Twins

What follows is not a Twins article -- more on that topic at a later date -- but rather a story about how the game is changing below the surface. This is a story about a bunch of screens set up around a baseball diamond. It is a story about how, just as the number crunchers influenced the front office changes over the last decade, a new wave of coaches are making significant changes in the player development systems.

Unless you are a real Baseball America stan, you may have missed this trend happening across baseball right now. More and more, teams have increased in the number of college coaches hired to help with player development. The Minnesota Twins added several coaches this offseason from that rank including, but not limited to, Tanner Swanson, Pete Maki and Dan Ramsey among others. In some cases, the Twins hired for a newly created position (catching instructor) and others they replaced long-time coaches with someone with newer ideas.

Minnesota has hit a little bit of a slump. After being swept by the Tampa Bay Rays, the New York Yankees made quick work of the Twins on Monday night. Outside of Jose Berrios, Minnesota’s starters have struggled and the bullpen has been taxed. It might be time to think about reshuffling the roster. New faces might infuse some life into the club at this early juncture in the season.

What candidates are poised for promotion? Who hasn’t performed up to expectations so far this year?

When I posted my series ranking the Top 20 Minnesota Twins assets over the past couple of weeks, there were plenty of quibbles and disagreements expressed, serving to me as a good gauge of how TD's community at large is feeling about various players.

One asset that many people seem to be down on is Stephen Gonsalves, which isn't too surprising. But to me, he seems like a player worthy of a closer look.

The Twins are about an hour away from starting a three-game intradivision series with the Kansas City Royals. However, thanks to a huge lead in the division, let's be honest, this weekend is about Joe Mauer. And a bit about Prince.

By now most of you have seen Sergio Romo pitch and gotten a sense of his energetic and infectious personality. Many of you have also likely already grown very fond of him. For those of you that haven’t, I hope this article changes your mind.

Byron Buxton had one of his most productive seasons in 2019, but once again it was shortened by injuries. For this year, he needs to tackle two big question marks about himself: Can he sustain his offensive improvement? Can he stay healthy? Let’s discuss.

The USA Today’s Bob Nightengale is reporting that Major League Baseball is considering dropping the National League and American League for the 2020 season. This would allow clubs to play in their spring training sites and have completely new divisions based on geography. Minnesota’s new division would be much tougher than the American League Central, so how could that impact their 2020 season?

Miguel Sano and Max Kepler (along with Jorge Polanco) were all part of a tremendous international signing class back in 2009. Flash-forward 11 years and the Twins were expecting big things from two of the roster’s core members. Unfortunately, most, if not all, of the 2020 season won’t be happening and it is depriving Twins Territory of two players in the midst of their peak season.

On Opening Day last year, Jose Berríos pitched 7 2/3 shutout innings against Cleveland before giving way to Taylor Rogers, who notched the final four outs in perfect fashion to slam the door on a 2-0 victory.

It was a fitting start in another season where Berríos would be the rotation's frontman and Rogers would anchor the bullpen. This year has been a very different story for the two. What gives?

Among free agents that have yet to sign (and there are plenty), these 10 are the best fits for the Minnesota Twins. In one man's opinion.

The Minnesota Twins won and now sit at 13-24. But many of the team's struggles continued to manifest on Saturday. When will the team start making changes?

The Twins are riding a winning streak into the All-Star break, thanks to a four-game sweep over the Tigers at Target Field to close out the first half.

The MLB Draft is underway, the trade deadline is bearing down, and plenty of intriguing storylines are unfolding. Let's dig in.