Minnesota Twins Talk

Is he our backup catcher or will it be Murphy?

In our fourth and final issue of Twins Daily's Write Of Spring Newsletter, John Bonnes learns the basics of pitching from the Twins staff and publishes a cheat sheet on pitching. Let's talk about it in this thread. This issue is being sent out at 11:00 of 3/29/2017. If you missed it, sign up over on the right to make sure you don't miss the next issue.

I would go: Kintzler Pressly Rogers Belisle Breslow Wimmers Haley

The Twins gave up 889 runs last season and scored 772 for a run differential of -167 runs. Knowing the Twins will improve about 2 games for every 20 runs they trim from this figure (starting at a baseline of 65 wins at -160 runs) what's your prediction for the 2017 Twins win total and your breakdown of how they'll account for the neccessary changes to the run differential? Example: Phase Runs +/- Note Infield Defense -10 Full season of Sano at 3B Outfield Defense +20 400 more innings of Buxton & Kepler Catching +10 Castro Starting Pitching +5 same runs but more innings Relief Pitching +2…

As we have expected for some time now, the Twins will roll with Craig Breslow and Taylor Rogers as their two bullpen lefties to so start the season. Today they optioned Buddy Boshers to Rochester, while also reassigning infielder Tommy Field. If Boshers had any chance left, he probably sealed his fate with a rocky outing on Sunday that saw him cough up four runs on two homers in one inning of work. Still, it's likely we will see him in Minnesota this summer. The southpaw had a good season in 2016 and is capable of handling hitters from both sides with a big curveball that induces whiffs. Are you confident in Breslow and Rogers as the LH tandem at Paul Molitor's…

The left/right conversation about lineups got me thinking... Have teams built books on opposing managers and used the data to exploit tendencies? I've never read about it but it seems like an interesting thing to explore, just one more thing to get a leg up against opposing teams. Let's say you're in the seventh inning with l/r/l hitters coming to the plate. In that situation, maybe Terry Francona is 12% more likely than other managers to call a lefty to get that first out and get out in front of a dangerous situation. Or maybe he's 18% more likely than other managers to let it ride with a righty through the first two batters and hope for the best. Or maybe he'll do som…

As each starting day rolls around each year, I take interest in roster projections. There hasn’t been a great deal of different opinions other than the 5th starter, DH, Relief pitching and bench. What I find curious is that Sano has been presumed as a lock at 3rd base by anyone putting together a roster projection. I listened to Reusse interviewing Twins GM Thad Levine earlier this week and when he was answering a question about Polanco needing to show improvement at short stop, he provided an unsolicited comment about Sano. Levine stated that both Polanco and Sano need to be “complete players” and that “if they can’t, they won’t stay on the left side of the infield”. Co…

Here's my final 25-man roster guess for Zone Coverage: http://zonecoverage.com/2017/twins/projecting-the-minnesota-twins-opening-day-roster-last-take/ Thoughts? Reminder -- this is not necessarily what I'd do, but what I think the Twins may do.

Now, I'm not saying this is something that the Twins will do, but I think it's something they should consider. Think about it. He never officially retired, the last season he played he put up an OPS. of 1.045, and with the collusion and perjury obstacles behind him he's free to focus on hitting. Maybe he could fill a void in RF, but I think we should sign him as a DH, move Mauer to catcher so Plouffe can stick at third (he's got value their), and have Sano play 1b since that's where he profiles. Thoughts?

Its extension season. The Twins are pot committed already to Sano (top international signee of the last decade, no backup at third base for forseeable fu ture) and Buxton (#2 draft choice and best outfield defender in the org, fastest baserunner). What value is there to waiting? If they bust the Twins will have to tear down and rebuild again anyways. The cost of doing that is minimized by stricter international and rule 4 draft bonus pool rules. Plus, by committing to the "new core" maybe the culture change Falvine want so badly will happen organically, and more quickly. By delaying that commitment the Twins will remain Mauer's and Hughesy's team. I would also extend …

Ben Lindbergh from The Ringer is calling Byron Buxton the breakout king for 2017. He's struggled to transition to the big leagues. Terry Ryan and Doug Mientkieiwicz admitted he wasn't ready when he was called up, but he is poised to break out in a big way in 2017. https://theringer.com/2017-mlb-preview-minnesota-twins-byron-buxton-breakout-season-9da46c261223#.5se1nzkb7 He's been a prospect for so long, people think his development has been slow, and you could make that argument.

Cut by the nationals but pitched pretty well this spring. Should the twins bring him back?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/25/sports/baseball/minnesota-twins-derek-falvey.html?_r=0 Nice article from an outside source about Falvey.

Molitor said today that Buxton won't be hitting in the lead off spot to start the year because "his bat is too valuable". He also said Buxton won't be in the 9 hole. They've been experimenting with him hitting third in the order. What do you guys think about this? Also, what are your predictions for the opening day batting order? What would YOU like the order to look like?

http://www.twincities.com/2017/03/26/minnesota-twins-veteran-drew-stubbs-among-latest-round-of-cuts/ According to Mike Berardino, outfielder Drew Stubb was informed this morning that he will not make the Twins Opening Day roster and has decided to opt-out of his deal. He says he is hoping for an Opening Day job, but if he doesn't find out, he will then re-evaluate and could return to the Twins. Also, RHP Drew Rucinski has been reassigned to minor league camp.

