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"Beautiful summer day outside, and I’d go to the Metrodome, sit in a seat that faced the visitor’s bullpen" *chef's kiss* I have a seat from the metrodome in my house, its in a room with all my Twins memorabilia. It is set up at a 45 degree to anything of interest, out of respect for its history.

I'm certainly not ready to defend the new FO on this and you don't want to hear "it's early." But, it's early. In 2015, Sano hit .163/.299/.388 through the first week of May. Commentators here were saying that he was rushed back from his injury, they should move him back to A ball, etc. He was in the majors two months later and finished 3rd in ROY voting. Generally, you should trust the talent. Lewis is too good to be this bad. I'm more worried about guys like Enlow and the pitchers we picked up in the trade deadline the last two years. But Lewis and Kiriloff and Larnich will be good ML players. Rooker might end up being a Palka-like player but I think that's his floor.

Rooker now has 56 ABs and 28 Ks. 50% of his official at bats are strikeouts! That is truly amazing, and not in a good way. Lewis is now hitting .192 with a .557 OPS. The overhaul of the farm staff is not producing results. Hey, I don't care if it is "early". This is totally discouraging. At least Graterol is inspiring.

I literally laughed out loud while my students are taking a Math test. Now I feel guilty and will get back to my work email...

How does Sean Poppen allowing 1 earned run over 5 innings, "drop" his ERA to ..75 ? Allowing 1 earned run over 5 innings pitched is an ERA of 1.80, which could not lower an ERA to .75, could it? Just asking.

If he keeps this up throughout the year, why not sign him for a 3 or 4 year contract? Gordon is not capable of producing what Schoop or Polanco can at at the plate. It's probably going to be a couple years before Lewis is ready (not a great start to his year) nor is there a need to rush him. On a side note, I'm really liking the starting 9! I'm liking what Cron has brought to the table with his surprisingly good glove work; already mentioned what Schoop is doing; Polanco is one of the hottest hitters in baseball right now; Rosario tops even Polanco in that category; Buxton is not a black hole at the plate and is running around everywhere; Garver is destroying the ball; and oh yeah...some dude named Nelson Cruz continues to do his thing with the bat...wow!

A note, I don't think the Twins bet on 1yr of Schoop. I think they would have been happy for an option or second year. I think Schoop is betting on himself for a 1yr. That being said, two things you never do, or hesitantly do, is bet on a guy coming off a career year, or a poor year. The Twins have done both this year, and done so smartly. 1] Dime a dozen 1B power hitting types. Cron always put up solid numbers, but didn't play daily, got bounced or played behind other guys, but put up solid numbers. He finally got more than 500 AB in 2018, made some reported adjustments, had a career year, and was known by his new manager. The results, so far, are somewhat expected. He is providing a solid bat with power. Unexpected is just how good he has been defensively! Did anyone see or expect this? He looks as good as anything we saw Mauer do at 1B, or as anyone we have seen for YEARS at 1B. (Except for a few guys, we've been spoiled at 1B defensively for most of 30+ years). 2] Schoop plays a nice 2B. A lot of people want to scare you with a tremendous 2017 vs a really poor and injury plagued 2018. What about a couple very nice and productive years in '15 and '16? Only 27 and 2 really good years, one great year, and one bad season and he's some question mark? Come on! Lewis is a year or two away. Gordon has real potential but is a year away, especially due to injury digging his 2019 start. Despite real infield depth, the other talent is a couple years away. This was a great move! I hope we re-sign him, already, for another season or two.

Pretty crappy weather for our home games so far

Tad Krumrie was a Twins season ticket holder in 1999. He doesn’t remember it fondly.“It was pretty grim. Beautiful summer day outside, and I’d go to the Metrodome, sit in a seat that faced the visitor’s bullpen with maybe 3,000 other disinterested people, and watch Midre Cummings and Cleatus Davidson fail. Never had a problem getting a drink at Hubert’s, though. That was nice.” After last weekend’s Baltimore series, and in anticipation of this weekend’s rematch at Target Field, Krumrie is haunted by a familiar feeling. “I watched the second game of that doubleheader. Man. As fun as it was to watch the Twins hit home run after home run, the game brought a lot of bad memories back. “That’s when I realized the Orioles are the 1999 Minnesota Twins. No one deserves that.” Krumrie urged fellow fans to have sympathy for anyone wearing Orioles gear this weekend. “This is rock bottom for them. They have to sit there in their Cal Ripken jerseys and watch Alex Cobb and Cedric Mullins. You’ll be tempted to laugh, but you weren’t at the game Gary Rath started in 1999. I was. I maintain that he was a bus driver who just happened to be in town, Joe Mays got the flu, and Benj Sampson locked himself in a bathroom. I’m still looking for answers.” The chance of cold rain or even measurable snow this weekend only reinforced Krumrie’s empathy. “Their highest-paid player (Chris Davis) spent the first two weeks looking like Richie Tenenbaum,” said the Richfield native. “Now imagine watching him struggle while snow hits you and him in the face sideways. Say what you will about the Dome, you were at a climate-controlled 72 degrees while Javier Valentin disappointed you.” Click here to view the article

I watched him pitch a couple of times for Seattle and was very impressed. It's not that I impress easy. I watch a lot of baseball games and therefore a lot of players. You have to look impressive for me to remember the player. Pazos is left handed with a very hard sinker, kinda like Zach Britton. Obviously not nearly as good as Britton in his prime but we are talking about a very hard sinker. When the Mariners traded Segura to the Phillies, Pazos looked like he was a throw-in. Segura and Nicasio plus Pazos to the Phillies for Santana and J.P. Crawford. Santana had 2 years around 34 million on his contract. Segura was around 9 million for one year. (Phillies have since signed him to a larger long term contract. Nicasio was about 9 million for one year so the Money was somewhat Neutral. So the Mariners who were (seemingly) trying to shed payroll this off-season ended up Money Neutral with J.P. Crawford as the prize. Therefore... Pazos looks like a throw in in a deal that the Phillies should have taken every day and twice on Sunday even without Pazos included in the deal. So I ask myself... why would someone with a live left handed arm who is performing very well be thrown in? I assume it must be an injury or mechanical issue and now the Phillies have cut him before April is over. Something ain't right... because the Arm I saw was extremely impressive. If it's mechanical... Take a Flyer on Pazos... And go ahead sign Kimbrel.

Of all the issues I had with Dozier, his desire and passion for the game were never even remotely in doubt.

David Ortiz called, he wants to know "how come that hack Randball does a piece on the 99 Twins and I cant even get a mention??"

Also feel bad for Dozier. Really like and respect the guy and wish him the best. Hope he turns it around. In regard to Polanco, always felt he had the athleticism to play SS. Always felt be was a bit behind the 8 ball in how he was used and bounced around. I will give Molitor credit because he believed the kid could play the position and hit. I think we all realize the offensive ability and potential. But his defense keeps getting better and better. I have ABSOLUTELY no problem moving him to 2B in 1-3yrs in favor of Lewis or Javier. (Whole different arguement). But, a believer in Schoop then and now, what would be wrong with this pair for the next couple of years? IMO, worst case scenario is too much talent on hand and you have to make a move to open a spot via trade. Would suck to have that kind of problem, right?

Nice early season essay, but lets wait before we start talking extension or putting him into our future plans.

Good article. I simplify it this way. How much better would the Twins be with Cave active compared to Castro? Little, if any. How much of a hurt would the Twins be in if they DFAed Castro and either Garver or Astudillo would get hurt, necessitating calling up Sawyer or Telis (and it's very likely one would get hurt -- few teams make it through a whole season with two healthy catchers)? Quite a bit. Don't cut Castro.

I gotta disagree with you on this one. Brian Dozier is a very passionate guy that wants to win as much or more than most and is a good clubhouse influence. I knew he had the confidence to succeed in the majors; just didn't see the power developing like it did. I'm pulling for him to get going at the plate for the Nats; maybe start spraying the ball around again. I didn't think we would sign Schoop but I'm glad we did. Two years ago, whoever thought he'd be playing 2B for the Twins?

Turner is hurt with Difo playing SS. Rendon is banged up and Dozier is struggling. You are right Kieboom will play but there are many choices as for where he plays. I’m pretty happy with the Schoop for Dozier trade we made so far.

I feel bad for Dozier on a human level, but as far as being a professional baseball player I’m not surprised he's struggling. He had a charmed run but was always so dead focused on pull power that it was bound to bite him I’m the rear. As it often did between his hot streaks. As for Schoop, I don’t think he’d be prohibitively expensive and I don’t think you ever worry about blocking “prospects” that you don’t know when or if they’ll arrive. This team also doesn’t have the pitching to accept unnecessary wildcards in any given lineup slots next year. Sign the known quantity and trade him later if you must.

This is the formula. Score early, hit dingers and keep the pressure off the pitching staff. If the Twins do this on a regular basis it’s going to be a very good summer. Nelson Cruz, Eddie Rosario and C.J. Cron hit consecutive home runs in the first inning and Martin Perez had his cutter working, making for a low-stress evening at Target Field.Box Score Perez: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 66.7% strikes (64 of 96 pitches) Home Runs: Cruz 2 (5), Rosario (11), Cron (4), Kepler (4) Multi-Hit Games: Cruz (3-for-4, 2 HR), Kepler (2-for-4, HR) WPA of +0.1: Perez .203, Cruz .133 WPA of -0.1: None Download attachment: Win426.png (chart via FanGraphs) Mike Petriello of MLB.com wrote about pitchers who’ve added new weapons to their repertoire this season. He noted that Martin Perez’s new cutter has only yielded one hit so far in 110 offerings, a single. Perez really featured that pitch tonight, throwing it nearly half the time. He got eight swinging strikes on that offering, and the nine cutters Baltimore put in play only had an average exit velocity of 78 mph. Much was made of Perez’s increased velocity this spring, and his four-seam fastball did top out at 96 mph tonight, but it’s that 87-88 mph cutter that’s really making the difference for Perez. Here’s a full look at the info from Baseball Savant: Download attachment: MartinPerezChart.png After looking shaky in his early work out of the bullpen, Perez has been much better in his three starts. He’s given up six earned runs over 18 innings (3.00 ERA), has 11 strikeouts and, maybe most encouraging, just three walks. Having a lead makes it much easier to pitch, of course. It was good the Twins were launching balls into the seats, because they went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position tonight. Elite firepower can make up for a lot of shortcomings elsewhere. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen426.png Next Three Games Sat vs. BAL, 1:10 pm CT (Berrios-Straily) Sun vs. BAL, 1:10 pm CT (Gibson-Bundy) Mon vs. HOU, 6:40 pm CT (TBD) Last Game HOU 7, MIN 1: Foregone Conclusion Click here to view the article

