Brandon Warne

This is an excerpt from a Zone Coverage article which appears in full here. Please click the link. The Minnesota Twins exhibited significant growth in 2017, winning 85 games just one season after crumbling to the depths of 103-loss despair. A lot of it was done with in-house guys, as the only significant additions were a decent reliever (Matt Belisle) and a good catcher (Jason Castro). The rest of the bump came from within. But if we saw anything in October, it was that, while the Twins were impressive in 2017, they were still a cut below the teams that played deep into the autumn. That all changes this offseason. The Twins have the ability to maximize their talent with some payroll flexibility that starts as soon as next winter. Large contracts like Joe Mauer, Brian Dozier and Ervin Santana come off the books then, and Phil Hughes ($13.2 million) is just a year behind that. What it means is basically this: while the youngsters are still in their cheap years, the front office should act quickly to add some veteran glue types to see what this team is capable off in the near-term. Houston did it with guys like Josh Reddick, Carlos Beltran and Evan Gattis. The Twins can structure deals this offseason with some more money toward the back when they don’t have much payroll committed — for instance, they have just $24.2 million committed to 2019 and just $500k on a buyout to Byungho Park that is fully committed in 2020 — or they can wait out this next year and hit the market hard when guys like Josh Donaldson, Charlie Blackmon, Yasmani Grandal and a host of starting pitchers hit the market. But going another year down the road without supplementing this core gets the team closer to bigger paydays from some of the great young players on this roster — and that’s risky. So with that in mind, here’s this offseason’s winter blueprint — and it’s what some might call a non-typical Twins offseason: Free Agents Matt Belisle (attempt to re-sign late in winter if he’s still available) Bartolo Colon (do not attempt to re-sign) Dillon Gee (same as Belisle) Glen Perkins (offer minor-league deal with invite to spring training) Hector Santiago (see Belisle and Gee) There’s nothing too crazy here. If all else falls apart and the Twins want to bring back Belisle on a one-year deal, that isn’t egregious. It’s not something the Twins should be considering right out of the gates however, as despite the strong finish to his season, Belisle is still heading into the twilight of his career. Gee gave the Twins some solid innings but they should aim higher, and Santiago has good enough career numbers that he might be an interesting fall-back option. Honestly, he has been really bad as a Twin, but who knows? Maybe he could be good out of the bullpen. A lefty who adds a couple ticks when shifting to the pen? Sounds familiar. Speaking of, I’m all for a reunion with Perkins to see where he’s at after a winter of workouts. No harm, no foul. Remaining outrights Nik Turley (re-sign to minor-league deal) Buddy Boshers (re-sign to minor-league deal) Kennys Vargas (sell rights overseas or explore trade) Ryan O’Rourke (activate from 60-day DL, re-sign to minor-league deal) Michael Tonkin (do not attempt to re-sign) I don’t think these are all that controversial. In fact, if the Twins need the roster spot, they could probably outright Phil Hughes, too. He won’t be claimed with $26.4 million left on his deal, and will possibly need time to recuperate from a recurrence of thoracic outlet syndrome. Bringing back this trio of lefties for some minor-league depth won’t hurt, either. Arbitration decisions (figures via MLB Trade Rumors) Chris Gimenez – $1 million (tender) Eduardo Escobar – $4.9 million (tender) Kyle Gibson – $5.3 million (tender) Ehire Adrianza – $1 million (tender) Robbie Grossman – $2.4 million (tender, but trade) Trevor May – $600k (tender) Ryan Pressly – $1.6 million (tender)

