Minnesota Twins

The New Year generally brings with it new beginnings. As we enter into a new year of Twins baseball, I can’t help but think Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire might be a little concerned about a new beginning in his future. For the first time in his decade-plus tenure as manager, Gardenhire will enter the 2013 season without a contract extension in place that carries him beyond the coming year.

Following an AL worst 96-loss season, Twins General Manager Terry Ryan promised to make improvements to the team. Ryan began by shaking up the coaching staff. Not wasting anytime, Ryan handed bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek, third base coach Steve Liddle, first base coach Jerry White and head trainer Rick McWane their pink slips on October 4, one day after closing a second consecutive losing season with a 1-2 road loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Scott Ullger and Joe Vavra were also reassigned to coaching first and third base respectively. ...

2012 has come and gone and there were plenty of story lines that comprised the year that was for the Minnesota Twins. After a decade of winning baseball, the Twins have suffered through back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 2000. Minnesota has been the worst team in the American League for two seasons but there were still some signs of life from the hometown nine.

Willingham's monster year: Last offseason the Twins had a choice to make when it came to free agent outfielders. Michael Cuddyer had been with the team since he was drafted and he had become a fan favorite but it was time to go in another direction. Josh Willingham became the man for the job and to say it was quite the year for the burly outfielder would be an understatement. ...

Jayson Stark of ESPN likes to try and find some strange but true things that happened in the baseball season. He picks out his strange but true player of the year, game of the year, injury of the year, etc. There are some entertaining items included in his list and I encourage you to check out his entire post over at the four-letter network's site.

One of his strange but true tidbits from this season revolves around Ryan Doumit and a strange feat he was able to accomplish in 2012. At the beginning of September, the Twins were playing at US Cellular Field against the Chicago White Sox. Minnesota would easily handle Chicago in the game by a final score of 18-9 and the lopsided win helped Doumit to reach his accomplishment. ...

Bill Baer wrote an interesting article the other day at ESPN.com letting the world know that it was time to appreciate Joe Mauer. This is a skill that many Twins fans are lacking in recent years especially following his injury plagued 2011 season. As far as the rest of the baseball world, there is probably a little less recognition for Mauer’s continued consistency since the Twins have been one of the worst teams in baseball over the last two seasons. Mauer is one of the best players in baseball and he might just be the best hitting catcher of all-time.
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Through free agent signings and trades, the Twins have added three names to their 2013 starting pitching mix, along with a couple prospects who can help down the line.

As we assess the progress of this rebuilding unit, can we say with assurance that the three MLB pitchers they've added – Vance Worley, Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey – are significantly better than the three that just exited as free agents – Francisco Liriano, Carl Pavano and Scott Baker? I don't know that we can, and that is troubling.

Here's a look at how the best-case starting five would shake out if everything stayed the same:
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CBS Sports's Jon Heyman is reporting that the Twins have agreed to terms with RHP Mike Pelfrey. The 28-year-old pitcher made three starts in 2012 for the New York Mets before undergoing season-ending Tommy John surgery. The deal is reportedly for one year at $4 million with incentives up to $1.5 million more. Most likely the Twins will announce such a deal following completion of a physical.

He is reported to be throwing well already, although it will be interesting to see how ready he is by spring training and by Opening Day.
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