Minnesota Twins Talk

Question about MLB vesting options. Does postseason play count for things like IP on vesting options? I assume it does not but now that I think about it, I'm not sure. Also, he's going to cross 200 IP pretty easily this season, which means he could need as few as 180 IP next year for the option to vest (or even fewer if postseason innings count). Unless he gets injured next season and misses five or more starts, we should probably count on him being in a Twins uniform in 2019.

What's their timetable for return? Could be valuable additions.

This is a pleasant surprise: This one was obvious: Will be interesting if there is another catcher. Otherwise they can probably make due for the immediate future with these 2-3 guys. Keep the other guys getting reps, and most adds will be people coming off the DL anyways.

Anyone have any additional information on him? 30 year old, Harvard grad, hired as the new Director of Baseball Ops. Previously worked in the NFL with the Jaguars, Pats, and Browns. Also had some experience in the mlb home office. Intriguing hire if nothing else, doing the reverse DePodesta.

Friday. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/08/joe-nathan-to-formally-announce-retirement.html

Please provide your assessment of the catching team at the major (Gimenez, Castro, Garver) and AAA level (Paulino, Recker) and how that can change with September call ups and how you expect it to change during the offseason and Spring Training.

This is a forum for people to ask questions about official scoring. I will address these questions in stories I write for Twins Daily.

By OPS Mauer .861 Rosario .942 Sano .843 Dozier 1.027 Buxton .973 Polanco 1.107

per Fangraphs: # Name WPA -WPA +WPA 1 Joe Mauer 2.43 -6.62 9.05 2 Miguel Sano 1.74 -7.42 9.16 3 Robbie Grossman 1.62 -5.05 6.67 4 Brian Dozier 0.92 -9.13 10.05 5 Max Kepler 0.85 -6.91 7.76 6 Ervin Santana 0.39 -0.08 0.47 7 Jorge Polanco 0.32 -6.74 7.06 8 Eddie Rosario 0.19 …

http://www.startribune.com/consistenly-awful-kyle-gibson-needs-to-go-after-this-season/440970213/

With the Twins shockingly still in the postseason race (and even leading the second wildcard spot) and playing their best ball of the season, will Falvine be able to add a reliable bullpen arm or two or a bench bat or are they comfortable with the roster construction as it currently stands?

The Twins announced that Zack Granite is returning to the club with Jason Castro placed on the 7-Day Disabled List with a concussion. Castro left last night's Twins game with concussion-like symptoms. 7 Days is the minimum, but Twins fans are fully aware of what a concussion (er, Brain Injury) can do to a player. Examples such as Justin Morneau, Denard Span and Joe Mauer ring loudly in our collective memories. Granite has played the last two games in Rochester after missing six days with some minor injury. Taking Granite's spot in Rochester is CF Levi Michael.

If Sano is out of the lineup for significantly longer than first thought, will that give credence to the notion that Sano needs to drop some poundcake? And, if Buxton is injured and misses any significant time, I would really have to wonder why the Baseball Gods hate us so much.

Can this front office actually pretend to care about the bullpen and go out on the waiver wire and make a trade? Unreal that this team can score 9 runs, but lose because the bullpen is the worst bullpen in baseball.

I say yes. What say you? Watching him and trout over the next 5 years is gonna be amazing.

From a lineup that is one of the youngest in the league (are they still the youngest?), that's an impressive feat. This is the kind of lineup that could have no weaknesses in 2018-19. Two-thirds of the lineup is 25 or younger and they're all coming into their own. It's like the Royals of 2013-14 except they're actually good at hitting the baseball.

For me, the definition of "clutch" is that a player is as good or better in high leverage situations as they are in regular-leverage situations. For most of Mauer's career, he's been a great hitter, period, and his numbers in high-leverage situations basically were the same as low-leverage situations. That speaks to his cool and calm approach, in my opinion. In recent years, his overall offensive numbers have gone down. However, his production in clutch or high-leverage situations has remained very good. Bleacher Report did some of the math and found that Mauer is one of the most clutch hitters in baseball this year. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2729135-mlb…

Ken Rosenthal recently signed on to write at The Athletic. One of his first articles is on how the Twins have come back after losing players at the trade deadline. Rosenthal is a terrific writer, and he discusses the effect of the trade, how much it upset some players, and how the team has handled being upset. Which is to say, the best possible way. https://theathletic.com/90385/2017/08/28/sellers-at-the-deadline-the-resurgent-twins-have-surprised-everybody-except-themselves/

