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Dan and Panda cover what's been happening in the world of baseball since Boston won the World Series. They finally wish Joe Mauer farewell, break down the end of the year award winners, some of the bigger free agent news (CIN spending, Thor to SD, Machado's antics in NY), and assemble their all-time favorite Twins team! https://www.spreaker.com/user/the4dpodcastnetwork/twins-and-losses-supershow-episode-71-no

New show! Dan and Panda find all of the stories that you need to know, or may have missed, over the last couple weeks! The guys give you their opinions on Tim Lincecum, De Leon's injury, Lance Lynn, smart FO moves by Falvine, NoLOLasco to the Royals, and Moose back in baby blue! Download/stream here: https://www.spreaker.com/show/twins-and-losses-supershow

Oh you didn't know? Your ass better call somebody! Dan and Panda are back, talking about Ervin Santana's finger surgery, what the starting rotation might look like now that Yu Darvish has signed, why we might be without baseball in 2020, and that the Twins should sign a healthy Tim Lincecum. Check out the newest episode on Spreaker, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and Pocket Casts; search "Twins And Losses." https://www.spreaker.com/show/twins-and-losses-supershow

We're back! Episode 53 is available for you to ingest right now! This week Dan and Panda cover all of the recent MLB free agency moves, along with what the Twins have been up to. Then they take a trip to the local retirement home and break out #OldFriend Barry Campbell to talk about the Minnesota Wild, and answer a thousand fan questions that you sent in! Check out this week's episode using the links below - https://www.spreaker.com/show/twins-and-losses-supershow https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/twins-and-losses-supershow/id1072119485?mt=2 https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-4d-podcast-network/twins-and-losses-supershow

Happy New Year! We're back with a brand new episode to ring in the new year. This week Dan and Panda talk about TV shows, Dan's complaints with Star Wars fans, and the terrible news regarding Miguel Sano. https://www.spreaker.com/show/twins-and-losses-supershow

This week on the Supershow, free agency is finally starting to show some life. Dan and Panda give their opinions on the signings of a couple free agent pitchers, and also cover what’s been happening across all of baseball. They even find a way to talk about former MLB Brian Wilson (sans beard). https://www.spreaker.com/show/twins-and-losses-supershow

Dan and Panda are back with a bunch of baseball talk. Pretty sweet for December, yeah? We talk about the vacant managerial position at AAA, the Twins' hiring of Masa Abe, whether the Twins have a shot at Darvish or Ohtani (we know the answer to one at least), why some Twins fans suck, and whether or not we should let steroid users into the Hall of Fame. Check out this episode and all previous episodes on Spreaker, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and Pocket Casts! Don't forget to like share, and leave a comment! https://www.spreaker.com/show/twins-and-losses-supershow

The Twins might be done for 2017, but the Supershow will never die! With Stubbs out of town, the boys invade New Thompson South. Dantez and Panda break down the 2017 post-season, reminisce about Glen Perkins’ major league career, machinate on what might happen with the 2018 Twins, and what games they’d love to see on a N64 Classic! You can find this show and all previous shows on Spreaker, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and Pocket Casts. Don’t forget to leave a like, comment, and share this with your friends and family! https://www.spreaker.com/user/the4dpodcastnetwork/twins-and-losses-supershow-episode-47-we

