Minnesota Twins

In preparation for their move to their spanking-new ballpark, the Twins held a massive garage sale today. Thousands of fans, some arriving well before dawn, almost ringed the Dome when the sale began at 10 a.m.

The Minnesota Twins have picked up outfielder Michael Cuddyer's $10.5 million option for 2011. Cuddyer hit a career-high 32 home ...

By Associated Press The Minnesota Twins have picked up outfielder Michael Cuddyer's $10.5 million option for 2011.

By By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The Minnesota Twins have picked up outfielder Michael Cuddyer's $10.5 million option for 2011.

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Twins Give Up On Gomez, Get Hardy From BrewersTwo winters ago the Twins got Carlos Gomez from the Mets as the centerpiece of the Johan Santana trade and made the 22-year-old Torii Hunter's replacement in center field despite little evidence that he was ready. He predictably struggled, ba...

Outfielder Carlos Gomez had been with the Twins since February 2008. Nicknamed "Go-Go," he brought excitement to the team with his blazing speed and defensive skills, but also frustrated coaches and fans with his lapses.

By Nick N.(noreply@blogger.com) Bill Smith made his first big offseason splash today, sending Carlos Gomez to the Brewers in return for shortstop J.J. Hardy, who was a suggested trade acquisition in my offseason blueprint. The deal swaps two players who both saw their value drop with rough seasons in 2009, though surely Ha...

By Scot That same day, a Hennepin County district judge issued a temporary order barring Major League Baseball and the Minnesota Twins from breaking their Metrodome lease by eliminating the Twins. The order came after the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission requested a permanent inju...

By Scot On October 25, it was reported in the Pioneer Press that one of the scenarios under consideration would involve eliminating the Twins. When asked if he had been contacted about potential contraction, Twins owner Carl Pohlad said “I don’t know. Right now we’re waiting for the World Series,...

By Scot 1980 Minnesota Twins Managers: Gene Mauch 21st Season (5th with Minnesota 378-394) Johnny Goryl 1st Season (1st with Minnesota 23-13) 77 W 84 L 670 RS 724 RA 3rd AL West 19.5 GB (Kansas City 97-65) 4.16 RPG (AL = 4.50) 3.93 ERA (AL = 4.04) 692 DER (14th AL)

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Realistic Free Agent Options: Second BaseProjecting which free agents the Twins will go after is difficult because their pursuit of low-cost options depends upon how the market shakes out and who drops into their price range. In the past five years they've also wasted money on a lengthy l...

Sidewalks are getting widened, fences replaced and trees planted to enhance the appeal of the Twins ballpark area.

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) In other words the money paid to Sano may be massive in the context of prospect signing bonuses, but $3.15 million is still less than Nick Punto made this season (and will make next year). If one of Sano, Gibson, Kepler, or Polanco turns into a starting-caliber MLB player the $12 million inves...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Boswell stepped up in the playoffs as the Twins faced a 109-win Baltimore team that led the AL in runs allowed and ranked second to the Twins in runs scored. He somehow managed to keep a lineup led by Frank Robinson and Boog Powell (who finished second and third to Harmon Killebrew in the MVP ba...

Catcher Joe Mauer's plans changed Sunday night. He wanted to play baseball into early November, but now that the Minnesota Twins' ...

Carlos Gomez is one of the most energetic players on the pesky Minnesota Twins. He's also one of the biggest challenges for manager Ron Gardenhire. Carlos Gomez is one of the most energetic players on the pesky Minnesota Twins. He's also one of the biggest challenges for manager Ron Gardenhi...

Baseball's postseason can commence, now that the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins have settled things in their division, even ...

The Minnesota Twins seem to think that 162 regular-season games aren't enough. The Minnesota Twins seem to think that 162 regular-season games aren't enough.

