Ryan Atkins

I've been a MLB.TV subscriber for years now and watch the games on my Roku streaming device. The quality if terrific (wasn't always that way). The gotcha to look out for is the blackout restrictions. Being a Twins fan living in Texas works out great for me as I can watch nearly all the Twins games Live except when they are playing either the Rangers or the Astros (which is ridiculous as I'm nearly 5 hours from Houston). To a cord cutter like me it's a great deal for just a little over $100 per year as I have no Cable TV or Satellite contract on top of that. The other major gotcha is the post-season exclusive contracts. For example, when the playoffs are on TBS, you can ONLY watch them on TBS. Fortunately, this has been solved in the last couple years with services such as Sling TV.

I voted for Jack! He "tells it like it is" more than any of the others and I enjoy that honesty and it meshes well with Dick's homerism. I will say that I was very impressed with and thoroughly enjoyed listening to LaTroy Hawkins in his first go-around. I just have not heard enough of him yet to rank him 1st, but he may be headed there. I also like how they mix in these guys and give us a break from Bert, who is enjoyable all the same. It must be a bit of a challenge for Dick Bremer to adjust to the rotating color man, but he is a pro and does a brilliant job IMHO. Now, how about another poll/thread on favorite side-line reporter? My favorite is Marney Gellner, but Audra and Gorg do a good job too.

The Twins have been equally poor at home. They need to learn how to win at home. It should be an advantage, not a liability. If their road domination were to continue, they would only need to play .500 at home to have a good chance at the post season. And most importantly, I agree, beat your central division foes.

I agree with this, see no reason to drop Vargas at this point in the season. However, if Vargas went down or out, I would be more inclined to promote Matt Hague than either Park or Palka. He had a really good spring and is doing well at Rochester. And he can fill in at 1B or 3B, so if a trade of Escobar materialized, you would still have a 3B backup.

I would like to see them wait a bit longer. Maybe if they were to trade Escobar, then it could make sense to bring up Murphy as a 3rd catcher. But if we're starting to characterize a .232 BA at AAA as a "strong start", then it suggests he can't do much better than that. And those numbers probably drop at the big league level (down to say Castro/Giminez level). Either way, this seems a low impact decision whichever way they go. In unrelated news: Chris Herrmann (.185) hit a walk-off HR for the D-backs a couple nights ago. Folks, there just aren't many Buster Posey's out there. The 7th top hitting catcher in MLB is hitting a whopping .214

Many great posts here already. My takeaways are: 1. Defense. Aside from the blown rundown of the busted squeeze play the other day, the D has been outstanding. 2. The strong early play from Jason Castro, Miguel Sano, and Jorge Polanco. So important when you have the likes of Buxton, Dozier, and Mauer starting slowly. 3. Pitching. The key to any team's success. Santana has lived up to being out #1. I was impressed with Hughes. Underwhelmed be Gibson and Santiago, but they did OK. Mejia, we'll see, deserves a few more starts. Bullpen is strong and I think that can continue if they don't get overworked (i.e., starters continue to do well).

2nd best record in baseball (5-1) after week 1 gets you ranked #14 by ESPN -- LOL. Just behind them at #15 is Toronto (1-5).

I think we would all be thrilled with that. I also hope he improves on his 50% career success rate on attempted steals. It would be great if at least one of Rosario/Buxton/Sano had a major breakout season.

I think your prediction is spot on and has a very good chance at realization. My hope is that his overall hitting continues to improve slightly while the HRs drop just a bit. I'll go with: .270 BA, 28 HR, 88 RBI, 25 SB, 102 R I would like to see him steal more bases. With Molitor as MGR, I have been surprised by how poorly this team runs the bases. It is perhaps a skill you just can't teach. But Dozier (83% over the last 2 years) has been good, just not frequent enough. Dozier leading off with Mauer or Grossman (both of whom can work a count) batting 2nd should allow for a few more SBs.

Oops. That sample wasn't a subset, it was for the entire 2016 season. The same stat across Dozier's entire career is even more telling: 42.6% of his ABs came when batting in the 1st position 53.2% of his RBIs came when batting in the 1st position So for the tiny subset of Dozier's entire career, he has been more productive hitting lead off than anywhere else in the lineup.

