ValleySpringsFan

The Detroit Tigers led the American League from May 16th to October 6th, when the game was moved from its original date of October 5th because Brett Favre and the boys had a ball game. 
On September 6th, the Tigers held what seemed to be an insurmountable lead of seven games. They went 16-12 in September but floundered in the early October games, winning one of four. The Minnesota Twins won all four games, beating Cy Young award winner Zach Greinke in the process, thus leading to a tie after the final day to force a "163" for the division crown.
 
The rosters for both teams are a treat to look back on. The Tiger's notables in the pitching department were Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello, Edwin Jackson, Armando Galarraga, Dontrelle Willis, Fernando Rodney Joel Zumaya, and Fu-Te Ni. A formidable staff even before they added Max Scherzer. 
The bats brought some noise, led by Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez, Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco, Brandon Inge, Ryan Raburn, and Marcus Thames. A balanced lineup with decent reserves to make up a very formidable opponent.
 
 
The Twin's roster was steeped in talent as well. It was a potent offense with some sluggers and the famed piranhas. The staff was middling with a rotation of Nick Blackburn, Scott Baker, Francisco Liriano, Glen Perkins, Kevin Slowey, and Carl Pavano. None had an awe-inspiring season. The bullpen was the strength of the staff in the 2009 season, led by Joe Nathan, Matt Guerrier, Jose Mijares, Jesse Crain, and Bobby Keppel. 
The lineup was where this team made its hay—led by Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Denard Span, Delmon Young, Carlos Gomez, Jason Kubel, Alexi Casilla, and Orlando Cabrera. One of the more talented lineups the Twins have ever assembled, but it didn't have the starting pitching to match. We parked the Porche in the driveaway with the lack of starting pitching.
 
