Blyleven2011

I was a big Flavine fan. They originally brought in some good coaches like Wes Johnson & Tanner Swanson. They pick up some good FAs, like Castro, Cruz, Cron, Schoop, Perez & Pineda. & Odorizzi trade fell into their laps. The perfect storm of the "bomba squad" that organically came about due to the "juiced ball". This all set up the 100+ game season. Falvey was the head mainly because of the Twins' switch to an analytical approach & his association with the CLE pitching pipeline.; Although Levine did most of the talking at 1st. One thing I didn't like about this regime was its being occult. We had no idea who was responsible for what between Falvey, Levine or Baldelli. But we were winning, so who cared back then?
Falvey was hailed as a genius and credited with the Twins' success. This all went to Falvey's head. He did more talking, took more & more credit & more & more control. Resulting in becoming more & more imbalanced. Analytics is a necessary tool that all MLB teams have devoted themselves to developing. Because of this mindset, Falvey has been well thought of. But IMO, this mindset has gone extreme; that MLB baseball has turned into a fantasy baseball game, driven completely by biased stats & HR Derby; that has compromised the game. MLB baseball isn't cold & hard stats. It's a game played by human beings, not video avatars. With human elements like conditions, intangibles like instinct & heart that analytics can't register, or fundamentals that analytics have difficulty measuring accurately.  It's time to bring back the baseball-smarts back into the game & not be completely dominated by analytics. I'll state again that analytics is a necessary tool, but we can't not driven by them. We need to get away from this mindset that Falvey possesses. Falvey doesn't have the baseball smarts that is needed to be a GM.

I haven't written a blog for a long time. But I have an observation, & that's all it is an observation. My observation is how rich the Latin heritage is in modern MLB. Players like Roberto Clemente, Luiz Tiant & Orlando Cepeda quickly come to mind. Twins' early successful years were greatly influenced by players like Rod Carew, Tony Oliva, Camilo Pascual, Zoilo Versalles & Caezar Tovar, whom I loved to watch growing up. 
Throughout the years, we've had good Latin American players coming through the International Draft. Even recently, we had Luiz Arraez, Jorge Polanco, Jose Berrios, Miquel Sano, Jhuan Duran, & Jose Miranda, who were all very promising prospects & showed early signs of greatness. While Latin players have been a viable source of our winning formula, I have to ask why our roster lacks them? They seem to put some of these players in difficult conditions to hinder their success, While the Twins love to hold onto certain players who fit their profile (many who IMO, should have been traded), they seem to be quick to trade away our valuable Latin players. I also question their International Drafting philosophy, where they focus on quantity over quality, they throw a bunch against the wall & hope something sticks. Which IMO, makes it very difficult with the Twins developing based more on getting data to the prospects & let them figure it out & less on essential good personal coaching. They have also gotten away from scouting & focus on analytics, which IMO, especially hurt our international drafting. Now I'm not saying that the Twins are biased, but I'm saying that maybe the Twins' analytics don't favor the Latin players.
I'm an old fart, I don't see baseball as fantasy baseball driven by biased stats or as HR Derby where whoever hits the most HRs wins. I love baseball because it's a strategic game played by human beings with emotions, variable intangibles & underlying conditions not hard & cold data void of all human elements. I see analytics is a valuable tool, but it should not drive the game. Latin Americans love baseball; they bring a lot to the game, and they shouldn't fall through the analytical cracks. Therefore, IMO, analytics should be put in it's place. Twins need to improve their scouting & developing, bilingual coaches should have a preference or maybe teach English better & integrate better. Buxton has expressed his desire to speak Spanish. Last but not least, IMO, I think the Twins' manager should be bilingual. This would be beneficial to provide continuity to the team. IMO, Nelson Cruz in some role should be a part of that.

On may 9, 2025 I was in Greensboro, NC watching my grandson's team play in the North Carolina High School Baseball Playoffs.  I met Luke Napleton from Chicago. He had been playing for a semi-pro team in High Point, NC, called The Rockers. (High Point used to manufacture a lot of furniture and has furniture markets every year.) Frank Viola is the pitching coach for the Rockers. Luke told me he had just been signed by the Twins and was going to Ft. Myers this weekend. He expected to either play at Ft. Myers or at Cedar Rapids. He was with the Rockers only a short time, but was hitting .571 (12 for 21) with 2 doubles and 2 home runs. I told him I was the biggest Twins' fan in North Carolina. He played at the University of Louisville in 2024 and hit .320 with 11 HR. 

