Nate Palmer

I may have needed to alternate between listening to music and puppy videos in my research for this post to avoid too many sad emotions for this exact reason.

Music always adds a little spark to the stadium experience. With Josh Donaldson now a member of the Minnesota Twins, here are some songs that need to be considered as additions to the Target Field stadium mix for 2020.Now that the Minnesota Twins officially have Josh Donaldson, the bringer of rain himself, on the 2020 roster it is time to think about the real important stuff. What are some great in stadium songs that need to be played with such a man joining the Bomba squad? Here are five songs that should be considered in no particular order. Purple Rain by Prince This is an easy one. A slam-dunk on the eight-foot hoop in your childhood driveway. It is so easy Pick and Shovel Wear already themed a shirt in the same vein. It is the true Bringer of Rain meets Minnesota with Minnesota’s own in Prince. And the Twins already did the umbrella thing with Purple Rain so it is a perfect match! The only disqualifier when it comes to this list is that I believe it is already in the song rotation. Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head by B.J. Thomas See: World Series Champion Washington Nationals and Baby Shark. The Nationals ran with a kids favorite on their way to the championship this past season. While Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head isn’t quite the same in popularity at the moment, it is still a kids’ favorite. Since sports are often copycat in nature, why not? Plus, if it leads to people throwing Lemon Drops, Gum Drops, and other forms of candy in the air during a game for me to eat. Count me in! Chocolate Rain by Tay Zonday In 2007 Chocolate Rain by Tay Zonday became an internet and YouTube sensation out of nowhere. For many, that is where the Twins 101-win and playoff season came from -- out of nowhere. It is also how the Donaldson signing felt when the notifications started hitting each of our phones and Twitter timelines. To celebrate why not throw it back to this internet sensation from an unlikely place. **step away from mic to breathe** I Wish It Would Rain-The Temptations Just imagine it. It is the bottom of the ninth, Twins down but in striking distance and Donaldson is due up against the visiting team’s closer. In the lead up to the Twin’s half of the inning the fan base starts crying out for rain. The downgrade on this song is as it was recorded by the Temptations is it isn’t quite a stadium thumper. Maybe someone could remix it? Maybe Mauer can hit up TI to add some more bass to this classic. Who’ll Stop The Rain by Creedence Clearwater Revival This selection is made with a similar thought process as the previous one. Although, this time instead of being played in order to encourage the Bomba squad, specifically Donaldson, to make in rain. This one asks who will stop it. It would be perfect to be squeezed in right as the visiting team needs to make a change after a Twins towering home run. Bonus: Rain is a Good Thing by Luke Bryan You know, because rain is a good thing! What are some songs you would consider and why? MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

This is the infield only version of OAA. You would need to go look at the outfield version for those numbers. But since you asked he pulled in a -3 in the outfield version of the stat.

If we put any stock in FanGraphs scoop metric, Cron actually graded out better than Mauer when comparing 2018 and 2019. Cron at 31 and Mauer at 20.

The -6 is a combination of all of his lineup positions. When lined up traditionally as a 2B Arraez had a -5, as a 3B -1, and a SS -0. The negative 0 seems silly but I added it because the sight seems to for now differentiate between -0 and 0. No idea why but it can all be found on a players specific page on the site.

I don't know if there is a real clean way to look at the two stats quite the same way (but I could be missing something). They come to the number by each play a fielder is involved in having a weighted value assigned to it based on difficulty. Each play a player is involved with then gets added together. If you want the real long explanation of the stat here is a link to a thorough read! http://tangotiger.com/images/uploads/History_of_the_Fielding.pdf

