Tom Froemming

Just for context, last season DHs had a 101 wRC+ against left-handed pitchers. I'm a big Vargas supporter, but when you have the opportunity to add Morrison on a modest deal, you do it. Kennys is in his prime and making the minimum, so I suspect there will be a few teams interested. If he gets placed on waivers, I'd think both the White Sox and Royals would give him a look, which makes me wonder if it might make sense for the Twins to reach out to a team like Oakland/Seattle/Tampa/Texas to see if they can work out a deal for a player to be named later. Given his roster status, I don't think the Twins could get much in return for Vargas, but at least they have the opportunity to control where Vargas ends up playing.

It feels like a good time to remind everyone that it is possible to ignore other user's posts. Just click on your profile and go to Manage Ignore Prefs. ... just sayin'

Can we just stretch it out to LogMor?

I also heard Dazzle call him Lamar once, but yes, it's "Lamont"

I just wanted to add that this was a super dope plate appearance by LaMonte Wade:

Real quick just wanted to add my reaction to the actual signing. At the price, I think it was a no brainer. I still have concerns about Sano now really being required to play third, but you can't turn your back on a guy like Morrison on such a low-cost/low-risk deal. The more the Twins add and the more these prices seem to come down, the more it makes sense to keep signing guys. I think right now the realistic target is still a wild card, but if they could reel in one of those top three starting pitchers, the AL Central title would become a much more realistic goal. Also, some of the FAs who may have been turning up their noses at the Twins earlier could view the Odorizzi and Morrison adds as indication this team is legit, and a desirable destination. Good stuff all around.

There are still a number of the top free agents still looking for work, and even after a busy offseason it appears the Twins are still shopping. One of the names the Twins have shown interest in is Logan Morrison, but would a left-handed hitting first baseman be a fit in the organization right now? ***UPDATE*** The Twins have reportedly signed Morrison!Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press was first to report the Twins had interest in Morrison, and that new acquisition Jake Odorizzi has put in a good word on the team’s behalf. ***UPDATE*** The DH spot is the only real apparent opportunity for an upgrade in terms of the starting lineup at the moment, but wouldn’t a right-handed, lefty killer make more sense? Maybe not. The Twins were much better against right-handed pitching than they were against lefties last year, but it’s not like they were hopeless against southpaws. As a team, they had a .744 OPS vs. lefties, which ranked 14th in all of baseball. Also, let’s take a look at Cleveland’s projected rotation: Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer, Josh Tomlin and Danny Salazar. Mike Clevinger would be the sixth guy. What do they all have in common? They’re all right-handers. That squad has dominant lefty Andrew Miller in the bullpen, but you can always play matchups late. The best left-handed starting pitcher in the AL Central right now is Kansas City's Danny Duffy. After him it's guys like Carlos Rodon of the White Sox and Matt Boyd of the Tigers. But Target Field is a terrible place for left-handed power bats, right? Well, not really. Last season, the platoon splits were pretty much dead even. Right-handed hitters had a .802 OPS and homered in 3.68 percent of their plate appearances while lefties combined for a .794 OPS and 3.62 home run percentage. It also doesn’t hurt that LoMo has been a beast at Target Field. In just nine career games, he has six home runs and a .387/.472/1.065 line. That’s right, a 1.537 OPS. It’s only a small sample of 36 plate appearances, but it certainly doesn’t hurt his case. Plus, Morrison held his own against same-sided pitchers last season, posting an OPS of .761. But the 30-year-old’s strength is definitely hammering right-handers. He had a .905 OPS and hit 32 of his 38 home runs against right-handers in 2017. If signed, Morrison would slot in as the DH, but could definitely fill in at first when Joe Mauer needs a rest. There’s an open spot on the 40-man roster at the moment, but LoMo’s arrival would probably mark the eventual end of either Kennys Vargas or Robbie Grossman’s tenure on the Twins. Or maybe both, depending how things work out. To me, it seems like the biggest factor to take into account would be Miguel Sano’s health. If he’s looking less mobile after having a titanium rod inserted into his leg over the offseason, it would make a lot of sense for the club to leave the DH spot flexible. What do you think of the Morrison signing? Click here to view the article

The Twins aren't "in" quite to the degree I was hoping, but they've certainly made significant improvements this offseason. I think it makes sense to take another step forward. They have rotation depth, yes, but Lynn (or Arrieta, or Cobb) would represent an upgrade. If it takes less than four years, $56 million, then I say go for it.

