Respy

IMO 1st round pick would have been better. 2nd round pick would have been worse. They clearly think Dozier wouldn't get $50M this offseason, so they pulled the trigger. Raley looks like a good get, but I'm shocked they needed to tie in Forsythe to get the deal done.

Dozier has had a down year and we've been bracing for this move, but it will still be unusual to see someone else at second base after Dozier has spent 95% of the Twins' games there since 2013.

I'm going to go ahead and agree with most posters above regarding the 'hindsight is 20/20' and such. I'll add that one thing to always keep in mind (and my pessimistic nature at its best), is we need to realize that in many instances of these players, if they stayed in the Minnesota system, they very likely would not have performed as well. Many of these players will struggle or underperform in one system, then do much better in a different system. Whether it's because of a fire/chip on their shoulder, or a certain coach or player/mentor got through to them, we'll never know. Sometimes a player turns out to be so great, we have to admit that the Twins likely messed up either in their development or in getting rid of them too early (e.g. David Ortiz). In most other cases, the players may have had toxic personalities and I say 'good riddance,' or they just needed an opportunity elsewhere to which I say 'best of luck to you.'

(Entry photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) Fogo de Chão, a Brazilian steakhouse with all-you-can-eat tableside-carved meats, was attributed by Eduardo Escobar before this season as a big reason for his success in 2017, according to an interview by the Star Tribune. Reportedly, Eduardo Escobar is unwilling to be traded to any team whose home ballpark is not located near a Fogo de Chão. Namely, of the teams still in playoff contention this year, this will entirely rule out St. Louis (Cardinals), Cleveland (Indians), and Milwaukee (Brewers). It will likely also rule out the Los Angeles Angels, whose stadium is in Anaheim, 2 hours away from the nearest Fogo de Chão. We reached out to Escobar, and he stated “Hey man, I really like Fogo de Chão. No Fogo de Chão would be no bueno. Big meat equals big hits.” Of all the divisions in baseball, only the NL West has Fogo de Chão locations in every city, meaning likely suitors for Escobar could be the Dodgers, Diamondbacks, or Giants (who have a 90%, 45%, and 12% chance of reaching the playoffs in 2018, respectively, according to Fangraphs as of July 5th). On the year, Escobar, a utility infielder who has mostly played third base this year, is hitting .277 (.867 OPS) with 13 homeruns and 50 RBI. Eduardo Escobar will be a Free Agent at the end of the 2018 season, after earning $4.85M this season with the struggling Minnesota Twins.

During the final game of the last homestand against the Rangers, after the Twins dropped the first three games of the series to the Rangers, many fans noticed a change to the familiar Minnie and Paul celebration sign in center field. As an apparent gesture of the Twins performance this year, likely in particular that of the offense lately, Minnie and Paul had paper bags placed over their heads. Minnie and Paul are well-known for their friendly handshake over the Mississippi River. Minnesota Twins Senior Director of Ballpark Development and Planning Dan Starkey said, “We felt this was the correct gesture to ensure that Twins fans have the right mentality when coming to Target Field to cheer on the Twins this year.” He added, “We are considering making additional changes to the famous Minnie and Paul sign. For example, after Joe Mauer leaves the Twins or retires, we’re considering changing the handshake to some kind of fist bump to appeal to current players and millennial fans.” We asked Starkey if they had any additional plans around Target Field, other than with Minnie and Paul, to commemorate the failing Twins season. “Well if the Twins are truly going to continue being a bad team this year, why not embrace that and find ways to enjoy it? When the Twins are officially eliminated from playoff contention, we are planning on hosting a paper bag giveaway sponsored by Cub Foods so every fan can watch the game from the comfort and security of a paper bag over their head with some eye holes poked into it. We’ll even have mini paper bags for the kids,” Starkey said.