Brian Dozier left the Minnesota Twins during the 2018 season. After being dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers following months of speculation, his tenure in Twins Territory had come to an end. There was little reason to expect him back on a free agent deal over the winter, and the reality looked like the organization was ready to move on from the self-made slugger. That conclusion seemed forgone, but there was a question regarding how he would be replaced.Jorge Polanco missed the first half of last year due to a PED suspension, and his arm has always appeared questionable from a position demanding strength. There was thought that Jorge could slide to second with Minnesota filling the void by inking a Freddy Galvis- or Jose Iglesias-type shortstop in the winter. It didn’t play out that way, a second basemen was acquired, and Polanco stayed put. The Baltimore Orioles sent their All -Star second basemen, Jonathan Schoop, to the Brewers midseason. Like Dozier, he was a one-organization player, and had turned himself into a slugger at an offensively deprived position. Also, like Dozier, success was something that slipped away from him after reaching the top of the mountain. An All-Star in 2017 with an .841 OPS, Schoop posted a .720 OPS in 2018 with Baltimore before dropping to .577 in 46 games with the Brewers. When the dust had settled on his season, he was non-tendered even though Milwaukee had no other obvious answer to start in his place. Looking outside the box, and waiting for an opportunity to pounce, Derek Falvey picked Schoop as the answer to Minnesota’s vacancy. Knowing the club wasn’t ready for Nick Gordon to make an impact, and seemingly not keen on the shortstop options, the decision was made to believe in a bounce back. Despite 2017 being the All-Star breakthrough, Schoop owned a .795 OPS from 2015-2017, and did so while averaging 24 long balls a year. If there was going to be a drop from what Dozier was to what Schoop could be, the impact wouldn’t be much. We’re only 20 games into the current season, but Schoop has already outperformed his 0.5 fWAR from a year ago. He’s never been a guy who takes walks, but there’s been a 3% dip in the strikeout rate from 2018. It took a little while for the first ball to leave the yard, but a career best 41.8% hard-hit rate suggests there should be plenty more to follow. We could stand to see a bit more plate discipline in hopes of doing more with the hard-hit rate, but the inputs are in place for a productive year. Manning second base, he follows in the footsteps of Logan Forsythe before him, and so far is proving to be an upgrade for Minnesota. Arm strength isn’t an issue, and Schoop has produced positive DRS numbers each of the past two seasons. It’s not like he’ll be up for any glove-based awards but helping Polanco up the middle is more than a fair expectation. This is the best start Schoop has ever seen, and that’s a positive development for a guy only a year removed from his first All-Star appearance. In his final year of arbitration, Minnesota doesn’t have team control going into 2020. They banked on this working out for this season, and so far, it has. If this is the consistent version we’re set to see the rest of the way, all parties must be thrilled. Click here to view the article

"Brent Rooker was out in left field for the first two innings of this came, but when his spot in the lineup came up in the bottom of the second he was removed from the game. I’ll try to circle back and see if I can find more details as to why once the Twins game is over/recap is all done." May have re-aggravated his hamstring injury playing in the outfield in the first inning. Not official, but told that's likely what happened.

First of all, the argument goes beyond starting pitchers. Buxton and Schoop inexplicably sat the Verlander day too, before an off day, while Adrianza started for the 3rd time in 5 days. Second of all, I am not arguing that Baltimore was a pushover. Actually, I am arguing the opposite -- we could have improved our odds of winning vs Baltimore with a different 26th man addition than Romero. Namely, another starter, with Perez backing up in the pen that day and/or the next as needed, and I think we could have been better off (as it was, we almost lost one of the games or at least almost saw it go to extra innings with a depleted pen). All that comes before the Verlander game.

Pazsos went to the Rockies

The price for Pazos was Hunter Stovall. Not a solid prospect but had a nice debut last year in rookie ball.

To me, they handled it perfectly. They put the worst pitcher in the toughest matchup of six games. They won 4 of the other 5, and predictably lost the mismatch. Stewart might not have been the best AAA option (Littel, Thorpe, or even Brusdar), that is certainly debatable. But I think they chose the right game to start a AAA pitcher.

Hey, Gary Rath struck out somebody, that's something!

The forecast was clear for Saturday and Sunday in Baltimore, and Monday through Wednesday we were playing under a dome in Houston. So as soon as the game was called last Friday, we knew we were going to be at least 1 starter short in the next 6 games. The only alternative to using a AAA starter in that time was having a bullpen game, which was pretty much an impossibility due to the pen's own rest/usage issues. I'm certainly not surprised that we lost to Verlander, or 2 out of 3 in Houston in general, but I think it's fair to question whether we gave ourselves the best chance in that game/series. Reasonable people can differ in that judgement.

A lot can happen between Friday and Tuesday, that's why all teams usually wait until the last minute to make roster moves. I've been around the game long enough where I don't become unglued when we lose a game to one of the best pitchers in all of baseball.

Romero was handled well, he just performed poorly. It happens.

Over the next six weeks, I’m going to take a dive into the details of how rosters are put together and managed. There is an abundance of verbiage used on a regular basis around the baseball world that many people don’t understand or misunderstand. Hopefully this series will help clarify things. What’s more likely, though, is that it’s going to get a lot murkier before it starts to clear up. First up, we’re going to tackle OPTIONS.We’ve all heard it. “Coach, are you making any transactions?” “Yeah, we’re going to option Vasquez to Rochester and recall Tyler Duffey.” So what does that mean? Well, this transaction the Twins made recently is the simplest form of making a transaction involving options. Both Andrew Vasquez and Tyler Duffey are on the Twins 40-man roster, so “optioning” Vasquez means that while he’s still on the 40-man roster, he’s no longer on the 25-man roster. It also means the he is not out of options. (More on that later.) The word “recall” means that Duffey, who was on optional assignment is now on the active roster. Easy peasy, right? Well, yeah… sorta. But what about all the other transactions that involve options? Or transactions that don’t happen because of a lack of options? Over the coming weeks we’ll look at how the 40-man is composed and the rules behind it, but with this piece we’re only going to focus on the players on the 40-man roster. All teams are allowed to carry 40 players with major league contracts, but only 25 can be on the “active” roster. The rest must be on the injured list or, if playing in the minor leagues, on an optional assignment. That means that teams are allowed to carry 15 players on major league contracts, who are not in the major leagues. Most players get on the 40-man roster the same way: The team is forced to add them in November prior to the Rule 5 Draft in December. (Again, we’ll talk more about what that means later in this series.) These players, usually guys who are playing A- or AA-ball, don’t make it long in spring training before being “optioned” to minor league camp. This past November, the Twins added LaMonte Wade, Nick Gordon and Luis Arraez to their 40-man roster. All three were optioned at the same time - in the second round of roster cuts - and were the first position players sent out. Upon being “optioned” to minor league camp, all three players are on their first year of “optional assignment.” And now, because they have all spent at least 20 days on “optional assignment,” it’s official: They have used an option. That’s it. There will be times through the course of a season where a player is optioned and recalled repeatedly. If his stints - short or long - on optional assignment add up to 20 days, that counts as an option. Their 2019 season counts as a season they spent on optional assignment. If a player spends a majority of a season in the major leagues, is optioned on the first of July and recalled on July 17th, while spending no more time in the minor leagues after that, that option would not count because it was less than 20 days. Additionally, he would receive major league service time for the entire season. I've said “first option” or “first year of optional assignment,” so that must mean that they get more than one, right? Exactly. The widespread belief is that players get three options. And that is true 99% of the time. (Sadly, very few people - including some in baseball - understand why and when players are granted that rare fourth option. We’ll cover that in depth next week.) After a player has spent three years on optional assignment, it becomes much more difficult to send him to the minor leagues. We'll discuss this more in-depth soon, but Tyler Austin is a prime example of a player that is out of options... which, in turn, limited the Twins options when they needed his roster spot. And as simple as it's sounded so far, there’s more. While teams can place players on optional assignment for parts or all of three seasons, there are actual limits in place that prevent that, in some cases. Injured players cannot be optioned. Otherwise, it would have made sense to option Gabriel Moya to the minor leagues during spring training. He will likely be activated and immediately optioned when healthy (This happened earlier today.) Miguel Sano is a similar case. If it would have been allowed, optioning him and stopping his service clock would be a way to manipulate service time. So it’s simply not allowed. Players who have five or more years of experience cannot be optioned without consent. This came into play in 2012 with Jason Marquis. Marquis signed a major-league contract but missed a significant amount of spring training due to a family emergency. Unable to get into game shape - and with an option remaining - he accepted a minor league assignment to get ready for the season despite having the ability to reject it. (He struggled upon his re-arrival to the big leagues and was released before the end of May.) (Jeremy’s note: At one point, there was a such a thing called “optional assignment waivers.” Players that had amassed a certain amount of service time had to clear this set of waivers to be sent on optional assignment to the minor leagues. It was understood among teams that anyone placed on this set of waivers had given consent, so other teams would not claim them. This forced teams to DFA players - this happened to Andrew Albers once - before optioning them. This was eliminated before the 2017 season.) If you have more questions about options, please ask. Until then, put the following into your baseball vernacular. (If you have leave a question about an upcoming topic, I’ll weave the answer into that particular story.) GLOSSARY “Option” is the act of sending a player on the 40-man roster to the minor leagues. “Recall” is the act of bringing a 40-man player from the minor league to the major leagues. “Calling up” is the act of adding a non-40-man player to the 25-man roster. “Purchasing/selecting (the contract)” is the act of adding a non-40-man player to the 40-man roster… and can also be used when adding to the 25-man roster. “Optional assignment” is a yearly thing. You could be optioned/recalled an unlimited number of times each year. Once you’re optioned, you cannot be recalled for 10 days (unless you’re replacing someone on the injured list). You have to spend 20 days on optional assignment for it to count. If you spend less, the option does not count and you receive service time for the days you were “on option.” STATUS (Let's take a closer look at the players on the 40-man roster with less than five years of service time.) OUT OF OPTIONS INF Ehire Adrianza 1B C.J. Cron OF Max Kepler P Matt Magill P Trevor May P Adalberto Mejia P Blake Parker SS Jorge Polanco LAST OPTION (cannot be optioned after this season) P Chase DeJong (technically, DeJong has not been on optional assignment for 20 days yet this season) P Tyler Duffey SS Ronald Torreyes OTHERS 2B Luis Arraez (used: 1) UTIL Willians Astudillo (used: 1) P Jose Berrios (used: 2) OF Byron Buxton (used: 2) OF Jake Cave (used: 1 -- 2019 could be his second, if he's not recalled within 20 days) C Mitch Garver (used: 1) SS Nick Gordon (used: 1) P Stephen Gonsalves (used: 2) P Ryne Harper (used: 0) P Trevor Hildenberger (used: 0) P Zack Littell (used: 2) P Gabriel Moya (used: 1 -- 2019 could be his second, if he's not recalled within 20 days) P Fernando Romero (used: 3 -- should qualify for fourth, if needed*) P Taylor Rogers (used: 1) SUPERMAN Eddie Rosario (used: 2) 3B Miguel Sano (used: 2) P Kohl Stewart (used: 1) P Lewis Thorpe (used: 2) P Andrew Vasquez (used: 1) OF LaMonte Wade (used: 1) *We will do this in more depth next week, but Romero is on his third optional assignment. What is noteworthy is that Romero blew out his elbow in 2014 and didn't pitch again until 2016, which was his first season with the 90 days necessary to account for a "professional season." That means that 2019 is only his fourth season and he would be eligible for the elusive fourth option in 2020. You're welcome. Click here to view the article