I would suggest that if Miguel Cabrera played for the Twins, he would still be batting #3 and Dozier would still be batting #1. Dozier and Kinsler are very similar players. The problem is that we don't have a Miguel Cabrera The % of Dozier's RBIs while in the lead off position should be far less that the % of Dozier's ABs while in the lead off position if it were always true that RBIs came easier from a lower batting position. But alas... 49.7 % of ABs came from Batting 1st 49.5 % of RBIs came from Batting 1st Now, I am sure that is an anomaly of sorts. And it is true, in general, that you have more RBIs batting 3rd or 4th than you do batting 1st. But maybe there is actually a dependency on the human player and the others on the team as far as where each fits in relative to the others. All we can really do is put our trust in Paul Molitor since he will be setting the lineup. And it wouldn't surprise me if he has Dozier leading off in game #1.

I agree it is not ideal to have Dozier as a lead off hitter, I just think in his current situation with this team, it is the best option right now--that could always change. But I love the idea of hitting Buxton 3rd and hope that will really launch his career. Keep in mind that over the course of a season, the lead off hitter will also have more plate appearances than any other batting order position. Sano - 8 HR with men on base in 2016, mainly hitting 3rd or 4th Dozier - 12 HR with men on base in 2016, mainly hitting 1st

I am comfortable having Dozier lead off and he is obviously most comfortable there as well. There IS a statistical trend with Dozier. The trend is that for 5 consecutive years (his whole career), he has increased his H, HR, and RBI totals every year. So, why make him uncomfortable, just enjoy the ride. Just because you hit lead off doesn't mean you never hit with men on base. That is only guaranteed to happen once per game. Similarly, just because you are not leading off doesn't guarantee that you will be hitting with men on base. 68% of Miguel Sano HR in 2016 were solo. 71 % of Brian Dozier HR in 2016 were solo. Really, not much difference there.

Rest assured that by June 1, the pitching staff will have been jostled numerous times due to injury or ineffectiveness. So, whoever happens to go north in April isn't terribly significant except for Mr. Rule 5 guy.

I agree with the article. If it were up to me, I would go with Mejia for starter #5, return Haley, start Berrios in AAA, and add Duffey (long man) and Chargois to the Bullpen. Haley has been unimpressive, but if the brass insists on keeping him, then I would hide him in the bullpen and Chargois would be sent down.

This strikes me as a rather "safe" roster, nothing unexpected. I like what I've seen from Matt Hague this Spring, but I don't think there is any hope for him save for an injury. I hope that management decides to take at least one gamble. And for me, that gamble would be to put Adalberto Mejia into the rotation for at least 5 starts.

Its always interesting to see who gets a lot of playing time early in Spring. I think for guys like Park, Stubbs, and Shuck--they are going to see a lot playing time early on because I don't think any of those guys are necessarily expected to make the club, but they have probably all been promised a fair shot at it. If they do well early and sustain it deeper into Spring, they will earn a spot if someone else (e.g, Vargas, Grossman) falters or gets hurt.

I'm inclined to believe that Falvey and Levine brought in Gimenez to be on the MLB team unless JRM is sufficiently impressive in camp to win (back) that job. Gimenez has no real value for the Twins in the minors, so I believe he either makes the club or is released/traded. We know Falvey and Levine like him, so if Molitor ends up liking him too, case closed.

Sano wins the All-Star HR Derby The Twins start the season 4-8 and Dick Bremer tells us how great that is and informs us that Twins are only 3 games back in the loss column. Don't get me wrong, I like Bremer, but I will put the over/under at 300 times this year that he uses the phrase "The hope is that..."

You're forgetting the only stat that actually matters to the Twins: Duffy: MLB Wins: 5, MLB Losses 1, MLB W-L%: .833 Berrios: MLB Wins: 0, MLB Losses 0, MLB W-L%: .000 Berrios will get his chance and when he surpasses those MLB numbers and wins numerous Cy Young awards in the process, then we can all stand up and cheer. Until then, he is simply a promising prospect just as Willie Banks, Pat Mahomes, J.D. Durbin, Dan Serafini, and Adam Johnson were once promising prospects.