*Satire

Yesterday a picture was leaked of a napkin left at an Applebees in Santa Monica, California, last month while the Twins were visiting the Los Angeles Angels. The napkin was left there inadvertently by, reportedly, Twins Major League Coach Jeff Pickler who was dining at the restaurant with other members of the Twins coaching staff. The napkin had pictured, among other things, sketches of proposed fielding alignments. Some of the alignments were titled “Ryan Suter,” “Mexico,” and “Mauer.” Jeff Pickler was hired during the 2016-2017 offseason by the Minnesota Twins as a coach to help with various aspects of the Twins at the major league level, but most notably by studying tapes and determining outfielder positioning for a talented trio which included Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton, and Max Kepler to start the season. The Applebees server, who requested to be left anonymous, stated that Pickler “Seemed like a nice guy…” but was “a crappy tipper” and “deserves to have his strategies exposed.” One anonymous bench coach for a Major League Baseball team commented, “These are ****ing stupid. Except for the Mauer one. We’ll probably use that one.” Shown below are graphics for the various shifts sketched on the discovered napkin: "Ryan Suter" "Sieve" "T-ball" "Mauer" "Mexico" "Broadcast Interview" "Chris Davis" "Batman" Twins coach Jeff Pickler could not be reached for comment for this article.

Byron Buxton practicing his catching in front of a US border wall prototype in June, 2018 SAN DIEGO – After suffering for months with severe migraines and with a history of concussions, Byron Buxton announced on Twitter (@OfficialBuck103) yesterday that he’s officially stepping away from Major League Baseball. “We’ll miss his presence on the field and in the clubhouse. He’s definitely one of the best center fielders of all time. We wish him the best in his future endeavors,” said Derek Falvey, Minnesota Twins Executive Vice President and Chief Baseball Officer. Buxton later announced that he’s been working out at a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) facility in San Diego, California where he’s training to catch bags of drugs, typically heroin, being thrown over the border walls from Mexico to the United States. When asked about the new work he’s preparing for, Buxton said “At least I don’t need to hit anymore.” He added, “I was born to climb walls and catch. And this way, I can also do it while proudly serving my country.” But, is catching baggies of drugs going to be as easy as catching baseballs? Buxton stated, “The tricky part is that all of the bags can come in different sizes and weights. But if it fits in my glove, I’m going to catch it. Just as long as the border wall is not 55 or 60 feet tall like I’ve heard some people are proposing.” Carla Provost, Acting Chief for the U.S. Border Patrol division of the DHS, said that they have had their eye on Buxton for a while, and contacted him when he went on the disabled list in April for migraines. “Last year we really dove into the analytics of border security. We have this new metric, abbreviated DRS, which stands for Drug Rings Squandered. We expect that Byron will step right in and lead the division in DRS.” We caught up with Border Patrol Assistant Chief, Percy Woolbright, to ask about Buxton. “He’ll be a natural at this. He’s really talented. He can cover a lot of wall, too, because I saw his sprint speed has been measured at over 30 feet per second. Also, Byron can come to work every day knowing that the weather along the US-Mexico border is much more predictable than in Minnesota. And if Florida ever decides to secede from the Union like it did in 1861, we’ll set up a new border wall along the US and Florida, and Byron can work close to his family in Georgia.” One might assume that because of the orientation of catching fly balls against the fence in baseball, he should technically be positioned on the south (foreign) side of the wall to catch drugs being catapulted from Mexico. Commenting on this, Woolbright said, “Umm…Oops.”

I say Kepler or Berrios, if they can, because those are the only two young players with seemingly no risk tied to them. Kepler is improving but still underperforming so I'd start there and try to strike a deal.

Both Granite and Wade need to shake off the rust before they get called up. I presume that if one of them gets hot, and LaMarre really struggles, we will see the move made. Alternatively, with Buxton on the DL, I hope Kepler continues to get some starts in CF. He has looked a bit uncomfortable there but has the skills for it and needs the reps.

