Minnesota Twins Talk

So ... how much do you think Kyle Gibson will make in his last year of arbitration? How about free agency? Would you extend Kyle Gibson? If NO, why not? Even if you would not, what do you think an extension would look like? Kyle is going to be 30 next year. I think I would like to extend him this off-season for next year + 2 or 3 years. My objective is to extend team control while guranteeing less money and fewer/younger years than signing him as a free agent. I would like to modestly front load the contract meaning that I would pay more than the next year's expected arbitration to incentivize training and to use some of the team's excess room under their artificial s…

In his pre-game scrum with media on Saturday afternoon, Paul Molitor mentioned that RHP Michael Pineda is traveling to Minneapolis to get his knee checked out. His rehab is being placed "on hold". He experienced some irritation in his knee during a bullpen session in Rochester. They decided to be cautious and have him get it checked out in Mpls, probably do an MRI, etc. The Red Wings have about 10 games left in their season and they anticipate him making one or maybe even two more starts for the Red Wings before coming up to the big leagues for September, assuming that nothing serious is wrong with the knee.

I've not followed this season as closely as I would have liked, but it has been disappointing for sure. In reading the posts after the Twins traded a quarter of their roster, mostly for prospects, it seemed that the back channel conversation was about when the Twins would be good enough to contend. I think they can as soon as next year. First of all, the lineup has a lot of young veterans who could (and should) make a step forward next year. Sano and Buxton have had high expectations, but only about a season and a half of good results between the two of them--Sano's rookie year and first half of 2017 and Buxton's second half of '17--Kepler hasn't become even a good play…

The Twins already traded 1/4 of its 25 man roster but August ain't over. Players traded before Sept. 1 can still play in the post season. So if you're the Twins GM, who do you still consider as trade bait and under what conditions do you make the trade? For instance: Logan Forsythe- 1. Trade him for anything you can get? 2. Trade for prospects only? 3. Seek 1 year extension as Gordon/Lewis insurance and trade only if can't extend. Those that like trade talk let's really go at this hard because we're about to hit a two month black hole that trades won't happen!

Thursday's game against the A's provided another reminder why Eddie Rosario is the best player on this Twins team. Not only did he gun down a runner from left field with a great assist by a stone-cold bluff by Mitch Garver, not only did Eddie drive in an important run with an expert double, but then, from second base, Eddie also helped his buddy Jorge Polanco get a hit. Nothing as bland as stealing signs, mind you. Instead, Eddie Rosario bluffed a bold steal of third while the pitcher was getting signs from the catcher. 3B was playing deep, and Eddie dashed almost halfway to the next bag before stomping on the brakes and dashing back to second. It shocked the A's pitch…

I felt bad for the kid. His major league career just hasn't started very well and it sure looked like a severe case of nerves. However... I think he has good stuff. His fastball has real good movement and he has a decent breaking pitch that could be the foundation of an alright pitcher. 1. I don't think he should get another major league start this season. 2. Although I'd like to see the team keep trying to develop him as a starter. 3. I also don't think he should be sent down. I'd like him to stay with the club and work out of the bullpen for the remainder of 2018 (Low Leverage). Give him some time hanging in the major league environment and see if he can set…

Oh, the expectations are so much less than they were at the start of the season. Twins currently 60-65. With 37 games remaining, the Twins would need to go 21-16 to finish at .500. Coming up, they have Oakland and the Yankees, who are fighting to get into the playoffs, plus games against the Astros and Cleveland. The rest are against the dregs of the AL Central and the Rangers. Overall, it looks like a tough climb for the boys. I'm predicting final record of 77-85.

