Twins Open at Home with a Dominant Win

Posted on April 9, 2021 by Robb

It was the Minnesota Twins Home Opener yesterday afternoon! There were 10,000 fans in attendance (9,600+ according to Twins Prez Dave St. Peter) and the Twins did not disappoint as they clobbered the Seattle Mariners 10-2!

The Mariners actually scored 1st. Twins starter, RHP José Berríos, struck out 2 in the 1st inning, allowed a walk in the 2nd inning, which was followed by another strikeout, then he allowed a leadoff hit in the 3rd inning. That hit was followed by another strikeout then a popup to 3rd then another walk so…José was checking off 1sts for the season but they were all negative 1sts and those kept coming as the next batter (Ty France) hit an RBI-single to score the 1st run against José Berríos. The next batter also walked, the 2nd walk of the inning so Twins Pitching Coach Wes Johnson came out to talk to his young pitcher and the next batter lined out to right field to end the inning but the Twins were now down 1-0.

It’s always interesting to see how a team responds to getting scored on to see if they have the ability and compete-level to get right back in the game and the Twins did just that with back-to-back doubles from Jorge Polanco (1) & Kyle Garlick (1) to tie the game at 1 & it took just 4 pitches to get it done. Nelson Cruz walked and Byron Buxton grounded to short for a force out at 2nd but he beat the throw to 1st to keep 2 runners on. Garlick advanced to 3rd. Mitch Garver was up next.* He had the count at 2-2 and had only swung at the changeup for a swinging strike on the 3rd pitch then took the next pitch, a low changeup, for a ball. He fouled off an inside sinker then got another changeup and he crushed it over the center field wall into the juniper wall and Just Like That, the Twins were up 4-1.

Garv Sauce Delivered to Center Field! Have a Ball, Juniper Wall!

Berríos got a lead and struck out the side in the next inning on 17 pitches (2 swinging, 1 looking). A 15-minute Rain Delay split the top & bottom of the 4th inning then the Twins went down 1-2-3 in the 4th as well, 2 of those via strikeout.

In the 5th, Sam Haggerty tried to lay down a bunt on Berríos and José was having none of it as he pounced on it and threw him out then struck out the next batter for 2 quick outs but back-to-back singles from Mitch Haniger & Ty France brought Kyle Seager to the plate as the game-tying run. José had him down 0-2 but he & his shortstop were also keeping an eye on Mitch Haniger at 2nd base as he was taking a big lead and, he’d already picked off a runner trying to steal in the 2nd inning. Seager had fouled off 2 straight pitches to keep the at-bat alive. They tried a pickoff throw before the 1st pitch of the at-bat and that was somewhat close. They tried it again after the 4th pitch and it was even closer. It was called safe on the field but it was close enough for the Twins to challenge the call…and they Overturned the Call to end the 5th inning.**

Justin Morneau’s reaction on the 1st replay is great…”Ooh…that might be…you might take a look at that.”

The Twins then scored 3 more runs in the bottom of the 5th on Byron Buxton’s 4th HR of the season which was followed by a double off the right center field wall from Mitch Garver. Max Kepler then smoked a ball 108mph off his bat and heading toward right field but Seattle 1st baseman José Marmolejos (Mar-Ma-Lay-Hos) jumped and snagged it for the 1st out. Miguel Sano brought in Garver with a single to left field and that ended the day for Mariners starter LHP Marco Gonzales as RHP Drew Steckenrider took over and he was greeted by an Andrelton Simmons double (2) to left field. Sano advanced to 3rd and he was brought in on a Luis Arraez sacrifice fly to left field to make it 7-1.

Berríos came out for the 6th and got Seager to fly out to center field but then left a curveball up and didn’t see that ball again after José Marmolejos put it in the 2nd deck of right center field to get Seattle a run back. He struck out the next batter and that’s when Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli decided 99 pitches was enough for his pitcher as Seager’s flyout was to deep center field so pulled him for LHP Caleb Thielbar.

Caleb (or Kaleb) struck out the next batter to end the top of the 6th. He also pitched the 7th inning for the Twins and he allowed a leadoff single then an error allowed the next batter to reach but he induced a double-play ball to get 2 quick outs then got a called strikeout to get through the 7th with no damage done.

The Twins had 3 singles in the bottom of the 6th including Byron Buxton’s 1st single of the season*** and they got a check-swing RBI-infield hit that brought in the speedy Nelson Cruz to make it 8-2.

In the bottom of the 7th, Andrelton Simmons hit a leadoff double (3) then Luis Arraez joined the Power Producers by hitting his 1st HR of the season, a shot over the right center field wall. That’s his 1st HR since 2019 as he didn’t hit one in the shortened 2020 season.

Luis Arraez made the ball arise over the right center field wall for his 1st HR of the season.