Berrios has been good but he's scheduled to face the Indians lineup twice in June. Eddie Rosario is on a hot streak and notoriously plays well mid-summer. I think he'll stay hot and take the Twins' lone spot as a reserve player. Regarding the number of outfielders in the AL, for sure Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Aaron Judge, and J.D. Martinez are going to be locks. There are several players who have better OPS than Rosario but I don't think will make the All Star game because of players ahead of them on the same team: Brantley (Cleveland): 5th in OPS, but Kluber, Lindor, and Ramirez are aheadBenintendi (Boston): 6th in OPS, but Betts, Martinez, Sale, and maybe Kimbrel are aheadHaniger (Seattle): 7th in OPS, but I'd assume Segura and Paxton get the nod first, and Seattle has not been good enough to merit 3 players in the All Star game.Castellanos (Detroit): 8th in OPS, but Candelario has a higher WAR and OPS, and I'm guessing the Tigers only get 1 rep.Rosario (Twins): 9th in OPSSpringer (Astros): 10th in OPS, but Altuve, Correa, Verlander, and Cole all have higher WAR this season.

I was wondering the same thing. And any wall-banging worries me as he had a concussion in the AFL last year (only 6 months ago).

Well, this is uninspiring (regarding Petit) but probably the appropriate move here if you look at the Red Wings roster. I think the bigger news here is that Gonsalves should now be able to stick in the AAA rotation, which is where he belongs (at least until a potential call up).

Here's my fair warning: Something's been off with Luis Castillo so far this year, but he was really good down the stretch last year and has really good stuff (Upper 90's FB with lots of sink, and decent strikeout stuff). I'd easily take him over Hughes tonight. Mahle starting Sunday for the Reds is also underrated. Votto is heating up lately, Suarez just came back from the DL. The Reds have Billy Hamiton roaming CF and the Twins are missing Buxton. I hate to be so pessimistic, but I'm not terribly optimistic about the Twins in this series against a 5-20 team. I honestly predict that the Twins will lose 2 of 3.

Kepler is soon approaching the often-mentioned benchmark of 1000 major league at bats. The key for me with Kepler is always going to be walks and strikeouts. He put up pretty decent numbers in the minors (0.68 BB/K). His early return this year of 8 walks and 4 K's is promising so far. I still feel he will turn into an exceptional and hopefully long-tenured Twin.

This is going to depend entirely on the individual perspectives of the voters. Voter A thinks Mauer spent initial part and majority of his career as a catcher, thus classifies him as a catcher. Definitely yes for HOF. Voter B thinks Mauer finished too many years as a first basemen, classifying him as a first basemen conservatively. Definitely no for HOF. Voter C takes a totally analytical and mathematical approach, proportioning Mauer's career totals according to number of games played at each position. This approach disregards Mauer's specific WAR while at catcher, and proportions it. (e.g. two thirds career WAR for catcher, one third at 1B). Likely a no for HOF. Seems unfair but Mauer has an unprecedented situation here. I think Voter A has the correct approach, and thus I think Mauer should be in the HOF regardless at this point. But I think there will be enough alternative viewpoints that he won't get the call.

Your desk it too organized.

Yeah I'm subscribed. I'm getting it to work through my phone right now (though eating up my data I'm sure). I still can't get it to work on my computer. It's acting like I'm trying to watch video. I sent in a help ticket.

If you select 'Feed' it shows the exit velocity.

I only have the Gameday Audio, and when I click the headphones, I get "The account you're using is not entitled to view this content. Please select "Subscribe" to subscribe or upgrade your account." I'm about to lose my mind.

Anyone else's MLB Gameday Audio not working?

89-73 (Second in AL Central, first in Wild Card) Offensive Player of the Year: Miguel Sano Most Home Runs: Miguel Sano Starting Pitcher of the Year: Lance Lynn Relief Pitcher of the Year: Addison Reed Twins Rookie of the Year: Gabriel Moya

I don't recall something like this happening before. But, I'm not surprised. So Cincinnati picked up Vargas hoping they could get him to clear waivers. We decided we'd rather have him back than to let the Reds stash him in AAA (partly out of spite?). Maybe the FO decided they plan to waive Grossman at some point. Otherwise I don't know how they fit Vargas on the roster.

Back to the Korean league.

Vargas has been claimed by the Reds. Unfortunately that will mean he's a bench bat (Joey Votto). https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/03/reds-claim-kennys-vargas.html