This is an excerpt from a post at Zone Coverage. It appears in full here. It’s not terribly controversial to suggest that the Houston Astros just climbed the summit to reach heights that fans hope are possible in the near future for the Minnesota Twins. Like, winning the World Series is the ultimate goal, and seeing a team that was -- at least for a stretch -- going through their rebuild concurrently with the Twins should give fans at least a semblance of hope for the future. But what it seems to do around these parts is gets fans all up in a frenzy about how the Twins can reach those heights. How can they copy that team’s method to reach the ultimate goal? That was true in 2015, when the Kansas City Royals used a ridiculous bullpen, tons of contact and an iffy starting rotation to win the World Series. Now maybe it’s more because that Royals team is identifiable to Twins fans -- it almost exactly mirrors the Twins from the decade before that -- due to roster construction, payroll and that sort of thing, but it also feels like fans get too tied up in what works for the winning teams. In short, fans become fixated on how their team can be the next World Series team following the last World Series team’s blueprint. That’s sort of foolish, though. Look at the two teams who just faced off in the World Series. One can easily make the case that it was the best team from either side -- you can’t submit the Cleveland Indians, and I won’t beat you up over it -- and one can also posit that neither team was necessarily better than the other, one just happened to win four of the seven games played between the two. It was more or less a dead heat, and it was to very, very differently crafted teams. Not since the George Steinbrenner-era Yankees have teams spent like the Los Angeles Dodgers have. This year’s payroll started at $241 million and change, down from the previous two years but still about $40 million clear of the No. 2 team, the Yankees, who have cut back in recent years to not only lessen their luxury-tax threshold, but also likely amp up for a run at either Bryce Harper or maybe Manny Machado next offseason. The Dodgers weren’t overwhelmingly good in any one area of the game, but were just flat out solid offensively and both in the rotation and bullpen. Defensive stats can be hard to decipher, but the Dodgers had a defensive efficiency of 70.3 percent. In short, the Dodgers turned that many balls in play against them into outs, and it was the No. 1 mark in MLB -- tied with the Yankees. Where the money comes into play for the Dodgers isn’t just with guys like Clayton Kershaw, but also in terms of assets. When guys like Andre Ethier, Andrew Toles or Adrian Gonzalez go down, the Dodgers don’t fold up shop. They have used their resources to find the next big thing -- Chris Taylor or Austin Barnes -- or they have the ability to go out and trade for a pitcher like Yu Darvish when the team gets exactly zero starters who pitch 180 innings or make 30 starts. In a lot of ways, the Dodgers were snakebitten and still won 104 games and came within a game of winning it all. Insanity.

Where it says "here" in red at the top.

The Minnesota Twins took the first step to improving their pitching staff on Thursday, as the club announced they’ve hired Garvin Alston as the new pitching coach on the big-league staff. Alston is the 16th pitching coach in Twins history, and fourth since 1985 according to a team release. Alston finished 2017 as the bullpen coach for the Oakland A’s, and began the season as a pitching rehab coordinator for the San Diego Padres. He’s spent 13 years coaching in some capacity in professional baseball with the following stops under his belt: Kane County (Oakland A-ball) pitching coach (2005-06) Stockton (Oakland High-A ball) pitching coach (2007-08) A’s minor-league rehab pitching coordinator (2009-14) A’s minor-league pitching coordinator (2015) Diamondbacks bullpen coach (2016) Alston pitched briefly for the Colorado Rockies in 1996, and was their 10th-round selection in the 1992 MLB draft — one pick behind the Twins’ selection (outfielder Ben Jones). Alston pitched in the Rockies organization from 1992-98 — he did miss the entire 1997 season — and then spent the next two seasons in the Dodgers and Royals organizations before finishing in 2003 with the independent Montreal Royales of the now defunct Canadian Baseball League. Alston was one of just a handful of players with MLB experience in the league, along with Francisco Cabrera, Rich Butler, Pascual Matos, Angelo Encarnacion, Shad Williams, Floyd Youmans, Rafael Medina and Steve Sinclair. In his time coaching, he oversaw the minor-league development of pitchers like future AL Rookie of the Year Andrew Bailey (Stockton, 2007) and other top prospects such as Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill. Alston’s son Garvin Jr. is a pitcher at Arizona State, and lists former Twin Quinton McCracken as a relative. He was also drafted in the 37th round of the 2015 MLB draft by the Chicago White Sox. The younger Alston lists his father as a big reason why he gravitated to the game. “He groomed me to be a baseball player, but he didn’t push me to it,” Junior said. “One day we sat down, and he asked me how serious I was about the game. I said ‘really serious.'” — In addition to the Alston news, Gold Glove finalists were announced by Rawlings Sports on Thursday afternoon, with a couple familiar faces getting the nod — second baseman Brian Dozier and outfielder Byron Buxton. This article appears in full at Zone Coverage here. Please click through to support the content.

