Peter Labuza

Image courtesy of © Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images In September 2023, 46,889 fans gathered at their favorite ballpark to watch their team. The team won in an otherwise lost season, though some of the younger stars shined, while their elite closer finished the game. Nobody left right after the final pitch, however, because the moment marked a somber occasion: the last Major League Baseball game in Oakland (for a while, anyway) after 50 years, all because owner John Fisher sought investment opportunities in the form of free government money elsewhere. Since then, the team has played in West Sacramento, in a minor-league ballpark—which the players hate—while failing to secure any money outside the state to begin building in their new “home” of Las Vegas. As of today, it's still not clear the Athletics will ever play in the state of Nevada. With Wednesday’s announcement that the Pohlads will continue to own the Twins (albeit with a cash infusion to draw down the unnecessary debt they assigned to the team), the question has to be raised: is it becoming (at least incrementally) more likely that the team eventually moves out of Minnesota? Here are the crucial facts. When the Pohlads signed an agreement with Hennepin County, it secured a runway of 30 years for Target Field through a tax. That tax was actually wildly successful; it's already essentially paid off (with interest!) any of the debt that the state incurred. As Twins fans know from the 2001 decision from Judge Harry Crump, the Twins are legally required to play in the ballpark until the end of the lease. You can find plenty of legal scholars who feel Crump ruled incorrectly, and taking one's chances with the court system is taking one's chances, indeed, these days, but it seems safe to say that that initial lease agreement will be honored, no matter what. In January of this year, the Minnesota Ballpark Authority (the public entity in charge of the venue) began crafting language that would extend the Twins’ future at Target Field, with 20 years more guaranteed and options for another 20 years. While approved by Hennepin County, the deal required the State legislature to continue the sales tax. That state budget was passed in June of this year without the tax. Lawmakers suggested punting on the tax till 2026. Instead, they focused on a bipartisan bill to increase hospital funding, given recent Medicaid cuts by the Big, Beautiful Bill that will likely lead to cuts and closures throughout Minnesota. There's reason to wonder whether the Twins will be able to lobby their way to the passage of that tax extension, at this point. But more importantly, if and when the Pohlads try again to sell the team, maybe they'll be more interested in potential buyers who would take the team elsewhere. Target Field is an architectural jewel and an aesthetic delight for fans, but it's not a state-of-the-art facility from a team operations standpoint, and the area is not viewed as ripe for the kind of development that maximizes profitability. But there are plenty of cities clamoring for a team, including Nashville, Portland, and Montreal. If the Pohlads remain unhappy owners of a product they do not care about, those other buyers are going to be increasingly attractive over the next decade. In fairness to Joe Pohlad, he insists that that's simply not how the family (or at least a portion of the family) feels, and in fairness to the Twin Cities and Target Field, this is a much better-established and less complicated baseball market than any of the places hankering for expansion or relocation opportunities. However, unless the Twins can find a way to reignite the fanbase, the legislatures may look at the team and feel little pressure to invest taxpayer dollars in the future of the team and its home park. As I studied, the Pohlads have almost always chosen cash over community, again and again. As Joe Pohlad told employees Wednesday morning, “There is alignment on how we see the Twins moving forward, and also in our belief in the future of baseball in Minnesota.” But what is that shared belief? A destination for decades to come? Or only the next decade? Maybe the story of the A's will be a cautionary tale, and the Twins will have the good sense to stay home. But if Rickey Henderson and "Smoke" (Dave Stewart) weren't enough to anchor that team in its baseball-loving long-time home, neither Joe Mauer nor "Señor Smoke" (Juan Berenguer) can guarantee the future of the Twins in Minnesota. View full article

