Minnesota Twins Talk

It is fairly amazing to me how low everyones expectations are. If you throw out the beginning of 2012, when he made the team without a role and predictably struggled in part time play this guy has been nothing short of EXCELLENT in his last 400 ab's. 228 of them in AAA and 170 in the majors. 2011 Parm gets called up for September after a great growth season in AA where he increased his OPS by 70 points and hit for more power and drew more walks. He proceeds to hit 355/443/592 with a 13% BB and 15% K. That is nothing short of exceptional. Once he got sent back to AAA last year (with no prior time in AAA) he absolutely raked in his 228 AB. Many of you dont kno…

Episode 24 of the Twins baseball podcast, Talk To Contact (@TalkToContact), is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here. http://puckettspond.com/files/2013/02/beer-draft-twins.jpg This week Eric and Paul are joined by long time Twins blogger Cody Christie (@NoDakTwinsFan, www.NoDakTwinsFan.com) to talk about the Twins off-season moves and a look at 2013. Also joining us is MLB Fan Cave applicant, Michael McGivern (@McGive_It_To_me, www.McGiveItToMe.blogspot.com), to discuss his attempt to gain entry to the MLB Fan Cave, why he's worthy, and his life as a Minnesota Twins fan (you can vote for him here). In addition to the above, the Twins twins also discu…

Reid Brignac, recently DFA'd by Tampa plays all over 2B, SS, 3B and OF. Is he potential upgrade to Escobar? Is he worth a look?

Sorry if this is posted elsewhere. Not great news: Twins pitcher Anthony Swarzak to miss a month after fracturing ribs | twinsbaseball.com: News "When he was up here for TwinsFest, he was messing around with a couple guys and cracked a couple ribs, so he'll be out a month," Ryan said. "He was wrestling around. It was some horseplay. He was out with a couple friends and the team and cracked a couple ribs fooling around. It wasn't a fight or anything. It was just bad judgment wrestling around." bruised a rib or two last Spring, and it was a problem for a good 3-4 months. Hope he can recover quickly!

To countdown the days til pitchers and catchers report, we're going to list the Twins with those numbers (thanks to this awesome list) and let you can reminisce about one of them. So who is the poster boy for day #6.... Billy Consolo, 1961 Ted Lepcio, 1961 Jim Snyder, 1962 Vic Wertz, 1963 Tony Oliva, 1964-75 Tony Oliva, 1976 (Player-Coach) Tony Oliva, 1977-78, 1985-91 (Coach) Obviously, it's Tony O, who was just wrapping up his career and becoming a coach when I started tuning into games on our little AM radio. According to the list above, Oliva was a player-coach in 1976, and I was absolutely following the Twins at that time, but I don't remember how that…

Spring training is fast approaching and our friend Michael Bourne is still unemployed. Sounds like he's looking for 5/75M. Chances are he's going to have to take a one year deal somewhere and try again for a long term contract next year. I'd love to see the Twins way overpay for Bourne on a one year deal. 2013's first round pick is protected, so they'd only be forfeiting the number 41 or so pick. If he's having a decent year, chances they can flip him at the deadline for better prospect than that pick, especially considering that this year's draft class is down. If by some stretch of the imagination they end up competing, offer him arbitration after 2013 and recoup the…

To countdown the days til pitchers and catchers report, we're going to list the Twins with those numbers (thanks to this awesome list) and let you can reminisce about one of them. So who is the poster boy for day #7.... Lenny Green, 1961-64 Jimmie Hall, 1964-66 Frank Quilici, 1967-70 Paul Ray Powell, 1971 Jim Nettles, 1971-72 Jerry Terrell, 1973-74 Danny Walton, 1975 Dave McKay, 1975-76 Rob Wilfong, 1977-82 Larry Milbourne, 1982 Boomer Wells, 1982 Scott Ullger, 1983 Dave Meier, 1984-85 Greg Gagne, 1987-92 Denny Hocking, 1993-2003 Joe Mauer, 2004-12 I expect this to turn into a "my favorite Mauer moment" thread, but it's worth noting that at least a couple of guys he…

This seems quite strange, but an anonymous MLB team is advertising an internship through a posted Fangraphs article. Job Listing: Major League Team Internship | FanGraphs Baseball In the comments below, Dave Cameron makes it clear this is legit. If this was the Twins, does it mean their single advanced metrics intern has quit?