RHP Jorge Alcala took over in the 8th and needed just 9 pitches to set the Mariners down 1-2-3. The Twins got a Willians Astudillo single to leadoff the bottom of the 8th but left him on base.

In the top of the 9th, LHP Brandon Waddell, recently added from the Taxi Squad to take the roster spot of OF Brent Rooker, came in to make his Minnesota Twins debut. He got a flyout from the 1st batter he faced then walked the next batter and allowed a double that had runners on 2nd & 3rd but he got a flyout to center and a groundout to 2nd to end the game.

The Twins get Friday off then get back at it in Game 2 against the Mariners at 1:10pm when Twins RHP Michael Pineda (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.20 WHIP) takes the mound against Seattle LHP Yusei Kikuchi (0-0, 4.50 ERA, 1.17 WHIP) on Bally Sports North.

Game Notes:

*Some people were already thinking Mitch Garver was struggling & looking more like the Mitch Garver from last season as opposed to the 2019 version who slugged 31 Home Runs. He was only 2-for-14 in the first 6 games with 1 walk and 7 strikeouts. One of the 2 hits was a Home Run. Is 2-for-14 good? Is 7 strikeouts good? No, but it’s only 14 at-bats and he only started 3 of those 5 games. The 2 other games were pinch-hit at-bats and the 3rd start was leading off against Detroit left-hander Matthew Boyd who he struck out 3 times against. He also struck out 3 times in the 1st game of the season.

He was coming off a late injury in Spring Training, too. It’s just too early to start worrying about any player regardless of how they’re doing. Give them at least some home games and some time to get in some kind of routine and to get some confidence going and also look at if/how he’s hitting the ball. Is he making solid contact or just missing? The bottom line is Mitch deserves plenty of time before anyone starts thinking he’s not able to repeat anything close to that historic 2019 season.

**The pickoff at 2nd in the top of the 5th was a huge play in the game as Seager was the tying run at the plate and who knows what happens since Seager had already walked and had also fouled off 2 pitches to keep the at-bat alive but José Berríos & Andrelton Simmons executed the pickoff to perfection as the throw was right on the money and, as Justin Morneau said, Andrelton Simmons’ “…glovework is just incredible.”

***It’s pretty rare to point out a player’s first single of the season but it’s game 7 and that was Byron Buxton’s 8th hit of the season. The other 7 hits were of the extra-base variety with 3 of them being doubles and the other 4 being home runs. This is why the crowd started chanting MVP after his HR in the 5th. This is what Byron Buxton can do. We just hope we can see it for a full season THIS season. If we do, the Twins might be a special team!

Thank you for reading our ‘Takes! We’d love to hear your ‘Takes in the comments or on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook!

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Twins go for Series win #2 today in Detroit with Maeda on the mound & Buxton starting

Posted on April 7, 2021 by Robb

The Minnesota Twins had their ace RHP Kenta Maeda heading to the mound today to try to win their 2nd straight series in today’s rubber game vs the Detroit Tigers & they had Byron Buxton back in the starting lineup. Max Kepler & Luis Arraez got the day off so OF Kyle Garlick got his 1st Twins start, playing right field and hitting 2nd in the lineup in front of Nelson Cruz. Willians Astudillo got the start at 3rd base.

The Minnesota Twins also announced they had placed OF Brent Rooker on the 10-Day Injured List (IL) with a cervical strain which, if you didn’t know like I didn’t know, is just a medical term for neck pain.

Twins OF Brent Rooker placed on 10-Day Injured List with cervical strain (neck pain)

They selected the contract of LHP Brandon Waddell from the Taxi Squad to replace Rooker’s spot on the roster. To make room for Waddell on the 40-Man Roster, they transferred RHP Edwar Colina (right elbow inflammation) to the 60-Day Injured List.

Waddell had a great spring training and made the Twins decision a little more difficult for the final spot in the bullpen before eventually going with fellow lefty, Caleb Thielbar.

Maeda had a decent start but seemed to lose command again in the 6th as he did in his 1st start. Hopefully, he just needs some time to round out his game and some home-cooking will do that. He allowed more than one hit per inning again. He didn’t do that once in 2020. NOT ONCE! Maybe that’s just how great of a season he had but I’d think he’d expect the same kind of stuff this season.

In the top of the 2nd, that Akil Baddoo guy once again made a big play by playing an Andrelton Simmons ball perfectly off the wall and then throwing him out at 2nd. Then in the bottom of the 2nd, he came up with 1 on & 1 out and hit his #1stMLBTriple to score a run and give his team a 1-0 lead.*

The Twins struggled to get anything going against #Tigers LHP Matthew Boyd until the 5th. They had just 2 hits through 4 innings then Byron Buxton led off the 5th with a hard line-drive off the right field wall that was played perfectly by Tigers RF Robbie Grossman but Buxton still slid in safe easily #SpeedTool Miguel Sano then hit a dribbler up the first baseline that allowed Buxton to advance to 3rd and then Willians #LaTortuga Astudillo brought him home with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1.

In the bottom of the 5th, Maeda gave up a solo HR to Wilson Ramos and the Tigers were up by 1 once again.

Then, with 2 outs in the top of the 6th, Kyle Garlick hit his 2nd single of the day. Nelson Cruz hit a ball hard that went off SS Willi Castro’s glove but 2B Jonathan Schoop bare-handed it and quickly threw to 1st for a close call that was an out that would’ve ended the inning BUT…the Twins challenged the call and it was overturned** to put runners on 1st & 2nd and Jorge Polanco to the plate. He hit 2 balls hard yesterday from the right side and he then laced his 1st double of the season to left center field that scored Garlick from 2nd AND Nelson Cruz all the way from 1st to put the Twins up 3-2.

In the bottom of the 6th, Willi Castro led it off with a single and Miguel Cabrera followed with a line-drive double(1) to left field that Jake Cave dove for but missed but he got up and got to it quickly knowing there was a runner on first. He hit the cutoff man in SS Andrelton Simmons and Simmons made a perfect throw to cut down Castro at home but that was just 1 out.
Jeimer Candelario walked & Nomar Mazara singled to right field on a hard line drive that didn’t give Cabrera a chance to score but the bases were now loaded with just one out. Jonathan Schoop came to the plate and he hit a hard fly ball to right field. Garlick caught it and Cabrera was sent home but Garlick’s throw beat him easily to end the inning.***

There were only two more baserunners for the rest of the game, one hit by pitch and one single.

Boyd hit Simmons with a pitch but finished his day with 7 very good innings. RHP Hansel Robles pitched a perfect 7th for MN with 1 strikeout. RHP Jose Cisnero took over for Detroit in the 8th and set down all 6 twins he faced in the 8th & 9th innings.

RHP Alex Colome came in the game in the 8th for the Twins. He struck out Grossman then allowed a single to Willi Castro but he got Miguel Cabrera to ground into a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.

Colome came out to go for the 2-inning save and he got ahead of Jeimer Candelario 0-2 to begin the 9th but the next pitch was fouled off and the next 3 were balls to make the count full but got him to strike out on nasty low & inside cutter for the first out. He got Nomar Mazara to fly out to center & up came Jonathan Schoop. He got ahead by taking a 95mph fastball for a ball then fouled off an 88mph cutter that was middle in to even the count at 1-1. A 90mph cutter just missed for ball 2 then swung through a low outside 94mph heater and…

he GOT HEEM with an inside 90mph cutter to end the game and earn his 2nd save of the season.

It’s cool to see how well Colome changes speeds with his cutter and by pairing it with his fastball and changeup.

MNTwins 3, #DetroitRoots 2 | F

W-Maeda(1-0) L-Boyd(1-1) S-Colomé(2) H-Robles(2)

Maeda-6IP 7H 2R/ER 1BB 6K 1HR 1W
Robles-1IP 1KColomé-2IP 1H 3K 1 Save

HR:
MN-None
DET-Ramos(2)

2B:
MN-Buxton(2) Polanco(1)
DET-Cabrera(1)

Buxton-2B,R
Polanco-GW 2-R 2B in 6th
Garlick-2H,R
Cruz-H,R
Simmons-H,#Defense
Cave-H,#Defense-Outfield Assist

Garlick also had an outfield assist as the defense in the 6th held the 1-run lead.

Notes:

*It’s funny how a former prospect starting his career well makes some fans think/wonder why the Minnesota Twins gave up on him. We’re, of course, talking about Detroit Tigers & former Minnesota Twins OF prospect Akil Baddoo, who’s started his career insanely well with a Home Run in the first pitch he saw as a Major Leaguer then hit a Grand Slam late in the Twins 15-6 win on Monday and hit a Walk-Off Single to win the game last night!

He continued making plays today with the first triple of his career to put his team in front in the bottom of the 2nd. He then added an outfield assist to cut down Andrelton Simmons on what looked like a clear double to begin the 3rd inning.

So…let’s get to why the Twins “let him go.” I put that in quotes because Major League Baseball rules only allow teams to control players for a certain length of time before they have to make them available to every other team in the league through the Rule 5 Draft. It started as a way “to give Minor League players more opportunities to crack big league rosters and prevent teams from stashing talented players in the Minor Leagues.”

Players signed at age 18 or younger need to be added to their club’s 40-Man Roster within five seasons or they become eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. Players who signed at age 19 or older need to be protected within four seasons.

