I wanted to stay in a Twins uniform, and I want to win. And we’re definitely headed in the right direction. — Joe Mauer after signing an eight-year, $184 million contract in 2010 All of the vitriol aimed at Joe Mauer right now would have been directed, ten-fold, at Twins management if they had not retained him in 2010. Minnesota had just opened a new publicly-subsidized park, they were coming off a year in which they had won the AL Central and Mauer was named MVP. He was an anomaly: a defensiv
I’m coming here to win. I think that it’s very important to lay that out there, right from the start. Things can change in this game very dramatically at this level. — Paul Molitor at the press conference in November, announcing his hiring as Twins manager It might have sounded corny last winter when I talked about 70-92 and the fine line of being able to at least cut that in half by winning 10 more games or whatever it is. There was enough signs there for me to think that it could happen. — M
I understand the frustration, and the patience that needs to be shown, but it's the way [it works]. -- Twins GM Terry Ryan on being patient with prospects, 8/14/15 All Minnesota Twins fans wanted on Friday night was Jose Orlando Berrios to make his first major league start. The 21-year-old pitcher was rated the 36th best prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America before this season. He is almost six years younger than his competition in Triple-A, owns a sub-3.5 ERA and his 1.105 WHIP have s
I’m trying to be realistic. Our expectations in that clubhouse should be to make the postseason. — Twins GM Terry Ryan, 11/4/14 The Minnesota Twins set the tone shortly after hiring Paul Molitor as Ron Gardenhire’s successor. Molitor came out and said that he wanted to win immediately, general manager Terry Ryan said that he expected the team to make the postseason: This after four-straight 90-loss seasons, but before the signing of Ervin Santana and Torii Hunter. “I’m coming here to win,” said
Aaron Hicks is only 25. Entering the All-Star Break he has yet to have his 700th plate appearance, and he’s played in just over 180 games. And yet, he’s already dropped switch-hitting for a brief time period, has been called out by former manager Ron Gardenhire and assistant general manager Rob Antony for showing up to the ballpark and not knowing who the starting pitcher was that day, and after not making the team out of spring training this year the Star Tribune reported that he might not get
While the Minnesota Twins are a homegrown team that relies heavily on players from their farm system to sustain success in the major leagues, reclamation projects are an important part of their team construction. Once-highly-touted prospects or players that have had some big league success and saw a dip in production with their former team for various reasons are often of interest to a team in a mid-sized city looking to get the most value out of their signings. These players are relatively lo
The Minnesota Twins are regressing, make no doubt about it. After splitting a series with the Boston Red Sox, Minnesota lost two out of three to the Milwaukee Brewers and were swept by the Kansas City Royals at Target Field, allowing Kansas City to pass them in the standings for first place in the division. The team downplayed the importance of the Royals series, saying that it was June and nobody is securing anything right now. “I’ve had that approach where I need a World Series ring on April 1
The Minnesota Twins need to let loose. They need to believe that they can’t be held back by expectations, by the culture of losing created by four straight 90-loss seasons, by the numbers that say that they have outperformed their capabilities up until this point. For the most part everyone in the locker room appears unhindered by outside speculation, ignorant or at least cleansed of the team’s previous losing ways. They feel that that they are, as a unit, more talented than people give them c
We haven't done anything [yet], but we've put ourselves in good position. -- Twins general manager Terry Ryan, 5/25/15 The Minnesota Twins are within striking distance of the AL Central lead in April for the first time since 2010. At 26-18, they are eight games above .500, the first time they have been three or more games above .500 since the 2011 season. They are getting contributions from hitters up and down their lineup, the starting pitching is holding its own, and yet fans remain jaded afte
This isn’t exactly the blueprint that we had in mind, going out and signing a guy to $55 million. The ideal is to have them keep coming through the system. – Twins GM Terry Ryan after signing Ervin Santana, 12/15/14 Minnesota Twins general manager Terry Ryan said some intriguing things this offseason, chief among them were: 1) That he wants to make the playoffs this year (“I’m trying to be realistic. Our expectations in that clubhouse should be to make the postseason.” — Nov. 11). 2) That th
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