One of my favorite spring training activities is looking to see how former Twins are faring with their new team. Box scores of spring games, especially those of teams you would not normally follow, tend to be pretty boring—lots zeros and ones. So, for me, I like to keep tabs on some “old friends”. In most cases, I really enjoy seeing former Twins players doing well, so I silently cheer them on as I watch for their name in the box scores. I suppose you could go the other way and say to yourself: “Ah, now that he doesn’t play for the Twins, I sure hope he tanks.” But I think the latter approach lends itself to more frustration than enjoyment. So, while looking at spring box scores—and later—while reading the cuts and minor league assignments, look for the names below. I have listed all players that have been in the Minnesota Twins organization who are now in camp with other teams. For extra fun, I have listed former Twins who are now coaches on other teams. And, look, while I tried to be thorough, I’m sure I missed someone! Feel free to leave a comment if you find a Twin that I missed or if you just want to reminisce about one of these players. For example, “How can Livan Hernandez and Ramon Ortiz still be around?!?” I was surprised to see Cristian Guzman out of baseball last year; apparently he had some family issues to deal with early on and never caught on with a team later in the season. He will turn 34 this year, but when healthy, is still a really nice player. Currently, he is in camp with Cleveland. And you've got to be happy for LaTroy Hawkins who will be pitching for the Angels in his 18th year in the league. For all his early struggles with the Twins, he has put together a nice career. He’s really done it all—starter, closer, middle reliever, and set-up man. He pitched in the World Series for the Rockies in 2007. Here are the ones who are still around, by team: Baltimore Orioles Roster: Luis Ayala – P, J.J. Hardy – IF Non-Roster: Willie Eyre – P, Pat Neshek – P, Dennys Reyes – P, Steve Tolleson – OF Boston Red Sox Roster: Nick Punto – IF, Darnell McDonald – OF, David Ortiz – DH Non-Roster: Carlos Silva – P, Jason Repko – OF Coaches: Alex Ochoa New York Yankees : NONE Tampa Bay Rays : NONE Toronto Blue Jays Non-Roster: Jim Hoey – P Chicago White Sox Roster: Jesse Crain – P, Philip Humber – P, A.J. Pierzynski – C Coaches: Mark Salas Cleveland Indians Roster: Kevin Slowey – P Non-Roster: Cristian Guzman – IF Detroit Tigers Roster: Delmon Young – OF Kansas City Royals Roster: Jose Mijares – P Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Roster: LaTroy Hawkins – P, Torii Hunter – OF Non-Roster: Loek van Mil – P Coaches: Mickey Hatcher Oakland Athletics Roster: Grant Balfour – P, Brian Fuentes – P Non-Roster: Jason Pridie – OF Coaches: Chili Davis, Chip Hale Seattle Mariners Non-Roster: Sean Henn – P, Luis Rodriguez – IF Coaches: Carl Willis Texas Rangers Roster: Mark Hamburger – P, Joe Nathan – P Non-Roster: Joe Beimel – P Coaches: Ron Washington Atlanta Braves Non-Roster: Dusty Hughes – P Miami Marlins Non-Roster: Rob Delaney – P, Terry Tiffee – IF Coaches: Randy St. Claire New York Mets Roster: R.A. Dickey – P, Jon Rauch – P, Johan Santana – P Non-Roster: Chuck James – P Coaches: Tim Teufel Philadelphia Phillies Roster: Jim Thome – IF Coaches: Pete Mackanin Washington Nationals Roster: Wilson Ramos – C Chicago Cubs Roster: Matt Garza – P Non-Roster: Matt Tolbert – IF Cincinnati Reds Non-Roster: Ron Mahay – P, Corky Miller – C Houston Astros Non-Roster: Livan Hernandez – P Milwaukee Brewers Roster: Carlos Gomez – OF Pittsburgh Pirates Roster: Garrett Jones – OF Non-Roster: Jose Morales – C St. Louis Cardinals Roster: Kyle Lohse – P, J.C. Romero – P Arizona Diamondbacks Roster: Craig Breslow – P, Henry Blanco – C, Jason Kubel – OF Coaches: Don Baylor Colorado Rockies Roster: Casey Blake – IF, Michael Cuddyer – OF Non-Roster: Brendan Harris – IF Los Angeles Dodgers Roster: Matt Guerrier – P, Trent Oeltjen – OF San Diego Padres Roster: Jason Bartlett – IF, Orlando Hudson – IF San Francisco Giants Non-Roster: Ramon Ortiz – P Coaches: Roberto Kelly

