Ten Years of TD: The Top 5 Twins Daily Articles from 2017

The arrival of Derek Falvey and Thad Levine brought rejuvenated interest in the Twins. This was a shakeup of epic proportions, not only displacing a baseball operations structure that had been largely in place for about two decades, but also signaling a fundamental shift from old-school to new-school philosophy. 

Trade rumors, draft strategies, and surprising moves headlined our five most-read articles of the year.

5. TD Top Prospects: #1 Fernando Romero

By Nick Nelson | Feb 23, 2017

Romero was a tremendously exciting asset at this time. Always considered a high-end talent, he had finally shaken off his injury woes and put together a fantastic minor-league season in 2016. We were very high on him at TD, and vaulted him to #1 in our rankings while most other lists had him a bit further down.

In my writeup on the big right-hander, I highlighted the qualities that earned him this distinction: a power fastball touching triple digits, a power slider, and a frame that hinted at workhorse potential. 

Alas, it never came to be for Romero, who showed some promise in his 2018 debut and then faded from relevance. He spent the 2021 season pitching in Japan, where he averaged 5.3 K/9. As they say: there is no such thing as a pitching prospect.

(If it tells you anything about the state of the Twins system when Falvey and Levine took over, the rest of the top 10 looked like this: Stephen Gonsalves, Alex Kirilloff, Nick Gordon, Tyler Jay, Wander Javier, Adalberto Mejia, Kohl Stewart, Travis Blankenhorn, Lewin Diaz. Woof.)

4. Surprises Mark Twins Opening Day Roster

By Seth Stohs | March 30, 2017

In their first spring camp, it became clear that things wouldn't be "business as usual" under the leadership of Falvey and Levine. This article from Seth highlights some of the Opening Day roster decisions that drove home this reality:

• Tyler Duffey, who'd been competing for a rotation spot in camp, was moved to the bullpen. 
• John Ryan Murphy was optioned, signaling the end of his very brief time as a Minnesota Twin. (He'd be traded to Arizona before making another big-league appearance.)
• ByungHo Park was cut despite a strong showing in camp. 

Trying to make Duffey a starter, trading Aaron Hicks for Murphy, and signing Park were three of the missteps that ultimately spelled the end for Terry Ryan's regime. Falvey and Levine were quick to leave all three in the past.

3. Twins Close To Acquiring LHP Jaime Garcia?

By Seth Stohs | July 20, 2017

They were indeed. The front office's dizzying flurry of activity at the deadline was certainly one of the defining moments of the 2017 season. Acquiring Garcia was the "buy" move ahead of a "sell" that took place 10 days later, when they flipped him to the Yankees for prospects Dietrich Enns and Zack Littell.

This vote of no confidence from the new front office lit a fire under Brian Dozier and the Twins, who rallied to mount an unlikely playoff bid, capturing the second wild-card berth. 

2. Deadline Primer: Should Nick Gordon Be On The Table?

By Nick Nelson | July 11, 2017

This was perhaps the last point at which Gordon could've been considered a credible trade chip. Ahead of the 2017 season, he was still a consensus top-50 (or so) prospect in baseball, and two days before this article, he'd represented the Twins in the Futures Game. As a 21-year-old former top-five draft pick slashing .302/.371/.464 at Double-A, his stock was quite high. 

In retrospect: yes, the Twins should've traded Gordon at the time if there was any serious interest. Alas, they didn't, and in four years since, he's gone from high-end shortstop prospect to middling utility infielder type in the majors. A point in favor of selling high on prospects, I suppose.

1. Twins Draft Blayne Enlow, Seven More

By Jeremy Nygaard | June 13, 2017

You might think that Day 1 of draft day for the Twins in 2017 would be the biggest attention-getter, given they had the #1 pick. Instead, it was the second day that generated big buzz on our site. I suspect this was because everyone was covering Minnesota's top selection – their first time picking in this position since 2001 – whereas mainstream attention significantly died off afterward. 

The front office's draft strategy, and the decision to select Royce Lewis (who signed under-slot as the first overall pick), were largely predicated on Blayne Enlow, a high school pitcher who the Twins lured away from his college scholarship with a big bonus. Jeremy had been all over the team's interest in Enlow, so it's only fitting his writeup on the pick was our most-read article of 2017.

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