Byron Buxton is transforming back to the young Byron Buxton. Yeah, he's only hitting .215 with an OBP of .261 and two walks, but when on base, it's more than likely that he'll come around and score. He's been on base 20 times this season and has scored 15 runs, which is a (75%) clip.
The Twins' offense has gained a dynamic edge with Byron Buxton's increased aggressiveness on the basepaths. His ability to pick up extra bases often feels like a guaranteed run, a dimension unseen by fans in recent memory. However, this exhilarating style has unfortunately led to knee injuries and soreness. The team currently faces a balancing act, needing Buck's presence on the bases for the high probability of scoring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OsvfG5Qie0
I enjoyed this video & I thought I'd share it with my TD bros.. Now I agree with most that a sacrifice bunt is not beneficial in most cases and some players shouldn't be bunting but I agree with the author that there are many cases when bunting makes a lot of sense. Therefore bunting should not be shunned but should be taught & encouraged, especially those who have the talent to do so. Many INFers cheat by playing back because they don't expect a bunt. Having the ability to bunt will make the INFers honest & increase your chances of getting a hit. Another reason for not bunting is because it does practically nothing to increase your SLG or OPS & that's what teams go by. Many lauded the batter with high SLG & OPS who hits a lot of HRs when they're not needed & getting out when getting on base is needed. Yet shun the player with lower SLG & OPS who gets on base by bunting or otherwise, making those bunts into doubles & triples, Shaking pitchers up to make mistakes for following batters & sparking rallies & winning games (Isn't that the most important stat?). IMO that's where analytics veers off when too much importance is put on SLG & OPS where they try to squeeze out every HR from every player & overlook their other talents that can make the difference between a contender & a 4th place finish in the AL Central.

Are you still anguishing over last year's comments about not spending any money? Are you still bothered by our trade to get Trevor Richards? 
Does having our ace blow up in Boston bother you? Does every victory seem like the time we're going to turn it around? Does every loss feel like the end of the world?
Are you still wondering why Cleveland is winning games where their hits don't add up to the exit velocity of one of our best outs?  
Are you still rooting for Rocco as he tries to unlock the greatest pinch hitter of all time despite the fact that he's 0 for 30?  
Did you really think our two highest paid players would actually be on the field most games?
I could go on, but what's the use. Our famous owner and his bench coach I have now decided to help you out and make another million or two in fan friendly counseling services which will soon be broadcast over your favorite twins cable network- maybe.   
 
 

Is Twins' sausage magical? Short answer, No. So why the Twins' turnaround? Let's look at what led up to the winning streak.
Shortly after the '23 season, Falvey credited the "all or nothing" approach for the team's success. BTW it has been the Twins' hitting approach since '19. During the off-season, Baldelli was questioned about their hitters' SO record. He responded with "SOs are not important and they weren't changing anything". Spring training, "all or nothing" was implemented again with poor results. Twins started '24 with 2 wins against a promising KC team, Lewis's injury, later followed by Correa's. Without Lewis & Correa (archetype to Twins hitting philosophy & best hitters) & the league adjusting; the losses & SOs started to pile up w/o the HRs. The turnaround started with the revelation that the "all or nothing" wasn't working. Baldelli stated that they had changed to a more balanced approach. Kiriloff, Martin & Miranda were hitting, Larnach & Kepler returned from the IL with a revamped swing, one by one they started to hit. In the middle of all that the winning streak started before the rally sausage appeared.
Does the rally sausage have anything to do with the streak? Yes, because even with the right approach the pressure to hit was still there. The sausage joke brought levity to the dugout, being more relaxed the hitter could execute. As heart-breaking it was to lose Lewis, it turned out to be a blessing disguised because the following slump opened the eyes of management. IMO we have a great lineup & see no need to try to go outside to change it. Our problem at the beginning of the season wasn't the lineup but the approach & we can't get distracted from that fact with the rally sausage. While I encourage to ride the rally sausage as long as we can, IMO using it as a HR trophy is in bad taste.

