Notebook: A Twins Favorite Calls It Quits

Dozier Hangs Em’ Up

After briefly playing for the New York Mets during the truncated 2020 Major League Baseball season, Brian Dozier decided he’d done what he could for the game. He retired with a press conference hosted by the Minnesota Twins today. The fan-favorite second basemen leaves the sport with 1,144 games played, 192 dingers, a Gold Glove, and a World Series ring as a member of the 2019 Washington Nationals.

Coming up as a shortstop and moving two the other side of the bag, he became one of the most prolific home run hitters at the position for a brief stretch. In Twins history, Dozier is joined by only Harmon Killebrew and Nelson Cruz as the only other players to surpass 40 homers in a single season. What started with the flow will always be remembered by the smile. Enjoy retirement Doz!

Minor League Schedules Unveiled

Today teams across the minor leagues announced their schedules for the upcoming season. Triple-A will begin in April with Single and Double-A leagues kicking off in May. The St. Paul Saints begin their inaugural season as an affiliated club, and the Wichita Wind Surge kick off their first year as an organization as well.

https://twitter.com/tlschwerz/status/1362448455818444804

For Minnesota there’s plenty of intrigue given a new Triple-A team in their own backyard, a first time Double-A club, and a newly branded Single-A unit. Alex Kirilloff is the name to watch when it comes to the minors out of the gate as the assumption is he’ll be sent to St. Paul in order to hold back his service time. Does he force the Twins hand? Can fans see him at a discounted rate for a month? Lots to watch there.

Arms on the Move

Oakland entered the free agent party in somewhat of a big way today as they signed Trevor Rosenthal to a one-year deal worth $11 million. He was considered among the best available free agent options remaining, and the Athletics needed to shore up a relief corps that lost Liam Hendriks. They did also ink first basemen Mitch Moreland today.

Set to play his 19th year in the big leagues, Oliver Perez rejoined Cleveland for the upcoming season. Perez pitched in 21 games last year and posted a 2.00 ERA. He’s played for eight different clubs during his career, but he’ll need another seven years under his belt to even up his time spent in the National League.

https://twitter.com/JakeOdorizzi/status/1362461694623174663

Taijuan Walker has been noted as the Mets primary target, but former Twins starter Jake Odorizzi remains unsigned and has arguably the better resume. He posted a video to Twitter today showing off his first day of Spring Training. Minnesota hasn’t been closely linked at all, and should Odorizzi get a market value deal, there’s not much reason to believe he’ll return.

Realmuto On the Mend

https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1362477868341723143

After signing a five-year deal worth $115 million to return as the Phillies backstop, J.T. Realmuto will miss a bulk of Spring Training action. He suffered a broken thumb on his throwing hand and the hope is that he’ll be ready for Opening Day. The Philadelphia star has roughly a month of runway to heal, but he’ll need to knock off the rust due to missed game action.

More Twins Prospect Steam…

Kiley McDaniel, formerly of Fangraphs, revealed his top 10 Twins prospects today at ESPN. You need to be an ESPN+ subscriber for the full list, but let’s just say the Matt Canterino steam remains incredibly strong.

Showing Up Early

The Twins pitchers and catchers report day isn't actually until tomorrow, but Communications Director Dustin Morse is always showing off some goodies on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/morsecode/status/1362473058217431040

https://twitter.com/morsecode/status/1362484312478797824

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