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Twins Daily

WARming Up to 2019 Twins

To say that the Twins have been inactive this offseason would not be accurate. In fact, Jim Bowden of The Athletic recently gave the Twins a B- for their offseason moves thus far. No other team in the AL Central received higher than a C. While their moves have filled some of the gaps they have, I have been frustrated by the lack of a big move. Falvey and Levine clearly did not read my 2019 Blueprint.   After much thought, I am starting to warm up to the Twins offseason decisions. They have added

Your team - the Twins Pitching. Good enough?

A few days ago I looked at the Twins lineup and bench and we had a total war of 16+, which is not good and our defensive metrics were not good either. So how do we stand at this point with our pitching? I am using baseball reference as my go to on each player.   I am not projecting surprises rookies or trades or FA. There is nothing that makes me think I should.       Starting Rotation - WAR - Projections (win-loss) ERA, Whip - someone has to win the game so they count for me. Jose Berrios 3.8

Your Twins team - the batters : is this good enough?

I was curious where we stand as a team - right now. Since the fast and furious signings seem to be in a lull (facetious statement). Let's put the team on the field as they are now composed and see how they stack up using their 2018 WAR and the Total Zone Fielding Runs above average and the 2019 projection - all from Baseball Reference       WAR RTOT Projection Polanco SS 1.5 , -2 270/329/415 Rosario LF 3.6 -10 278/319/464 Cron 1B 2 4 253/316/455 Sano 3B -0.5 -2 239/322/452 Austin DH 0.5 236/301/

Bullpen Options should start with Rochester not free agents

I will start this by admitting I have changed my tune on this topic a little bit. At the start of the offseason I really wanted the Twins to sign 2 arms for the bullpen. My top 2 choices were Joe Kelly and Joakim Soria. I thought Kelly looked about as dominant as could be in playoffs last year. So yesterday when Kelly signed with the Dodgers for 3/25 at first I was extremely disappointed. To me that didn't seem like outrageous money. Than I started reading more and the reviews weren't that

Bryce Harper a bad bargain

Okay, we know we are not in the Bryce Harper sweepstakes. Be glad. Only Boras can sell him as the $400 million dollar man. If we look closely we know better. What were his stats this year? 1.3 WAR. 248, 34, 100. Yes he had a +133 OPS. Is that worth $40 million a year? He has had 7 years and an accumulated 27.4 WAR - 3.9 per year. What is that worth? Lets me realistic here. The following article says that in this inflated era a player gets $3.8 million per war - that means that for

Bring on the Boomstick

With the Winter Meetings well underway, signings and reports are flying in from every direction. The Minnesota Twins made their initial splash with the acquisitions of Johnathan Schoop and Ronald Torreyes. Now having the middle infield gaps covered, some thump in the lineup can be addressed. Rocco Baldelli’s projected starters have plenty of power at their disposal, but none look the part of true on-base threats. Nelson Cruz would change that.   On Tuesday evening Hector Gomez reported that the

Byron the frustrated Buxton

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25512874/minnesota-twins-outfielder-byron-buxton-admits-was-angry-not-getting-called-up   This article is interesting in light of my recent Blog about Buxton and Sano and how long do we wait for them. Today I listened to Gleeman and the Geek and once again I hear that we are waiting on this potentially dynamic duo. But if so what is the thinking of the Front Office. Read this report and it is obvious that we did a lot of damage by not letting Buxton play in Sep

2019 Minnesota Twins Top 15 Prospects- Off The Baggy

We’re amid the Winter Meetings, and the Minnesota Twins are putting together their active roster for the 2019 Major League Baseball season. Having turned the page on a less than stellar year, an overhaul of the coaching staff puts Rocco Baldelli as the new man in charge. Although the Twins have yet to break through at the top of the AL Central to this point, the hope is that they’re not far off. If that’s going to be a sustainable reality the farm system will need to bear fruit.   Last touched m

Waiting for Godot (or Buxton and Sano)

My annual waiting for Buxton and Sano patience is wearing very thing. It reminds me of waiting for Godot! No, he is not a baseball player, Spark Notes tell us - "Two men, Vladimir and Estragon, meet near a tree. They converse on various topics and reveal that they are waiting there for a man named Godot." "a boy enters and tells Vladimir that he is a messenger from Godot. He tells Vladimir that Godot will not be coming tonight," "The next night, Vladimir and Estragon again meet near the tr

The Scoop on Schoop, and His Twins Fit

Entering the offseason Derek Falvey and Thad Levine were tasked with finding infield help. They needed to replace the retired Joe Mauer, and the flipped Brian Dozier. Internal options put pretty much any infield position as an acquirable target, but in the end, second base and first base were the routes traveled. Now with Jonathan Schoop joining C.J. Cron, Minnesota has filled both needs, but there’s plenty to question here.   Schoop was acquired by the Brewers during the 2018 season. The intent

Jonathan Schoop Makes the Twins a lot Better Against the AL Central

The Minnesota Twins’ acquisition of second baseman Jonathan Schoop has been considered by most as a low-risk, high-reward move by general manager Thad Levine and president Derek Falvey. It is that, but going ignored is the immediate impact the move has on the Twins’ chances in the American League (AL) Central Division.   The AL Central was really bad in 2018. Three teams posted winning percentages below .400, which was one more than the rest of Major League Baseball (MLB). Cleveland, the eventua

Wow, we did that?

