All Things 2024 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

Donate To GopherHole


Breakin' The Plane said:
The odds are stacked heavily against him. When you get down to experimental surgery to fix issues, it's real hard to be optimistic about his future. And it's too bad, because he sure looked the part at the plate.
Click to expand...

FWIW - that experimental surgery - the same procedure was used in 1980 for a young Detroit Tigers prospect named - Kirk Gibson. went on to post a career OPS+ of 123. it may be rare - but I don't think you can say it's experimental unless the same experiment has been going on for over 40 years.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
FWIW - that experimental surgery - the same procedure was used in 1980 for a young Detroit Tigers prospect named - Kirk Gibson. went on to post a career OPS+ of 123. it may be rare - but I don't think you can say it's experimental unless the same experiment has been going on for over 40 years.
Click to expand...
Experimental was a poor choice of words on my part. I have read it was a last ditch effort. I also read that Gibson was the only ballplayer to have that surgery to have a successful career following it.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Experimental was a poor choice of words on my part. I have read it was a last ditch effort. I also read that Gibson was the only ballplayer to have that surgery to have a successful career following it.
Click to expand...
Hope for the best and plan for the worst.

I hope AK was wise with his signing bonus, he’s married and has one or two ankle biters already.
 


Terry Steinbach REALLY likes Minnesota. After winning the 1989 World Series with Oakland, he skipped the chance to meet President Bush at the White House because it conflicted with deer opener.

Prior to the 1997 season, he turned down a four-year, $18.75 million offer from Toronto to sign with Minnesota for $8 million over three years.IMG_4654.jpeg
 

TRF Guy said:
Terry Steinbach REALLY likes Minnesota. After winning the 1989 World Series with Oakland, he skipped the chance to meet President Bush at the White House because it conflicted with deer opener.

Prior to the 1997 season, he turned down a four-year, $18.75 million offer from Toronto to sign with Minnesota for $8 million over three years.View attachment 30356
Click to expand...
Where’s Cousins?
 








Be interesting to see how he does this season that is if he makes the roster

One of the Angels' most interesting additions this offseason comes in the form of former All-Star Miguel Sanó, who signed with the team last month on a minor league deal.

Sanó is looking to build his baseball career back up after a couple tough seasons. He's spent his entire career with the Minnesota Twins but is excited about his opportunity with the Angels.

After dealing with visa issues, Sanó is finally in camp with the Angels, and showed up 58 pounds lighter than he had been. Sanó talked about the decision to shed weight, as he's hoping it leads to better results on the field.

“It was very important,” Sanó said through his interpreter. “I wanted to feel better and lighter. And that will lead to a better performance on the field.”
Click to expand...

www.si.com

Angels All-Star Free Agent Signing Showed Up to Camp Nearly 60 Pounds Lighter

The Halos are hoping for a productive year from the former All-Star.
www.si.com www.si.com
 



The updated Twins Top 30 Prospect list is now up on MLB. My boy Festa is clocking in at #5. While there are three catchers of various sorts listed, none are Jair Carmago 🤔, who is the first call up from St. Paul in case of an injury or would have been our backup if Velazquez would have been dealt.

www.mlb.com

Twins Top Prospects

The Official Site of Major League Baseball
www.mlb.com www.mlb.com
 

I see they have Canterino with an ETA of 2024. with his injury history, they have to be cautious, but it would be interesting to let him get some innings this season and see how he does.
If he can get major-league hitters out, maybe there is a role for him as a spot starter or multi-inning reliever. maybe piggy-back him with Paddack or DeSclafani to help keep their innings down.

Festa has certainly been more durable, but IF he's healthy, I think Canterino has a higher upside. I just hope he stays healthy and gets in 100+ innings this season to see what he really can do.

(WTF does Rice do to their pitchers? has anyone ever come out of Rice and not had TJ surgery?)
 