The Minnesota Twins aren’t technically done putting together their roster for 2020. As it stands today, Statcasts newly rolled out Outs Above Average stat doesn’t have much but bad news for Twins fans. Of course, with anything there is always a glimmer of hope.It has always been tricky to figure out just how to use or trust Defensive metrics have when trying to evaluate baseball players as fielders. While it is clear stats like DRS and UZR tell part of the story for fielders, the jury continues to be out on exactly how reliable these stats can be for us when evaluating players. Statcast has been at work trying to help find a way of evaluating fielders with a stat that more fully tells the story of a player's performance. That is where OAA or Outs Above Average comes in. The big difference between OAA and stats like DRS and UZR is that OAA for the first time looks at infielders in a way that reflects today’s “positionless baseball”. Previously DRS and UZR have looked at players and rated them based on the traditional ranges of each infield position. Where DRS and UZR have fallen short is they are not able to shift with players as they shift in today’s style of baseball. OAA has found a way to better evaluate infielders even as they move around the diamond. For the most part, OAA has affirmed a lot of what we already knew about fielders. As you take a chance to run through the leaderboard most players will wind up where they would on some of the other leaderboards. Eno Sarris did take a look at the biggest movers between the traditional stats we are used to and OAA as part of his recent article in The Athletic. What is most important to us here at Twins Daily is what does this mean for the Twins infielders. According to OAA the Twins infield defense is still MIA. Ok, MIA may be strong but there isn’t much good to look at. Here is how the Twins starters from last year ranked among their position group followed by their OAA number. 1B C.J. Cron: 17th (+1) 2B Jonathan Schoop: 5th (+5) SS Jorge Polanco: 35th, last among qualified SS (-16) 3B Miguel Sano: 29th (-5) Schoop is viewed very favorably by OAA. Problem is that he will not be around in 2020. Same can be said for the only other positively ranked infielder out of last year’s starters, Cron. So here is where the currently projected starting infield ranked in 2019 according to OAA. 1B Marwin Gonzalez: +7 (+2 attributed to 1B) 2B Luis Arraez: -6 SS Jorge Polanco: -16 3B Miguel Sano: -5 As has been observed time and time again, the Twins infield defense is not looking good any way you paint it if each infielder repeats his 2019 performance. Marwin right now represents the only plus defender in the current starting lineup. One big hope has to be that Polanco just had an especially bad season in 2019 as in 2017 and 2018 he was rated at a -5. Some of the the same can be said for Sano as he was at a -3 the previous two seasons. Polanco may come out looking the worst with the release of OAA where he seemingly plummets from a +1 DRS to a -16 OAA. Even though Sano may not look great, he does look slightly more favorably and even ranks higher than old friend Eduardo Escobar amongst current third baseman. Many of us are still hoping for one more signing either at third or first so here are some infielders available (or rumored to be) that could give the Twins an upgrade in infield defense according to OAA. Nolan Arenado: +17 Josh Donaldson: +8 Brandon Belt: +3 Kris Bryant: +2 Mitch Moreland: -1 This is a real quick look at what this new tool Statcast has placed in our hands to look at infielders is telling us about the Twins. There are several different nuances that I personally still need to and want to explore to see what we can learn about infield defense. What are your thoughts about OAA. Are you excited for Statcast's newest stat? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Not registered? Click here to create an account. To stay up to date, follow Twins Daily on Twitter and Facebook. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — 2020 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook Available NOW! — The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of a Potential Jose Berrios Extension — Nicholas Castellanos Can’t Play First Base Click here to view the article

Thanks Matthew! I know this is a thought that has crossed my mind this offseason. I do wonder where exit velocity plays into bombas, the ball, and 2020. If it does mean anything that Cruz and Sano should be safe as the #2 and #3 in MLB last year. Although you go down that leaderboard a bit and begin to see some very non-homer type hitters so who knows.

Thanks! I hinted at but probably wasn't clear in addressing the dip in production. There were some injuries in there that seemed to coincide with the dip. That is certainly a question mark going into 2020. Was the drop in production all injury related or something else.

If you are worried about prospects and only spending money hope for them to go get Mitch Moreland. Please don't take this as my preferred option or best case scenario. But if Donaldson doesn't agree to Minnesota and the Twins are looking for an impact bat Bell can be that. I have no idea what the Pirates are looking for because in researching this I have seen the whole spectrum of suggestions. I would think they want talent. I think the Twins would need to be prepared to be offering at least a top-10 in the org plus some. And more if someone wants Archer or Kela included and a whole lot more for Marte. Trades are always tricky to predict though...

That is one stat that Cron is just ahead of Bell on. And in the top-4 of the league at that. Check the offensive numbers and Bell was in 2019 clearly a better player than Cron.