Here we are December 6, 2018. We are almost a week after my birthday and what a week. I waited 73 years for all this to happen.   We fired Molitor - he mishandled the bullpen which had all of three good relievers and we needed 4 per game. We let go the pitching coach even though Gibson and others out performed the past. We kept the hitting coaches even though our superstar, can't miss projects continued to flail at the plate. We fired Pickler the guy the front office said would provide new age s

Tyler Austin Just Visiting Minnesota?

In one of their first moves this offseason, the Minnesota Twins plucked C.J. Cron off waivers after he was jettisoned by the Tampa Bay Rays. Following a 30-home run breakout campaign and having established relationships with the likes of Rocco Baldelli and Josh Kalk, the slugging first basemen seems like a decent gamble. What’s worth wondering though is whether Cron slots in as Joe Mauer’s replacement, or just another body on the 25 man. No matter what his role, the Twins do have Tyler Austin to

The Case for Yangervis Solarte

Hey Everyone,   Yesterday I made a case for Addison Reed turning things around in 2019. Today I want to look at recently non-tendered free agent Yangervis Solarte and how he could fit nicely with the 2019 Minnesota Twins.   Contract Details (according to spotrac.com) 2017 Salary: $4,000,000 2018 Dead Money (Paid by the Blue Jays): $750,000 2019 Projected Salary (My prediction): $3,550,000-$6,000,000   Before we start, when researching Solarte's history I found a nice little piece of information.

Spending is Coming, Right?

Going into the offseason the Minnesota Twins had more free cash flow than any point in recent memory. Multiple free agents inked to one-year deals are gone, Joe Mauer’s mega contract ended (as well as his big-league career), and the front office is left with something like a $60 million gap between current dollars and the 2018 Opening Day mark. From this we should be able to deduce a windfall of dollars being spent right? Maybe not.   On Friday local columnist Patrick Reusse was a guest on the M

The Case for Addison Reed

Hey Everyone,   I've seen a plethora of hate on Addison Reed mostly due to his salary hit in 2019 so, I'm going to take a crack at changing a couple people's minds as I don't think he's getting a fair shake of things and doesn't warrant this much disinterest from his own team's fan-base.   Okay before I get into things let's look at his 2019 contract details (according to spotrac.com) 2019 Salary: $8,500,000 2019 Bonuses: None 2019 Market Value: 4 yrs/$8,936,937   2018 was filled with discourage

Do we need an Ace, do we need Harper, Machado?

Bear with me now - I am about to go off the baseball rails here. I read all the speculation, all the projections of player salaries and all the moaning from our team and fans and the rest of the teams and their fans so I am going to say something no one wants to hear. We do not need an Ace, we do not need a superstar! There it has been said. The follow up to that is - and I want us to win the series!   Okay, now for my reasons. Lets start with the easiest - the Ace. The Ace in the 1800s pi

Can we make Hanley Ramirez a focus?

Yes, last year wasn't great for Hanley Ramirez. But the fact that there's little news about an MLB team having an interest in Hanley is surprising. The Twins could be a refreshing home for the former NL Rookie of the Year and 3-time all-star. With the need of veteran presence and a gap in the middle of the infield, I'm shocked that the Twins don't have him on their radar. He's playing in the Dominican League right now so I can't imagine he would break the bank... Thoughts?

Robbie Nearing His End in Minnesota?

By Friday the Minnesota Twins will need to decide if they are going to tender contracts to all their arbitration eligible players. The names include guys like Kyle Gibson, Eddie Rosario, and Miguel Sano. Among the ten possibilities, nine of them are near-certainties. If there’s a guy with an uncertain future however, it’s none other than Robbie Grossman.   Grossman came to the Twins in 2016, under the Terry Ryan regime, after opting out of a minor league deal with the Cleveland Indians. His care

Rebuilding? Really?

This is not rebuilding - it is prolonged agony. A rebuild from what - an accidental year that got us blown out of the play offs, Since 2010 we have lost 90 or more 5 times. We have been above 500 twice. We have averaged being 22 games behind for the last 8 years. We have seen attendance go down 7 out of 8 years.   We have been 4 or 5th place 5 times and second 3 times - does second in the Central count?   We have been in limbo or purgatory. Some teams get better when they get worse because of th

Twins Telling in Tea Leaves

Recently there were two rather significant developments regarding the 2019 Minnesota Twins roster construction. With the deadline to add Rule 5 Draft eligible players to the 40-man roster now in the rearview mirror, we know how the organization handled the situation. Also, in the early stages of free agency, Jon Morosi reported that the Twins have had discussions with the Arizona Diamondbacks about dealing for Paul Goldschmidt. Both of those scenarios could be hints at what’s next from the front

T&L Supershow ep. 71

Dan and Panda cover what's been happening in the world of baseball since Boston won the World Series. They finally wish Joe Mauer farewell, break down the end of the year award winners, some of the bigger free agent news (CIN spending, Thor to SD, Machado's antics in NY), and assemble their all-time favorite Twins team!   https://www.spreaker.com/user/the4dpodcastnetwork/twins-and-losses-supershow-episode-71-no

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