Twins

Most of the key free agents have signed, but the Twins have finally started to add to the bullpen. With this being the only obvious roster battle raging this spring, it’s worth checking in on how the bullpen could be shaken up at the last minute.

Nothing worked for the Twins on Wednesday night, as the team got another abysmal start from Dylan Bundy, combined with a series of defensive miscues. A mid-game rally came up short, and Baltimore avoids the series loss for now.

Ryan Jeffers has become something of a punching bag amongst Twins fans. In a lineup full of boppers, his numbers stand out like a child’s doodle placed next to the Mona Lisa. His lack of production led Aaron Gleeman to write about his “frustrating” offensive development, and some have speculated whether a demotion to AAA would aid Jeffers in finding his groove again. I think this consternation is misplaced, and some under-the-hood stats reveal a hitter performing better than his results indicate.

Spin rate is back up across baseball after a crackdown on sticky substances last season. Are Twins pitchers following this trend or falling behind?

When it comes to the looming trade deadline, most Twins mostly have their eyes on a number of high level starting pitchers. Of course, the Twins will be contending with a number of other teams for those players and haven't necessarily outbid in the past. As strong as the farm system is, the Twins have been less keen to trade core pieces in the past, while teams like the Dodgers and the Rays can easily depart with a literal starting ace pitcher in the hope of October glory (call it a bad trade that the Twins scored on, but the Rays are still playoff contenders and are hardly crying over the loss).

It’s early in the 2022 season, but Ryan Jeffers’ strong start should give Twins fans reason for optimism. He's a top ten catcher in MLB right now.

Friday was the next key moment of the offseason as Major League teams needed to make decisions on their arbitration eligible candidates. Minnesota had already handled some of these situations, but the front office handed out contracts to seven players prior to the 7pm deadline.

The argument may not be so far-fetched.

In 2020, Kenta Maeda ran the game and had the whole world talkin'. After a brilliant stretch of 11 starts, he was crowned the king of the Twins rotation. But Tommy John surgery has kept him out of action for nearly 18 months. What are reasonable expectations for King Kenta as he makes his triumphant return to his kingdom?

Dylan Bundy and the Twins seemed to gather themselves for the Saturday game, getting ahead of Arizona in the third inning and keeping the momentum going throughout the game. 

Break out the brooms. Thanks to early-inning heroics from Carlos Correa and Nick Gordon, the Twins notched a critical win on Thursday night against the Royals. 

During Saturday night’s contest against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Minnesota Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers stole a strike against Christian Walker to get Dylan Bundy a pivotal punch out. That instance sparked conversation regarding everything from robo umps to poor play. When it comes to framing, similarly to analytics, the word is used as a blanket and largely misrepresented.