Twins

In the middle of a roster shuffle which includes the recall of outfielder Eddie Rosario, the Minnesota Twins announced today that they have designated reliever Kevin Jepsen for assignment.

After a week of reports suggesting that the Minnesota Twins had made their decision on the person to lead their baseball operations, the organization has finally made it official on Monday.

The 33-year-old Derek Falvey, a Terry Francona-proclaimed “rising star” in Cleveland’s front office, will assume the positions of executive vice president and chief baseball official for the Minnesota Twins.

While much of the Twins 25-man roster might be pretty well set, there are a few position battles of note. As spring training rolls along, some of them will become more clear. It’s also possible that others could create additional position battles. We’ll certainly be covering those through the spring.

One of those position battles that we’ll likely hear a lot about is the backup catcher position. Jason Castro will be the starter, and he will likely start between 110 and 125 games. So who will start the other 35 to 55 games?

Before I move on to other things… I want to start by saying that today is Memorial Day. I want to lead with this because Memorial Day should not be forgotten. That wasn’t meant to be a pun… it was respect and a salute from the bottom of my heart. God Bless those who have served… God Bless those we have loved and lost.

The Astros come to town and the Twins have to be tired. Six hours and 26 minutes of baseball is a long time to wear a jock strap without consequence. Six hours is a long time to do almost anything. It seems like it takes 6 hours for my wife to be ready as I stand by the door. I watched “The English Patient” once that seemed like 6 hours. Trips to the DMV seem like 6 hours. The last 30 minutes of the workday… seems to take 6 hours. Coming up with an idea for these game threads also takes about 6 hours.

Here are some things to think about:

(Note that this is kind of a rambling, stream of consciousness opinion article typed up following a third straight very late night loss to the Dodgers. This series has completely thrown off my sleep pattern, but I also felt the need to write right away and express several thoughts that have crept into my mind through and then after the game. I hope it's coherent and enjoyable, and I hope you'll share your thoughts on it and on what the next steps are for our favorite team.)

Even when the Minnesota Twins held a 5-0 or 5-2 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the middle innings of Wednesday night's game, there was no sense of confidence that the Twins would hold on. Those feelings proved accurate as the Dodgers clawed their way back and eventually won 6-5 in walk off fashion.

The Twins are now 5.5 games back of Cleveland in the AL Central division, and four games behind second-place Kansas City in the division and for the second wild card spot. The Twins have lost ground to both teams each of the last four days. Think about that... five days ago, there were three teams within a game-and-a-half of each other, and now the Twins are a distant third place.

So, what does it mean? What should the Twins and their front office do?

It may be the middle of February, but this is a big week for baseball. The Twins held their first official pitchers and catchers workout today and single-game tickets go on sale this coming Saturday. Here’s a look at some of the biggest promotions and noteworthy opponents coming to Target Field in 2018.

The Twins played the Yankees. Should I even go on? Yes?

Alright, Ryan LaMarre pitched for the Twins. Stop there? OK then.

Jose Berrios struck out a career-high 12 batters and pitched seven shutout innings to set the tone for the Twins. The offense managed to scratch across two runs, both coming with two outs, and the bullpen combo of Trevor Hildenberger and Fernando Rodney protected the lead.

Joe Mauer is the best player in modern (post-2000) Twins history. Byron Buxton could be in line to succeed him as face of the franchise.

These are very important players, not to mention very likable players. So it creates an awkward situation when their own best interests conflict with those of the Twins.

But the team must come before the player. And that's why it should not be a given that Mauer returns in 2019, nor that Buxton returns in September.

The off-season can drag on, especially with the free agent market moving at a snail’s pace. However, spring training is on the horizon, so it’s time to start thinking about baseball in the Florida sun.

I put out a call on Twitter for mailbag questions and my followers didn’t disappoint. If you want to be part of the next mailbag article, make sure to follow me on the Twitter machine.

Let’s open the mailbox.

Miguel Sanó is nearing his return to full-time activity. After going through so much since being named an All-Star, I don’t think there’s anything that would make him happier right now. But, looking back at all the events in the past 18 months of his career, Twins fans should ask themselves a list of questions about his return to the team. Trying to anticipate every possible scenario could be a good way for Twins fans not to overreact if he doesn’t play very well at first and to have an opinion on how to assemble an even stronger lineup if he does.

Now that Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel have finally signed, the Twins will have to trade away prospects if they want to improve the pitching staff. It’s going to be OK, because prospect hoarding isn’t really allowed anyway. If the Twins don’t thin out the herd a bit, they may lose valuable pieces and get nothing in return.