Minnesota Twins Talk

It's no wonder Arraez was traded. A Star tribune article in MSN News states that. Luis was said to have turned down a contract offer from the Twins before last season. And he wound up as their only player among eight eligible for arbitration this go-round to file for a hearing. Bottom line: Arraez felt he was more valuable to the Twins than they did for at least the past two seasons. https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/reusse-trade-of-batting-craftsman-arraez-doesn-t-set-well/ar-AA16A8Im?fbclid=IwAR1JOjXOFjQZ3vY2oOVaNxCr_vxaD9OCRfMIMKlURkwRXV_Df-7cIH7pCU0 View full rumor

In my opinion, this takes a huge step in redeeming the new uniform look. https://uni-watch.com/2023/01/27/surprise-twins-announce-tri-colored-batting-helmet/?fbclid=IwAR09BMAhwb_x4QX_ZSuPF9Tyo67jXWLCPx-Uj3ellUM_4HoHplm3NBEWYjQ&mibextid=Zxz2cZ I’ll miss the Baby Blues, but this takes me back in a good way. Aside: I just realized why the Marlins were such a good destination for Arraez. He probably already had their cap! It’s going to be a long time before the “M” version grows on me.

https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/jose-miranda-looks-sexy-carlos-correa-says

The Twins finished 78-84, 3rd in the division and 14 games back of Cleveland. This year however I believe enough has changed for the Twins to win the division and get past the Guardians and White Sox. Now I'm way to optimistic of a Twins fan and usually come up disappointed but as always "this year is different." Below is a list of 5 reasons of why this team is a winning one. DIFFERENT TEAM The first and biggest reason is this team is a lot different from last season. We picked up Joey Gallo who I am very skeptical of but also understand the value he can provide if he can be even a glimpse of what he used to be. We added Christian Vasquez who should anchor mos…

Now that JaCelestine?? Cave is gone, who is going to play center field? Cellestino? Nick Gordon? The new guy they picked up recently?

https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/carlos-correa-eyes-future-with-royce-lewis-brooks-lee

We have a redundancy in right field with both Kepler and Gallo. I suppose you could flip one to left field, but then there really isn't a spot for Larnach. With that said there have been lots of rumors about trading Kepler and I expect that to be the last big move other than possibly signing another reliever. Starting pitching looks deep, so likely not an area we would add. So the question is do we get prospects or do we trade for a reliever. Do we just hold off, and deal with the logjam in the outfield - or dfa celestino and/or larnach. Some interesting decisions coming up.

So I’m headed to signature Saturday tomorrow, and I’ve never been to Twins Fest. How does it all work? I’ve got a Correa jersey I’d love for him to sign; will he do it? And as for the rest of the signatures, what should I bring? A baseball? Something else? And lastly how does it all work? The two tables I’m looking at are Correa and Lewis/Martin/Lee/Miranda who are at the same time. Will I be able to get to both tables? Thanks in advance everyone!

Newbie to TwinsFest this year, and up until clicking on the link to autograph station schedule today, there was nothing stated anywhere about an extra cost for getting things signed. I'm assuming this is typical for the event and I was just blindly naïve? And when they list a station with multiple people, is the cost listed per station or per person signing? Will be a fun conversation with my kid who's got a stack of 20 cards ready to go for tomorrow....

Passan reports trade. View full rumor

Hello all... I see Twins Fest tickets for Saturday are sold out on the official website. Does anyone have an idea of a secondary market or some other means to acquire one so close to the event?

*stares menacingly at Max Kepler and smiles*

Posted 1 minute ago Just breaking now... more to follow https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/marlins-trade-pablo-lopez-twins-luis-arraez.html View full rumor

There is a very good article on Fangraphs about Lopez and what happened last year. Makes me more confident.... https://blogs.fangraphs.com/pablo-lopez-has-no-2-starter-potential-in-2023-if-he-can-make-a-slight-change/

https://cordcuttersnews.com/bally-sports-rsns-are-reportedly-preparing-for-bankruptcy/ Let me start by noting that I don't know anything about the credibility of Cord Cutter News or their audience. However, I thought this story was interesting. Numbers (credited to Forbes), not that they are like $8.6 billion in debt. Apparently payments to the NBA and NHL would be placed on hold if they file for bankruptcy. I know this topic has been interesting and unfortunately important to Twins fans for a couple of years. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

MLBTR has reported the Minnesota Twins may be in on aging slugger Yuli Gurriel. The former Astro slumped in his age 34 season, dropping to an 84 OPS+ after posting an impressive 131 mark in 2021. To the Twins, Gurriel likely looks like a rebound candidate but even despite his bad overall offensive performance last season, he posted a slightly above average .740 OPS against left-handed pitching. Though he can slot into the short side of a platoon with Alex Kirilloff, Gurriel is not an outfielder, which would help his playing time on the Twins roster. With right-handed Jose Miranda already roaming the infield and able to play third base, the most natural fit is for Min…

After scratching welts in my head trying to figure out how Taylor and Gallo are supposed to make this team better with their terrible offence as potential replacements for Kepler, I figured that I'd look into the numbers to see if I could sort anything out. I'm apparently of the minority opinion that offence was a larger problem than pitching last year. Yes the pitching was terrible, but what does it matter if the bullpen gives up 5 runs if your team can only manage to score 2 or 3? In that sense, imagining that Taylor and Gallo will be Kepler replacements in the event of a trade, I thought I'd see if they actually can add a bit more offence. Here's what I find from thei…