Mike Berardino wrote about a system the Twins are trying to implement. The last year, the Twins have been charting fatigue and workload of its players whether it's hitting in the cages, taking grounders, etc. Tony Clark of the Players Union is concerned about the methods. It's interesting to see how they think maybe moving around positions hurt Miguel Sano and Danny Santana last year. It'll need a lot of extra data points, but the system is at least interesting. What do you think? http://www.twincities.com/2017/03/25/twins-attempt-to-chart-fatigue-raises-concerns-with-players-union/

Wrote it up for Zone Coverage today. https://t.co/mEbXltEt7O Glad to chat about it here. Comments, questions, (friendly) critiques welcomed!

Watching this guy this spring I really like and hope he makes the team and gets some decent playing time. I'm in the camp that a good fielding SS is a must, I know Polonco doesn't have a position and needs to play but I think a super utility role for him would have been much better. Adrianza has even hit a bit this spring. I think over all it's much better to have a SS who plays good D and hits a .250 without much power then a guy who's poor defensively and hits.

Maybe I shouldn't say this so loud. Maybe, with the "Jay to the bullpen" growing by leaps and bounds it's not the right time to say this. Maybe I'm just an eternal optomist with Twins-red colored glasses and/or I'm just nuts! And all of these are very possible! Nonetheless, I'm actually feeling oddly optomistic about the rotation for 2017. Please let me be clear, I am not speculating the Twins will put together any sort of playoff rotation this season. I am not saying there are not serious questions going forward, or areas that may need addressing. And as we all know, as informed baseball fans and readers of TD, the Twins could STILL have one of the worst starting staff…

That's ifs, not as in infielders. That's ifs as in if this, if that, etc. This is the time of year when we can typically gauge the odds of a team being competitive by the number of ifs. The more ifs, the less likely they will compete. Last year was not a good year for ifs. IF you recall, there was the IF Sano can play right field, IF Byron Buxton can take the next step, IF Rosario can pick up where he left off the previous year, IF Esco can play short full time, IF the rotation can get someone to step up from the young guys, IF....the list seemed endless last year. So, where are we at for IF's this year? (Feel free to add to the list) IF Polanco can be solid a…

The Twins officially announced today that they've moved Trevor May to the 60-day disabled list following his Tommy John surgery, and purchased the contract of Craig Breslow, who replaces him on the 40-man roster. This confirms what we've long suspected: Breslow will be one of the bullpen lefties. Ryan O'Rourke will open the season on the DL with a flexor strain, leaving Taylor Rogers and Buddy Boshers to battle for the likely second and final southpaw role. Rogers is a fairly clear favorite in that race.

If the Twins go to Opening Day with Gimenez and/or Park on the roster, who gets bumped? Maybe they can put Perkins on the 60-day DL, and that would buy a spot, but what comes next (or first, if for some reason they don't put Perkins on the 60-day DL)? Who are the one or two candidates you see bumped? Maybe go three, in the (admittedly unlikely) case Schuck or Stubbs is on the Opening Day roster. Roster is here (though the Breslow addition and May shift to 60-day DL is not listed yet). http://m.twins.mlb.com/min/roster/40-man/

Wrote about this for Zone Coverage today: http://zonecoverage.com/2017/twins/handicapping-the-no-5-starter-battle-for-the-twins/ As always, looking for good discussion and (kind) criticism here!

In our third issue of Twins Daily's Write Of Spring Newsletter, Seth Stohs interviews MLB's Jonathan Mayo about the Twins minor league system and gives final observations on his spring training trip. Let's talk about it in this thread. This issue is being sent out at 2:00 PM the afternoon of 3/22/2017. If you missed it, sign up over on the right to make sure you don't miss the next issue.

If you were worried about Ryan Vogelsong landing the fifth starter job, you can breathe a sigh of relief. La Velle reported earlier today that the veteran's locker had been cleared out. And minutes ago, Mike Berardino confirmed with this tweet: So it looks like the race for the final rotation spot is down to Berrios, Mejia, Duffey and Haley.

http://www.twincities.com/2017/03/18/minnesota-twins-build-culture-club-with-five-low-cost-veterans/

Wrote about how I'm not worried that the Twins are coming off a 100-loss season with a middling farm system here: http://zonecoverage.com/2017/twins/dont-fret-about-twins-prospect-rankings/ As always, discussion and critiques are welcome.

I updated my potential Opening Day roster projection for the Twins here: http://zonecoverage.com/2017/twins/projecting-the-minnesota-twins-2017-opening-day-roster-take-2/ As always, comments and critiques are welcomed!

Leave your prediction in the comments, Sickels will tally them up and revisit at the end of the year. http://www.minorleagueball.com/2017/3/17/14958902/byron-buxton-2017-projection-of-twins

Finally, someone with access confirmed what some of us have been looking at all Spring: Santiago does not have a spot penciled in...