http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-spxEoWvSljE/T1dnwKsK0qI/AAAAAAAAAMA/Si870g9dhMM/s320/Jersey.bmp[Originally posted at Twins Fan From Afar] I've written before, as have others, that Joe Mauer isn't only valuable to the Twins for his contributions as the star catcher and third batter in the lineup. Make no mistake, that's how he earns his paycheck, but it's also evident that, over the last few years, he has become his own brand. Even where I live, far removed from Twins Territory, I have noticed more T
[TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4CgSEMDxhD0/T5fsk39GnxI/AAAAAAAAASw/ftjl8qrHDD0/s320/Herrmann.jpg [TD=class: tr-caption]Chris Herrmann celebrates his first inning home run. Mauer's 2013 backup??? [/TD] [/TABLE] [Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] Unlike their parent club, the New Britain Rock Cats put up a fight after the odds were stacked against them Tuesday night and, thanks to a 5-run 7th inning, came back to defeat the Portland Sea Dogs
[TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dS2x4TU9e8k/UL-4HDSaK7I/AAAAAAAAAgc/JQ6KoS-k0Gg/s320/Wimmers.bmp [TD=class: tr-caption]Alex Wimmers: Let's Not Forget About Him [/TD] [/TABLE] [Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] It's no secret now that the Twins are essentially punting in 2013. It's disappointing. I felt it coming months ago (as did many of you). Make no mistake -- I'm not fine with it by any means. But I more or less accept it (or I'm just men
[Originally posted at Twins Fan From Afar] Most of us remember Kent Hrbek for his lumbering physique, affable nature, power swing, underrated defense and, of course, his roles on the 1987 and 1991 World Series teams. Do you remember how his career came to an end? I bet some of you do, but others might have been too young (gasp!) to recall. Hrbek was 34 years old for most of the 1994 baseball season. Though he had been healthy and productive most of his career, injuries and age (code for "weigh
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aMemKtf968U/T9f-NpEqI0I/AAAAAAAAAZ0/po5xFNvjzMY/s400/Baseball+025.JPG [Originally published with more pictures at Twins Fan From Afar] For the second consecutive year, my wife and I made the flight to Minnesota for Justin Morneau's Casino Night. It's a charity event for the Arthritis Foundation -- specifically, juvenile arthritis (Justin's niece suffers from juvenile arthritis). It's part of the Twins week of hope. Instead of hitting up a couple games at Target Field
[Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] All the reports have been great. He woke up early for the first day of training camp, lost a little weight, has participated in all drills, and stands ready, today, to play in back-to-back games. From the little that I have watched, he appears healthy (if a little thin) and alert, and his swing looks as good as it did at any point last year (maybe that's not saying a lot, but you have to take the positives where they come). In short, if you didn't
[Originally posted at Twins Fan From Afar] The Twins are in a sort of interesting position when it comes to Joel Zumaya. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the firethrowing righty didn't make it past one of his first batting practice sessions last week, and now needs decide whether, at age 27, to retire and become a professional fisherman (apparently he is enough of a realist to understand that becoming a professional on Guitar Hero was not going to happen), or to opt for Tommy John surgery and attempt
[Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] One of the more common Joe Mauer complaints in Twins Territory is that he grounds out to second base, and does it a lot. This phenomenon was on display last night in Anaheim, when Mauer was retired on a 4-3 putout in each of his three at-bats. And if you go back to his last plate appearance on April 29, before his day off against lefty C.J. Wilson, Mauer grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. That marks 4 straight at-bats in which Mauer has been retire
[TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OyIHjCc0xCc/T5afN6GtHqI/AAAAAAAAASo/1nQgtg4aAOM/s320/Mauer+Baltimore.bmp [TD=class: tr-caption]Though he had 2 hits last night, Joe Mauer came up short when it counted the most. [/TD] [/TABLE] [Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] Regardless of what some people in Twins Territory might think, the fact of the matter is that Joe Mauer has been very solid in his career when there are runners in scoring position. You migh
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mjq1LN6XLSo/T35ZvfUlEVI/AAAAAAAAAOg/Q9_T15HS2S4/s320/download.jpg [Originally published with pictures at Twins Fan From Afar] Opening Day is special for fans and players alike -- especially for players in the minor leagues who are working their way up the system and hoping to latch on with a new, better team each season. After spending some time with Alex Wimmers and the other Rock Cats players the other night, I have a newfound respect for what these guys are going
[TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LNxZoVqMnpg/T8uwq_-e_SI/AAAAAAAAAYM/dlqtJMBfYWk/s400/Herrmann.jpg [TD=class: tr-caption]Chris Herrmann (courtesy of Tia Ann Chapman, Hartford Courant) [/TD] [/TABLE] [Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] The Minnesota Twins used their sixth round selection in 2009 to draft Chris Herrmann, a native of Tomball, Texas. Herrmann transferred from Alvin Community College to the University of Miami. He had been drafted i
[TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ddVITCaiEjc/T466RJonczI/AAAAAAAAASA/pSTxFCSX_mU/s1600/Bake.bmp [TD=class: tr-caption]With no Scott Baker in the fold, and with an ineffective Francisco Liriano, the future of the Twins' rotation is dubious, at best [/TD] [/TABLE] [Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] You all know the story by now: Last night was not a good night to be a Twins fan. A completely ineffective Francisco Liriano ruined what could have been
[Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] [TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P5vo20JSwUE/T4gjOXN7EYI/AAAAAAAAARQ/tVKHsUbz_PE/s320/Gibson.bmp [TD=class: tr-caption]Twins fans are wondering when, and if, Kyle Gibson will become part of the Twins' rotation [/TD] [/TABLE] This season, the Twins are shelling out $28.25 million on their intended starting pitching staff. Here's the breakdown: Scott Baker (will not pitch an inning this season): $6.5 million
[Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] I've been thinking about this question lately. Baseball farm teams are, by nature, really interesting. General managers don't set the rosters, or even acquire the players. And I bet if the Rock Cats GM gets a call from Terry Ryan suggesting that he play the back-up shortstop because "something may be in the works," the back-up shortstop will get a lot of playing time, regardless of what that does to New Britain's chances. In the minor leagues, the
Last week, I was in the right place at the right time: the AA debuts of top Twins' prospect Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario. One big takeaway from Sano's and Rosario's first couple AA games was that their reputations preceded them; in other words, pitchers knew who these guys were. Take a look at the (grainy amateur) video I shot of some early at-bats -- the pitches weren't even close. As a result, Sano and Rosario, but Sano especially, seemed to only get maybe 1 pitch per at-bat in his wheelhouse
What a strange season. I didn't think the Twins would be playing decent baseball as the calendar switched to July. I didn't think that Byron Buxton would be up, after his essentially lost 2014 season. I didn't think Trevor May would be (as of late) the team's most dominant starting pitcher. And I sure didn't think this proverbial ragtag bunch of misfits would -- if the season ended today -- be a wild card playoff team. I thought 2015 would be the season where players like Oswaldo Arcia, Aa
My article last week suggesting that the Twins trade Glen Perkins (for the right offer) is one of the most read things I've written. Although there were only a handful of comments at Twins Fan From Afar, over here at TwinsDaily there are nearly 200 comments (most of them well thought out). MLBTradeRumors also linked to the article, and it ran in the Star Tribune. In other words, more than the usual 5 found this article. I don't have anything to compare with for this week, so I'm going to beat
[Originally posted at Twins Fan From Afar] I try to be a (mostly) practical Twins fan. I knew the Twins would never go after Albert Pujols. Last year, I wrote that I thought that Jose Reyes would be a good fit at shortstop, but realistically knew that the pieces would never fall into place for him to come to Minnesota. And, now I'm optimistic about Brian Dozier. Sure, I guess it's fun to dream (and even write) about those big free agent signings every now and then, but that doesn't seem, for a
If you follow me on Twitter, you probably know that something clicked -- something changed -- last night. The most thorough and comprehensive Twins beat writer, Mike Berardino, tweeted a series of quotes from Twins' manager Ron Gardenhire on player injuries. And it set me off. In fact, it might be fair to say that I freaked out. I tweeted a bunch of things, but decided to wait a full 24 hours to write comprehensively on this. In that interim period, Mike published Gardy's full quotes. That's go
[Originally posted at Twins Fan From Afar] The Twins' offense hasn't really showed up this far in Spring Training, but yesterday, Francisco Liriano had a great 3-inning start against Tampa Bay, striking out five and, most importantly, walking none. Additionally, the three innings took only 34 pitches to get through. Sure, many in Tampa Bay's lineup weren't major league hitters, but it's still encouraging and hopefully is a sign of things to come. The big Twins news yesterday, of course, w
[Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] **Full disclosure: this post is full of hypotheticals, and is not grounded in reality** [TABLE=class: tr-caption-container, align: center] [TD=class: tr-caption]Twins fans, can you picture Bryce Harper wearing the TC logo? [/TD] [/TABLE] The 2010 season produced some great memories for Twins fans. Jim Thome proved that you could be old (in baseball terms) and still
. Joe Mauer had a solid season. Justin Morneau played the first half
[Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] He wasn't a household name last year at this time, even among many followers of the Twins' minor league system, but much has changed in the past 12 months. Depending on whom you speak to in the front office, there seem to be differing interpretations on Dozier's role in the Twins' organization this season. Make no mistake -- everyone is speaking of him highly right now. Terry Ryan, for instance, recently mentioned that he would not hesitate to call
[Originally posted at Twins Fan From Afar] Much has been made over the past year or so of the physical injuries suffered by the Twins, especially injuries to Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Denard Span and, to a lesser extent Francisco Liriano. All of these players had a tough time staying in the lineup last season, and we are hoping for better health this year. But that might only be half the battle. In yesterday's Spring Training game, for example, Liriano was perfect for two innings (strikin
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
