shortround81

The Twins Daily community was excited to once again revel in positive player performances, but still kept a discerning eye on the present and future roster.
@shortround81 calls our attention to the latest Twins clubhouse gimmick, ringing a gong, in Good Vibes Only. First goats, now gongs -- what's next? The smart money may be on glockenspiels.
Sampling Kool and the Gang, @PopRiveter asks Can we just celebrate Luis Arraez for a moment? He's got mad hits (and playing first base) like he was Rod Carew. Whether a batting title (or seven) is in his future, it's certainly a fun ride right now.
@DocBauer takes a look at player trends in NY State of Mind: Urshela and Sanchez Re-visited. Are they still in that Uptown Funk, or have they elevated to a North Star State of Mind, where the Grain Belt Beer sign inspires you?
Everyone knows that the Twins won't trade their superstar free agent signing while they are contending. What @farmerguychris presupposes in Deadline Trade of Correa is, maybe they will?
Is Gilberto's BABIP for real, or is it too much, Magic Bus? @stringer bell debates giving him a ticket to ride for the starting lineup in Not Yet on the Bus for Celestino.
Did you know Twins Daily has a whole forum devoted to the minor leagues? @Seth Stohs certainly does, and he relays the latest report from the farm in Miller: Pitch Clocks.. Speed up game, but Players hate it. Which side of the issue do you take? You now have 14 seconds to post your opinion -- go!
TD also has an "Other Baseball" forum, where you can discuss any aspect of the game you want. This week, @Trov asks that timeless baseball question, What is your definition of an 'ace'? Are we seeing any emerge on the Twins staff, or will we have to settle for a Gene, a Paul, or a Peter Criss?
Want to join the celebration? Or rain on the parade? There's room for all that and more in the Twins Daily forums.

Over the weekend, Josh Donaldson was involved in an altercation with Chicago's Tim Anderson. Donaldson allegedly called Anderson "Jackie," a reference to Jackie Robinson, that he thought was an inside joke between the two players. Major League Baseball investigated the incident, which involves multiple layers, and suspended Donaldson for one game. During his Twins tenure, Donaldson made headlines for multiple incidents, including calling out Gerrit Cole for his use of sticky substances and an ejection after hitting a home run.  

Originally, the Twins signed Donaldson as a veteran presence on a team in the middle of their winning window. Across two seasons, he hit .243/.355/.474 (.829) with a 129 OPS+ in 163 games. During the playoffs following the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Donaldson wasn't available, and the Twins were terrible in 2021. He was entering his age-36 season, and the front office found a way to get out from under his contract. 

On March 13, the Twins finalized a deal that sent Donaldson to the Yankees along with Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ben Rortvedt. In return, Minnesota received Gary Sánchez and Gio Urshela. All five players projected to be in each team's plans for the entire 2022 season, but baseball doesn't always work out that way. 

Yankees Acquisitions: Donaldson (1.6 WAR), Kiner-Falefa (0.3 WAR), Rortvedt (60-day IL)
When making a trade, teams usually don't like to surrender the best player involved in the deal. Minnesota clearly did that as Donaldson is having a tremendous season as the Yankees sit five games up in the AL East. Age doesn't seem to be catching up to Donaldson, as he has a 126 OPS+ for the fourth consecutive season. Defensively, he is also having a resurgence as he ranks in the 81st percentile for Outs Above Average (OAA). Even with this kind of production, Donaldson has other baggage that some teams want to avoid. It remains to be seen if he can keep up this production through a 162-game schedule. 

Kiner-Falefa never appeared in a game for the Twins after being acquired from the Rangers as part of the Mitch Garver trade. So far this season, he has hit .264/.317/.312 (.629) with an 88 OPS+, which is seven points higher than his career mark. His Whiff% is in the 95th percentile, and his OAA (6th percentile) is one of the lowest marks among shortstops. Rortvedt underwent arthroscopic left knee surgery and may not be available until after the All-Star break. 

Twins Acquisitions: Sánchez (0.4 WAR), Urshela (0.1 WAR)
A couple of weeks ago, Ted examined Minnesota's acquisitions from the Donaldson trade. Both players had yet to make a significant mark on the team, but those results may slowly change in the Twins' favor. Sánchez has surprised in multiple ways as he has an OPS+ of over 110 for the first time since he was an All-Star in 2019. He has also improved his framing metrics as he ranks in the 64th percentile, his highest mark since 2018. According to Win Probability Added, Sánchez ranks fourth on the Twins hitters behind Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, and Luis Arraez. 

In 2019 and 2020, Urshela hit .310/.359/.523 (.881) with a 134 OPS+, and that's the player the Twins were hoping to unlock. So far in 2022, he has been closer to the 2021 version of Urshela that posted a 96 OPS+ in 116 games. His K% is in the 91st percentile, and he provides little defensive value with an OAA in the 11th percentile. Over his last 100 plate appearances, his xwOBA has been above the league average, so there may still be hope for him breaking out of his offensive slump. 

At the end of the day, it's clear the Twins wanted to be "out of the Josh Donaldson business." His on-the-field performance outweighs the value the Twins got in return, but his other antics can rub a clubhouse the wrong way. Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa provide a different kind of leadership for the Twins, and Minnesota is better off with him off the roster. 

What are your thoughts as you look back on the Donaldson trade? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. 

