Minnesota Twins Talk

The Twins were recently tied to veteran slugger Mike Napoli but lost out to Texas for his big bat. According to Fanrag.com's Jon Heyman the front office has shifted their focus on another crop of free agent bats including Justin Morneau, Billy Butler, Adam Lind, Pedro Alvarez and Ryan Howard. The Twins have been seeking a veteran presence to add to the clubhouse and this group certainly emphasizes "veteran" what with Alvarez being the most junior at the young age of 30. Here are the numbers over the past two seasons for those players. Pick your poison.

The Minnesota Twins have announced they have traded RHP Pat Light to the Pittsburgh Pirates for cash considerations. Light was designated for assignment last week when the Twins claimed infielder Ehire Adrianza off the waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers.

Zenser was kind enough to share on the 2016-2017 MLB Off-Season thread that Marlins owner Jeff Loria is close to selling the team for $1.6 Billion. Clearly there haven't been any rumors to say the Pohlad's would sell. And frankly, teams aren't sold nearly as much in baseball than basketball and the other sports. Are the Twins worth more or less than the $1.6 Billion price tag that Loria is getting?

I did some research and wrote this on the struggles of Byungho Park. As a result, I'm not convinced he can be an impact hitter in the big leagues. http://coldomaha.com/2017/twins/chronicling-the-struggles-of-byungho-park/ As always, read and critique and let's have a good discussion!

They just signed Drew Stubbs with an invitation to Spring Training. Both in the Cleveland and Texas organizations past few seasons. Played with 3 teams last season, can play CF. He is 32.

Well, we took our lumps last year-- again-- but isn't it the best thing about 'ball, that every spring, hope sprouts for every team, like the crocuses peeking out of the snow, and the pearly white drifts turn to gray, leaden slush... Here's a young lady I happened to spy on the Hong Kong subway the other day-- she's ready for pitchers and catchers reporting right now! Although the little angel next to her seems to be more grounded in reality about said pitchers and catchers... Cheers from the East, where baseball happens as soon as you wake up in the morning!

https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/829370981064069125 Another minor league deal. I guess O'Rourke and Boshers will have some competition for the 2nd lefty gig out of the pen. I've already put Rogers name down in ink. No backsies.

Here. They project the Twins to tie with the Tigers for second in the AL Central with 77 wins, ahead of the White Sox and Royals and behind the 91 win Indians.

Buried in Ken Rosenthal's latest article was this tidbit on Byungho Park ... "The Twins will release Park, to whom they owe $9.75 million over the next three seasons, if they cannot trade him. The Rays then could sign Park as a free agent for the minimum, with the Twins paying the rest." Pretty shocking if this is true. Why wouldn't they keep him around in Rochester?

In an off season filled with waiting for moves and questions about why they have not done more the local club has jettisoned 25% of their 40 man roster. With the DFA of Byung Ho Park I asked myself where they all are now so I made a list Logan Schafer signed an MiLB contract with the Orioles Tommy Milone signed with the Brewers for 1.25 million Pat Dean will play for the Kia Tigers for 900K Andrew Albers signed another MiLB contract, this time with Atlanta James Beresfrd is a free agent ABW- landed in the Brewers MiLB system Trevor Plouffe signed with the A's for 5.25 million Kurt Suzuki is with Atlanta for 1.5 million with another million in incentives Juan Centeno si…

Seems weird to DFA a flamethrower (a position of need) for slick short stop. I guess it's possible he's the new starting SS? And also, if he's not the starter-- we still have DanSan, which is also funny. Headscratcher.

Here is my guess: C: Castro 1b: Mauer 2B: Dozier Ss: polanco 3b: sano Lf: Rosario Cf: buxton Rf: Kepler DH: park Bench: Escobar, Murphy, Santana, grossman Sp: Santana, berrios, Santiago, Phil Hughes and Kyle Gibson Bullpen: perkins, boshers, kintzler, Presley, rogers, tonkin, may. First pitcher to be called up id say Meija. First player depends on who gets hurt or goes down. My guess is between Vargas and vielma

Wow! And reading the article, it looks like Twins fans got what they were praying for: http://www.startribune.com/a-fitter-migues-sano-showing-twins-he-s-ready-to-take-next-step-in-career/412025626/ http://stmedia.stimg.co/08_02TWIN012917_43540673.JPG?w=525

We've heard it before, but it's always fun to read from a national perspective. Eddie Rosario is playing for Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Series (as is Dereck Rodriguez)... Jesse Sanchez from MLB.com caught up with him and Thad Levine. There are some great quotes in the article including: Check out the article... http://m.twins.mlb.com/news/article/215143306/twins-eddie-rosario-gearing-up-for-2017-season/

Another player article from the Star Tribune: Trevor May will be a Twins starter. So saith new Twins Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey. http://www.startribune.com/twins-trevor-may-both-hope-his-relief-days-behind-him/412065543/ Really hope so. May's body just can't handle RP work.

Twins are waiting for prices to come down and I bet they sign someone on the cheap. Lots of homerun power still on the market. Mike Napoli? Chris Carter? Brandon Moss?

