Minnesota Twins Talk

Any predictions? Here's what will happen. Terry Ryan will say that the organization is very disappointed at how the season went. Part of it has to do with injuries and part of it has to do with young players not being ready for the Major League level. As for any staff changes, Steve Liddle will be retiring and they will replace him with someone from within the organization. No other changes will be made to the coaching staff. As for next season, they hope to acquire some more pitching. They won't go after any high level pitching, but hope to strike it rich by gambling on past their prime veterans or pitchers who consistently put up 4.50 ERA numbers in the National Lea…

According to a Japanese website, Tsuyoshi Nishioka has already agreed in principle to a contract with the Hanshin Tigers. The terms have not yet been disclosed. Nothing surprising about this news from where I stand. Despite his epic struggles over here, Nishioka was one of the biggest stars in the NPB and he's still in his prime. I also won't be surprised if we learn that the money in this deal approaches or exceeds the $3.25M he was owed by the Twins. Keep in mind that Brad Penny was signed for $4 million to play in Japan this year. Yes, Brad Penny. (He was released after one start.)

The Star Tribune is reporting that bullpen coach Rich Stelmaszek has been let go. I knew there would be shake-ups, but I'm a little surprised at this. The bullpen wasn't really the problem this year. My guess is this signals a fairly substantial overhaul on the coaching staff.

Will the real Plouffe please stand up? Is it possible his thumb is still impacting his play so much that he can be posting a .591 OPS in September? I can't believe this is the same guy that was destroying every fastball thrown to him in June. Maybe he is just lost right now and Gardy is letting him work through his struggles, but man I just keep waiting for him to turn the corner again and it just wont happen. I guess this season is about over so there isn't much pain left to endure. Everything about his season had been positive until he got hurt though, for what its worth. I just hope he can come in next season healthy and put together a solid season.

According to the Strib, the Twins have let Rick Stelmaszek and Steve Liddle go, and have reassigned Joe Vavra withing the organization. http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/blogs/172663381.html

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/10/offseason-outlook-minnesota-twins.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter This is a nice run-down of the Twins offseason including FA, guaranteed contracts, trade candidates and more.

According to La Velle, the Twins fired bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek, after 32 years of service with the team. http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/blogs/172663381.html

Rick Stelmaszek first to go... http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/blogs/172663381.html

Upon his final callup, numbers weren't earthshattering but he held his own fine. 8starts 47IP 49h 23er 4.40ERA 27k 16bb 7HRs (4 in 1 gm tho) If you're of the belief like I am that Scot Baker is just a formality of bein re-signed after they dont pick up their option.....are you happy if you put Baker, Hendriks & Diamond into your rotation for 2013 with 2 spots to fill???

Yesterday while the A's were winning the division, Neshek and he wife lost there newborn son less the a day after he was born. Our thoughts are with him and his family right now. Here's a link to the story: http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/172601141.html

Who is to blame for the Nishioka disaster? The scouting department, or did the Twins sign Nishioka for revenue reasons?

I don't think it's too soon to look back on 2012, and debate who was the Twins' best free agent signing from last winter? We clearly can't overlook what Josh Willingham did this year, but I said Ryan Doumit at the time of his signing and I think that held true. Simply put, the Twins needed someone that could catch, be little if any dropoff offensively from Mauer and make for a better offensive lineup on the days Mauer did not catch. Doumit fit that bill, and allowed Mauer to have a healthy season by being able to play first base and DH more often. Playing left field on occasion, even though he is clearly not suited to being an outfielder, enhanced Doumit's value even mo…

1500espn's Phil Mackey penned a nice article stating that the Twins could make some changes to the field staff: One spot may open up without Ryan or Gardenhire needing to make a move: Gardenhire is signed through the 2013 season while his coaches' contracts run out at the end of the season.

Seven times in baseball history, the AL or NL batting championship was decided by less than one point. [TABLE] Year[TD=width: 39]Lea[/TD] [TD=width: 117]Player[/TD] [TD=width: 53]BA[/TD] [TD=width: 53]BA[/TD] [TD=width: 53]Diff[/TD] 1982 AL Willie Wilson .332 .33162 [/TD] Robin Yount .331 .33071 .00092 1935 AL Buddy Myer .349 .34903 Joe Vosmik .348 .34839 .00064 1970 AL Alex Johnson .329 .32899 Carl Yastrzemski .329 .32862 .00037 1931 NL Chick Hafey .349 .34889 Bill Terry .349 .34861 .00028 2003 NL Albert Pujols .359 .35871 Todd Helton .358 .35849 .00022 1949 AL George Kell .343 .34291 T…

So should the Twins consider field staff changes, and if so how far should they go? Or should they at least consider replacing some of the MLB staff with the AAA staff?

Three teams surprised Aaron and John (and all of MLB, really): Baltimore, Oakland and Boston. Each outpaced Vegas by 20 games. Which should we have seen coming?

