Minnesota Twins

Aaron and John's Minnesota Twins podcast visits a bar for sale. Then they talk about Aaron Hicks historic struggles, their move to KFAN, what went right for the Twins this week, conficting explanations for how the Twins ended up with a low-K pitching staff, Oswaldo Arcia's role this week, what makes Aaron curl into the fetal position, misperceptions about the infield, batting practice misfires, charging the mound and #42. Here are:

• the podcasts
• the rss feed if you want to subscribe and
• the podcast on iTunes.
  

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According to Phil Miller, the Star-Tribune's Minnesota Twins beat reporter, Oswaldo Arcia will be called up on Monday to fill-in for Wilkin Ramirez, who will go on paternity leave. Twins Daily ranks Arcia as the #4 prospect in the Twins system, is only 21 years old and is currently hitting .414 with a .793(!) slugging percentage in Rochester. According to Miller, he will be the youngest player to debut for the Twins since Joe Mauer.

How much playing time he'll have remains to be seen. Ramirez is a bench bat, but the Twins are unlikely ...

Leading baseball in strikeouts probably is not what Aaron Hicks had in mind when he daydreamed about his first week in the major leagues.

He probably has visions of scorching liners into the right-center gap or sending a shot into the overhang in right field. He pictured himself ...

You would think with a moniker like “Vanimal” that Vance Worley would be a rock star-party hard individual. Some meathead with torn off sleeves and who breaks “No Pepper” signs on the backstop with a 99-mile per hour fastball.

That’s simply not Vance.

He is not a huck-n-chuck hurler who puts little thought in the process and just pitches on animal instincts. He realizes that his stuff isn’t electric. He knows that his fastball doesn’t wow radar gun enthusiasts or that his breaking ball doesn’t cause hitters to spin themselves in to the dirt. He does know what he has and how to use it. After all, you don’t get as may strikeouts as Worley did in 2011 and having most of them ...

For all the buzz he built up during spring training, it didn’t take long for Aaron Hicks to sour the widespread enthusiasm surrounding him. We’re barely over a week into the season and already we’re seeing calls for the rookie center fielder to be shipped to the minors, or at least the bottom of the lineup.

In fairness, Hicks has done his part. Through eight games, he has been flat-out overmatched, ...

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) that led to Friday's loss. Across Minnesota's four victories, the bullpen has delivered 13 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing only seven hits.
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