Minnesota Twins Talk

Back in April of 2019, Lewis Thorpe put together back-to-back 12 K starts. Here are some highlights from those starts. He struggled to show his promise with the Twins these past two seasons, but this look back may also serve as a sign of things to come. The early reports out of Spring Training are certainly encouraging.

Do-hyoung Park penned an absolutely fantastic article on Lewis Thorpe. https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/lewis-thorpe-reports-to-twins-in-better-shape-physically-mentally Check out the article, but Thorpe appears to have spent his offseason altering a lot of his lifestyle, habits, etc., He's bigger, stronger, more engaged and more. If so, he's exciting. His fastball was faster in his first spring opportunity to face batters the other day and he's feeling good.

Only playing five teams: Red Sox, Orioles, Pirates, Braves and Rays. Limited seating, masks ...

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/02/twins-sign-andrew-romine-to-minor-league-deal.html Seems redundant to Riddle, but I guess they need infield bodies.

Hope he recovers soon and has no long term effects

For all of you who don't have Twitter, the Twins tweeted these photos of Cruz wearing Sano's pants. He is a huge human being.

Love yesterdays activity, and if reports are correct we may not be done. With a full 40 man and assuming we sign a viable #5 or another pen arm, who do you think gets cut off the 40 man? A very quick glance and I would think Marcus Peery, who we scooped on waivers from TB, might be first in line. Thoughts?

Here are some quotes from Rocco Baldelli, Tony La Russa, Terry Francona, Mike Matheny and A.J. Hinch on their teams heading into the 2021 MLB season.

https://www.startribune.com/heading-into-spring-training-twins-have-an-outfield-opening-for-sweet-swinging-alex-kirilloff/600025554/ Phil Miller penned a terrific article on Alex Kirilloff, his background, personality and the upcoming season.

Many look at Archer's stats while at PIT or maybe they got burned by him on Fantasy Baseball thus saying he's no good. Sometimes we need to look beyond the stats. There hasn't been any doubt in my mind that Chris Archer's problem was PIT coaching staff. Archer had good action on his fastball & slider w/ a circle change up. He`s also a workhorse putting up a lot of innings for both TB & PIT. My only doubt was how he would come back from his surgery. Looking at his twitter post he looks pretty darn good at this stage of his recovery. FO office could sign him to a low contract w/ a lot of incentives. Wes could wo…

Class the whole way

Brent Rooker looked good in his (brief) time with the Twins last season. It doesn't seem there's much hype around him heading into this season, but he's one of the guys I'm most excited to watch this spring. Here's a discussion around how I think he's well-positioned to find regular playing time, at least to start the season.

It's an Insider article (sorry) https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/30861164/way-too-early-2021-mlb-starting-rotation-rankings Twins are 14th. I might quibble a little with that, but looking at the rotations above us, it's pretty hard to justify anything much higher than 10th (White Sox are 9th). Anyway my main sticking point is the Twins write up. He says the Twins lack an ace. OK. I guess you could argue that depending on what you think of Maeda. But the writer literally didn't mention Maeda in the writeup. He mentioned Berrios as someone who could ascend to Ace-dom. He says that Bauer might have been a fit. But not a single mention of the guy that finished 2…

The Twins claimed OF Kyle Garlick from the Braves today. Can’t believe they peeled him away from that franchise.

Looks like they finally put Hamilton on waivers as Seth predicted. I wonder if he makes it through or not. I guess Gibaut is the last waiver arm standing so they must like him best.

Keon Broxton was signed to a minor league contract today by the Twins. He does offer some things that the Twins could use in a backup outfielder--good speed (possible pinch runer), plus defense and a right-handed bat. Especially if Kirilloff and Arraez are spending a lot of time in left field, it would figure that using Broxton as a defensive replacement might make some sense. Broxton has never hit much and he'll be 31 for most of the coming season, but I think the Twins'prospective bacup outfielders really lack speed and defense and none really figure as a fill-in for Buxton. If he can provide anything offensively, he might be a good fit for the 2021 Twins.

