http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--jvPqmEC0Vk/T07zkszcmtI/AAAAAAAABGw/2-kEtGFuqe0/s320/twins-yankees.jpg One of the downfalls of having an unbalanced schedule in MLB is that teams will end up facing a lot of competition from the other divisions in their league earlier in the year. For the Twins this means a healthy dose of the AL East and AL West to start the 2012 campaign. The AL East has three of the top teams in the entire American League and the AL West has put together two of the best rosters at t
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m96du2wPpag/T3PdczZud3I/AAAAAAAABJw/4_LJaqtc3E8/s320/AnthonySwarzak.jpg The Twins went into the start of this spring with a little different feel in regards to their starting rotation. Last season there was a battle between six or seven players to fill the five roles needed to complete the starting rotation at the beginning of the year. This year the Twins seemed set with five players penciled in to occupy the rotation when the team would break camp for the start of th
This off-season has been a lucrative one for back end of the bullpen pitchers. Former Twins closer Joe Nathan signed with the Detroit Tigers for 2-years and around $20 million. That's good money for a man closing in on age 40 that had Tommy John surgery not that long ago. The Braves also locked up their ninth inning man, Craig Kimbrel, to a 4-year, $42 million contact that will see him be one of the highest paid closers by the end of the deal. It's safe to say it's a decent time to be a closer.
Plenty of Twins players will have things to reflect on this coming offseason. When a team has multiple 90-loss seasons in a row, changes are likely and some of those situations started to play themselves out. Minnesota needs pitchers to stand out in the final games of the season as the team tries to figure out the future. Liam Hendriks is one player on shaky ground for 2014. The team rushed him to the big leagues as a 22-year old and struggles followed him since he got called up. Next season,
After some miserable baseball in Twins Territory, this week wasn't so bad for the hometown nine. It helps to play the lowly Brewers but it is still important to win games no matter who the opponent is. There were some close games but the club was able to steal a couple wins in Milwaukee before the two teams switched venues. The trip back to Target Field turned out to be just as good for the Twins. Minnesota won both games on their home turf. It was also nice to see the team pound out a bunch o
With Opening Day later in the week, it is time for my annual predictions for the 2012 baseball season. It is always fun to sort through all of the teams, players, and divisions to find out who will be the best of the best in the coming year. There are always going to be surprises along the way like the Diamondbacks were in 2011. The edition of the new wild card spots in each league will also add some spice to the race for the playoffs in the 2012 season. Over the course of the week, I will re
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
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wait for it... Are you ready, yet? Don't adjust your monitor but the Twins just swept a two game series in Detroit. That's not a typo either. Over the course of the two games, the Tigers were a little error prone with six mistakes and the Twins were able to capitalize for five unearned runs. It has been great to see Trevor Plouffe find some semblance of power with two home runs in recent games. Maybe his new bald head is doing him s
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Prince Fielder put on quite the show in the Home Run Derby last night after a slow start in the first round. His violent swing helped him to win his second career Derby title by beating out Jose Bautista in the final round. Over the years, the Derby has turned into quite the spectacle as it last for three hours or more. ESPN provides a ton of camera angles so fans can see some of the best power hitters in the game take their hacks at the
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Of0x5M4xZHM/T2fmcN1mD5I/AAAAAAAABIo/vItElcCwrD0/s320/628x471.jpg As I touched on with my post from yesterday, I spent part of the last week in Arizona taking in some Cactus League action. One of the highlights for me during this trip was being able to watch Tim Lincecum take the mound for the Giants. It is rare to get to see a true ace especially one from the National League since the Twins don't face the NL on a consistent basis. The Star Tribune did a good write-up
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
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v-gVcJXMUq8/T1giIhWkuAI/AAAAAAAABH4/9whIYbShsB4/s320/LirianoSpring.jpg When every team reports to spring training in Florida or Arizona, there is hope surrounding the beginning of a new season. Each team has a clean slate and only one team can call themselves champions from the previous year. Besides the St. Louis Cardinals, every other team left the field last year with an unfulfilled feeling inside and a bad taste in their mouth. Some of that taste has washed away in
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
Twins fans have been spoiled in the last two seasons. Ben Revere made base stealing look easy. Even Denard Span could swipe a base or two if the club needed it. Both of these men are in different uniforms to start the 2013 season. In fact, three of the top four base stealers from the 2012 Twins are no longer with the organization. Last year the Twins stole 135 bases, which ranked first in the American League. In 2011, the club finished in 10 place in the AL with 92 stolen bases. The team onl
It has been quite the 12-month span for Twins second baseman Brian Dozier. On August 14th of last season, the Twins had seen enough of him at shortstop with the big league club. They demoted him to Rochester after 340 plate appearances in his rookie campaign. Many thought he would be back as a September call-up but the call never came. Dozier was forced to live with a bad taste in his mouth for the entire offseason. Brian Dozier entered the 2013 season not knowing if he would have a starting
With Opening Day later in the week, it is time for my annual predictions for the 2012 baseball season. It is always fun to sort through all of the teams, players, and divisions to find out who will be the best of the best in the coming year. There are always going to be surprises along the way like the Diamondbacks were in 2011. The addition of the new wild card spots in each league will also add some spice to the race for the playoffs in the 2012 season. Over the course of the week, I will r
Something isn't right with Scott Diamond. The man who was supposed to be a calming force in the Twins starting rotation has become a punching bag for opponents. He hasn't won a game since June 20th and he gave up four runs in a little over five innings in that start. A sophomore slump has hit Diamond hard and it's tough to know what the Twins can do about it. Since June 9th, Diamond has struggled mightily on mound. In his eight starts during that stretch, he has failed to make it into the fi
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_bWFQY5qQ0M/T5VC1GRcBMI/AAAAAAAABM4/o-C_AlqMuUs/s320/LirianoHiding.jpg At the end of spring training, it seemed that Francisco Liriano was posed to have a strong start to the year. After pitching in the Dominican Winter League, Liriano had seemed to have it all together in spring training and he was ready to help the Twins forget about the headaches involved with the 2011 season. But here is a prime example of
Earlier this week, the Sporting News released their list of the most iconic moment for each MLB team. Some teams are tied to some of the best moments in the history of the sport while other teams top moments aren't too memorable outside of their home market. That's the nature of these kinds of lists. For Twins fans, it is pretty easy to put Kirby Puckett's walk-off home run in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series at the top of the list. The '91 World Series might be the best Fall Classic of all time
ESPN's Sweetspot blog posted an interesting entry earlier today looking at the top teams in relation to their "core five" players. They took the top five men from each roster and compiled their Baseball Reference WAR totals to come up with a top ten list. Obviously the better players you have, the more likely you are to be a very good team. Out of their top ten list, eight of the teams qualified for the postseason last year. There's no surprise that Minnesota didn't crack the top ten list. Howev
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
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
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