The hope still has to be the Minnesota Twins can sign Josh Donaldson. In the event that things go south there, the other Josh, Pirates first baseman Josh Bell could become a good target to acquire via trade.We are all still hoping that the Minnesota Twins reported four-year offer to Josh Donaldson wins out. In the event that the Twins once again strike out on a free agent the front office may look to turn to the trade market not only for pitching but offensive help as well. The Pittsburgh Pirates could theoretically help the Twins with both pitching and offense. For this space, we will look at their slugging first baseman who may slot well into an already dangerous Twins lineup. That slugger is 2019 All-Star Josh Bell who could be available as new GM Ben Cherington looks to jump start a flailing franchise. There are very few questions surrounding Bell’s bat. He is a switch hitter who hit .277/.367/.569 with a .936 OPS and 143 OPS+. In 2019 Bell found a new level to his hitting like many in 2019 and was able find that improvement as he increased his launch angle. Bell especially hit right-handers well slashing .297/.387/.615 and a 1.002 OPS. There is potentially room to question if Bell can repeat that performance or if some injuries mid-season could have some long term effects on the first baseman. What has been a bigger question surrounding Bell his whole professional baseball career is whether or not he defensively can be a positive with his glove for an MLB team. Traditional defensive metrics do not paint a great picture for Bell’s glove. In 2019 Bell had a -5 DRS, -7.5 UZR, and -16.4 UZR/150. While all of those numbers cause concern, especially when thinking of adding Bell to an already less than stellar infield defense, there is some good. Plenty of people who work with or watch Bell comment on his improvement as a defender and willingness to lunge after throws. Among those seeing improvement is his former manager Clint Hurdle. Alongside the eye test, Bell also ranked fourth in 2019 among first baseman in FanGraphs scoop stat. Placing him just behind former Twins first baseman C.J. Cron and in front of Braves Freddie Freeman. Especially with Jorge Polanco making throws from shortstop that scoop stat may be more important to the Twins infield defense than anything else. It also seems to make Bell more than just a bat for any team interested in trying to complete a trade for him. We truly don’t know if Cherington is interested in trading his first baseman, but he does want to rebuild the Pirates organization at all levels. Bell is a great way to acquire a haul of players and with Derek Shelton now managing the Pirates he may have some players he would advocate for Cherington to bring to Pittsburgh. Bell is not Donaldson. Bell’s defensive value is not anywhere near the same as Donaldson’s but their bats are comparable. Bell would be cheaper than Donaldson and his under team control until 2022 when he is set to become a free agent for the first time. Donaldson is clearly and no question the better player. Bell could become a nice pivot for an infield bat if the Twins offer to Donaldson doesn’t stand up to the others. And who knows, maybe the Twins could make it into a “blockbuster” trade and get the Pirates to include Chris Archer or Keone Kela in a deal. Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Not registered? Click here to create an account. To stay up to date, follow Twins Daily on Twitter and Facebook. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Hayes: Twins to Sign Rich Hill & Homer Bailey —Where Are We Now? (New Years Edition) — A Decade of Greener Grass Ahead for Twins Click here to view the article

I was actually looking at this trade in particular since Smeltzer has the most MLB experience of any of the guys so far. For a couple of months the Dodgers got Dozier who contributed a nice round 0.0 bWAR to be added to his 1.0 bWAR for the season. The Twins last season got 0.7 bWAR worth of production out of Smeltzer and he is still able to contribute to the team. Not sure if that is a huge victory, but that is a pretty smart move in my opinion.

In Part 3 of the look at Falvey and Levine Era trades we take a look at some emotionally charged trades from the summer of 2018. Looking back now, those trades may be exactly what the Twins needed to set themselves up to make a World Series-sized trade sometime soon.As we continue on with our series looking at the Derek Falvey and Thad Levine led front office and the trades they have made we will look not at a single one, but at a flurry of trades. That flurry came in the middle of the 2018 season when the Twins had a fire sale of veterans who were on expiring deals and stocked their farm system with prospects. As a fan, it was a tough series of trades as we saw several fan favorite players leave Minnesota. At the time it seemed like a pair of infielders, Brian Dozier and Eduardo Escobar, were the ones most deeply missed. Let’s recap quickly those trades that happened mid-2018. Eduardo Escobar to Dbacks for Ernie De La Trinidad, Jhoan Duran, and Gabriel MacielRyan Pressly to Astros for Gilberto Celestino and Jorge AlcalaZack Duke to Mariners for Ryan Costello and Chase De JongLance Lynn to Yankees for Luis Rijo and Tyler AustinBrian Dozier to Dodgers for Luke Raley, Logan Forsythe, Devin SmeltzerFernando Rodney to A’s for Dakota ChalmersBobby Wilson to Cubs for Chris Giminez and PTBNL or cashThe majority of these trades are “wins” simply because these guys were free agents to be and there weren’t plans on the Twins part to re-sign them. One we could say the Twins should have kept around may have been Escobar. My hunch is that Escobar was ready to be a starter. With Miguel Sano here that probably wasn’t happening that offseason. The Pressly trade is certainly up for debate. He certainly would have been nice to have around this past season. At the same time, as much of the conversation was centered on last week, it is hard to truly evaluate trades until these prospects get their chance to develop. That doesn’t erase the fact that before the Twins bullpen really took shape during the second half, Pressly was someone many of us were wishing was still around. Some of the players acquired have already exited the Twins organization for one reason or another. Some as veterans that were simply not needed any longer, and others as prospects that were allowed to go elsewhere. Below is a graph with those remaining sorted by Fangraphs recent ranking of the Twins organization. Download attachment: Screen Shot 2019-12-23 at 8.11.44 PM.png There was a whole lot of talent that was brought in in a short amount of time during that 2018 season. Some of these players the Twins are hoping to develop into the waves of players that sustain winning in the Twins Cities. I also fully believe these trades were made to set the front office up to make more trades. That becomes especially important now as the Twins have yet to fulfill their promise of impact pitching coming to help the 2020 Twins. These prospects make up one of the deepest group of prospects in MLB baseball and it is time to see which players can be used to acquire an arm to help next season's rotation. So while as a fan it was hard to say good-bye to so many of our favorite players in 2018 it was the right baseball move. Now if the Twins want to get to a World Series it is time to move some of those prospects to get players who are ready to take them there now. How do you feel about those 2018 trades after some time has passed? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Not registered? Click here to create an account. To stay up to date, follow Twins Daily on Twitter and Facebook. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY —Ryu To Sign with Toronto. Now What? —The Royals Problem: Just How Much Are You Willing to Give Up to Win a World Series? —Two Lefty Starters the Twins Could Trade For Right Now Click here to view the article

