Over the weekend, word came out that the Twins would sign Mike Pelfrey to a two-year $11 million deal. This is the third free agent starter the Twins have added this season as the team already agreed to terms with Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes. With Kevin Corriea under contract for another year, Minnesota's starting rotation is filling up rather quickly but there are still some questions to about the final rotation spot. The Twins had one of the worst starting rotations in all of baseball last
After an injury plagued 2011 season, the Twins had to take an alternative approach with Joe Mauer and his time on the defensive side of the ball. He started 72 games at catcher, 42 games at DH, and 30 games at first base. It was the first time in Mauer's career when he started played over 100 games and didn't play at least 90 games behind the plate. In spring training, Mauer made it be known that he wanted to play more time at catcher. Ron Gardenhire and the Twins front office have allowed Ma
Since the Twins were playing on the West Coast, their afternoon game with the Angels went into the early evening in the Central time zone. Minnesota won the first two games of the series before things got a little dicey on Wednesday. Jared Weaver looked excellent on the mound but a bad infield fly call might have cost the Twins a chance to sweep the Angels. With Joe Mauer on paternity leave for three days, Drew Butera was called up from Rochester. He has spent the entire season at Rochester wh
With the Twins up and down start to the year, it is hard to know if the team will be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline. Most likely the team will be selling. There will be plenty of talk about Justin Morneau being dealt in the coming months since his contract is up at the end of the year. Another important name to watch out for in the hot stove reports is Josh Willingham. Willingham is coming off his best season and there might be more than one team looking to add a powerful corner bat f
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KZX8EGdYn68/T3EvATxuTVI/AAAAAAAABJg/5My-BrqTyAk/s320/Matt+Capps.jpg Original Post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Twins saw their long-time closer Joe Nathan leave the team in free agency this offseason. With his departure to the Texas Rangers, the organization turned to a familiar face to fill the closer role by signing Matt Capps. Before undergoing Tommy John surgery, Nathan had been one of the best closers in the game and he got a lot of guaranteed m
One year ago today, the Twins lost one of the most important people in the history of the franchise. It is hard to believe that one year has already come and gone. I put together the following poem to honor Harmon Killebrew and his lasting legacy. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bACqUvmqVSU/T7VNM36wvrI/AAAAAAAABSQ/LylJsplGlTk/s320/Harmon_Killebrew_AP6303011347_620x350.jpgIt's been one year since you have come and gone, But your impact is still felt like the morning dawn. Even though your migh
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k1esuYStD6M/T4t0WuGppoI/AAAAAAAABMA/1gDrtrSY07k/s400/GoldenAgeofCatchers.jpg There has been an influx of contract extensions for catchers in recent weeks with Carlos Santana of the Indians being the latest to sign on the dotted line. Some think the Indians might have locked up baseball's top catcher but that title can be debated with players from both leagues coming out on top. The Twins already have Joe Mauer
Welcome to July! Minnesota's offense busted out the fireworks a couple days early with a big performance against the Royals. The biggest news of the night might have been Joe Mauer being pulled from the game with what is being called an oblique strain. Mauer told reporters after the game that he has been dealing with a sore oblique for about a week and it doesn't feel good. This is bad news especially since Mauer's bat had seemed to be warming up in recent weeks. The Twins offense wasn't th
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan Baseball is back!!! It was great to get home from work early on Thursday to a ton of action already underway across the baseball universe. I flipped through multiple games because my cable company was nice enough to give me a free preview of MLB Extra Innings. It is very tempting to want to purchase the package for the entire year but I might have to settle for the free pass for the first few days of the season. I checked in on the Nationals with
The Rangers sure like to get within one out of accomplishing something big. A couple of years ago, Texas was an out away in more than one game from the club's first World Series title. On Tuesday night, Yu Darvish did his best to fit in with the Rangers by getting within one out of a perfect game. He too would fall short of making history. Since the Twins moved to Minnesota in 1961, there have five times when a Twins pitcher has taken a no-hitter into the ninth inning. Many fans might remember
With Justin Morneau's exit from the club in the last week, the Twins are searching for someone to take over his leadership role in the clubhouse. This seems to be a reoccurring theme for the Twins in recent years as the club shifts away from veteran leadership to a more youthful roster. A couple of years ago Michael Cuddyer and Joe Nathan were considered among the team's strong voices and both players left in free agency. Morneau filled the void left by Cuddyer and it seemed like a smooth tran
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 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. There seems to be one logical place to start with the roster and that's with the club's 23-million do
If not for injuries to top prospects Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton, it's likely that both players would be heading to their second straight Futures Game. With both players on the shelf, the Twins will have the opportunity to showcase some of their other top talent on Sunday of All-Star week. The rosters were announced for the MLB Future's Game on Tuesday and the Twins will be represented by first baseman Kennys Vargas and right-handed pitcher Jose Berrios. Vargas is near the top of the Twins mi
"My big fish must be somewhere."--- Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea Marlin fishing can be an adventure. These beasts of the ocean can weight upwards of 1,000 pounds and it can take quite the fight to get them into a boat. Fishing for these animals can take a lot of time and patience. It also takes the right tools and skills to reel in one of these giant fish. Over the weekend, a story came out in the Boston Globe that discussed the possibility of the Twins making a play for Gian
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
The 2014 All-Star Game was finally given to the Twin Cities this week but there were plenty of other happenings for Twins Territory. Joe Mauer was placed on waivers and the national media freaked out over what turned out to be a none story. After sitting for over a week and then playing in a handful of games, Denard Span was finally put on the DL even though rosters expand this weekend. Chris Parmelee destroyed Triple-A pitching for most of the year and he finally got called up. Now he has to sh
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
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FpKkyGDAhMo/T1TtwjjjYPI/AAAAAAAABHQ/jVPsfEuFQMg/s320/SkinnyMorneau.JPG When I opened to the front page of the Sunday sports section in the Star Tribune, there was one photo that stood out to me. Justin Morneau was shown taking a swing on a pitch (see photo above) and his size is noticeably different from previous years. This was only one photo from a spring training game but there have been other photos that have trickled out of Fort Myers that show more of the same; M
It could be easy for Twins uber prospect Byron Buxton to approach this offseason with a big head. He is coming off of one of the best minor league seasons in Twins history. Baseball America recently honored him with their top award as the best minor league player for 2013. Buxton is being compared to super-star players like Mike Trout and that can make it tough to motivate yourself. When a player is considered head and shoulders above his peers, an attitude of complacency can emerge. Buxton de
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
The Twins continue to play out the rest of the 2013 season without their $23 million man, Joe Mauer. There is plenty of concern surrounding Mauer's concussion related injury. As Twins fans are well aware from recent incidents with Denard Span and Justin Morneau, head injuries can be tough to solve. This leaves Minnesota with an interesting situation behind the plate as the team looks to the future. No one knows when Mauer will be back on the field and if he will ever be able to suit up behind
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
