Tom Froemming

Best unis in franchise history. They're timeless. I hope someday they'll bring these back as the primary uniform. No need to reinvent the wheel.

That's a good point. There's no reason they need to wait. There will be teams motivated to hold until closer to the deadline in the hope the market drives up values, but there has to be some team willing to make a move early (for the right price, of course). It's tricky. I think some of the kids will be better than the middling vets ... eventually. Maybe not out of the box, though. The vets are more bankable, even if they don't necessarily raise the ceiling of the team. I would prefer to see some of the prospects, it'd be a lot more fun, but it'd be a roll of the dice. I know he's just a rental, but Detroit is probably going to start off by asking for Jenkins or Culpepper. That's what I'd do if I were them. I mean, nobody thought the 84-win 2023 Diamondbacks would go to the World Series. That was nuts. There are plenty of other examples, of course. There's not a single team in the AL that feels unbeatable, so I wouldn't be shocked if a Central team was league champs. They wouldn't be the favorites, but I wouldn't be shocked.

I wrote this thing but I must have a memory issue because I can’t remember writing any of this stuff you’re suggesting.

Image courtesy of © David Richard-Imagn Images With the Twins hanging tough in the AL Central, let’s take a look at the rest of the competition in the division. What are we up against? Chicago White Sox Currently: Holding onto a slim lead in the division. DiamondCentric Power Ranking: 13th How they got here: Uh … divine intervention via the new Pope? Hurdle they need to clear: Winning on the road. Do they have the juice? Teams coming out of nowhere is a regular occurrence in the AL Central. Chicago has a common feature those surprise clubs typically have: Youth. It’s a dangerous thing when a young team comes together and starts to believe. Can that momentum carry them through these next 70 or so games? I’m sure White Sox fans are tired of hearing this, but I don’t think so. There are a number of things to point to, but what stands out to me is their home and road splits. This might be low-hanging fruit analysis, but I do think it’s as simple as this: if you can’t win on the road, you’re not going to last. The White Sox are 19-28 on the road. There have been division champs that posted losing road records, but they’re always within a game or two of .500. Last season, the Blue Jays (40-41) and Mariners (39-42) did it. Other recent examples are the 2023 Twins (40-41), 2022 Cardinals (40-41) and 2021 White Sox (40-41). Chicago would have to get hot on the road from here to reach even that modest level. Cleveland Guardians Currently: Right on Chicago’s heels. DiamondCentric Power Ranking: 17th How they got here: As always, Cleveland devil magic. Hurdle they need to clear: As always, scoring runs. Alright, so maybe there’s more to them than just the patented devil magic. The pitching staff and defense are both top-10 units. Parker Messick and Joey Cantillo are the most recent of the solid starting pitchers Cleveland seems to be able to clone at will. José Ramírez is recovering from a broken hamate bone—the same injury Ryan Jeffers is working his way back from. Cleveland has gone 8-11 without their star and 13-17 over their last 30 games. Rookies Chase DeLauter and Travis Bazzana are picking up the slack, and Brayan Rocchio is breaking out, but this lineup is still dreadful. The Guardians rank near the bottom in virtually every hitting metric, including 29th in OPS and 27th in wOBA. The scariest thing about this team is ghosts of the past. I’ll probably always tense up anytime the Twins play them. Speaking of which, these teams start a series tonight, and the Twins play seven of their 22 games between now and the trade deadline against Cleveland. Oh yay. Detroit Tigers Currently: Among the most disappointing teams in baseball. DiamondCentric Power Ranking: 10th How they got here: Injuries, but their lineup has also faded and their defense has been poor. Hurdle they need to clear: Time. It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there. These Tigers aren’t dead yet. Their 40-50 record is ugly, but we’ve seen this movie before. In fact, it was in theaters just two seasons ago. Back in 2024, Detroit was 42-48 through this point in the season. They caught fire, managed to win 86 games, and snuck into the postseason. It could happen again. Their fate may come down to one player: Tarik Skubal. Is he going to remain a Tiger? He’s a pending free agent, and Detroit’s front office will be able to ask for the world in return for him. Detroit’s rotation has been solid even without Skubal for a good chunk of the season, so perhaps removing the back-to-back Cy Young winner wouldn’t be a finishing blow. Would they still have the best rotation in the division without him? It’s at least up for debate, though they’d likely sell off additional pieces if they were to trade Skubal. The Tigers also have a star rookie and a couple of the most underrated players in baseball. Kevin McGonigle has been incredible. He’s putting together an MVP-caliber season, and should easily capture the Rookie of the Year. Riley Greene continues to be overlooked among middle-of-the-order bats, and Dillon Dingler has grown from being just a guy whose name makes you giggle to the best catcher in baseball. The strangest thing about the Tigers is that they’re being tamed by teams they should maim. Detroit has the worst record in baseball against teams with a .500 record or worse at 16-29, while posting a 24-21 record against teams with a .500 record or better. Huh? This looked like the year they were primed to go for it, but perhaps this is really who they are, and 2026 was just not meant to be. I still wouldn’t count them out. Kansas City Royals Currently: In the basement and among the worst records in the league. DiamondCentric Power Ranking: 28th How they got here: They’ve also dealt with unfortunate injuries, and their pitching is a mess. Hurdle they need to clear: They’re actually facing more of an unscalable mountain than a hurdle. Not much to say about KC. It’s been a cursed season for them. It happens. So, how do you see the division shaping out? The looming August 3 trade deadline has the potential to greatly influence this race, but should the Twins be among the buyers? Or is the competition thick enough that they should set their sights on 2027? View full article

Twins System Recap: The Mussels were Mighty this weekend. Teen slugger Luis Fragoza flexed in particular, crushing two homers on Sunday. His teammate Murphy Hernandez brings the speed, as he's averaging nearly a stolen base per game, but he also homered in a big game. On the mound for the Mussels, Jason Reitz pitched the longest outing of his young career while not surrendering a run. Also, the Saints got two big names back from the IL in Hendry Mendez and Kaelen Culpepper. View full video

Twins System Recap: Ryan Sprock won't stop hitting! He's already extended his hitting streak three more games this week and is on the verge of breaking the all-time Fort Myers record. He was a standout performer, but so was teammate Quentin Young. It's been a tough season for Young, but he had a couple of good games this week, including one in which he ended with a walk-off homer. Among the many other players discussed in this one include Marco Raya, Walker Jenkins, Brandon Winokur, Eduardo Tait, and Jayson Bass. View full video

Twins System Recap: Eduardo Tait is killing it so far this week. He had a two homer game and drove in five runs on Tuesday before adding another homer while driving in six on Thursday. He has seven homers in just 13 games so far this month. Fellow catchers Andrew Cossetti and Enrique Jimenez also had big performances this week, Marek Houston continued his hot month, and Alan Roden had a triumphant return to the Saints. View full video

You already forgot what they did at last year's deadline?

Image courtesy of © Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images Yoendrys Gómez has me wondering: Can we have nice things? With the scars of last year’s trade deadline selloff still mending, I’m not ready to get hurt again. That’s why I’m shielding myself from falling for Gómez, a breakout bullpen sensation. Gómez has been brilliant since being plucked from the scrap heap. Perhaps this is outdated logic I’m applying to the current Twins brass, but I believe he’s more likely to be pitching for a contender come August than to be a long-term piece here. If the Twins continue to operate with the same mentality that Derek Falvey and Joe Pohlad did last July, Gómez is as good as gone. Will Jeremy Zoll and Tom Pohlad take a different approach? We’ll see. The thirst for bullpen help at the trade deadline is nearly unquenchable. Twins fans know this as well as anyone. The Twins may end up being among the teams seeking relief help. Thanks to a middling American League, they’re just two games out of a Wild Card spot despite being 35-40 entering Thursday's play. But, as Cody Christie recently wrote, decision time is coming, one way or another. Should the Twins fall further from contention, Gómez will be a commodity. Given his lack of a track record, he wouldn’t be any team’s first choice, but there will be no shortage of suitors if he continues to pitch well. Gómez had been used as a long-,relief mop-up man with the Rays, pitching at least two innings in six of his nine outings. After the Twins acquired him in early May, he worked himself into high leverage in short order. The role looks good on him, and a few minor adjustments are doing wonders. As Matthew Lenz recently pointed out, the Twins have Gómez throwing more sweepers and fewer of his other secondaries. Also, among the many items Aaron Gleeman recently called out in his lengthy profile of Gómez was that he dropped his arm slot (link to article here, subscription required but highly recommended). Gómez has a 1.53 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and 29.2 K% in 17 2/3 innings as a Twin. In 20 outings, he’s already earned seven saves and five holds. This is exactly the type of guy the Twins desperately needed to find. As if the early returns weren’t exciting enough, the righty is also under team control for ages. Though this is the fourth season in which he's pitched in the majors, he didn't even start the campaign with one full year of official service time. He's likely to become artbitration-eligible as a Super Two guy after 2027, but he still won't hit free agency until the end of 2031 campaign. Relievers are frustratingly fickle, and Gómez embodies that. Still, there’s a real chance he could be a high-leverage reliever for the Twins for another five seasons. On the other hand, he could turn back into a pumpkin at any moment. After all, this guy had pitched so poorly that the Twins were able to acquire him for cash considerations. In the past two seasons, he has been claimed off waivers twice and traded twice. Before joining the Twins, Gómez had 93 1/3 career innings in the big leagues. In that time, he had a 5.11 ERA, 5.60 FIP, 20.2 K% and 10.5 BB%, and had recorded just a pair of saves (one of them being a three-inning save in a 9-2 blowout). In his pre-Twins days, Gómez particularly struggled to keep the ball in the park. From the start of the 2023 season to the point that he joined the Twins, he was among 524 pitchers to log 90+ innings. Among that sample, he had … The fourth-worst Barrel% (12.6%). The 20th-worst HR/9 (1.83). The 24th-worst xERA (5.52). It was easier to envision him being DFAd again by now, rather than him even simply finding his footing. Is this run he’s on sustainable? The one thing we can say for certain is that Gómez will eventually give up another home run. It might not feel like there’s any rush for the Twins to come to a conclusion on Gómez’s future outlook, but that conversation changes once teams start to ask about him. And they will. Maybe things will be different this time around. Jeremy Zoll inherited a mess. Even with Gómez stabilizing the late innings, this bullpen is in disorder. You can’t build a good team around a bullpen, but you also can’t build a good team without one. Zoll and his front office clearly saw something in Gómez. Maybe he’ll want to relish in this victory of an addition and keep him around as a building block of a more functional future bullpen. While he hasn’t done much to back it up, Tom Pohlad has talked a lot about the Twins' intention to win. Since he’s been every bit as penny-pinching as all his relatives before him, the fact that Gómez will be dirt-cheap over the coming several seasons should endear him to Pohlad. This is an affordable potential building block, albeit a minor one. If the payroll is going to continue to be limited, these are the types of players the Twins need to prioritize holding onto. At the end of the day, everyone has a price. It all comes down to value. Perhaps trading Gómez would turn out to be the smart move, but the Twins' bullpen is in dire straits due to a series of previous “smart moves.” If Zoll and Pohlad are content to simply sell off Gómez to the highest bidder, it’ll be a signal to expect more of the same. But if they aren't, maybe there's something genuinely different happening. View full article

Walker JenkinsKaelen CulpepperEmmanuel RodriguezDasan HillKendry RojasEduardo TaitMarek HoustonRiley QuickCharlee SotoBrandon WinokurHendry MendezGabriel GonzalezRyan GallagherQuentin YoungJames EllwangerKyle DeBargeYasser MercedesBilly AmickAdrian BohorquezKhadim Diaw

Walker JenkinsKaelen CulpepperEmmanuel RodriguezDasan HillKendry RojasEduardo TaitMarek HoustonRiley QuickCharlee SotoBrandon WinokurHendry MendezGabriel GonzalezRyan GallagherQuentin YoungJames EllwangerKyle DeBargeYasser MercedesBilly AmickAdrian BohorquezKhadim Diaw

No, the next Willi Castro is Greggory Masterson.

Twins System Recap: Breakout hitter of 2025 Kyler Fedko has kept rolling this season and is being promoted up to the big leagues to make his Major League debut. It was tough for him to just find playing time with the Saints to open this season, but opportunities opened up and he's taken advantage of them. Today's recap starts with some discussion on Fedko, how long he figures to stick around and why Kaelen Culpepper wasn't promoted. Down on the farm, Walker Jenkins started a rehab assignment, Kala'i Rosario helped break Wichita's losing streak, the Kernels scored 23 runs in a game and the Saints went unbeaten over the weekend thanks to some help from guys called up from A-Ball, including a monster game from Graham Brown in his Triple-A debut. View full video

Twins System Recap: The Saints beat up Justin Verlander in a rehab outing, slugging four homers off the three-time Cy Young Award winner. Aaron Sabato continues to bring the thump for St. Paul, along with Kyler Fedko and Gabriel Gonzalez. Also this week, Khadim Diaw continued his hot streak, and fellow Kernel Riley Quick set career single-game highs in innings and strikeouts. View full video

This has been good stuff on both sides. No need to apologize, imo.

Twins System Recap: Marek Houston and Riley Quick both had big weekends for the Kernels, even with Cedar Rapids being rained out on Sunday. Also, the unlikely bash brother duo of Kyler Fedko and Aaron Sabato continued to slug, Merit Jones stayed rolling for Fort Myers, and Wichita embraced a new identity. View full video

It'd be more about survival than savior. They were 20th in ERA and 23rd in fWAR. I guess garbage doesn't stink as bad as hot garbage. They seem to think it works in the postseason. I get the extra off days change the conversation, but most teams only trust a couple of their guys to even go two times through an order when the games really matter. I'm pretty sure the game has changed some over those 125 years. Thank you! I wouldn't suggest this approach with any team that has a competent staff. The Twins are just nowhere near that right now, so may as well experiment. My favorite player to pull up and marvel at his stats is Mike Marshall. He pitched 106 games in his Cy Young 1974 season! 106!!! That's unthinkable! It seems like the difference is a lot of pitchers back then pitched to the score or pitched to contact. I think I've hear Jack Morris talk about that some in the past. Guys don't do that these days and I think it revolves around how you get to and stay in the big leagues in 2026. You need to turn heads, you need to stick out, all your numbers need to be on point or else you'll get passed up. That and all the imaging they have can identify the tiniest imperfections and prompt a team to put a guy on the IL. There are a bunch of other factors, too, but I would LOVE to see a return to the Marshall/Tekulve class of reliever. The top of the rotation guys and the back of the bullpen guys can remain used the way they traditionally have. This idea would be more about meshing back of the rotation guys and middle relievers into a role where they're covering more innings than your typical relief outing but not as many as a typical start. Basically, there are starters I only really trust to get through a lineup once but there are also relievers I think who could get through a lineup once instead of mostly pitching single innings.