One of my favorite spring training activities is looking to see how former Twins are faring with their new team. Box scores of spring games, especially those of teams you would not normally follow, tend to be pretty boring—lots zeros and ones. So, for me, I like to keep tabs on some “old friends”. In most cases, I really enjoy seeing former Twins players doing well, so I silently cheer them on as I watch for their name in the box scores. I suppose you could go the other way and say to yourself: “Ah, now that he doesn’t play for the Twins, I sure hope he tanks.” But I think the latter approach lends itself to more frustration than enjoyment. So, while looking at spring box scores—and later—while reading the cuts and minor league assignments, look for the names below. I have listed all players that have been in the Minnesota Twins organization who are now in camp with other teams. For extra fun, I have listed former Twins who are now coaches on other teams. And, look, while I tried to be thorough, I’m sure I missed someone! Feel free to leave a comment if you find a Twin that I missed or if you just want to reminisce about one of these players. For example, “How can Livan Hernandez and Ramon Ortiz still be around?!?” I was surprised to see Cristian Guzman out of baseball last year; apparently he had some family issues to deal with early on and never caught on with a team later in the season. He will turn 34 this year, but when healthy, is still a really nice player. Currently, he is in camp with Cleveland. And you've got to be happy for LaTroy Hawkins who will be pitching for the Angels in his 18th year in the league. For all his early struggles with the Twins, he has put together a nice career. He’s really done it all—starter, closer, middle reliever, and set-up man. He pitched in the World Series for the Rockies in 2007. Here are the ones who are still around, by team: Baltimore Orioles Roster: Luis Ayala – P, J.J. Hardy – IF Non-Roster: Willie Eyre – P, Pat Neshek – P, Dennys Reyes – P, Steve Tolleson – OF Boston Red Sox Roster: Nick Punto – IF, Darnell McDonald – OF, David Ortiz – DH Non-Roster: Carlos Silva – P, Jason Repko – OF Coaches: Alex Ochoa New York Yankees : NONE Tampa Bay Rays : NONE Toronto Blue Jays Non-Roster: Jim Hoey – P Chicago White Sox Roster: Jesse Crain – P, Philip Humber – P, A.J. Pierzynski – C Coaches: Mark Salas Cleveland Indians Roster: Kevin Slowey – P Non-Roster: Cristian Guzman – IF Detroit Tigers Roster: Delmon Young – OF Kansas City Royals Roster: Jose Mijares – P Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Roster: LaTroy Hawkins – P, Torii Hunter – OF Non-Roster: Loek van Mil – P Coaches: Mickey Hatcher Oakland Athletics Roster: Grant Balfour – P, Brian Fuentes – P Non-Roster: Jason Pridie – OF Coaches: Chili Davis, Chip Hale Seattle Mariners Non-Roster: Sean Henn – P, Luis Rodriguez – IF Coaches: Carl Willis Texas Rangers Roster: Mark Hamburger – P, Joe Nathan – P Non-Roster: Joe Beimel – P Coaches: Ron Washington Atlanta Braves Non-Roster: Dusty Hughes – P Miami Marlins Non-Roster: Rob Delaney – P, Terry Tiffee – IF Coaches: Randy St. Claire New York Mets Roster: R.A. Dickey – P, Jon Rauch – P, Johan Santana – P Non-Roster: Chuck James – P Coaches: Tim Teufel Philadelphia Phillies Roster: Jim Thome – IF Coaches: Pete Mackanin Washington Nationals Roster: Wilson Ramos – C Chicago Cubs Roster: Matt Garza – P Non-Roster: Matt Tolbert – IF Cincinnati Reds Non-Roster: Ron Mahay – P, Corky Miller – C Houston Astros Non-Roster: Livan Hernandez – P Milwaukee Brewers Roster: Carlos Gomez – OF Pittsburgh Pirates Roster: Garrett Jones – OF Non-Roster: Jose Morales – C St. Louis Cardinals Roster: Kyle Lohse – P, J.C. Romero – P Arizona Diamondbacks Roster: Craig Breslow – P, Henry Blanco – C, Jason Kubel – OF Coaches: Don Baylor Colorado Rockies Roster: Casey Blake – IF, Michael Cuddyer – OF Non-Roster: Brendan Harris – IF Los Angeles Dodgers Roster: Matt Guerrier – P, Trent Oeltjen – OF San Diego Padres Roster: Jason Bartlett – IF, Orlando Hudson – IF San Francisco Giants Non-Roster: Ramon Ortiz – P Coaches: Roberto Kelly