Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- As always you can find all the entries in this series in reverse chronological order here. Here are my notes from the last couple days of Twins' Spring Training games: The home games yesterday and today could not be any dissimilar other than the attendance. It sucked both days with about 1/3 of the ballpark empty and about 6,000some tickets sold only. The abbreviated Spring Training and the pushing up of the opening day really made fa
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- As always you can find all the entries in this series in reverse chronological order here. Today was my first full day at Fort Myers and I did not make the trip across the highway to see the Twins play the Red Sox, but instead I went to the back fields where the Twins' high A and A squads faced the equivalent Rays' teams. Here are my notes from the day: Zack Littell started the high A game for the Twins and pitched for an inning. B
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --------- 12/13/1988: The MLB transactions for the Minnesota Twins had one line: The Twins signed free agent catcher Brian Harper to an one year contract worth $90,000. The Twins were the sixth franchise for Harper who was drafted by the California Angels in the 4th round of the 1977 MLB June Amateur Draft, traded to the Pirates and then the Cardinals who released him on April Fool's 1986, and then signed and released by the Tigers and A's i
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ------- Now that the 2018 draft signing deadline has passed and a substantial amount of international free agents signed for the Twins, it is time to update my 2018 mid-season prospect list. As usual my mid-season lists are preliminary, unlike the off-season lists, and they have minimal commentary and analysis. Also, unlike other lists, players who made it to the majors have graduated from mine, also players older than 25 are not included.
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- In a cold May evening about 5 years go, give or take a week, I witnessed one of the most dominating pitching performances I have seen in person: Twins' first round draft pick in 2009, righty Kyle Gibson, about a year removed from his return from Tommy John surgery, shut down the Lehigh Valley IronPigs with a three-hitter, carrying a no-hitter into the eighth inning. This was when the Twins were on their way to another season flirting with
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- This is my last Spring Training Notes piece for this season. As with the previous seasons I finish my Spring Training notes with a prediction of how the Twins will do this season based on what I have seen this Spring. I think that 2018 will be an interesting season for the Twins. They improved a lot in the off-season addressing some of their glaring weaknesses, namely starting and relief pitching. On the other hand, there are some situations
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This is the last segment in the 2018 Twins top 60 prospect list. You can find the introductory segment that discusses qualifications to be on this list and presents the players who were on the 2017 list but are not in this list here. You can find the list of the previous rankings here: 56-60, 55-51, 46-50 , 41-45, 36-40, 31-35, 26-30, 21-25, 16-20, 11-15, 6-10, and 1-5. You can find all segments in this series here. Here is the list of the
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- This is the next segment in the 2018 Twins top 60 prospect list. You can find the introductory segment that discusses qualifications to be on this list and presents the players who were on the 2017 list but are not in this list here. You can find the list of the previous rankings here: 56-60, 55-51, 46-50 , 41-45, 36-40, 31-35, 26-30, 21-25, 16-20, 11-15, 6-10. You can find all segments in this series here. Here are players 6-10 in reverse o
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This is the next segment in the 2018 Twins top 60 prospect list. You can find the introductory segment that discusses qualifications to be on this list and presents the players who were on the 2017 list but are not in this list here. You can find the list of the previous rankings here: 56-60, 55-51, 46-50 , 41-45, 36-40, 31-35, 26-30, 21-25, 16-20, 11-15. You can find all segments in this series here. Here are players 6-10 in reverse orde
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This is the next segment in the 2018 Twins top 60 prospect list. You can find the introductory segment that discusses qualifications to be on this list and presents the players who were on the 2017 list but are not in this list here. You can find the list of the previous rankings here: 56-60, 55-51, 46-50 , 41-45, 36-40, 31-35, 26-30, 21-25, 16-20. You can find all segments in this series here. Here are players 11-15 in reverse order with
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- This is the next segment in the 2018 Twins top 60 prospect list. You can find the introductory segment that discusses qualifications to be on this list and presents the players who were on the 2017 list but are not in this list here. You can find the list of the previous rankings here: 56-60, 55-51, 46-50 , 41-45, 36-40, 31-35, 26-30, 21-25. You can find all segments in this series here. Here are players 16-20 in reverse order with their 2017
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- This is the next segment in the 2018 Twins top 60 prospect list. You can find the introductory segment that discusses qualifications to be on this list and presents the players who were on the 2017 list but are not in this list here. You can find the list of the previous rankings here: 56-60, 55-51, 46-50 , 41-45, 36-40, 31-35, 26-30. You can find all segments in this series here. Here are players 21-25 in reverse order with their 2017 ran
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This is the next segment in the 2018 Twins top 60 prospect list. You can find the introductory segment that discusses qualifications to be on this list and presents the players who were on the 2017 list but are not in this list here. You can find the list of the previous rankings here: 56-60, 55-51, 46-50 , 41-45, 36-40, 31-35. You can find all segments in this series here. Here are players 26-30 in reverse order with their 2017 ranking in pa