Steve Lombardozzi Sr. (ex-Twin) is a high school coach and his son (Steve Jr., who the Twins reportedly pursued in a trade in 2011) is helping him. It's nice story about their relationship and the impact a kid can have on other kids. Steve Lombardozzi: Former Twin gets help coaching from major league son - TwinCities.com

Joe Mauer Swings Away Interesting article looking at Mauer's ability to take pitches (or inability to swing the damn bat) in favorable hitters counts.

Michael Rand points out that the Twins pitchers who made the first four starts of the 2012 season have all been injured repeatedly since then. (And that doesn't include Scott Baker.) And there have been some bizarre injuries in there, too. Could someone please take the voodoo doll away from the bitter little White Sox fan that has it? The Twins pitchers who made the first four starts of 2012 for the Twins are cursed | StarTribune.com

It's a nice profile of Carroll, but it also reminds of two things: 1) He's 39 2) He was really healthy. The Twins are counting on him to either backup three positions that have question marks or take one of them over fulltime. I'm glad he's on the team, but if he goes down, lordy but this infield looks thin. Reliability, stability define Carroll's game

To countdown the days til pitchers and catchers report, we're going to list the Twins with those numbers (thanks to this awesome list) and let you can reminisce about one of theM. So who is the poster boy for day #14.... Pedro Ramos, 1961 Sam Mele, 1961-67 (Manager) Danny Monzon, 1972-73 Glenn Borgmann, 1974-79 Pete Mackanin, 1980-81 Kent Hrbek, 1982-94 Sam Mele was a hell of a manager and turned the Twins into contenders, but I need to go with my hometown boy Kent Hrbek. He gets credit because he is the only time I correlate "Hometown" and "Bloomington". I didn't move to Bloomington until 6th grade, and that was from Minneapolis, which is where I live now and from wh…

Several Twin Cities media are reporting that Anthony Swarzak will miss a month due to two fractured ribs. It happened in a non-baseball activity in January...

OK, this is cool. M Willis is applying the soccer jersey design look to each MLB team's jersey. He published the AL Central today. Below is the link, and the Twins jersey (and narrative) is quite a ways down. I gotta say - I like it very much, especially the colors (white and light gray) and some of the fine touches, like the stars over the TC representing championships. And he seems to get us.... Soccer Out of Context: the AL Central ? M.Willis - Art, Design, Soccer, Tech

One year contract with a $1M base. He can earn an addition $750K based upon the number days he's on the active roster. Jon Rauch gets $1 million, 1-year deal from Miami Marlins - ESPN

Jack Morris will be broadcasting with the Blue Jays this season. Sad to see him go.

Hey gang, We have a chance to get another Twins fan into the MLB Fan Cave this year. He's Michael McGivern and Rhett Bollinger gives us the scoop on him: Q&A: Twins Fan Cave candidate Michael McGivern | twinsbaseball.com: News He certainly has some admirable skills.....

1500ESPN’s Patrick Reusse reports that reliever Jose Contreras, who missed almost all of last season with a torn UCL ligament, has been working out in Fort Myers with some key people in the Minnesota Twins’ organization: Cedar Rapids (low-A) hitting coach Tommy Watkins and Tony Oliva. Contreras, who tore the vital ligament in June of last year and never underwent Tommy John surgery to repair, is interested in playing again. The question is, can his elbow hold up? As Ben Lindbergh discussed in his 2010 piece in Baseball Prospectus, a torn ligament never heals on its own, but there are two methods this can be improved upon without requiring surgery. The first is buildin…

...I usually prefer mine with tonic and a cucumber. Not quite the same topic, but it sounds good right about now. Liam Hendriks is mentioned in passing in many pitching articles, but rarely something more. I think people forget that the Twins really like this guy. His triple-A numbers are excellent. So what's the deal when he's with the big club? Does he have Franky Liriano Syndrome? I have to believe the last couple years, he's been a head-case and not shown what his true potential is. But it's odd, he flashes it from time to time too, right before he implodes in the 5th or 6th inning. Sounds more like Joe Mays Syndrome. If this kid can figure it out, he's her…