I thought this would be a fun forum topic. I am projected the Twins roster as I see it right now. I am not adding free agents yet as I am kind of doing this on the fly. I will project their roster if they go inhouse and positions that I don't think they will go in house I will leave blank. With the players that i project I will list their 2013 salary to see how much money the Twins will have left to spend as I have a gut feeling that the Twins 2013 payroll will be less than the 97 million in 2012, but not significantely less. My projection is between 90-95 million in which my opinion is plenty. please post thoughts if you think I am way off. Oh and at the bottom I …

Nice article about Dickey, on overcoming long odds and many doubters (MN Twins org among them) with class and gritty perseverance: http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/8433305/new-york-mets-ra-dickey-overcomes-obstacles-20th-win I don't believe a knuckleballer has ever won the Cy Young award. Dickey's overall numbers on a bad team certainly merit strong consideration. Will he overcome the built-in bias against knuckleballers and win the award?

Who gets your vote for the prestigious awards given at the end of the year? AL/NL Cy Young, AL/NL MVP, AL/NL ROY, AL/NL Relief Man, and AL/NL Manager of the Year. I'll tally the votes after a week so it can be 'official'. My vote is below and an ideal ballot would look as follows. MVP AL: Miguel Cabrera NL: Ryan Braun Cy Young AL: David Price NL: Gio Gonzalez Rookie of the Year AL: Mike Trout NL: Norichika Aoki Rolaids Relief Man of the Year AL: Fernando Rodney NL: Craig Kimbrel Manager of the Year AL: Buck Showalter NL: Dusty Baker I think both relief men are obvious choices. The biggest reason I would choose Cabrera over Trout is that the Tigers will lik…

The Twins announced today that they have released Tsuyoshi Nishioka at his request. The middle infielder will relieve the Twins of their 2013 obligations, saving the team $3.25 million ($3M in salary and $250,000 in a buyout). The highly touted Japanese free agent never adapted well to the game at the highest level, hitting .215/.267/.236 in 254 plate appearances while provided terribly disappointing defense in the field.

Nick just found this tidbit from Alden Gonzalez, the Angels beat writer: http://aldengonzalez.mlblogs.com/2012/09/25/question-of-the-day-925/ That's one more pretty big name on the market. Even after a pretty mediocre year in which he had back problems, the 32-year-old is going to get a multi-year deal if he wants it. That's another $20M guy on the market to push names down to the Twins level. I would LOVE to see his offers dip to the point where the Twins would consider him.

Can someone post the lineups for me? Still out of town. kthxbye

While some Twins fans think that the Twins' bullpen this year has been fairly good, we have just been lucky with the back-half of our bullpen being as solid as it has been. Here is a list of players who have thrown at least one inning of relief this year, with the italicized players in the Minors, underlined injured and bolded no longer with the Twins: Butera, Fien, Burton, Perkins, Waldrop, Burnett, Capps, Perdomo, De Vries, Swarzak, Duensing, Liriano, Oliveros, Robertson, Gray, Manship, Maloney Out of the list that isn't bolded or italicized, Butera, Liriano, and De Vries spent more time as starting pitchers/catchers than relieving. That leaves from the original lis…

Why do that? One is a marginal guy who is a good enough player, but is also a pretty known player. Carson is reliable and is worth keeping in the organization next year. Herrmann is a prospect, and a C/LF prospect at that. Why not let him bat and get a chance this September? That is totally perplexing to me. I just do not understand what this manager thinks at all.

I'm not normally the guy who throws out random names of other teams' players and speculates as to whether the Twins could get him, but I look at Trumbo as a guy who hit 30 HR's this year, but slumped TERRIBLY down the stretch to the point where he can't even get on the field for the Angels anymore. He's not going to play 1B with Puljos there, and the team remains committed to Kendrys Morales or any other number of aging sluggers they employ to hold down that DH spot. This guy seems to me like a younger version of Josh Willingham. He's not a .280 hitter, but I wonder if the Angels would part with him, and if we even have the pieces to make that happen. Would they want …

Over at Rant Sports, a local independent writer is wondering if the Twins won't chase Ervin Santana this offseason. Here's the link.... http://www.rantsports.com/mlb/2012/09/26/mlb-rumors-minnesota-twins-free-agent-target-ervin-santana/ I'll admit, he's one of my favorite targets on the market, just 30 years old, coming off a down year but finishing strong. I suspect he's at the upper range of where the Twins land, but it's not inconceivable.

He fits the bill of who the Twins might possibly sign this off-season. I would accept him over some of the bargain bin SP that the Twins will pursue this winter.

Last Night's Results: [TABLE] Cabrera[TD=width: 49]0-3[/TD] [TD=width: 47].329[/TD] Mauer 3-4 .326 [/TABLE] Mauer is, effectively, 2 hits behind. If he goes 2-4 and Cabrera goes 0-4, Mauer will take over the lead. [TABLE] Cabrera[TD=width: 49]0-4[/TD] [TD=width: 47].3266[/TD] Mauer 2-4 .3270 [/TABLE]

Article here: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/joe-mauers-un-joe-mauer-like-afternoon/