Minnesota Twins Talk

He is on waivers. Any chance the Twins claim him? and if they do, what are the chances that they work out a trade with the Mariners?

Official attendance Tuesday night at TF: 29854. I believe that's the first time in stadium history the crowd dipped below 30,000. Ruh-roh.

http://m.startribune.com/?id=167498615 Seems like a good Monday morning talker....

http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/8301086/minnesota-twins-scott-diamond-suspended-six-games-throwing-josh-hamilton-head Thoughts? I think it's a ****load of ****.

Now that the blow up has occurred, time to DFA him and not care if some team is foolish enough to claim him. Time to go with guys who might be part of the future, namely Slama.

To be announced on Wednesday http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/167606645.html

We have talked alot about the Twins taking a run at some of the top FA pitchers on the market, Greinke, Sanchez, Jackson etc. But this thread is to talk about some of the guys the Twins should try to bring in on small 1 or 2 year deals. I think the Twins will sign one big free agent, and then will have to supplement the team with some shrewd moves if they want to compete. Ideally they will get more "Burtons" then "Marquis" this time around. Let's say for the sake of this thread all players mentioned will be paid less then 5 mil a year: Scott Baker: One of the most obvious choices, has said all things being equal he would like to be back in Minnesota. Offer: 1 year 3 m…

Per the LA Times story on the Red Sox/Dodgers deal (hat tip Phil Mackey): "A four-time All-Star first baseman, Gonzalez was the prize in the deal. The Dodgers inquired about him leading up to the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline and approached the Red Sox again after a failed attempt to land Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau last week." My first thought was, "Did the Twins refuse to trade Morneau and, if so, why?" But then the story just says the Dodgers failed to land him. Every AL team and most NL teams would have to pass on Morneau before the Dodgers would get the waiver claim. Would be interesting to know if he was claimed by someone else (Toronto ma…

Anybody else remember Brant Alyea? On opening day of 1970 he hit 2 HRs and drove in 7 runs as the Twins beat the White Sox 12-0. He kept hitting throughout April and when the month was over he was batting .415/.483/.774. He started to cool off but then got hot again in September raising his OPS from .842 to .897. He was platooned with Jim Holt in (primarily) LF. He ended up batting .291/.366/.531 in 1970. It was a statistical freak year for him as he batted .177/.282/.241 in 1971. He was .247/.326/.421 lifetime. Brant also hit a HR on the first pitch in his first AB in the major leagues in 1965. Can anyone think of another player with such an incredible dropoff in b…

Pareto says an efficient market yields trades where "buyer" and "seller" are neither better or worse off after a trade. Thus, in the case where a seller is barred from exit, the buyer will be better off afterwards. Vice versa, when seller is barred from entry, he has the advantage. As such, it is not advisable to "shop" players, but rather field offers and decline discount or equivalent offers freely. Likewise, the best players to target are those being heavily shopped by others, and the worst, are those highly protected. If the Twins think "it is better to sell low a player, then let him expire (ie. walk)," then as buyers, they are stuck inside the player market…

Hendriks, now more than halfway to Felton's infamous 0-16 Twins career mark. Do the Twins have plans to have Terry follow the team around so he can be there if history is made?

Per a tweet by Dave Aeikins of St. Cloud Times..

Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times wrote an article with a lot of interesting, random Twins notes from their 52 years in Minnesota: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/52-years-from-the-twins-junk-drawer/

A lot has been said on the site about wanting Gardenhire to be fired because he has lost his edge or worse things, also, a lot has been said about how he should retain his managerial position because the Twins roster is not his fault and the blame should fall on the Front Office. The scenario is this.... Gardenhire is fired at the conclusion of this season. Who do you want to get the managerial job and make the difference that Gardenhire could not procure? (If you are a Gardenhire supporter and want him to stay - give your 2nd choice) P.S. Please leave Terry Ryan out of this.... that is for a thread you can start. Also, if someone already threw out a similar kin…

Here is a recap by Phil Mackey. I don't know if you can download it.... http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/Notebook_Pohlad_would_welcome_Ryan_as_permanent_GM_Gardenhire_safe082612 Topics include Terry Ryan's job security, Ron Gardenhire's job security, payroll and the 2014 All-Star Game. I suppose it's news that it is solely Ryan's call on Gardenhire. I never got the sense that Smith had that kind of authority.

I've been a Gardy supporter. I think he's often been blamed for things out of his control, things he did correctly that didn't work out, or things that maybe could be questioned, but were at the least defensible options. No longer. I think it's time for a change. While there are certainly things wrong with the Twins that aren't his fault, I think we've reached the point of admitting this team isn't performing as well as it could. I said it in the game thread today, I'll say it here...the stench of losing is beginning to permeate this organization and it has reached the point where you can see it on the field. I don't think it's reasonable to say the team we saw p…

The Twins have no chance of contending this year. Neither do the Royals. In order to provide some fun for the players and the fans, I would like to see at least one player attempt to duplicate Cesar Tovar's feat of playing all nine positions in a single game. As you can see, this made for an interesting box score. Also, here is a video about Tovar: [video=youtube_share;EgUjhIfoHVA] Question -- would you like to see a Twins player play all nine positions in a game against the Royals next month? P.S., could an admin correct the spelling error in the poll title?

Scott Diamond scheduled Tue till his 6gm suspension....due back THUR Cole DeVries today Liam Hendriks MON Sam Deduno WED Brian Duensing THUR Bullpen is supposedly exhausted & nobody is stretched out to start (tm is worried about Swarzak's shoulder) Gardy/Anderson never bring guys back on 3 days rest Esmeril Vasquez started today, so he is out PJ Walters started FRI....be surprised if they bring him back on 3 days after getting bombed Pedro Hernandez out for year with shoulder problems Jeff Manship pitched 3 innings on FRI after Walters...would also have 3 days rest only other 40 man guys not on DL are Perdomo/Guerra Blackburn is scheduled for MON's start in ROC..…

Step 1: Trade Morneau, Span and Willingham this offseason. -These three players are nice pieces to a Championship squad, but unfortunately the Twins do not have the other pieces to win one right now. Therefore, they need to set themselves back a year or two and let some younger guys develop. Trading Morneau, Span and Willingham not only gets them Starting Pitching in return, but it also allows the Twins to save money at a few positions and allow young players a chance to prove themselves. Chris Parmalee will get a chance to man 1B at a reduced price. The 3 outfield positions would be an all out battle royal between Revere, Mastroiani, Hicks, Benson, Arcia, Carson. They c…

The Red Sox just traded about $250 million worth of contracts (Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett) to the Dodgers for a handful of players. If the Red Sox were to continue this 'selling off' plan, would it make sense for the Twins to make a phone call? Consider that the Twins would have the #1 waiver claim, something could happen. Would the Twins consider: Jon Lester: $11.625 million in 2013, $13 million club option for 2014 (with a $0.25 buyout). Clay Buchholz: $5.5 million in 2013, $7.7 million in 2014, $12 million in 2015, a $13 million option (with a $0.245 buyout) for 2016, and a $13.5 million option (with $0.5 million buyout) in 2017. Dustin Pedroi…

Potato Head has played in 99 of the Twins 123 games this year, excluding the 15 games in May when his wrist was sore. 71 of the 99 games he played at 1B, where for his career he has posted positive defensive value. Plus his wRC+ has improved dramatically, going from 69 in 2011 to 117 this year. If Morneau continues to improve next season, the Twins won't likely offer Morneau a compelling salary afterwards esp. given Morneau's frustration with TF. However by extending Morneau today, the Twins stand to hold their only power lefthander at considerable discount through his age 37 season while assuming significant injury risk. Something like 5/30 would be very hard for Morne…

The Florida Sports Foundation will match Lee County up to $15M for improvements to the Lee County Sport Complex. http://www.twincities.com/twins/ci_21395372/minnesota-twins-spring-training-home-lands-money-improvements

Hopefully the Twins braintust leave Samuel Deduno alone and don't try to get him to "pitch to contact". It is nice to see some movement on the ball. The one thing that confused me about his start tonight was why our All Star catcher was absent from the game?

Did the twins even consider drafting Trout who was available when they chose first? I just saw the s i article about him

bullpen too taxed says Gardy. Use the pen differently then!!! surprises me as I thought Kyle may have been a candidate for a DFA....if not for a Sept callup, then this offseason.

Yeah, so maybe while it was not a good trade by Bill Smith, the fact that the Twins aren't covering Santana's huge contract while he stays almost perpetually injured might not be such a bad thing after all.

Any costume ideas for the annual hazing? The first group theme that popped into my head was dressing them like the Avengers. Scott Diamond-Captain America Tyler Robertson-The Incredible Hulk Cole Devries-Thor Liam Hendricks-Hawkeye

The Twins announce that they have recalled right-handed reliever Kyle Waldrop from Rochester and will be sending outfielder Matt Carson to AAA.

Rightly or wrongly, I'm posting this as a new thread rather than add to the game-day thread. My son and I made the trek down from Lake Tahoe to see the Minnesota Twins play in Oakland in an afternoon getaway-day game, which the Twins lost 5-1 on a three-hitter; guess either they or the umpires had a plane to catch. Here are a few observations and highlights. I don't get to see the Twins enough in person, so a lot of what I have to say arises from that. - From a Twins fan perspective it was a dreary game, but the event itself was really enjoyable. I do not understand the hatred for Oakland's Coliseum; yes it's a mixed-use stadium, but having spent far too many days and…

You may recall the story earlier this month about the Diamondbacks signing an undrafted high schooler for $400K. It counted against their cap, some opined that they broke the rules (they didn't). The gem in the article was saying the move wasn't without precedence: The Twins signed Bobby Kielty for $500K after going undrafted in 1999, but blowing up in the Cape Cod League. They compare all the CFs in the Eastern League and Aaron Hicks compares favorably to most. Two plus tools (fielding and arm) to average tools (hit and run). His power is considered below average. Only Jake Marisnick (TOR) is younger and has more plus tools. AJ Pierzynski thinks that the Twins g…