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About this blog

On-site Twins coverage from Brandon Warne, Zone Coverage Twins beat reporter

Entries in this blog

WARNE: Power Ranking the Twins 25-Man Roster — 2.o

One exercise that is fun, and in the interest of full disclosure gets a lot of people reading and talking, is ranking things in order as a “power ranking.” No seriously, if you call something a “power ranking” you’re guaranteed to see traffic go through the roof. I’m thinking of calling my podcast “power ranking.”   OK, I’m kidding.   But it’s a fun exercise to apply to a team’s 25-man roster. My general theory — and this can be altered if viewers think there is a better way — is to base a playe
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

6

WARNE: Power Ranking the Fits for the Twins in Free Agency

The hot stove has remained tepid to this point, and while that has been cause for a bit of antsiness among fans and people who care about this news, it also allows us to do what teams are doing with these players — dig in a bit deeper.   So today, we’re taking a look at the power rankings of the players who offer the best fits for the Twins as free agents this offseason with all avenues considered.   1. Shohei Ohtani – RHP/LHH – Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters   Because of the cost-to-potential rat
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

2

WARNE: Possible September Call-Ups for the Minnesota Twins

On Sept. 1 in MLB, rosters expand. For the entire month, teams can bring up and use any player on the 40-man roster. The usage of this is varied, as some teams will empty out their minors and stock their clubhouse and dugout. Others will simply bring up some pinch-runner types and an extra bullpen arm or two.   It all depends on the team’s goals for the season and the construction of their rosters -- both 25- and 40-man. Some teams have more MLB-ready players on their 40’s than others, while oth
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

10

WARNE: Pitchers Hesitant to Challenge Patient Sano

t’s hard to envision Miguel Sano rewarding the Twins any more than he has through 18 big league games. The 22 year old has hit .283/.405/.517 in 74 plate appearances, and eight of his 17 hits have gone for extra bases. Strikeouts were always going to be an issue in the short term, and that’s been no exception as he’s fanned in 35.1 percent of his plate appearances so far.   For some context, his 162-game paces according to BaseballReference.com are 27 home runs, 99 RBIs and 234 strikeouts. And c
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

1

WARNE: Pelfrey Showing Glimpses After Long Road Back From Tommy John

Frustration is a word that has followed Twins right-hander Mike Pelfrey around for a while. Whether it was how he pitched on his road back from Tommy John surgery, to the surgery itself or even just the puzzling year he had last year where he gave the team virtually nothing in terms of production, the word frustration has been on the front burner as it pertains to Pelfrey.   But don’t think for a second that the pitcher himself isn’t frustrated, too.   “That’s all I’ve ever really known is to go
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

2

WARNE: My 2017 AL and NL All-Star Teams

The balloting for MLB All-Star teams ends this Thursday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern, and fans can vote up to five times every 24 hours — up to a total of 35 ballots.   The results will be announced on a television special on ESPN at 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 2, and the game will be played at Marlins Park on July 11.   So, who do we think should be on the rosters for each side? We’ve cut through all the red tape for the final balloting and just made sure we had each team represented by at least one player
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

4

WARNE: Life as a Father in Today's MLB

This is part of a story that appears in full on Zone Coverage here. Please click through to read it in full, and consider subscribing!   It’s Father’s Day, and with the Minnesota Twins on the road wrapping up a three-game series against the Cleveland Indians, it can be easy to forget that these guys spent 100-plus days per year away from their families.   Think about it; they’re guaranteed 81 days on the road just by virtue of away games, and then factor in six weeks of spring training and well
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

0

WARNE: Keeping Track of All the Moving Pieces in the Twins Offseason

The Minnesota Twins made a flurry of moves over the past few days that have left fans and media types buzzing with anticipation not only for the 2016 season, but also the rest of this offseason. It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, and the Twins have already made or have the wheels in motion on three moves that had direct 40-man and even 25-man roster implications.   The trade to move Chris Herrmann to the Diamondbacks was mostly borne out of a necessity to clear roster space. Even with catcher Eric
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

