Minnesota Twins Talk

The article about Wes Johnson's departure from Twins for LSU. https://www.nola.com/sports/lsu/wes-johnson-building-toughness-confidence-for-lsu-pitching/article_7a8abfe8-a72a-11ed-9c86-cf1cd409181f.html

Rocco hinted that the managing changes will be more than simply due to the new pace of play. https://www.yahoo.com/now/pace-play-see-twins-skipper-023300087.html

Every year at the start of ST I get hopeful. Baseball is back, being played, our favorites are on the field, the grass is green, the sky is blue, the sun is warm … well, in Florida it is. ST has always been this great confluence of baseball generations from Carew and Oliva down to Lewis and Lee. It makes me giddy and that makes me hopeful. ST is a new day. Last year is done, over and gone. This year has yet to unfold, where anything is possible, anything can happen, despite the probabilities. That’s how I look at it this time of year. Baseball is being played again signaling the end of the off-season. The new year is here and there is much to look forward to. What are you…

Link Phil Miller and other assembled writers spoke with Twins late-inning reliever Jhoan Duran about a number of topics including: A sore hamstring that caused him to opt out of pitching for the Dominican Republic in the WBC, He is already throwing really hard in camp, maybe even triple digits. He hit 103.8 mph with a pitch in 2022 and sees that as a target in 2023. That said, on a 2-0 pitch to Trevor Larnach in live BP the other day, Larnach hit a ball a very long way, He did the interview in English, which is pretty impressive. He worked very hard at that in the offseason. Not in the article, but Twins Spanish translator Elvis Mar…

TWINS FANS JUST UPDATED FOR 2022 I have put together a complete photo history of the Twins…..every player…..1961 through 2022. 99+% of players are pictured in their Twins uniforms. A couple of players who appeared in only 1 or 2 games for the Twins may appear in a non-Twins uniform. Under each picture is a description telling the first year the player was on the Twins, the position(s) he played, and the number of years he was on the Twins. For example, “1991 Roster John Doe SS-3B 91-95”. John Doe played Short & Third from 1991 thru 1995 for the Twins. All photos are of a decent size. No postage stamp size photos. If obtaining a copy of t…

In the best of offseason health, Tyler Mahle has a new son & has renewed & improved his breaking pitch. https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/twins-tyler-mahle-feeling-healthy-ready-to-put-2022-behind-him/ar-AA17AgSc

Saw an interview today thar Burnes wasn't happy with the Brewers after his arbitration hearing. Sounds like the Brewers might have created some anomosity over a measley $750k. So... does a package of Royce Lewis, Max Kepler and Bailey Ober at least get them to the table?

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/02/twins-interested-in-brad-hand.html Should they ... will they? View full rumor

Link (Subscription) Phil Miller is an international traveler himself, but Max Kepler does offseason the right way! Coming off the worst season of his career, Kepler spent two months living in Paris with his girlfriend, completely clearing his mind and putting it all behind him. He arrived in Ft. Myers two weeks early, ready to make a fresh start. Kepler said, "It 100 percent helped to get away. It always does, even if it's a great season. Being in Paris, being with her, it did take my mind off my [toe] injury," Kepler is not real active on social media, but he occasionally heard rumors about being traded, or that the Twins wanted to trade him. Hav…

Link Typical early spring story/article, but it's fun to read about Louie Varland in this Souhan article. Talks about his high school wrestling days, There is a really fun(ny) Tom Kelly story in here in which Varland says, "That was really wild." And, I was today year's old when I learned the Varland's is a great nephew of former big-leaguer (and short-term Twin) Carroll Hardy.

https://clutchpoints.com/mlb-rumors-why-the-twins-likely-wont-trade-max-kepler Look out below! The sky may be falling! View full rumor

C: Christian Vazquez ($10.00M) 1B: Luis Arraez ($4.50M) 2B: Jorge Polanco ($7.50M) 3B: Jose Miranda ($0.70M) SS: Carlos Correa ($36.00M) LF: Alex Kirilloff ($0.70M) CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M) RF: Max Kepler ($8.50M) DH: Trevor Larnach ($0.7M) 4th OF: Michael A Taylor ($3.50M) Utility: Nick Gordon ($0.70M) Utility: Kyle Farmer ($5.00M) Backup C: Ryan Jeffers ($0.70M) …

C: Christian Vazquez ($10.00M) 1B: Luis Arraez ($4.50M) 2B: Jorge Polanco ($7.50M) 3B: Jose Miranda ($0.70M) SS: Carlos Correa ($36.00M) LF: Alex Kirilloff ($0.70M) CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M) RF: Max Kepler ($8.50M) 4th OF: Kyle Garlick ($0.70M) Utility: Nick Gordon ($0.70M) Utility: Gilberto Celestino ($0.70M) Backup C: Ryan Jeffers ($0.70M) …

Phil Miller reported that Twins President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey said the bullpen is not a priority right now. The Twins did a good job of addressing the bullpen at the last trade deadline and shuffling some pieces led to the Twins being middle of the pack overall. But given the acquisition of Carlos Correa, Joey Gallo, and Pablo Lopez, this feels like a re-hash of previous offseasons, the last two of which has gone very poorly for the Twins in regards to fielding a good bullpen in the first half of the season. Given the availability of marginal but solid relievers and the low cost of acquiring one as insurance against Jorge Lopez, Griffin Jax, Emil…

I truly have about 2 pages of an article on the Twins and their evolving relationship with Scott Boras... I've been sitting on it for a couple of weeks, wanting to find time to finish it. Uggh! Well, in Sunday's Star-Tribune, columnist LaVelle E Neal has a long-form article on the Twins and their relationship with Scott Boras. https://www.startribune.com/twins-scott-boras-carlos-correa-baseball-agent-clients-derek-falvey-terry-ryan-la-velle-e-neal-iii/600250921/ The concept I was going for was that they used to talk about avoiding Boras clients, except in certain situations (like Kenny Rogers being available late in the offseason, or Kendrys Morales still…

Just heard in MLB Radio but no reason given yet. Hopefully just precautionary and not injury related. EDIT: Not injury related. Joint decision between Correa and the Twins. His wife is also due to give birth shortly.

C: Christian Vazquez ($10.00M) 1B: Kiriloff ($.7M) 2B: Jorge Polanco ($7.50M) 3B: Jose Miranda ($0.70M) SS: Correa ($36M) LF: Joey Gallo ($11M) CF: Byron Buxton ($15.01M) RF: Max Kepler ($8.50M) DH: Larnach ($.7M) 4th OF: Kyle Garlick ($0.70M) Utility: Nick Gordon ($0.70M) Utility: Gilberto Celestino ($0.70M) Backup C: Ryan Jeffers ($0.70M) …

C: Christian Vazquez ($10.00M) 1B: Luis Arraez ($4.50M) 2B: Jorge Polanco ($7.50M) 3B: Jose Miranda ($0.70M) SS: Correa ($35.0M) LF: Alex Kirilloff ($0.70M) CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M) RF: Max Kepler ($8.50M) 4th OF: Kyle Garlick ($0.70M) Utility: Nick Gordon ($0.70M) Utility: Gilberto Celestino ($0.70M) Backup C: Ryan Jeffers ($0.70M) …

Not sure if this belongs in the other baseball category: According to Doogie, Sano is holding a workout for any "interested teams" next Tuesday down in Tampa. No other info about it as of now. What qualifies as a workout for him, is probably open to interpretation.

The 40-man roster is full and the Twins have several invitees not on the 40-man roster. If history is any guide, the Twins will employ many players not currently on the 40-man. More often than not, one or more players not now on the 40-man make the club out of Spring Training. For the purpose of this poll, please make your choice with the number of days on the active roster the criteria for who is contributing the most to the club.

https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-twins-scout-mike-radcliff-dies-at-age-66/600249000/

I will reveal the answer later, but for bonus points, can you rank all 5? I was recently perusing some statcast defensive metrics for these guys, and their relative speeds were mostly not in the order I was expecting, and I don't think the differences are completely insignificant either. I’m curious what others’ guesses are. Part of what it shows is that there is more to outfield range than just speed. The jump and route can be very important.

We have a few weeks before P&C report. Not much left to discuss on the FA market. The roster looks relatively set, though there are a few spots in question. I would like to hear if anybody has any legit trade proposals that would help this current team. IMO the Twins have a surplus of borderline starting OF, mid-rotation SP, and high-end SS prospects. I think this gives them some flexibility on the trade market. One trade I think they could make would be a reunion with old friend Trevor May: Twins get: Trevor May A's get: Bailey Ober, Matt Canterino What do you think? What do you propose?

I want to hear your predictions of who will be the team's top five players in WAR. In 2022 it was Correa, Buxton, Arraez, Gray & Urshella in that order. My guess - Buxton, Correa, P Lopez, Miranda, Ryan

So it sure seems to me that C4 made very positive impression and held major sway in the clubhouse last season. This, in spite of the fact that everyone and his brother knew that Carlos was only here as a 1-year rental. Now that he has committed to the organization for the long haul, I expect his influence to have an even more significant effect an the roster. For this reason I think his signing is a much bigger deal than just retaining a component from last year's 3rd place finisher. I don't think many of the "Talking Heads" I see on the internet are crediting his commitment for the upgrade that it really is.

What’s your go site to for stats? why? Mix and match? what are your favorite stats for specific applications? why?

The last I read was that he's been invited to spring training. Does anyone else have hopes that Randy will be able to make a successful comeback? If he could make a comeback which do you think that he could become, a starter again, a long reliever, or just a reliever? What are your overall thoughts about Randy Dobnak making a comeback? I love to root 4 underdogs! https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/players/2870041/randy-dobnak/

Just got an email that youtubetv will no longer have MLB network. With no Bally I am not watching much baseball this summer I guess.

Figured this is worthy of a thread. Has significant impact on the Twins. Personally I'm glad. Not a fan of Sinclaire/Bally's. Whatever replaces it should be better. Back in 2019, Sinclair Broadcast Group completed a deal with Fox Regional Sports Networks. Sinclair’s sports channels are referred to as Bally Sports Regional Sports Networks (RSN). Bally Sports RSN is the service that several fan bases need to have in order to watch their local MLB, NBA and NHL teams. Today, it was announced that Sinclair’s sports channels, including the RSNs, are preparing to file for bankruptcy. Diamond Sports Group LLC, which runs Sinclair’s sports channels, is repo…

With Arraez, I am guessing Kirlioff will be the full-time 1b. Who do you see being the regular starting 9 for the Twins?