This is an excerpt of an article that appears in full on Zone Coverage here. Please click through. This is a series of evaluations that will be done this offseason on every player that closed the season on the 40-man roster for the Minnesota Twins throughout the winter until each player has been evaluated. The plan is to start with Mr. Belisle and move all the way through the pitchers, then to the catchers, infielders, outfielders and finally those listed as designated hitters on the club’s official MLB.com roster. That means we’ll wrap it up with Kennys Vargas sometime before the season starts. Name: Buddy Boshers 2017 Role: Lefty specialist who was absolutely throttled by right-handed hitters. Expected 2018 Role: May be outrighted off the 40-man roster, but if he returns, he’ll reprise a similar role. MLB Stats: 4.89 ERA, 5.19 FIP in 35 innings; 7.2 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 1.34 WHIP, minus-0.2 fWAR. MiLB Stats: 3.68 ERA, 3.81 FIP in 14.2 innings at Triple-A Rochester Contract Status: Arbitration-eligible after 2018, eligible for free agency after 2021. 2017 Lowdown: One thing Terry Ryan did fairly well was finding impact relievers in minor-league free agency, and one of his final finds at the helm of the Minnesota Twins was Buddy Boshers. Boshers was by no means great in 2016, but he posted a 4.25 ERA (2.84 FIP) with more than a strikeout per inning, almost no walks (1.8 BB/9) and an above-average groundball rate (46.7 percent). It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the numbers were superficially good, as a lefty low-90s fastball who can spin a good breaking ball probably isn’t going to do that sort of thing year in and year out. But he carried a 12.2 percent swinging-strike rate — about 11.5 percent is average — and did most of his damage against left-handed hitters (.560 OPS against). These aren’t the superstars that bullpen builders flock to, but solid LOOGY’s — baseball speak for lefty, one-out guys — get plenty of dough on the open market. Guys like Antonio Bastardo and Tony Sipp have gotten in the neighborhood of $6 million per year in free agency in recent years, and Brett Cecil sort of broke the mold last winter when he signed a four-year, $30.5 million deal. Boshers is by no means in the neighborhood of Cecil, but it’s fair to say if he’d had his 2015 season with free agency looming, he might’ve scored a two- or three-year deal worth $4-5 million on the open market. It’s disingenuous to call those deals disastrous, but they have not paid off to this point. Sipp has been a negative fWAR player in each of the last two seasons with the Astros, while Bastardo had such a rough 2017 (minus-0.5 fWAR) that it almost entirely negated his 2016 year (plus-0.6). The overriding point here is that guys like Boshers probably have to be considered disposable, and the Twins have wisely identified that. What was less wise was letting Boshers face so many righties this season.

This is an excerpt from an article which appears in full at Zone Coverage here. This is a series of evaluations that will be done this offseason on every player that closed the season on the 40-man roster for the Minnesota Twins throughout the winter until each player has been evaluated. The plan is to start with Mr. Belisle and move all the way through the pitchers, then to the catchers, infielders, outfielders and finally those listed as designated hitters on the club’s official MLB.com roster. That means we’ll wrap it up with Kennys Vargas sometime before the season starts. Name: Jose Berrios 2017 Role: Second-best starter on the Minnesota Twins. Expected 2018 Role: Second-best starter on the Minnesota Twins. MLB Stats: 3.89 ERA, 3.84 FIP in 145.2 innings, 8.6 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 1.23 WHIP, plus-2.8 fWAR. MiLB Stats: 1.13 ERA, 2.63 FIP in 39.2 innings at Triple-A Rochester, 8.9 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, 0.81 WHIP. Contract Status: Free agent after 2022, arbitration-eligible after 2019. 2017 Lowdown: It was pretty easy to separate the wheat from the chaff as far as baseball minds were concerned as it pertained to Berrios. Though not many had written him off entirely, it was still true that a fair chunk of Twins fans expected absolutely nothing out of him in 2017 and some had downgraded his future in their personal rankings. It’s a nebulous concept, but it wasn’t hard to find if you looked for it. Flash forward a year, and it’s hard not to be enthused about a guy who’ll start next season at the tender age of 23. Despite having a career ERA of 5.07 — the same ERA Kyle Gibson has posted each of the last two seasons — it was a tale of night and day from last year to this for the uber-talented righty. It can’t be understated, but we’ll try anyway: Berrios halved his ERA from a season ago. Yes. Halved. Everything that could go wrong for Berrios in 2016 did. He posted an ERA of 8.02, allowed nearly two baserunners per inning and overall permitted a slash line of .310/.409/.523. In other words, he basically made opposing batters look like Nolan Arenado (.932 OPS) in 2016. In 2017, that line dropped to a meager .239/.313/.380 — or roughly the equivalent of Phillies banjo-hitting middle infielder Freddy Galvis. The common theory for Berrios’ improvement is his improved fastball command, though proving that exactly can be tricky. It’s not as simple as his walk rate being cut, but that’s one easy thing to point to as he walked just 3.0 batters per nine after walking nearly double that in 2016. An improved zone percentage — from 38.3 percent to 44 percent — also helps, but isn’t necessarily the indicator it seems to be either. Throwing pitches in the strike zone is a two-way street; tickle the corners of the zone and you’re golden, live in the zone and you’ll die by the zone. Pitchers like Berrios have the kind of repertoire that will induce swings on pitches out of the strike zone, so the improvement in this respect is nice, but certainly not a be-all, end-all.

