There were a few minor league moves to take place on Thursday. Outfielder Darin Mastroianni was due to come off the disabled list but he was in the middle of a hitting slump so he was optioned to Rochester. There might be a chance that he gets back to the big leagues this year but he had options left and it would be better for him to get his legs under him. Outfielder Aaron Hicks has been dealing with a nagging injury. Rochester put him on the 7-day disabled list with a right heel bruise. Sinc
It's hard to believe the middle of the minor league season is fast approaching. This will mean the announcement of the mid-season All-Star Team rosters over the next few weeks. On Tuesday the Florida State League announced their teams and the Miracle have four players on the roster. Pitchers Jose Berrios, David Hurlbut and Brett Lee will be joined by outfielder Adam Brett Walker on the FSL South Division Team. Berrios, Hurlbut, and Lee have all been fantastic pitchers with each posting an ERA
As the Twins get closer to heading to Fort Myers, there will be plenty of decisions to make in relation to the 25-man roster. Some positions are likely set in stone while others are still questionable. In this series called "25-Man Roster Dissection," I have selected the men I believe will spend the most time on the 25-man roster next season and I try to predict each player's 2014 performance. Besides Joe Mauer, who was the first profile, Glen Perkins was the only other 2014 Twins All-Star. Th
On Wednesday, Phil Hughes made his final start of the season for the Twins. It capped a memorable first year in Minnesota for the former Yankees pitcher. He signed with the club as the lesser of two big off-season upgrades to the rotation but he turned out to be the staff ace. One of the most amazing parts of this season for Hughes has been his ability to completely eliminate walks while still being a very effective pitcher. For the entire season, Hughes had 16 walks charged to him over the co
With the number five pick in the 2014 MLB Draft, the Minnesota Twins selected Nick Gordon, a high school shortstop from Florida. This is the pick most people expected the Twins to make especially with word coming out that the team's top brass had seen him in person more than any other draft prospect. To read more about Gordon, check out his Twins Daily pre-draft profile. Leading up to the Twins fifth pick, the Houston Astros had the first overall pick for the third straight season. Houston too
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
Weather has been a factor in the early part of the minor league schedule. Rochester was forced to play two seven-inning games on Tuesday because of weather issues on Monday. The Miracle had some weather issues of their own on Tuesday as their game got called early in the day. For the coming weeks, it likely means there will be plenty of doubleheader action in the Twins system. The games have to get played but it has been a long winter in different parts of the country and it could take awhile
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
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
One of the questions facing the Minnesota Twins and their fans this offseason is the future of Joe Mauer. The All-Star catcher and face of the franchise didn't play a game after August 19th because of concussion related symptoms. With the Twins heading for their third straight 90-loss season, there was no need to rush Mauer back to the field. When the Twins head to Florida this spring, there will continue to be questions about how much time Mauer should play at catcher. Catchers are in the lin
February 17, 2014 is the reporting day for pitchers and catchers in the Twins organization. Some players will head to Florida knowing their roster spot is locked-in while others will toil with wondering what the future might bring. Glen Perkins, the Twins All-Star closer, was the last man I profiled and he is basically guaranteed a spot on the 25-man roster. This reporting date will also mark a new era for the franchise as the team spent a significant amount of money on free agent pitching for
The Minnesota Twins announced the signing of outfielder Carlos Quentin to a minor league contract with an invitation to major league camp. The 33-year old last appeared in a game for Tacoma, the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. His last big league appearance was in 20014 with the San Diego Padres. The former two-time All-Star was first round pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2003. He played parts of two seasons at the big league level in Arizona before being dealt to the Chicago W
Ron Gardenhire slowly walked out to the mound at Kauffman Stadium for a move that he didn't really want to make. Andrew Albers pitched into the ninth inning without allowing a run and it was his big league debut.Unfortunately, his pitch count had run up to 109 and it was time to get the bullpen involved. It was a tremendous debut and it was hard to imagine things getting better from there... but they would. In his next outing, Albers was even more impressive. In front of the Target Field fai