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images It’s another slow grounder. Brady House topped the ball only four feet and it’s bouncing with a little charge to third. The Washington Nationals rookie dashes toward first, and his speed ensures he’ll be safe on the sloppy hit. But Royce Lewis charges into the ball. His run to the ball from playing more toward third looks like he’s drifting in Mario Kart from the speed on his circular angle. He gets to the ball just as its reaching third base and lashes his arm out to dart it across the infield to Ty France. At first, House is called safe. But Joey Casey's eagle eyes see something different, and it’s overturned. 250726.mp4 As the Twins debated their offseason choices in 2024, many threw out the idea that Lewis was likely destined out of his position. His first two seasons, even with smaller than desired sample sizes, suggested him as a capable but certainly not stellar infielder, positing positive Outs Above Average but nowhere near the likes of Matt Chapman and Ryan McMahon, to name some of the best graded defensive players. Rumors swirled near the end of next season that he could be switched to second, and even played a game there when things got desperate. But at least to the naked eye, Lewis has looked different this year. More athletic, more quick to the ball. The throws look way more in line. The analytics support him. After posting either negative or neutral defensive fWAR, he now has 3.0 — more than his now former shortstop counterpart Carlos Correa. His DRS went from negative to positive and now ranks 10th in Outs Above Average. Even in a recent press conference, Rocco Baldelli praised the recent changes in Lewis’s footwork and timing rather than his arm. Lewis Defense.mp4 But beyond a plethora of great plays, how can we really understand how Lewis is making different plays? As we all know, advanced stats when it come to defense seem to capture the overall picture but rarely the details of what might be creating a defensive titan in the making. What types of plays is Lewis doing differently? According to Statcast data, Lewis on average moved back this season by a few feet while moving just slightly closer to the third base line. That's set him up for a kind of play he used to flounder at: the charge. We're talking slow rollers and ugly bouncers to third, the kind that are more accidental in nature than intended by the batters. These balls require everything: infield hustle, a good one handed grab, and an accurate throw to beat a fast first basemen, And as other Twins players have seen a dip in their defense, Lewis has transformed himself to one of the best in the game. To try and quantify this, I wanted to take every infield ball hit toward Lewis. But not every ball is the same. A 101mph screamer requires a big leap rather than a charge. While Statcast has data for fielding, it can't tell us much about the trajectory of the ball, or where the fielder even started. To understand charges, I looked at every ball hit to third base but needed to create limitations. First, any line outs or pop outs were eliminated, leaving only ground balls. Secondly, the ball needed to be hit in a way to require the third baseman to charge it down. That required combining two data sets. The first was any ground ball under 70mph off the bat. This accounted for bunts as well as softly hit balls where the third basemen often needed to come toward the ball rather than stay put. The second took any ball over 70mph, but at a launch angle of -30 degree. This accounted for accidental bouncers, the kind smashed into the ground. Not all of them are fair to chargers like Lewis—or any other third basemen defender—but a majority of them are. (One of the hits charged as a single to Lewis this year was a ball grounded into the air only to pop up 25 feet in the air; the only thing Lewis could do was wait for it to come back to Earth). What makes a successful charge? Any ground out to get the batter at first was obviously a success. I also decided any sacrifice bunt—a play where the batter was out at first (even if they advanced the runner)—was a successful charge. Any other out or the start of a double play counted too; if the basemen had to go for the ball and ensured an out in doing so, they were doing something right. Only errors or hits were considered unsuccessful. To get a sense what makes a good charger, here are the 2024 statistics, focusing on third basemen with at least 30 plays—good or bad—in a year. I eliminated everyone in the 70% range to highlight the top and bottom of the list to give the sense of the range. Player Charge Attempts Charge Rate Jared Triolo 47 87.2% Ke'Bryan Hayes 73 84.9% Jordan Westburg 41 82.9% Matt Chapman 140 82.9% Brett Baty 33 81.8% Gio Urshela 74 81.1% Enrique Hernandez 52 80.8% Oswaldo Cabrera 62 80.6% Abraham Toro 36 80.6% Ernie Clement 61 80.3% Lenyn Sosa 36 69.4% Mark Vientos 79 68.4% Ramon Urias 50 68.0% Ryan Mcmahon 112 67.0% Royce Lewis 39 66.7% Jake Burger 53 66.0% Jose Miranda 46 65.2% Christopher Morel 51 64.7% Jeimer Candelario 36 61.1% As we can see, some of the more familiar names in defensive accrue near the top, including Ky’brian Hayes and old friend Gio Urshela. Notably, two names appear near the bottom, Lewis and Jose Miranda. Of course, Miranda eventually found himself at third base, and his suboptimal offense has essentially played himself out of the majors. Lewis had struggled at charging in his previous two seasons, posting an equally dismal 65% in 2023. Here's a representative play: 230623.mp4 This was ruled a single rather than an error. But as we see here, properly fielding the ball does not necessarily result in a better result: 230916.mp4 It’s worth noting Lewis learned third base entirely on the fly. Lewis played over 2,600 innings in the minor leagues as a shortstop. He played a total of 79 innings at third before becoming his cemented position in the majors. More so, Lewis himself noted that he was often limited in his practice. “All my injuries have been lower body, so I can’t go out there and take ground balls.” Lewis often wanted to rely on his arm to do the work rather than the body. During the offseason, Lewis studied tape of players like Chapman and Nolan Arenado. As Bobby Nightengale reported, Lewis noticed how often they used their bodies rather than relying on “maximum-effort throws despite their cannon arms.” He worked with Michael Cuddyer and finally found the style that worked for him. As he told the media in the spring, “I feel like a true shortstop playing third base.” Lewis now sits at the top of the leaderboard in Charge Rate this season for those with at least 30 attempts: Player Charge Attempts Charge Rate Royce Lewis 38 86.8% Ernie Clement 30 86.7% Joshua Jung 47 85.1% Yoan Moncada 33 84.8% Alex Bregman 59 84.7% Austin Riley 72 83.3% Ke'Bryan Hayes 92 81.5% Luis Rengifo 45 80.0% Ramon Urias 44 79.5% Brett Baty 39 79.5% Nolan Arenado 73 79.5% Alec Bohm 61 78.7% Maikel Garcia 70 78.6% Matt Shaw 51 78.4% Eugenio Suarez 77 77.9% Matt Chapman 95 77.9% Now, 38 attempts is minimal compared to the number of defensive plays that Chapman and Hayes put up in an average season. But still, as this montage shows, it's been an impressive step up: Lewis NEW2.mp4 For Lewis, it begins with the routes. His throws still show off his arm, but the throwing errors have gone from six to zero (one of three players at third with over 400 IP to remain errorless on throws). But what works is that the flow looks right. Watch the following play: the camera can’t even tell us where Lewis is running from, but he makes a perfect route with the momentum that the throw itself becomes an afterthought: 250528.mp4 In fact, if we look at the Twins over the last few years, we can see how much he has cemented himself as one of the team's top third basemen, especially as others have seen their defense slip. Twins Player 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Josh Donaldson 78.8% Willians Astudillo 55.6% Luis Arráez 79.2% 75.0% Gio Urshela 72.9% Jose Miranda 66.7% 80.6% 65.2% 44.4% Donovan Solano 66.7% Kyle Farmer 95.0% 80.0% Jorge Polanco 60.0% Willi Castro 65.2% 80.0% Brooks Lee 90.9% 56.5% Royce Lewis 65.6% 66.7% 86.8% Jonah Bride 88.9% Lewis’s future with the Twins feels uncertain as much with the team. He’s been forced into a quasi-leadership role despite how little he’s played in the majors. But the fact that he’s become a master of charging shows something special about him. Lewis has spent his entire career adapting to challenges, both see and unforeseen. And as he charges toward the ball, he can now charge the team forward. View full article

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images If the Twins are considering anything at the deadline, trading Jhoan Duran or Griffin Jax has become the obvious route for the team. Joe Ryan would require a package that would rival the haul the Nationals got for Juan Soto. Rental pieces like Harrison Bader or Willi Castro might bring a couple interesting picks but nothing to cement the team’s future. But two ace relievers with multiple years of team control? That haul could change the team's future. As most fans known, relief pitchers are fickle beings. It was only a few years ago that Cole Sands existed primary to mop up blow ups. Derek Falvey grabbed Brock Stewart as a minor league pick up in the middle of rehabbing from Tommy John. And on the negative side for the Twins, somehow the Red Sox have found the Jorge Alcala magic. The idea that Duran or Jax will remain commanding relievers (not to mention pricey for a team whose budget next year remains a black box) has already been tested this year to an extent. But what do you do when you lose the top of your bullpen? Trading these two would require multiple new arms to take their place. But if it comes to it, there is no reason Louis Varland cannot elevate himself to the closer role. Twins fans (not to mention the front office) have valiantly attempted to peg Varland into several different roles in his years with the team. Many of them on trying to unlock a starter’s potential. Even this offseason, Varland spent his time in limbo as the team decided how to build its rotation. When I met him briefly in December, he said he was working on a “depthier” slider. That pitch has turned out to be one of his weakest and rarely used (it has a 30% whiff rate but lands too much in the zone). But if Varland has the time now to know he’s the head of the bullpen, that will finally give him the runway to develop a closer’s arsenal. For some pitchers, it doesn’t take much to be a closer; Emmanuel Clasé does it throwing a single, unhittable pitch. Varland still has a starter’s arsenal, but only his knuckle curveball has developed into a workhorse alongside his fastball. But there’s a case to be made that Varland has been the team’s most valuable reliever. He might carry a lower strikeout rate than Jax and Duran, but he also walks fewer batters than them. That's while being a multifaceted choice for the team, whether as fireman, set up man, and sometimes double inning relief. Varland has thrown more innings than any other relief pitcher and holds the highest WPA for the core. Before this week against the Dodgers, Varland hadn’t allowed an inherited runner to score since May. He’s also cemented himself as the most…acrobatic pitcher among the relief corps. The case for closing becomes evident when you start to put Varland among other closers in the game. I pulled a number of the game’s current top closers alongside the Twins core and looked at various +Stats (where 100 is league average), and color coded them based on their general rank against each other—all of them have elite stuff, but red is marked where they are closer (or in some cases, below) league average. At the end, I took averages of all these markers, treating them relatively equally, to produce a sense of how Varland stacks up against elite pitching in the game (GAME-, where lower is better): Pitcher Team ERA- FIP- xFIP- K/9+ BB/9+ GAME- Louis Varland Twins 51 69 70 104 71 71.4 Griffin Jax Twins 101 49 41 164 76 65.6 Jhoan Duran Twins 48 58 67 117 96 70.9 Josh Hader Astros 58 82 71 155 77 70.5 Edwin Diaz Mets 39 56 61 163 96 62.7 Aroldis Chapman Red Sox 29 43 52 158 69 51.3 Jeff Hoffman Blue Jays 118 99 64 147 71 84 Mason Miller Athletics 95 68 67 168 131 84.1 Robert Suarez Padres 87 56 85 115 80 79 Emmanuel Clase Guardians 69 54 81 109 60 71.1 Andrés Muño Mariners 38 58 61 140 124 70.5 Dennis Santana Pirates 35 57 89 87 46 68.4 Trevor Megill Brewers 56 66 82 131 117 79.5 Devin Williams Yankees 117 61 79 141 109 87.4 If there’s one story that stands out, it’s that Louis Varland needs more strikeouts to enter that elite echelon. In fact, the most league average FIP- and xFIP- are essentially that story; a few more strikeouts would easily put him in the green. Some of that is where Varland comes in the game, where Baldelli has called upon him for 11 appearances with runners already on base. For Varland, that has meant treading with caution: fewer pitches in the zone, inducing more walks, and striking out less (ironically, runners on base dramatically increases his whiff rates, but he cannot seem to put them away). Varland needs to get aggressive to become a serious contender. But what happens this offseason as Varland focuses on that command and building out those off-speed pitches? What does his ceiling look like as he builds a clear role for the future? Varland probably needs one more pitch to enter that next echelon. But the velocity is already there—hitting close to 101. But given he doesn’t he begin his arbitration until 2027, there is no doubt that Varland could be a cornerstone closer until the next decade begins. We all know that Varland has got that dog in him. Maybe it’s time to see if he’s got a closer mentality too. View full article

Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images Box Score SP: Zebby Matthews: 6 P, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 81 pitches, 54 strikes (66.7%) Home Runs: None Top 3 WPA: Zebby Matthews, (.358), Jhoan Duran (.160), Griffin Jax (.120) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs): Wheeling and Dealing Zebby Matthews began the game dispensing his fastballs with a tick of extra velocity, starting the game with two strikeouts and a weak groundout. His second inning includes a nice little throw to first on a tricky roller out of the box, beating Jeffers to the ball and getting the out just in time. Opposite Matthews was the All-Star Mackenzie Gore, just one of many pieces the Nationals acquired in the Juan Soto trade. The lengthy southpaw came out shaky as he had in many of his recent starts, putting Ryan Jeffers and Carlos Correa on before getting the red-hot Royce Lewis to scrape under a ball for a soft fly out and escape the inning. The second looked just as promising for the Twins with walks to Harrison Bader and Ty France, but a Matt Wallner fly out and double play off a Brooks Lee ground out ended the worry. Both pitchers continue to cruise through the next few innings without much traffic. Matthews finally let a two out double to Luis Garcia Jr. break up a potential new hitter in the fourth, but Harrison Bader snagged a foul ball from Josh Bell on the very next pitch. Gore’s pitch count had reached 77 with two outs but a poor run from Harrison Bader resulted in his fourth time caught on a stolen base attempt this season. Escaping a Gore-y Blow Out Gore continued to look shaky into the fifth, allowing Wallner (the sole lefty in the line up) walk on four pitches. His command went haywire with two wild pitches to put Wallner on third and Lee at first. Buxton got on top of one on a 3-1 count, but the 112 MPH whack was only enough to get Wallner home on a sacrifice fly. Gore escaped as Jeffers watched a ball float by for a strikeout, having only thrown only 54% of his pitches for strike. The Nationals turned to the bullpen to begin the sixth and the Twins went to work with Correa lobbing a single to right and Lewis slapping a hard double to left. A Ty France hit-by-pitch loaded the bases before interim skipper Miguel Cairo went to another lefty against Wallner. The pinch-hit trigger-happy Rocco Baldelli had his hands tied with Christian Vázquez as the only righty on the bench. The plan worked with Wallner landing one easily in Daylen Lile’s glove in right field. Easy Closing Matthews finished the night with his first Quality Start of his career, sporting seven strikeouts and only two men on base all night on 81 pitches. It was deserving for a pitcher whose underlying numbers have suggested a top line starter. With the Nationals sporting a lefty heavy line up and the Twins carrying a one run lead, Danny Coulombe took over with three easy fly outs. Jax looked to recover from his Dodger Stadium blunder but once again saw traffic on the bases. Lile punched one over France’s glove for a double in the corner while Jax walked #9 hitter Jacob Young. Thankfully, the final hit off Jax this time amounted to a harmless CJ Abrams fly out to Willi Castro. The offense remained relatively quiet with both Luis García and Jose Ferrer keeping the bases clean. Jhoan Duran proved his worth to the scouts scattered around the park with a strikeout at 102 and two weak grounders to end the ball game. It was the first 1-0 win for the squad since June 2nd, 2023. News & Notes —For retro weekend in celebration of the Hall of Fame, the Twins wore the classic M hats, while the Nationals wore the original “DC” hats from their inaugural season in 2005. Should have gone with an Expos hat, in my opinion. —Kody Funderburk joined the bullpen as Anthony Misiewicz, last seen leaving an eighth inning mess in Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, went to the 15-day IL with a left shoulder impingement —Denard Span is on the broadcast this weekend, his first ever at Target Field. —Target Field decided to join in the fun with the Meme of the Week: What’s Next? The Twins continue the series with the Nationals as All Star Joe Ryan (10-4, 2.63 ERA) takes on another southpaw in Mitchell Parker (6-10, 5.00 ERA). Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet SUN MON TUE WED THU TOT Jax 8 0 20 20 25 73 Durán 16 0 24 0 6 46 Varland 0 7 16 15 0 38 Sands 0 28 0 0 0 28 Coulombe 0 0 10 16 11 37 Stewart 0 0 12 0 0 12 Funderburk 0 0 0 0 0 0 Topa 0 0 0 0 0 0 View full article

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images Questions surrounding the wobbly seat of Rocco Baldelli have been answered: The Twins have already exercised his option for 2026. As Dan Hayes reported in The Athletic, "Multiple sources confirmed the club picked up its team option for 2026 on Baldelli, who’s currently in his seventh season as manager." It was not clear when the team made the call, but the report comes at an unfortunate time in the season. The Twins have gone 6-15 since June began, mostly thanks to their once-mighty starting rotation turning into the league's worst, with a collective 6.59 ERA. Hayes noted that Derek Falvey expressed his confidence in Baldelli on Monday and ruled out any mid-season manager switch. And with potential sale talks going cool again, any new management removing Baldelli feels equally distant. Whether Baldelli is responsible for the collapse is less clear. The injuries to Pablo López or Zebby Matthews are entirely out of his control, and have had a staggering effect. But other managerial decisions have been questioned. Matthew Taylor rightly took him to task more recently for an odd Christian Vázquez play in extra innings. Cody Christie suggested that his choice to use openers has been somewhat strained. But one might easily praise his decision in Seattle for pulling Bailey Ober after four innings with bases loaded, turning to Danny Columbe to eliminate the threat (it ended up a loss, but not on Ober). And the Twins have continued to have one of the strongest bullpens in the league, which often makes up Baldelli's most critical decisions. As many will of course note, many of his decisions are really those of the front office. And yet, the Phish-loving manager is now set to return, even at a time in which the future of the season—and the franchise—remains uncertain. One thing is for sure: fans will certainly have opinions. View full article

Image courtesy of © Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Whether Byron Buxton should be an All-Star should not be up for debate. He leads American League center fielders in home runs, RBIs, OPS, wRC+, fWAR, and slugging average. He would lead most of those stats for all AL outfielders, if not for Aaron Judge. He’s had numerous defensive plays that have awed us, only to (improbably) match that awesomeness with his bat. After years of remaining careful on the bases, he’s become a flawless stolen base machine, leading the Twins. It feels cliché, but we’re seeing a star reaching his top potential. Buxton held a 2.6 fWAR when he was sent to Los Angeles for the All-Star Game in 2022. He currently sits at 2.9 fWAR. That Buxton is flailing in the voting—only 13th among outfielders—is a case of unfortunate circumstance: coastal bias, a somewhat disengaged fanbase not interested in voting, and other shiny objects who get more national coverage. Voting can, of course, change, but it feels cruel when someone as deserving as Buxton can’t find his way into fans’ hearts given his numerous show-stopping moments. But this All-Star Game can be extra special for Buxton, a Georgia native with a chance to play in Atlanta suburban Cobb Country. And that means that Buxton, who sits at 15 dingers on the year, should be given more than a chance for a couple plate appearances. Put Byron Buxton in the Home Run Derby. It’s no secret that the Home Run Derby has become the event of All-Star Week. The game itself has had its moments, but most players are doing their best to not hurt themselves. The best moment, if I can recall any in recent years, was Nestor Cortes Jr. and Jose Trevino chatting on the broadcast while discussing their pitch selection (and that game included a Buxton home run off Dodgers pitcher Tony Gonsolin). And while sickos enjoy the Futures Game, most are barely aware of their existence. Meanwhile, the Derby has been where stars are made. It introduced Julio Rodriguez outside the Pacific Northwest. It helped put Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on the cover of MLB: The Show. Teoscar Hernández scored a bobblehead out of it. Buxton has been around for years in the league, but it could redefine how fans across MLB see him. Buxton’s reputation remains defined by the injury issues that plagued his early years. If they had any sense that Buxton played over 100 games—in Center Field!—last year, or even putting up those numbers this year, they would be excited. Given the voting, they clearly are ignoring what's happening out in Target Field. That said, Buxton’s home runs have been amazing, and not just because of the quantity of them. He’s hit the second-farthest home run of the year, only behind Mike Trout, besting Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. He has genuinely fearsome power. Compare Tuesday’s home run that came in almost the exact same position that he stole one back from Will Benson. Benson hit the ball over 5 MPH harder than Buxton, but Buxton’s bat speed tracked over 80 MPH and he hit his lower, which allowed it to track just over another six feet and over everyone, onto the green space of the batter's eye. Of course, the chatter class and commenters will scream that the team needs to keep Buxton healthy at all costs. It’s not entirely without cause—Luis Robert. Jr suffered an injury at the derby in 2023. But that being said, this is what it’s all about. Seeing Buxton in Georgia, every light and camera on him, doing a skill that it wasn’t even clear he would ever do in his career. That's what baseball is all about. Do you really want to play injury noticer, or do you wanna see him sock a few dingers? No Twin has even participated in the Derby in almost a decade. It only makes sense that Buxton, the heart and soul of this team who has carried the torch since those two, make that return. View full article

Luke KeaschallWalker JenkinsEmmanuel RodriguezConnor PrielippDasan HillKaelen CulpepperCharlee SotoAndrew MorrisBrandon WinokurKyle DeBargePayton EelesMarco RayaBilly AmickCJ CulpepperGabriel GonzalezCory LewisEduardo BeltreRicardo OlivarKhadim DiawCarson McCusker

Luke KeaschallWalker JenkinsEmmanuel RodriguezConnor PrielippDasan HillKaelen CulpepperCharlee SotoAndrew MorrisBrandon WinokurKyle DeBargePayton EelesMarco RayaBilly AmickCJ CulpepperGabriel GonzalezCory LewisEduardo BeltreRicardo OlivarKhadim DiawCarson McCusker