While that's not good, the team has a .127 point OPS differential at home vs on the road. No one likes hitting in the cold.

Speaking of Palka, I see he was 1 for 35 (batting average .029) for the Pale Hose and is now performing (or non-performing) in Charlotte where he is hitting .167 with no homers. Ouch. Maybe he'll be back up if he starts to mash.

Trea Turner is still on the DL IL for the Nationals though too. I suspect Kierboom will take most of his playing time from Difo at SS.

1) I'm happy with Cron so far. I've been very impressed with his defense, but I wouldn't put him in the conversation with Mauer yet. Joe should have won 1-2 GG's at 1B and Cron isn't quite at that level. But it's looking like a smart pickup overall. Need to see that OBP start sliding up, though. 2) Schoop does play a nice 2B, and has made some very nice plays that show good awareness of what's going on around him. (That throw he made after chasing down a wild throw into short right was fantastic, would have loved to see him rewarded with the out) He's healthy this year, which is a big deal. He's looking good. I doubt anyone is on track for a sudden contract extension right now: Schoop bet on himself and I'm sure is going to want to test the market. If he hits like this, he'll get a nice deal. But thr reality is we're still in SSS territory, so the guys who might be struggling aren't going to accept a "buy low" offer, and management isn't going to buy high on the guys who are killing it right now until they see more.

Not a lot to get excited about from last night's action. The one player who seems to be playing better of late is Larnach. He has a .325 average in his last ten games which brought his average up to .270. A bit surprising he has zero home runs, but he does play in a league with big ballparks. Hopefully, Balazovic will be as good tonight as Enlow was disappointing last night. Always look forward to days when he, Alcala and Ober are on the hill. Will tonight be the night we see Kirilloff in action with the Miracle? Or maybe tomorrow?

When I was a child and sad. My mom used to say: "don't make that sad face... it might stay that way". I wish my Mom would have spoke to Brian Dozier about those long slumps he'd go into.

Not a great night for the top prospects.

I like what I see right now. I also view him as a placeholder. With Polanco locked up, I don't think you tie down both middle infield spots considering that there are 3 1st round SS's developing in the minors.

Is which Schoop the real Schoop? The .143/.200/.179 hitter in 9 games at Target Field? Or the .372/.426/.791 hitter in 11 games on the road? I'm thinking the real Schoop hasn't showed himself yet. Those splits are bizarre.

Word!

I don't view this as a give up game at all. This is the pitching depth you all loved before the year started....I read all over that the AAA roster had better backups. This is what those are for. The only thing I would have done differently is swap Astudillo and Gonzalez. Other than that, I think this is pretty much how any team would have run this stretch.

In glad TD picked up Jeremy's option!

They could have started a AAA pitcher against Baltimore on Saturday instead.

Love it! Are you thinking about throwing in a quiz we can take at the end? That would be fun.

“Despite taking his third loss of the season, Duran owns a quality 3.63 ERA to begin 2019.” Except that ERA is below league average in the FSL. Still, the only place it seems he’s struggling is in keeping the ball in the park. Not many hits or walks, but stung by long balls a bit...in a league where they are rare. And the HR ball got him tonight as well. Keep waiting for a bat...someone...ANYONE...on any team...to take off. Like. Watching. Paint. Dry.

