Hardball history on the Minnesota prairie started long before the Twins moved to the Upper Midwest. Baseball legends like Ted Williams and Willie Mays called Minnesota home before making their big league debuts. There was a lot that went into the Twins becoming the franchise they are today and the club's entire history is summarized in the new book Minnesota Twins Baseball: Hardball History on the Prairie. There are plenty of people who know a lot about Twins baseball but author Stew Thornley
Next month's All-Star Game is fast approaching and Target Field will serve as the center of the baseball universe.The starting rosters for the National League and the American League will be announced during the weekend of July 5th-6th and it doesn't seem likely for the Twins to have a starter elected by the fans. This leaves some question as to who should represent the hometown team in Minnesota's first Mid-Summer Classic since 1985.Joe Mauer has been named MLB's All-Star Ambassador but that
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
On May 24th the Twins were in San Francisco for the second game of a three game series. Aaron Hicks was the starting center fielder that day and this day would mark a turning point in his career. Whether it was a turning point for the better or for the worse, remains to be seen. Ryan Vogelsong, a right-handed pitcher, was the Giants starter that day. This meant the switch-hitting Hicks was batting left-handed. Hicks would struggle on this day going 0-for-3 with a strikeout. He would be removed
The Twins took care of business in Toronto on Tuesday night and most of the teams in the minor leagues were able to follow their lead. It didn't take long for Kendrys Morales to remember how to hit and Brian Dozier is putting himself into the All-Star conversation at second base. Minnesota is in the mix for the playoffs and many of their minor league affiliates are fighting for first half titles. Every win is important so let's jump down on the pond to check out the action. RED WINGS REPORT
Minnesota added some top-notch talent to the organization at the end of last week. For the third year in a row, the Twins had a top five pick in the MLB Draft. Minnesota's farm system was already considered one of the best in the game and adding top tier talent can only help the organization. My last prospect rankings were released in conjuncture with the "2014 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook." There have been some changes since that time as minor league teams are almost halfway through thei
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
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
With the Houston Astros having the number one overall pick for the third year in a row, there can be some question about who will be selected first overall. Two years ago it looked like Mark Appel would be a lock for the first pick. The Astros saved a little money by taking Carlos Correa and this looks like a great decision. Correa is blossoming into one of the best position players in the minors and Appel ended up in an Astros uniform in last year's draft. Will Houston go with an expected pla
"I've got a fever and the only prescription is less Kubel" Those words don't taste good coming out of my mouth because I consider myself a Jason Kubel fan. I've liked Kubel since he was a budding prospect in the Twins minor league system. He was supposed to be one of the left-handed power bats to join Joe Mauer in the middle of the batting order. A devastating knee injury kept those dreams from becoming a reality and it's looking more like his time is over in Minnesota. Things haven't been v
On Tuesday it was announced that New Britain Rock Cats outfield Daniel Ortiz was selected as the Eastern League Player of the Week for the period of May 19th-May 25th. Over six games, he hit .480 with four doubles, a triple, and two home runs. He had at least one hit in all six games and he post back-to-back three hit nights earlier in the week. During the last week, Ortiz lead the league in slugging percentage (.960), OPS (1.460) and tied for the league lead in extra-base hits (7) Would Ortiz
Phil Hughes signed during the off-season to help remedy some of Minnesota's starting pitching woes over the last two seasons. Hughes was coming off a rough final season in New York where he posted an ERA over 5.00 and his WHIP topped out at 1.46. Hughes was charged with a career high 14 losses and he probably couldn't get out of town fast enough. "Walks Will Haunt" was the message played to taunt opposing pitchers inside the Metrodome. Apparently, Hughes has taken that message to heart as he h
As spring training began in Twins Territory, there were questions about who should be starting at third base when the team headed north. Trevor Plouffe was coming off an underwhelming season where he dealt with some injuries and he struggled defensively at third base. Miguel Sano was ranked as one of the best prospects in the game and his powerful swing looked primed to make his debut. Flash-forward a couple months and Sano is recovering from Tommy John surgery while Plouffe has continued to l
