on Arraez for good pitching.

LOVE the "Top Prospect Summary". GREAT addition to the report.

Given how this front office has plucked guys like Odorizzi, Morrison, Reed, and now Lynn this offseason for peanuts, I’d be enraged if I was a fan of one of the other 5-7 fringe contender teams in baseball. It feels really good to be on this end of things for once.

After last season, I'm okay with this.

I'd much rather have Coulombe than Pagan on the major league roster. I really hope Pagan is good and proves the FO right, but I really don't see it and don't understand their obsession with him.

His plate discipline is currently best on the team at age 22. He's 22 so his power is still developing. I don't care what the defensive metrics say. I've watched almost every game... I can't recall any moment where he could be perceived as a defensive liability at any of the positions he has played. I'm buying stock.

Both of these games felt like more than routine mid season games. Fun. It's what being a fan should be.

I'm glad they didn't overthink this pick - taking the consensus best available player. it will be exciting to watch him develop!

A helpful reminder...In situations like this, there are no winners or losers, just conclusions. Celebrating or defaming either party is not productive and only looks poor for yourself. With that said, I look forward to hopefully seeing a full season's worth of contributions from Sano.

I don't know if I'd say this "great" news... Or bad news. It's just news. I still feel incredibly itchy and uncomfortable with the whole situation.

I wonder if clarity in a TV contract needs to be high on the to do list.

I umpired Brooks' games from Youth Ball, into Babe Ruth and through high school. When he went to college, I got behind the plate during Fall Ball. Brooks has an incredible eye and command of the strike zone. In high school he just overpowered the opposing pitcher. In college he became a very disciplined hitter. Can't wait to see what he does next. Twins are now my favorite team...right behind my Giants. In my opinion, you drafted a really good player and a great person.

Why would we assume he merely lost weight. What if he replaced fat with muscle? Couldn't he be leaner and meaner?

I always wonder why teams try to change a hitter's approach when what he has been doing has been working. In this case, it reminds me of Buxton, and all of the attempts the Twins staff made to change his approach at the plate. Finally, he just chucked all the advice except Oliva's--see ball, hit ball--and regained his confidence. I suspect there are many success stories of players who changed their approach and were more successful, but sometimes I wonder if they outnumber those cases where attempted adjustments mess up players. This kid is an on base machine (career .391), like Arraez, and like Arraez, will likely never hit with power. I don't think that is a horrible thing. We need contact hitters as well as the Joey Gallo's of the world. I would vote for letting the kid play his style at St. Paul and see what happens. I think it will be a good result.

FO has been busy negotiating with Jack Cave.

Well, cut it out. Leave those guys alone.

Seems like we would be selling very low and he is not bringing anything meaningful back. I would much rather start him in STP next year instead of selling low and see if he rebounds.

Jeffers behind the dish for both shutouts now. Not to take anything away from Vasquez, but I've really been impressed with how good Jeffers has become on defense and game calling. And he's hitting. He's looking like the player I thought he would become when Garver departed.

Gallo and Kepler, winning ball games, just like we've all been saying all year.

I'd rather have Castro than Kepler. Castro is, to me, the ideal bench player. Switch hitter who can play anywhere but catcher, and steal a base. He doesn't need to be an everyday player, but he's exactly what I want out of my 26th guy. Castro is hitting better than Kepler this year. Provides better base running, and more flexibility. If they're making moves for Wallner, Miranda, Larnach, whoever they need to start with Kepler. Castro isn't the problem on this team. He fits the role he should have. And it's a valuable role.

The Twins are currently down 4-0. The top of the 4th is just getting started. The Giants used on opener in the 1st inning with right handed John Brebbia. Left handed Sean Manaea entered the game in the 2nd inning. After a 1-2-3 first inning. Rocco reacted to this by pinch hitting Solano for Julien before he even swung a bat in the cleanup spot and then later in the 3rd inning. Kyle Garlick pinch hit for Alex Kirilloff. Here's a note for opposing managers. Start an opposite hand opener and Rocco will over react early. I understand why he did it. He shouldn't have done it. Yeah Manaea splits are worse against Right Handed Hitters but let's face it... Manaea has an ERA of 7.81 this season... so how many innings did you think Manaea would throw? Did you just fall for Gabe Kapler saying "Hey Look Your Shoes Untied" because I'll bet a Right Hander is in the game before the 6th and you've... well... whatever. I hope he wasn't expecting Junis in the 2nd because he just threw yesterday. Where did he think Kapler was going after the opener? Rocco has just wrapped up the Over Managing Manager of the Year Award. Nobody else will top it. He can start writing his acceptance speech immediately after the game. I've been on his side... He may have lost me tonight.

Stunned. Absolutely shocked they're spending this much money. I'm all for it.

I don’t even blame them for not landing Correa… well, not entirely. But it’s one more thing that doesn’t look good for them. I’m tired of trading for injured pitchers. I’m tired of the lack of pitching development. I’m tired of them disliking long contracts more than they like good players. I’m tired of them not getting “their guy” and instead pivoting, pivoting, and pivoting again. I simply don’t see many reasons to keep them around anymore. They’re not exceptional at anything and have significant flaws.

If basically the only real downside to a trade is "We had to give up an old player who was unlikely to be on the team next year and he's a really good dude"...then it's a pretty good trade. Look, I love Nelson Cruz as much as anyone, but we got two AAA pitchers that are considered to be good prospects from an organization that has a deep minor league system and a great reputation for developing pitching. The hate levels are low. The like levels are high.

Can the Twins throw Sam Dyson in to sweeten the pot?

Your Dozier hatred continues to amuse me. Jay Bruce: 31 years old, 5806 PA, 20.3 fWAR, 18.9 rWAR past 3 year WAR total: 4.2 rWAR Brian Dozier: 31 years old, 3770 PA, 20.8 fWAR, 22.9 rWAR past 3 year WAR total: 13.4 rWAR Come on, those numbers aren't even close.

They should sign Garcia, and then trade him right before opening day. This will signal to the team that they are throwing in the towel on the season, at which point the players will get angry and prove them wrong. There might also be a life-size cardboard likeness of Falvey involved.