Thrylos

Jeremy Hefner has been an advance scout for the Twins the past season. here is a good writeup on him.

I would not like that here or there, I would not like that anywhere.

Freddy Galvin's career slash line: .246/.290/.374; 79 OPS+ Ehire Adrianza's career slash line: .242/.303/.355; 80 OPS+ If I were bargain shopping I'd take the guy who would cost the least, and that is the devil I knew, since neither is a difference maker with the stick. That said, the Twins have two many production questions to afford yet another below average bat. Polanco is fine at SS and has been improving. His range is better than average but still makes too many errors. I hope that more playing time will help him there. As far as middle infield goes, I'd try to sign Daniel Murphy to an one year incentives ladder contract to play second base and PT DH.

Inherited runs scored is the poster boy of making something out of small sample size. Would probably need an n of 1-200 to make it meaningful. Check these guys out: Arodys Vizcaíno 100% IRS%, 2.11 ERA Steven Wright 100% IRS%, 2.68 ERA Brandon Woodruff 100% IRS%, 3.61 ERA For May IR n = 16...

Pitchf/x will agree (here is the fangraphs link to pitch values) with the difference that his fastball improved to league average now and the slider (he still throws about 10%) of the time stayed a pretty awful pitch, unlike the improved curve and change. I think that getting rid of the slider will help him even further, but it is a confidence thing to throw a curve or a change when he used to throw one...

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --------- 12/13/1988: The MLB transactions for the Minnesota Twins had one line: The Twins signed free agent catcher Brian Harper to an one year contract worth $90,000. The Twins were the sixth franchise for Harper who was drafted by the California Angels in the 4th round of the 1977 MLB June Amateur Draft, traded to the Pirates and then the Cardinals who released him on April Fool's 1986, and then signed and released by the Tigers and A's in single year assignments. Harper was an intriguing guy. He hit .353/.403/.653 as a 28 year old in AAA Portland before the Twins brought him up to finish the season with the big club, hitting .295/.344/.428 with 10 walks and 12 strikeouts in 184 plate appearances. Harper became the Twins starting catcher in 1989 and held that post until 1993. His tenure with the Twins included an otherworldly .381/.435/.476 slash line in 26 World Series plate appearances in 1991, the best World Series ever. Fast forward about 30 years: November 25, 2017: The Twins sign 26 year old Willians Astrudillo as a minor league free agent. After a stint in AAA, like Harper, Astrudillo made it to the bigs, where there were a lot of accolades, regarding his low walking and strikeout percentage, and about his lack of being a "three outcome guy". Astudillo's line last season ended up being .355/.371/.516 with a 2.1 BB% and a 3.1 K%. In 1991 Brian Harper ended the season with a 3.0 BB % and a 4.7 K%. Both were about his career average for the Twins. After 1993 strike Harper moved on and ended up his career with a .295/.329/.419 major league line with a 3.9 BB% and a 5.6 K%. Both Harper and Astudillo have had questions about their defensive ability, and like Astudillo Harper had to play other positions (OF, 1B and 3B) before he was established. Harper was an integral part of the Twins 1991 team. Might be the time to let Astudillo be the "Harp" for these Twins...

That number 56 is pretty much cursed. But available. Here is a list of all the Twins who wore it: Terry Jorgensen Jose Parra Cleatus Davidson Brad Thomas Travis Bowyer Carmen Cali Randy Ruiz Rob Delaney Dusty Hughes Caleb Thielbar Tyler Duffey Fernando Rodney

Good for him. After the last game of the season, there was no way that he was not going to retire. Thanks for the memories and I suspect that we will see him in another capacity with the Twins soon.

If that is his floor, he spent last season in the basement. Nothing "solid" about last season.

I have not given up on Buxton; however, until he shows some consistency, an extension will be ill-advised. The two things are not mutually exclusive. The Twins have bigger fish to fry at this point (pitching - pitching - pitching) to make them competitive, than a Buxton extension. A Buxton extension will do nothing for them in 2019. Cross that bridge when you have to, and Rosario, Berrios, Sano should be ahead of Buxton in the extension lines because of service time.