So on October 6th, 2009, these two very talented ball clubs would clash in a wild (mid)west showdown in the giant inflatable toilet, and I got to sit with my butt touching the back of the dome in the third deck. I was as far away from the field as humanly possible, and it was the best fan experience of my life.
We enter the dome to the familiar scent of peanuts, dome dogs that you can almost taste while you walk the concourse, and spillage from the trough. It's an aroma that I can smell to the day, and if I could get it made into a candle, I would. 
We meander to our seats, doing the awkward dance of not wanting to divert our path to a stranger then it ends up being a classic midwest exchange of "ope, scuse me." After taking in the smells and midwestern hospitality, we got to our seats to see the dome's bright lights and the place humming. The fans, the music, and the players getting ready for a win or go-home ball game, the excitement was palpable.
The game started slow, contrary to the energy draped all over the Metrodome. The first two innings were scoreless until the forever underrated Magglio Ordonez ripped a single to center field. Then one of the most memorable sports moments of my life took place. Twins fans capitalized on the energy in the building and the controversy that surrounded Miguel Cabrera that season. 
The crowd slowly started chanting. I couldn't understand what was being said at first, but then the crowd noise began to swell, and the entire state of Minnesota was chanting "Alcoholic." The crowd grew louder and more confident until the future first-ballot hall of famer blasted 430 foot no-doubter off the chairs in right-center field. The dome was deflated, and the score showed 3-0 in favor of Detroit.
The Twins did what all great ballclubs do in the bottom of that inning. They didn't get all three back, but they responded. Matt Tolbert and Span hit back-to-back singles. Tolbert advanced on a fly ball out, and then on an errant pick-off attempt to first base, Tolbert scored. In true piranha fashion, the Twins responded and kept the crowd alive.
The game stayed at three to one in Detroit's favor until the left-handed bat of Kubel deposited a homer of the future Cy Young Award winner Porcello to end his evening. The Twins then loaded the bases but failed to cash in again in the bottom of the sixth.
Baker walked the leadoff hitter in the 7th and was relieved by big Jon Rauch , who ended the threat. The little guys struck again in the bottom of the seventh. Fan favorite Nick Punto singled to start the inning, then The OC- Orlando Cabrera, dug in. One false pick-off move, then a hanging breaking ball... 
From my vantage point, it looked like he popped up to shortstop. The crack of the bat was almost on delay. The crowd noise was like a tidal wave that built up and crashed into our row in the back. The left fielder was moving back, and the ball kept floating and found the seats in the first couple rows in left field. 
Pandamonium. Cabrera immortalized himself in the hearts of Twins fans with one swing and sent Minneapolis into a frenzy. Homer hankies enveloped the sea of fans.
It felt like the game was in hand, and our bullpen was our strength. Nathan and Guerrier were waiting in the wings. Each with a sub-three ERA. 
Guerrier, with the double braided Phiten necklace, the mark of a good baseball player back then, was not sharp. Ordonez pumped a homer to left field to tie the game, and then Guerrier followed it up with two walks. 
Ron Gardenhire had to pull his best setup man and go to the closer. The game was hanging on by a thread, with our last big-time arm taking the hill, but we had our stud on the mound. Nathan fell behind 2-0 to Brandon Inge and induced an infield fly on a borderline pitch. Nathan and all his twitchiness got the backward K with his big curveball and recaptured the momentum.
The closers ruled the ninth inning. Rodney and Nathan both hung zeros, and we headed to extras. Crain entered the game and promptly hit Aubrey Huff with a pitch, and the pinch runner scored on a Inge double. Former Twin Clete Thomas was the defensive replacement for Ordonez in the outfield for the Tiger's attempt to close the ball game.
Cuddyer led off with a looper to right field. Ryan Raburn made a sliding attempt at the dying quail that made it to the fence in right field. Delmon Young couldn't cash in with the ground out. Brendan Harris then was able to work a walk, but the double play was in order. The Twins were one grounder away on the Metrodome's turf to getting a jump-start on the off-season. 
Tolbert tapped one back up the middle, but on this day, the turf giveth. Tie game. Redemption was spelled Raburn however. Punto lined a ball to left that was caught, and Raburn hosed the pinch runner Casilla at the plate. More baseball.
The 11th went quietly, but the dome was ready to burst. Thus began the inning that may have given me gray hair as a 13-year-old. Bobby Keppel was on to pitch and intentionally walked Raburn to load the bases. 
Keppel threw his first pitch to Inge, and he at least thought the pitch hit him. To this day, I still couldn't tell you if that was the case. After the game, Jim Leyland said that the replay confirmed the pitch hit Inge. What matters is that the home plate umpire kept Inge at home that day. 
The conclusion of all the hoopla was Inge hitting a tweener ground ball similar to Tolbert's, but Casilla made an excellent play and got the force out at home, two outs, bases still loaded. Keppel then struck out Gerald Laird to close the inning, immortalizing another player in Twins' history.
The bottom of the 12th felt inevitable. If Keppel can show that heavy of a sack, we can snag one run with the bottom of the order. Go Go Gomez led off with a single and made it to second on a ground out. Leyland put Young on to get the double play back in order, with Young's run not meaning anything. 
That brought Casilla to the dish, along with his .202 batting average with zero home runs. The slap hitter got his barrel out front and shot one through the right side. We all knew who was on second base. All I could think was "don't fall." Mauer got gobbled up by the turf monster earlier in the game on a fringe double. 
Gomez flew around third, and the team met him in a pile of dust after the celebratory slide. The top of the Metrodome flipped its top. We were hugging people we didn't know, and the blur of homer hankies took over the stadium.
It may not have been perfect, but it was our moment. The season wasn't galvanized by a World Series or even a post-season win. It was just a beautiful baseball game. The game had everything a lover of the game could dream of; much like a heavyweight title fight, the teams traded punches until finally, in the 12th round, someone hit the canvas. It's a game I will look back on and remember the beauty of a crap stadium and group that wouldn't be denied on October 6th, 2009.
And to cap off the night of baseball, we got blasted by that famous gust of Hubert Humphrey Metrodome air, trailed by the scent of dome dogs you could taste, peanuts, and urine. On that night, it was perfect.

