Otto von Ballpark

I believe Sabato would be eligible for minor league free agency after next season (2026).

I did not know that! According to this 2020 interview, Paddack ate Domino's. The Tigers share their owner with Little Caesar's.

And he could see a lot of time at 2B. From the Sunday Star Tribune Twins notes: Keaschall "is not expected to play any outfield this season, recovering from a forearm fracture, so he will be used as a second baseman and designated hitter."

The Tigers owe Maeda virtually all of that money, since they released him. The Yankees only pay him the minimum while he is on their roster (or presumably the AAA minimum while he is down there).

The bullpen usage chart suggests Travis Adams will be the primary pitcher today, and Noah Davis should make an appearance too. Adams had been throwing 50-68 pitches every ~5 days until the all-star break, but his usage has been irregular since -- 18 pitches in the first game after the break, then a season-high 83 pitches nine days later, and now ?? pitches today after 8 days rest. WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Ureña 0 0 0 0 69 69 Sands 13 0 20 0 21 54 Ohl 0 0 0 52 0 52 Topa 22 0 13 0 15 50 Funderburk 0 0 11 0 35 46 Davis 31 0 0 0 0 31 Tonkin 0 0 11 0 14 25 Ramírez 0 0 0 0 9 9 Adams 0 0 0 0 0 0

Good point! So far, the only other Pressly report that I found is that the Astros are "weighing the possibility" per Bob Nightengale. But if the alternatives are the Twins or retirement, I suppose Pressly can afford to wait and see if a better team loses a RP to injury in August.

Dan Hayes in the Athletic today details how Griffin Jax requested a trade after the Twins began dealing other players. Combined with the fact that Jax was later dealt only minutes before the deadline, this suggests that the Twins weren't entirely enamored with the Taj Bradley return, but the scales were ultimately tipped by the surprising Varland trade and Jax's own dissatisfaction.

A (perhaps predictable) tidbit from Dan Hayes today in the Athletic:

Are you referring to the Prospect Promotion Incentive? It appears Keaschall has lost eligibility already due to his time on the MLB IL. Rodríguez would be eligible, but in addition to making the opening day roster with rookie eligibility next year, he would either need to win the Rookie of the Year award, or have a top-3 league MVP finish within his first 3 seasons, in order for the Twins to get an extra draft pick.

Abel and Bradley both officially optioned now too. Unless we lose another active player to waivers/IL/etc., Bradley can't be recalled until August 8 (due to the 15 day minimum for pitchers), so he will likely make at least one start for St. Paul. Still one spot open for tonight...

Outman has been on the Dodgers bench the past month, playing sparingly, so perhaps they want him to knock the rust off in AAA for a bit (and try to get his AAA K% down from 30.3% before testing him against MLB competition again?).

8 of 9 have just been announced: Minnesota Twins activated LF Alan Roden. Minnesota Twins selected the contract of RHP José Ureña from St. Paul Saints. Minnesota Twins selected the contract of RHP Erasmo Ramírez from St. Paul Saints. Minnesota Twins recalled CF Austin Martin from St. Paul Saints. Minnesota Twins recalled 2B Edouard Julien from St. Paul Saints. Minnesota Twins recalled RHP Pierson Ohl from St. Paul Saints. Minnesota Twins recalled RHP Travis Adams from St. Paul Saints. Minnesota Twins recalled 3B Ryan Fitzgerald from St. Paul Saints.

He didn't even address you as "The Great"?

Is there a looming Rule 5 protection crunch? They now have 5 open spots on the 40-man, will be 4 after Keaschall is activated (then 3 when López is activated), but there is still some filler there that can easily be cut as needed too.

While not mentioned at the MLB official site, I believe the rules do allow this. From the Cub Reporter - Restrictions on Optioning/Recalling Players to/from the Minors (emphasis mine): EXCEPTIONS: The player is traded or claimed off waivers, is recalled as the extra man for a doubleheader (second game of the doubleheader only if two games were scheduled after a postponed or suspended game from the previous day) or other circumstances, is recalled to replace a player on the MLB Active List (26-man roster) who is traded, claimed off waivers, or placed on the MLB Injured List, Bereavement/Family Medical Emergency List, Paternity Leave List, or Restricted List (but only pursuant to a suspension or administrative leave resulting from a violation or possible violation of the joint MLB-MLBPA JDV policy or a suspension resulting from a violation of the joint MLB-MLBPA JDPTP policy), or is recalled and then optioned back to the minors prior to a game being played where the game is postponed or cancelled.