1

WARNE: Joe Mauer’s Going Oppo … Again

There isn’t a more polarizing figure on the Minneapolis sports landscape than Joe Mauer. It’s not hard to see, either. For instance, have a look at social media when Mauer gets a day off — any day off — and how the average fan reacts to it. Never mind the fact that Mauer came into Wednesday tied with Brian Dozier for the most games played on the team.   One certainly can’t fault the average fan for suggesting Mauer hasn’t played particularly well this season, however. Mauer’s hitting just .263/.
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

1

WARNE: Injury Updates; Arcia’s Benching; Mauer Trivia

This post originally appeared at 105 The Ticket's Cold Omaha:   Prior to Monday night’s game — the opening of an 11-game homestand that ranks as the longest of the season — Twins assistant general manager Rob Antony provided injury updates on the pair of pitchers currently residing on the club’s disabled list, as well as an update on Trevor May:   Reliever Brian Duensing (strained right intercostal) threw a 30-pitch bullpen session, and it is expected that he’ll throw live to hitters before Thu
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

0

WARNE: In an Offseason Game of Poker, Falvey and Levine Make out Like Bandits

Impatience is a natural tendency. That’s especially true for fans of a team that, despite making the postseason last year, had obvious flaws.   So in a sense, it was understandable when Minnesota Twins fans were annoyed that the team came home from the winter meetings just before Christmas with a 40-year-old closer and a broken down starter who gives up too many homers.   Little did they know what would lie ahead for the winter. In fact, it was another month before the Twins did anything substan
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

1

WARNE: How Can the Twins Find Their Brewers-like Path to October?

This is an excerpt of an article that appears at Zone Coverage, click here to read it in full!   By the looks of it, it was going to be a battle reminiscent of David and Goliath. Well, that is, the way Vegas might have seen that battle before it happened.   In one corner was the team everyone expected to be there. The Los Angeles Dodgers opened the year with a payroll of a touch over $187 million, and that was on the heels of spending $200-plus million in each of the previous five seasons.   In
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

2

WARNE: How Can the Minnesota Twins Address their Relief Woes?

This is an excerpt from an article which originates at Zone Coverage. Click here to read it in full.   It’s not hard to find people with the opinion that the Minnesota Twins need to make a move to address their bullpen.   Those people aren’t exactly wrong, either.   As of this writing, the Twins are ninth in the AL with a bullpen ERA of 4.73. They’re also ninth in WHIP (1.39) and 11th in strikeouts per nine innings (8.3).   Each of those numbers, on their surface, are not terribly exciting. But
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

5

WARNE: Four Trades the Minnesota Twins Should Consider Making

We’re now past the All-Star Game and headed full steam toward the trade deadline on July 31. For the Minnesota Twins, a lot of things can happen between now and then, with games against Houston, the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers coming up which may help tip the scales one way or the other toward whether the team will buy, sell or do something in the middle.   Part of the fun of this time of year is reading columns from Jon Heyman or Jim Bowden about which trades make sense. So I’v
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

11

WARNE: Forming a Way Too Early Twins Offseason Blueprint

The Minnesota Twins are certainly still in the thick of things in the Wild Card race, but it’s never too early to look to the offseason to get a feel for what the team might do to improve. In fact, there could be a lot of moves as the team looks to reframe itself in the images of Derek Falvey and Thad Levine, as we’ve already seen a personnel purge in the scouting and analytics departments with more to come.     That could even include at the top, with manager Paul Molitor working on the la
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

24

WARNE: Could the Twins be Replacing Mike Pelfrey?

Prodded by a caller on his weekly radio show, Minnesota Twins manager Paul Molitor admitted the club was exploring their options with regards to the rotation spot of right-hander Mike Pelfrey. A number of factors make the situation difficult, including the shutdown of Jose Berrios, the presence of Tyler Duffey, and the current situations surrounding Phil Hughes and Trevor May.   To be clear, the presence of Duffey is simply just that he’s already promoted, and thus not a candidate to take Pelfre
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