I've met a lot of people that have worked at Target Field, and most of them have liked it. We got a press release that Delaware North, the Twins food & beverage partner, is having a bunch of job fairs this month, and I thought people might be interested in that. If you'll recall last year, the Twins were bussing people up from Chicago to work some of the April weekend games, and now they're doing all these job fairs, so it feels like it's a real opportunity. Here's the press release: Delaware North Sportservice to host job fairs for Target Field 300 seasonal, part-time positions available for upcoming Minnesota Twins season BUFFALO, N.Y. and MINNEAPOLIS (January X…

Any reason we wouldn't take a flier on this guy? He's only 28, throws gas, and has had success at the MLB level. Potentially a bit of a headcase, but don't all teams have head cases? Currently a free-agent, and I haven't seen his name mentioned anywhere, unless I'm missing something. Seems like it could be a depth move if nothing else and would represent a higher ceiling than some of our current SP's.

Per Heyman. Sounds like a major league deal. Someone needs to go off the 40-man roster.

Just read article on MLB trade rumors about a possible reunion. Does Kennys Vargas still have a minor league option left? You know the money would not exceed $2.5M and could split DH with Park and they both could take some AB's away from Mauer at first to keep him fresh. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/01/twins-justin-morneau-interested-in-reunion.html

So do we expect our team to improve without changing? Lets examine the roster and ask ourselves if they will do better or worse in 2017 vs 2016 or stay about the same. Here are my predictions WORSE in 2017: Ervin Santana Brandon Kintzler Brian Dozier Robbie Grossman Do I have to explain any of these predictions? Stay About the Same: Buddy Boshers Ryan O'Rourke Ryan Pressly Michael Tonkin Eduardo Escobar Joe Mauer Danny Santana Max Kepler For most of these, I think we know who they are and what we will get. Kepler will be a sophmore with ups and downs. I am not expecting him to perform like a veteran yet. I expect the big improvement to come in 2018. Expecting BETTER t…

Mike Berardino chatted with Jorge Polanco and others about why he did not play shortstop this winter in the Dominican Republic. The Twins can make a request, and the player can ask, but it's up to those teams... especially in a WBC season.

On Friday at the Twins media luncheon, Derek Falvey discussed scouting and hitting summits that the Twins held recently in Ft. Myers. Mike Berardino talked to several players about what happened and what the goals of the summit were. http://www.twincities.com/2017/01/29/inside-the-minnesota-twins-two-day-hitting-summit/

According to Jeff Passan, the Dodgers are nearing a deal for Tampa Bay Rays 2B Logan Forsythe. Such a deal would all but officially end any possibility of a Brian Dozier trade... at least to the Dodgers. Likely more to come... and relatively soon. Now Ken Rosenthal is saying that the deal is agreed upon and Jose DeLeon is in it. It's a one-for-one deal... https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/823681791827595264 Personal opinion: If that's the deal the Twins were offered, they were right to just say no.

Why don't we turn a huge weakness from last year into a strength this year? Signing Wieters after signing Castro might seem like it makes no sense at first, but think about the benefits. Castro and Wieters can split time and stay fresh. Wieters is a switch hitter, so can hit against all lefties. They are both average to plus defenders/pitch framers. They would help out the pitching staff immediately-especially the young guys (not that they need help, right?). The questions are, will he only play for a contender? Will he want a full workload? What will he cost? My guess is he will sign with the Angels, but I don't think he would ignore any offers, especially if it is on…

Always loved to sit and watch the interviews live, as my son went through the dealers and spending my money. Still, a lot of fun on the radio, starting now!!!! Sun is shining!!!!!!!!

I don't know what I expected coming into the Twins offseason, but have to admit that what's happened so far wasn't it. At this particular point, it's looking much like the team that put together a 103-loss season in 2016 will be returning in 2017. The pitching staff will be largely the same. The lineup will be largely the same. The one big change on the field was the signing of Jason Castro. Any other deals have largely been fringe, scrap-heap guys. Brian Dozier is still with the team, and will be unless some mysterious trading partner emerges between now and Spring Training -- which is unlikely, given that the Los Angeles Dodgers have traded for Logan Forsythe. Ervin…

Currently watching Bremer with Tori's, Cuddy and the Hawk. Great stuff.

The 2017 Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Twins Winter Caravan stops in more than 40 communities throughout Twins Territory between Monday, January 16 and Wednesday, January 25. The Twins Winter Caravan is one of the longest running and most extensive offseason team caravans in professional sports. It features teams of current and former players visiting schools, hospitals, corporations and service clubs during the day with a traditional "hot stove" program each evening. Twins Winter Caravan tours will be led by members of the Treasure Island Baseball Network and Fox Sports North broadcast teams including Bert Blyleven, Dick Bremer, Dan Gladden, Cory Provus and Kris Atteberr…

I'm writing one for each player on the Twins 40-man roster as of the end of the season on Cold Omaha, and I thought I'd share them here to hear if anyone has any gripes. First up, Andrew Albers