Bollinger gives a higher projected inning limitation for Gibson than Brian Murphy's 100-130 innings from a few days ago. Bollinger also states that Gibson's role would more likely be as a starter. At full strength, prospect Kyle Gibson eyes Twins' rotation | twinsbaseball.com: News

Keith Law has the Twins at #2 in his minor league systems rankings. "The Twins placed more players on my top 100 (seven) than any other team, only one of whom was initially signed by another organization, and they added a former top-100 guy, Trevor May, in a trade this offseason. Their system is particularly strong in center field, enough that they're working on converting Eddie Rosario to second base, and has more power arms with a chance to start than it has at any point in the past decade. The major league team is down, and isn't going to turn it all around in a year, but there's a lot of talent coming around which the Twins can build another contender.…

Episode 23 of the Twins baseball podcast, Talk To Contact (@TalkToContact), is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here. http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/2/files/2013/02/5311334.jpg This week the Pleiss brothers spend way too much time discussing obscure state capitols and bantering on about MySpace and hipsters but in between those strange and obscure conversations you can find plenty of talk about the Minnesota Twins, including a discussing of the 25-man roster,Frank Viola, prospect Luke Bard and former Twins around the MLB. Also making his Talk to Contact podcast debut it Jason from The Inverted W podcast (www.invertedW.com) to continue t…

So, I know our staff taken as a whole, pretty much sucked the last two years. All the reports I hear make it sound like we're pretty much replacing everyone except Diamond, Duensing, Burton, and Perkins. Let's not forget though, that we did have other pitchers that had moments of quality last year. Casey Fien had the 2nd best WHIP and best ERA on the staff. Tyler Robertson had one of the best SO/9 ratios, and looked strong as a LOOGY Deduno, Walters, and De Vries all had moments where they looked like they could be quite capable #5 starters With our new bullpen coach, I wouldn't be surprised to see one or more of these guys get the polish and playing time the…

The Strib's Howard Sinker does a thought-by-though breakdown of the Twins. He's a little crabby: Section 219: Breaking down the Twins (because someone asked me to do that) | StarTribune.com

To countdown the days until pitchers and catchers report, we're looking at which Twins had the number for that day. With 13 days left, what is your favorite memory of these Twins players? 12 Bernie Allen, 1962-63 Ron Henry, 1964 Joe McCabe, 1964 Cesar Tovar, 1965-72 Danny Walton, 1973 Eric Soderholm, 1973-76 Rich Chiles, 1977-78 Rick Sofield, 1979-81 Lenny Faedo, 1982-84 Tack Wilson, 1983 Mark Salas, 1985-87 Brian Harper, 1988-93 Matt Merullo, 1995 Chip Hale, 1996 Todd Walker, 1997-2000 Danny Ardoin, 2000 Tom Prince, 2001-03 Mike Ryan, 2004-05 Jason Tyner, 2006-07 Adam Everett, 2008 Alexi Casilla, 2010-121 Lots of sentimntal choices to choose from here. Walker is …

Twins' Worley excited to pitch at Target Field I really am looking forward to seeing this guy. I just hope he's healthy.

Saying, but not saying, that concrete settling may be a reason left field is tougher to hit out of. Also said they are still evaluating moving in the fences. 1500 1/30 with Judd. Concrete settling is some of the craziest excuse for poor hitting out there. Can't believe he just implied it, still, here in 2013.

Brief excerpts from a few articles regarding today's unveiling of Shaun Marcum to the New York press. It could be all a massive cover-up about his arm health, but Marcum is now on record. He says he's completely healthy and no one offered him a multi-year deal. Begs the question, what held the Twins back from standing out in that crowd of 20 teams? And, why weren't they willing to outbid the horrid Mets on a one-year deal? Marcum: Replacing Dickey team effort - Mets Blog - ESPN New York: "....Marcum, 31, went 7-4 with a 3.71 ERA in 21 starts for the Milwaukee Brewers last season. He spent nine weeks during the summer on the disabled list with right elbo…

Fangraphs.com's Jeff Sullivan re-examines Ryan Doumit's career and his catching abilities. The results, like Mike Fast's framing study which started this line of thinking, are not good. Using CERA (minus the "earned" portion), Sullivan found that dating back to 2005 when Doumit was catching his team allowed 5.37 runs per game (CRA). When he wasn't catching, his team allowed 5.00 runs per game. Here's Sullivan's analysis: