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The Carlos Correa free agency roller coaster continued on Monday night, as a series of Tweets from several different accounts suggested that they had sources who confirmed the Twins had finally called it quits on the All-Star shortstop. This was far from unexpected, as it was assumed that a reunion between Correa and the Twins was a long shot at best. However, it was only about an hour later when Ken Rosenthal and Dan Hayes dropped a report that the Twins are, in fact, not out on Correa, but instead, talks between the two sides have accelerated recently. With the growing frustration between the Mets and Correa, is a window finally open for the Twins to reunite with Correa? Should the Twins even consider it? The easy answer to the first question is yes. A window is open. Just as the Mets' window opened when the Giants balked at Correa following a flagged physical, there is a reasonable chance the Mets will do the same thing. The window is there, but should it be one the Twins jump in? The answer to that question is much muddier than just yes or no. Correa has been flagged on two separate physicals by two different team doctors for a lower leg injury sustained long ago. The injury is not calling into question how he will perform tomorrow, but rather how he will hold up throughout a 10+ year contract. With as much guaranteed money as we've seen thrown around, it's no surprise that the Mets and Giants have both paused on committing to a long-term deal. With this in mind, whatever Correa's new contract is, it will likely feature a lot less guaranteed money, which is why the stalemate is taking place. On the flip side, Correa was outstanding for the Twins in 2022. He was great at the plate, in the field, and in the clubhouse. He is well-liked by the whole organization and is the type of guy you want to build your team around. Correa would also fill a massive need for the Twins at shortstop, where they are currently slated to start Kyle Farmer, who mashes lefties but is far from an everyday shortstop, regularly. If the Twins can chop off some of the guaranteed money and shorten the contract to a length everyone feels comfortable with, the organization and fans would welcome Correa back with open arms. These Correa stories are exhausted and old, but as long as he remains unsigned, it remains relevant news. No one has any idea what will happen with Correa. Until the pen meets the paper, he will remain a wild card on the free agent market, who could sign anywhere under the sun. The Athletic article by Hayes and Rosenthal is interesting enough to keep Twins fans engaged in a dream of a reunion. Still, until he steps foot in Target Field again, it's best to view the situation as a long shot. What do you think? Where will Correa land? Should the Twins do everything in their power to convince him to stay? Let me know! As always, Go, Twins! *UPDATE* The Minnesota Twins sign Carlos Correa to a 6-year $200M contract with a four additional option years that could max out the contract at $270. The Twins are reportedly "optimistic" about the upcoming physical, which has already been scheduled. Barring another unforeseen twist, the Correa saga ends in happiness for the Twins!

There has been plenty of off-season buzz surrounding Marlins starting pitcher Pablo Lopez. The 26-year-old hurler struck out 174 batters over 180 innings in 2022 while possessing a solid 3.71 FIP. Since the Marlins have a deep and young starting pitching rotation, Lopez is both expendable for them and very valuable on the trade market. Is Lopez a realistic trade target for the Minnesota Twins? It has been no secret that the Minnesota Twins have been looking to add to their rotation that experienced various health issues in 2022. They made a hard push for left-handed free agent Carlos Rodon but ultimately fell short, leaving them looking for other reliable options. The Twins have been linked to the Marlins in trade talks for the last couple of months, and one would assume Pablo Lopez’s name has likely been thrown around. Lopez, however, will not come cheap. Due to his age, he will turn 27 in March, productivity, and the fact that he is under team control for two more full seasons, Lopez’s value is very high. But what will it cost? If the Twins want a realistic shot at landing Lopez, they will have to throw some tangible assets on the table. It is rumored that the Marlins aren’t looking for prospects in return for Lopez but rather bats they can plug into the lineup to help them out immediately. With that said, a trade to bring Lopez to Minnesota would likely cost the Twins Luis Arraez and maybe even a little more. If the Twins were willing to eat Jorge Soler’s contract, they could perhaps convince the Marlins to complete a deal without Arraez’s involvement. However, for a mid-market team, the Twins will probably be unwilling to add the $12M per-year contract to the payroll for a player that won’t offer much productivity. This leaves the Twins with only one really realistic option, which would be to move Arraez, whose value is higher than it has ever been and may be as high as it will ever get. Does it make sense to trade him while his value is high? Arraez is a clear fan favorite and among the best pure hitters on the planet, but he also carries his share of flaws. Arraez has had a litany of knee issues in the past, he’s an awful defender anywhere besides first base, and provides next to no power at the plate, which is an approach that doesn’t seem to fit what the Twins have been trying to do in recent years. Maybe it’s time to strike while the iron is hot, put the chips in the middle of the table, and pull off a trade for a durable frontline starter. What are your thoughts? Are you willing to pay this price for a frontline starter? Let me know, and as always, Go, Twins!

Earlier today the Minnesota Twins crossed a major offseason to-do off their list by signing catcher Christian Vázquez to a 3 year/$30M deal. Since 2020, Vázquez has caught the 5th most games in MLB and was worth 1.6 fWAR in 2022. Important considering Ryan Jeffers' health concerns. Prior to the signing, the Twins were projected to generate the 5th worst fWAR out of the catcher position. Now, they project to be around league average (15th) with the duo of Vázquez (2.0 projected fWAR) and Jeffers (1.4 projected fWAR). Here are five reasons the Vázquez signing could be exactly what the Twins need: 1. A great defender Since 2020, Vázquez has accumulated the 6th most DRS at the catcher position (+17) in 2,277.1 innings behind the plate. His fielding runs above average is also the 6th highest during that span (30.9). Additionally, he's been a plus pitch framer his entire career. He was worth +1 framing runs in 2022, but has the 8th most framing runs in MLB since Baseball Savant began tracking this metric (+29 framing runs). The Twins have been known to be great with their catchers to improve this metric. Ryan Jeffers was worth +2 runs in 2022. Gary Sanchez went from -6 in 2021 with the Yankees to +1 last year, so it's possible that Vázquez could benefit even more from coach Hank Conger. Image via Baseball Savant. 2. Elite Pitch Caller It's baseball so everything is trackable. The statistic rCERA is catcher ERA runs saved. So essentially, it's measuring how effective (or ineffective) a catcher is at limiting runs for a pitching staff. A plus in this statistic is a good thing. It's as close as we can come to assigning a number to a catcher's ability to call a game. If you watched a Twins game late in 2022, you saw some questionable pitch calls by Gary Sanchez. Jeffers is above average in this statistic (+1 rCERA since 2020) and Vázquez ranks 4th best in MLB since 2020 with a +5 rCERA. During that timeframe Gary Sanchez ranks dead last out of 130 catchers with a -10 rCERA. The Twins overall ranked 19th in rCERA (-1) in 2022. The combination of a healthy Jeffers and Vázquez should no doubt help the Twins pitching staff. An improvement from last year. Here's to hoping that we see less righty on righty changeups being thrown in 2023 :) 3. Throws Out Runners It's not a secret that the Twins have a stolen base problem. Late into the 2022 season it seemed like runners could take extra bases at will. The Twins allowed 94 SB in 2022, the 9th most in MLB only throwing out 20% of runners. Ryan Jeffers is not a great throwing catcher. Last year he only threw out 18% of runners. Since he came into the league he has the 3rd worst rSB (runs saved by throwing out runners) at -6 rSB, ranking 163 out of 165 catchers. Since 2018 Christian Vázquez has thrown out the second most runners in MLB (81) at a 30.45% clip. His exchange time of .67 seconds was 4th quickest in MLB last year. His 1.94 sec pop time ranked 22nd in MLB among 85 catchers. With stolen bases a problem for the Twins, and base sizes increasing in 2023, all the more reason for the Twins to add a catcher who can control the run game, and they're getting this here. Here's a nice video of Vázquez's hose piece vs the Twins (sorry Jake Cave). 4. Hits RHP Better than Jeffers Vázquez is by no means a thumper. He owns a 92 wRC+ since 2020. But, has posted a 95 WRC+ vs RHP during that span. Twins catchers were especially poor vs RHP in 2022. They ranked 24th in baseball with a 66 wRC+ and a 30.7 K% which was 3rd worst in MLB (YUCK!). Ryan Jeffers posted only a 57 wRC+ vs RHP last year (ranked 41st out of 55 catchers who had 100 PA). While the best offensive combo for the Twins would have been to pair a LHH catcher with Jeffers as a platoon, just having a catcher who can at least hold their own vs RHP will be a massive upgrade. Ryan Jeffers will assuredly get all of the AB's vs a LHP - a career 125 wRC+ vs LHP (Vázquez has only posted 84 wRC+ vs LHP since 2020). The combo of Jeffers vs LHP and Vázquez vs RHP will be plenty serviceable offensively and a lift upon a total black hole at the spot last year. 5. Veteran Presence Vázquez is 32 years old and has played in 8 seasons. Two of those eight have resulted in World Series parades (2018 with Boston and 2022 with Houston). He's played in 31 playoff games logging 99 PA's which is more than Max Kepler, Byron Buxton, and Jorge Polanco have in the playoffs combined. No doubt a player of Vázquez's caliber will be instrumental in leading a young Twins core in 2023 and beyond. The Twins average age of position players was 26.9, 4th youngest in MLB. He's the cliche "clubhouse guy" and the Twins absolutely need that. In his short time in Houston, he made an impression in that locker room and with the pitching staff. One can only hope he is on the Twins team that breaks the playoff curse during his tenure here. Please enjoy this video of Vázquez hitting a walk-off HR vs the Rays in the playoffs last season. 6. He's Buddies with Carlos Correa (BONUS!) OK, I know I said 5 reasons but I couldn't pass this up. Carlos Correa and Christian Vázquez went to the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy together. Maybe they will find each other playing for their country in the World Baseball Classic in 2023 alongside Twins 3B Jose Miranda and RP Jorge Lopez. And maybe the combo of Jose + Christian + Jorge can recruit their fellow countrymen back to Minnesota? It's a dream. But, it certainly can't hurt!