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This is the next segment in the 2018 Twins top 60 prospect list. You can find the introductory segment that discusses qualifications to be on this list and presents the players who were on the 2017 list but are not in this list here. You can find the list of the previous rankings here: 56-60, 55-51, 46-50 , 41-45, 36-40. You can find all segments in this series here. Here are players 31-35 in reverse order with their 2017 ranking in p
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch -------- This is the next segment in the 2018 Twins top 60 prospect list. You can find the introductory segment that discusses qualifications to be on this list and presents the players who were on the 2017 list but are not in this list here. You can find the list of the previous rankings here: 56-60, 55-51, 46-50 , 41-45. You can find all segments in this series here. Here are players 36-40 in reverse order with their 2017 ranking in pare
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ------ This is the next segment in the 2018 Twins top 60 prospect list. You can find the introductory segment that discusses qualifications to be on this list and presents the players who were on the 2017 list but are not in this list here. You can find the list of the previous rankings here: 56-60, 55-51, 46-50. You can find all segments in this series here. Here are players 41-45 in reverse order with their 2017 ranking in parenthesis. P
Originally Published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- This is the next segment in the 2018 Twins top 60 prospect list. You can find the introductory segment that discusses qualifications to be on this list and presents the players who were on the 2017 list but are not in this list here. You can find the list of the previous rankings here: 56-60, 55-51. You can find all segments in this series here. Here are players 51-55 in reverse order with their 2017 ranking in parenthesis. Players n
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- This is the third segment in the 2018 Twins top 60 prospect list. You can find the introductory segment that discusses qualifications to be on this list and presents the players who were on the 2017 list but are not in this list here. You can find the list of the previous rankings here: 56-60. You can find all segments in this series here. Here are players 51-55 in reverse order with their 2017 ranking in parenthesis. Players no in the
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This is the second segment in the 2018 Twins top 60 prospect list. You can find the introductory segment that discusses qualifications to be on this list and presents the players who were on the 2017 list but are not in this list here. You can find all segments in this series here. Here are players 56-60 in reverse order with their 2017 ranking in parenthesis. Players no in the 2017 top 60 list are indicated by (--) 60 Jesus Toledo (-
Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- I usually start and post my top 60 Twins' prospect list a bit earlier that this (last year the first post was January 10th) because I want to pay full attention to Spring Training when that starts, and it starts soon. However, I waited longer this season because I expected the Twins to make moves that may affect this list. They really did not. If such a move occurs, and a newcomer is ranked 35th, I will keep the original list intact, rank the
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- With the recent slew of raw data we have about hitters, based on Statcast, new metrics based on that raw data have been developed to predict hitter performance, based on objective measurements, such as bat exit speed and launch angle. One of these metrics is the expected weighted on base average, or xwOBA. It is meant to compare directly to wOBA, in a manner similar to that of xFIP to FIP comparison's for pitchers. And in the same manner i
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----------- My premise this off-season is for the Twins to be competitive deep in the 2018 post-season, they need 2 starters better than Berrios, and at least 3 relievers better than what they have now. A few days ago, I discussed three free agents who can play a vital role in the Twins' 2018 pen. Unfortunately, unless someone believes that the Shohei Otani lottery ticket will land on the Twins' lap (it still could, btw; I just don't like liv
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ------ Ten days ago, before Spring Training games started, I took a preliminary cut at the potential Twins' 40-man roster. My view was that they Twins at this point will value veteran clubhouse presence and defense. I also suspected that participating at the WBC was a negative That 25-man roster was: Starting Pitchers (5) Ervin Santana Kyle Gibson Phil Hughes Trevor May Ryan Vogelsong Relievers (7) Brandon Kintzler Ryan Pressly J.T. Charg
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- You can find the introductory segment in this series, including my criteria for eligibility to be a prospect and the list of the 2016 top 40 players who graduated as prospects or are not in the system, here. Here is my 2016 Twins off-season top 40 prospects list (summary of 1-40) for reference. This is the countdown for players ranked 51-55th in the system. You can find players 56-60 here, players 51-55 here, 46-50 here, 41-45 here, 36-4
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- You can find the introductory segment in this series, including my criteria for eligibility to be a prospect and the list of the 2016 top 40 players who graduated as prospects or are not in the system, here. Here is my 2016 Twins off-season top 40 prospects list (summary of 1-40) for reference. This is the countdown for players ranked 51-55th in the system. You can find players 56-60 here, players 51-55 here, 46-50 here, 41-45 here, 36-
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 🙂