Polanco's numbers do not indicate that the Twins are "exposed" at SS. -1 DRS means that Polanco in his 600+ innings at SS cost the Twins one run more than the average shortstop. Not. Exposed. Do you want "exposed"? Manny Machado had a -13 DRS in 1260 or so innings at shortstop. Carlos Correa had -4 in 960 or so innings. Both worse with the glove than Polanco. You do not hear much about moving Correa to second base, do you? That RngR of 1.4 is the 11th best among 32 shortstops who played in the position for more than 600 innings and above 0, which means that he has better range than most shortstops out there, so it really does not help your argument. He is fine at shortstop and is getting better...

Indeed. Not to mention that it is becoming a fairly large AA international hub. Isn't that where Pohlad wanted to move the Twins in the late 90s?

There is a good reason that Machado should be out of reach: Unless they spend that $ for a true ace and get a LHSP who can be a true two so these 2 can at least on paper match with the top 2 of Cleveland, Houston, and Boston, and unless they invest decent amount of $ in their pen, Machado would be just yet another layer of lipstick on a pig.

Boras is 66. The Twins have up to 7-8 years of control of these 2 before they become free agents. He might be retired by then

Not while with the Twins but Denard Span is a Boras client now.

Glavine did that in his 3rd pro season, age 21, two years younger and 3 pro season's ahead of Gonsalves. At Gonsalves's age he went 14-8 with 3.68 ERA, pitched 186 innings, with 1.14 WHIP. Slightly different outcome there.

It was twice proven that it cannot support a AAA team, as the Twins' AAA affiliate moved to SLC from there in 1993 and the Padres' affiliate to Tuscon in 2010. That said, the biggest issue was local support for a stadium. This seem to have changed a lot and the community seems eager to make a big investment. On the other hand, if I had to bet, I'd bet relocation vs expansion. Portland A's or Rays might make much sense, with the team not going to Portland going to Canada.

I'd argue that MLB numbers are a much better indicator for potential future MLB performance (which is what prospects should be ranked accordingly) than any minor league numbers. On the other hand, once in the show, one is not a prospect in my book, since he made it

Those are always fun. I still haven't thought about mine (always waiting until the next year in case of trades, cuts etc) but I will definitely have Arraez much higher that this, and so will Jeffers and Wells. Gordon is too high, so is Gonzalves. As a matter of fact, when it mattered, Stewart out-pitched Gonsalves and showed much more poise as a major leaguer. And they are the same age. I hope both Gordon and Gonsalves are traded while still have some value... Misael Urbina has to be on that list, probably in the top 10 as well...

Other than the Buxton extension, I am ok with it. Rosario, Polanco, and even Sano should be extended before Buxton

If a ball is hit in the right field line, a lefty throwing OF will have to backhand it with his back to the plate and pivot around his axis for the throw to the plate. A righty will get his glove facing the plate, transfer and throw without the pivot. Not that much different than what a left hand fielding SS/3B would do to the throw to 1B, but it is acceptable at the OF because it is twice the distance of the throw from the SS/3B where every half second really matters.

Wade will likely not make his MLB debut with the Twins, pending injuries. Why? He is yet another left hand hitting and throwing OF. Kepler, Cave are ahead of him (Rosario and Buxton are not going anyway) and Kirilloff might surpass him this season. He is caught in the numbers and the Twins should see him as trade bait this offseason.

It is the arm that has the glove that matters. A right hand throwing RF can get to balls in the corner or towards the line much better than a lefty throwing RF, and vise-versa for LF., thus turning potential doubles into singles and triples into doubles. Thus the discussion about Molitor switching his two corner OFs, having Rosario at RF and Kepler to LF (where he even admitted was more comfortable;) something that I suspect will happen in 2019.

They did not. They moved him off their 40-man roster and had to pass him through waivers to do so. Same way that Randy Rosario was picked by the Cubs. The Twins did not release him.

vs LHP Reed hit .409/.474/.561 in AAA and .400/.531/.520 in AA last season. Cave had a.642 OPS vs LHP and .844 OPS vs RHP last season. I think that between the two of them, you might have a nice outfielder. Also good to see a righty throwing OF as well (Grossman throws with his left.)