The winning ways this season remind me of glorious seasons of the past. I can't help but think of Andy MacPhail and the two World Series he helped bring to our favorite franchise. In an article from SI in 1992, MacPhail spends some time talking about being a small market GM, and the premise of the article is how great of a GM he was for trading Viola for Tapani, Aguilara, and Erickson. https://www.si.com/vault/1992/03/30/126247/master-of-the-trade-when-it-comes-to-building-a-baseball-team-for-the-90s-andy-macphail-gm-of-the-twins-is-the-best-in-the-business The parallels are amazing. It seems like MacPhail tried to cultivate an image of a small market baseball team.…

In 2015, Brock had a thread tracking wins as a reminder of the rotten baseball we have watched in recent years, and compare where we stand in W/L compared to previous seasons. Let's see how 2017 plays out. Tracking is by number of games instead of dates because games by date/month varies from year to year. Twins current 2017 win total: 25 Year – Number of games to reach 25 Wins 2011 – 64 2012 – 60 2013 – 54 2014 – 52 2015 – 43 2016 – 76 2017 – 43 Other notes: -Both 2015 and 2017 squads both needed 43 games to reach 25 wins (25-18). -At the 43 game point in 2015, the Twins were in the midst of a hot streak. They went 7-3 over their next 10 games and peaked at 32-21. A…

Topic: MECHANICALLY, WHY can Joe Mauer NOT drive the ball to RF. Topic is not: * Me, personally * My personal hate for Joe Mauer * Jealousy of contract * How good Joe Mauer's OBP is This is ridiculous. He is a 6'5" 230-lb American League first baseman and can hardly ever drive the ball to his pull side. What is up with this? Seriously.

I thought this might be fun. Especially since the answers may not be so obvious. In my case...I would be torn. I have a nickname of Byronious Maximus. Since that might prove a little long for the back of a jersey, I'd be "Doc". What would you choose as your jersey nickname?

Twinkietown had an article discussing the number of pitchers used in a single season. Here is a link to the article: https://www.twinkietown.com/2017/6/26/15871360/minnesota-twins-pitching-carousel-bullpen-trade-deadline-relievers-twins-mlb-pitchers By simply going to a Twins stat sight and counting how many players have pitched for the Twins, one can find that we have now used a franchise record 34 pitchers this year only 6 behind the MLB record set by the Rangers. This counts Gimenez who has made too many appearances but does not count recent call up Curtiss who has yet to pitch. Will we get to 40? 41? Who would be those pitchers? Curtiss, Gonsalves, and ? I also …

I submit Byron Buxton as the Twins all-time defensive GOAT, regardless of position. That is all.

Shame on the Twins front office for calling up Melville and starting Gee in this double header. This would have been the perfect time to reward pitchers with an actual future for this club with starts.

According to the Star Tribune, the Twins are overhauling their ticket structure and prices for next season. Initially, I was a bit worried that they were going to gouge the season ticket holders some more, but after further research I found that my current seats would actually go down by $90/seat. http://www.startribune.com/twins-overhauling-ticket-options/441618433/

According to several Twins media (and FSN showing the Molitor post-game presser), Tim Melville has been DFAd. According to Rhett Bollinger, RH RP John Curtiss will be promoted to the big league club. Curtiss started 2016 in Cedar Rapids. After a month, he moved up to Ft. Myers where he spent the remainder of the year. He went to the AFL and pitched well. He began this year in Chattanooga, but at the end of June he was promoted to Rochester, where he has continued to pitch well. He's got a big fastball and strong secondary pitches from his time as a starter. In college at Texas, he was the team's closer in the College World Series. He had been a starter, b…

Okay, I'll bite. Lotta twitter bile being flung at Souhan based on his column on Sano & his weight. I'm curious to know specifically what people didn't like or took issue with about the article. Let's hear it!

Pondering Kennys Vargas this morning after his big HR put the Twins up for good last night. I think he's vastly underappreciated and underrated. In my mind, I think if he plays 140 games per year we get a .255 batting average and 34 HR. He can DH full time (switch hitter) and a Sano-Vargas combo in the 4/5 holes would scare other teams to death. Vargas can fill in at 1st base too. Why, when it's pretty evident to me he's a 30+ per season HR guy right now if he played full time, does he always get the shaft? What's SO TERRIBLE about Kennys? I think the Twins really have something with him and they seem to have absolutely zero patience and send him down if he so much as…

With the upcoming doubleheader on Monday and Grossman heading to the DL with a fractured finger, the Twins will need to make some moves. I will speculate upon what moves the Twins will make: Grossman to DL; Granite called up. While this move now leaves the Twins without a DH, they really need to have a 4th outfielder on the team. Granite proved he can make contact and hit a bunch of singles with plenty of speed, so he should will that role well. Gibson DFA'd; Vargas called up. I'm finished with Gibson and he's been given every opportunity possible to keep his spot in the rotation. He's in all likelihood to be non-tendered, so DFA'ing him won't mean much. Vargas m…