Now that spring training is quickly coming upon us. I'd like to ask the question, will the Twins get their promised postseason SP? There hasn't been any inkling that they were focusing on anyone. Jesus Luzardo was my favorite but looks like that's he's out of the question, if ever FO was willing to make the necessary sacrifice. The rentals Glasnow & Burns are gone if FO was ever willing to pay the price (I wouldn't either). Do we have a shot at Cease (CWS)? Interdivisional trade will up the already high ante for us, I doubt it. So we're shot, right?  
I'd like to throw out a last year's suggestion. Everyone needs a 2nd chance, Trevor Bauer. He was cleared of any wrongdoing, He has made peace with Rob Manfred, he has been humbled & has matured. Now IMO isn't a great clubhouse person, but IMO he's not a clubhouse wrecker. & he has shown a willingness to work with young pitchers & he's motivated.
The best part of this is his price tag. He's asking minimal salary with incentives. Something that we can afford. IMO MN is a great place for him to start a comeback. Or would you rather wing it with what we have?

jharaldson's blog got me thinking & instead of discussing it on his blog, I was afraid we'd get off-topic so I opened a new one.
1st we have to look at the older fan which makes up a good portion of the total of fans, that would get lost streaming , So cable would make more sense, going back to Midwest Sport Channel or Fox. But cable is more expensive & we have to make Twins games more accessible. The older fans are less active so cable works but more active younger fans needs apps on their phones & something cheaper than cable. If I could buy cable the main reason is to watch the Twins but in Brazil, Twins games are absolutely not an option on cable.
Ownership needs to know that the Twins fanbase is dying out. How? #1 Twins fans are literally dying  #2 Tickets are too high for most fans #3 Twin games assessibity is very limited, #4 Twins are not as competitive as they should be, so they aren't attracting new fans, #5 as a State we are losing that family/ baseball connection on all levels.
Now with some Twins success IMO we have gained some new fans so how do we maintain them & further grow the fanbase? Creating new clean city uniforms won't do it (not that it hurts), Getting back to to main idea of making the Twins games accessible we need a combination of cable & streaming. We can be creative about this & be much more conservative with the blackouts, So even people in Brazil can watch them. Reducing the ticket prices, will attract more people along withsome of  my other suggestions. All with the goal of maxing the attendance, maxing the attendance elevates the teams moral, elevating the moral, team wins more games, win more games you increase attendance. As you can see it can produce a snowball affect. So reducing ticket prices can actually make ownership more money. Not including the extra $ from merchandizing & concessions
We must have a more competive team. That means aborting the "Plan" of drafting, signing & hoarding big bats while ignoring the rest like defense & details of small ball. FO has made good steps in upgrading premium positions of SS, CF & SPs; becoming more open to good trading opportunities instead of ignoring them.  Even trying to encourage base stealing & taking the extra base. The other premium position catcher, they got Vazquez which vastly improved the catching (which elevated it to upper mediocre) & pitching. Other than this the catching position has been completely ignored, never drafting any upper level prospects. The ranking of our catching prospects now are super low. When we lose Vazquez, the level of our catching will greatly decrease with no hope in view. We must start to focus on upgrading our catching by obtaining very good/ elite potential MLB ready & soon to be prospects. Pitching we need to at least maintain what we had. FO can't rest on their laurels & let things slide or we'll lose all the new fans that we gained.
We need to encourage & invest in the family/ baseball connection on the State level. By putting baseball in the hearts of families & individuals it's easy to be become Twins fans while improves the community, encourage young people to play baseball & could provide a better avenue of life to some kids.
Those are some that I can think of on top of my head. Maybe you have others because baseball should be important to all of us.

Career against left handed pitchers  BA - .262; OPB - .328; SLG - .449; OPS - .777.  This year has been worse as expected. He can play 1B, OF and DH.  Mancini's fielding is not as good as Gallo's but he would be an extremely low cost, RH hitter. Mancini, a survivor of colon cancer, was one of the first to reach out to Liam Hendricks, when Hendricks was diagnosed with cancer. A classy move.  

We have seen one month of Twins baseball, and the team sits at 17-12 (.586) which leads the struggling AL Central by 3.5 games. Though we have seen lots of downs, the positives and flashes of brilliance have far more outweighed the bad. Before they start a six game road trip with two division rivals, let’s take a look at the impressive first month of April.
 
The Good
Starting Pitching
The Minnesota Twins, more or less, aren’t known for their pitching. It seems like the Twins never have more than three quality starting pitchers, and when they do, injuries happen. After trading Luis Arraez for Pablo Lopez, bringing in Tyler Mahle at the deadline last year, and having an influx of pitching talent at the AAA level, the Twins rotation looks to be in a good shape. 
Pablo Lopez has proved that he can be an ace. He was brilliant in his first four starts, posting a 1.73 ERA in 26 innings. His last two starts have been rough, but you could blame it on the cold weather. Overall, this is where I expect Lopez to be (if you take away one or two bad starts), and he has been very impressive overall. Joe Ryan has been pitching as expected this year, very well. The Twins are 5-0 when he pitches and the length of his outings have been vital in keeping the bullpen well rested. Sonny Gray, likely the most surprising pitcher this year, has been lights out, boasting an MLB leading 0.77 ERA in six starts. Of course, we shouldn’t expect this to keep going, but it has been nice to see him succeed. Lastly, Bailey Ober has exceeded my limits. Although he’s only pitched in two starts, he has came up in big situations and been better than replacement level. With the Maeda and Mahle injury problems, you should expect to see him around for awhile. 

Joey Gallo 
The big slugger came to Minnesota hoping to re-light a flame that had gone out in New York, and so far, it is safe to say that it has been working. Gallo has 7 HRs in 53 ABs and boasts an OPS over 1.000. His OPS+ is 196, which means he is nearly twice as productive than the average MLB hitter this year. His appearance in the lineup has been a big boost for the Twins this year, but his flexibility in the field has been equally appreciated. Gallo has played mostly first base this year, occasionally playing in the outfield. Though this pace seems unsustainable, it is nice to see the once All Star slugger back in his prime form. 
Byron Buxton 
For some people, it's hard to be impressed by a guy who hasn’t played any defense when they are known for their great fielding, but Buxton has a special case. We all know about his ongoing injury issues, but Buxton has played in 26 of 29 games. Now obviously you don’t get his glove in those games, but what you do get is a slugger who has an .881 OPS. Buxton has been a staple in the Twins lineup and playing nearly 90% of the teams game certainly helps big time.  While it sucks that he is unable to play in the field, his defensive replacement is gold glover Michael A Taylor, who doesn't suck.
The Bad
Mahle and Maeda
At the beginning of the season, both former front of the line starters were coming off injuries. While Mahle has been very good in his four starts, he requires at least a month of missed time with his elbow injury. Not only does this suck, but it is scary because you do not want to see this type of injury linger like the one that shut him down at the end of the 2022 season. Similarly to Mahle, Maeda had been serviceable in his first four starts, posting a 4.15 ERA, before struggling with stamina issues and blowing up, allowing 10 ER against the Yankees. Maeda is currently on the 15-day IL and his future looks cloudy. Have we seen the last Twins start for Maeda?

Carlos Correa 
It pains me to write this, but Correa has been struggling heavily at the plate. He has been far below average and it doesn’t seem to be improving, however, this doesn’t concern me too much. Correa is a top 3 shortstop for a reason, and his struggles just screams “slow start.” Last year, Correa got off to a bad start before returning to his all star form for the rest of the season and there is no evidence that this year is any different. Correa will return to his form sooner or later, but this far, he has been, well, bad. 
Nick Gordon
Nick Gordon became a fan favorite last year after having a very good and clutch fall, however, this year, he has been terrible. He is hitting .127 with an OPS just over .300. Not ideal. Though his defensive flexibility is nice, it is not worth putting him in the lineup as an offensive liability. What makes this situation bad is that Gordon is out of options, meaning he is stuck on the big league roster until the Twins trade or DFA him. 
Alcala and Moran
I often categorize these two Twins bullpen arms together as they have had big glimpses of success in the past, but are struggling to capitalize on that success this year. Moran had a great 2022 with the Twins, posting a 2.21 ERA in 31 appearances, but for whatever reason, hasn’t been able to translate that to 2023. Being a lefty, Moran is a key part of the Twins bullpen and the Twins need him to go back to 2022 form. Alcala on the other hand, has struggled this year. Twins fans have high hopes for him, since he was so good in 2020-2022 before getting shut down due to injury. It is not too late for these two guys to turn it around, but relievers in the MLB have a very short leash.

The Unknown
Quick-fire! Max Kepler was slumping before his early season IL stint, but since coming back, Max has been great. It will be interesting to see which version of Max we will see in the future. Trevor Larnach has been amazing this year… when he gets fastballs to hit. If Larnach wants to be an above average hitter, he needs to learn how to hit off-speed and breaking balls better. Jose Miranda has been an interesting case. He got off to a slow start, but looks to be heating up recently. And his defense has been… fine? Griffin Jax looks to be a staple in the bullpen, but he has had some shaky outings. He needs to be much more stable in order to be trusted more in the 6th–8th inning. 
 
As we head into May, what are your biggest praises and concerns of the Twins? Thanks for reading!
 

What qualifies to be an ace? How to profile SPs? I'd like to give you my take.
As was previously stated in part 1, a SP is a pitcher who can regularly give you at least 5 quality innings & sustain that, otherwise is better off in long relief. I'd like to categorize them as 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd & top SP, ace and workhorse. I will rate them accordingly by stuff & arm strength. Stuff= quality of pitch, # of quality pitches in his repertroire, command & location. Arm strength that's affected by genetics, conditioning, injury & building off previous year. Stuff & arm strength will dictate how many innings that pitcher is able to pitch and that is how I profile them thus.
A 5th starter that can pitch the minimum 5 quality innings on the avg. When his stuff is on & he's very economical with his pitches he can go 6 innings. when he's off he has trouble going 5. A 4th starter will pitch into the 6th inning with more regularity. A 3rd starter avg. around 6 quality innings, when he's on he can go 7 innings, a 2nd starter pitches more regularly into the 7th inning, a top starter avg. 7 quality innings and when he's on he'll go 8 innings.  An ace is a SP who regularly goes 8 innings, can at times complete a game or pitch a no-hitter. A work horse is a pitcher who has the arm strength that can regularly pitch 7+ innings, his stuff may vary depending how prolific his offense is that supports him.
This season, because of shortened spring training & short vamp up time, I'd have started Ryan, Gray, Bundy & Smeltzer at a 5th starter level. As the season progressed I'd graduate Ryan & Gray to 4th starter, later 3rd starter. I'd have kept Bundy at 5th starter through out the season, Because Smeltzer was the most vamped up SP is why I started him in the rotation as the season progressed, I'd stick him in long relief as long as he remains effective. I agree how they handled Archer as an "opener", later 5th starter. Ober, Winder & Paddack as long relief & spot starter (or in Paddack case "opener")
During the season, IMO a pitcher should pitch inside his profile, then his arm bounces back & he's able to give you quality innings. If he's extended for any period of time, his arm doesn't bounce back & he becomes less effective or becomes injured. This is what has happened for as long as I can remember to the Twins, even if the Twins limp across the finish line into the post season, our pitching is shot which explains our 18 straight PS losses. But if your rotation is weak (weak not as in bad but not giving you the desired quality innings) and poor BP, how do you cover the innings? The answer is long relief, long relief is our strongest pitching profile that should be exploited not ignored.
In 2020, Cash led TB to the World Series. In game 6, Snell was pitching into the 6th inning, leading 1-0 with 1 out and a runner at 1B with Betts coming to bat. Tough situation what do you do? Cash did what he normally does, he yanked Snell. Was it the right decision? It had worked through out the season, but still was it the right decision? The decision didn't work out but was staying w/ Snell would be better? It'd be easy in hind sight say yes  but would the out come be different? Snell is no ace but he was on & pysched, it was Snell last game, he could reach back & give that little extra, the BP is coming into the game cold. There is no way we can know for sure. But under these circumstances, you have to go with your gut not analytics.