Loosey

9-16 is awful. And it started after Puerto Rico. They went into Tampa and lost the first game due to a blown save (and walked off in 10), got killed the next game, then got walked off again. Into New York - Absolutely destroyed for 3 games. Then blown save (walked off in 9). Come home and looked like crap against the Reds. My glimmer of hope is that if they would have won the games they got walked off on instead of lost them they are sitting at 12-13. Not great but, it's an alright record heading into May. I am of the belief that those type of losses can demoralize a team too, so maybe they play differently if they win those and actually win one of the games they got killed in. Basically, need them to go and win 4 in a row to get back on track and settle things down.

Man, if he continues to pitch like this he is going to be fun to watch. The work I would have to use to describe him right now is "Electric"!

I think if you can get on base in clutch situations without causing anyone else to get out, you are clutch. For example down 1 run in the ninth with 2 outs and no one on, the best result would be a home run to tie the game. The worst would be to make the last out. By taking a walk in that situation he extends the game. Mauer has a .392 career OBP. Probably the best of anyone on the team. I would like to see a stat that shows in late inning situations (tied or down by 1 run) what percentage of time a run has scored to tie or take the lead after Joe kept the game alive with 1 or more outs. Perhaps it is very, very low and will depend on the quality of player behind him. But I would like to see that compared to other players.

I obviously have never seen Stewart pitch in person, but from what I have read the knock on him has always been lack of strikeouts. His final lines and stats always appear to look good from an outsider if you are just looking at ERA, etc. Hopefully, another year older and developed he is figuring out how to pitch and get strikeouts. If he adds the strikeouts he might fly back up the prospect list.

I think Buxton is close. Last year when he was striking out about 60% of the time he made changes then started to put the ball in play a bit and would make some hard hit outs. Then soon after is when it all clicked. Over the last 3 or 4 games he has put the ball in play most of his at bats and has been hitting the ball hard in many of them, such as last night.

I think Buxton needs to turn his brain off at the plate. He seems to be overthinking everything up there again. The leg kick is gone again, he has the "heel up, heel down" swing. The generates no power and can't over the whole plate. Just see ball hit ball and he will be great.

I think the people arguing that Castro is ok or below average are exactly what Jamie was trying to explain away. The coffee may have actually been awesome but unrefined palettes made it seem just OK. I think the figures and explanations in the article help people like me who have unrefined palettes when it comes to grading catchers understand the nuances. And based on the facts presented, I would give him a grade of 7 or 8, so probably a top 10ish catcher in my opinion.

This is great. Nice work.

If our new definition of struggling today is 2 runs 4 innings, I will take it with the revamped bullpen. In the past struggling was 5 runs in 3 innings. Granted it could have been worse, but pitching out of jams is something Gibson never seemed to be able to do in the past and he limited the damage. So hopefully there a more clean games than struggling ones, but I think they have obviously raised our expectations levels, which is good!

I consider him the Brad Radke of Opening Day (I should capitalize Opening Day, right? Sort of like Christmas and Thanksgiving - All are holidays.). Now we just wait until game 2 for Johan Santana. J/K good job!

Has it been stated when he tested positive and when his last clean test was? If he tested clean in, say, September and then now tested positive in January for example, that makes a difference to me for some stupid reason. It tells me he was clean last year and did something different this offseason. Having that information would be nice if it is available.

Even if he really had no idea Stanozolol was in his supplement that is still on him. I'm not a professional athlete, and even I make sure any supplements I take are certified. I know for sure I would not inject anything into myself, for multiple reasons. Also, I don't understand why players take B-12 injections? It is a vitamin and most of these guys have nutritionists on the team providing them a balanced diet. If B-12 was lacking they have over the counter B-12 vitamins, I don't understand the injection of it. Most of the time you pee it all out anyways because your body has enough from your diet unless you have a deficiency.

I agree his hard swing will result in both homers and Ks. However, if he can be a little more disciplined at the plate, like he was his rookie year, I think a drop in K's will follow. Basically, don't chase slider or the fastball in the dirt.

I was watching the game yesterday and Sano did not look to be 300 lbs in my opinion. He looked similar to what he has always looked like to me. Genetically, he is a large man with a large frame. I don't think he will ever be looking like Byron Buxton no matter how much discipline, diet and exercise he puts in.

