Minnesota Twins

By Nick N.(noreply@blogger.com) And so, when it came to light last week that the Twins may have interest in bringing Crede back on another incentive-laden one-year deal next season, I was somewhat appalled to see that the reaction from Twins bloggers and fans was overwhelmingly supportive. Are you kidding me?!

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Twins Notes: Washburn, Buscher, Huber, Crede, NeshekJoe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune notes that the Twins "are expected to pursue" free agent Jarrod Washburn, which certainly isn't surprising. At various points over the past two years the Twins have been linked to Wash...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Mark DeRosa: After a career-year in 2008 the Cubs traded DeRosa to the Indians for a trio of mid-level prospects. He had a nice first half as Cleveland collapsed, hitting .270/.342/.457, and was then dealt to St. Louis for two nice relief prospects. Unfortunately for the Cardinals he suffered a...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Stumbling across this stuff is always fun: Six years ago I ranked the top 50 prospects in baseball for The Hardball Times, and Hardy and Delmon Young were back-to-back at 30 and 29. Also of interest to Twins fans from that list? Huber at 44, Jesse Crain at 34, Justin Morneau at 12, and Mauer in t...

By Nick N.(noreply@blogger.com) The Twins are getting a solid defensive shortstop in Hardy, but his potential contribution as an offensive player is unknown at best. After having two above average seasons in 2007 and 2008, including an All Star appearance in 2007, Hardy's stat line at the plate declined dramatically in...

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

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 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 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...

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...

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) DATE TWINS TIGERS 9/24 at Indians 9/25 at Royals at White Sox 9/26 at Royals at White Sox 9/27 at Royals at White Sox 9/28 at Tigers vs Twins 9/29 at Tigers vs Twins 9/30 at Tigers vs Twins 10/1 at Tigers vs Twins 10/2 vs Royals vs White Sox 10/3 vs Royals vs White Sox

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...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Twins Notes: All-Stars, Injuries, and InternationalsAs expected, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Joe Nathan were picked as All-Stars yesterday, with Mauer voted in as the AL's starting catcher. Mauer, who also started last year, will be playing in his third All-Star game in five full se...

 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...

RED SOX 10, Twins 1 RED SOX 7, Twins 3 FENWAY PARK, BOSTON GAME 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Minnesota 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 5 0 Boston 2 2 2 0 0 0 4 10 14 2 Winning pitcher: Wakefield (2-1). Losing pitcher: Baker (0-2). Att: 37,608. Game 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Minnesota 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 3 6 0 Boston 0 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 X 7 5 1 Winning pitcher: Penny (2-...

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...

CHICAGO — Thanks to Jim Thome's bat and Ken Griffey Jr.'s arm, the AL Central has a winner at last: the Chicago White Sox. John Danks pitched eight innings of two-hit ball on short rest, Thome homered and Griffey threw out a runner at the plate with a tough tag by A.J. Pierzynski, helping Chicago b...

By Rick Chandler • In response to your plea from this mornings post — I wanted to let you know that there's a Twins fan here in Houston, TX (of all places). I'm a born-and-raised Texas who fell in love with the Twins watching them upset the Cardinals back in the 1987 World Series & then had the pleasure of rub...

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 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 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...