Image courtesy of © Jack Gruber-USA TODAY via Imagn Images Since January, many Americans have felt the transformation of various structures and functions under the second Donald Trump administration. However, the new omnibus tax bill currently making its way through Congress introduces a new wrinkle that will particularly upset Minnesota Twins fans; it could end up killing the sale of the team. President Trump’s signature legislative plan, the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” has passed the House and arrived at the Senate. The bill, which runs over 1,000 pages, generally comes down to broad tax cuts for the top earners in America by raising taxes on the poorest, alongside cutting 13.7 million Americans off health insurance. Radically sweeping in scope, the bill includes a ban on any regulation of artificial intelligence, neuters the judiciary’s power to limit abuses by the executive branch, and removes the requirement for citizens to register gun silencers. The bill projects to increase the federal deficit by $4.6 trillion over the next decade. Most of the bill heavily favors the ultra-wealthy, but right where the Pohlad family needs a break most, it might bite them hardest. Specifically, the bill includes a dangerous poison pill for new sports owners and their tax bills. Buried on page 966 of the bill is a “Limitation on Amortization of Certain Sports Franchises.” The clause replaces language in the current tax code, reducing “the adjusted basis” of various team assets from 100% to “50 percent.” As the New York Times reports, those assets “include player contracts, media rights and sponsorships … Under the House plan, team owners would be able to deduct from their taxes only half the value of those intangible assets over that period.” To put it plainly, many teams would be accepting a much higher bill than any cuts they might get. While the White House has claimed this is to punish owners for “overcharging ticketholders,” it is difficult to see why owners would respond to the situation by reducing prices. Don’t cry for the owners, of course, but any current sports group will not be hit with the bill. Only new owners of teams purchased after the passage of the bill will feel the brunt. It's a difference of, depending on the situation, tens or scores of millions in tax breaks lost. Not even billionaires can take such a hit without their eyes watering a bit. That would likely have a chilling effect on the market for teams across every league, leaving most current owners—whether John Fisher of the Athletics or Jerry Reinsdorf of the White Sox—in place for another decade. New owners would probably want a discount on a sale, as they must spend extra years recovering their costs, something that the Pohlads have been unwilling to do. Unless the Pohlads are dead set on selling, the bill would likely keep them as owners for the foreseeable future; it would certainly prevent them from getting the kind of price they've sought thus far. Because the sale of teams is a long and thorny process, the idea that the Pohlads could “rush” a transaction is far-fetched. When the Baltimore Orioles sale occurred last year, the timeline was slow: January 30th: ESPN Reports Sale of Orioles March 27th: MLB Owners Approve of Sale August 1st: Sale Finalized. The Pohlads could cut through as much red tape as possible to ensure a sale, but it seems unlikely. Trump has suggested the bill should be on his desk before the July 4 holiday, and selling before that would be an extraordinary feat, given where things appear to stand now. The best chance to find ownership will likely rely on MLB agreeing to ownership from abroad by those willing to overspend, which would most likely “sportswashing” ownership from the Middle East. For decades, foreign ownership has been bandied about, but the league has always treated it as anathema, and that's unlikely to change now. Because of the danger of the bill, NFL owners have already spent time lobbying various senators, where the bill is currently being debated. The politics of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act have been complicated even within the Republican Party, from those hoping to ensure Americans have access to Medicare to those who wish to see the bill’s enormous deficit cost reduced. The sports ownership clause could well be amended in the Senate before returning the bill to the House for reconciliation. The major leagues (MLB included) will surely lobby heavily for that outcome, but how effective that advocacy will be is hard to guess. If it does pass, one might call it poetic justice. After all, Trump had a higher bid than Carl Pohlad to buy the team in the 1980s. But for fans, this is a rare moment where helping billionaires might actually be the best move. If the Act were to pass in its current form, the Pohlads and Twins fans could be stuck with each other for a long while. View full article

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images Box Score SP: Simeon Woods Richardson: 4 2/3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 61 pitches, 33 strikes (54.1%) Home Runs: Byron Buxton (9), Harrison Bader (4) Top 3 WPA: Byron Buxton (.225), Harrison Bader (.145), Danny Columbe (.112) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs): Mr. Softee Making his sixth start (seven if you count the Justin Topa opener game in Atlanta), Simeon Woods Richardson played a soft contact game. He easily ran through the top of Baltimore's order with a pair of harmless pop-ups and a groundout to begin the game, and then induced two easy outs in the second before walking Jackson Holliday. Before that could spell trouble, Ryan Jeffers gave his hurler an assist by catching Holliday on a steal of second (in part thanks to a challenge initiated by Joey Casey, in the video room). That proved essential, as Ramón Laureano returned to the plate in the next inning and launched one deep to center field off Wood Richardson's curveball. Thankfully, the pitcher remained steadfast, easily pushing through the next two innings. The Baltimore Orioles have the league's worst strikeout rate since April 24, at 28,.2%, but Woods Richardson relied quite evenly on his various off-speed pitches to work grounders and easy fly balls. Buck Around and Bang Out Byron Buxton continued to prove himself the team's heart and soul, with Rocco Baldelli putting the hot hitter at the top of the lineup even against a right-handed starter. Charlie Morton allowed a single to Willi Castro and then clipped Kody Clemens on what would have been ball four to start the third inning. Buxton then stepped up to the plate (after striking out to begin the game) and hammered one to the second deck, making it three straight games with a dinger. Since the end of his slump to start the year, his slugging percentage sits at a mammoth .652. Morton entered this game with an ERA nearing 10.00, which ticked over that brightline after the smash hit. The 41-year-old continued to touch 96 mph with his fastball and limited his walks, but manager Brandon Hyde had seen enough after four innings and 70 pitches. Buxton promptly scored another hit off reliever Bryan Baker, though was left stranded at first. Bullpen Acrobatics It was a short start for Woods Richardson, who had cruised through 4 2/3 innings at only 50 pitches before three straight hits added a run. With a 3-2 game and runners on the corner, Baldelli called upon lefty Danny Coulombe to clean up the mess—and the trusty lefty did, with a strikeout against Cedric Mullins. Columbe returned for the sixth, getting two outs before missing a cover of first base that pushed Ryan O'Hearn onto first. Things then looked like they were up for an ugly turn with Louis Varland on the mound. Ryan Mountcastle edged out a single on a slow dribbler to Brooks Lee, and Jackson Holliday rolled one over to the right side that would have loaded the bases. But the former wrestler-turned-pitcher dived, rolled, and tossed the ball into Ty France's glove to beat out the hustling Holliday. As Justin Morneau commented, "Who said pitchers aren't athletes?" (Provus reminded him that Mourney had said it "many times".) Swap Meet After Royce Lewis walked to start the seventh, Baldelli began moving his chess pieces by subbing DaShawn Keirsey Jr. to run for the still-recovering slugger, in hopes of a steal; and swapping left-hander Kody Clemens for Harrison Bader to face the southpaw Keegan Akin. Bader only needed two pitches to launch a 408-foot homer to up the lead to three. That would be enough to finish the game. Bader would make a nice catch to help keep extra traffic out of Griffin Jax's way as he took the eighth, while Castro—moving into 2nd after beginning in the outfield—made a nice double play to assist the set-up man. Jhoan Duran cleaned up the ninth with three strikeouts. News & Notes —The Twins are now on a four-game winning streak, which is the longest the team has had since a four game streak than began on July 31st. —NBA Broadcaster Brian Anderson joined Cory Provus and Justin Morneau during the game to talk Wolves. Anderson asked when Provus would get his statue; Provus suggested he should get one above a urinal. —Twins players are participating in a Week of Service and spent the day packing meal kits. Former Twin Kyle Gibson joined his old team to help put together the meals and invited various Orioles to participate as well. What’s Next? The Twins look for a sweep to the three-game series, with Joe Ryan (2-2, 2.93 ERA) facing off against Dean Kremer (3-4, 5.73 ERA) at high noon—before the Giants come into town on Friday, coinciding with other battles amongst Minnesota and the Bay Area. Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet SAT SUN MON TUE WED TOT Stewart 13 16 0 0 17 46 Durán 16 9 0 0 14 39 Jax 7 14 0 0 17 38 Varland 0 7 0 12 10 29 Coulombe 0 0 0 11 17 28 Sands 12 0 0 10 0 22 Alcalá 0 0 0 20 0 20 Topa 0 0 0 0 0 0 View full article

Recent extensions are putting more and more bats out of reach for even a more spend-friendly Twins team. Trading—and trading now—might be the best option. Image courtesy of © Nick Wosika-Imagn Images Despite my most wishful thinking, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is now a Blue Jay for life. That’s a good deal for Toronto—as well as the sport of baseball—but it opens up questions for the Twins. While the famed pitching pipeline has been able to flex its muscles, the Twins once again are hampered by a lineup that simply cannot compete with the kinds of bats out there. While Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton will provide strong offense for a few years, the team will may simply need the kind of large investment that other teams have done. More so, extensions like the one for Vlad or Jackson Merrill of the Padres are becoming more and more common throughout the league. Even hitters without a single day of service time in MLB are locked into team-friendly extensions to secure both their own and the team’s future success. For the Twins, what does free agency even look like? The obvious answer is likely nothing as we have seen for two straight off seasons. But for this scenario, let’s imagine a Pohlad-less world where the Twins will have some money to spend. And even in one with the Pohlads, the team will see approximately around $30 million coming off the books (though with some likely pricey arbitrations that will likely eat at least a third of that). But let’s assume that the Twins had $25 million to drop on a free agent going forward. This is where things get trickier than simply “find big hitter.” Here’s a current chart of current top free agent hitters in the near future, the year they reach free agency, and their likely AAV: Player Free Agent Year Projected AAV Options? Kyle Tucker 2026 $44.40 Alex Bregman 2026 $29.96 Opt-Out Pete Alonso 2026 $29.00 Player Option Adley Rutschman 2028 $25.39 Jeremy Peña 2028 $23.97 Teoscar Hernández 2028 $23.75 Club Option Christian Walker 2028 $22.06 Jarren Duran 2026 $20.57 Club Option Alec Bohm 2027 $20.33 Brandon Lowe 2026 $20.10 Club Option Josh Naylor 2026 $20.01 Steven Kwan 2028 $19.83 Marcell Ozuna 2026 $19.33 Randy Arozarena 2027 $19.20 Brendan Donovan 2028 $19.16 Bryan de la Cruz 2028 $19.16 Lourdes Gurriel Jr. 2026 $19.10 Nathaniel Lowe 2027 $17.95 William Contreras 2026 $17.70 Club Option Luis Arráez 2026 $17.16 Jazz Chisholm 2027 $16.94 Tyler O'Neil 2026 $16.23 Opt-Out Ryan Mountcastle 2027 $15.00 This list is likely a little more than what we need, but it also proves a point at what the market will look like. If the Twins are signing a big bopper, the kind due for 40 homer power, you likely are spending no less than the Jarren Duran (the Twins have been in the Luis Arraez business before, and while a fantastic presence at the plate, they simply need a different type of hitter). But a few of the guys above that are approaching their mid-30s by their next free agency. Others like Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso have serious question marks. And I highly doubt the Twins are planning to be in the Kyle Tucker business, who is likely due even more than Guerreo. So how can the Twins compete in the hitting department? Some of that will be on the prospects—Walker Jenkins, Luke Keshall, Emmanuel Rodriguez—to develop into true talents (never an easy feat). But more likely, the Twins will have to begin parting ways with their pitching. The question is what style of trade will work, and what to pair alongside that. If the Twins continue to disappoint this season and find themselves as sellers, would Joe Ryan or Bailey Ober become obvious candidates? Rather than target a new set of prospects, the Twins could at least try for a pre-arbitration ready slugger. Using Ben Clemens’s Trade Value series from 2024, here’s the names that would be useful for the Twins if these teams felt their window was closing. I’ve kept off the names signed to massive contracts, but looked at a mix of pre-arb kids and those under team-friendly extension contracts: Player Current Status Gunnar Henderson Arb in 2026 Elly de la Cruz Arb in 2027 Yordan Álvarez $96.2/4 Years Riley Greene Arb in 2026 Corbin Carroll $72/5 Years Ronald Acuña Jr. $68/4 Years Michael Harris II $45/5 Years Luis Robert Jr. $55/3 Years Within this group, you could see some teams willing to get creative. The Astros may finally feel the need to rebuild, and the Twins could use an all time slugger like Yordon Alverez. The Braves might try and close their window and ship of Ronald Acuña Jr. or Michael Harris II. But beyond prospects, how much would the Twins have to let go? Consider this challenge trade: Adley Rutschman has essentially three full seasons in Baltimore, and they already have another top catching prospect and a desperate need for pitching. Would they take Zebby Matthews or David Festa (along with Mike Elias’s preferred payroll flexibility) to essentially drive them far into October? Would that cost be enough to get a player that makes it done? And would they be willing to trade now rather than wait till the deadline? The Twins seem to be in dire help of slugging. Royce Lewis will return, but the question marks all over his injury list have had some of my colleagues discussing a de-centering of his role. And most of all, the Twins have the arms ready to go to, with three full-fledged starters in AAA that seem major league ready. Like the Padres grabbing out Luis Arráez in May from the Marlins, waiting for the deadline can be a sucker’s game. If the Twins want to shake up a team that already looks lifeless, a new bat might make the difference. View full article