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Wherever he ends up defensively the Twins are incredibly lucky to have Span atop the lineup, because his high batting average, patient approach, and fantastic on-base percentage make him a near-perfect fit there and if not for his presence Gardenhire would no doubt be tempted to put two...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Spencer Fordin of MLB.com wrote a good piece on Matt Wieters struggling to live up to the massive hype as a rookie. Some people referred to him as "Joe Mauer with power" when the Orioles called him up in late May, but a) Wieters is hitting just .264/.310/.368 through 71 games, and b) Joe Mauer is now...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Twins Add Rauch, Mahay To BullpenIt took 15 months in the wake of Pat Neshek's elbow injury last May, but the Twins finally addressed the bullpen by adding a veteran setup man over the weekend. In fact, they added two within the same hour Friday afternoon. Left-hander Ron Mahay, who'd been de...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times found that every team but the Rays, Reds, and Brewers have had at least one player produce a 200-hit season since the Twins last got one from Paul Molitor in 1996. In fact, Mauer and Morneau are the only Twins to have even 180 hits since then. Interestingly, the...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Last week longtime Twins reliever Eddie Guardado became just the 21st pitcher in baseball history to appear in 900 games, which is pretty amazing for a former 21st-round pick who had ERAs of 6.18, 8.47, 5.12, and 5.25 in his first four seasons. Guardado is the Twins' all-time leader in games pit...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Prior to the Cabrera trade shortstop was split evenly between Punto (54 starts) and Harris (49 starts). In theory Cabrera's arrival allowed the Twins to shift Harris to second base and make Punto a backup, but because Ron Gardenhire is uncomfortable with Harris' defense there what we get...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Bringing in Cabrera at shortstop and moving Punto to second base while using Harris primarily at third base and sending Alexi Casilla back to Rochester would probably make the Twins slightly better and would definitely make Gardenhire think that the Twins were significantly better. Ho...

 MN Even when Crain's stats were good I always thought he was terrible in clutch situations. Why did Gardy put him??? WHYYYYYYYYYYY!!!??!? The Twins have optioned struggling relief pitcher Jesse Crain to Class AAA Rochester. Crain was 2-3 with an 8.15 ERA ...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) While considered one of the draft's elite pitchers Gibson doesn't project as an ace, but everyone from Baseball America and MLB.com to ESPN and Baseball Prospectus seems to agree that he's capable of becoming a solid No. 2 or No. 3 starter and will be on the fast track to the big leagues once he g...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) 2. Joe Mauer .436 AVG .519 OBP .845 SLG 3. Justin Morneau .348 AVG .426 OBP .657 SLG 4. Jason Kubel .322 AVG .374 OBP .532 SLGHere's hoping that Ron Gardenhire can resist the urge to fix what isn't broken by jamming Alexi Casilla or Matt Tolbert in there.

By Scot Box Team Name G W L T PCT GB RS RA Oakland Athletics 50 30 20 0 .600 - 257 244 Texas Rangers 44 26 18 0 .591 1.0 237 206 California Angels 49 28 21 0 .571 1.5 231 188 Seattle Mariners 49 26 23 0 .531 3.5 211 203 Minnesota Twins 51 26 25 0 .510 4.5 211 209 Chicago White Sox 47 22 25 0 .468 6.5 188 228 Kansas City Royals 48 21 2...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) However, once you wipe away perceptions, reputations, and name recognition there simply isn't that much difference in performance between Atkins and Buscher-Harris. Over the next two years Atkins will cost about $15 million more than Buscher and Harris combined, and acquiring him wo...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) If you ignore the matching opponents and the three-game series against each other at the Metrodome during the final week of the season, the schedules essentially boil down to this: The Twins play three games against the Royals, three games against the Orioles, and four games against the...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Joe Mauer 2008 .328Over the 15 seasons from 1964 to 1978, Rod Carew and Tony Oliva combined to win 10 batting titles, including six in seven years from Carew. Not surprisingly Carew is the Twins' all-time leader in batting average at .334, followed by Kirby Puckett (.318) and Mauer (.317). No. 4 on...

By notsellingjeans D. Span rf0000000.308N. Punto ss0000000.293J. Mauer c0000000.317J. Morneau 1b0000000.308J. Kubel dh0000000.273D. Young lf0000000.282B. Harris 3b0000000.260A. Casilla 2b0000000.296C. Gomez cf0000000.253 Totals0000000   Oakland ABRHRBIBBKLOBSeason Avg R. Davis cf0000000.276B. Crosby ss0...