I know this about Kimbrel, but the Phillies just DFAd bullpen lefty James Pazos. Perhaps he’s worth look?? I’m guessing he’d be just as effective as Mejia’s been.

Working Together to Win Baseball Games. It’s a Partnership! Ahem! Are the Royals really a Home Highlight? Come on, now! The Minnesota Twins embark on their 59th season and, maybe more importantly, their 3rd season under CBO Derek Falvey & GM Thad Levine, who have now added another “partner” in new Manager Rocco Baldelli. This is the Twins moving on from their past and into the next era of the Minnesota Twins. Will it work? Unfortunately, there is no way to know until we get through this season and, arguably, 2-3 seasons. We will see how this team develops throughout the 2019 season and that will tell us how it’s going and this season will definitely tell us if the Front Offices of Falvey, Levine & Baldelli are on the right track. The Future is Now Ahh...the old “future is now” saying. We’ve heard that before, huh? It has different meanings, though. For the Twins, it means they need to find out what they have in their young core players. They have a pretty good read on SS Jorge Polanco, LF Eddie Rosario, starting RHP Jose Berrios and reliever LHP Taylor Rogers. The rest of that young core is still up in the air on if they can be key parts to this team becoming a perennial playoff & championship-contending team. They aren’t completely sure what they have in CF Byron Buxton, 3B Miguel Sano, RF Max Kepler, OF Jake Cave, C Mitch Garver, RHP Jake Odorizzi and the two Trevors, May & Hildenberger. This is a big season for all of these players. They have a chance to secure their time with this team with good seasons. Impact Players? A good part of this offseason was about getting CF Byron Buxton & 3B Miguel Sano right after both of them had miserable 2018 seasons due to both injuries and bad play. They need to find out if either of them can be the impact players they have the potential to be and until they find that out, it pretty much keeps the front office from going all in on big-time free agents. The good news is both Byron Buxton & Miguel Sano realized that a lot of this is on them. They need to figure out how to be major league baseball players. Not only how to play but everything around the game. How to prepare both in the offseason and during the season for each game. It’s not as easy at the major-league level as it is coming up through the minors when their talent will get it done most of the time. This is a big part of failure being a reason for success. Ironically, weight was a big deal for both of them but Byron was trying to gain weight while Miguel was trying to lose it. Byron wanted some more weight on his body so he could take all the plays he makes in the outfield against the walls and the outfield grass. Miguel needed to lose weight so he could be more flexible and allow his body to handle the rigors of a 162-game major-league baseball season. They both looked great coming into spring training. Sano made some noise in the offseason by helping his Winter League team win a championship and he ended up getting a pretty good gash on his heel that will end up keeping him out until May. That’s a tough setback for Miguel. It was easy to tell that he put a lot of work into getting healthy this offseason. It is also easy to tell how disappointed he is to not be able to be out there with his teammates getting ready for the season. Rocco to the Rescue Just a couple days after the 2018 season ended, the Twins fired manager Paul Molitor. Derek Falvey probably would’ve fired Molitor after the 2017 season but they made the playoffs and he was named American League Manager of the Year. So they gave him a 3-year extension instead because his team did the unthinkable and made the playoffs after going 5-10 after the All-Star Break and being an under .500 baseball team. Then they went 35-24 for the last two months of the regular season and clinched a Wild Card spot. Remember, Falvey was forced to keep Molitor as his manager when he was hired in October of 2016 so it’s not that surprising that he’d want to bring in his own manager as soon as possible. So, a search began for the 14th manager of the Minnesota Twins. About 3 weeks later, they found their man in former Tampa Bay Rays outfielder and coach, Rocco Baldelli. Rocco has never managed a team before so he didn’t go over well with some Twins fans because, of course, they don’t know him, yet. They still don’t know him but from afar he appears to be a very down to earth person who likes to get to know people, how they tick and wants to know their opinions on baseball. That includes his players, too. Rocco is Falvey’s guy, a “partner” he can work with who enjoys all elements of the game of baseball, including the analytics side. He’s also very open to change and trying new things in the game. They’ve worked together along with the rest of the baseball operations staff to change a lot of how this team is run. They changed a lot of Spring Training to keep the players from having to be on their feet more than they need to and to keep them healthy throughout, especially the catchers. That will continue through the season as well and I’m sure we’ll hear some unorthodox ways the Twins are doing things. For me, it’s refreshing because they are trying to find ways to beat other teams on & off the field and the players have liked it, too. They are doing things that other teams might not be doing. For example, they are changing how catchers receive low pitches with different catching positions so the ump can see the pitch better so they can get more low strikes for their pitchers. One question a lot of fans will ask is how will Rocco do as a game manager? How will he manage his pitchers, the starters and the relievers and how will he manage his bench? I imagine this could be different than we’re used to as well. We already heard the Twins are going to begin the season with an 11-man pitching staff and a 5-man