This is an excerpt from a piece that appears in full on Zone Coverage here. On Wednesday the Minnesota Twins announced the winners of their Sherry Robertson (Minor League Player of the Year) and Jim Rantz (Minor League Pitcher of the Year) Awards. Catcher Mitch Garver got the nod for the Robertson Award, and it was richly deserved after the numbers he posted at Triple-A Rochester. Garver was rewarded with a call-up to the big leagues after hitting a stellar .291/.387/.541 in 88 games with the Red Wings. While the 26-year-old Garver hit just .196/.288/.348 in his cup of coffee with the Twins, he did well to add some versatility in the minors which should help him claim a full-time roster spot in the big leagues in the near future. Besides making 66 starts behind the plate for the Red Wings — where he threw out 31 percent of attempted base thieves — Garver started 14 games in left field and four at first base. It’s unclear what his future projection is in the big leagues due to the fact that he’ll already be 27 when the 2018 season starts, but if nothing else, he could have a future as a platoon bat after slashing .290/.408/.530 against lefties this past season. He wasn’t too shabby against righties — .273/.361/.509 — either. Previous Robertson Award winners include: Zack Granite – 2016 Max Kepler – 2015 Kennys Vargas – 2014 Byron Buxton – 2013 Oswaldo Arcia – 2012 Brian Dozier – 2011 Right-handed starter Aaron Slegers was named the winner of the Rantz Award, as both award winners appeared in the big leagues for the first time this past season.

This is a series of evaluations that will be done this offseason on every player that closed the season on the 40-man roster for the Minnesota Twins throughout the winter until each player has been evaluated. The plan is to start with Mr. Belisle and move all the way through the pitchers, then to the catchers, infielders, outfielders and finally those listed as designated hitters on the club’s official MLB.com roster. That means we’ll wrap it up with Kennys Vargas sometime before the season starts. Name: Matt Belisle 2017 Role: Middle relief to start the season, closer to end season. Expected 2018 Role: If re-signed, would likely reprise role in middle relief. This doesn’t seem terribly likely to happen, though. MLB Stats: 4.03 ERA, 4.07 FIP in 60.1 innings, 8.1 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, plus-0.6 fWAR MiLB Stats: N/A Contract Status: Free agent. 2017 Lowdown: It didn’t start well for Belisle in a Twins uniform. That might be the understatement of the year, as the grizzled veteran righty looked like he was just going to be another reclamation project failure, sort of like Tim Stauffer before him. To be fair, it wasn’t hard to see what made Twins fans turn on him. It wasn’t just a slow start for Belisle. He carried an ERA above 8.00 into mid-June. His ERA at the All-Star break was 5.82. To suggest that Belisle wouldn’t only be pitching meaningful innings at some point in the season at the break -- let alone closing out games effectively -- would have gotten someone laughed out of the room, yet that was the case. The line in the sand statistically for Belisle was San Francisco. It was June 11. Belisle turned a 5-4 lead into an 8-4 deficit when the dust settled, and that four-run appearance where he recorded just two outs pushed his ERA to 8.59. The DFA whispers became chants, yet Derek Falvey and Thad Levine stayed the course with the veteran righty. Please click through to Zone Coverage here to read the rest of this post.

This is an excerpt of an original post; please read this article in full on Zone Coverage here. For a half inning Tuesday night, the Minnesota Twins showed the New York Yankees the equivalent of a pair of middle fingers as they raced out to a 3-0 lead. However, the rest of the night was all too familiar, as the Bronx Bombers outscored the Twins 8-1 the rest of the way for an 8-4 win at Yankee Stadium. The loss was the Twins’ 13th in a row in postseason play, dating back to Johan Santana outdueling Mike Mussina in Game 1 of the 2004 ALDS, which was played at the previous iteration Yankee Stadium, just across East 161st Street from where Tuesday’s game was played. The final pitch came after midnight Eastern time, meaning these two teams came 24 hours shy of playing on the 13th anniversary of the Twins’ last playoff win. As it stands, the Twins haven’t won a playoff game in 4,747 days — a 13-game losing skid that is now tied with the Boston Red Sox (1986, ‘88, ‘90 and ‘95) for the longest in MLB history. Fans will cite the history as though it means something, and frankly to them, it does. Through thick and thin, fans remain the same. But the faces change — on both sides, really — and so while the Twins have a staggering 33-91 record against the Yankees dating back to the beginning of the Ron Gardenhire era, the history doesn’t matter much to the players. Sure, they’re aware of it, but it’s just like why citing Joe Mauer’s career numbers against C.C. Sabathia aren’t as meaningful as they sound. Mauer and Sabathia might have an extensive history replete with a lot of battles, but neither even remotely resembles the player they were when they squared off in Joe’s MLB debut in 2004. Winston Churchill may have said that those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it, but the honest-to-goodness fact was the Twins simply didn’t have the horses to keep up with the Yankees. With that said, on any given day, an MLB team can beat any other — and for a while, it seemed like the Twins had a good chance. Brian Dozier ambushed a 3-1 fastball to lead the game off with a home run, and five pitches in, the Twins had a 1-0 lead. After Mauer hit a pop foul to third, Jorge Polanco walked and Eddie Rosario hit a laser into the right field seats, and just 17 pitches into the game, the Twins had a 3-0 lead and had stud righty Luis Severino reeling. The Twins had jumped him in his mid-September starter for three runs as well, but that took three innings rather than four batters. It didn’t stop there, as Eduardo Escobar hit a sizzling liner into center for a single, and took third when Max Kepler was credited with a double to right on a ball Aaron Judge mishandled for just a brief second. Maybe most write-ups of the game won’t focus in on this point, but we will — this is where manager Joe Girardi more or less won the game. Rather than sticking with the righty who was for all intents and purposes the third-best starter in the American League all season, he turned the game over to the bullpen with just one out in the first inning. That is, the bullpen with the best strikeout rate in baseball — one that rolled five deep before any of their relievers could be considered a peer with what the Twins were working with. Like all relievers, much of the Yankees ‘pen ebbed and flowed as the season went along. Probably the most consistent performer all season long was Chad Green, and that’s who Girardi went to with one out, runners on second and third and a game teetering on the precipice.

Please click HERE to read this article in full on Zone Coverage! It’s sunny and cool with a tinge of October in the air as the Minnesota Twins prepare for the season-ending series against the Detroit Tigers. It’s Fan Appreciation Weekend, and to get that underway, the Twins will send righty Kyle Gibson (5.02 ERA, 4.86 FIP in 154.1 innings) to the mound, where he’ll be opposed by lefty Matt Boyd (5.12 ERA, 4.36 FIP in 130 innings). More on that in a bit. The biggest news buzzing around Target Field came about an hour before the clubhouse opened, as the Twins activated third baseman Miguel Sano from the disabled list. Sano isn’t in the lineup Friday, but could get in there to hit late or perhaps make a start or two over the weekend at DH. Ultimately, it’s all up in the air leading up to Tuesday, though Molitor said that Sano could even be on the postseason roster but not start that game. “I worked hard,” Sano said. “I worked hard, coming here every day early in the morning to do what I needed to do in terms of rehabbing in order to do to be at this point.” Sano said he’s been doing his normal rehab lately, and that includes some pool work and some work with a bone stimulator. “I’m super excited,” Sano said. “The team is going to the playoffs. We’re playing one game and we have to play 100 percent and have all the tools necessary to win the game. I’m excited.” “There’s really no downside (in activating Sano),” manager Paul Molitor said. “There’s really nowhere for him to go to try play or rehab. He had a couple good days yesterday and today. I think he’s finally at a point where some of the apprehension about risk of playing has subsided. He hit quite a bit today. He ran a bit today.” Molitor followed that with a cold splash of water, however. “The reality is, it’s encouraging to some degree, but we have to keep perspective,” Molitor said. “I mean, it was what, Aug. 19 (he last played)? That’s a long time not to face major-league pitching.” “There’s a possibility I’ll try to get him an at-bat tonight somewhere in the game. We’ll see how he responds to all the work he did today and how he feels tomorrow, and whether we’ll be able to get a chance to use him as a DH over the next couple days. But it’s just kind of wait and see.” Sano’s on-field work, with the bat at least, was impressive though, Molitor did note. “It’ll be fun to see him out on the field taking some swings,” Molitor said. “His batting practice looked really good today, considering he hasn’t hit a ton — over the past couple of weeks in particular. We’ll just have to measure it day-by-day through the weekend. Unfortunately, we’ve been compressed into a small time window to have to make a decision about moving forward after this weekend.” Molitor also wouldn’t rule out a simulated game for Sano to replicate some live swings against pitching to help get him up to speed.