Gopher_In_NYC said:
The updated Twins Top 30 Prospect list is now up on MLB. My boy Festa is clocking in at #5. While there are three catchers of various sorts listed, none are Jair Carmago 🤔, who is the first call up from St. Paul in case of an injury or would have been our backup if Velazquez would have been dealt.

www.mlb.com

Twins Top Prospects

The Official Site of Major League Baseball
www.mlb.com www.mlb.com
Click to expand...
1-4 are position guys. 5-8 are pitchers. Good mix.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
I see they have Canterino with an ETA of 2024. with his injury history, they have to be cautious, but it would be interesting to let him get some innings this season and see how he does.
If he can get major-league hitters out, maybe there is a role for him as a spot starter or multi-inning reliever. maybe piggy-back him with Paddack or DeSclafani to help keep their innings down.
Click to expand...
A writer on the Athletic mentioned the bullpen as a possible route for him; shorter workload on his arm etc…he says his stuff is electric and should play well if he can regularly get on a Big League mound.

Regardless, he needs to take a major step forward.
short ornery norwegian said:
Festa has certainly been more durable, but IF he's healthy, I think Canterino has a higher upside. I just hope he stays healthy and gets in 100+ innings this season to see what he really can do.
Click to expand...
Read an interview with him and his goal is125 this year; I’m thinking this was discussed with the team. He’s only thrown 80 through 4 years☹️
short ornery norwegian said:
(WTF does Rice do to their pitchers? has anyone ever come out of Rice and not had TJ surgery?)
Click to expand...
the aforementioned writer, also pondered that issue as well.
 
Last edited:


The future of baseball is shining bright, folks, as MLB Pipeline just dropped its list of the Top 30 prospects for each team heading into 2024. This year’s roundup has got fans buzzing, especially those rooting for the Minnesota Twins.

The team’s farm system is not just thriving; it’s teeming with talent that’s set to make waves in the major leagues sooner rather than later. From up-and-coming sluggers to pitchers with arms like cannons, let’s dive into who’s making headlines and how the Twins could play their cards in the coming season.

fanrecap.com

Minnesota Twins Dominate MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 Prospects for 2024, Walker Jenkins Front and Center

Opening Day is almost here, and all eyes are on the future this week with the updated release of MLB Pipeline's top prospects for each team. All winter long lists of the top prospects at each position have been getting released, with the...
fanrecap.com fanrecap.com
 

TRF Guy said:
The future of baseball is shining bright, folks, as MLB Pipeline just dropped its list of the Top 30 prospects for each team heading into 2024. This year’s roundup has got fans buzzing, especially those rooting for the Minnesota Twins.

The team’s farm system is not just thriving; it’s teeming with talent that’s set to make waves in the major leagues sooner rather than later. From up-and-coming sluggers to pitchers with arms like cannons, let’s dive into who’s making headlines and how the Twins could play their cards in the coming season.

fanrecap.com

Minnesota Twins Dominate MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 Prospects for 2024, Walker Jenkins Front and Center

Opening Day is almost here, and all eyes are on the future this week with the updated release of MLB Pipeline's top prospects for each team. All winter long lists of the top prospects at each position have been getting released, with the...
fanrecap.com fanrecap.com
Click to expand...
What a brutal AI-written article
 


Keith Law in The Athletic ranked the Twins' farm system as 17th in MLB. he noted that his ranking is impacted by some highly-drafted players who have been traded (Petty) or just not panned out (Sabato, Cavaco).

ESPN was more complimentary, ranking the Twins' farm system 9th in MLB. but noted that a lot of the top prospects are in the lower minors.

IMHO, the Falvey regime has yet to show that it can draft and develop quality pitching in-house. and that's what they were supposedly hired to do.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Keith Law in The Athletic ranked the Twins' farm system as 17th in MLB. he noted that his ranking is impacted by some highly-drafted players who have been traded (Petty) or just not panned out (Sabato, Cavaco).

ESPN was more complimentary, ranking the Twins' farm system 9th in MLB. but noted that a lot of the top prospects are in the lower minors.

IMHO, the Falvey regime has yet to show that it can draft and develop quality pitching in-house. and that's what they were supposedly hired to do.
Click to expand...
That's a good thing IMO. The big club has a lot of young players (and a few that could get called up anytime like Lee and Festa). I think they have a pretty solid mix in guys close to ready and guys that need a few more years.

As for developing pitching, they've done well with relievers. But yeah haven't done well with starters to this point. Ultimately though, if they keep adding prospects, they should be able to trade for starters if they want to.
 

