Twins

Since the passing of Twins executive Mike Radcliff just over a week ago, many have sent their tributes and condolences. Today, I would like to share the thoughts of several people who have spent a lot of time with Radcliff and learned much from his leadership, scouts in the Twins organization.

Marco Raya might be the most exciting pitching prospect to come through the Twins organization since Jose Berrios. His stock is significantly rising after a tremendous professional debut.

Happy Valentine's Day and day before pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training! To celebrate, here are some Twins Valentine's Day cards for you to pass on to your baseball-loving Valentine... or for you or your friends to chuckle at! Let me know your favorite one!

He may be right; I may be crazy.

Remember when you would turn on a Minnesota Vikings game and couldn’t escape the note that Adam Thielen was “One of Us.” A Detroit Lakes native, his story from undrafted out of Minnesota State-Mankato to Pro Bowl wide receiver became boilerplate material. It shouldn’t be lost that the Twins have their own version, and Caleb Thielbar is still overlooked.

Tyler Mahle has become a bit of an afterthought when considering the team’s success in 2023. Given his season-ending injury, this may be fair. It’s easy to forget, however, that if Tyler Mahle is healthy, he could make a huge impact.

Every club has spots on the roster up for grabs entering spring training. Here are some of the battles to watch as the Twins open camp.

“Je vais être de retour!!” -- Edouard Julien in a since-deleted tweet sent on June 24, 2019. And with that - which translates to “I will be back!!” - Julien’s Twins career appeared to be over before it started as the draft-eligible sophomore announced his intentions to return to Auburn for his junior season.

Oh, how things change in a hurry.
 

Relief pitchers have a quantitatively small job – pitch one or two innings a couple times per week – but they have an outsized impact on a team's fortunes, as we've seen.

Is the front office playing with fire in its passive approach to the bullpen this offseason?

Some matches are made in heaven. Others are made at One Twins Way.

Defensive metrics suggest the Twins’ infield defense will be a weakness this year.
 

This season Joe Mauer will enter the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame. Following his retirement, his number “7” was immediately retired and hung alongside the greats at Target Field. When it comes to year one of Cooperstown though, perception isn’t something that seems to benefit Mauer. Why that is remains a mystery.