With broad smiles, infectious laughter, and more good baseball than bad, the 2017 Minnesota Twins actually looked like they were having fun more days than not. Gone were the memories of forgettable seasons, forgettable players, and milquetoast post-game interviews. The 2017 Twins showed personality, and a markedly improved product on the field. For their troubles, they got a small taste of the post-season to end their 2017 season. The crazy thing to think about is that only Joe Mauer and Glen Perkins were the only remaining players to have made it to the post-season as a member of the Twins. I tend to think of guys like Brian Dozier, the former Trevor Plouffe, and even Kyle Gibson as being guys who were able to experience a crushing defeat by the Yankees back in 2010, but that wasn’t the case. They all got a chance to experience that in 2017 instead! After an incredibly top of the first inning which saw the Twins leading 3-0, the Yankees stormed back and defeated the Twins in the Wild Card game to end a season, that by most accounts, exceeded expectations. Even Dan and I were off by eight to ten games for our pre-season predictions, and we’re usually the two who are spewing all sorts of rose-colored optimism. But if you were to ask members of the Twins organization if they exceeded expectations, I bet you’d find that they all knew they were capable of a season like this. If the 2016 season was getting dumped on prom night after your date told you they was in love with your best friend, 2017 was finding a great fling for the summer before you left for college. Fleeting, fun, but ultimately unsatisfying. The Twins showed some signs of life from various players throughout the year, and it was when their prized power-hitter went down with a leg injury, that the team started to fire on all cylinders. Byron Buxton finally broke out offensively, to match his almost in-human defense. Eddie Rosario showed his power wasn’t a fluke, and that he was also capable of providing a strong defense alongside Buxton. Jorge Polanco came back from almost getting demoted to showing that he’s a capable shortstop and an above-average hitter. Jose Berrios seemed to keep his command issues at bay and showcased his penchant for strikeouts at the major league level. Meanwhile Kyle Gibson, a veteran pitcher known for not being consistent, figured out how to be consistent and played a massive part in keeping the Twins’ playoff hopes alive. Ervin Santana, Brian Dozier, and Joe Mauer all had wonderful seasons, and the bullpen surprised us with names like Trevor Hildenberger and Taylor Rogers. But that was 2017, and the Twins will have plenty of work to do this offseason. The Twins will need to figure out what they’re going to do with their starting pitching. Hector Santiago is a free agent, along with Bartolo Colon, and neither would seem to factor into the Twins’ rotation for 2018. Meanwhile injuries to Phil Hughes, short and sometimes inconsistent outings from Adalberto Mejia, and the health of Trevor May (who this author is one-hundred percent pulling for) would all be in-house candidates to try and shore up the starting rotation. Kyle Gibson is arbitration eligible, and would make a strong case to received a raise after his amazing second-half of the season. The Twins also need a pitching coach for the major league team, so I imagine that will be something Derek Falvey and Thad Levine work to rectify sooner rather than later. James Rowson worked his magic with the Twins’ hitters this season, getting guys like Byron Buxton and Joe Mauer to levels some didn’t think were possible. For a young and unproven Buxton, Rowson was able to take Buxton’s sub-.100 batting average up above .250 for the season. More than that, Buxton showed consistency at the plate, something we hadn’t seen from him with the big league team. Meanwhile the often maligned Joseph Patrick Mauer returned to form, hitting .305, an OBP of .384, and an OPS of .801. All in all, not bad for a guy accused of being soft and trying to make his way back from a concussion that threatened his playing career. Now we get to the wild card of the Twins; Miguel Sano. I will fully admit that I’m not sold on him defensively or offensively (a fact I’ve made known on the podcast all season). There are facets of his game that I’m not a fan of (massive strikeout numbers, temporary lapses in defense), and his overall durability. Can he be an offensive juggernaut? Sure. Will his defense improve? Yes, so long as he puts the work in. Am I alarmed by his continued struggle with his weight? No. Is there reason to believe he can also improve in that area? Without a doubt. When I hear comparisons of Pablo Sandoval and Billy Butler, it does not inspire confidence in me that Sano is currently on the right track. What Sano does have going for himself is that he’s young, has a great group of talent around him, and teammates and coaches that want him to succeed. As of this writing, another power hitter with a penchant for strikeouts is currently 5 of 34 in the post-season. Two of those five hits have been for monster home runs, but you’d like to see him on base more often, and have less than the 21 strikeouts he’s currently accrued. Just saying. The Twins will have a lot to do and talk about from now until February. They’ll have new faces challenging for roster spots. Familiar faces will return from injured reserve with a lot of fire in their bellies to prove they belong once again. Most of all they’ll have a Hall of Fame manager returning to the dugout with a team of players that finally got a taste of the post-season. A team with another off-season of growth and maturity. A team with a foundation that could be the start of another World Series winning franchise. Don’t quit on the Twins yet, because they’re just getting started.

Dan and Panda recorded a bonus Supershow after the Twins clinched their post-season berth! Check out their thoughts on the Twins and their potential competition on the long and winding road to another World Series title! http://www.spreaker.com/user/the4dpodcastnetwork/twins-and-losses-supershow-bonus-edition