He gave up four batted balls over 90 mph in the fifth inning. The sixth was almost pushing it too far.

It didn't hit his glove. He knew Dozier was behind him and was trying to get out of the way.

Greetings from Target Field, where it is sunny and warm as the Twins look to make it two in a row over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays. It’ll be righty Bartolo Colon (4.69 ERA, 4.94 FIP in 63.1 innings with the Twins) on the mound for the Twins and the second lefty in a row on the mound for Toronto in J.A. Happ (3.73 ERA, 4.00 FIP in 125.1 innings). More on that in a bit. It’s Big Sexy night at Target Field, and it’s not just because Colon is taking the mound. The Twins had a special ticket package that included a ticket to the game and a special t-shirt, and it sold out in advance of Friday night’s game. What exactly encompasses the mystique of Big Sexy? Manager Paul Molitor tried to describe it. “I’m sure there are a lot of people who have tried to describe it,” Molitor offered. “The fact he’s been able to continually deny the odds and do what he’s done in the game, do it in a way that’s colorful, doing it in a way that’s obviously very fun-loving in terms of his attitude toward the game. he knows the seriousness of baseball, but he could just as well be playing a little sandlot ball with his buddies. you just never know what particular antic he’s going to bring to a game.” It’s not just a sideshow, though, Molitor said. The burly righty has done a good job cutting the tension for a club that’s in the middle of a race to the postseason. “Added to that, he’s pitching pretty good baseball,” Molitor said. “(Colon) along with other guys out there, are like ‘Hey, everything’s going to be fine.’ Guys, for the most part, are just doing what they’re doing. We haven’t seen too many guys show up in terms of pressure affecting how they pitch or hit. There’s going to be moments — the game gets pretty big at times. We just try to slow it down. But having those veteran presences certainly helps.” On a nice note, Jose Berrios and his wife Jannieliz welcomed their second child on Friday afternoon around 2:20. It’s a healthy baby boy named Diego, and Molitor said that he told Jose to take some time to be with his family before showing up to the ballpark sometime tonight. There had been some chatter about Berrios dealing with fatigue of late, though Molitor said that’s more of a general fatigue as opposed to arm fatigue. “I think it’s more general fatigue than arm,” Molitor said. “We’re just going to try to be smart, whether it’s how long we let him go on a given day to the fact that we all know how he works out. We’ve been trying to get him to back off a little bit. Not to stop working out, but just to conserve the best you can for the days you pitch. We’ll have to see when he goes out there how he looks on a given day and how he’s feeling. I’m not concerned to the point where I have to back him off a start or anything, but you have to keep an eye on these things late in the year.” Molitor added that Berrios is not throwing full bullpens at this point in the year, and that his last one was limited to just 15 pitches. For the full story, click here to read it on Zone Coverage.

too much bunting.

Has anyone seen Eddie Rosario’s shoes? Because there’s a fair chance he left them at home plate when he won the game with a mighty swing against Padres reliever Phil Maton on Wednesday night at Target Field. The Twins spent nine innings trying to scratch across more than one run against Padres starter Dinelson Lamet and his cohorts, but a solid effort from the youngster and a puzzling array of bunts left them coming up short. That is, until Rosario stepped up to the plate against Maton with Joe Mauer on first base. With two outs after Brian Dozier took a called third strike and Jorge Polanco popped foul to third — sandwiched around the Mauer single — Rosario stepped to the plate and did some, well, un-Rosario-like things. Rosario took the first two pitches from the Padres reliever. That’s something Rosario and hitting coaches James Rowson and Rudy Hernandez have been working on this season — with wonderful results — and it paid off with a 2-0 count. Rowson told Zone Coverage earlier this season that, even despite Rosario’s improved discipline, he wanted the free-swinging slugger to stay in ‘hunt’ mode. Well, consider Maton’s 2-0 offering — a 93 mph fastball middle-in — the prey, as Rosario uncoiled, elevated and about 20 seconds later celebrated with gumballs in his face and fireworks all over the place. Manager Paul Molitor was almost stunned speechless as he collected his thoughts during his postgame press conference. “I don’t know how to explain sometimes when you come off a game last night, and all the sudden runs become hard to come by, even when you have good opportunities,” Molitor said. “It just had that feel when it’s 1-0 and you miss out on a couple chances to add one. You hope you can hold on, but Hedges got a hold of an offspeed pitch to get them even, and we had to scramble.” Please click through to Zone Coverage here to read the full story.