That seems like the most likely path, if this were to actually happen, given the Astros desire to stay under the luxury tax threshold and the Twins likely desire to not simply send a ton of cash. Cristian Javier or Lance McCullers Jr. could be additional salary dump options for the Astros. FWIW, all three (Walker, Javier, and McCullers) have some kind of limited no-trade protection -- no idea if that includes the Twins.

Players in DFA limbo during the season already earn MLB salary AND service time, while no longer reporting to the team. Even for a minimum-salary player like Blewett, that's ~$4153 per day just to stay at home, plus the future pension benefits. (According to this financial advisor, Blewett's current $6,875 annual pension at age 62 will jump to $27,500 if he can reach 172 days of service time. He entered the year with 102 days and is now up to 121, thanks to both roster and DFA time.) With a 48 hour waiver period, plus the $1,200 to $2,200 reassignment bonus mentioned in the article, there is already an effective minimum $10k waiver claim bonus. And as others have alluded to, Blewett owes his entire MLB career so far to roster churn. Reducing roster churn will simply reduce Blewett's MLB career.

Not on Bluepeak either. Tough break for folks in assisted living facilities with these TV providers!

The speculated Twins.TV pricing is now official: $20 per month, or $100 for the season.

Got it. Yes, that is true. You can bundle both packages for $200 for the season, if you need it. Or just add one for a month as needed. I recommend all baseball fans pick up a MLBTV subscription during the T-Mobile opening week promotion. Free if you or someone you know has T-Mobile, or ~$10 to pick one up from a T-Mobile customer in the Slickdeals forum.

MLB.TV will not be necessary to watch the Twins games locally. You'll only need the Twins.TV package. You can optionally add/bundle that with MLB.TV if you want to watch non-Twins games too.

This from the article is incorrect. Out-of-market fans just needed MLBTV like before, no Padres.TV (or Twins.TV) necessary.

Last summer, the commissioner said the Padres had 40,000 subscribers to their streaming package, and that was the highest of the MLB-broadcast teams at that time (San Diego, Arizona, and Colorado). Even assuming those are all full-season subscribers: 40,000 * $100 = $4 million The team likely earned a bit from their cable and satellite partners too, but -- that's not much money in the pro sports world! By comparison, the Twins earned $53 million from Bally in 2023, and reportedly around 80% of that (~$42 mil) in 2024. Edit to add: good analysis from a few months back: https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/will-twinstv-save-the-twins-a-look-at-the-financial-future-r17197/

I too am not optimistic about subscriber numbers, but I don't think the $20 monthly price will be much of a factor. By now, most consumers see sports as a different product -- they know that Netflix/Hulu/Amazon don't really have sports (many even deliberately choose them to avoid paying for sports). I just don't know how many subscribers are reachable in this market right now, regardless of pricing. It's not a big market to begin with. Many have already cut the cord and become accustomed to life without the Twins on their TV. Many just aren't excited about the current product on the field, and/or the disinvestment by ownership. And many casuals likely can't be reached by anything but bundling (which is why Twins.TV placement on cable/satellite is still important).

The issue is that the T-Mobile redemption period doesn't start until the opening week of the season. Although last season's MLBTV subscriptions (including the T-Mobile ones) are usually active until March 1st, so you can sometimes catch a few early spring games. And there is usually a "free game of the day" available to anyone with a MLB.com account regardless of subscription status. And last year, they had a "free preview" from March 22-26 where every game was marked as a free game. And of course, blackouts aren't typically enforced during spring training. You could also just subscribe to MLBTV for a month (~$30?) to get those other spring games. If you are local and if Twins.TV is available by then, maybe you can do that for $20 for the month of March, or perhaps March will be included in the $100 season price.