After I posted the thread "The Twins greatest need", addressing the SS and CF lack there. Upgrade at SS and a better CF back up. I thought a super utility player (that can play SS, back up CF and hit above average) could do the job. But after looking at the options I changed my mind about getting 1 super utility player and go with the idea of getting an upgrade at SS plus a backup at CF. We got a fantastic SS upgrade, so what about a better CF backup? We could wait until Buxton get hurt and call up Lewis and see if he's ready. It's a viable option I suggested Kevin Pillar (Superman) and still believe that it could be the best option. He's a pretty good CF and even better …

https://theathletic.com/2375121/2021/02/08/mlb-changes-baseball-deadening/?amp How does this affect the Twins lineup?? Maybe Arraz should be starting?

What a life. Had to have been a runner-up for the title, "Mr. Baseball." New York Times obituary here.

It's not a true offseason without projecting the opening day roster - here's what I've got so far: C Garver 1B Sano 2B Polanco SS Simmons 3B Donaldson DH Cruz LF Kiriloff CF Buxton RF Kepler | UTL Arraez OF Cave C Jeffers UTL Blankenhorn | | SP Berrios SP Maeda SP Pineda SP Happ SP Dobnak | CL Colome LHP Rogers RHP Duffey RHP Robles LHP Thielbar RHP Alcala RHP Stashak RHP Smeltzer I'd like to see what you've got, too. What changes would you make?

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/02/twins-giants-swap-lamonte-wade-jr-shaun-anderson.html Dan Hayes is reporting that LaMonte Wade has been traded to the Giants for Shaun Anderson.

https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-sports/former-twin-scott-erickson-charged-in-connection-with-fatal-hit-and-run Headline is a bit misleading, but either way, it's not good. Former Twins pitcher (and Twins Daily Winter Meltdown guest) Scott Erickson was charged with a misdemeanor reckless driving. He was part of a street race in California and two kids died. Just sad!

Bob Nightengale says Twins expected to sign Colome. Interesting, he also says signing as a closer. Interesting to see what happens with Rogers role.

What is the current status of Spring Training, and the start of the season? Is there a schedule?

According to multiple tweets, former Twins player and coach Wayne Terwilliger passed away at 95. https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1357008379911282692 https://twitter.com/SABRbioproject/status/1357009881379831829 https://twitter.com/Patrick_Reusse/status/1357003600468279297

The Twins have apparently agreed to a deal with Cruz for $13m according to Jeff Passan. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/02/twins-to-re-sign-nelson-cruz.html

Nelson Cruz needs to be a Twin. Okay, now that you know where I’m coming from, let me explain how I got there. I understand the argument about using the DH spot to keep guys fresh, etc. But let’s look at how that breaks down in reality. As of now, if the Twins were starting the season with 13 position players, it would seem to be Garver and Jeffers as the catchers; Sano, Polanco, Simmons, and Donaldson as infield starters; and Buxton and Kepler as starters in the outfield. That leaves a primary left fielder to fill defensively. Because I’ll treat Arraez as a utility player, I’m going to put Kirilloff in left, leaving three position players. I’ll go with Cave as the fo…

Let me state I love Cruz and want him back if possible. I not only believe he brings class, experience, knowledge and leadership to the team but I feel he has one more really good season left in him. Beyond that 1yr is a huge question mark based on history alone, if nothing else. Any idea of a 2nd year to a deal is rather obviously a potential stumbling block based on $ and an acceptance he could easily be average at best come said 2nd year option. And to me, "option" is the key word here. A second year that IS an option may be the key. Less $ and either a nice buyout of $4-5M, OR, a clause that kicks in based on number of AB/PA may be key. In other words, if he's good en…

Just for fun-here is 1 player at each position that might be worth the money and my contract estimates: C- Sandy Leon 1 year/1.5 mil 1B (UTIL)- Danny Santana 2 years/4 mil 2B- Tommy La Stella 1 year/2 mil SS- Andrelton Simmons (this would be my favorite move of the season: trade Polanco or move him to utility as previously mentioned on this board) 2 years/16 mil 3B- Travis Shaw 1 year/1.5 mil DH/OF/Emergency C- Schwarber 3 years/12 mil (also would like this move, especially if we do not resign Cruz) SP- James Paxton 2 years/20 mil or Carlos Rodon 2 years/10 mil RP- Roberto Osuna 3 years/21 mil