Every team longs for a chance to add to the legacy of their franchise. How can they get another flag to fly over the stadium and become a part of baseball's legendary past? This is the premise behind the recent book release, In Pursuit of Pennants: Baseball Operations from Deadball to Moneyball by Mark L. Armour and Daniel R. Levitt. These two authors take the reader on a journey through the annals of baseball history to find what made front offices successful throughout each era. Armour an
Earlier this week, it was announced that the Mets would start using a six-man rotation. Their plan is to stick with having an extra starter in the rotation through early-to-mid-August. New York's reasoning behind the move is to shave innings totals without the need to shut down pitchers before the end of the season. The Mets have three young pitchers in their rotation who need to be watched closely. Matt Harvey is in his first season back from Tommy John surgery while fellow starters Jacob de
As the beginning of the 2015 season quickly approaches, the Twins marketing team has been hard at work. How do you try and sell a team that has lost 90 games for four consecutive seasons? Twins single game tickets went on sale last weekend and one thing that seems to get fans in the door is offering some unique giveaways. This year the club will offer such items as a Vintage Twins Bobblehead, a Brian Dozier Bobblehead, a Torii Hunter Adult Jersey, and a Fur Bomber cap. One noticeable name no
A day after being part of a no-hitter that he started three weeks ago, Trevor May did something else that was a little strange; he pitched in relief for the Twins game. This was something he hadn't done since 2010 at the High-A level. After a rough big league debut, it was probably nice for May to get back on the mound and prove he belongs at the big league level. It was a strange day in the minor leagues. Two Twins' affiliates had weather interfere with their game and one team had to finish a
When the Twins signed Joe Mauer to an 8-year, $184 million contract after the 2010 season, the team had high hopes for their hometown star as he started to age at one of baseball's toughest positions. Mauer was coming off an MVP season in 2009 and batting titles in 2006, 2008, and 2009. It looked like Mauer was on pace to be one of the best hitting catchers of all time. Things change and Mauer's career has taken a different turn in recent years. Twins fans are well aware that concussions cause
My trip last week to Arizona allowed me to get a first hand view of the Cactus League for the first time. I have made a couple of trips to Florida to watch the Twins play in the Grapefruit League so it was nice to see how some of the other teams spend their time during spring training. I went into my trip to the Valley of the Sun with the mindset that the Cactus League and Grapefruit League would be very similar but that opinion would change during my week in the Phoenix area. I thought it wou
"Making a list, checking it twice. Terry Ryan got what he thought was nice." Even though the Twins are coming of four straight 90-loss seasons, there wasn't a ton of things the club needed to accomplish this off-season. The team seemingly had one one position player spot in the corner outfield. Terry Ryan also wanted to add depth to the starting pitching core. Just days after the winter meetings and the Twins have crossed both of these needs off their holiday wish list. At the beginni
Near the end of last week, the Rawlings Gold Glove finalists were announced for both the American League and the National League. It's hard to take these nominations too seriously when Derek Jeter has multiple Gold Gloves on his mantle and Rafael Palmeiro won one as a DH. Rawlings has been moving in the right direction as they have started to use SABR's Defensive Index to help decide the winners. Three former members of the Twins organization (JJ Hardy, Justin Morneau, and Denard Span) were a
Danny Santana was supposed to be the answer at shortstop. He blew everyone out of the water with his performance throughout the 2014 season. However, the 2015 season has been an entirely different story. He's looked lost at the plate and struggled on the field to the point where the Twins demoted him to Triple-A. Many fans of the Twins minor leagues might have expected this kind of regression from Santana in his sophomore season. During his minor league tenure, he hit .274/.317/.393 so he su
The Twins announced on Monday that Ron Gardenhire will not return as the team's manager for 2015. Only two managers in the history of the game had survived four straight 90-loss seasons. One of those men was Gardenhire's predecessor, Tom Kelly. Minnesota is a very loyal organization but it seemed like the time was right to make a change. When a manager wins over 1,000 games with an organization there are going to be some ups and downs. The Twins won six division titles in the Gardenhire era b
Near the end of last season, the Twins featured a trio of players on the Twins magazine cover and dubbed them "The First Wave." Danny Santana, Kennys Vargas, and Oswaldo Arcia all made big impacts on the big league level. Even though Arcia played in almost 100 games in 2013, he's actually the youngest of the three who were all in their age 23 season last year. Each of these three players will have a role in the Twins getting back to playing winning baseball. This makes it interesting to consid
Even with prospects like Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario graduating off this list, there are still plenty of things to be excited about in 2016. Byron Buxton fell just short of meeting the rookie eligibility so he will get one more year to be considered the Twins top prospect. Other players like Jose Berrios and Max Kepler could use up their rookie eligibility this season as well. If all of these players graduate off this list, next year's top 10 will have a very different feel to it. However, t
As the 2012 MLB Draft approached, there were plenty of rumors swirling about who the Astros would take with the first overall pick. Byron Buxton was considered by many talent evaluators to be the best available player but the Astros had surprised people before and other names had popped into the discussion. On draft night, the Astros steered in a different direction than Buxton by selecting Puerto Rican shortstop Carlos Correa, who shot up draft boards in the week prior to the draft. Houston w