Minnesota starts into a West Coast swing of baseball action on Tuesday. The club will play two games in San Diego before heading up the coast for a weekend series in San Francisco. This means some late night baseball action for Twins Territory, as most of the team's games won't be starting until 8:00 pm or later. The Twins have won each of their last three series including two out of three from Boston and Detroit. If the Twins want to continue to be relevant in the AL Central, they will need t
The 1991 World Series will always hold a special place in the heart of Twins fans. Kirby Puckett's heroics in Game 6 and the magnificent pitching performance of Jack Morris are legendary moments etched into the minds of a generation of baseball fans. Many consider this World Series as the best of all time and it all comes into focus in the newly released book "Down to the Last Pitch." To get a better understanding of this legendary World Series, author Tim Wendel breaks down every game by usin
It has been a rough season for some of the top position players in the Twins minor league system. Eddie Rosario is serving a 50-game suspension after he tested positive for marijuana use. Miguel Sano had to undergo Tommy John surgery and the earliest he could be on the field is very late in the summer. To cap it all off, Byron Buxton, the consensus top prospect in all of baseball, has played a whopping five games this year because of wrist injuries. Byron Buxton Original Outlook (2014): After
It’s shaping up to be a killer couple of days for Cedar Rapids. After the first two games of their four-game set with Peoria got rained out, the Kernels will be forced to play double-headers on Tuesday and Wednesday. In their two other double-headers this season, the Kernels have played to an all or nothing result. They have either swept or gotten swept by the opposition. This left the club with a 2-2 record in double-header action this season. How would they fare tonight? Would they be th
On last week's episode of Talk to Contact, Darren "Doogie" Wolfson spent some time with us discussing the possibility of a Brian Dozier contract extension. He mentioned that Dozier's agent has already approached the Twins about this possibility. By the end of the interview, he said he wouldn't be surprised if Dozier has a new contract in place by the end of spring training next year. From the perspective of the Twins front office, there might not be a reason to be in a rush with Dozier. He di
In Monday’s Twins game, Danny Santana made his rookie debut as a pinch runner in the late innings. He would collect his first MLB hit later in the game. Tonight he got to make his first big league start at shortstop and he batted ninth in the order. He went 0-for-3 but he showed off his strong arm while turning a tough double play. Byron Buxton has been trying to work out the kinks in his swing as he returned from an early season wrist injury. The first few games were rough as he went 0-for-7
Something clearly hadn't been right with Mike Pelfrey in his recent starts and the Twins finally did something about it on Saturday morning. Pelfrey was placed on the disabled list with a left groin strain. Sam Deduno will take Pelfrey's spot in the rotation after he has continued to pitch well out of the bullpen. Danny Santana is the man taking Pelfrey's spot on the active roster. The Twins plan to use him in a variety of roles especially since the club already has two other shortstops on the
Weather played an issue in Minneapolis, as the Twins couldn't get in the first game of their series with the Dodgers. The game will be made up as part of a split doubleheader on Thursday. Kyle Gibson was supposed to start on Sunday before a rainout and now he got pushed back to Wednesday. He should be well rested. Some of the other speculation for Thursday is about who the Twins could call-up to be their 26th man for the doubleheader. The Twins could be looking at starting pitcher to start one
Things were a struggle for Kyle Gibson on Tuesday night. The Rays pounced on him for seven runs and he was saddled with his first loss of this young season. David Price pitched nine strong innings and showed why he is one of the best pitchers in baseball. The good thing is that it appears as if Brian Dozier is going to continue to hit a lot of home runs this season. Chris Colabello also seemed comfortable at the plate as he collected his second home run. He also saw 20 pitches over his four at
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
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
Another regular season is upon us and that means that it is prediction time for a lot of writers across the inter-web. There will be surprise teams, surprise players, and even some other surprises along the way. The unknown and unpredictability of baseball is one of the most enduring qualities of "America's Past-time." Through out the coming week, I will be making my picks for the National League and the American League, taking a closer look at the AL Central, and selecting awards for the Twin
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