It’s sunny, hazy and extremely warm as the Minnesota Twins prepare to try take a two-game sweep against the visiting San Diego Padres at Target Field. It’ll be a pair of electric righties doing battle, as the Twins send Ervin Santana to the bump while the Padres will counter with Dinelson Lamet. Manager Paul Molitor is not expecting any kind of bleed from Tuesday night’s 16-0 win into Wednesday’s game, but he also doesn’t expect that facing a distinctly different pitcher will matter too much, either. “You never assume it’ll carry over,” Molitor said. “We — somewhat ironically — just had a game similar to that one on the last homestand, and we came back the next day and were a bit challenged offensively. The Royals ended up winning the game after that 17-0 game.” Molitor said the team had a nice celebration after the game for Niko Goodrum’s first MLB hit and Gabriel Moya’s first MLB appearance, but it’s time to turn the page heading into Wednesday’s game. “Today’s a new day,” Molitor said. “There’s a good pitcher on the mound for the Padres, and Ervin is hopefully going to give us a chance like he almost always does, and we can find a way to complete the two-game sweep.” The Twins have also set up their rotation for the upcoming series against the Blue Jays, and it’ll be as follows: Thursday – Jose Berrios Friday – Bartolo Colon (on Big Sexy night, no less) Saturday – Adalberto Mejia Sunday – Kyle Gibson “I wanted to keep Jose and Colon on their regular turns,” Molitor said. “That was something I thought made sense, given the fact that they’ve both thrown the ball well. With Mejia, he’s done some good things for us this year. His rehab has been efficient. He’s proven that he’s ready to come back and hopefully help us. And (Saturday) is really the first day that I need to slot someone in without (Aaron) Slegers being in the rotation.” Miguel Sano again took early batting practice for the Twins, but didn’t do much running around, Molitor said. “I think he was a little sore from the work yesterday,” Molitor said, so the team opted to give him a day off from that. Sano is making progress, Molitor noted, but there’s still no timeline and his return is not what the manager would term as “imminent.” To that end, it feels like he’s at least a week away. “We’re just hoping each day that we get a little bit closer,” Molitor said. Please click through to read this article in full on Zone Coverage here.

It didn’t take long for Brian Dozier to set the tone on Tuesday night. It rarely does when you’re the leadoff hitter. But when Dozier poked the third pitch he saw from Padres starter Travis Wood — a 2-0, two-seam fastball — into the seats in right field, it set off a chain of events that led to yet another historic night at Target Field in a 16-0 win over San Diego. Dozier’s home run was the only run the Twins scored in the first, but it was far from the last, as the team homered in each of the first seven innings of the game on the way to a blowout victory. In doing so, the Twins became — at least according to Elias Sports Bureau — the first team in MLB history to homer in each of the first seven innings of a game. Regardless of the offensive barrage from the Twins — which not only included a Target Field-record seven home runs but 10 extra-base hits and 18 hits altogether — starter Kyle Gibson was again on his game, as he has been ever since taking the ball on July 22 against the Detroit Tigers. Since that start, Gibson has allowed three or fewer earned runs in each subsequent outing — a span of nine starts which has seen his ERA drop from a cringe-worthy 6.29 to a season-low 4.97 after Tuesday night. After posting a 3.90 ERA in August, September has been ever better for Gibson, as he has allowed just two earned runs this month for a 0.95 ERA with 11 strikeouts, just one walk and perhaps just as importantly, zero home runs. “It felt good,” Gibson said. “We all had a pretty good plan going into today. Castro called a great game, and the offense got on board early again and it had a similar feeling to Kansas City a couple weeks ago.” Gibson is, of course, referring to the last time he was on the mound at Target Field, when the Twins won 17-0 over the Royals. To do some math that even a journalist is capable of, Gibson’s offense has scored 33 runs over his past two starts. That’ll work. “We had a game like this last homestand where we were able to pile up runs and guys were able to keep scoring,” Manager Paul Molitor said, again referring to the win over the Royals early in the month. “I think tonight was everything you could ask for to open up a homestand. We got a solid start; Gibby keeps his roll going.” Please click through to Zone Coverage here to see the entire article.