There are a few items on the Twins off-season checklist. Starting pitching seems to be the Twins biggest priority but the club also has a hole to fill in the outfield. The club likely won't be pushing for any of the big names on the outfield free agent list but that doesn't mean the club couldn't look to add a veteran free agent for this role. Reports came out at the beginning of this week that the Twins have expressed interest in signing free agent outfielder Torii Hunter. It seems that Hunte
For the third year in a row, Seth Stohs of TwinsDaily.com asked Jeremy Nygaard and myself to help him put together the annual off-season handbook that looks deep into one of the best minor league systems in all of baseball. Several other high quality writers helped to write articles for the book and this only adds to the over 200 pages of content. It was our goal to get the paperback version out to the public before Christmas and we will meet our goal for the second year in a row. This also al
The final touches are being put on the 2016 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook and fans can look for ordering details shortly after the new year. In the aftermath of writing profiles on every prospect in the Twins system, it's hard not to get excited about the direction the team is heading in 2016 and beyond. Predicting the future can be a tough task when it comes to prospects especially when trying to decipher who will part of the next playoff team in Minnesota. There are a plethora of high-en
The Minnesota Twins are in the midst of the search for their next manager. As an organization, they are looking hard at candidates that are already inside the organization like Paul Molitor and Doug Mientkiewicz. They are also considering some other men from outside the organization and that's where I come in. I would like to throw my name in the hat as a candidate for the next manager of the Minnesota Twins. I might not have the pedigree of a Hall-of-Famer or a World Series ring on my finger
Minnesota's minor league system has seen a trend in recent years. Each year there seems to be one prospect that stands out above the rest to have a breakout season. Many of these players are already considered top prospects but their individual performances in one season put them on the cusp of being above-average at the big league level. In 2015, Max Kepler (This year's cover athlete for the 2016 Twins Prospect Handbook) stood out above the crowd on his way to being named Southern League MVP.
Tis the season... well it's not baseball season but fans can still be in the baseball mood. Back in 2010, I wrote a version of this poem that had become a little outdated after half a decade. The Twins had a different manager and GM at the time and the team's biggest offseason move was bringing in Tsuyoshi Nishioka. So here is an update version to help us survive this holiday season. May your holiday be filled with plenty of blessings (and maybe a free agent signing by the Twins). Twas the
Bud Selig is out as commissioner and Rob Manfred has a variety of issues to tackle as he takes over the reigns of America's past-time. One issue at the forefront is trying to find a way to speed up the pace of play for major league games. Last year the average MLB game lasted over three hours. This comes at a time with a steady decrease in run scoring as baseball adjusts after the steroid spike around the turn of the century. Baseball wasn't meant to be this way. Recent years have seen an in
Using a round bat to hit a round ball is one of the hardest skills in professional sports. It takes the right combination of hand-eye coordination to be considered one of the best hitters in the game. Joe Mauer had been one of those hitters. Mauer's on-field performance has been on the decline since a concussion in 2013 and the resulting symptoms related to that brain injury. There may finally be some clarity to the situation as Mauer admitted to the Pioneer Press that symptoms from 2013 conti
One of the highlights of the off-season for a core of Twins fans is the release of the Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook. Seth Stohs has worked to put together this fantastic book for the last seven years. In 2012, he gave me my first taste of helping with the book. By 2013, I was writing an article for the annual and for the last three years I have been among a trio of writers that includes Jeremy Nygaard, Stohs, and myself. There is a ton of work that goes into the creation of this book.
Ranking prospects within an organization is no easy task. The internet has opened up a wave of new information for writers as they can analyze video, sort through higher-level statistics, and prioritize scouting reports from a plethora of experts. This level of information can be overwhelming at times but it helps to separate prospects at different levels. One of my favorite parts of working on the 2016 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook is looking at the old prospect lists from yesteryear. It'
Looking back at the Twins fourth straight 90-loss season doesn't have to be full of glum recollections of another horrible year. There were plenty of bright spots throughout the Twins roster. Brian Dozier did something only a handful of Twins players have ever done. Phil Hughes set an all-time MLB record. Plus young players like Danny Santana were sure fun to watch. Every year at the end of the season, I look back at the Twins year and try and handout some end of the season awards. Many of the
Brian Dozier isn't arbitration eligible until next off-season but rumors are already starting to build about a possible extension between the second baseman and the Twins. He is under team control until 2019 when he will be coming off of his age-29 season. There isn't necessarily a rush to get a deal done but a source close to the Twins said to expect an extension in place before the season's start. What would a Dozier extension look like? Last year the Cleveland Indians locked up their All-St
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?
At this point in the pre-season, I’m just so happy to be seeing games again, I don’t care about the Twins record in 2023. I think they’ll win it all, unrealistically speaking 🙂
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?· 0 replies