bench. A lot of that might be all the days they have off in the first 2-3 weeks of the season. They won’t need a 5th starter until April 16th. Agents of Change The Twins traded away some key players last season. IF Eduardo Escobar, 2B Brian Dozier, RHP Ryan Pressly, RHP Fernando Rodney, LHP Zach Duke and RHP Lance Lynn were all traded at the end of July through the end of August. Then 1B Joe Mauer announced his retirement in November so the Front Office had some work to do to fill those spots. They decided to make a waiver claim when the Tampa Bay Rays decided they didn’t want 1B C.J. Cron even though he just came off a season where he hit 30 home runs in his first season with over 500 at-bats. Did they not want to pay him? Or was it Cron turning 30 soon? They have Ji-Man Choi listed as their 1B. He brings about the same as Cron with better on-base skills and about $4M less in salary so maybe it was the money. A couple weeks later, the Twins filled their vacant 2B spot with Jonathan Schoop on a 1-year for $7.5M. Mr. Schoop had a rough season in 2018 after a breakout 2017 that saw him make the All-Star team and slug 32 home runs. Still only 27-years-old, he is betting on having a comeback season and cashing in on it for 2020. He still hit 21 home runs last season for a bad Orioles team and the playoff Brewers. He had a monster month of July with 7 doubles, 9 home runs & 19 RBIs which made him wanted at the trade deadline but he struggled with the Brewers. At the beginning of January, the Twins signed a player that may have the biggest impact on the 2019 Twins on and off the field as any other player added in the offseason and maybe any player currently on the team. Jonathan Schoop helped recruit him to the Twins, too. DH Nelson Cruz signed with the Twins on January 2nd for 1-year and $14.3 million. He has a big bat. Any player with the nickname Boomstick is probably known for hitting the long ball. He brings that for sure but he also brings some leadership into the clubhouse. He will help fill the void of the Joe Mauer retirement. A clubhouse leader is a big thing in today’s game. Cruz will help mentor the younger players. I’m excited to see how this affects a player like Miguel Sano. He may be the next Boomstick. The Twins filled their biggest needs with their early signings. All of the vacated spots in the field were now filled but they had yet to add anything to the pitching staff and everyone was hoping they’d add a couple pitchers to the bullpen. Pitch to Contract Free Agent relievers were coming off the board and we weren’t really even hearing the Twins were in on any specific pitchers, especially the ones that could really help their bullpen, the higher-tier free agents. The Twins do have RHPs Trevor May, Addison Reed & Trevor Hildenberger and LHP Taylor Rogers for the backend of their bullpen but why not try to improve that if you can with a free agent. Is it because they feel the cost is too high? Are the players available are too old? Or do they feel they have the pieces to build a good bullpen already in house? It’s probably a bit of all 3 of these reasons but here’s a statement from a Dan Hayes article in The Athletic about the bullpen, “The Twins chose not to overspend on relievers because they think there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that buying a bullpen is a crapshoot. They can point to Addison Reed’s struggles in 2018 after he received one of the better free-agent contracts before the season.” That says quite a bit about what they think about high-priced free agent relievers. Does it have any merit? Well, the Oakland Athletics had one of the best bullpens in the league last season, 3rd with a 3.37 ERA & 2nd with a .220 Batting Average Against (BAA.) They were 25th (4.57) & 20th (.250) in those stats in 2017. They added Ryan Buchter (offseason) & Blake Treinen (2017 midseason) in trades and signed RHP Yusmeiro Petit in free agency. They also added Shawn Kelley, Juerys Familia & Fernando Rodney around the deadline for the stretch run. That’s a big jump to make in one season. Twins fans just want their team to have a good bullpen and they obviously don’t believe (yet?) that can happen with the pieces they have in place right now. That’s why they kept clamoring for Craig Kimbrel and likely still are. The Twins did sign veteran right-handed reliever Blake Parker to a 1-year/$1.8 million deal with $1.4 million in bonuses based on how many days he is on the Twins roster. He was the Los Angeles Angels closer in 2017 and 2018 and they released him in the offseason making him a free agent. He will add to the Twins options at the backend of the bullpen with the ability to strike out hitters. At the end of January, the Twins addressed the backend of their starting rotation by signing former Texas Rangers starting pitcher, LHP Martin Perez, to a 1-year, $4.0M (with a $7.5M option & a $500K buyout which could rise to $8.5M based on 2019 innings pitched; $500K in performance bonuses, too). The 27-year-old Perez is coming off a rough 2018 season where he struggled with the Rangers and ended up in the bullpen. He’s never really been a strikeout guy (5.5 career strikeouts per 9 innings (SO9) and his WHIP has risen almost every season to a career-high of 1.781 last season. His career WHIP is 1.479 so a lot of people didn’t understand this move but… This is almost a test for the Twins new analytics staff and coaches. Can they get this pitcher with a pretty good arm back to being a serviceable pitcher or even better? Only time will tell but he’s looked pretty good in Spring Training. His velocity was up along with his strikeouts and his WHIP was 1.286. Yes, Sire! The Twins have one other recent addition to their major-league bullpen and he’s a pitcher who’s been with the organization for just over a year and today is his Birthday as he turns 30. Clarkson, Tennessee native, RHP Ryne Harper was lights out in Spring Training as he pitched 11.0 innings. He allowed just 7 hits, 2 unearned