Seth Stohs

The Twins traveled to Tampa to play the Yankees on Wednesday afternoon. Joe Ryan tossed two scoreless innings. Zebby Matthews came in for the third inning. He gave up a couple of hits but got an inning-ending double play to end any threat. He came back out for the bottom of the fourth inning. On his second pitch to Paul Goldschmidt, the former MVP grounded a slow roller down the third base line. Matthews raced to it, fielded it and then threw to first for the out. A very nice play. However, before making another throw, Ryan Jeffers slowly walked to the mound, and a trainer soon followed. Matthews moved and stretched a little as if he may have pulled a muscle near his hip or side. He didn't appear to be in pain, maybe more discomfort. Rocco Baldelli quickly removed him from the game. John Stankiewicz came in and got the final two outs of the innings. Matthews, who has been very impressive all spring, throwing hard, with a good changeup and a slider. Replay showed that his right foot slid a little bit when planting. Before going to the mound, Matthews bent at the waist, stretching his back and/or side. He walked off looking fairly comfortable, but at this stage, taking him out was the right decision. Hopefully it is nothing. However, a day after Justin Topa walked off the mound mid-inning, and with the news of Matt Canterino being shut down again, keeping all of the pitching depth as healthy as possible will be important. And speaking of important, Matthews will play a very important role with the Twins in 2025 and beyond. View full rumor

Billionaire Justin Ishbia is apparently increasing his minority ownership with the Chicago White Sox and is ending his pursuit of the Minnesota Twins. Image courtesy of © Jonah Hinebaugh/Naples Daily News/USA Today Network-Florida / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images On the eve of the 2025 Minnesota Twins spring training opener, big news surfaced online. The news would presumably shock the Pohlad family, and it is likely to be incredibly disappointing for Minnesota Twins fans. Justin Ishbia, the billionaire businessman and private investor, has notified the team that he will not continue to pursue ownership of the Minnesota Twins. Instead, Ishbia will be, according to The Athletic's Jon Greenberg, "buying more shares from other limited partners to increase his existing minority stake in the Chicago White Sox." The report also indicates that Ishbia may allowed to take control of the White Sox in the future by buying shares from long-time White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf. Twins ownership believed that the team would be sold before Opening Day. Now, the search for a new owner will continue. That said, reports over the last couple of months noted that there was a "robust market" for potential suitors. A source told Greenberg that while Ishbia was pursuing the Twins, the Reinsdorfs talked to him about increasing his share of the White Sox. Ishbia and his brother Mat (owner of the Phoenix Suns) had bought a minority stake in the White Sox four years ago. It is noteworthy that, at this time, Justin Ishbia has declined comment. For Twins fans, this news is crushing. When news came out at the Winter Meetings that the 47-year-old who lives just outside of Chicago was interested in buying the Twins, fans got excited. He and his brother spent immediately on improving the Phoenix Suns, famously taking ownership and OKing a trade to bring in All-Star Kevin Durant. Twins fans began to dream about having an owner who might push the budget envelope and allow Twins fans to dream. Tonight's news certainly darkens that optimism. Then again, it is certain that the Pohlad family would like to sell, and they appear to be eager to sell quickly if a deal can be made. If there were other potential ownership groups snooping around in December and January, there certainly will be again in February and March. Unfortunately, it means that there will not be an ownership transfer by Opening Day. Maybe the All-Star break can be the next goal. And now, Twins fans have Reason #4,728 to hate the Chicago White Sox! View full article

With just reading the question in the article's title, I'd say this... SWR deserves the #4 spot over Paddack at this point.

On Friday (Feb 14th), the 2025 Division I schedule opens its season. As I did last year, I went through the rosters of all the D1 schools (like 340 or so) and noted all Minnesotans on those rosters. Please go to THIS LINK and check out the variety of schools that Minnesota prep ball players are going to. Here are some notes, but if you have additional names or updates to add, let me know in the comments. In addition, I've always wished that we could find someone to cover each of the Minnesota college baseball programs in our Blogs. A weekly Gophers update or Tommies... For Division II, there are a bunch of NSIC teams that you could cover. And in Division II, there is the MIAC. Lots of junior/community colleges. If anyone is interested in providing an update on a college baseball team throughout the season, go for it. If you want ideas, let me know. I found 152 Division I players from Minnesota. No surprise, but the top two schools in terms of signing Minnesotans are the two D1 schools in Minnesota. 23 Minnesotans are on the St. Thomas roster. There are 20 Minnesotans on the Gophers roster. Also, probably not a huge surprise that the two schools closest to Minnesota are next. South Dakota State has 13 Minnesotans. North Dakota State has 8 players from Minnesota. Teams with 3+ Minnesotans: Creighton (5), Purdue (4), UW-Milwaukee (4), Valparaiso (3), Missouri (3), Xavier (3). Chris Olean is the head coach at St. Thomas and he was long before they made the jump from Division 3 to Division 1. His Associate Head Coach is former Twins minor league infielder Tanner Vavra. Former long-time Twins coach (hitting, bench) Joe Vavra is a volunteer for the program. After leading the Minnesota Gophers for 43 years as head coach, John Anderson retired. Former Gopher player (2012-16), Ty McDevitt, takes over the reins this season. He has been on the coaching staff the past eight year. He's been the team's pitching coach the past six years. In the link above, you'll see that I also made some notes when I happened to find them. Not always consistent. But it's always interesting to see former big leaguers coaching at these programs. For instance, former Twins infielder and pinch hitter Chip Hale, who was a coach in the big leagues for a long time, has been the head coach at the University of Arizona. Larry Lee returns as the coach of Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo where his pitching coach is Seth Moir, who was a scout for the Twins for several years. He was the area scout who signed Bailey Ober. Jarrod Hocking, son of former Twins infielder Denny Hocking whose uniform number has been retired by the Twins, plays at UCLA. Jakub Guardado, son of Twins Hall of Famer Eddie Guardado, pitches and hits at Pacific. Caleb Koskie, son of new Twins Hall of Famer Corey Koskie, is a freshman at Indiana. Paul Jones is a freshman at Maryland. He is the grandson of Twins Hall of Famer Cesar Tovar. Ian Koosman is a junior pitcher from Willmar who will pitch for Creighton this year. His great uncle, Jerry Koosman, is most famous for being a Miracle Met, but he also spent time with the Twins. Former Twins pitching coach Wes Johnson left the Twins to be the pitching coach at LSU. He worked with Paul Skenes that year. After the season, he became the head coach at Georgia. 2025 will be his second season. Steven Rosen became a Twins minor league coach before the 2020 season. Late in the 2021 season, he left the Twins. He has been at Manhattan University as a pitching coach the last couple of seasons. At the end of the 2024 season, he was named the team's head coach and became the youngest head coach in Division I at age 29. Similarly, Nate Rasmussen was a Twins coach from 2019-21. Rasmussen went to Utah Valley University as an assistant coach. After the 2024 season, Rasmussen was named the team's head coach. The 2024 Minnesota Mr. Baseball finalists were: Max Arlich (East Ridge HS): Arizona State University. Tyler Guerin (Mounds View HS): University of Iowa PJ Jones (Cretin-Derham Hall HS): University of Maryland Caleb Koskie (Benilde-St. Margaret's): Indiana University Riley Leatherman (Winner, Wayzata HS): University of North Carolina Wilson Magers (Mankato West HS): Creighton University Luke Skinner (East Ridge HS): Loyola Marymount University The 2023 Minnesota Mr. Baseball finalists were: Easton Breyfogle (Winner, Benilde-St. Margaret's HS): University of Arizona Kade Lewis (Sartell HS): Wake Forest (after a year at Butler) Mason McCurdy (Stillwater HS): Creighton University Josh Och (Chanhassen HS): University of Southern Mississippi Tyler Phelps-Hemmesch (Sartell): U of Minnesota Jack Taxdahl (Cretin-Derham Hall HS): U of Minnesota Will Whelan (Centennial HS): U of Minnesota The 2022 Minnesota Mr. Baseball finalists were: Drew Berkland (Wayzata HS): U of Minnesota Easton Fritcher (Hayfield HS): U of Minnesota Blake Guerin (Mounds View HS): University of Iowa Kristofer Hokenson (St. Louis Park HS): U of Minnesota Kyle Law (Andover HS): North Dakota State University Maddox Mihalakis (Hopkins HS): University of Arizona Derrick Smith (White Bear Lake HS): North Carolina State The 2021 Minnesota Mr. Baseball finalists were: Lincoln Berry (Eagan HS): Minnesota State-Mankato Trenton Burkhalter (Forest Lake HS): U of Nebraska-Omaha Noah Bush (Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted HS): University of Louisville Ben North (East Ridge HS): Creighton University Tucker Novotny (Park HS): Drafted by A's (2024) Will Rogers (Mounds View HS): University of Michigan Ero Wallin (William Kelley HS): Upper Iowa (3 years at St. Cloud State)

There have been several names mentioned as potential Twins first base options. In reality, the choice should be really easy. Image courtesy of © Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images I keep hearing name after name being suggested as a first-base option for the 2025 Twins. A year ago, the Twins brought in veteran Carlos Santana on a one-year, $5-million deal. The then-37-year-old had a strong season, posting a .749 OPS with 26 doubles and 23 home runs. He was tremendous defensively and earned his first career Gold Glove Award for his work around first base. Santana was a godsend when Alex Kirilloff again struggled to stay on the field and ultimately was forced to retire after the season at age 27, due to extreme back pain. Last month, Santana signed a one-year, $12 million deal with the Cleveland Guardians, where he spent a dozen professional seasons. With Kirilloff’s November retirement, many Twins fans have pointed out that the Twins have a void at first base. “We’re going to have to lean on some of the internal guys to take on some of those at-bats for sure, at least in terms of backup consideration," said Derek Falvey, shortly after the end of last season. "And then we’ll just have to see how the offseason plays out there.” In other words, on the Twins' list of offseason priorities, first base (rightfully) didn’t rank highly. The Twins have acted accordingly. After DFAing Yunior Severino, he returned on a minor-league contract. They brought in 32-year-old Mike Ford on a minor-league contract. He hasn't done much in the big leagues after hitting 12 homers in 50 games for the 2019 New York Yankees. He did hit 16 home runs for the Mariners in 2023, but then he split the 2024 season between the Reds, their Triple-A affiliate, and Japan. Armando Alvarez was also signed to a minor-league deal. The 30-year-old made his MLB debut in 2024 with the Oakland A’s. He had 39 plate appearances. He has played all over the infield defensively. They did acquire infielder Mickey Gasper in a Christmas Eve trade with the Red Sox. He made his big-league debut in 2024, but he went 0-for-18 with four walks and eight strikeouts in 23 plate appearances. Before his promotion, he played 44 games at Double-A Portland and 48 at Triple-A Worcester. You can put him into the same category as Ford and Alvarez, but he does have a 40-man roster spot and will be competing for a utility role and to keep said place on the roster. Raise your hand if you thought the Twins would be a player for free agents such as Christian Walker, Pete Alonso, or even Paul Goldschmidt. Now, put them down and go to the corner. Here is a list of remaining free agents who could play first base: Ty France, Justin Turner, Rowdy Tellez, Anthony Rizzo, Jose Abreu, Yuli Gurriel, and Jared Walsh. They could bring back Miguel Sanó. Joey Gallo would play well defensively at first base. You could go with a 40-year-old Turner, or you could try a veteran like Rizzo, who has posted injury-marred OPSes of .706 and .637 despite being a left-handed hitter in Yankee Stadium. Does a 38-year-old José Abreu appeal to you, coming off a disastrous stint in Houston? Alternatively, you could use two offensive-minded internal options, both of which have had strong stretches and fought significant struggles. José Miranda is still just 26 years old. He has played 286 MLB games over the past three seasons. In two of those seasons, he posted OPSes over .750. In 2024, Santana posted a .749 OPS, which made him a finalist for a Silver Slugger Award. Offensively, there is little doubt in my mind that Miranda can meet or exceed Santana’s performance (with the necessary caveat of assuming health). In 2023, Edouard Julien came up to the Twins early in the season and became one of their most reliable, consistent hitters. He showed the skill set that made him an intriguing prospect over his 2021 and 2022 minor-league seasons. First and foremost, his eye at the plate was impeccable. He posted an OPS of .839 due to a superb walk rate, 16 doubles, and 16 home runs. Many of his extra-base hits were driven to the opposite field. Everything about Julien’s 2023 led us to believe he could be a fixture at the top of the Twins lineup for years to come. Then came 2024, and he was again really consistent. Unfortunately, it was a consistent struggle. He hit just .199. His strikeout rate increased from 31.4% to 33.9%, while his walk rate fell from 15.7% to 11.0%. Julien often toes the line between patience and passivity. In 2024, he appeared more passive. It feels like we have seen the two extremes for Julien. Combined, he’s got a .742 OPS over those two MLB seasons. The Twins need to get Miranda and Julien a ton of work at first base this spring. Bring in Justin Morneau. Bring in Joe Mauer. Bring back Doug Mie… OK, maybe not that one. Get them a ton of innings at first base in spring training, then go with it into the season. Show confidence. Tell them their job is to catch the ball at first base. Keep it simple. Keep it positive. Fans will have to understand this, as well. Gallo is still available, if you want plus-plus defense at first base. Julien has played in five big-league games at first base. He has made just two starts there. Last year in St. Paul, the Quebecois made six starts at first base and had two errors in 57 innings. He only played second base in the minor leagues in 2022 and 2023. In 2021, he made 20 starts at first base. Miranda has played significantly more first base in his career. In St. Paul, he played six games in 2024, eight in 2023, five in 2022, and 28 in 2021. In 2024, the stocky boricua played about 100 innings over 13 games for the Twins. In 2023, he played just two innings over two games, but in 2022, he played 77 games at first base for the Twins. He had just three errors. And yes, I know that errors are not the best way to judge the work of a first baseman. Saving infielders from errors is the more significant factor, meaning the ability to scoop balls in the dirt or knowing when to leave the base to catch the ball. Bunt plays and how far to move from the bag to field grounders can also be learned. I assume both players have been getting some work at first base throughout the offseason. We know they also have been working out and working in the cage. Good hitters make adjustments to the adjustments that were made to them. Add in a new voice. The three Twins hitting coaches in 2024 were let go after the season, replaced by Matt Borgschulte, Trevor Amicone, and Rayden Sierra. Sierra worked with Julien in Fort Myers in 2021. Borgschulte played a significant role in Miranda’s jump from “the talent is there” to a legitimate prospect with massive numbers in St. Paul in 2021. Willi Castro can purchase a first baseman's mitt if he wants to, and add it to his collection of gloves to bring to the ballpark every day. The Royals have Cole Ragans. The Tigers have Tarik Skubal. The White Sox have Martin Perez. There is a chance that those three are the only left-handed starting pitchers in the AL Central, at least early in the season. In my opinion, and assuming health, Miranda should start at first base in two out of every three games, playing matchups. Julien should take the rest of those starts. The other can spend time as the DH, which should be split between many players. Miranda would make about 108 starts at first base in that situation, with Julien starting around 54. It’s a situation where both should get 400 to 450 plate appearances when considering DH time, pinch-hitting opportunities, and such. Sure, you can try to collect lightning in a bottle on a one-year contract with an aging veteran again. Or, you can provide an opportunity for two mid-20s players who have shown their potential. Miranda has four seasons of team control remaining, and Julien has five. They should just try to get one of those guys over the hump and into a full-time, potentially long-term job. Oh, and be sure to get Luke Keaschall and his Trout-like swing plenty of starts at first base in Wichita and St. Paul this season. View full article

#PerhamRepresent Wayne Caughey was easily the best player I played against in townball. Great hitter. Great shortstop. He was already 45 but he was so smooth. He would come help our high school team too with fielding work, etc.

Started watching The X-Files again on YouTube TV. Fun seeing the people that were on one episode before they became really really famous. I have it record Ghosts, Sister Wives, Catfish, and a few other shows. Loving Dexter: Original Sin and looking forward to the upcoming new series. I believe that's on Paramount. School Spirits is also good. On Peacock, the new season of The Traitors US is really good. I've watched the US, UK, Australia versions too. The Anonymous was also awesome! I'd love to be on that show! On Amazon, I'm really enjoying Beast Games. I've watched a couple of episodes of The 1% Club and that's fun. Also, there's Pop Culture Jeopardy. Coach Prime is good. Surviving Jeffrey Epstein was good. It's in the Game (Madden NFL) is really good, very interesting history of the game. The Money Game LSU was really good. Interesting look at NIL in college sports, specifically the first years of it for Livvy Dunne, Jayden Daniel, Angel Reese and a few others at the school. And, The Evolution of the Black Quarterback is fantastic! The new OJ Simpson four-part documentary on Netflix is pretty good. I watched American Primeval, and it wasn't bad, but when it was over, I sat there wondering what I had just watched... what it was trying to tell me, or even just what happened. Enigma (Aaron Rodgers) is kind of interesting, just don't like watching Aaron Rodgers). I watched the Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action documentary. That was kind of fun. HA! It Ends With Us has become topical since it came out, but it is an excellent movie. On Max, Hard Knocks is always good. I don't miss Real Tim with Bill Maher. I tried Succession. Again, I enjoyed season 1 but haven't been able to get into season 2.

I watched the first season. By the time I got through that, I wasn't too interested in watching Season 2.

None of those were big moves and none of them are that exciting. Andrew Albers is the one on the list that has had some really strong moments. Only two of these guys were MLB signings. Minor League signings are just for depth, and if they're more than that, that's a bonus. Minaya and Magill certainly had some good moments. Smith had a good six weeks or so. And, Barnes and Colina were Twins signings/picks who came up very briefly.

Kerry Taylor's youngest sister is Megan Taylor. Some may remember her because in high school, she set the state scoring record for basketball... she went to Iowa State and is now in their Hall of Fame.

A few bits of information came out of the Twins media luncheon this afternoon at Target Field. We have some TV news, but the biggest news is that Corey Koskie has been elected to the Twins Hall of Fame and will be inducted this summer. Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images On Friday afternoon at Target Field, the Minnesota Twins announced that third baseman Corey Koskie will enter the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame. He will be inducted at a pre-game ceremony on August 17th. A native of Anola, Manitoba, Koskie was the Twins 26th round draft pick in 1994 out of Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia. A big, strong Canadian, Koskie was quite raw in baseball terms. After the draft, he spent a summer in Elizabethton. He then played at one level per season, from Low-A Fort Wayne, to High-A Fort Myers, to Double-A New Britain, and Triple-A Salt Lake. At each level, he hit, and he continued to add power. In 1997 in New Britain, he hit .286/.414/.531 (.945) with 26 doubles, six triples, and 23 homers. At Triple-A in 1998, he hit .301/.368/.539 (.906) with 32 doubles, five triples, and 26 homers. He earned an 11-game call up to the big leagues that September and hit just .138. He really didn't have a defensive position. Tom Kelly played him in right field, but over time, Koskie put in the work and became a very solid third baseman. In 117 games in his rookie season of 1999, he hit .310/.387/.468 (.855) with 21 doubles and 11 homers. The following season, he hit .300/.400/.441 (.841) with 32 doubles and nine homers. 2001 may have been his best season. He hit .276/.362/.488 (.850) with 37 doubles and 26 home runs. He also scored 100 runs and drove in 103 runs. He played three more seasons with the Twins and posted OPS of .815, .845, and .838. These all came before blogs became a big thing, and before Moneyball was dared to be discussed. His consistency, and his willingness to get on base with walks, may be more appreciated now than two decades ago. He wanted to remain with the Twins, but the Twins weren't willing to meet his price. Instead, he signed with the Blue Jays. He played in 97 games in 2005 and 76 games in 2006. Unfortunately, concussion issues really ended his career. For a long time, he struggled with lights, noise, and other major symptoms of concussion. He has remained in the Twin Cities, raising his kids, who were/are stars on the hockey rink and the baseball diamond. He now plays summer amateur baseball with his sons. Over his six seasons (and 11 game September call up), he hit a combined .280/.373/.463 (.836) with 180 doubles, 13 triples and 101 home runs. Koskie is now the 41st member of the Twins Hall of Fame. “For more than two decades, Corey Koskie’s presence and impact have been felt across Twins Territory, embodying what it means to be a Minnesota Twin through his leadership and community stewardship,” Twins President & CEO Dave St. Peter said. “Corey was a clubhouse leader, a critical offensive catalyst and one of the best defensive third basemen in club history on several of the most important Minnesota Twins teams of the last 25 years. Post-career, he became a community leader, an annual presence in support of the Twins Community Fund and occasionally joined his family on local town ball fields.” We have some information on how to watch the Twins... Starting February 11, Twins.tv will begin. The streaming package will cost $98.99 for the season, or $19.99 per month. In addition, there will be no regional blackouts, including in Iowa! More information will be coming over the coming weeks. Of note, season-ticket holders will be able to buy this streaming package for 50% off. The organization believes that they will get 92-93% season ticket renewal. The goal is to get attendance over two million in 2025. Joe Ryan Update According to Derek Falvey, everyone is healthy at this time. Joe Ryan is doing the same workouts he would be doing now if he ended the season healthy. This is obviously great news for the team as Ryan continues to add pieces to his game that make him better. When his season ended in mid-August, it was a huge knock to the team. Falvey also mentioned that he is still trying to improve the roster, "whether it be first base, or a complementary right-handed bat." View full article

He did, but... The Twins replaced him with Tucker Frawley. This Tucker Frawley: https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=frawle000har

He did.

Three of the Twins minor league affiliates announced their 2025 coaching staffs on Tuesday morning. The Twins announced the rest of them on Tuesday afternoon. There has been a lot of change, and there were even some managerial shifts. Image courtesy of Seth Stohs (Toby Gardenhire, Brian Dinkelman), William Parmeter (photos of Brian Meyer, Kevin Morgan, Nico Giarratano) We all know the importance of player development to any sports organization. Obviously, it’s incredibly important in baseball where organizations have players entering as 16 or 17 year olds from international countries, 18 year olds just out of high school and 21 or 22 year olds coming out of college. Each organization has six levels of development before reaching the big leagues, and there are adjustments and improvements needed to keep moving up. The Twins made some changes on their big-league staff at the start of the offseason. Ramon Borrego and Rayden Sierra were promoted to the Twins from within the organization. Other Twins player development staff was poached by other organizations. So there are quite a few changes from just one year ago. The Twins affiliates have started announcing their coaching staffs this morning. The Twins usually follow by announcing their entire player development staff, and we will update this article accordingly. Without further ado, here are the 2025 Twins Minor League Coaching Staffs. St. Paul Saints Manager Toby Gardenhire will lead the Saints again. He has been the team’s manager for all four years that the Saints have been affiliated with the Minnesota Twins. 2025 marks Gardenhire’s 10th season as a coach or manager in the Twins system. The son of Twins Hall of Fame manager Ron Gardenhire played for three colleges. He was drafted by the Twins in 2002 and 2005. He played in the Twins organization for parts of seven seasons. He became the head coach at UW-Stout in 2012 and spent five seasons there. Gardenhire will work with some new staff in 2025. His defensive and first base coach, Tyler Smarslok, is now the Marlins first base coach. Pitching coach Peter Larson is now in a similar role in the Yankees organization. Shawn Schlecter is the lone coach returning to the Saints. He is the lead hitting coach. This is the Burnsville native’s sixth season in the Twins organization. He’s been a hitting coach in Cedar Rapids (2022) and Wichita (2023). This will be his second season with the Saints. He played ball at North Iowa Community College and then spent six years as a coach at the school. He joined the Twins organization in 2020. New to the organization, Danny Marcuzzo will be a hitting and development coach for the Saints. A native of Omaha, Marcuzzo spent two seasons at Coffeyville Community College before playing two seasons at Western Illinois. He later earned his Masters Degree at Central Oklahoma where he also helped the baseball program. He returned to Coffeyville as the assistant coach in 2019. In 2020, he started a four-year stint as an assistant coach at the University of Nebraska. Most recently, he was the assistant coach at the University of Akron. He is touted for his defensive coaching as well as hitting. Jonas Lovin joins the Saints after two years with the Kernels. This is Lovin’s third season in the organization. He came to the Twins from Iowa Central Community College where he was the pitching coach. In college, he pitched for Division II Augustana (SD) and was a big part of their 2018 national championship team. He went to Nebraska-Omaha in 2019 and earned a master’s degree. Carlos Hernandez moves up from Wichita where he spent the past two summers. Hernandez is now in his eighth season in the Twins organization. You may recall that the southpaw pitched for the Astros in the early 2000s. Wichita Wind Surge Ramon Borrego has been in the Twins organization since signing as a player in October of 1995. He held several roles in the Twins organization since he stopped playing in 2003. He has been a manager in the Twins system the past 15 seasons including all four seasons in Wichita. He moved up to the big leagues, and deservedly so. That does mean that there will be a new manager for the Wind Surge. Brian Dinkelman will be making the move from Cedar Rapids to Wichita. He was named the Minor League Manager of the Year by Baseball America in 2023 when he led the Kernels to a Midwest League championship. He was drafted by the Twins in 2006 and spent eight seasons as a player including some big-league time in 2011. He is a career .301 hitter in the big leagues! He spent the past eight seasons in Cedar Rapids including the last five as a manager. Andrew Cresci is new to the Twins organization. He has been coaching in the Houston Astros organization the past three seasons. In the spring of 2021, he was the hitting coach for Central Lakes College in Brainerd, MN, and then joined Driveline for a short stint before the Astros hired him. He played club baseball at Sacred Heart University and graduated in 2014. He then went to Rome (yes, the one in Italy) to continue his education at John Cabot University. In 2017, he played for S.S. Lazio Baseball Club in Italy. Yeison Perez will return for his second season as the Hitting and Development Coach for the Surge. Perez played for the DSL Twins in 2016 and 2017 and in the GCL in 2018. He spent two seasons as a coach in the FCL before joining Cedar Rapids in 2023. Ryan Ricci joined the Twins player development staff a year ago after coaching at Lafayette College for two years and then spending 2023 at his alma mater, George Mason. After college, he signed with the Diamondbacks and pitched in 15 games in 2018. 2025 marks the third season that Jesus Sanchez has coached in the Twins organization. The Venezuelan coached in the DSL in 2023 and with the FCL Twins in 2024. He had a unique career as a player. He signed with the Phillies in 2006 as a catcher. He caught for three years before they moved him to the mound. He pitched in affiliated ball through the 2014 season. He spent three seasons in the Brewers system and one season with the Marlins. He spent about two-and-a-half seasons pitching in Triple-A but never got The Call. He continued to play in Venezuela in the winters and independent baseball in the summers through the 2022 season. The Wind Surge have played their home games at state-of-the-art Riverfront Stadium since 2021. They will continue to play at the same stadium. However, it will now be called Equity Bank Park. Cedar Rapids Kernels Brian Meyer has been the manager in Fort Myers the past four years. In 2025, he gets an opportunity to move up the ladder with some of his players. He had spent 13 years coaching in college before joining the Twins organization, including five seasons at Tulane and three seasons as an assistant at Butler. Argenis Angulo returns to the Kernels for his second season as a pitching coach. Drafted in 2014 by Cleveland, Angulo pitched professionally through the 2022 season (which he spent with Wichita). He pitched in the Arizona Fall League in 2017 and 2019 and was named to the AFL Rising stars team both years. He began coaching in 2023 with the FCL Twins. Hunter Townsend has joined the Twins organization this offseason. He pitched at the University of Charleston in West Virginia from 2016 through 2020. He transferred to East Tennessee State for the 2021 season. He began working as a Performance Coach at Tread Athletics in Charlotte, North Carolina. CJ Baker will be a hitting coach with the Kernels for a second straight season. He joined the Twins organization a year ago after coaching nine seasons in the college ranks. Most recently, he was in charge of Video, Technology, and was the Analytics Coordinator at Stanford for two years. And yes, he has a master’s degree too, from the University of Washington. New to the Twins organization is hitting coach Julian Gonzalez. He spent the past two seasons in the Orioles organization, spending a year in the DSL and then 2024 in the FCL. The Orioles hired him after the 2021 season. He had spent the previous two years as a high school hitting and outfielder coordinator in Jacksonville, Florida. While studying at the University of North Florida, he was a volunteer assistant on the softball team. Fort Myers Mighty Mussels Seth Feldman is in his seventh season in the Twins organization. He began by managing in the Dominican Summer League for three seasons. He has been the manager of the FCL Twins the past three seasons. This will be his first year as a manager of a full-season affiliate, the Mighty Mussels. Before joining the Twins in 2019, Feldman was an assistant coach at his alma mater, UW-LaCrosse for three years. He played for the team the four previous years and twice participated in the Division II World Series, finishing second in 2015. Richard Salazar returns to the Mussels for the third straight season. He’s been in the organization for the past eight years. He coached in Cedar Rapids the two previous seasons. He came to the States to attend Miami Dade College, got drafted by the Orioles in 2001, and then spent 17 years playing pro baseball. Anders Dzurak pitched for Division III St. Olaf from 2010 to 2013. Since then, he has continued his education and coaching career. He spent time at Macalester and then at his alma mater. Then he went to Northern State to earn an advanced degree, but he also kept coaching. The Twins hired him in 2020 as the rehab coach. He is now in his sixth season in the organization. This will be his first season with a full-season affiliate. The Mighty Mussels hitting coaches in 2025 will be Luis Reyes and Andrew Parks. Reyes is in his third season as a hitting coach with the Mussels. He began coaching with the Twins late in 2021 and coached in the FCL in 2022. Prior to joining the Twins, he earned a bachelors and a masters degree. He has coached in a variety of hitting and infield roles at colleges in Oklahoma, and joined the Twins after two seasons at Texas A&M, International University. Andrew Parks was hired by the Twins last September. He will be a hitting coach in Ft. Myers. He had been working at the Florida Baseball ARMory in Lakeland. He pitched for four years at Division III Medaille College. FCL/FTM Complex With Feldman moving up a level, the new manager in the Florida Complex League will be Nico Giarratano. This is his third season with the Twins organization, first as a manager. He’s been a development coach the past two seasons. In 2022, he was the manager of the Mariners’ DSL team. Prior to that, he was drafted by the Giants in 2017 out of the University of San Francisco. He played through the 2021 season. There will be two hitting coaches, three pitching coaches, and two development coaches at the complex in Ft. Myers. Chris Powell came to the Twins before the 2024 season and will be a pitching coach in the FCL again. He was drafted by the Dodgers in 2015 out of Cal-Poly, Pomona, and pitched three seasons, topping out at Double-A. He played independent ball in 2018. Since then, he’s been very busy coaching. He did some work as a high school coach, an instructor at Fully Functional Baseball (Fullerton). The past few years, he has worked with MLB as a pitching coordinator at the Urban Youth Academy in Compton, California, and as a coach for the 2023 MLB Diversity Pipeline program in Arizona. Erick Julio has been with the team since the 2022 season. He’s been working in the DSL, but this year he moves to the States as a pitching coach. The 28-year-old from Colombia played professionally from 2014 through the 2021 season. Dan Urbina returns to his roots, working with pitchers in the lower levels of the minor leagues. He was a pitching coach with the Saints a year ago. It is his seventh season in the Twins system. He was a pitching coach in Wichita for three seasons before joining the Saints last year. He came to the Twins from the Pirates organization. He was the pitching coach for their Venezuelan Summer League team for 11 seasons and then for seven more seasons with their Dominican Summer League team. Before that, he pitched for three seasons in the Dodgers organization. In addition, Carter Kessinger will be the rehab pitching coach at the complex in Fort Myers. He will be working with any pitchers returning from injury. Kessinger joins the Twins from Yale University. He pitched there from 2020 through 2024 in a variety of roles, from starter to closer. He was unable to pitch in 2023, so we became the team's director of analytics and spent time reviewing game film and pitch tracking data. He also had an internship with Cressey Sports Performance in 2023. Collin McBride is now in his third season in the Twins organization and specifically in the FCL. He spent one season in the Rangers organization before joining the Twins. He played college ball at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, and he spent time at the College of Central Florida as a coach. He co-owns Thundercat Sports Academy in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. Emilio Guerrero is starting his fourth season with the FCL Twins as a hitting coach. He signed as an infielder with the Blue Jays in 2011 and played in their organization through the 2019 season. He actually attempted pitching the last couple of seasons. The development coaches are Jairo Rodriguez and Tristan Toorie. From 2006 through 2016 (11 seasons), Rodriguez represented the Minnesota Twins organization as a player. He got a little time at first base, but he was usually the #2 (or #3) catcher on whichever roster he was on. He reached Triple-A for a few games. He was a part of the first group of Twins players to play in Cedar Rapids in 2013. He has been coaching in the organization since the end of his playing career. He was with the Kernels in 2021 and 2022. He went back to the DSL for the 2023 season and came back to the Kernels in 2024. Toorie is in his second season in this same role. Previously, he had been an assistant coach at some small colleges, and he worked for MLB helping scouts and coaches. He played ball at Augusta State University and made his coaching debut in 2013 with the St. Cloud Rox of the Northwoods League. The Twins will likely announce their entire Player Development staff later today, and we will update this article when we get that information. DSL/Dominican Complex For the fourth year in a row, Rafael Martinez will manage the DSL Twins. The hitting coaches are Steven Cardona and Carlos Lara. Both were in the same roles last year. Cardona was working as a hitting instructor at Infinite Hitting. He has worked in a variety of roles, from sales, to data entry, to ESL instructor in the Mets, Marlins, Rays, and Blue Jays organizations. Lara has also with the Twins' baseball technology group. Former Twins minor leaguer Ruben Santana returns for his fourth season coaching in the DSL. He originally signed with the Twins in September of 2015 and was a player in the organization through the 2021 season. He has been responsible for hitting, base running and infield work through his tenure. Dylan Hawley will be one of the team's pitching coaches. Hawley is in his second season with the organization and in the DSL. He is from Minnesota and had been working at Driveline the previous three years. In 2022, he was the pitching coach for the Excelsior Legion Baseball team. Alex Wright is joining the Twins this season and will be a pitching coach in the Dominican Summer League. He was a student at the University of South Carolina from 2016-2020. As a freshman, he applied for an internship with the Gamecocks as a video analyst. He became a student manager as well. His second year, the school invested in Trackman, Rapsodo and other technology and he dove in head first. After school, he joined Ascent Athlete, a sports performance facility in Pennsylvania that focuses on baseball and softball player development. Player Development Staff Jeremy Zoll: VP, General Manager Alex Hassan: Assistant GM Drew MacPhail: Director of Player Development Brian Maloney: Director, Minor League and High Performance Operations Amanda Daley: Director of Player Education Tommy Bergjans: Director, Player Development Frankie Padulo: Assistant Director, Player Development Josh Ruffin: Director, Applied Analytics Jason Davila: Senior Manager, Minor League Operations Lisa Maria Tolentino: Coordinator of Minor League Operations Chad Raines: Coordinator, Player Development Nihar Maskara: Analyst, Player Development Research Coordinators Kevin Morgan: Minor League Field Coordinator Edgar Varela: Coordinator of Instruction Ehire Adrianza: Assistant Coordinator of Instruction. Nat Ballenberg: Pitching Coordinator Bobby Hearn: Assistant Pitching Coordinator Bryce Berg: Hitting Coordinator Ryan Smith: Assistant Hitting Coordinator Tucker Frawley: Catching Coordinator Mike Quade: Outfield Coordinator View full article