Good afternoon Twins fans and welcome back to more Game Thread fun! Well the big news that most everyone has already heard is Twins pitching coach Wes Johnson will be leaving the organization after Thursday's game against Cleveland to be the new pitching coach at LSU. I can't believe he would leave in the middle of the season but I guess he has his reasons. I suspect he wants to get there sooner in order to recruit new players to LSU. I've read he will be making more money but I doubt that was the reason. I know its all speculation at this point but I bet the MLB schedule, being away from family played a role. He might just like the amateur ranks more than the pro ranks...I guess we will find out later if it even matters. I hate to see him go but "it is what it is"....Pete Maki is being promoted and will take the place of Wes on Friday. Good luck Pete! We need this staff sharp for October! The Twins kick off a big 4 game series against division rival Cleveland tonight. With a 2 game lead over Cleveland it would be nice to see the Twins have a 6 game lead after Thursday's final contest. Cleveland has been in a mini-slump since leaving Minnesota last week and have lost 4 games in a row. Taking the mound tonight for the Twins is Sonny Gray (3-1, 2.53 ERA). Sonny will be pitching against Cleveland righty Triston McKenzie (4-5, 3.51 ERA). After the news of Wes Johnson leaving the Twins it will be interesting to see how the pitching staff responds. I read that Wes was a huge influence on Sonny getting his confidence back this year. Apologies for posting the Game Thread so early but I need to leave for a fishing trip this afternoon. "Need to leave" is maybe a little dramatic but if I don't get out of the office for a little break I may pull a Wes Johnson and leave for good....Heading to the upper Mississippi River north of Deerwood, MN to hammer some small mouth bass and walleye. I will be listening to the game on the radio in the boat though! I tried to post the lineups but at 2:30 only Cleveland had theirs posted...If someone could post the Twins lineup for me I'll send some frozen walleye fillets to your house. Let's go Twins!!! Today's Lineups: TWINS (41-33): TBD CLEVELAND (36-32): 1. Steven Kwan, LF 2. Amed Rosario, SS 3. Jose Ramirez, 3B 4. Josh Naylor, 1B 5. Oscar Gonzalez, RF 6. Andres Gimenez, 2B 7. Owen Miller, DH 8. Luke Maile, C 9. Myles Straw, CF SP - Triston McKenzie, (RHP) Weather: Game time temperature 74 degrees and sunny. 0% chance of rain. Wind 12mph blowing L-R.

Good evening Twins fans and welcome back to more Game Thread fun! Have you ever attended a MLB game and sat next to some over zealous fans? Did you sit next to fans that were knowledgable about the game and the teams that were playing? The Game Thread experience is all about that and more... As Twins fans this is our forum to debate and play arm chair quarterback. Don't be shy! Speak up and tell us your opinion about a specific play, umpire mistake or coaching move...Most of the Moderators on the site allow a little bit more leeway in what people say during the Game Thread. Please don't swear but remember, games that start this late a majority of Mods are asleep or 8 beers into the evening. Now for the game information: The Twins kick off a 3 game series against the NL West Arizona Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks are 11 games behind the NL West leader San Diego Padres. Arizona has a 30-35 record (.462 winning average). The Twins are 37-28 (.569 winning average) with a 2 game lead over Cleveland. The Twins starter tonight is lefty Devin Smeltzer (3-0, 2.38 ERA) going up against Arizona southpaw Madison Bumgarner (2-6, 3.50 ERA). The lineup looks good for the Twins tonight. I foresee a lot of runs for the good guys. Bumgarner has not been as sharp as he has looked in the past. Tune in and find out what happens. Grab a favorite beverage and cheer for the Minnesota Twins today! Don't forget to share your opinions and participate in the Game Thread fun tonight! The Moderators will be asleep...trust me! Tonight's lineups: Minnesota Twins: 1. Byron Buxton, DH 2. Carlos Correa, SS 3. Gio Urshela, 3B 4. Gary Sanchez, C 5. Luis Arraez, 2B 6. Jose Miranda, 1B 7. Max Kepler, RF 8. Gilberto Celestino, CF 9. Trevor Larnach, LF SP - Devin Smeltzer (LHP) Arizona Diamondbacks: 1. Carson Kelly, C 2. Josh Rojas, 3B 3. Jordan Luplow, LF 4. C. Walker, 1B 5. Daulton Varsho, RF 6. Buddy Kennedy, DH 7. Alek Thomas, CF 8. Jake Hager, 2B 9. Geraldo Perdomo, SS SP - Madison Bumgarner (LHP) Weather: Hot! Like really hot.....106 degrees. Zero chance of rain.

Good afternoon Twins fans and welcome back to more Game Thread fun! Yesterday's game was fun to watch and almost got out of hand but in the end the Twins prevailed. As I posted on yesterdays game recap, Ryan and Duran are going to be exciting to watch. Unfortunately, Buxton had to leave early due to a right knee strain. According to the Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, Buxton isn't believed to have suffered any structural damage but may be off for a week or so. Phil Miller of the Star Tribune reported that the Twins do not intend to make a roster move which hopefully means the injury is minor. What excitement will be in store for today's game? Not really sure but Sonny Gray takes the mound against Boston hurler Tanner Houck (0-0) 8.10 ERA. I suspect the Twins are going to light this kid up. I predict an early exit for Tanner as Sonny gives us hopefully 6 or more "Snapper Mow em' Down" innings. Speaking of lighting up, tomorrow is Easter Sunday. I plan on firing up the Big Green Egg to grill a leg of lamb. Throw in some cheesy potatoes, asparagus and garlic bread and I'll have the makings of a small feast. The price of the lamb was crazy by the way......my grocery bill looks like I'm feeding 50 people vs. 6 people. I hope you enjoy your Easter celebrations tomorrow! Let's smoke the Red Sox today! Today's lineups: TWINS: 1. Luis Arraez, DH 2. Jorge Polanco, 2B 3. C. Correa, SS 4. Max Kepler, RF 5. T. Larch, LF 6. Gio Urshela, 3B 7. Nick Gordon, CF 8. Miguel Sano, 1B 9. Ryan Jeffers, C SP - Sonny Gray, (R) 0-0, 3.86 ERA RED SOX: 1. E Hernandez, CF 2. R. Devers, 3B 3. X. Bogaerts, SS 4. J. Martinez, DH 5. Alex Verdugo, LF 6. Trevor Story, 2B 7. Bobby Dalbec, 1B 8. J. Bradley, RF 9. C. Vazquez, C SP - Tanner Houck, (R) 0-0, 8.10ERA Weather: Cloudy and 62 degrees with a 15mph wind blowing out

When I dipped my toe into the new Twins season, I braced myself and winced. Like most people on Twins Daily, I'm excited for our hitting but unsure if we've got the pitching to be competitive. More than that, these old bones are sore from the 2021 season. Things looked swell last year at this time, and then the losses piled on and on. And on and on and on. Admitting you were a Twins fan got you a free bowl of soup and a friendly ear in Depression-era diners last year. "Times are tough," the cook would say. I made time to watch the first game at a chain restaurant that specializes in wings (even though no wings come close to achieving the greatness of Tooties on Lowry, home of the best wings on earth). I took my 5-year-old daughter and bought some quality baseball time by loaning her my cell phone so she could play her little game on it. The Twins tripped and fell right away in the game. They staggered and righted themselves a bit with an Urshela home run, then stumbled on the way to their final out. Game two and Buxton does a little talking with his bat. Twins take a lead and then blow it. I follow along on my phone, sliding back into the groove of ignoring friends and relatives to keep up on the game. The secret is lots of eye contact when you're paying attention to THEM, to make up for all the times you only have eyes for your phone. Game three is much better. Sanchez knocks in a grand slam and there are home runs everywhere, like they were participation trophies. I tried to listen to part of this on the radio, but my 5-year-old daughter caught me tuning in when I was supposed to be babysitting her dolls. I ended up having to sing David Bowie songs to them while the Twins hauled in their first victory. Game four? I'm fully immersed in the Twins season and loving it. There are good things happening for the Twins, and there's every reason to nurture a bit of hope. So why did I feel so blah? General contrariness? Always a possibility. Maybe it's because I read the news today, oh boy, and the real world has become A Bad Place. Baseball usually takes me away from all that - the longer, the better! Maybe it'll just take a little longer this year to fully escape into the game. There's no reason to worry about whether or not this team can warm your heart. This team is so loveable it could sour puppies and kitties by comparison. Buxton plays the game with gusto and he'll take you along for the ride. Polanco and Correa can turn frowns upside down with a swipe of their bats. Kirilloff is going to get there, people, and it'll be delightful. And this Duran guy? You gotta love what you see when he pitches. Also, he appears to be a very good hugger, based on my own observations. This is a team you can cheer for. This is a team that brings "fan favorites" and "baseball crushes" back to the ballpark. I, for one, am ready to let baseball dazzle me into a happy grin yet again. Bring on the summer of 2022, and bring on the next chapter of Twins history!

I’d like to discuss the way I see forward for the Minnesota Twins to become a team ready for a deep playoff run or World Series victory. The focus will be on top quality pitching. I’ll use a couple of case studies of teams that had very deep and strong pitching and great success, those teams being the 1980 Baltimore Orioles and the 1972-1974 Oakland A’s. Then I’ll take a look at how the Twins can get to that level. First, how did I get to this point of believing pitching is more important than I originally thought? Although, a Twins fan since 1964, the media and options for following the Twins on a more comprehensive level only opened up to me in the 1970s. I lived in Toledo, Ohio but had discovered the Twins at Tinker Field in Orlando when my Dad took me to a game vs. the Cincinnati Reds. The Twins won and the rest was history for me! In the 1960s it was linescores in the newspaper and the occasional game of the week with Joe Garagiola and Tony Kubek. Then one glorious night in 1973, I thought to myself, "Wouldn’t it be great to be able to pick up Twins games on the radio." I had been twirling the station tuner knob that night pickng up any games I could. Seemingly miraculously, within 10-15 minutes I heard a new voice and paused to see what team(s) I had come across. Imagine my astonishment when I learned that it was the Twins broadcast from WHO in Des Moines, Iowa. I first heard the voice of Herb Carneal that night and stayed up late listening to Twins baseball as my recollection is that it was a doubleheader, possibly from the west coast. Herb became my constant companion for many years and my love for the Twins grew exponentially. I remember annually thnking the the Twins were going to win the AL West this season and the next and the next but it never happened. Why? I couldn’t figure it out as they had such fine hitters as Jim Holt, Steve Braun, Rod Carew, Bobby Darwin, Mike Cubbage, then Glenn Adams, Lyman Bostock and Larry Hisle. The 1977 team brought things into clear focus. The offense, while maybe not as deep as 2019, was at the upper echelon - arguably the greatest offense in Twins history. On June 26, 1977 I listened to and scored from my basement in Ohio, a 19-12 Twins win over the White Sox, listening to Harey Carey from 670 WMAQ in Chicago. Alas, the Twins had a mediocre to poor pitching staff in 1977. That to go along with possibly the best hitting team in Twins history and, in my opinion, the greatest manager in Twins history - the brilliant tactician and innovator, Gene Mauch. Suffice to say, from 1977 on, I realized that only a team with very strong pitching could hope to be in the playoffs (back them it was only AL East vs. West, then the World Series) or win the World Series. Let’s take a look at the 1977 Twins. (courtesy of baseball-reference.com) Pos Name Age G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ C Butch Wynegar# 21 144 617 532 76 139 22 3 10 79 2 3 68 61 .261 .344 .370 .715 96 1B Rod Carew* 31 155 694 616 128 239 38 16 14 100 23 13 69 55 .388 .449 .570 1.019 178 2B Bob Randall 29 103 342 306 36 73 13 2 0 22 1 4 15 25 .239 .289 .294 .583 61 SS Roy Smalley# 24 150 680 584 93 135 21 5 6 56 5 5 74 89 .231 .316 .315 .631 74 3B Mike Cubbage* 26 129 464 417 60 110 16 5 9 55 1 4 37 49 .264 .321 .391 .712 94 LF Larry Hisle 30 141 620 546 95 165 36 3 28 119 21 10 56 106 .302 .369 .533 .902 144 CF Lyman Bostock* 26 153 660 593 104 199 36 12 14 90 16 7 51 59 .336 .389 .508 .897 144 RF Dan Ford 25 144 510 453 66 121 25 7 11 60 6 4 41 79 .267 .338 .426 .764 108 DH Craig Kusick 28 115 325 268 34 68 12 0 12 45 3 1 49 60 .254 .370 .433 .803 120 Pos Name Age G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ DH Rich Chiles* 27 108 295 261 31 69 16 1 3 36 0 1 23 17 .264 .323 .368 .691 89 DH Glenn Adams* 29 95 290 269 32 91 17 0 6 49 0 2 18 30 .338 .376 .468 .844 130 3B Jerry Terrell 30 93 235 214 32 48 6 0 1 20 10 4 11 21 .224 .263 .266 .530 46 2B Rob Wilfong* 23 73 193 171 22 42 1 1 1 13 10 4 17 26 .246 .321 .281 .602 67 LF Bob Gorinski 25 54 126 118 14 23 4 1 3 22 1 0 5 29 .195 .226 .322 .548 48 CF Willie Norwood 26 39 91 83 15 19 3 0 3 9 6 1 6 17 .229 .281 .373 .654 78 IF Luis Gomez 25 32 74 65 6 16 4 2 0 11 0 2 4 9 .246 .290 .369 .659 80 C Glenn Borgmann 27 17 54 43 12 11 1 0 2 7 0 0 11 9 .256 .407 .419 .826 128 C Bud Bulling 24 15 39 32 2 5 1 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 .156 .270 .188 .458 29 3B Larry Wolfe 24 8 27 25 3 6 1 0 0 6 0 0 1 0 .240 .269 .280 .549 51 2B Sam Perlozzo 26 10 27 24 6 7 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 3 .292 .346 .458 .804 119 DH Randy Bass* 23 9 19 19 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 .105 .105 .105 .211 -42 Next the pitching staff that held the team to an 84-77 record. Pos Name Age W L ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP Team Totals 27.1 84 77 4.36 161 161 126 35 4 25 1442.0 1546 776 698 151 507 737 91 4.21 1.424 Rank in 14 AL teams 7 8 12 11 9 10 8 12 12 12 10 7 12 Pos Name Age W L ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP SP Dave Goltz 28 20 11 3.36 39 39 0 19 2 0 303.0 284 129 113 23 91 186 119 3.42 1.238 SP Paul Thormodsgard 23 11 15 4.62 37 37 0 8 1 0 218.0 236 122 112 25 65 94 86 4.30 1.381 SP Geoff Zahn* 31 12 14 4.68 34 32 0 7 1 0 198.0 234 116 103 20 66 88 85 4.24 1.515 SP Pete Redfern 22 6 9 5.18 30 28 2 1 0 0 137.1 164 89 79 13 66 73 77 4.44 1.675 Pos Name Age W L ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP CL Tom Johnson 26 16 7 3.13 71 0 54 0 0 15 146.2 152 57 51 11 47 87 128 3.59 1.357 RP Ron Schueler 29 8 7 4.41 52 7 21 0 0 3 134.2 131 74 66 16 61 77 91 4.63 1.426 RP Tom Burgmeier* 33 6 4 5.09 61 0 20 0 0 7 97.1 113 56 55 15 33 35 79 5.10 1.500 RP Dave Johnson 28 2 5 4.58 30 6 16 0 0 0 72.2 86 42 37 7 23 33 88 4.24 1.500 RP Jeff Holly* 24 2 3 6.89 18 5 6 0 0 0 48.1 57 37 37 8 12 32 58 4.37 1.428 Pos Name Age W L ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP Gary Serum 20 0 0 4.37 8 0 2 0 0 0 22.2 22 11 11 4 10 14 93 5.39 1.412 Bill Butler* 30 0 1 6.86 6 4 0 0 0 0 21.0 19 17 16 5 15 5 59 7.64 1.619 Mike Pazik* 27 1 0 2.50 3 3 0 0 0 0 18.0 18 5 5 1 6 6 163 3.79 1.333 Don Carrithers 27 0 1 6.91 7 0 3 0 0 0 14.1 16 13 11 2 6 3 59 5.60 1.535 Jim Shellenback* 33 0 0 7.94 5 0 0 0 0 0 5.2 10 7 5 1 5 3 54 6.62 2.647 Jim Hughes 25 0 0 2.08 2 0 2 0 0 0 4.1 4 1 1 0 1 1 209 2.97 1.154 Notice that the starting rotation was basically one pitcher deep, their ace, Dave Goltz, he of the knuckle-curve. The staff ERA was 4.36, which is not so much a reflection of the quality of the starting staff but of the superior work of two relievers who ate up 281.1 innings. Tom Johnson was the one most responsible for holding down the team ERA with his 3.13 ERA, 16-7 record and 146.2 innings as the closer! Amazingly, after the Twins had lost Bill Campbell and his 17-5 record in relief in 1976 to free-agency, they were able to plug in Johnson. It’s pretty plain to see that the top 9 pitchers listed, excepting Goltz and Johnson, are what held back this team with a juggernaut offense from a possible division championship or even World Series victory. Just one quality starter. Two other major factors influenced my thinking on the value of deep, quality pitching. The first was the astonishing success of the 1972-1974 Oakland A’s, who may have won 5-7 World Series in a row except for the advent of free-agency. Charley Finley waved the white flag of surrender just as much as Calvin Griffith did and the Oakland dynasty was destroyed. Take a look at the pitching staff of a World Champion three years running. The names changed slightly but the prioritization on pitching is the teachable lesson! (courtesy of baseball-reference.com) Pos Name Age W L ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP Team Totals 26.7 94 68 3.29 162 162 116 46 12 41 1457.1 1311 532 143 494 797 109 3.83 1.239 Rank in 12 AL teams 2 11 2 9 2 2 3 2 3 9 4 8 Pos Name Age W L ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP SP Ken Holtzman* 27 21 13 2.97 40 40 0 16 4 0 297.1 275 98 22 66 157 120 3.18 1.147 SP Vida Blue* 23 20 9 3.28 37 37 0 13 4 0 263.2 214 96 26 105 158 109 3.89 1.210 SP Catfish Hunter 27 21 5 3.34 36 36 0 11 3 0 256.1 222 95 39 69 124 107 4.40 1.135 SP Blue Moon Odom 28 5 12 4.49 30 24 4 3 0 0 150.1 153 75 14 67 83 79 4.05 1.463 SP Dave Hamilton* 25 6 4 4.39 16 11 1 1 0 0 69.2 74 34 8 24 34 81 4.16 1.407 Pos Name Age W L ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP CL Rollie Fingers 26 7 8 1.92 62 2 49 0 0 22 126.2 107 27 5 39 110 186 2.36 1.153 RP Darold Knowles* 31 6 8 3.09 52 5 26 1 1 9 99.0 87 34 7 49 46 116 4.13 1.374 RP Horacio Pina 28 6 3 2.76 47 0 24 0 0 8 88.0 58 27 8 34 41 129 4.25 1.045 RP Paul Lindblad* 31 1 5 3.69 36 3 11 0 0 2 78.0 89 32 8 28 33 97 4.25 1.500 Pos Name Age W L ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP Glenn Abbott 22 1 0 3.86 5 3 1 1 0 0 18.2 16 8 3 7 6 94 5.14 1.232 Rob Gardner* 28 0 0 4.91 3 0 0 0 0 0 7.1 10 4 2 4 2 77 7.20 1.909 Chuck Dobson 29 0 1 7.71 1 1 0 0 0 0 2.1 6 2 1 2 3 55 8.14 3.429 Second was playing table top baseball with a good friend who was an avid Orioles fan. We played my Twins team against his Orioles for many games, who while not having the offense of the Twins, kept running out a relentless rotation of Palmer, Flanagan, Dennis Martinez, Scott McGregor. I was defeated more often than not by this pitching staff and got used to being dominated. I was forever changed! This is the kind of staff I’d like to see the Twins aspire to! (courtesy of baseball-reference.com) Pos Name Age W L ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP Team Totals 26.8 90 71 3.56 161 161 96 65 14 33 1429.0 1340 566 107 509 754 99 3.60 1.294 Rank in 14 AL teams 5 10 5 1 2 2 11 2 4 4 7 5 Pos Name Age W L ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP SP Jim Palmer 32 21 12 2.46 38 38 0 19 6 0 296.0 246 81 19 97 138 143 3.48 1.159 SP Mike Flanagan* 26 19 15 4.03 40 40 0 17 2 0 281.1 271 126 22 87 167 87 3.37 1.273 SP Dennis Martinez 24 16 11 3.52 40 38 0 15 2 0 276.1 257 108 20 93 142 100 3.54 1.267 SP Scott McGregor* 24 15 13 3.32 35 32 2 13 4 1 233.0 217 86 19 47 94 106 3.46 1.133 Pos Name Age W L ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP CL Don Stanhouse 27 6 9 2.89 56 0 47 0 0 24 74.2 60 24 0 52 42 122 3.55 1.500 RP Joe Kerrigan 24 3 1 4.77 26 2 16 0 0 3 71.2 75 38 10 36 41 74 4.85 1.549 RP Tippy Martinez* 28 3 3 4.83 42 0 16 0 0 5 69.0 77 37 4 40 57 73 3.47 1.696 RP Nelson Briles 34 4 4 4.64 16 8 4 1 0 0 54.1 58 28 6 21 30 76 4.19 1.454 RP John Flinn 23 1 1 8.04 13 0 5 0 0 0 15.2 24 14 3 13 8 45 6.54 2.362 Pos Name Age W L ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP Tim Stoddard 25 0 1 6.00 8 0 3 0 0 0 18.0 22 12 3 8 14 60 4.86 1.667 Dave Ford 21 1 0 0.00 2 1 1 0 0 0 15.0 10 0 0 2 5 2.32 0.800 Sammy Stewart 23 1 1 3.18 2 2 0 0 0 0 11.1 10 4 0 3 11 115 1.44 1.147 Earl Stephenson* 30 0 0 2.79 2 0 2 0 0 0 9.2 10 3 0 5 4 131 3.31 1.552 Elrod Hendricks 37 0 0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 2.1 1 0 0 1 0 3.87 0.857 Larry Harlow* 26 0 0 67.50 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.2 2 5 1 4 1 9 37.09 9.000 Now, let’s compare this year’s Twins staff to, first the 1977 Twins, and then secondly to the 1973 A’s and the 1978 Orioles. (courtesy of baseball-reference.com) Pos Name Age W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP Team Totals 30.4 29 41 .414 4.94 70 70 70 0 0 17 610.1 619 335 104 209 574 84 4.67 1.357 Rank in 15 AL teams 12 4 14 8 9 8 11 13 13 14 5 13 Pos Name Age W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP SP Jose Berrios 27 7 2 .778 3.56 14 14 0 0 0 0 83.1 70 33 10 21 87 115 3.58 1.092 SP J.A. Happ* 38 3 3 .500 6.12 12 12 0 0 0 0 60.1 69 41 11 18 44 67 5.13 1.442 SP Michael Pineda (10-day IL) 32 3 4 .429 3.70 11 11 0 0 0 0 56.0 49 23 10 15 51 111 4.48 1.143 SP Matt Shoemaker 34 2 8 .200 7.57 13 11 2 0 0 0 54.2 66 46 12 23 37 54 6.04 1.628 SP Kenta Maeda 33 2 2 .500 5.01 10 10 0 0 0 0 46.2 55 26 9 14 46 82 4.80 1.479 Pos Name Age W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP CL Taylor Rogers* 30 2 3 .400 2.73 28 0 11 0 0 7 29.2 26 9 3 5 41 152 2.23 1.045 RP Hansel Robles 30 3 3 .500 2.84 32 0 9 0 0 5 31.2 21 10 2 19 33 145 3.80 1.263 RP Jorge Alcala 25 1 1 .500 3.49 29 0 11 0 0 0 28.1 16 11 7 7 24 118 5.54 0.812 RP Tyler Duffey 30 0 2 .000 4.15 28 0 2 0 0 2 26.0 23 12 2 13 24 100 3.94 1.385 RP Alex Colome 32 2 4 .333 5.40 27 0 10 0 0 2 25.0 28 15 5 12 26 77 5.49 1.600 Pos Name Age W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP Randy Dobnak 26 1 6 .143 7.83 13 5 3 0 0 1 43.2 60 38 11 12 25 53 6.19 1.649 Caleb Thielbar* 34 2 0 1.000 4.13 22 0 4 0 0 0 24.0 26 11 3 7 36 101 2.80 1.375 Bailey Ober 25 0 0 3.71 4 4 0 0 0 0 17.0 18 7 3 2 21 113 3.52 1.176 Cody Stashak (10-day IL) 27 0 0 6.89 15 0 1 0 0 0 15.2 16 12 2 10 26 61 3.62 1.660 Lewis Thorpe* (7-day IL) 25 0 2 .000 3.86 4 3 1 0 0 0 14.0 13 6 1 4 5 109 4.24 1.214 Luke Farrell 30 1 0 1.000 2.08 11 0 3 0 0 0 13.0 11 3 1 5 14 202 3.17 1.231 Shaun Anderson 26 0 0 9.35 4 0 0 0 0 0 8.2 13 9 1 5 8 46 4.90 2.077 Griffin Jax (40-man) 26 0 0 8.64 3 0 2 0 0 0 8.1 11 8 4 3 9 49 8.33 1.680 Derek Law 30 0 0 8.53 5 0 3 0 0 0 6.1 11 6 2 6 9 51 7.28 2.684 Juan Minaya 30 0 0 4.26 4 0 2 0 0 0 6.1 5 3 2 3 4 102 7.91 1.263 Devin Smeltzer* (10-day IL) 25 0 0 0.00 1 0 1 0 0 0 4.2 1 0 0 1 3 3.81 0.429 Brandon Waddell* 27 0 1 .000 11.25 4 0 2 0 0 0 4.0 10 5 2 3 1 40 11.42 3.250 Willians Astudillo (40-man) 29 0 0 3.00 3 0 3 0 0 0 3.0 1 1 1 1 0 153 8.51 0.667 Statistically, this is the worst pitching staff we’ve looked at. This rotation is basically a two man rotation out of 5 where the 1977 Twins were basically one. Staffs like the 1977 and 2021 Twins will never lead to a high quality team featuring one and two viable starters type rotations. Obvious, right? My argument would be that Falvey and Levine should be trying to get that to 4 or 5 quality starters and not put resources to players like J.A. Happ, Matt Shoemaker, Alex Colome or even Josh Donaldson. Donaldson has good qualities but one thing he isn’t is a quality pitcher. What’s the way forward? I think, based on his 3.70 ERA so far and the virtual impossibility of signing 3 FA quality starters, that they need to re-sign Michael Pineda. They also need to re-sign Jose Berrios. That’s only 2 of 5 quality starters. We have to hope that Maeda rounds back into form. Further the FO is going to have to sign a quality free agent pitcher. Then we have to hope that Bailey Ober builds on what he as started so far. And hope that Barnes, Duran or Balazovic make a breakthrough. There are other good arms. I’ve pictured below the kinds of pitchers we need in at least 3 or 4 spots. It would be nice to have Christy Mathewson as a Twin but, alas, that’s not possible. He’s my favorite pitcher of all time. Let me know what you think. My motto is pitching, pitching and more pitching!!!