With Kohl Stewart and Stephen Gonsalves (Slegers and Littell too) struggling big-time with their first starts in the big leagues, it got me thinking about something I've thought of frequently since Berrios' 2016 season - how poorly Twins starters have done over the years. Here's a chart I whipped up of all Twins rookie starters since 2010: My thoughts: Alright... so Tyler Duffey was the only Twin rookie starter to be legitimately good over said campaign. The second best... seemed to have been Cole DeVries, somehow. Or Andrew Albers. Yikes. Of the most highly touted guys on the list, Gibson, May, Berrios, and Romero have all been some level of disappointing, thoug…

Below is a listing of everyone currently on the 40 man roster, sorted by youngest to oldest. Who do you think will be off this list going into 2019? If you are so inclined, feel free to expand on why you think what you do, or even who might take their place. FYI - I have done no research on who must be added (or risk losing). I think the 2019 40 man roster will not include: John Curtiss Zack Granite Robbie Grossman Logan Morrison Logan Forsythe Ervin Santana Matt Belisle Question marks: *I think Mauer plays one more year for the hometown 9. *It seems like Duffey might go bye bye. *Astudillo might also say goodbye depending on if they have or add another multi-position…

Hi all, Last year, Eddie Rosario hit .290/.328/.507 118 OPS+ and it was worth 1.7 WAR. This year he's hitting .294/.333/.498 OPS+ 121 and is already at 3.9 WAR. The main difference seems to be defense. Last year, his defense was worth -1.6 WAR, numbers that Josh WIllingham and Delmon Young would've been embarrassed to have. This year he's a positive. Kepler has slightly improved his defensive WAR as well. The main difference to me seems to be that Buxton isn't in CF. Years ago there were some articles that three good OFers are hard for the defensive stats to accurately measure so one is usually dinged. With Buxton playing so well last year in the OF, it seems like Ros…

What seems like two season's ago the good readers of Twins Daily were asked to make the following predictions going into this fine season: Twin's Record Playoff Position/Results Offensive POY Most HR SP of the Year Reliever of the Year Rookie of the Year Seems like a good time to revisit how we all did...and who we have to root for to do better in hopes of confirming what we all know already...that we are fantastic prognosticators when it comes to the great game of baseball and our local nine Pessimism? Not at the start of the year Who ever said TD readers and writers are pessimistic must not have been around at the start of the year as pollsters predicted a banne…

I don't know if anyone has recently posted anything in regards to just how well Trevor May has pitched since coming back from Tommy John surgery. 7 innings is a small sample size, but he has been lights out. In his first outing he gave up a few hits and a run in 1.0 inning. Since then, 6.2 IP, 9 K, 2 BB, 3 Hits, 0 Runs. Before he got hurt I was hopeful Trevor May would become a very solid middle of the rotation starter, but in the last year and half the Twins have developed or brought in a lot of other arms that fit the description. With May showing his prowess in the bullpen through 7 innings (again small sample), the Twins may have found a lights out power ar…

He will be taking Erv's spot in the rotation and starting on Monday. Good luck!

Truly a frustrating season for all the team's fans.

For some reason, I'm a Taylor Rogers fan. Actually, I know the reason--he's a living, breathing left handed pitcher who has the ability to get hitters out. All the way back to Tom Burgmeier and including such notables as Gary Wayne, I have been a fan of lefty relievers. I don't think you can ever have enough, especially if they can get right handed hitters out. Rogers came up in the disastrous 2016 season and has stayed on the roster since. Last year at the All-Star break, I was saying Rogers should be on the All-Star team. He had a great first half in 2017, but slipped noticeably in the second half. This year, he started slowly, but has pitched better and better as the…

It was hard not to feel sympathy for Trevor May in the 5th inning Thursday night. Coming in with no outs and the bases loaded was, as Dick said, the nightmare of all relief pitchers, and May proceeded to enjoy a good measure of nightmare come true. Clearly May is not yet sharp. Most of us remember what he looked like before his own trip down the TJ trail. He had developed what looked like classic closer stuff, where he was zapping corners with heat and snapping curves to low corners. Thursday it was clear that his command of those pitches is almost entirely gone. After walking a second man in, May became disgusted, which had the beneficial effect of releasing some of hi…

Discuss....