In the final breakdown of the AL Central rosters (currently), I'll consider the bullpens of each of the five teams. How do the Twins rank? Who has the best bullpen? Image courtesy of Matt Krohn-Imagn Images (photos of Griffin Jax, Jhoan Duran), Ken Blaze-Imagn Images (photos of Emmanuel Clase, Cade Smith) A week ago, I started an attempt at comparing the Twins roster (if the season opened today) to the other teams in the AL Central. If you missed any of the first three installments of this series, you can look back here: Part 1: Infielders/Catchers Part 2: Outfielders/DH/Bench Part 3: Starting Pitchers Part 4: Relief Pitchers (Today) In my mind, comparing bullpens can be quite difficult. Sure, for most teams we know the closer, but after that, one could argue that they are all underrated, or at least aren’t talked about as much as they should be. As we all know, aside from some closers, the only time you really hear about a reliever is when they don’t do well. Think about it. Twins fans saw how amazing that Griffin Jax was the last couple of years, and he wasn’t even mentioned among the Top 10 relief pitchers in baseball. In reality, he was Top 3 in MLB, and the other two are also in the AL Central (arguably). In addition, a lot of teams use the back half of their bullpen to shift players between Triple-A and the big leagues. When there are DFAs, they often happen with players at lowest-leverage roster spots. And how do you compare an 8th inning, high-leverage reliever to a long reliever who pitches in blowouts. So, I broke it into five parts, which may be too many. Those categories are: The Closer, Top Set Up Guy, Top Lefty, Next Two, and then Bottom Three. The Closer: Obviously the ninth-inning guy. The guy who gets the Saves. The Top Set Up Guy: Often the team’s best relief pitcher. He may be called upon for the biggest outs of the game whether they happen in the eighth inning or sixth inning. Top Lefty: I’m not sure if this is as important as it was before the three-batter minimum rule came into place. However, most teams want to have at least one high-quality lefty reliever in their bullpen. The Next Two: I guess, looking at Twins terms, this is the rest of The A Team. These are the two other relievers that are called upon in high leverage situations and with leads. The Bottom Three: I need a better name for this group, but this is really just the final three bullpen spots. One could be a long-reliever. One could be a Rule 5 pick or a younger reliever that they don’t want to use in high-leverage situations. Bullpen Twins: Jhoan Duran (1.2), Griffin Jax (2.6), Cole Sands (1.5), Jorge Alcala (0.3), Kody Funderburk (-0.1), Justin Topa (0.1), Michael Tonkin (0.4), Eiberson Castellano (R5), Brock Stewart (IL, 0.1) Guardians: Emmanuel Clase (2.2), Cade Smith (2.7), Hunter Gaddis (1.6), Tim Herrin (1.0), Pedro Avila (0.3), Slade Cecconi (0.2), Sam Hentges (0.3), Logan Allen (-0.7), Trevor Stephan (IL). Royals: Lucas Erceg (1.4), James McArthur (0.1), Sam Long (0.2), Chris Stratton (0.0), John Schreiber (1.1), Angel Zerpa (0.2), Carlos Hernandez (0.2), Daniel Lynch (0.2). Tigers: Beau Briske (0.5), Alex Lange (0.1), Alex Faedo (-0.5), Matt Manning (0.2), Will Vest (1.1), Sean Guenther (0.4), Keider Montero (-0.1), Kenta Maeda (0.0). White Sox: Justin Anderson (0.2), Jared Shuster (0.2), Steven Wilson (-0.7), Fraser Ellard (0.1), Jordan Leasure (-0.4), Prelander Berroa (0.1), Gus Varland (0.5), Cam Booser (0.3), Bryse Wilson (-0.2). Full Disclosure: I didn’t take a ton of time considering the final bullpen spots. However, for the Twins, I included Eiberson Castellano since he is a Rule 5 pick so until he’s not on the roster, he’ll be on the roster. That means that someone like Louie Varland may have to start the season in St. Paul. The Twins signed Michael Tonkin and Justin Topa to avoid arbitration. Tonkin has long been out of options. Ronny Henriquez is also out of options, so would the team let him go for nothing, or could Topa, who has two options remaining, wind up in St. Paul? The Guardians have several pitchers coming back from injuries, and several lefties. The Royals have a lot of arms, some who have shown potential at times. I included a couple of starter/long relievers on the Tigers list. And frankly, I have no idea what the White Sox bullpen will look like. I just want to see #OldFriends Prelander Berroa and Cam Booser get an opportunity, and it would be fun to see Varland vs Varland games for the next several years. Closers: Is there any question that right now Emmanuel Clase is the class of the division’s closer group. Duran came down to earth in 2024, so he’ll need to have a comeback season to stay ahead of Erceg. Top Set-Up Guys: I’ll put Griffin Jax up against any other reliever in the game, but former Twins draft pick Cade Smith was best in baseball in 2024. The Tigers don’t necessarily have a shut-down closer, but they do have some really big arms with stuff to go with it, guys like Alex Lange and Alex Faedo. Top Lefty: I like Kody Funderburk, and when healthy, his stuff can generate a lot of strikeouts. Mid-90s fastball with a sharp slider. He came up through the organization as a starter so he, at times, can have a third pitch too. Herrin and Vest are the top guys on this list. And Cleveland’s got Minnesota Sam Hentges coming back from injury too. The Next Two: Cole Sands came on in 2024 and was more than anyone could have fairly hoped he would become. Jorge Alcala was healthy in 2024 and outside of one really bad game, he was quite good. Again, Cleveland has big arms and depth. Hunter Gaddis has been really good at times. The Tigers and the Royals have a bit of depth too. The Bottom Three: The Twins have a couple of mid-30s options with lots of service time. If not Tonkin/Top, then it’s youth in the form of Castellano, Varland, and Henriquez. Cleveland added Slade Cecconi in the Josh Naylor deal. While he hasn’t yet done it in the big leagues, he does have some interesting stuff. SUMMARY I went with a little different format for the starting pitchers than the hitters, and with the bullpens, my system goes back to what we did for the hitters. In the first chart, it is just a simple ranking of the five closers (and other categories). The team with the best gets five points. Four points for the second-best. One point for the fifth best, also known as "the worst." Then in the second chart, I again gave 10 total points per category. Those 10 points are then allocated between the five teams. In theory, if you felt all of the teams were exactly the same as each other, all of them would get two points. For these, the highest points I gave to anyone was 3.5. But I think that what we find is that the Cleveland Guardians have the top bullpen on paper heading into the season. The Twins aren't far behind, especially when, in chart 2, we are able to show scale or differentiation more clearly. The Royals and Tigers both have some good arms but are clearly behind the top two teams. And then there are the White Sox. What do you think of these rankings, and how would your rankings look different? View full article