I know my writing is about as consistent as the Twins pitching, but that doesn’t mean that I am not watching. Watching and learning and understanding that baseball, as emotional as we get about it, is a business, and in a business you want to be the best that you can with the assets that you have. That’s why when you are hired at a job, if you are not doing the duties hired for, or continue to curtail off of them and get lazy, you will get fired, or in baseball’s instance, traded. The past few weeks we have seen a few changes, more hits, better defense, and a few more wins. Now, some of those wins are coming from other teams that are at our “level” (aka: a bad record), but as my husband says, “a win is a win”. He’s right, “A win is a win”, so let’s take a look at what has changed lately. If you don’t know, I will just tell you: injuries. Yes, you read that right, injuries are what are helping us. The Twins, in typical fashion have had a load of injuries that continue to plague us as we go throughout the season. I know that this is nothing new for any team, it’s the point of the IL, right? But let’s look at what that means for our Twins. Buxton, Donaldson, Simmons, Kepler, and now Jake Cave’s injuries are allowing for minor leaguers to come up to the show and give it a shot and take that shot they have. New guys joining our team on a consistent basis the past three weeks have been making dives on line drives and fly balls and getting homeruns like they were born to be on the Bomba Squad. Larnach has been one of those bright spots in our line up and in the left field. In the past three games, he has hit two homeruns and had four runs. One of those being his major league first HR on May 20th, and the flood gates of awesome opened up. Larnach continues to show us why he continues to stay on the active 26. Refsnyder is the diamond in the rough. The 30 year old has come out swinging, literally. Since May 15th, the former Texas Ranger has seen 33 at bats, which has led to 8 runs, 7 RBI’s and 2 homeruns. Definitely a great acquisition and has given the line up new life. I usually cringe when I see a player being traded and they are creeping into their 30’s, but there are a few, such as Refsnyder who continue to surprise teams and when they find their stride, watch out… Kiriloff, who has been with the 26 man since the middle of April, is great at first base and is a solid hitter. Kiriloff is young and has some room to grow, but he continues to improve each time he comes up, a solid hitter in dire situations, the 23 year old has four homeruns (two coming in one game against the Kansas City Royals) and only two walks in his 63 at bats this season. His RBI’s are what make him a great addition to the line up, he has ushered in fifteen RBI’s since April! If the Twins pitching could quit taking us into extra innings, imagine how 15 RBI’s could make a difference in our overall record. Baseball is a business. Baseball for us fans, means winning records, longevity into the playoffs, and hopefully a World Series win...or at least a chance. Emotionally, we love certain players, we all have our reasons, but at the end of the day, the owners, the fans and the coaches have an investment in these players and deserve a return on their investment. These three men have proven to be a huge improvement in our line up and in our defense, so maybe it’s time to make some permanent changes, ones that all of us would hate to see, but, we may need if we truly want to have a winning team.