This is stupid! Its way, way too early! And we will have months ahead of us to discuss the 2019 season. And yet, between a disappointing 2018, and NUMEROUS discussions on the ML and milb side of things, trades, September call ups, etc, maybe it's not so crazy to discuss at this point. After all, what are our favorite team playing for at this time other than figuring out 2019? NOT talking about the pen, or positional players. I'm just talking about a proposed rotation for 2019. Period. We can talk at length about the evolution of pitching. Everything from the sudden dominance of bullpens, to the Rays experimenting with RP starting games before giving way. But at the en…

RandBall's Stu, over at Twinkie Town, is incredible. He might have hit a new peak with the following: https://www.twinkietown.com/2018/8/17/17706028/winning-twingo-card-opens-pathway-to-improbable-nightmare-realm A sample: The fiery aperture opened beneath the concert area at Target Field Station. The popular rock band Imagine Dragons were playing a special outdoor show for listeners of the nearby GO 96.3 FM radio station, and were immediately sucked into a place of relentless, unimaginable suffering. But authorities say there are also downsides.

Seems like he has not pitched well at all lately, wondering if something is wrong?

Game starts in a little over half an hour. Archer vs. Berrios. Should be a nice day for a game. If someone can post lineups, it would be appreciated.

May as well setup a talking thread for the trade deadline today. It will be a busy day across baseball, and I'm guessing the Twins will be in it. They've already done a good job unloading pending FAs, and got a pretty decent return for Pressley as well. So who goes today? My guess. Rodney for sure, though I'm not expecting a huge return. Probably a bit better than Duke... maybe a top 15-20 prospect in someone's system. I give Dozier a 50/50 shot to go. I think Gibson stays. His odds are less than 10% in my opinion, especially if the Rays take a while on deciding Archer.

Hip surgery:

Figured it deserved its own thread, because it implies another roster move soon -- Mejia was scheduled to start on Sunday in Detroit. It will probably be Fernando Romero, who last started Sunday Aug. 5 for Rochester (and he did quite well). Could also be Littell on regular rest, although his Tuesday start was poor this week. Gonsalves and De Jong just pitched the last two days for Rochester, so it won't be them. Non-40-man, Kohl Stewart is scheduled to start tonight for Rochester.

SSS alert: Everyone that was traded except Zach Duke is performing better with their new team than they did with the Twins. Eduardo Escobar: 37 PA - .344/.378/.469 4 doubles 3 RBI Brian Dozier: 18 PA - .400/.500/.1000 2 HR 7 RBI Ryan Pressly: 3 appearances - 4.1 IP - 2.08 ERA - 5/0 K/BB Lance Lynn: 2 appearances - 11.2 IP - 0.00 ERA - 14/1 K/BB Rome wasn't built in a day, I realize. Is it fair to say development is still broken at One Twins Way?

According to LEN III and others, Duffey is taking Rodney's place. And Austin is being called up also, although no corresponding move has been made yet. I want to see Austin, I don't need to see Duffey.

Yes...thats my name, but also how I'm known here. And yes, my tongue is firmly planted in cheek with my title to this piece and borrowing from a famous movie line. [Network: "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"] About half of you will get the movie reference. As for the rest of you...watch the movie or play along, lol. I hated losing Dozier. I especially hated losing Escobar! But I get the moves made! If and when you step back and look at things, these were really smart moves made. And at least a couple of the returns will prove that over time, hopefully. I will state, for the record, that I believe most of the trades and FA moves and roster …

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24301269/delmon-young-trade-tree-how-flip-bust-15-years-talent Dear goodness, why are Minnesota sports always on the wrong side of these? For all the posters who say you can't trade controllable position player talent... this an alternative future for the Buxton and Sano era...

Per Bernardino:https://www.twincities.com/2018/08/06/source-twins-joe-mauer-logan-morrison-clear-waivers/

After looking over the list of potential 1B options, I don't see too many that I would prefer over Mauer. This makes me believe he will definitely be back next year to play 1B again as long as he wants to come back and play. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/12/2018-19-mlb-free-agents.html I looked at OFs and 1Bs and 3Bs and DHs and i could only come up with maybe Granderson and Nelson Cruz on full time basis and Reynolds, Jose Bautista and old friend Danny Valencia would be a good right handed platoon option with Mauer if we decide to get more depth there. but there really aren't that many good options for 1B. I am also confident that the Twins will want R…