It's in the list at the top of the article under Xfinity / Comcast.

This article took the info from us. We were first to report.

MLB is saying to "Call YouTube and demand they add it," which seems like a losing battle. Likely they balked at the costs.

No info on DISH, but Rockies, Padres, and Diamondbacks (the three teams partnered with MLB last year) did not appear on the carrier last year.

Not ready to rest on the laurels of a cold-weather October curse, it turned out the Twins are also under a hex in the Sunshine State each spring. Image courtesy of © Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images Everyone knows: Spring training games do not matter. When all is said and done, spring training is for training. So why are the Twins so bad at it? This year, the Twins wound up with a losing record for the Grapefruit League. They're the only team to post a losing spring record in Florida each year of this decade. The Pirates haven't had a winning one, but they have at least had a couple of seasons at exactly .500. Over in the Cactus League, only one other team has matched the Twins' run of ineptitude: the Cleveland Guardians. Both teams had their last winning preseason in 2019. We all know these games do not matter. As study after study has demonstrated, there is no correlation between these records and those posted in the regular season. Some studies have gone further, to suggest even some advanced stats do not help us predict league performance in games that count. Yet, there's more than random chance happening here. Randomly, the chances of six straight losing Grapefruit League slots are around 1%. The Cleveland example seems important; they have been the Twins’ central rival for the last half-decade. They're continually over-performing projections, often through a hitting style that befuddles Twins pitchers by wearing them down. What lessons could we draw from that? I was curious: where was the bad production from the Twins coming from? Was it some sloppy work in the final innings by lower-minors prospects? Or was there something else afoot? I took all results from both Cactus and Grapefruit League from 2020 to 2024 (the 2020 Grapefruit season was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a fair number of games were played first). I grouped innings together: 1st to 3rd, 4th to 6th, 7th to 9th. Usually, starting pitchers will only go two or three innings until the last week, and most starting lineup batters will take their three swings into the 4th or 5th inning before leaving. That likely means that these divisions generally demonstrated the transition between certified major leaguers and newly minted prospects coming in for a few innings. My idea was to simply look at run differential: which group of players scored more or allowed more runs? To make the chart easier to read, I only focused on Grapefruit League teams: It’s not hard to miss the Twins here. They are, notably, doing their worst work early in games—worse than any other team in Grapefruit League baseball (though if you included the Cactus League, Cleveland would perform the worst). So what does it look like if we only look at the Twins, inning by inning? Again, this suggests that the problems with Twins’ Grapefruit League records have much more to do with their starters. Specifically, the problem seems to be pitching. If we convert runs to “Runs+,” where 100 would be the league average, Twins hitters have a 98 Runs+ in the first though third frames. Meanwhile, the pitchers have allowed a 111 Runs+. For comparison, the Dodgers seemingly bring eight or nine top-line starters to camp before losing them to injury, and have an 81.5 Runs+. There's a chance that Grapefruit League struggles have carried the seeds of regular-season trouble, then. However, there's also a chance that the problem we're seeing has already been solved. If the so-called Falvey pitching pipeline is really reaching its peak productivity, it makes sense that the starters have struggled at camp, while the minor leaguers have succeeded. Twins pitchers have allowed an 89 Runs+ in the 7th through the 9th innings. If widespread reporting is correct, the Twins (perhaps more so than other teams) seem to have let players use the exhibition season to experiment with new pitches. But we will still have questions. In all these seasons, the Twins have posted a losing record in April—until last year, which was saved by a 12-game winning streak that began after starting 7-13. Carlos Correa tells us that his spring does not matter, but it’s hard to look at a .337 OPS and not have some concern, especially when it was the third-worst performance for a spring training hitter in all of baseball with over 40 plate appearances. Should we be worried about Jhoan Durán’s lack of swings and misses? Rocco Baldelli has spoken all spring about the changes they made this camp, and many of us have been wondering about the efficacy of that. Maybe there was a greater need for those changes than we realized, though. Those questions will be answered in a matter of weeks. The Twins probably won’t wear this spring training monkey on their back, but if we come to the end of the season with some of the same befuddlement as last year, maybe we should start looking at this awkward losing streak more closely. It might be capturing a failure of process we can't quite articulate, but which is still real and telling. View full article