On This Date in 1973: Larry Hisle becomes the first designated hitter since AL owners voted 8-4 to adopt the new rule back on January 11.

He made owners look like geniuses, hitting two home runs and driving in seven.

The Yankees' Ron Blomberg took the first regular-season at-bat as a DH, but it was Tony Oliva who hit the first regular-season home run by a DH, off Oakland's Catfish Hunter.
 


Another Dinger from The Athletic (Twins Beat writers Hayes & Gleeman are excellent).

Article is about the spring reemergence of Martin & SWR and the part I included are their comments on each other’s path -

https://theathletic.com/5321490/202...-woods-richardson/?source=user_shared_articleAfter adversity, Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson feel ready to help Twins

Martin describes his longtime teammate Woods Richardson as always being confident. The difference he sees now is the additional confidence gained from participating in velocity camp.

The prevailing thought has always been that if Woods Richardson could add velocity to his curveball/changeup/slider mix, he could develop into a major-league starter.

“Just from hearing him talk, he seems extremely confident in it,” Martin said. “He’s seeing a lot of improvement in his other pitches he’s been trying to work on before the velo tick. All of that is coming easily and coming naturally and that’s what he feels the best about.”

Woods Richardson is just as bullish on Martin. While reflecting on his own struggles, Woods Richardson said: “Every baseball player has their tough times, they have their ups and their downs. … He had some setbacks. … But he’s starting to pick up his stride and be a lot more confident, starting to look the way he’s supposed to. He’s a hustler. He’ll run through a wall for you. He’s a great athlete and ballplayer.”
 

Strib had an interesting article today on Wallner and his work with the team's hitting coach. apparently Wallner's swing was all messed up so he sat down with the coach, watched a lot of video and figured out what Wallner was doing wrong.

assistant hitting coach Derek Shomon had Wallner excused from Tuesday's road trip against the Cardinals and held a four-hour, fix-it session. Together, they looked at motion-capture video that breaks down how each limb is moving during the swing. The next stop was the batting cage.

"Sometimes you beat yourself up as a coach because you're like, 'Why didn't I see that before?' And it may be for no other reason than you were prioritizing something else," Shomon said. "What's cool is, with our system, you identify it, you solve it, you write it down and then you're ready to address it again if it recurs."

"He was driving straight over the dish, basically winding himself up as if the third baseman was the pitcher," Shomon said. "If the third baseman was pitching to Matt with those moves, he'd be great. But it's the pitcher who's pitching."

Once Shomon showed him the tape, Wallner understood the problem. "I was just hitting too many balls in the bottom of the zone because I could get away with it. But if [the pitch] is middle-up, my swing doesn't play," he said. "He showed me how I was getting too far over the plate."

It sounds like a tiny adjustment, and it basically is. But "minor mistakes can drag you down," Shomon said, and both he and Wallner expect the outfielder — just 1-for-15 so far this spring — to start producing more.
 

On This Date in 2013: Twins prospect Aaron Hicks makes a strong case for himself, going 4-for-5 with three home runs, six RBI, and a stolen base versus the Phillies in Clearwater.

He would make his major league debut on Opening Day, batting leadoff and playing center field.
 

https://theathletic.com/5325304/202...-player-standouts/?source=user_shared_articleA spring training standout for each MLB team: 30 players turning heads in camp

Minnesota Twins — Carlos Correa, SS​

Age: 29
Bats: R Throws: R
Height: 6-4 | Weight:220

It’s hard to believe that Correa is still in his 20s but that’s the case as the two-time All-Star prepares for his 10th season in the majors. He’s played in at least 135 games per season in his past two years with the Twins and provided decent production despite battling numerous leg and foot injuries. He’s the leader of the team and has averaged 20 home runs and 65 RBIs over his tenure, though his OPS dropped from .834 to .711 last year. Scouts are observing better range from him in both directions this spring as his lower half appears much healthier than in the past. If the Twins are going to repeat as NL Central champs, they need a healthy Correa. He’s showing good signs so far in that regard, including improved first-step movements.

Derek Falvey, president of baseball operations: “Carlos battled through a lot of soreness last year with that plantar issue. He played great defense all year through it all. You can tell he’s feeling a lot better this spring.”
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom