Wizard11

I understand why you are not counting the statics from the franchise founding Washington Senators for this article. However The Senators/Twins franchise should be recognized more as one franchise in articles here at TD. It is our heritage. I know that for most Twins fans, life began when the Senators moved to Minneapolis...but I am not one of those fans. My fandom involving this franchise  began 1953 in Washington DC, when my brother and I rode a trolley to Griffith Stadium with our grandfather to see the Senators lose to the Detroit Tigers. I quickly became interested in the Senators' fascinating history and players like the Big Train (most shutouts in a major league career),the Walking Man ( behind only Barry Bonds, Ted Williams and Mark McGuire for the most walks in a season with 151), Little Potato (he had a devastating curve, was a seven time All Star and is in the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame, as well as the Twins HOF), Heinie, with a .336 batting average during his time with this franchise and a Hall of Famer, Joseph Ignastius, a Hall of Famer, who held many American League records at first base at the time of his retirement, Hall of Famer Sam, who averaged 202  hits per season from his age 30 to age 40, and Hall of Famer Goose, who topped 100 RBI's in 11 seasons and batted .316 for his career, Hall of Famer Bucky, Manager Cookie, Clark, Papa Joe, who was one of the first to recruit Latino players for the major leagues, and don't forget Cecil, who  led the league in 1941 with 215 hits, but had his career severely impacted by frostbite he suffered in WWII. There were many other notable players and contributors for this proud franchise. We have a long history It deserves to be remembered.

Long term I am a big fan. Short term? Might need a trip back to St Paul to find the stroke at the plate again. He won't be the first or last top prospect who needs a readjustment after a hot start to their MLB career.  

We all knew the D was gonna be a problem at times, and this was one of them. Just flush it and move on. Start another hot streak on Friday against Cincy. 

Loved the 9th inning comeback attempt. They didnt give up. 
The defense needs to tighten up. A lot. 
Short memory. We have Ryan going on Friday. Gonna be a fun game. Go Twins!

Buxton has a 4 hit night with 2 homers ...
Abel pitches 7 scoreless innings with 10 strike outs ...
Game ball ( its a tie ) goes to both players  ...

This trade was actually my favourite of last year's deadline. I said at the time I was intrigued by Bradley's stuff and he's still young. Early signs are very promising. With Abel pitching a good game today we may well have found two pieces of the rotation for the foreseeable future.

The benefit in the Bradley - Jax trade is two more years of control with a higher ceiling of performance. 18 1/3 innings v. 4 innings pitched so far this season. If things go right it’s 185 innings v. 75 innings for the season.
Varland pitched a bunch for Toronto after the trade but wasn’t terribly effective in the stats line. As I’ve said before, if Louie was from Kenosha, the acquisition (upside) of Rojas with the Roden throw in would be much more well respected.
Duran for Tait and Abel is a good get for the Twins if either of the two stick. Abel has been rough to start the year - this afternoon looks promising so far through 6 shutout innings. Time will tell.
Stewart pitched 3 1/3 for Dodgers and got hurt and hasn’t competed since. Moving Dobnak can’t bother anyone.
Correa being moved was smart at this point in his career - health & production limited & slowing at SS. Saved $25M/yr.
France - Castro - Bader - Coulombe - Paddack were all Free Agents at the end of ‘25.
I realize that’s 11 guys & seems dramatic. Where is the glaring issue, other than potentially taking exception to the Duran trade?……….they got two talented guys with 11 years of Team control, after Tait gets to the Big Leagues. Good risk with their credentials. We’ll see.
 

I didn't find the Jax trade to be disappointing. He was very much up and down in 2025 and based on how he's done thus far, the Twins sold at the right time and brought back a young, controllable starting pitcher. That's the type of trade good teams make - even if the starting pitcher potentially has some warts. It is a chance you need to take.

Watching the young players play is the main attraction for this season. 
Taj has certainly been fun so far!

Like many on Twins Daily I've eaten my fair share of crow. I may even write a cook book on the many ways to prepare crow. Yum! The front office like other front office's take risks. Some pay off (Nellie Cruz for Joe Ryan), and some don't. Brian Sebean was responsible for a couple of SF Gants championship runs, yet he traded for A.J.! It's early in the evaluation process. Meh signings of Carafini and Bell are looking very astute for example. My newest "eat crow" statement: Brooks Lee should be sent to AAA and James Outman DFAed. If those guys turn into All-Stars, let the dining begin! Knives out!

Love the Major League reference!! 

What does that even mean?

Derek Falvey's front office has 10 years of failure legacy. I'm done. Taj Bradley turning into a perennial Cy Young will not impact my position in the slightest. Full purge. 
I saw what Zoll did after Falvey was fired. Nothing. Falzoll needs to go, with completely new leadeship and a new philosophy born of that leadership needs to come in.
Could I eventually change my mind on Zoll? Sure. After a few years of sustained successes, but he's in a deep, deep hole in terms of my approval and confidence.

The trade I didn't love was Varland for Rojas; that was the one that was the most questionable IMHO. Considering the length of team control, the need for relievers with velocity and high-end potential...that's easily the most high-risk of the deals. We'll see how that one works out.
The Jax for Bradley deal was one that I liked better from the jump. Much as I liked Jax, I definitely despised the conversation about converting him back to a starter (I think it's pretty notable that's all died out: literally only Twins fans & Jax himself ever speculated on it and I've give you all the money in my pockets against all the money in yours if Jax ever starts a game for TB as anything other than an "opener").
And as I've noted elsewhere: Jax as a reliever had 1 great season, and 3 good seasons as a reliever. He hasn't shown that he's a dominant, consistent reliever. Yes, 2025 had some strong underlying numbers that weren't matched up with results, and the stuff still looked great, but results also tell some things too, and the reality was Jax was walking more guys and giving up more hits, even as he was ringing up more K's.
I think the use of Bradley's ERA after he came over to the Twins is factual, but not really descriptive of where he was as a pitcher? His Game Scores are a little more instructive, and show how much inconsistency hurt him. In the six starts, he's got 2 disasters, 1 that's a bit below average, 1 solid start and 2 very good ones. That's a pitcher who has talent and can find consistency. You look at a 6.61 ERA (which he absolutely had) and you might think "this guy is crap!", but the ERA doesn't really describe him effectively. Especially when the Twins almost certainly were less concerned with protecting him from a blow out and just wanted him to pitch some MLB innings. In his 6 starts he threw 80+ pitches in all of them, struggles or no.
It's too early to be sure whether Bradley has figured it out, but it's a very nice start, and he's got the potential to be a frontline starter. He's got the stuff, he's added velocity, he's kept the ball in the park, and he's limited the free passes. If he can get a little more efficient in finishing off hitters, he's going to be going deep into games consistently as well. these are all good signs.
Small samples, very early in a season. Absolutely. But also good reasons to feel positive about this trade.

I stopped reading. I will noT give the FO credit for a fire sale strategy to get the best “available” players.  We sold low and the buyers knew it!  We got lucky at best. 

Bradley could win the Cy Young, and all it would prove is a broken lock is right twice a day. 

I understand the skepticism of what happened at the deadline.  But, realistically, how many of the guys they moved would have been back this year and would have been part of any future contending version of this team?  Jax?  His current implosion was foreshadowed by his off field implosion just prior to moving him.  Timing appears right on that one.  He had to go.  The only two that are probably regrettable are Duran and Varland.  And the return for them may well prove to make those worthwhile moves.  Yes, I know, nothing is set in stone when it comes to young players.  
You know, there's a lot of talent on this club, Charlie. The veterans are starting to play back to form, and the rookies are developing faster than I thought; there's two or three potential All-Stars in there. I think we're a contender, right now.

Yesterday I called for sending Brooks down and DFAing Outman. I may have to drag out my crow cook book again. Taste like chicken!

Despite their "success" to this point, it is tough to believe too much in the bullpen. Because of that, it is easier for Shelton to go longer with his starters. I do think Shelton has done a very good job mixing and matching to get his relief pitchers through innings. 
Twins prospects haven't hit much and the Saints haven't won much since their Opening Weekend sweep. Here are some numbers: Jenkins .154, Gonzalez .171, Roden .243, Kreidler .214, Wagaman .121. Arcia, Culpepper and Rodriguez are doing better, but no one is knocking the door down for promotion.

Probably too early to say this, but I do like Shelton as manager a lot better than Rocco. A lot. A lot.

I doubt Hawkins needs to reemphasize this. I doubt any of the pitchers hits or walks batters because they  have forgotten advice from the bullpen coach.
Seemed like a well earned (rather than lucky) win to me. YMMV.

It IS different, and I wasn't a Rocco hater. Shelton just seems to trust his players (both pitchers and hitters) a little more, which is odd, given that Rocco was a player. My guess is the players appreciate it as well.

Much needed quality start from Abel. Great to see it! Really helped to give most of the bullpen the day off. 
Hasnt been much good from Lee yet this year. Nice at bat to drive in a couple runs when it was needed. 
Let's get after Corbin tomorrow and keep the streak going! Go Twins!

So many positives to notice today. Outman’s catch in the 7th was huge. That ball sure looked like it was going to land fair. In that case the Tigers break the tie and have another runner in scoring position. Action probably doesn’t make it through the 7th. With that catch the score stays tied and Acton makes it through 8.

Great to get the win but even better to see Abel bounce back from his previous 2 starts.