It was another big week here at Twins Daily. The Twins (finally) added some starting pitchers, we wrapped up our top prospects list and there was an actual Twins baseball game played. So come check out this edition of Twins Weekly to catch up on what you may have missed, including some great pictures from media day.Let’s take a quick look back at all the articles from the front page in the order they were published. This edition of Twins Weekly covers Friday, Feb. 16 to Thursday, Feb. 22. Twins Sign RHP Anibal Sanchez... No, Really | Seth Stohs Twins Acquire Jake Odorizzi From Rays For Jermaine Palacios | Seth Stohs The Twins Almanac for February 18–24 | Matt Johnson Gleeman & The Geek: Ep 356: Jake Odorizzi & Anibal Sanchez | John Bonnes Twins Daily Top Prospects: #3 Nick Gordon | Cody Christie Is This Front Office Truly Enlightened About Pitching? | Nick Nelson Seth's Twins On Deck Podcast (Episode 7) | Seth Stohs Getting Rid Of The Bad Odor Might Be Izzi | Cody Christie Twins Daily 2018 Top Prospects: #2 Fernando Romero | Tom Froemming Sano Going To Let It Eat | Ted Schwerzler Twins Daily 2018 Top Prospects: #1 Royce Lewis | Nick Nelson Who Are These Guys? (Twins Non-Roster Invites) | Seth Stohs Gameday: Twins Versus Gophers (Exhibition) | Seth Stohs Backstop Battery Becoming an Asset | Ted Schwerzler TD 2018 Minnesota Twins Top Prospects Recap | Nick Nelson From the Twins Daily Blogs Below are some additional items of note from the blog area. I've pulled excerpts from each piece in an attempt to hook you in. A Potential Upgrade for Kennys Vargas By Andrew Thares The Twins do still have 4 years of team control of Vargas, but now might be the time for the Twins to look to move on from him. A few teams that I could see drawing interest in Vargas would be the Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals. Now where would the Twins go to get this potential upgrade for Kennys Vargas. For that, we can look at our neighbors to the East, in the Milwaukee Brewers’ right-handed hitting first basemen Jesus Aguilar. Will the Real Kyle Gibson Please Stand Up? By Jamie Cameron Gibson’s fastball command and usage had a significant impact on hitters. Opposing hitters O-Swing % (the amount opposing hitters swing at a pitch outside the strike zone) increased from 18% to over 25%. Additionally, Gibson was able to generate more swings inside the zone with his fastball increasing that number 18% to 61%, a career high. In other words, if your stuff isn’t outstanding, you better to be able to keep hitters off balance by moving it around in the zone, or command the strike zone, as Alston would call it. It will be fascinating to see if Alston can further leverage this improvement Gibson made in the second half of 2017 for a successful 2018. Breaking down Jake Odorizzi By JohnOlson Who is Jake Odorizzi? Depending on who you ask and under what context, you'll get a different answer to this question. Around Twins social media, I've seen such differing opinions - from "Should he be the Opening Day starter? He may be our best pitcher" to "He's, at best, a number 4 starter". I would contend that he is likely the middle ground between these two, very different statements. The Yu Paradox By Matthew Lenz So yes, I am frustrated. I'm disappointed. I'm sad. I'm [enter whatever adjective you want] that the Twins weren't able to sign yet another superstar to bring them to the next level. But I love the Twins and will continue to cheer them on. I will continue to follow them once this crop of talent is gone. I'm not only here when things are good, but I'm also here when things are bad. I may not be happy with every decision made, but that doesn't make me (or you) a bad fan. Current batters and their historical positions going into 2018 2018 Baseball Stats – current pitchers all time rankings Both these pieces by mikelink45 take a look at which players are approaching noteworthy career milestones as we enter the 2018 season. Say Cheese! I'd like to share a few of my favorite pictures from media day. We'll leadoff with new Twin Anibal Sanchez, who looks like he's not quite sure what he's supposed to do with his hands. Download attachment: Sanchez.jpg Next up is fellow offseason addition Fernando Rodney. Yes, he always wears his hat like this. Let your eyes adjust, let it sink in. He does this in tribute to his late father. Hopefully all of Twins Territory can get up to speed and not dog on him for wearing his hat funny. Download attachment: Rodney.jpg Speaking of accessories, here's Ervin Santana. He seems to be in good spirits, but at the very bottom of the photo you can get a glimpse at the cast on his hand. Download attachment: Ervin.jpg Here's Tyler Duffey doing his best impression of Wilson from Home Improvement. Download attachment: Duffey.jpg Next up is another new Twin, Michael Pineda. He's not going to be able to pitch for quite some time, so making him participate in picture day seems a little cruel. And the look on is face is all like "c'mon man, do I really have to do this?" Download attachment: Pineda.jpg But you know what? Trevor May has got that exact same look. Must be those Tommy John surgery blues. Download attachment: May.jpg (All images credited to Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports) Video of the Week Baseball! There was a Twins baseball game last night, and it ended in dramatic fashion. Bottom of the ninth. One out. Tie game. Bases loaded ... More From Me I've been playing around some with live streaming of late. Here's a link to a stream I did immediately after the Odorizzi trade was announced. I was also fortunate enough to be a guest on the latest edition of Minnesota Sports Weekly with Travis Aune and Chad Smith. Here's a link to the episode. Cory Provus, the radio voice of the Twins, was on at around the 36-minute mark. I closed out the show, making my entrance about an hour and a half into the program. Alright, that does it for this edition of Twins Weekly. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend everyone. Click here to view the article