The Twins head to St. Louis for a doubleheader against the Cardinals. St Louis will be hungry after winning a series in Chicago against the Cubs, seeking revenge from earlier in the season against the Twins. It has become evident that the Cardinals are one of the tougher teams coming out of the NL Central. Having home-field advantage against the Twins is critical, Ballpark Village is no joke. The pitching match-ups are interesting, as Carlos Martinez squares off against Jose Berrios, and Daniel Ponce de Leon looks to prove himself against the once Uber driver, Randy Dobnak. Dobnak holds a 6-2 record this season, defying the odds as a pitcher in the MLB. In conclusion, this is another critical series for the Twins, it is unfortunate St. Louis is not throwing Jack Flaherty, Adam Wainwright, or Kwang-hyun Kim. However, with home field advantage, and a hot lineup led by veteran Yadier Molina, no one is safe against this St. Louis Cardinals team. The Cardinals should split this series, but I do not think that will happen. It is time to separate the boys from the men, the Bomba Squad comes alive tomorrow. Twins take both.

The Twins host the Tigers in game four of their five game series, Rich Hill faces off against Casey Mize. This is anyone's game as the Twins are sitting Buxton and Donaldson. However, with game five tomorrow and a doubleheader against St. Louis on Tuesday, one would say resting them is warranted. The top five of the Twins lineup is deadly and it is nice to have Arraez back. This game comes down to context; baby blue jersey's, 75 degrees and sunny, and home field advantage. Detroit has lost the last three and the third by a walk-off infield hit, falling 6.5 games out of first, with a .459 winning percentage. Meanwhile, the Twins are 17-4 at home, and only a half-game out of first place. Expecting Cleveland to win with Shane Bieber pitching, and Chicago to win with Dallas Keuchal on the hill, this game is critical for the Twinkies. I believe the Twins will step up to the challenge, taking game four by a score of 5-3.

Kenta Maeda faces off against 23-year-old Tarik Skubal as the Twins take on the Tigers tonight at 6:10PM. Maeda looks to rekindle his fire after dropping a tough one in Detroit. Maeda had eight strikeouts on three runs in six innings of work, but was outmatched by Casey Mize who gave up two runs in three innings of work. This is a revenge game for Maeda, and Detroit knows it. Twins fans will see a peak performance from Kenta tonight. Kenta is much more mechanically sound than Skubal. Maeda has maintained the same delivery throughout his career and it is becoming evident he has perfected it. Maeda has good separation and nice rhythm and tempo. As his front foot plants, he initiates rotation, bringing his arms close to his center of rotation (trunk). This enables him to rotate quicker, and have tighter spin on his pitches. Imagine a figure skater doing a twirl in the air. They start with their arms separated, then swing them close to their body upon their spin. Kenta Maeda does this in the realm of pitching. The closer your throwing arm is to your center of rotation, the safer it is for your glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint). I have attached a side by side to showcase what I mean. Nolan Ryan was exceptionally good at getting his throwing arm within his center of rotation. A good rule of thirds is an acute angle. In the side by side, you will notice Maeda’s arm is just within 90 degrees, while Nolan’s is clearly within 90 degrees. As he begins his rotation, his arm will move like a lasso, and his release point will be farther from his center of rotation (Pretend you are holding a baseball at release, how did you get there?). If you are familiar with the term, “layback” then I will sum it up like this. Layback is inevitable when you are throwing over 90MPH. Beginning rotation with your pitching arm farther from your center of rotation will put more stress on your glenohumeral joint, as it is not a natural motion. Getting your arm within 90 degrees upon rotation will lead to much safer layback. Now, onto Tarik Skubal. First off, this kid is only 23. You are not going to come to Minnesota as fresh meat and beat a seasoned vet. Tarik Skubal has a terrible glove side action. He has good separation and a bad arm action, which leads me to believe he has freak strength. I decided to add him to the picture to showcase how NOT to look upon rotation. When he rotates, he naturally loads his scapula’s, however, when he is fully rotated and beginning to throw, his glove side does nothing. You could cut this guy’s arm off and he’d still throw the same. In conclusion, Twins win 10-2.

The Twins will pitch Randy Dobnak against Matt Boyd today as the Twins take on the Tigers in game one of their doubleheader. Dobnak enters the season at 6-2 with his last start being an 8-2 loss (against the Tigers), giving up six runs on 12 hits. In Boyd’s last start (against the Twins), he gave up two runs on four hits, in six innings of a seven-inning game.Other than being the home team, I do not like this matchup. First off, Boyd is a lefty and Dobnak is a righty, as an ex-left-handed pitcher I am biased (sorry not sorry). I do, however, like Dobnak’s scapular load/unload. Oh, and his mustache, of course. This game sets the tone for the rest of the series. Matt Boyd has only gotten better as the season has progressed, and Dobnak has proved himself worthy as a starter. To win, the sticks will need to come alive. Even if the Twins go up big, leave Dobnak in until he reaches his pitch count of 90-100 pitches. This will save the bullpen for the rest of the five-game series. In conclusion, this game is seen as a must-win for both teams, both teams want this game badly. I don’t see a blowout in this game, whether it is 8-7 or 4-3, this will be a close one. Give the Twins the edge with home-field advantage and just winning a series against a red hot Chicago White Sox. After a day of rest, you don’t want to play the Twins at home during a day game.

The Twins have the day off as they prepare for a five game series against the Detroit Tigers. They will play a double-header tomorrow, with each team getting one game as the home team. This comes after last weekend’s postponements in Detroit between the two teams. This series is pivotal for the Twins as they are well past the halfway marker of a 60-game season, sitting in third place. The Twins have no reason not to take five out of five games. However, this series will not come easy as Detroit news outlets, too, are beginning to run stories about their supposed playoff run. It would be naïve to suggest Detroit does not want this series just as bad as Minnesota does. The Tigers are just five games out of third place and will have a five game series in attempt to swap places in the standings. Other than the Royals, every team in the American League has a win percentage above .500. So, although the Twins have five more wins than the Tigers, the difference in win percentages is mere decimals. The Tigers are not shabby when it comes to offense, collecting 32 runs in their last five games, compared to Minnesota’s 20. If Twins starting pitchers can get at least six innings a piece, I like our chances…. Seven innings, I really like our chances. However, Detroit has a nice pair of arms themselves. Casey Mize and Matt Boyd have pitched well. However, neither throw a 12/6 curveball which in my opinion, is the best off-speed pitch in baseball. Being in Minneapolis, no one is concerning themselves with this young talent coming out of Detroit, more so making themselves aware. With Michael Pineda, Josh Donaldson, and Byron Buxton returning, the Twinkies have their own interests in mind… returning to their natural form. Everyone was in a frenzy about the Twins making no moves at the trade deadline. The reality is, no one (fans or management) wanted to give anyone up for what we were looking for (a stud pitcher). Take this as a positive sign. The Twins lineup is comprised of players coming primarily from Minnesota’s farm system teams, Luis Arràez and Byron Buxton to name a few. To compliment this, management added two great veteran talents in Josh Donaldson (an infielder), and Nelson Cruz (an outfielder). There is no question these guys have been role models to this young Twins team, helping develop everyone around them, including themselves. The Twins have something that is highly undervalued, team chemistry. Leadership, chemistry, and talent will carry this team far. When healthy, the Twins have one of the deadliest lineups in baseball. Keep in mind the Twins started the season off 10-2 with series victories over the St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, and Chicago White Sox, some of the most competitive teams in the MLB. Keep your heads up Twins fans, the Twins will take at least four of five from Detroit this weekend.

The Twins 2020 schedule was only released last week and now MLB has released the 2021 schedule with the thought that teams will be able to play 162-games. This might be a big assumption on the part of MLB because it will like only happen, if there is a widely available COVID-19 vaccine. The current season is in jeopardy because of the current state of our nation. However, let’s take a dive into the 2021 season and see what it could mean for your potential 2020 World Series Champions and their chances for a repeat.Minnesota is scheduled to start the season on a six-game road trip with three games in Milwaukee and Detroit. This allows for the Twins to open at home as part of a three-game series versus Seattle on April 8. The Twins than face off against the Red Sox for four games before heading to the West Coast for six games split between the Angels and the Athletics. From there the Twins have a tough stretch in June with a back-to-back series with the Yankees and the Astros from June 8-13. Some other important series include the an interleague series with the Reds from June 21-22. Then in June, the Angles and Mike Trout, the best player of all-time, come back to Minneapolis for three games (July 22-25). The end of August also provides a critical part of the schedule against National League foes. After starting the year in Milwaukee, the Twins will face-off with the Brewers for three games in Minnesota. Milwaukee is going to be a strong team in 2020 and this could continue in 2021. At the end of August, Minnesota is scheduled to play the Cubs at Target Field. Obviously, there are plenty of important series against other AL Central squads. That being said, there are plenty of questions about what the future might hold for baseball. Will Cleveland continue to trade away pieces? How will the White Sox adjust to being contenders? Are the Royals and the Tigers going to rise in the years to come? 2021 Important Dates: Opening Day: April 1 at Milwaukee Home Opener: April 8 vs. Seattle Trout Visits MN: July 22-25 Milwaukee at MN: August 27-29 Cubs at MN: August 31- September 1 Last Home Series: Tigers from September 28-30 Final Series: Twins @ Royals on October 1-3 Do you think the Twins will play a full schedule in 2021? What could change for the Twins before the 2021 season begins? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

We're a couple days away from Summer Camp opening up for the Twins and the rest of Major League Baseball, I can't wait for the shirts, and we're about 25 days away from Opening Day pending the official schedule release, so I thought it fitting to make my prediction about how the season will unfold for Minnesota. Everybody and their mom have done Virtual seasons, from Aaron Gleeman managing the club on OOTP Baseball, to Ted Schwerzler posting post-game reports on Twitter daily, to myself managing the Twins but also calling every game on MLB The Show, there's been a lot to follow here on Twins Daily. I'm 23 years old and I can honestly say this has felt like the highest expectations for the Twins in my lifetime. Currently on Oddshark.com, the Twins are tied for 5th with the 2019 World Champs for the highest odds to win the World Series. https://www.oddsshark.com/mlb/world-series-odds This basis for the Twins success in those odds isn't all based on last year's historic season either. From adding arms like Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill, Homer Bailey, and Tyler Clippard to one of the splashiest moves this off-season in acquiring the Bringer of Rain Josh Donaldson, the feeling throughout Twins Territory is that this team has a chance to have us partying on Nicolette Ave. come October (if we can even have parades by then). But how have those free-agent moves panned out for the Virtual Twins? Let's take a look and that and more through the first 60 games. Firstly let's take a look at some of those Free-Agent acquisitions and how they have panned out: Josh Donaldson: After starting the season with an 11 game hitting streak, the Bringer or Rain ran into a drought at the plate for Minnesota. After 60 games Donaldson was batting .250, 6 HR, 18 RBI, and was 2nd last among the tradition starting nine for Minnesota in RBI's (Arraez in last with 9 RBI's). Donaldson's bat has picked up some in late June but for the purposes of this outlook I'm only examining the first 60 games which goes to show how weird this season is going to be. https://www.twitch.tv/thuuuuney/clip/OutstandingDoubtfulEmuPeteZaroll Kenta Maeda: Throughout calling games for the Virtual Twins one of my favorite players to examine has been Maeda. in 54.2 IP, Kenta had racked up 83 K's and would have him registered with the highest K/9 in baseball except for the fact that he wouldn't qualify in regards to innings pitched. From his most dazzling performance against Oakland where he racked up 14 K's, to a 2.96 ERA, Maeda has been just what the doctor ordered for a reliable starter in the middle of the Twins rotation. http://www.twitch.tv/thuuuuney/clip/OutstandingDoubtfulEmuPeteZaroll Homer Bailey: Before COVID-19 a talking point among Twins fans was how there was pitching to back up some notable starters who were still months away from joining the club like Michael Pineda and Rich Hill. Those pitchers included Jhoulys Chacin and Homer Bailey who were viewed as stop gap starters to hold the fort until reinforcements arrived, but in the Virtual season, Bailey was making a case to be the Twins ace. Through starting the year as a LRP and then being moved to the starting rotation after a rough open by Devin Smeltzer, Homer Bailey had the 2nd best ERA in the American League behind Gerrit Cole at 2.01 in 78.1 IP and despite the strikeout totals being significantly less than Maeda at 50, Bailey was missing bats and leading the Twins staff. A talking point among pitchers for Minnesota is how much Wes Johnson has helped in their development, could the same happen this real season to find whatever is left from Bailey's tenured arm? Next, let's take a look at the AL Central Standings through 60 games and pillage through the rough to find out meaningful information: First of all in the Virtual season the Twins repeated as AL Central Champs (hooray!) but there are differences to how the real season will be played. 40 of the 60 games are against the division and extrapolating the data from the Division category the Twins would've gone 25-15 against the division in a 60 game season, meaning going .500 against the NL Central would more than likely guarantee a playoff spot. But as you can see minus a game the Indians had essentially the same record against the division so in theory it would be a tight race for the Central. This season is going to be 37% the normal size of a regular season so each game will feel immensely more important, it will be a tough race indeed for Minnesota. Before closing with notable stats for the Twin's starting nine, I wanted to share some highlights we will sadly be missing this year due to the schedule realignment. We will first of all miss pitcher's batting with the Universal DH, so enjoy what could've been with Jose Berrios getting his first career RBI double (yes you read that right). https://www.twitch.tv/thuuuuney/clip/BitterSpoopyMarjoramBrainSlug Who knows what the postseason will entail, but we will miss the Twins playing the Yankees in the regular season, so enjoy Max Kepler completely dismantling the Bronx Bombers in New York. https://www.twitch.tv/thuuuuney/clip/KnottyDreamyHamYee Finally, at least for the start of the year, we will miss being at Target Field. Moments like when baseball starts will still be special, but will be significantly different without fans in the stands. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/583432621 Finally let's take a look at the starting nine you can expect on day one for Minnesota and what their stats may look like come the end of the season Garver building off his silver slugger (at the time of game 60 he lead the MLB in Slg and OPS), Nelson Cruz not showing any signs of regression, Kepler and Sano flourishing in their prime, there are a lot of reasons to be excited as Twins fans. This season will be different than any other we've ever had and even though I hate the extra innings rule for a runner at 2nd, we should embrace the weird and enjoy, from what we can gather from the Virtual Twins, what looks to be a seemingly unforgettable year for Minnesota. For those who want to follow along with the finale of my Virtual Twins project, you can keep updated here in the megathread. http://twinsdaily.com/topic/37528-virtual-twins-baseball-megathread/ Also the plan moving forward for this project will go as follows: Sim to the playoffs on June 5th, Wild Card/ALDS July 5th-9th, if Twins make it, ALCS July 10th-14th, and finally if they make it, The World Series from July 19th-22nd/23rd depending on what the official start date is for the Twins, and it all can be followed at the Virtual Twins network, http://twitch.tv/thuuuuney.

One of the most interesting thing I have found in researching the virus and the Spanish Flu is this article on the affect of social distancing? https://qz.com/1816060/a-chart-of-the-1918-spanish-flu-shows-why-social-distancing-works/ For baseball fans who like to look at charts and graphs this is a really good study of St Louis and Philadelphia during the 1918 epidemic. "The extreme measures—now known as social distancing, which is being called for by global health agencies to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus—kept per capita flu-related deaths in St. Louis to less than half of those in Philadelphia, according to a 2007 paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences." “I think the critical lesson from both the modeling and the historical work is that the benefits of multiple interventions are greatest if they are introduced early (before 1% of the population is infected) and maintained,” wrote Hatchett, who has also directed medical preparedness in the Obama White House." The history channel describes a very similar tactic to what the states are trying to do now, "The 1918 flu was first observed in Europe, the United States and parts of Asia before swiftly spreading around the world. At the time, there were no effective drugs or vaccines to treat this killer flu strain. Citizens were ordered to wear masks, schools, theaters and businesses were shuttered and bodies piled up in makeshift morgues before the virus ended its deadly global march." Should we think 2 weeks or a month is going to take care of us, here is another quote from the History.com, "The first wave of the 1918 pandemic occurred in the spring and was generally mild. The sick, who experienced such typical flu symptoms as chills, fever and fatigue, usually recovered after several days, and the number of reported deaths was low. "However, a second, highly contagious wave of influenza appeared with a vengeance in the fall of that same year. Victims died within hours or days of developing symptoms, their skin turning blue and their lungs filling with fluid that caused them to suffocate. In just one year, 1918, the average life expectancy in America plummeted by a dozen years." Why was it called Spanish Flu? "By 11 March 1918, the virus had reached Queens, New York. ... The Allies of World War I came to call it the Spanish flu, primarily because the pandemic received greater press attention after it moved from France to Spain in November 1918. Spain was not involved in the war and had not imposed wartime censorship." So do we assume that once the summer comes and the seasons change that we are done? No. "The second wave of the 1918 pandemic was much deadlier than the first. The first wave had resembled typical flu epidemics; those most at risk were the sick and elderly, while younger, healthier people recovered easily. By August, when the second wave began in France, Sierra Leone, and the United States,[93] the virus had mutated to a much deadlier form. October 1918 was the deadliest month of the whole pandemic." Sports Illustrated described - "There’s a face mask on the hitter, the bench and the crowd. Underneath their standard equipment, the umpire and catcher have them, too. "This is how the Pasadena Merchants and Standard-Murphys played a game in the Southern California Winter League on January 26, 1919." "The 2016 Marlins-Pirates series in Puerto Rico, which was moved to Miami due to Zika virus." In 1909 " as typhoid fever spread in California, the San Francisco Examiner ran the front-page headline “Epidemic Threatens to Ruin Ball Team” as the Pacific Coast League saw several players fall sick at once. The illness-related charity games have evolved with the times, too: The St. Louis Cardinals had an annual “Tuberculosis Day” game for more than two decades, and years later, President Eisenhower declared “Baseball Polio Day,” when MLB games were used to raise money for the disease on July 4, 1957." We think of our athletes as men of good health and conditioning, but we have the following list of players who died during their career - only two from flu. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_baseball_players_who_died_during_their_careers And finally for Twins fans there is this February 20 LA Times article that tells about Brusdar Graterol overcoming the flu - https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2020-02-20/dodgers-brusdar-graterol-over-flu-100-mph-fastball

If you’re a Minnesota Twins fan, and especially if you’re a big enough fan to have found this site, you need to find a way to visit spring training in Fort Myers. If you’re not, I expect it is because you’re not sure what there is to do there. This story, which we’ll run annually on Twins Daily is to help you find the best stuff to do at spring training.I don’t remember which year I first attended spring training, but I remember the exact date when I decided I would never miss it again: February 28th, 2014. I remember that date because we all remember the winter of 2013-14, or as Minnesotan’s refer to it: “that really awful winter.” That doesn’t sound especially harsh, but when Minnesotans single out one winter as really awful, that’s high praise. They’re all really awful. But 2013-14 had the coldest average temperature of any winter since 1978, plus a ton of snow. It also saved the worst for last. February, which is when Minnesotans are desperately searching for a little hope, was an all-time crummy month. When I boarded the plane at MSP that day, I looked at my phone and it was -10 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 42 degrees below the average high for that day. And when I landed in Fort Myers it was 80 and sunny and I was thunderstruck by just how dumb I had been for the previous 47 years of my life. I’ve come to feel strongly that we’re all doing it wrong. We should all escape for at least a long weekend to Fort Myers. And since I also get dozens of people asking me for advice for spring training, I hope this story serves as both a guide and inspiration to plan your own escape. I’ve already covered the weather, but it’s worth pointing out that even if there wasn’t baseball, escaping to 80 and sunny isn’t just nice for the time you’re there, it also lessens the rage with which you shovel out the driveway after that DAMN SNOWPLOW guys comes by AGAIN. It’s the length of the Minnesota winter that is the real killer. Knowing your winter has a definitive break, even temporarily, is incredibly therapeutic. That is all true if there wasn’t baseball. But here’s the thing - there IS baseball. It is probably the most concentrated and accessible baseball you’ll ever experience. Visiting the CenturyLink Sports Complex Visiting the Twins complex to see players up close is a morning activity. The accessibility is highest in the morning when players walk to and from their practice fields. You can see the route below, but the best place to stake out is over in the concrete area by those columns on the right. That’s where you’ll see a lot of people hanging around by 10 AM or so. Download attachment: Player Fan Path.png The players go out and come back in shifts, usually starting 9:15 or so though sometimes later. They come back in around 11 or noon, and that’s the best time to shake their hands or get an autograph or picture. You have to be patient and you get what you get - the times vary, the players vary, it’s a loosely organized congenial activity. Sometimes they can’t or won’t stop, but often they do. Here are Stephen Gonsalves, Kyle Gibson and Jose Berrios in 2019 all giving autographs as they came back from their morning workouts Saturday morning. Download attachment: Pitchers signing autographs.png Scrumming up with other fans and rubbing elbows with the players is certainly a draw, but it’s also fun to watch the players practice their craft. Want to watch a practice session, including someone like Tom Kelly or Torii Hunter help instruct minor leaguers? You can do that. They even built stands: Download attachment: Practice Field and Stands.png Or want to watch players take batting practice? The batting cages are right here, and you can watch up close through that chain link fence upon which these banners hang. Download attachment: Batting Cages.png The same is true of throwing in the bullpen. Here we see La Tortuga waiting for some pitchers to report and work on some of their mechanics. Download attachment: Bullpen.png You don’t have to worry about parking on days where there aren’t games. The stadium doesn’t have any concessions, but most of the action is over by lunchtime, so you have your afternoons free to bake on a beach, if you like. Watching Prospects Any Twins prospect who is on the 40-man roster is with the big league team at the beginning of spring training. And may who are not are still invited as non-roster invitees, so check the spring training roster to see which of your favorite players are with the big league club. But if you are really into prospects, you’ll want to attend spring training starting the second week of March. That’s when the minor league camp starts up, so all of the fields are filled with top prospects and hopeful suspects doing drills and playing games. This includes many of the prospects that began spring training with the big club. When they are whittled off the roster, they move to the minor league complex. If you would like to know which prospects are working out at which level, stop by the minor league office. They have sheets that say which players are working out with which teams, (AA, AAA, etc.) and also the minor league game schedule. Watching Games And then the games start. Starting the last weekend of February, you will have real live baseball most days from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. There are games most every day, in more intimate minor league stadiums, with prices that are closer to the minors than the majors. Download attachment: Hammond Seats.png Plus, if the Twins aren’t home, Fort Myers is one of the few cities that hosts two minor league teams: the Red Sox park is just a handful of miles away. Or take a one-hour to three-hour road trip to follow the Twins. All the road games are no further than that. When To Visit Once per day at spring training, you’ll hear a player, Twins employees or media members ask out loud “What the hell day is it today?” The daily routine doesn’t vary much, meaning Tuesdays are the same as Thursdays are the same as Saturdays. That said, you may want to visit at different times during spring training depending on what you want to get out of it. If you want the best access to players, the time to come is before the games start. Pitchers and catchers start their workouts on a Wednesday. The following Monday the batters all need to be there for their workouts, but the truth is most are there several days earlier. Excitement is high, and the players are feeling fresh. The interaction is definitely higher early in spring training. If you want to see games, you have a choice. If you want to see the big names, visit at the end of March when most of the roster cuts have happened. The players who will be making the roster will be getting some extra innings, though they’ll still likely be pulled after two or three at-bats. If you want to see some top prospects, come early in the game schedule, when Twins coaches will go out of their way to make sure top players get a live-action look for their benefit. You can see some of these guys in later games, too, but it will be more hit-and-miss, and usually limited to late innings. Early in the schedule you might see them starting alongside Twins regulars. Quit Thinking About It and Do It For a baseball fan, it’s almost hard to believe a place like this exists. The bad news is that it probably won’t, not in exactly the same manner, even next year. The consensus opinion is that every year, all the amenities get a little nicer, but the access gets a little tighter. If that idea bothers you, I promise you - you won’t care. Find a way to get here. You’ll hear the pop of a mitt and feel the sun on your shoulders and you’ll wonder, like I did, why it took you so long. Download attachment: Gibson and Kid.png Click here to view the article