Appreciate the words and your reading of the article. I do appreciate also the pointing out of the oversight on my part. Thanks!

The big difference here is that Schales is already out of the organization. My thought here is along the lines of "do you think the Cubs care that Gleyber Torres is a stud after trading him for Chapman?" The answer is really no or very little because Chapman helped them get a ring. So while Littell didn't get the Twins a ring, he helped move them forward to the playoffs. So if Ynoa has similar effectiveness to Littell this series of trades are good. If Ynoa becomes Chapman or Rivera then we will need to revisit this. Thanks for reading!

Since the eating of the contract wasn't listed in the official transaction I will admit to being wrong or overlooking that aspect of the second trade. Instead of accusing me of trying to re-write history I would appreciate a conversation or reminder of that aspect. A simple "Hey, don't forget that..." sort of thing. That is why I am here, for conversation about my favorite team. It honestly doesn't really change me evaluation of the trade but it is a noteworthy aspect to remember.

Derek Falvey and Thad Levine have made plenty of trades during their tenure of leading the Twins front office. The series of transactions surrounding Jaime Garcia in 2017 is one of the oddities of baseball history and is the focus of this look back at Falvey and Levine era trades.Last week we took a look at what may be the most successful trade, as of the moment, that the Derek Falvey and Thad Levine led front office has completed. This week we will take a look at not only their strangest sequence of transactions but one of the oddities in the history of baseball. On July 24, 2017, the Twins felt as they were enough in the race for the postseason that they needed to bolster their rotation. That led them to send Huascar Ynoa to the Atlanta Braves for Jaime Garcia, Anthony Recker, and cash. On July 28, 2017, Garcia would start for the Twins and go 6 2/3 innings, allowed three runs, three walks, and issued seven strikeouts and led the Twins to a win. All is good for Garcia in Minnesota right? All except that was the only game they won in the time he was a Minnesota Twin. The drop in the standings resulted in another trade of Garcia, this time to the New York Yankees from whom the Twins received Zack Littell and Dietrich Enns. For those playing along the Twins essentially traded Ynoa for Recker, Littell, Enns, and cash. Now Recker didn’t really ever do anything for the Twins. He played 19 games at Rochester and slashed .286/.333/.414 before being granted free agency at the end of the season. Enns was brought to the Twins with the likely hope that he would be an option for the back end of the rotation. After four innings in the majors in 2017, Enns spent 2018 in the organization but spent 2019 with the Padres. That leaves Littell as the only player standing from that package. It has been well noted throughout 2019 the breakout that Littell had after moving from starting to the bullpen. His 2.68 ERA over 37 innings was an effective part of the emergent Twins bullpen. That alone gives the weird events of the trade a positive mark. We won’t truly be able to evaluate this trade from a value standpoint for several years since Ynoa is still only 21-years-old and just made his major league debut this season (even if it was only four innings). One thing that seems evident is that the Braves have already decided that Ynoa isn’t going to be able to stick as a starter and has been moved to what appears to be a full-time relief role. Ynoa has the raw stuff with four pitches and good velocity that he very well could still develop into a weapon for the Braves out of their bullpen. As young as Ynoa is there is plenty of time for him to make all Twins fans wish he was in our team's pen at some point. Ultimately this trade receives an incomplete grade. I am inclined to think that unless Ynoa develops in the next Aroldis Chapman as a closer this is ultimately a good sequence of moves for the Twins. Littell was a valuable part of this year’s bullpen and without his contribution who knows if 101 wins would have become a reality. It may end up being a trade of immediate results for long term results. A trade-off contending teams need to do at times. What are your memories of the Garcia swaps? How do you feel about how it has all panned out two and a half years later? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Not registered? Click here to create an account. To stay up to date, follow Twins Daily on Twitter and Facebook. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Report: Twins to Re-sign Reliever Sergio Romo — Can the Twins Fix Royce Lewis’s Swing? — Winter Meetings Bring a Dose of Cold Reality for Twins Click here to view the article

