Twins

A year ago, the Twins were coming off of a 103-loss season, and all of the talk was about whether or not Brian Dozier would be traded for prospects. A deal was not able to be worked out, and Dozier remained with the Twins.

Things have changed after a 2017 season that saw the Twins win 85 games and make the playoffs for the first time in seven years. With Derek Falvey and Thad Levine preaching long-term, sustainable, championship caliber team as the goal, what will they attempt to do with Brian Dozier this offseason?

To trade, or to sign to a long-term contract? That is the question.

Twins Daily Roundtable is a weekly series. As part of this series, a question will be posed to the site’s writers and they will respond in 200 words or less (Some writers don’t like to stick to this limit). This will give readers an opportunity to see multiple points of view and then add their own point of view in the comments section.

July is only days away. This means the non-waiver trade deadline will quickly be approaching. It’s time to separate the contenders from the pretenders. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the American League Central has been full of poor play this season. The Indians, Twins and Tigers are separated by less than 10 games and there is plenty of baseball left to be played so….

This week’s roundtable discussion question is: “With a little over a month until the trade deadline, should the Twins be buyers or sellers?”

The big league club had a getaway game today so the focus this evening was on the minor league action. A duo of top prospects left the yard, while plenty of relief pitchers turned in very strong outings for their respective clubs. As the regular season comes to a close, these farm teams are looking to finish strong.

Every year as we create the Twins Prospect Handbook, I’m intrigued by the amount of talent throughout the Twins system. Only a few players will meet their ultimate dream of suiting up for the Twins. Projecting the future can be a challenging exercise but it can be fun to investigate the crystal ball.

Roughly a year ago, I took a stab at projecting the 2021 Twins lineup. Some things have changed since that point with the rise of other prospects and changes in the organization. Let’s look one year further into the future. Who will comprise the 2022 Minnesota Twins?

With this lineup, you can never count out the Twins. They fell behind 4-1 tonight, but rallied back to tie the game in the fifth and took the lead in the sixth. Working with just a one-run lead over the final three innings, the bullpen not only got the job done, but even managed to pitch around a couple of errors.

The Minnesota Twins' minor league season has been done for about a month. At Twins Daily, we have handed out a lot of awards since then. We conclude that series today by presenting the Twins Daily 2019 Twins Minor League All-Star team. Scroll down to find out who made the 13-man team.

Quickly, here is a list of the Twins Daily 2019 minor league awards:

• Short-Season Minor League Pitcher of the Year - Cody Laweryson
  
• Short-Season Minor League Hitter of the Year - Matt Wallner
  
• Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year - Anthony Vizcaya
  
• Twins Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Year - Randy Dobnak
  
• Twins Minor League Hitter of the Year - Trevor Larnach
  

And here are the Twins Harmon Killebrew Awards for 2019:

• Rochester Red Wings: Jake Reed
  
• Pensacola Blue Wahoos: Hector Lujan
  
• Ft. Myers Miracle: Calvin Faucher
  
• Cedar Rapids Kernels: Brian Rapp
  

Among the group of Twins internal starters without a firm place for 2020, but with a clear chance to assert themselves, one name stands out: Randy Dobnak. No other in-season reinforcement had the kind of impact Dobnak had, and none of them have as much potential to be a valuable starter throughout 2020.

So how much do you *actually* know and love your hometown team? Can you pick out the Minnesota Twin from a group of players at each position with only the following arbitrary 2019 statistics?

If Major League Baseball is going to have any kind of season in 2020, it needs to be a novelty exhibition. Trying to put anything meaningful on the record makes no sense and is likely infeasible. This is a hard truth, but one we sadly must come to grips with it.

While we’ve waited on baseball to return, an enhanced focus has been placed on many important cultural causes and discussions. Although the negatives for baseball have taken place at the bargaining table, it’s within the game itself that this topic derives.

There have been two interesting trends with fastballs that have continued in 2020. First, pitchers are throwing harder than ever, especially with more flame-throwing relievers entering games earlier and earlier. But paradoxically, pitchers are throwing fewer fastballs. The Twins are at the forefront of the latter.

The Twins got creative last winter by signing Josh Donaldson and moving Miguel Sanó to first base. There is another opportunity for innovation this offseason at the shortstop position.