Yes the title is a wrestling joke. Yes I hate Apple IS 1984. Yes the Twins are on the cusp of a trip to the post-season for the first time since 2010. Regardless, a few weeks ago we had Sean Thornton (Bleeding Royal Blue) on the podcast to fill in while Dan was out of town. Sean and I have never met as he lives in Kansas and I’m in Minnesota (Shout out to Barry for introducing us online!). One of the topics Sean brought up was the Royals’ winning the World Series, and all of the bandwagon fans that started to fill Kauffman Stadium after their World Series appearance, and subsequent win the following season. As a Minnesotan, one of our favorite past times is ripping the Chicago Blackhawk’s fan base for being a bunch of bandwagon fans. It also doesn’t help that they can claim multiple Stanley Cup trophies to Minnesota’s collective zero. The Wild’s slogan of “The State of Hockey” isn’t just because we have another NHL franchise in the state (Norm Green STILL sucks), but because most of us have played hockey at some point in our life. Outdoor rinks pop up every winter in neighborhood parks, and possibly a neighbor’s backyard. Whether you own a pair of hockey skates, figure skates, or even shoes and boots; you can always find a sheet of ice to play on. The same can’t be said for baseball, where the Twins got their start in 1961. It’s not that baseball was new to Minnesota when the former Senators arrived, it’s that baseball isn’t a sport you can easily play throughout the year when 5-7 months are below freezing and the fields have been turned into ice rinks. I can remember playing baseball and softball in cooler weather and having pain shoot up my arms as the aluminum bat connected with the colder than usual ball. That’s not ideal, nor does it feel too good. Luckily winter doesn’t last the entire year and we get around 5 months of warm weather to play baseball. For guys like Dan and I, the start of spring training is our groundhog seeing it’s shadow. Spring is officially on the way, and so is baseball. For as beautiful as Target Field is, there have been some terrible home owners where snow boots and winter coats have trumped wearing a jersey and jeans. But that’s okay because God invented alcohol to keep us warm!… Wait, that’s not true. I’m an Eagle Scout, so allow me to tell you all about “false heat…” Alright, I’ll spare that topic for a different day. What I’m trying to say is Dan and I love baseball. Baseball isn’t just something we talk about when we’re bored. Baseball is something we talk about all year round. We are the guys that will sift through the Twins’ Reddit page for any morsel of news. Some days I’ll send Dan a text at 4:30 in the morning when I see something noteworthy I’ve scrolled past on Twitter. Other times Dan will text me after 8PM (bedtime for a morning show radio host) to let me know about a Brian Dozier in-the-park home run off a bunt. For as taxing as running and producing your own podcast can be, we still enjoy doing it throughout the year because it allows us to talk about baseball, and enjoy it together. We’ve talked about being a gatekeeper on previous podcasts. How it’s uncool to prevent someone from liking what you enjoy just because they haven’t been into it, or know as much as you. I’m not saying that all bandwagon fans will be honest about it. Trust me, you all know one of your friends or family members “that’s totally loved the Twins since *enter their birth-date here*,” even though they’ve never been to the Metrodome or Target Field, and hates Joe Mauer because “this guy at the bar said he got hurt once.” Those kinds of “fans” will always exist (stares longingly at the cities of Chicago and New England and Dallas and New York and Los Angeles and their fans spread throughout the country), but that doesn’t mean all bandwagon fans are like that. You can help a bandwagon fan become a casual Twins fan (this potential post-season run would be a great starting point), and you can turn your casual fans into a hardcore fan. If the Twins win the World Series this year, I know who it’s going to mean more to, and it’s probably not the person who just bought a shirsey to wear to the ticker tape parade. - Panda Pete (Originally posted on TwinsAndLosses.com)

Ricky Nolasco hasn’t made many friends in Twins Territory over the past few seasons. Have you forgotten some of the reasons why? Well for starters; this, and lets not forget this gem to start to season. Not to mention Ricky has been underwhelming during his run with the Twins. The Twins knew what they were getting when they signed Nolasco: an average pitcher with strikeout potential. Over the first two seasons of his four-year deal with Minnesota, Nolasco has pitched 196 1/3 innings. That would be his fifth highest career total for IP, unfortunately it happened over two seasons, instead of one. Ricky’s ERA and WHIP have ballooned since he left MIA and LAD too. His ERA since joining the Twins is 0.84 and 2.21 higher than his career average in 2014, and 2015 respectively. His WHIP has jumped up .193 and .391 over the last two seasons. That’s generally not a good sign for a pitcher coming up on their mid-30’s, who still has a year after this remaining on his contract. The good (bad) news (depending on which side of the fence you fall) is that Ricky’s spring training starts looked good. While Tyler Duffey was anointed the fifth starter coming into spring, Ricky Nolasco pitched better, against the same kind of competition. At the time Duffey was cut from spring training, Ricky’s ERA was 2 points lower, and his strikeouts were significantly higher (I believe Ricky was down to a 4.05, with 18 SOs, vs. Duffeys 6.71 ERA and 4SOs to 3BBs). Unfortunately Nolasco’s stats ballooned in his last few outings, and his ERA was north of 5.00, fully understanding that spring training isn’t always the best barometer of whom to bring back to the Twin Cities. If healthy, and in the mindset that he can help the team (or himself through a trade), Nolasco won’t hurt this team. While many fans will be hoping for another injury (we want May/Duffey/Berrios, dammit!), my hope is that Nolasco pitches so well, a potential playoff team will take him off our hands at the trade deadline. Another interesting idea would be flipping Duffey to the bullpen, and May to the starting rotation should this occur, or in the future. May has enough pitches to start, while Duffey could use his time in the bullpen to develop another pitch or two. That’s an article for another time though. The money doesn’t matter nearly as much as the roster spot. The Twins have some great pitching options waiting in the Wings (see what I did there?) who may not have much more to prove. The signings of Phil Hughes, Ervin Santana, and Nolasco have put some of those players on the back burner. We’ve seen the contracts being demanded by pitchers these days, so the lengths and costs were going to rise. This could be a good thing if Terry Ryan and the front office aren’t sold on Berrios, Meyer, May, and many others not being ready for primetime just yet. Having some proven starters to wait out the development of the younger arms isn’t a bad plan, you just hope you aren’t wasting precious time with the rookies. I’m not sold on the Twins making a strong post-season run quite yet. I think 2017 is a more realistic season for the Twins to start making waves again. This year will be one laden with hope. Hope that Miguel Sano continues to mash taters. Hope that Byron Buxton gets his bat going in the majors. Hope that Byung-ho Park isn’t lost in translation. Hope that Joe Mauer can return to a semblance his former self. And hope that Carlos Nolasco is more of a Ricky, than a Richard. Follow Twins And Losses: Twitter: @TwinsAndLosses Facebook: Twins And Losses Website: twinsandlosses.com