FORMER TWINS WHO ACTUALLY PLAYED ON THE MINNESOTA TWINS ROSTER AND ARE STILL IN BASEBALL! PITCHERS: LANCE LYNN (White Sox), LIAM HENDRIKS (White Sox), RICH HILL (Red Sox), HANSEL ROBLES (Red Sox), J.T. CHARGOIS (Rays), MATT WISLER (Rays), JOSE BERRIOS (Blue Jays), SERGIO ROMO (Mariners/Jays), MARTIN PEREZ (Rangers), JAKE ODORIZZI (Astros/Braves), RYAN PRESSLY (Astros), BRUSDAR GRATEROL (Dodgers), SEAN POPPEN (Diamondbacks), ALEX COLOME (Rockies), TYLER KINLEY (Rockies), ZACK LITTELL (Giants), KYLE GIBSON (Phillies), TREVOR MAY (Mets), JOHN CURTISS* (Mets), TAYLOR ROGERS (Padres/Brewers), MICHAEL PINEDA (Tigers). CATCHERS: MITCH GARVER (Rangers), JASON CASTRO (A…

Through all the talk about adding a RH bat, (preferably an OF) no one is really addressing a serious problem. Buxton played 57 games in CF last year. (And the confetti hasn’t hit the floor yet as to what a great year he had). Unfortunately, that is about only 1/3 of the games. We need someone to “fill in” for 2/3 of the games? No. The Twins desperately need a starting CF! Celestino is not MLB ready and is very young and shouldn’t be expected to be counted on to be a starter. Gordon Will likely be the starter in LF, so…go get someone who can handle playing 2/3 of the CF starts.

No details yet. Being reported by Jeff Passen.

If/until they trade Max Kepler (not convinced yet he will be gone), I am wondering if your opening day lineup will look something like this: Buxton CF Miranda 3B Correa SS Polanco 2B Gallo 1B Gordon LF Kepler RF xxxxxxx DH Vazquez C Gallo has something like 96 games at 1B (along with 92 at 3B) though it has been a few years since he played there. Not a lot has been said about his positional flexibility on defense. I am curious how much traction this might get with Arraez gone and fairly large question marks with the other potentials at 1B.

The offseason has played out pretty good all things considered. The Twins sit at a projected 2.3 WAR behind CLE and 9 behind the Yankees for the top spot on the projection list. Some of that is just pessimistic projecting. Buxton will likely be more than 3, Kiriloff more than 1.3. Kenta won't stay in the rotation if he's heading to just 1.5. But for argument's sake let's say that the 42.8 is basically correct. What can realistically still be done? While I'm sure it's tempting to rehash all the free agents not signed, that ship has sailed. Let's talk what still can be. (Also WAR has to be our tool cuz otherwise what standard measure could we use? All of our eye tests are d…

They can’t and here is why. 1. He won a batting title. Did the Twins trade Joe Mauer and Rod Carew? No! Why trade Arraez? 2. I have been browsing around the forums and I have seen multiple people comparing Arraez’s hitting to Tony Gwynn. If you had Tony Gwynn on your team would you trade him? No probably not. If they end up trading him for Pablo Lopez it would probably end up being one of the worst trades in franchise history. So here is my proposal for Pablo Lopez Twins get: Pablo Lopez Marlins Get: Max Kepler, Emilio Pagan, Austin Martin, and Royce Lewis Thoughts?

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/mlbtr-poll-american-league-central-favorite.html who will win the Central? Don’t let Cleveland fans dictate this…. Vote now!

I wonder if the Nats would be open to trading Joey Meneses. He’s a right handed 1B/OF who had a WRC+ of 156 in 240 plate appearances last season, as well as 13 HRs. The Nats aren’t close to contention and may be open to moving him for some prospects. I hadn’t seen his name mentioned, and so I wanted to gauge others’ thoughts.

During the first half of the disappointing 2021 season, there was speculation as to whether Nick Gordon would remain on the active roster or be subjected to the DFA process. He was nominally the second backup option for the Twins at both second base and shortstop so there was no clear path for Gordon to get playing time. With the onslaught on injuries in the outfield in '21 (remember Rob Refsnider and Kyle Garlick playing their first professional games in center) Gordon was given an opportunity to get playing time as an outfielder. Gordon eventually played in 45 games in the outfield, including 34 in center field. For someone who had never played there, he did surpr…

Let's hear everyone's thoughts!

... throw it all at wall and see what sticks. ? Seriously though... could you get 5 deep all season with (I have my doubts): Bauer Lopez Gray Sale Mahle Ryan Maeda Ober Let Rocco do his thing. Rather than 5 pitchers, you got 8 to get your 900 innings. Ha! Sorry... was just thinking of the most wild thing that they could do right now. Maybe Wacha in place of one.

SIAP. Has there been any news on the possibility of the Twins being on the streaming channel this spring? Last year we got rid of cable for youtubetv. Had to do it, saved us a lot of money. But it does not have Bally. I was going to get the channel for Timberwolves, but I got really PO'd by thr Gobert trade that I didn't. If they carry the Twins I will pay for it. Has anyone heard anything? Again, SIAP.