With Tuesday night's rainout in Wisconsin, the Kernels have five games under their belts. It's far too soon to draw any firm conclusions about this year's club, but those games were enough to make some first impressions. First of all, they've put up a 4-1 record, so that's a pretty good first impression, in itself. With the obvious “small sample size” warning label appropriately affixed, here are just a few more things that have stood out to me over the first five games of the season: ...
Updated 04-10-2013 at 07:58 AM by SD Buhr
So when does the good part happen? There may be fans who have lost their faith in the Minnesota Twins over the last two seasons. But, as many of the Twins Daily contributors have pointed out over the last several months, there's plenty sunshine that's just over the horizon for this organization. While it may be a couple years before you can witness that selection of talent at Target Field, the prospect horizon line is physically ...
Here is a Press Release the Minnesota Twins sent out yesterday - Early Entry Program Coming to Target Field Early entry tickets permit entry into the ballpark 45 minutes before gates open allowing fans to watch Twins batting practice MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota Twins today announced they will offer fans the opportunity to purchase early entry tickets that will allow them into Target Field 45 minutes before gates open to the general public. ...
Updated 04-09-2013 at 02:21 PM by jjswol
Last year's crew didn't do so well overall, especially the pitchers. This year only one of the 10 players returns to the list. These are guys under the radar a bit, but could have breakout or breakthrough seasons (from bottom to top of system): 1. Dereck Rodriguez (EST, E-Town or CR): Rodriguez had a solid 2012 season when healthy. He is turning 21 in June and has been moved very cautiously in the Twins system (much like Nate Roberts). I have to imagine that he ends 2013 with Cedar ...
When word came out following TwinsFest about the injury suffered by Anthony Swarzak, it had to be embarrassing. He suffered a fractured rib after wrestling with some teammates during the Twins annual fan festival. Swarzak would open the season on the DL and it was tough for him to watch the Twins fight the Tigers and the Orioles before he could get on the field. Swarzak returned to the mound on Sunday and got four big outs for the Twins on their way to a second series win in a row ...
Can you imagine the difficult decision that highly-drafted high school kids have to make? Do they sign a signing bonus for seven (or at least upper six) figures, or do they go to a college whose coaches have recruited them and clearly want him to play for their school? For a couple of Twins prospects, that decision was all too real. The Twins had two supplemental first round draft picks in 2011 thanks to losing free agents Michael Cuddyer and Matt Capps. As a result of having one of ...
It is time to return to an analysis of the farm system in terms of how prospects by position are moving up, moving down, appearing, disappearing, or reappearing on this year's list. This is an attempt to gauge the overall status of the system from year to year and entails, indirectly, an analysis of the 2012 draft, but also the development of players still in the system and the emergence of talent up into the big leagues. I used the 2012 compilation list from myself, ...
The Twins got an excellent outing from free-agent pick-up Kevin Correia, who worked into the 8th inning. Unfortunately, the Royals strung a few hits together and were able to chase Correia after taking a 3-1 lead. The Twins failed to rally in the 9th and lost their 3rd “Home Opener” of the season. (But remain undefeated in non-Home Openers.) Three of the club’s affiliates were in action this evening. Let’s take a look… Rochester ...
I caught the beginning of the Twins/Royals game on my car radio. I parked to catch the first pitch and enjoy shivering memories of watching the Evil Dead remake in the theater. The movie was good, and I finally experienced my horror lover's no-hitter: I watched a scary movie in a theater all by myself. That's right - in a theater devoid of all other human beings. That's a good'n to watch solo, too. If the creepy noises don't get you squirming, the over-the-top gore will ...
Growing up, there were three songs that would invariably draw my entire family in to the tv room: "One Shining Moment", "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and "The James Bond Theme". Last Friday (after Chris Davis crushed the hopes of Twins fans with a game-winning grand slam), I watched a James Bond documentary (Everything or Nothing available on Netflix streaming) to cheer myself up. ...
With one week of 2013 in the books, the Twins have won their first two series of the year and boast a 4-2 record. The mechanism powering these victories seems to rely on the team getting a few lucky bounces per game. If the team doesn't find some stable slugging and more dependable fielding, this burst of good fortune may give way to a mudslide of loss and despair. The real star of Sunday's 4-3 victory of the Twins was Carly Rae Jepsen. The "Call Me Maybe" threw ...
Since starting pitching was obviously going to be an unavoidable weakness, the Minnesota Twins knew they would need exceptional efforts from both the offense and bullpen in order to maintain a respectable record this season. We're only a week in, but thus far, both units have answered the call. In their 4-2 start, the Twins have averaged 4.7 runs per game on offense and the relievers have been outstanding outside of one implosion (or Chris Davis explosion) ...
How many times this year are we going to see this. Minnesota Twins 4-2, 1st in AL Central Division Reality is that the White Sox have the same record, but this picture looks nice. How did the Twins get to 4-2? Let's look Aaron Hicks batting leadoff batting .077 . Our best hitter Joe Mauer batting in the 2 hole .231 Josh Willingham batting .231 Justin Morneau 3 RBI in 6 games, 2 of those were ...
Aaron and John talk about the Minnesota Twins' winning opening week, bouncing back from last week's podcast, what to make of Aaron Hicks' slow start, Glen Perkins' excellence and managing the bullpen, appreciating Roger Ebert, the upcoming "Tix For Tots" event, close games and late-inning heroics, Tyler Robertson's goodbye, and "The Running Man" coming true. Here are: the podcaststhe rss feed if you want to subscribe andthe podcast on iTunes. ...