Leach is tough to put your finger on because of how raw he is. He hadn't even been pitching all that long before the Twins drafted him. Unlike Enlow, who has a plus curve, Leach's only really good pitch at the moment is his fastball. He has plenty of time to develop those other offerings, but that mid-90s fastball is certainly a great place to start. And at 6-4, 220 pounds, you don't have to wonder much about whether or not he'll fill out. If we were to try and predict the one player currently outside of our top 20 who has the best chance at being inside the top 10 next season, Leach would definitely be in the conversation.

If the main thing he's working on is the changeup, in my opinion it doesn't make a huge difference where he starts. But this is how the opening day assignments could work out: Twins: Berrios, Odorizzi, Gibson, Sanchez AAA: Mejia, Slegers, Jorge, Duffey, Gonsalvez, Myles Jaye? Enns? Stewart? It also may make some sense to try and keep Romero in the Southern League out of the gates instead of sending him further north. So it's not to say that Romero isn't ready for Triple-A, or anything like that. Plus, it's not like you can't call him up from Chattanooga if necessary. I believe the Twins did that with Jorge last season.

Could there be a more indirect way to extend relief appearances? I don't really think we need to eliminate specialists, but it would be great to limit the number of relief pitcher changes. So how about we take a page out of hockey's roster rules? If I understand correctly, hockey teams have a roster of 23 players, but only 20 can be "dressed" and eligible to play in any particular game. What if for baseball we limit managers to using a maximum of five pitchers in a game (including the starter)? This would allow managers to play matchups if they felt the need, but would also give them incentive to get some more outs from their starters and/or carry a long man. It looks like the Twins averaged 4.17 pitchers used per game last season, so I think this rule change would have some impact. I think managers would view that fifth and final pitcher similar to how they currently view backup catchers. They only put those guys into a game when it's absolutely necessary in fear of being left with nobody to catch. So putting the cap at five would probably mean you're really only going to see managers use four pitchers tops each game. Just an idea I've had rattling around in my head for a couple months, what do you think?

