bighat

Saw Reed take over while watching a bit of the game on my lunch break. Didn't see the Grand Slam but saw him give up a hit right away, then got bailed out with a diving stop by Cron, then plunked a guy. He's looked just awful in every capacity for a while now. Here's hoping he's just "working out the kinks" - but it's fair to worry that this might be the real Addison Reed.

Gosh, came here to read the discussion on Xavier Moore and...now this! Glad the Twins made this move, I wasn't really big on acquiring another A-ball level arm. God speed Xavier. As for Granite, I was happy to have the guy in the Twins OF during that great 2017 season. But he'll always be remembered (by me, anyway) as the guy who missed stepping on 1st base during the huge playoff game in New York. I also remember how darn tiny he looked up there - like a little kid wearing his dad's batting helmet. He's got some talent though. I'd like to see him succeed. The only downside is if Buxton implodes again, we'll be watching Granite and Hicks play for other organizations... But I think this says a lot about how the Twins feel about Wade. I think Wade's impressed in Spring Training.

Austin will be claimed immediately, the Twins gave Lance Lynn away for free last summer. Oh well, it's a sunk cost and might as well move on. Here's hoping Cron works out because Austin would hit 35 HR if he started every day.

If you can see this about Gonsalves, so can the Mets. Heck, anyone with his baseball card can flip it over and see his 6.57 ERA and just 18 strikeouts over 7 games last year. Nobody's going to give the Twins anything for Gonsalves as things stand today. His audition last year went very poorly and he's behind a lot of other pitching prospects in the organization now because of it. The Twins pitching staff has to coach him up and hopefully he'll improve. I'm not giving up on him yet, but suggesting that Gonsalves could be a major piece in a Wheeler trade is the definition of homer-dreaming.

I just listened to the Hot Stove podcast and Rocco described the injury as a "small wound" that's almost healed. The article in the Pioneer Press describes it as a "heel injury" and that's what Twins reporters have been saying for the past week or so. I haven't seen any article pointing to an achilles injury, so maybe Tom just misspoke in his initial post (which can be forgiven considering his posts and videos are one of the best things about this site).

You're right. I think too many commenters think that Marwin is an Escobar clone. He's not. He's not as versatile in the infield and is more of a corner outfielder when he plays OF. My thought: he's a catch-all insurance policy for lots of players right now. Not just Sano.

LaVelle E. Neal just answered some Twitter questions regarding where/when Marwin plays. His response: "I think he's playing all the time, everywhere".

50-50 shot this guy's in the opening day lineup?

Too funny man, I literally had to LOL. Nice.

Isn't it so strange to see how many players come up to the bigs, hit between .265-.275, do everything right.....but they just never stick? Then you have guys with lifetime averages of .232 who seem to make an MLB roster every year, despite underperforming consistently? Baseball is a weird game, so much hard work for these guys plus you have to have really good luck as well.

Schoop's "Terrible Year" in 2018 had him batting .233 with 21 HRs. Brian Dozier last year hit .215 with 21 HRs. Schoop is entering his age 27 year, while Dozier is 31...the bottom line: the Twins improved the offense at the position. Schoop could just be the steal of this free agent off-season! His 2017 stats are incredible - he also played 162 games that year, and played 160 the year before. If he's healthy we should all be very, very excited about this guy. I also am surprised to see how much negativity there is surrounding Gordon. Just a year ago, before "Royce Fever" we were pretty giddy about this guy. He had a bad 2nd half in AAA, that's it. He seems to be saying all the right things. Give him a chance to go out there and prove himself, I look forward to seeing him up in the bigs this year with the Twins.

I think you have to go with Gagne here. He didn't win the WS by himself, but he was a big contributor and solid at his position. The numbers for lots of these guys look very similar. Gagne stands out as the guy with the rings. The guy could play his position, had awesome range.

Agreed. Kepler and Rosario aren't even in the same league at this point - Eddie's a legit 25 HR, 80 RBI guy who will hit .285. Kepler hasn't sniffed those numbers if we're being honest.

Yeah but you're forgetting about all those huge sponsorship deals, like the extra $10 bucks for an Ovaltine commercial or the cool $54.32 paycheck a player could take home for endorsing Lucky Strike!

Yeah, Kaat was broadcasting for the Twins in the early '90s, I think. He's good. Too bad about Hunter, but I'd imagine Torii might be leaning more towards coaching soon. He'd make a good manager and I hope his career in baseball continues on a leadership level.

And those added years of control will make Polanco a really nice trade piece if the Twins find themselves selling off assets. I hope it doesn't come to it, as I really like Polanco and I think any team in the league would be thrilled to be in the Twins' shoes with a middle infielder like him locked down.

Heck yes. Extending the one of our best players who has proven it on the diamond. Eddie Rosario's next up, I hope. Lock these guys down.

Dude's got some photo skills. Would love to learn how to get those long-exposure photos of the Milky Way, I need to up my game!

Cave in a landslide.

Agreed, the 3-batter rule is horrible and would just erode the game further. Think about it - playoffs, bottom of the 8th inning, you've got Taylor Rodgers coming in to face Bryce Harper. The best lefty against the best lefty. One huge at bat, one big moment for the game. Fans like me really enjoy that stuff, and I think most people who are fans of the game would agree. The problem with most of the rule changes seem to be aiming to do 2 things: 1. Speed up the game 2. Make the game enjoyable for "non-baseball fans" Meanwhile, they completely alienate the baseball fans that do currently exist. What's next? Should we have fans vote live for "Swing" or "Take"? Hook up an x-box to the pitcher's mound and allow fans to decide of he throws a curve or a fastball? Maybe we should just have American Idol judges choose the teams? Or maybe give the kid with the most instagram followers a spot on the roster? It's like they are just pandering to the lowest-common denominator. The All-Star Game Fan Vote is already one of the worst and most bush league pieces of garbage in existence. Stop changing the game because some 22 year-old social media aggregator tells you to, and have faith in the sport you oversee, Mr. Manfred.

I'm guessing you meant Shannon Stewart. That guy was awesome, BTW! The Twins traded Bobby Kielty for him, and he finished 4th in the MVP vote in that 2003 season.

Well said, I concede and agree wholeheartedly after reading this. ....Okay, now I'm mad about Hicks again.

I hear ya - I'm baffled at how often Aaron Hicks gets mentioned and nobody ever says a peep about Palka. The guy was just tossed on the scrap heap and went on to bash 27 dongs last year. Sure, he might be the next Paul Sorrento, but I think the Twins wouldn't have needed to sign Cron if they'd have somehow hung on to Palka. It's the biggest mistake nobody's talking about.

Looks like it was awesome, I'll have to make a note to join next time!

I remember last year in Spring Training, the Braves basically said they were going to call up 19 year-old Robert Acuna on April 28th (to save a year of eligibility) and let the kid start raking. They followed through with that, the Braves made the playoffs and Acuna succeeded. Washington called up 19 year-old Juan Soto and he mashed. Wish the Twins would be more aggressive with their top prospects, especially a guy like Lewis who seems like he's got the maturity to handle a promotion.