The hiring of Derek Falvey and Thad Levine by the Minnesota Twins marked a true change in the Twin Cities. Since their hiring they have made a number of critical hires and player moves. In this series we are going to look back at the significant trades this front office has made. First up, Jake Odorizzi.Jake Odorizzi recently committed to the Minnesota Twins for one more season by accepting the qualifying offer at the tune of $17.8 million dollars. It wasn’t all that long ago that the Twins went after Odorizzi. In the kick-off to a series looking back at some of the more significant trades of the Falvey and Levine era, here is a look back at that trade for the Twins right-hander. It may sound weird, but the night of the Odorizzi trade is one of those nights I will remember for a while. Twins fans had been charged up with the hopes that maybe the Twins would sign Yu Darvish and then it turned into hopes and dreams of acquiring Chris Archer. So when Darren Wolfson tweeted that something was going on between the Rays and Twins, everyone was on alert! Why it was big for me personally was because I was editing over at Puckett’s Pond where I had just recently said goodbye to a good friend and mentor and hello to a new member of the team. It felt like my first big chance to roll out some big Twins news as the site veteran. Personal stories aside, at the time and still today, it looks like an absolute steal that the Twins were able to acquire Odorizzi for shortstop prospect Jermaine Palacios. At the time Palacios was a top-20 Twins prospect but he was also behind the likes of Royce Lewis, Wander Javier, and Nick Gordon. While Palacios is still only 22-years-old, he hasn’t been higher than Double-A ball and only slashed .210/.275/.266 in 2019. While Odorizzi may have initially been acquired as a quick fix replacement to keep the Twins afloat after Ervin Santana went down with injury, he has proven to be a bit more and a crucial part to the Twins rotation. What is even more important is that the Twins front office got Odorizzi instead of Archer which looks very smart at this point. Download attachment: Screen Shot 2019-12-09 at 8.33.49 PM.png The above stats are from 2018 and 2019. As they show, Odorizzi has been better the past two years than Archer. In 2018, the two pitchers were relatively similar with Archer edging Odorizzi in stats like ERA and K/9 but Odorizzi had a better WAR of 1.5 to Archer’s 1.0. 2019 is where Odorizzi really pulled away from Archer as Odorizzi put in an All-Star worthy season. At the same time Archer was very disappointing and had a 5.19 ERA and 0.8 WAR. Not at all what the Pirates were hoping for when they traded some good and talented players to Tampa Bay for him. Speaking of talented players, because the Twins didn’t acquire Archer they were able to hold on to one key player that the Rays were interested in, Max Kepler. At the time many were speculating the Twins might have needed to package Kepler with either Stephen Gonsalves or Fernando Romero plus a few other prospects if they were to bring Archer to Minnesota. The acquisition of Odorizzi on its own looks like a huge win for Falvey and Levine. Adding in what could have been and the fact they hung on to the likes of Kepler makes it feel that much better. Now a deal for Archer may have never actually been on the table but at the time many of us wanted to make it. What are your thoughts on the Odorizzi trade? Has your opinion of it changed at all over the past two seasons? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Not registered? Click here to create an account. To stay up to date, follow Twins Daily on Twitter and Facebook. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Big Mike Brings Upside to Bottom of Rotation — Alex Avila and the Frame Game — Choose Your Own Path: Three Ways for the Minnesota Twins to Use Their Remaining $35MM Click here to view the article