Minnesota is widely considered to have one of the game's best farm systems. It helps to have two of the best prospects in all of baseball, Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano. The Twins have also done well to acquire some top notch pitching talent over the last couple of years in the form of Alex Meyer, Kohl Stewart, and Lewis Thorpe. MLB.com will be unveiling their list of the top 100 prospects in baseball on Thursday, which should include a number of players from the Twins organization. Buxton and
The big story of the night was star pitching prospect Kohl Stewart being pulled very early in his start by the Cedar Rapids training staff. His fastball usually sits in the mid-90s but he was topping out anywhere from 88-90 mph. The Twins have come out and said they removed him for precautionary reasons. With not many games left in the minor league season, it would be surprising to see Stewart on the mound again in 2014. With Stewart out of the game early, would the Kernels be able to continue
The big story of the night was star pitching prospect Kohl Stewart being pulled very early in his start by the Cedar Rapids training staff. His fastball usually sits in the mid-90s but he was topping out anywhere from 88-90 mph. The Twins have come out and said they removed him for precautionary reasons. With not many games left in the minor league season, it would be surprising to see Stewart on the mound again in 2014. With Stewart out of the game early, would the Kernels be able to continue
For the second Tuesday in a row, weather played havoc on the Twins farm system. Only half of the teams were able to get on the field and both of those teams didn't exactly like the results on the night. Some hitters continued their hot starts to the year but the pitching seemed to be the biggest problem on this night Fans who braved the weather at Target Field got to see Phil Hughes get off to a great start before giving up a chunk of runs in the sixth inning. The Blue Jays have held the Twins n
Joe Mauer won't be coming off of the concussion disabled list when he is first eligible. This probably isn't much of a surprise since the Twins are well out of the playoff discussion in the American League. Mauer has been told by the team to rest at home and report back to Target Field on Tuesday, the first day he could have come off the concussion DL. When dealing with a player making $23 million a year, it makes sense to proceed with caution. The team needs Mauer to be healthy for the future
This is the second in a series of posts looking at different parts of the Twins roster as the season winds down. Clearly, there have been some rough moments at the end of the last few seasons. The moto of those years might have been "Wake Me Up When September Ends" but the hope is that this year will be a little different. Overall, there seems to be a little hope on the horizon. That hope might mean you won't want to sleep through this September. Earlier in the week, I looked at how this year'
Baseball lost another great on Monday morning. Hall of Fame hitter Tony Gwynn passed away at the age of 54. He lost his battle after he had been dealing with cancer issues for some time. Gwynn said that he believed the cancer was attributed to his chewing tobacco habit during his playing days. Fans across Twins Territory can feel the pain that Padres fans are dealing after today's announcement. Former Twins great and Hall of Fame inductee Kirby Puckett also passed away at an early age. It can
The Minnesota Twins struck out 1430 time last season, the third most strikeouts in the history of the game. On the offensive side of the ball, the team scored the third fewest runs in the American League while the pitching staff allowed the second most runs to be scored. The club also left the third most runners on base of any team in the AL. There needs to be some changes to the roster and the pitching staff is the biggest priority. Numbers like the ones discussed above make it clear that th
Things are starting to wind down in the minor league season and this means plenty of very important games for Twins' affiliates. The Kernels entered Sunday with a chance to clinch and the Red Wings are right in the middle of the wild card hunt. This means every at-bat and every pitch are very important. The same can't be said for the MLB version of the Twins. They are out of the playoff chase but they can still upset a few teams along the way. After pounding the Detroit Tigers in the first two
There are plenty of ways to go about trying to fix the Twins team but some patience might be required as the club waits for some younger pieces to work their way through the minor leagues. The Twins Daily crew put out some solid information in the 2014 Offseason Handbook. One of the best parts to read about this document is the blueprint plans put together by the writers. There are plenty of options for the Twins but here is how I would go about trying to fix the team. Some of these ideas will
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