Fernando Romero was Twins Daily’s top prospect last season, but it was easy to predict that he’d be unseated. Even a year ago at this time, it would have been a pretty safe bet to pencil in the future No. 1 overall pick of the 2017 MLB Draft in this season’s top spot. Still, Romero faced plenty of competition for the second spot. What set Romero apart from the other contenders?Age: 23 (DOB:12/24/1994) 2017 Stats (AA): 125 IP, 3.53 ERA, 120 K, 45 BB, 1.35 WHIP ETA: Late 2018 2017 Ranking: 1 National Top 100 Rankings BA: NR | MLB: 68 | ESPN: 47 | BP: 97 What’s To Like? Romero has a plus fastball that tops out at 98, paired with a plus slider in the upper 80s and his changeup is average. He showed his true potential over a 13-start stretch that spanned from May 24 to Aug. 2. Over that stretch, Romero was 9-1 with a 1.40 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 9.9 K/9 over 70.2 innings pitched. Excuse me while I wipe the sweat off my brow. Romero was excellent at limiting damage, holding opposing batters to a .256/.330/.351 (.681) line despite giving up a .331 BABIP. He’s surrendered just six home runs over 303.1 innings in the minor leagues. Among the 54 pitchers to log at least 120 innings in Double-A last season, Romero was second in FIP (2.93), third in swinging strike rate (12.0), fifth in K/9 (8.64) and sixth in GB/FB (2.00). The Twins will certainly give Romero every opportunity to develop as a starter, but per Baseball America’s Prospect Handbook “some see him eventually turning into a Francisco Rodriguez-type late-inning piece.” That’s one hell of a backup plan. What’s Left To Work On? Romero limped into the offseason, pitching to a 10.67 ERA and 2.09 WHIP over his final three starts. He had been limited to five innings per outing over the final two months of the season due to concerns over his innings, and ended the year on the DL due to a shoulder impingement. Thanks to Seth, we know Romero is entering 2018 healthy. Then what’s left to work on? Hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. Here’s what Romero said to Seth in the piece that’s linked above: ”I’ve been working on development of my changeup. But I’ll be better this year. I’ve been working on it. I’m going to keep it up.” The development of that changeup may be the determining factor on whether or not Romero remains in the rotation. Lefties had an OPS of more than 100 points higher than right-handed batters against him last year (.740 OPS vs. .631 OPS). The other pivotal element in determining Romero’s future role may be his walk rate. After issuing free passes to just 4.3 percent of the hitters he faced in 2016, that rate jumped to 8.3 last year. That’s not alarming, but it’s higher than teammates and fellow top-20 prospects Stephen Gonsalvez (6.5), Zack Littell (7.5) and Felix Jorge (6.6) all had in Double-A last season. What’s Next? It appears likely that Romero will open 2018 back in Chattanooga, but assuming all goes well he’ll be Rochester bound before long. It also seems like a good bet that he’ll make his major league debut at some point this season, as well. Having thrown 125 innings last year, however, it’s safe to assume the Twins will be keeping a close eye on his workload again in 2018. TD Top Prospects: 16-20 TD Top Prospects: 11-15 TD Top Prospect: #10 Akil Baddoo TD Top Prospect: #9 Brusdar Graterol TD Top Prospects: #8 Blayne Enlow TD Top Prospects: #7 Brent Rooker TD Top Prospects: #6 Wander Javier TD Top Prospects: #5 Alex Kirilloff TD Top Prospects: #4 Stephen Gonsalves TD Top Prospects: #3 Nick Gordon TD Top Prospects: #2 Fernando Romero TD Top Prospects: #1 (Coming Soon) Get to know more about Fernando Romero and much more in the 2018 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook. ORDER NOW: 2018 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook (paperback, $15.99) ORDER NOW: 2018 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook (eBook, $10.99) The 2018 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook goes in-depth and provides player bios, scouting reports, statistics and much more on almost 160 Twins minor leaguers. Click here to view the article

One last thing from me and then I'll hang up and listen Even if you don't like Odorizzi, Jermaine Palacios was buried behind a bunch of other shortstops. Furthermore, he's going to be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft at the end of this season. It's tough to imagine the Twins would've added him to the 40-man roster. Would he get taken in the draft? Maybe, maybe not, but it's entirely possible the Twins would've lost Palacios at the end of the year and gotten absolutely nothing in return.

His BABIP prior to 2017 was .279. So using that rate instead, that would put us at something like 21 more hits, or less than a hit per start. If those are bases-clearing doubles, you've got issues. If those are two-out singles with the bases empty, big whoop. Not all hits are created equal, that's why we don't use batting average as the primary way to evaluate hitters anymore, right? Speaking of which, there's hope that Odorizzi keeps the ball in the park better this season. His HR/FB was 15.5% last season, but his career rate prior to that it was 9.9%. To put that into context, that's the difference between giving up 30 homers and 19. Does anyone sustain a .227 BABIP? No, I'd certainly suspect that will go up. I'd also expect his walk rate to go down, however, so it's possible things even out to some degree. Prior to 2017, Odorizzi walked 7.3% of the batters he faced, last season it was 10.1.

Shared this on Twitter after a quick glance, somebody can feel free to double check my math: Jake Odorizzi's .227 BABIP was very low last season, but I'm not too concerned. It looks like there were 414 balls put in play off him. Had his BABIP been at his career mark, .269, just 17 more hits would've fallen in. Fly ball pitchers tend to have lower BABIPs.

Just ask Nick Burdi and Luke Bard how valuable a 40-man roster spot is ...

