Twins

On Wednesday night, the Twins traded veteran minor league catcher Dan Rohlfing to the New York Mets for cash considerations. Rohlfing had been the Twins’ 14^th round draft pick in 2007 out of high school in St. Louis. He was one of the longest-tenured players in the Twins organization.

Below, you will find a list of the 10 players who have been in the Twins organization the longest, without interruption. In other words, Torii Hunter, who signed with the Twins in 1993, is not included on this list.

Watching Byron Buxton hit with two strikes on Sunday led me to wonder what the rest of the team is doing with their two-strike opportunities. Not just what kind of batting line they’re putting together — generally bad — but how often are they striking out when the count reaches two strikes?

Aaron and John talk about the Twins making it to September very much in Wild Card contention, a struggling Byron Buxton vs. a washed up Torii Hunter, whether the Twins will call up Jose Berrios to help a faltering rotation, the third annual Twins Daily pub crawl, feeling old at high school reunions, sweating in studios, and Miguel Sano as the big spoon. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click the Play button below.

It doesn't seem that long ago that I would open up the Sunday paper and grab the Sports section before my older brother could get to it. One of the things that always caught my attention was the stats of the Twins minor league affiliates. Of course this was during the Portland, Salt Lake, Nashville eras, so before the Internet and long before I subscribed to Baseball America to read Phil Miller's weekly blurb about the minor leagues. (Thanks for writing the Foreword, Phil!)

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The Minnesota Twins announced that they have signed veteran outfielder David Murphy to a minor league deal. The Red Wings announced he will be there on Friday. It is likely he will not spend much time in Rochester before joining the Twins.

Aaron and John recover at Fair State Coop and discuss Jorge Polanco's midyear move to shortstop, PECOTA's optimistic view on the Twins defense, the keyword that can get you a pair of 20-game Twins season tickets at kernelnation.com, recovery timelines for Phil Hughes and Glen Perkins, Twins Daily's fifth anniversary, Byung-Ho Park's (mis)perceived weaknesses, how a co-op works, Aaron's new podcast, listener mailbag questions and why they both need to recover from Friday night. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link.

The development of Taylor Rogers into one of the most effective setup men in baseball has been one of the biggest stories of the 2017 season for the Twins. Cody Bellinger’s incredible rookie season has been one of the biggest stories in all of baseball. Push came to shove, and it was the Dodgers rookie who won their battle, as Bellinger blasted a go-ahead three-run homer off Rogers in the eighth inning.

The last few years, I have done preseason predictions in March. The last couple of years, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at those predictions and compare them to what actually happened. While I tend to be optimistic, my 2016 predictions were generally way too optimistic. I have no problem admitting my mistakes!

Keep on reading to see if I was over-optimistic again in 2017 or if my predictions proved fairly accurate. Be sure to click into each player’s projection page and see if you left any comments with your predictions to see how you did at the time.

You might have heard the news already, but Yu Darvish followed Chris Gimenez and signed with the Chicago Cubs. There are many contingencies. But at this point, a trade may make more sense for the Twins than signing any of the remaining free agents. There are several trade targets that should be considered. Today, we consider Astros right-hander Collin McHugh.

There are still the bigger named free agents from this year’s class, Jake Arrieta, Lance Lynn and Alex Cobb. Signing any of them would cost the Twins their third draft pick in 2018. There are the third-tier free agent pitchers like Jaime Garcia and Jason Vargas. They won’t cost a draft pick, but there is minimal upside. There are several other free agent starters that are back end of the rotation types at best.

Debating the resumes of Hall candidates has become contentious in recent years. The steroid era clouded the results of this hallowed ground. Two players, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, might have been the all-time best hitter and pitcher. Neither has gotten the call from Cooperstown.

This year’s class is shaping up to be one of the biggest in history. Two players, Lee Smith and Harold Baines, have already been elected by the 16-member electorate of the Today’s Game Era ballot.

If I was lucky enough to have a ballot, this is how I would vote.

While covering the Minnesota Twins this season, I’ve also made sure to include a brief foray into some additional was the game of baseball is enjoyed. Posted typically at Off the Baggy, or accessible in the Twins Daily blog section, a series on Topps baseball card offerings has been a long running topic. Gone are the years of the junk wax era in which cards became overproduced and less valuable than the cardstock they were printed on. We now are in a place where “The Hobby” as it’s affectionally known, is as much an investing market as it is a booming collectors haven.

We’re now in the final week of the 2019 regular season. Minnesota will be putting a bow on their 2019 AL Central Division title and they’ll turn their attention to the postseason. New York and Houston look like they’ll battle for the best record until the final day, but it’s certainly The Bronx that the Twins should prefer. No matter where they go to kick off October baseball, being back in the hunt should be plenty exciting in and of itself.