Whether 'tis nobler in the forums to suffer the slings and arrows of the outrageous Astros, or to take arms against the Oakland A's, the TD community found itself looking closely at a changing roster all week, as well as pondering rosters that might have been.
@4twinsJA celebrates Gilberto Celestino in Have Twins found their 4th outfielder? That's two signs of progress in one post: Celestino's stront start and the performance of our "starting" three outfielders. We hope those trends continue.
Looking west, the eponymous topic Taylor Rogers finds @CRF acknowledging the closer's solid season. Unfortunately, it's for the Padres, as Twins fans are left pondering the trade returns and how his absence might ultimately affect our 2022 season fate.
No such regret is detected from @Trov in Did Twins Trade Berrios at right time? Our former ace has scuffled a bit in Toronto, while the Twins rotation has started strong this year and the prospects received are nearing the bigs.
Another cautionary tale of a one-time "player who got away" is Akil Baddoo-What a Difference a Year Makes. @zwiefz notes his fall from Rookie of the Year candidate a year ago to the minor leagues now.
Finally, did you know the Twins magazine is not only distributed at the ballpark, but also online? @shortround81 shared that tip in the forum last month, and this month suspects a "cover jinx" in the magazine with Could It Be? Stay tuned to see if any players are willing to pose for the June cover.
Got a roster move to break, a player to discuss, or a superstition to share? The community welcomes it in the TD forums.

It’s Twins Daily Community Awards time! If you’re unfamiliar with our community awards, it’s something we organized last year to recognize the top participants in the Twins Daily community. We award two prizes: most popular post and most popular blog entry. We also recognize some of our most prolific posters and contributors but award them nothing for it. We don’t want to inflate anyone’s ego, after all.
Our prizes have a theme for the first time: “Johan Santana visited the Big Apple, and all we got was this lousy t-shirt.” Enjoy, Twins fans!
Top Posts of the 2022 Offseason goes to…
Honorable Mention: @Sielk and their comment in the topic Twins Acquire RHP Sonny Gray from Reds for Chase Petty. After months of hearing Twins fans scream about pitching, sielk offers the quite-reasonable opinion, “wait… so they went and got pitching, and you’re still complaining?” I feel you, sielk. I feel you.
The Top Post and Prize Winner: @4twinsJA and their comment in the topic FO's tentativeness is killing the team. During the more-than-mildly-concerning period of the offseason when the front office seemed to want to do nothing, 4twinsJA went the tried and true route that always plays up in the Twins Daily community... taking a swipe at Jake Cave. This is a textbook comment, but its excellent execution puts it over the top. For that the comment wins the ultimate prize: a ticket stub from game one of the 2004 ALDS in Yankee Stadium, more colloquially known in Minnesota as “the last ****ing time the ****ing Twins won a ****ing postseason game.”

Blog Entry of the 2022 Offseason goes to…
Honorable Mention: @cjm0926 and their blog entry A Different Idea For Twins Catching. Writing this entry in early November, cjm0926 had a crazy idea… trade your catchers! All of them. Ultimately, the Twins front office got halfway there, trading Mitch Garver to the Rangers in a shocking move. This entry deservedly gained a lot of traction with our users, as illustrated by its popularity and honorable mention in the blog entry category.
The Top Blog Entry and Prize Winner: @Doc Munson, long-time Twins Daily stalwart, takes home the prize for their entry. What are we waiting on to complete our roster? After a flurry of moves followed by radio silence, Doc wasn’t the only Twins fan left scratching their head. Why haven’t we seen more pitching acquisitions? Are we really going to take such half-measures? In the wake of this offseason, what stands out the most was Doc’s now-humorous idea to overpay Trevor Story on a one-year contract… check and mate, Doc.
As a token of our appreciation for this wildly popular blog entry, I present to you yet another Johan Santana visited the Big Apple, and all we got was this lousy t-shirt prize: a ticket stub from Johan’s no-hitter in a Mets uniform, something he never did in a Twins uniform.
*weeps silently for a moment*
After further consideration, these prizes suck.

Most Popular Topic of the 2022 Offseason…
@MMMordabito wins the no-prize for the topic T-Mobile to offer Free MLB.TV again in 2022. This is a rarity in the Twins Daily awards category, as it’s only Twins-adjacent but highly informative. Personally, the free MLB.tv is half the reason why I’m with T-Mobile to this day. Thanks for the topic, and keep it coming!
Most Read Blog Entry of the 2022 Offseason…
@Doc Munson must have spent the offseason ‘roiding up because they’re flat-out dominating the blogs with yet another entry, Post Lock out Moves: Potential Twins Trades. This entry examined some potential trades the Twins could have executed post-lockout, bringing over 1,800 readers to check out what Doc had to say on the subject. Well done yet again, Doc!
Prolific Posters of the 2022 Offseason…
We have a new postmaster for the 2022 offseason! In a surprising out-of-nowhere appearance, @mikelink45 brings home the no-prize with 1,514 reputation points over the offseason! But, as always, laying in wait with a second-place finish is the ever-present @Mike Sixel with 1,283 reputation points… Watch out, Mike, uh… Mike… is coming for you. Wait, what?
That’s all we have for today; thanks to everyone who makes this site such a great place to hang out every day of the year, even through multiple years of difficult baseball. It means a lot to us that you’ve stuck with Twins Daily through a pandemic, a shortened season, no-attendance games, and a lockout. Without all of you doing your thing daily, Twins Daily would be a shell of its current self.
We’ll see you mid-season, and let me tell you, that prize is incredible, so get typing, you fools…