It’s sunny and very, very warm as the Twins begin the second part of their home-and-home series with the Padres. The Twins split the first half of the series on Aug. 1-2 with Jhoulys Chacin outdueling Jose Berrios in the first game and Ervin Santana beating Luis Perdomo in the second game. This time, it’ll be the red-hot Kyle Gibson (5.19 ERA, 4.86 FIP in 135.1 innings) getting ready to take on left-hander Travis Wood (6.00 ERA, 5.29 FIP in 81 innings between Kansas City and San Diego). More on that in a bit. There was a new face in the Twins clubhouse before the game, as left-handed reliever Gabriel Moya has joined the team after a strong stretch run with the Southern League co-champion Chattanooga Lookouts. To make room for Moya on the 40-man roster, the Twins designated infielder Engelb Vielma for assignment. Moya was very excited in the clubhouse, and smiled when the name Jeff Bajenaru was brought up. “Oh yeah, he’s been my pitching coach for three years in the minors,” Moya said. It was Bajenaru who tweeted that on Monday that Moya called him crying to tell him he was headed to Target Field. Please click through to Zone Coverage here to read this article in full!

I like Garver v. LHP more, IMO

That's why you build trust with them.

Thank you. After I drop my daughter at daycare, I'm going to have some eggs.

Please click through to Zone Coverage here to read this article in its entirety. A Minnesota Twins win coupled with a Los Angeles Angels loss on Wednesday flipped the script in the Wild Card chase yet again. The Twins halted a skid of losing three straight games and four of their last five, and jumped back ahead of the Angels by a half-game for the final Wild Card spot behind the New York Yankees. That half-game difference will go away on Thursday, as the Twins head to Kansas City to take on the Royals, while the Angels are idle before opening a weekend set in Seattle on Friday night with old friend Ricky Nolasco on the hill. One would be hard-pressed to find a reputable outlet which gives the Twins much more than a 40 percent chance to make the playoffs -- which frankly is fine considering the number of teams in the hunt within just a few games -- but why not start to dream a little bit about who could take the ball in a one-game Wild Card playoff, whether it's at Target Field, at Yankee Stadium or wherever else might be in play? One thing we can be reasonably confident about is that the race will come down to the wire, all but making lining up the rotation for that start an impossibility. Certainly, things may happen between now and then, including injuries, rainouts or the manipulation of the rotation via the return of Adalberto Mejia, or the use of one of the two remaining in-season off days -- next Monday and two weeks from that day -- to shuffle some things around. Theoretically, it might make some sense to shuffle the rotation to maximize the number of starts Ervin Santana or Jose Berrios make down the stretch, but at the same time it might not be worth wearing them out at the expense of Kyle Gibson and Bartolo Colon -- both of whom are pitching fairly well. Assuming the Twins stay on regular rest all the way through the rest of the season, Berrios is slated to start the final game of the season, with Santana starting on Sept. 30. With the simple manipulation of one or both of the remaining off days, either one could theoretically be lined up to make the start in a potential Wild Card game.

Please click through to Zone Coverage here to read this article in its entirety. A Minnesota Twins win coupled with a Los Angeles Angels loss on Wednesday flipped the script in the Wild Card chase yet again. The Twins halted a skid of losing three straight games and four of their last five, and jumped back ahead of the Angels by a half-game for the final Wild Card spot behind the New York Yankees. That half-game difference will go away on Thursday, as the Twins head to Kansas City to take on the Royals, while the Angels are idle before opening a weekend set in Seattle on Friday night with old friend Ricky Nolasco on the hill. One would be hard-pressed to find a reputable outlet which gives the Twins much more than a 40 percent chance to make the playoffs -- which frankly is fine considering the number of teams in the hunt within just a few games -- but why not start to dream a little bit about who could take the ball in a one-game Wild Card playoff, whether it's at Target Field, at Yankee Stadium or wherever else might be in play? One thing we can be reasonably confident about is that the race will come down to the wire, all but making lining up the rotation for that start an impossibility. Certainly, things may happen between now and then, including injuries, rainouts or the manipulation of the rotation via the return of Adalberto Mejia, or the use of one of the two remaining in-season off days -- next Monday and two weeks from that day -- to shuffle some things around. Theoretically, it might make some sense to shuffle the rotation to maximize the number of starts Ervin Santana or Jose Berrios make down the stretch, but at the same time it might not be worth wearing them out at the expense of Kyle Gibson and Bartolo Colon -- both of whom are pitching fairly well. Assuming the Twins stay on regular rest all the way through the rest of the season, Berrios is slated to start the final game of the season, with Santana starting on Sept. 30. With the simple manipulation of one or both of the remaining off days, either one could theoretically be lined up to make the start in a potential Wild Card game.

Maybe Buxton? I wouldn't oppose to Mauer, Dozier or Buxton -- or even Kepler/Polanco, really -- hitting second in that lineup.

It's the Twins -- most of this front office remains intact.