Plenty is made of the disadvantages that a market like the Twin Cities faces in comparison to glamorous coastal destinations like San Francisco and New York. For pro athletes, those locations tend to offer more money, more marketing opportunities, and more prestige, for starters.
But there are also distinct advantages to a quaint midwestern locale like Minnesota – ones that might resonate and hold more influence with specific players, and can (as we've seen) sway player pursuits in a meaningful way. 
Specifically: there's a certain coldness to many of the big markets and all they entail.
In the follow-up of Carlos Correa's stunning pivot to sign with the Twins after cutting off negotiations with the Mets, it became clear that the shortstop kept Minnesota on his radar – and ultimately directed his agent Scott Boras to go and get something done – because of how he felt treated by them throughout the past 12 months, and especially through this latest free-agency episode.
The Twins could have been compelled to move on at some point and cease making contact, during a process where they were spurned twice for bigger offers in bigger markets. But Correa expressed appreciation for Derek Falvey and Twins reps continually checking in to see how he was doing, as a person – and never wavering in their desire to hammer out a deal with the player, if practical.
In a world of big egos and high-stakes decisions, you don't always find this type of genuine care and concern. Correa has said as much. Upon signing, he called the Twins his "extended family." He spoke of how the positive experiences his actual family had in Minneapolis last year influenced his openness to a reunion. He beamed that his son would "grow up Minnesota Nice."
Yeah, these are the kinds of things people say when they sign new contracts, I get that. But when you look at the way this all played out, it's difficult to ignore the validity behind these seemingly sappy sentiments. 
Clearly Correa was very eager and excited to sign in New York. He waited out frustrating negotiations and haggling for weeks. But as he watched the infinitely rich Steve Cohen and his team renege on a deal they'd agreed to, railroading Correa with perceived leverage as they cut the guarantee in half and stipulated annual physicals on the back end ... suddenly the appeal of an organization that's shown him nothing but warmth and good faith looked all the more welcoming by comparison.
It was a frustrating process, said Boras. “But in the end, seeing how happy he was and how excited the Twins are, maybe this was the way it was meant to be all along.’’ 
Looking back one year earlier, we can also see how the "Minnesota Nice" factor played a role in the Twins locking up their other franchise centerpiece to a highly favorable deal.
It's easy to forget now, but Byron Buxton's contract talks with the Twins once looked as imperiled as Correa's. In another very realistic scenario, Buxton could've been alongside the shortstop peddling his services as a free agent this offseason.
But just ahead of the MLB shutdown last November, Buxton and the Twins reached agreement on an extension that could only be described as extremely team-friendly. There's little doubt he would be in line to make significantly more in guaranteed money this offseason than the $100 million he got from the Twins in an incentive-laden seven-year deal signed back in November of 2021. A $15 million annual base for a player of Buck's caliber is still a little hard to conceive.
Make no mistake: Buxton's willingness to sign this contract was an extraordinary showing of loyalty. That level of loyalty is only earned through trust and affinity toward an organization that's done right by him. The Twins deserve credit for keeping that bond intact through a regime change and then some.
This is speculation, but I believe another aspect of Minnesota's low-key culture that appeals to Buxton, as an oft-injured player who takes it pretty hard, is the relatively lesser scrutiny and sensationalized media commentary compared to large markets. 
Not to say there aren't a bunch of obnoxious Twins fans always making their little quips and barbs about Buxton's tendency to get hurt – they annoy the crap out of me – but what he faces here is nothing compared to the onslaught of rancor he'd face in LA or New York for having the gall to be frequently unavailable. 
I think he recognizes that and it's part of what makes him comfortable in this setting. Buxton gives Joe Mauer a run for his money when it comes to talent/ego ratio – a perfect successor in the soft-spoken superstar lineage. Is it a coincidence neither was eager to leave?
Sometimes I get annoyed with how much the Twins franchise embodies the "Minnesota Nice" credo to an almost nauseating degree. From the decades of understated yet ultra-humane leadership under Terry Ryan, to the legend of an "oh-shucks" hometown Hall of Famer, right down to the two friendly chaps shakings hands in their logo, the Twins can be comically on-script for their locale.
But then, I wouldn't have it any other way. The Twins don't have many built-in advantages compared to larger markets when it comes to attracting talent and outpacing the field. So they've sought to turn treating people the right way into a differentiator, and – sad as it might be as a general statement – it seems to have become one. 
Hard to argue with that strategy.
 