runs, 0 earned runs, 0 walks and he struck out 14. He was drafted out of Austin Peay State University (in Clarkson, Tennessee) in the 37th round of the 2011 MLB Draft by the Atlanta Braves. He’s been a professional baseball player for going on 9 years and that includes playing for 3 organizations and 13 teams over his 8 seasons. He signed with the Minnesota Twins in February of 2018 and started that season with the AA Chattanooga Lookouts and it took all of 4 appearances for him to be promoted to AAA Rochester but it then took all of 4 appearances for him to be demoted back to AA Chattanooga. So he got back to work and for the next 2 ½ months he pitched in 20 games before his results of 29 hits allowed, 16 unearned runs, 9 earned runs, 0 home runs allowed, 5 walks and 44 strikeouts over 34.2 innings pitched (2.34 ERA, .228 Opponents Batting Average, .256 OBP & a WHIP just under 1.00) got him promoted back up to AAA. Then he got on a roll and finished the season in Rochester. Over his 38 games last season, he had 2 games when he didn’t strike out a batter but he also had 30 games where he didn’t walk a batter. All in all, he had a great season and the Twins noticed and gave him an invite to Spring Training and the rest is history. He gets a lot of his strikeouts with his curveball and here’s the thing for me. I think it’s strange that over 8 minor-league seasons, a pitcher who has pitched over 450 innings can have a career ERA of 2.56, a WHIP of 1.140, walk only 135 batters (2.7 BB9), allow only 24 home runs (o.5 HR9) and strike out 553 batters (11.0 SO9) and not get much of a shot at the major leagues until now. Is it the low draft pick thing? Is his fastball not good enough? Is it the lack of analytics in the minors to know what the spin rate is on his curveball? That being said, it’d be great to find out how last season went for him as a member of this new era of Twins baseball where analytics is now a big part of working with and developing these players. Geez! I rambled there, didn’t I? Swiss G Everyone figured the Twins were done signing free agents but with some quality players still out on the market late in Spring Training and knowing what the Twins did last offseason late in Spring Training, it probably shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise that they went out and signed super-utility “multi-positional everyday player” Marwin Gonzalez to a 2-year, $21 million contract but it still was a surprise. The Miguel Sano injury may have been a reason to go get Marwin. Knowing they’d be without Sano until at least May may have made them look for an upgrade to their bench, even though Marwin isn’t necessarily considered a bench player to them. Swiss G? If you don’t know what that means, it comes from Marwin Gonzalez’ agent, Scott Boras, who calls him that because he plays everywhere and do a lot of things like a Swiss Army Knife. He has a good bat and was a big reason the Astros won the 2017 World Series. He even received some MVP votes. He wasn’t as good in 2018 and he’s had a rough Spring Training at the plate but he’ll be the starting 3rd baseman for the Twins so we’ll find out if was taking his time getting into the swing of things. Use the 4th? Since Marwin can basically play everywhere, it really makes me wonder if they will keep or need a 4th outfielder. Right now, he’s the starting 3rd baseman but once Miguel Sano gets healthy when May hits, someone will have to go from the bench. Will it be OF Jake Cave who still has options remaining or Tyler Austin who doesn’t have options remaining? This question may be answered by how these players play in the next 4 weeks. The Twins have a roster crunch coming anyway since they are starting the season with 11 pitchers and 14 positional players. Two and a half weeks in, on April 16th, they will need a 5th pitcher for the rotation so Martin Perez will move from the bullpen to the rotation and the Twins will call up a pitcher to relief pitcher to replace him. Also, at some point RPs Addison Reed and Matt Magill will come off the injured list so, are the Twins already letting teams know Tyler Austin is available? Where Will They Finish? So, with all the additions to the 2019 Minnesota Twins, where will it take them? The Cleveland Indians have been the class of the American League Central Division for quite a while but they didn’t really do very much in the offseason. They did very little for their bullpen or their outfield but they still have Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor (hurt?) and that starting rotation. The Twins have narrowed the gap between them and the Indians and I think Rocco will keep this team feeling good and happy throughout the season. Jose Berrios will be even better than last season, showing more consistency on the mound. Kyle Gibson will start slow but be the much of the same pitcher he’s been for the last year and a half. Miguel Sano will surprise us all when we get to see him show off in May. The analytics staff and new pitching coach Wes Johnson will show their merit with Martin Perez and the bullpen arms and come out on top in the end. This lineup is going to hit a lot of home runs and the rotation will get a bounce-back season from Jake Odorizzi and a return to form for Michael Pineda and we will see Byron Buxton running around the outfield and the bases all season long. Wow! That’s a lot of things going right. The Twins will have some ups and downs and some injuries, too, but they’ll deal with them and move on with the next man up with great leadership from Rocco and Nelly Cruz. It’s taken a while for the Twins to get to this point but this will be the season the Twins show promise for the future in the present as they complete a move to the modern era of Major League Baseball and it’s no longer about implementing analytics, It will just become part of what they do. Those are our TwinsTakes on the 2019 Minnesota Twins! What are your TwinsTakes? 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