Saturday evening, Twins fans were dealt a heavy, albeit not all too surprising blow. News broke that Yu Darvish, the prize of the offseason, was signing with the Cubs and Twins Territory was left to wonder “what now?” Several voices at Twins Daily tried to answer that question this weekLet’s take a quick look back at all the articles from the front page in the order they were published. This edition of Twins Weekly covers Friday, Feb. 9 to Thursday, Feb. 15. The Darvish Contingency Plan | Cody Christie The Twins Almanac for February 11–17 | Matt Johnson Gleeman & The Geek, Ep 355: General Malaise | John Bonnes Don't Panic Over Bad Breaks For Twins Rotation | Nick Nelson Twins Daily 2018 Top Prospects: #8 Blayne Enlow | Nick Nelson Trade Target: Collin McHugh (McWho?) | Seth Stohs Spring Training Storylines: Pitchers And Catchers | Cody Christie Twins Daily 2018 Top Prospects: #7 Brent Rooker | Seth Stohs Seth's Twins On Deck Podcast (Episode 6) | Seth Stohs Twins Daily 2018 Top Prospects: #6 Wander Javier | Nick Nelson Scouting Target Field’s Biggest Games of 2018 | Tom Froemming Twins Daily 2018 Top Prospects: #5 Alex Kirilloff | Cody Christie The Wall Of Ground Ball Prevention | Parker Hageman Minnesota's Winter Of Discontent | Nick Nelson Minnesota and Mauer Facing Important 2018 | Ted Schwerzler Twins Daily 2018 Top Prospects: #4 Stephen Gonsalves | Seth Stohs Twins Daily Bloggers on the Darvish Fallout State of the Twins - Pitching Rotation edition By JohnOlson So, where does that leave us? Well, there was always an opportunity for in-house competition for the 5th starting pitching spot, we'll start there. Phil Hughes, off of his second rib surgery, will be in the mix, along with a post-Tommy John Trevor May. Among those who had a cup of coffee in the majors last year, Aaron Slegers and probably to a lesser extent Felix Jorge, and exciting young pitchers Stephen Gonsalves, Fernando Romero and Zach Littell. Adalberto Mejia, who had a fairly up and down 2017, also projects to be competing for a spot - he would be the lone left hander in the rotation, with his experience in 2017 and flashes of ability, I expect him to be among the favorites. We should Be Happy Darvish Signed Elsewhere By Twins in 6 Now that we Twins fans have had a few days to take in (and get over) the fact that Yu Darvish signed with the Cubs we can start thanking the Falvey and Levine brain-trust for saving the Pohlad dollars. It’s easy to say “Darvish was never going to come here” or “the Pohlads were never going to cough up what it takes to sign a real star” but let’s think about this for a moment… Not signing Darvish was the smart move. To Trade or not to Trade? That is the Question By TwinsO’Holic Adding 1 or better yet, TWO, starters no doubt helps this team try to get back to the postseason in 2018. Yu Darvish signing with the Cubs on Saturday left Twins fans shattered, as their #1 option went off the board. This leaves Jake Arrieta, Lance Lynn, and Alex Cobb as the top remaining free agents. While there are many blogs that have speculated on how those three would contribute to the team, I will be focusing on the Twins trade options. Video of the Week Good news: Actual Baseball things are happening!!! Item of the Week Single-game tickets for all the Twins home games become available for purchase tomorrow morning, and there are some sweet bobblehead giveaways.With that in mind, check out this sweet lot of three Twins bobbleheads from the early 2000s: Corey Koskie, Doug Mientkiewicz and Cristian Guzman. At the time of posting, these babies could be had for just $19.99. Free shipping even! Download attachment: Bobbleheads.png That’s it for this edition of Twins Weekly. Have a wonderful weekend. Click here to view the article

It's going to be a lot of fun when Gonsalves makes his debut and we get a look at some of his measurables. I'd be willing to bet he has some really unique attributes -- release point/extension or spin rates -- that would provide some explanation as to why he's been so effective. The Twins have access to those things, but that data is not yet public on the minor leaguers.

From the team's press release: "Early access to single-game tickets will be available exclusively through MLB.com's Ballpark app starting Feb. 16 at 10:00 a.m."

It's 10 at Target Field and then two in Puerto Rico. Cleveland also has 10-straight home games before the PR series, I wonder if maybe that's to satisfy something in the CBA about travel/special events outside of the US.