The Twins paid Miguel Sano over $9 million for only one home run among five hits in 60 at-bats in 2022. And then paid him another $3 million to simply go away.
Much has been made of Sanó’s inability to stay healthy or in shape or, simply, not show up a few dozen pounds overweight.
Everything above is completely true. So true, in fact, that even those who look for silver linings aren’t going to have much of an argument to make. 
But I still think the Twins should consider bringing him back into the fold. 
The expectations surrounding Sanó were sky-high well before he made his major-league debut as a 22-year-old in the summer of 2015. And despite striking out in over a third of his plate appearance, he still managed to hit 18 home runs in 80 games, reach base over 38% of the time and put up an OPS of .916. He rarely played in the field as he was coming off missing the 204 season because of Tommy John surgery, but the vision of being the third baseman of the future was still bright.
Of course, we all know what happened the next year: someone got the wise idea that Miguel Sanó could be a right-fielder (while literally every not-as-smart person knew he couldn’t) and Sanó was back to playing third base exclusively by July 1. 
Getting jerked around caused him to struggle offensively, but still he managed 25 home runs and bounced back to be an All-Star in the 2017 season. 
The 2018 and 2020 seasons were both really bad, but sandwiched around a 34-home run year in 2019 where Sanó post a career-high .923 OPS.
You could take the 2020 season for what it was - short with a lack of time to prepare - add it to the 30 home run season in 2021 and think maybe, just maybe, Miguel Sanó could get back on track in 2022. But that train derailed before even leaving the station. 
A torn meniscus on April 26 and more knee issues almost immediately after returning in July caused an abrupt end to a short, disappointing season.
The Twins paid Sanó more than $34 million as a major leaguer and watched him strike out over 1000(!) times. And when his Twins career ended unceremoniously when they bought out his contract, many were happy to wipe their hands off him.
And that’s fine.
But as you look at the current construction of the Twins roster, you can’t help but wonder about the health and depth of first base. 
Luis Arraez - all 5’ 10” of him - is expected to be the Opening Day starter. Arreaz was fantastic in 2021 and led the league in hitting, but is not your prototypical first baseman… and he’s not exactly a model of healthy knees.
Jose Miranda played a lot of first base last year… but with Gio Urshela getting traded, Miranda is the primary third baseman.
Alex Kirilloff is a solution… if he recovers from having his arm shortened after battling wrist that cut short his last two seasons.
Max Kepler and Joey Gallo are both options in the sense that they’re bigger targets, but neither has played a lot of first base recently. But that’s an easy fix. Tell ‘em Wash.
And there’s where Sanó should enter the conversation. On a minor-league deal with an invitation to Spring Training. If he shows up overweight and out of shape, you can cut him. If he shows up a little overweight and in a shape other than completely round, you can send him to St. Paul to hit bombs and be a call away if the questionable depth fails in front of him.
Miguel Sanó doesn’t have to be the #3 hitter. There doesn’t have to be the expectations of being an All-Star or hitting 30 home runs. But any gas that might still be in his almost-30-year-old tank sure beats the idea of rostering the likes of the Curtis Terrys, Roy Moraleses and Tim Beckhams of the world.
It does for me anyway.
 
 

Once is a fluke. Twice is a trend. That’s all we really know about the state of Carlos Correa’s future employment and the ankle he injured a decade ago. Nine-figure deals with the Giants and Mets have either evaporated completely or exist in some kind of limbo. The Twins reportedly had limited interest in a reunion after the San Francisco signing fell through, despite their stated desire to sign him long term.
Something’s up. Fortunately, Twins Daily has access to the kind of advanced metrics other baseball websites can only dream of. Using these bleeding-edge tools, we’ve been able to project the next organizations that will sign Correa to a massive long-term contract, only for it to instantly go sideways.
The Pittsburgh Pirates. Reason: Thought it was Kevin Correia. Honest mistake. The Chicago White Sox. Reason: Team wants to save money for giving Tony La Russa one last shot at managing the game on the field versus the one happening in his mind palace. “He’s a Hall of Famer,” said team source. The Oakland Athletics. Reason: Signing ceremony postponed due to monthly raw sewage leak. The Miami Marlins. Reason: Correa would have to find location for hideous outfield home run sculpture and pay movers. "A dealbreaker," said Boras. The 1986 New York Mets. Reason: Boras, Correa refuse to be paid in cocaine. The Miami Heat. Reason: Only shoots mid-range jumpers. The Green Bay Packers. Reasons: Scott Boras balks at payment in worthless company stock; Correa thinks Kroll’s butter burgers are overcooked, has also never played football. Waffle House, Walterboro, SC location. Reason: Being on feet all day while catching chairs in midair enhances injury risk. The Fellowship of the Ring. Reason: Journey on foot to Mordor exacerbates stress on leg in question; Boras demands standard percentage of The One Ring, Isildur’s Bane, which was forged in the fires of Mount Doom and only there can be destroyed. Image license here.