2

WARNE: August Waiver Trade Candidates for the Minnesota Twins

We’ve established the rules for post-July 31 trades. Now we should take a look at who the Twins might target, right?   It’s pretty easy to isolate three areas where the Twins can use some help: Starting pitching Relief pitching Batters who can hit left-handed pitching   The pitching woes are hard to miss. Only the Rangers (6.4) have gotten fewer strikeouts per nine innings from starting pitchers than the Twins (6.9), and just four teams have posted higher ERA from their rotations than the T
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

4

WARNE: August Trades and You -- A Primer

The July 31 non-waiver trade deadline is pretty straightforward -- you’re either traded, or you aren’t. It’s after that where it gets a bit....complicated. In fact, players can technically be traded up until the end of the regular season, but they must be in an organization and on the 40-man roster on Aug. 31 to be eligible for postseason play.   In short, that’s why you might see some trades that happen between Aug. 1 and the end of the month.   The Twins have been no stranger to these types of
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

4

WARNE: Are the Twins Buyers or Sellers?

The hottest talk on Twins fans’ lips after the promotions of Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano has been whether or not this is a team that should buy or sell at the trade deadline that looms in a mere three and a half weeks. It’s a legitimate question with no easy answer, as the Twins have hung around in a heavily competitive division. And if you buy into the idea that the Tigers could fall back a bit with the loss of Miguel Cabrera, and that the White Sox and Indians have yet to play their best ball
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

6

WARNE: All Twins “Fingerprints” Team

Please click through to Zone Coverage here to read this article in full.   A lot of fans lament about how players get better after they leave the Twins, and sometimes it’s fun to draw up a 25-man roster of former players to see just how true that is.   We’ve changed that up a little bit with this exercise, however. Here, we’re looking for players who have Twins fingerprints on them. Did a player get picked in the Rule 5 draft and get sent back? They would count. Did the Twins draft them but not
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

6

WARNE: Aaron Hicks’ New Swing Paying Dividends

This content originally appeared at Cold Omaha here, please consider clicking through as a measure of support.   After making the team out of spring training two years straight, Aaron Hicks was sent back to Triple-A Rochester as lesser options made the team ahead of him. The message to Hicks was clear: Force your way back up here.   Well, message received. Hicks obliterated the International League to the tune of a .336/.415/.561 batting line over 27 games, essentially forcing the hands of the T
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

0

WARNE: A Eulogy for the 2015 Minnesota Twins

Surprises are great. They crop up when you least expect them and can frequently be a harbinger of the days to come.   And if the 2015 season is any indicator, things are about to be a lot more fun in Twins Territory.   This season was dotted with debuts of players that fans have been awaiting for years. First Eddie Rosario, then Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton, even Tyler Duffey and finally Max Kepler. Even without the highly-anticipated debut of Jose Berrios — no doubt not far down the road — the Twi
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

0

WARNE: 2017 Twins Offseason Blueprint

This is an excerpt from a Zone Coverage article which appears in full here. Please click the link.   The Minnesota Twins exhibited significant growth in 2017, winning 85 games just one season after crumbling to the depths of 103-loss despair. A lot of it was done with in-house guys, as the only significant additions were a decent reliever (Matt Belisle) and a good catcher (Jason Castro).   The rest of the bump came from within. But if we saw anything in October, it was that, while the Twins were
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

3

WARNE: Twins Should Mimic the Astros -- Sort Of

This is an excerpt from a post at Zone Coverage. It appears in full here.   It’s not terribly controversial to suggest that the Houston Astros just climbed the summit to reach heights that fans hope are possible in the near future for the Minnesota Twins.   Like, winning the World Series is the ultimate goal, and seeing a team that was -- at least for a stretch -- going through their rebuild concurrently with the Twins should give fans at least a semblance of hope for the future.   But what it s
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

1

Warne Out (5/26): Power Ranking the Current 25-Man Roster of the Minnesota Twins

This article appears in full on Zone Coverage here. Please click through to read it.   Power ranking things can be a fun exercise.   It can be exhausting.   But few things get people talking as much as seeing their favorite things — be it baseball teams, foods or pop culture phenomena — ranked in an orderly list.   We’ve done this in this space before, but here’s how we’d power rank the current 25-man roster of the Minnesota Twins. Like most power rankings, a special formula is used with room fo
Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne

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