I was thinking of Sean Gilmartin... whose wife was once the White House Press Secretary. Gilmartin was a Rule 5 pick by the Twins, I believe.

Looking at offense is fun, but what wins? Pitching. How does the Twins starting five compare to the predicted starting five for the other AL Central teams? Image courtesy of Cole Ragans (Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images), Tanner Bibee (Ken Blaze-Imagn Images), Pablo Lopez (Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images), Tarik Skubal (Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images), Seth Lugo (Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images). Comparing five hitters who play the same position is fun, and sometimes there can be challenging decisions. Comparing 25 starting pitchers to each other? That's a whole other ballgame. However, many would agree that pitching is the most important part in a ballgame, starting with the starters. Previous AL Central Comparisons Part 1: The Infielders/Catchers Part 2: The Outfielders/CH/Bench Part 3: Starting Pitchers (Today) Part 4: Relief Pitchers (Coming Soon) I’m not sure there is a great way to look at and compare a group of five starters, so I’ll talk you through some of what I did. You’ll see this in the summary charts below too. The key to this exercise is to not overthink it. That’s the key because then I have a chance. How much research do I want to do? But I also think that sometimes a first reaction gives a person a good feel for how they truly feel about the pitchers and the group. The first thing I wanted to do was attempt to predict the five rotations. I’ve listed five potential season-opening starters for each team. I also noted a couple of starters who are likely to come off of the injured list at some point during the season. When in doubt, I guessed. One part that is really difficult to account for is injuries and depth. I included Chris Paddack in the Twins starting rotation, even though I think I’d rather see David Festa or Zebby Matthews. I went with Jackson Jobe for the Tigers instead of Kenta Maeda or Keider Montero or Matt Manning. The Starting Fives Twins: Pablo Lopez (3.2), Bailey Ober (2.9), Joe Ryan (3.1), Simeon Woods Richardson (1.8), Chris Paddack (1.0) Guardians: Tanner Bibee (3.3), Gavin Williams (1.3), Luis Ortiz (1.0), Ben Lively (0.8), Triston McKenzie (-1.0), Shane Bieber (IL, 0.8) Royals: Seth Lugo (4.7), Cole Ragans (4.9), Michael Wacha (3.3), Alec Marsh (1.4), Michael Lorenzen (0.7), Kyle Wright (IL) Tigers: Tarik Skubal (5.9), Reese Olson (2.4), Casey Mize (1.2), Alex Cobb (0.3), Jackson Jobe (0.0) White Sox: Jonathan Cannon (0.9), Drew Thorpe (-0.1), Davis Martin (0.6), Shane Smith (R5), Martin Perez (0.5) So, there are the five AL Central starting rotations. Now what? First, I kept it pretty simple. Who are the Top 5 starting pitchers in the division? They each get five points. Who are the #6 through #10 starters in the division? They get four points each. Eleven through 15? Three points each. Sixteen through 20? Two points each. The White Sox starters each get one point. That’s not true, though it’s close. I am pretty sure that we can all agree that right now, Tigers lefty and reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal is the best pitcher in the division. But then I put Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans, both of the Royals in the two and three spots. I ranked Pablo Lopez as the fourth-best AL Central starter, and Tanner Bibee of the Guardians at #5. Those five pitchers got five points for their teams. That’s 10 points for the Royals and five points for the Twins, Guardians and Tigers. I think that those five are pretty well agreed upon. It’s right away in Group #2 (6-10) where you can start finding some variance and disagreement in the rankings. It’s my list, and you should create your own list based on your opinions, your research, what you’ve seen or read. It’s your fandom. For me, I ranked Twins righties Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober in the #6 and #7 spots. Is that a hometown bias? They were followed in my rankings by Michael Wacha (Royals), Gavin Williams (Guardians), and Reese Olson (Tigers). So real quick, here is how that ranking turns out after ranking the 25 pitchers in order: Looking at this chart, the Twins and Royals stand at the top of the AL Central in terms of their starting five. However, the Guardians and Tigers are both close. What is the difference between 18 and 16? (I know. The answer is 2, but as it relates to this discussion...) So I wanted to take it to a little different level to try to gain a little separation. Since you’ve already ranked your Top 25, from 1 to 25, why not include a second chart. Why not just give one point to the #1 pitcher (Skubal), two points to the #2 pitcher (Lugo), three points for the #3 starter (Ragans), and four points for the Twins for Pablo Lopez in the fourth spot. The #25 starter… maybe White Sox Nick Martini (?)... adds 25 points to the White Sox ledger. The value in taking time to do this exercise is to provide scale. Instead of #1 being given equal weight as #5, and just four points different from Tarik Skubel to, ummm… let’s pick on a different White Sox starter, maybe Davis Martin (?) at #24? Which is better? Having three Twins starters in the Top seven in the division, and their #5 starter at #18, or the Royals having two in the top three, three in the top 10, and four in the top 12, but they have a 23 in their fifth spot? Well, from my personal rankings, here’s how it turned out for me. How does yours look? So by adding this level of detail, the Royals do separate themselves a little bit from the Twins for the top spot. There is a more noticeable difference between the top two teams and the next two, but the Tigers (largely due to Skubal) finish in third place. And, as with any preseason projection or prediction, there's no way of knowing who is right or who is wrong. One or two injuries could alter everything. We all know that a team will get starts from at least eight-to-ten pitchers, and as many as probably 20. There are other variables that happen during a regular season. But this is a fun exercise to find out how you really feel about where the Twins are right now relative to their primary competition. Now it's your turn. Discuss my rankings, if you want, but take a few minutes and create your own rankings. View full article

I was thinking of the wrong lefty reliever. Doolittle was an All-Star. The guy I'm thinking about wasn't.