The world is upside down in Major League Baseball this week, starting with the debut of instant replay for big league umpires and the AL East’s top team (the Rays) drawing 13,000 in their home ballpark in August. The Pitch tears apart both issues, as well as the Pirates’ second-overall MLB d...

Hosts Joe Aiello and Brandon Rosage also assess Steve Bartman’s decision to turn down $25,000 for an autograph session, Vicente Padilla’s value on the shallow pitching market, whether Cesar Izturis should quit hitting for good, Francisco Liriano’s long-shot grievance with the Twin...

By Nick N.(noreply@blogger.com) The litany of lost runners on the basepaths somewhat masks the fact that the Twins had a pretty good night against left-handed starter Nate Robertson, which is not insignificant. With Michael Cuddyer already on the disabled list, Ron Gardenhire elected to bench two of his other prominen...

By Jim McLennan Dammit, can someone in the National League West hurry up and go on a run, so that we no longer sit atop the stinking cesspool which is this division? The second-placed Dodgers and the third-placed Giants both lost again today, and today means we set a new franchise record for most consecuti...

After the loss of Johan Santana to trade with the Mets and the departure of the team’s leading batter from 2007, Torii Hunter, Minnesota has a lot of questions for 2008. The Pitch welcomes Twins Nation’s Kris Richardson to to take a stab at answering those questions in the Minnesota Twins ed...

By Aaron Of course, like many of the truly great defensive players in baseball history Everett is also a horrible hitter. Despite calling a hitter-friendly ballpark home, playing in a weaker league, and getting 10 percent of his career walks thanks to batting in front of the pitcher, Everett has h...

By Matthew Whipps Yesterday I posted a link to a column of a fellow Twins writer who I read daily. He had an excellent article about his Twins off season wish list. There was a great comment on my post from ScottyB who also laid out his ideas. Both made excellent suggestions. Since I essentially blew all my ideas res...

By Ian Casselberry I feel like I may have jinxed the Tigers last Sunday when using the "s" word.  Instead, the Mariners hung a 14-7 loss on the Tigers and Jeremy Bonderman's elbow inflamed with pain, making us weep.  So there will be no "s" word used today.  I will just point out that Detroit has a chance to win a thir...

By Matthew Whipps Now I know this is a subject that Twins fans everywhere cringe at the thought of, but the sad reality of it is we need to start preparing for the inevitable: Johan Santana will no longer be a Minnesota Twin after his contract expires. I mean sure, theres always a chance the Twins could fork over...

By Matthew Whipps Over the past few weeks, there have been a lot of questions swirling around Twins Territory. Why didnt we make any moves at the trade deadline? Why did we trade Luis Castillo for a couple of never-will-bes? Why cant this offense put up even the smallest amount of fight? And most recently, Why...

By Mike Pindelski Barring any ridiculously strong second half's from the Twins, White Sox or Royals it appears the race for the American League Central division will be a two team dogfight between the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers. The edge goes to Cleveland.

The Twins Justin Morneau left Saturdays game against Detroit in the eighth inning after breaking his nose.

Torii Hunter was so happy last fall when Kansas Citys seasonending victory against Detroit gave Minnesota the division title that he vowed to buy a bottle of champagne for each of the Royals.

By jeff.zrebiec@baltsun.com (baltimoresun.com) Sun reporter Jeff Zrebiec breaks down the Orioles' Opening Day loss to the Twins.

subscription), MN - And too many people would die laughing if a new ballpark wound up just a Harmon Killebrew homer or two from where the old park stood before it was killed by ...

By Leitch A'S 5, TWINS 2 A's 5, Twins 2 A's 4, Twins 2 A's 4, Twins 2 A's 4, Twins 2 A's 4, Twins 2 Twins 2, A's 2 A's 2, Twins 0 A's 2, Twins 0 A's 2, Twins 0 Twins 0, A's 0 Twins 0, A's 0 Twins 0, A's 0 Twins 0, A's 0 From a Twins fan about Mauer: Twins 0, A's 0 Twins 0, A's 0 Twins 0, A's 0 Twins 0, A's 0

By podcasts@sfgate.com (Benny Evangelista) The Chronicle's Susan Slusser podcasts from Minneapolis after watching Frank Thomas power the Oakland A's to a key win over the Twins in Game One of the American League Division Series...