I am always curious where the national rankings put the Twins Prospects. It helps give me perspective as I look at the rankings from TD. Today Jim Bowden had his top fifty prospects in the Athletic https://theathletic.com/1523975/2020/01/17/jim-bowdens-top-50-prospects-for-2020/?source=dailyemail and our top three were all there. Kiriloff has now passed Royce Lewis and is ranked number 12 over all which is great. This is a quote from the article describing Alex "Kirilloff has one of the best swings in baseball, one that reminds me of former MVP Christian Yelich at around the same stage." We would take a Yelich performance. It is also why Kiriloff should not be traded no matter what is dangled in front of us. Lewis is now 18. I remember when he was consistently in the top five. He is sighted for his versatility but the key sentence in his write up is "How quickly he adjusts as a hitter will determine when he’s ready for the majors, but he does have some work to do at the plate if he’s going to reach his high ceiling." Finally Graterol comes in at #48 and I love this sentence in the scouting report, "When Graterol pitches, you better make sure your radar gun does well with the triple digits because he’ll be there often." Nice to have them in the top fifty, now let's get Kiriloff and Graterol to the big show. It will probably take a trade of Rosario or another injury to Buxton, but when we need someone I would prefer the rookie over Cave. Time to unlock the potential. Graterol should be designated to take the rotation spot of Pineda until he comes off the suspension and maybe he will be so good that he forces one of the others off the rotation and that would be great.

We talk about all the stats and analytics like we are working with computers and not human beings. But that is not the case and thus we can look at players who have been mishandled by the team and wonder what would have happened if the club had been a little more intelligent in the personal needs department. Oswaldo Arcia is one person who really jumps out at me his minor league slash was 296/368/530 then he came to the Twins and his world and his potential fell flat. What happened. I know he failed with others, but once the slide starts it seldom rights itself. Miguel Sano was 269/385/530 as a rookie 3B and the major league brains said - put him in RF. He hit 236/319/462. Thankfully he has recovered from this wise decision. Now I look at Fernando Romero who was 3 - 3 with a 4.69 ERA as a major league starter. 45/19 k/BB as a starter. So lets make him a reliever. 0 - 1 7.07 ERA, 18/11 K/BB. WHIP went from 1.41 to 2.14. Sometimes changing a players role is good - other times it stinks. I remember the great notes about Romero coming up - nothing like that is written now. Did we out smart ourselves?

So we whiffed in FA and now we have the feeling that we never really had a chance and no one wants to come here! Boo hoo! People say trade the prospects. Wait a minute - they have to come here. They have no choice. For six years they are ours. So lets play them. Cleveland where our FO was trained moved their prospects up to their team and have had a good winning record for a few years now. Forget where they were in the minors - many teams are now running players out at a much younger age - see Acuna (22), Soto (19), Tatis 20, Jimenez (23), Lindor (22), Corey Seager (21), Corea (21), Gleyber Torres (22)... Forget the lets play keep them in the minors for years and push them forward. Noah Syndergaard is one of our targets and he is 26 and came in to the league at 22. Many players have started young and succeeded: Vada Pinson, RF: 19 years, 247 days in 1958 (Reds) ... Sibby Sisti, 2B: 19 years, 265 days in 1940 (Bees) ... Brooks Robinson, 3B: 19 years, 332 days in 1957 (Orioles) ... Rogers Hornsby, SS: 19 years, 351 days in 1916 (Cardinals) ... Adrian Beltre, 3B: 19 years, 363 days in 1999 (Dodgers) Lewis is still our number one rated player - put him at 3B if you want to put Sano at 1B. If he is not ready put Kiriloff, Rooker, or Raley at 1B. If Wade or Kiriloff is better than Cave then replace cave. Put Kiriloff or Larnach in LF since people complain about Eddie Rosario. If Lewis is going to take Marwin's place give him time at all the positions. Then package Gonzales, Rosario, and Cave and instead of trading prospects trade these players for Boyd or some other starter. I want to see the team start to push the envelop and get away from scraping up the crumbs at the end of FA. In other words, what is the plan?

Don Larsen, age 90, passed away and with him goes the honor of being the only man to toss a no-hit perfect game in a World Series (1956). Pitching to Yogi Berra in that classic Larsen rose to heights that exceed his career 81 - 91 record. His last out was a strikeout of Dale Mitchell. In Casey Stengel's unorthodox method of random pitcher selection, Don was shocked that he was called on after a poor game two. “I must admit I was shocked,” Larsen wrote in his autobiography. “I knew I had to do better than the last time, keep the game close and somehow give our team a chance to win. Casey was betting on me, and I was determined not to let him down this time.” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/01/obituaries/don-larsen-dead.html In today's game he would not have pitched nine innings. Only an old school pitcher like Dustin Verlander this year will insist on having a complete game. Mike Fiers had the other complete game no-hitter in 2019 and two were multiple pitcher games which lacks the same sense of anticipation to me. There were three no-hitters in 2018, two complete games, There was one in 2017 and one in 2016. There were seven no-hitters in 2015! Roy Halladay had two in 2010. Nolan Ryan threw SEVEN no-hitters. Sandy Koufax had four, Cy Young, Larry Corcoran, Justin Verlander and Bob Feller had three each! There have been 260 no-hitters since 1901 so those six had almost 10% of the no-hitters over 120 years. Like Don Larsen, Johnny Vander Meer was an obscure pitcher who reached no hit immortality as the only pitcher to throw two in a row. Others to have two in one season include Ryan, Virgil Trucks, Allie Reynolds, Roy Halladay, and Max Scherzer. Max and Justin are old school pitchers that I love to watch work a game who will take their place; will others be allowed to take their place? In 1954 there were 840 complete games - 34%. In 2019 there were 45 complete games - 0.9%. No wonder RP are burning out.

When the best is off the table, then the second best is swept up, do we get desperate and jump at the left overs? If we cannot get what we want is it reasonable to say we should get what is left? I cannot buy into that theory. If Bumgartner does not sign with us I can understand. Does that make Kuechel suddenly desirable? The real question is how does he compare with Dobnak, Graterol, Thorpe, Smeltzer. I hate buying out of desperation. The same with Ryu. Why would he sign with us. We are the proverbial bargaining chip. It is the way the Vikings coerced a stadium because the could more to LA. The only question worth asking is whether the free agent we have available has more upside than the players already on the roster. Is the expenditure worthwhile? Dream big, but the train already left the station and we were not on it. So don't pursue free agents just to say we got one.