Twins

You may have heard this arbitrary but nevertheless impressive statistic: Since the beginning of last August, the Minnesota Twins lead all of baseball in runs scored. This year they have outscored all but three American League teams, and during their current 9-2 stretch they've averaged nearly seven runs per game.

It seems safe to say that offense is not a major problem for this team, Sunday's punchless effort against Danny Salazar notwithstanding. Yet it's still bothersome that the Twins have continued to hold off on making the most obvious move possible to upgrade their lineup.

When will Aaron Hicks get a look?

You may have heard that the 2018 Minnesota Twins weren’t very good. By the end of the season there was plenty of division in the clubhouse and reports of it being a toxic environment that players couldn’t wait to leave began to become a thing. De facto leader Brian Dozier had publicly voiced displeasure multiple times in recent years and found himself shipped out down the stretch. While winning fixes everything, it’s often preceded by a number of factors. In 2019, the script has been flipped.

You know the date and time. You know the places we’ll go. Now lets’ get to the good stuff.

Free Booze

Each of our stops will have free drink samples exclusively for the Touch ‘Em All Pub Crawl participants, made from Proximo Spirits’ high-end offerings such as Three Olives Vodka, Maestro Dobel Tequila, Kraken Rum or Bushmill’s Whiskey. And that’s on top of all the drink specials that they’ll be offering only to Pub Crawl participants.

You just knew that sooner or later a few bounces were bound to go the Twins way. That was the case Sunday afternoon, and here’s hoping we’ll see that continue. Jake Odorizzi struck out 10 batters, Max Kepler and Logan Morrison delivered a couple of big hits and Fernando Rodney struck out the side in the ninth.

You get an award, you get an award, everybody gets an AWARD!

While this might not be completely true, two full-season leagues announced their post-season All-Star teams on Tuesday. Daniel Palka and Zack Granite were both named to the Southern Leage Post-Season All-Star team. It was the second career Post-Season All-Star selection for both players.

The Rochester Red Wings had one representative make the International League Post-Season All-Star team. Relief pitcher Edward Mujica only signed with the club in August and has pitched in three games for the squad. During that time he has not given up a run and he's struck out four. Before joining the Twins organization, he had been pitching in the IL for the Phillies organization and he leads the IL in saves.

You ever have a day so bad you’d just like to permanently erase it from your memory?

Saturday’s game off to a great start. Jose Berrios had a no-hitter going through three innings. Even when he slipped, the bats stormed back. Minnesota held a 6-4 advantage after six innings.

Then things really went sour.

You don’t get many second chances in baseball, so you have to take advantage of those that come. Seconds after hitting what appeared to be an inning-ending groundout, Nelson Cruz delivered a go-ahead two-out RBI single in the 10th inning. He also had a big two-run double earlier in the game, stepping up on a night several of his teammates struggled.

You could say the Twins dug themselves a little bit of a hole early in this game, but that would be sugarcoating it a bit. The truth of the matter is the Twins dug themselves a hole all the way to China, and then kept on digging. Once the dust settled in St. Petersburg, the Twins had given up 14 runs, and never really mounted any sort of a comeback with the bats.

You can never have too much pitching.

It's an old cliche that continues to be repeated, and for good reason: it's true. So even with Minnesota's system experiencing a renaissance of sorts in terms of quality arms, you can be certain that the Twins are closely evaluating several starting pitchers as they look ahead to this year's draft.

One name they're surely in on is Kyle Funkhouser.

You already support the Minnesota Twins. Why not literally support the Minnesota Twins – and get paid. Delaware North, who provides concession, retail and other services at Twins games, will be hosting upcoming job fairs at Target Field. If you’re interested in being inside the gameday experience – and getting paid, including a $200 sign-on bonus –check this out:

Yesterday, we looked at one candidate for the Minnesota Twins’ fifth starter job out of spring training, Mike Pelfrey. Today, we continue this series by looking at another candidate. He’s the tallest candidate, but he also has the biggest fastball and the most devastating slider. Can Alex Meyer stake claim to a spot in the Minnesota Twins starting rotation on Opening Day?

Yesterday, we took a look back at the 2001 draft. Specifically, we reviewed the decision that the Twins had with the first overall draft pick. Should they take Joe Mauer, or should they take Mark Prior? Well, 17 years later, it sure looks like the Twins made the right choice, though Prior was tremendous before injuries ended his career prematurely.

Today, I thought it might be fun to take a look at the situation and just ask what might have been if the Twins would have drafted, and been able to sign, Mark Prior.