I wonder if they want to get a better look at Romero against Major League hitters in order to decide when and what order they start to bring up minor league prospects up during the season. He perhaps has opened some eyes in front office and could be the first arm called up if someone goes down or under performs.

Good Question, I would like to know the difference as well.

On the flip side how do we know he doesn't go Dan Uggla either. I don't think he will, but he is aging and plays an active position. Too long and too much money could be detrimental. I think the Twins will offer him what he is and will be worth. Yes he is worth more than what he had played for in years past. But will he be a $15-$20M a year player in 4 years when he is 35/36 years old?

He will be 31 coming up here in May. So he will be 32 years old when his new contract starts. As good as he is now and and I think he will be for a while, I can't see the Twins going more than 3 years. Maybe a move to 3rd could help with financial decisions as Teddy said. But that is really going to depend on what Sano does this year, which means a mid-season extension is unlikely since there are some many variable that will go into this contract. I can't see anyone offer much more than $15M per year. So, I would be happy with a 3 year $15M offer, especially if it is to play at 3rd base (weak arm and all) if Sano either moves to first/DH or flames out.

I can see this happening again next year. I will guess the big names, Machado, Harper, etc will go early and for high dollars. But then those big spending teams will be done and we will be back in the situation we are in again today. The teams that just crossed over the luxury tax will not want to go too far over and start spending 20% premiums on every guy they sign. Instead the market will be left with the middle market teams again not meeting the demands of guys wanting 6 year $120M+ deals.

For me it isn't his weight. If he ways 290 pounds and is in great physical condition fantastic. The part that concerns me, and I don't know if this is the case or not, is that if the reason he is 290 lbs is because he doesn't take care of himself. If he had been following a regime the Twins gave him for the off-season trying to stay fit but still is overweight that is not on him. However, if he sat around and didn't do what was asked of him, it's a problem. That means he lacks discipline and may not take his baseball career as seriously as one would hope. Hoping he did what the Twins asked and this is just who he is. If not, the superstar many were hoping for might be done before he reach those lofty goals.

I was originally ok with the trade. I thought Odorizzi was nice piece to complement the rest of rotation. But after reading the most recent Athletic article I look at this trade in a different light. The Twins #5 starters last year combine to have 54 starts and 8.66 ERA and -.2 f-wins above replacement. Adding Odorizzi can essentially push that junk at #5 out and put his numbers in their place. Add that to a 83 win team and I think you can add a handful of wins easily. A staff ace would be great but putting together a very solid staff from top to bottom is a good start.

I agree 100%. The front office has spoken a good game and has been savvy in the draft and supplementing the minors with deals the previous regime wouldn't have likely done. However, now when given the opportunity to really help this team take the next step they have continued to tinker around the edges and not go for the home run which is needed at times. I trust these guys to improve and continue to bring in good minor league prospects, which is exactly why they should be confident to trade away those same type of players if the chance comes along, because they can find replacements. Are they trying to outsmart themselves? Signing Yu Darvish would be one of those obvious adds that most fans were able to see would likely benefit the team. But was it so obvious they didn't just go and hammer it with an offer Yu couldn't refuse or did they get cute? There are still 3 pretty big name starting pitchers remaining. So if they go out and get one of them, maybe all can be forgiven. However, if they don't do anything to meaningfully upgrade the starting pitching staff when the window is opening to contend with the big boys, I will start questioning this new regime and wondering if it really is any different from the previous.

Gonsalves sort of reminds me of a softer throwing Madison Bumgarner. If he can be 80% as good as MadBum I think all Twins fans will be very happy.

If Darvish is looking less likely internally to Twins Management, maybe they should Zig when everyone else is Zagging and go swoop in on Cobb before all the others who missed out on Darvish come knocking as well. Might not have a market set yet with Darvish, but why not set the 2nd tier market first? That’s what I would do.

I have used it before. But to be honest I wasn't sure what was updated or when it was updated. It seems the updated data could be a valuable tool. Maybe add a "last updated" date. That way if you see "Michael Restovich" and Updated 8/1999 we would know that may not be accurate. But if there was Royce Lewis and Updated 9/2017 we would know that's pretty accurate.