So…Akil Baddoo was a minor-leaguer who had yet to play above High-A ball and the Twins only had 3 spots available so Baddoo was left available. I’m sure they thought but also hoped nobody would select any of their players but that’s just how it goes and for the Twins, that sucks because they need to be able to keep as many prospects as possible. Who would think a player would be doing this after not playing any baseball games in almost 2 years (May 11th, 2019) and it’s not like he was lighting it up at High-A ball, either:

Akil Baddoo hit .214/.290/.393 (AVG/OBP/SLG) in 2019

The key is how long will this last for Akil Baddoo? We assume he’ll come back to earth at some point and/or the league will adjust to him so….we’ll see how he handles that and if, maybe, the Twins get a chance to either get him back or get something for him if Detroit wants to keep him.

**How HUGE was the Challenge that overturned the bad call by the ump in the 6th? It kept the inning going and allowed Jorge Polanco to put his stamp on the game with the game-winning hit! It’s awesome to see the 40-year-old running hard to beat the throw to first then to score the eventual game-winning run! He had some fun with it in the postgame, too. He said he told Buxton earlier that he’s faster than him and he was asked if him being safe & Miguel Cabrera being out at home “proved that you’re faster than Miguel Cabrera?” by the Twins writer from The Athletic, Aaron Gleeman:

He also quoted a tweet from the Detroit Tigers about being tormented by him for the last decade:

Last but not least, he replied to the Twins & Byron Buxton on a Twins tweet about the win today talking about his speed being on display today:

Nelson Cruz is just good for the game of baseball! Haha

***The defense played a huge part in the win today. Simmons throw to get Willi Castro at home in the bottom of the 6th are the kinds of plays they paid $10.5M to sign him to be their shortstop this season. It’s why he’s considered possibly the best defensive shortstop in the league!

The #MNTwins will start a 7-game homestand starting with the #HomeOpener tomorrow at 3:10pm against the Seattle Mariners with 10,000 #TwInsane fans in the stands at #TargetField!

Minnesota Twins RHP José Berríos (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP) #LaMakina
vs
Seattle RHP Marco Gonzalez (0-0, 7.50 ERA, 1.83 WHIP)

📺: Bally Sports North

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UPDATED: Minnesota Twins OF Eddie Rosario Placed on Waivers, Could Be Non-Tendered

Posted on December 2, 2020 by Robb
A Whole Lotta Rosie May Be A Whole Lotta Gone by the End of the Day, Today.

BREAKING NEWS & EDDIE ROSARIO UPDATE!!

Both LHP Caleb Thielbar ($700K) & RHP Tyler Duffey ($2.2M) have avoided arbitration and are signed for the 2021 season. Eddie Rosario cleared waivers but the Twins are rumored to be still negotiating with him and have until 7pm tonight before he would become a free agent if they non-tender him which was the point of sending him through waivers.

Reporter Ken Rosenthal from The Athletic reports the #MNTwins placed OF Eddie Rosario on outright waivers today giving him a chance to be claimed which is a pretty big sign the Minnesota Twins will non-tender the veteran OF because they don’t want to pay him his projected $9.6M arbitration salary. 

Rosenthal then goes on to say the Twins have been trying to trade him but there have been no takers. He would clear waivers at 12pm today, making a case for the club that no team wants to pay him the predicted arbitration salary. They could then try to sign him at a lower price by the 7pm deadline to tender players today. They wouldn’t have to sign him by that deadline since they wouldn’t be tendering him & he’d be a free agent but they would be the only team negotiating with him up until the deadline and, of course, could keep negotiating after the deadline.

Most people believe he will be a free agent in about 7 hours but…

Eddie Rosario is only 29-years old and he’s heading into the prime of his career. He has shown to have a lot of value in all areas of the game but he does has his flaws or weaknesses. He’s impatient at the plate. He improved that part of his game in 2020 even if it wasn’t a huge improvement. It was noticeable and he had previously said it’s something he wanted to improve.

He’s aggressive in all areas of the game. He swings for the fences and a lot of the time, it doesn’t matter where the ball is thrown for him to swing. He tests the opposing team’s defense with his aggressive base-running which sometimes sees him run into an out.

Manager Rocco Baldelli had him hitting 3rd (6) or 4th (29) in the lineup for 35 of the Twins 60 games last season (16 games at 5th, 4 at 6th) showing what he thinks of Rosie. Eddie has turned into a leader in the clubhouse and it’s clear he enjoys playing the game and he wants to win.

This issue isn’t necessarily about the money. He’s likely worth his predicted salary but the Twins also have 2-3 players who are ready to get a shot at the big leagues in OFs Alex Kirilloff, Brent Rooker & Trevor Larnach. They also have Jake Cave & LaMonte Wade who could step into that role. So not only would they save money, they have options and the pandemic may have caused them to have to be a little more cautious with their payroll.

For most Twins fans, they believe it’s time to give a spot to the Twins #2 Prospect OF Alex Kirilloff who debuted in Game 2 of the postseason and recorded his 1st MLB Hit with a line drive to right field in his 2nd at-bat. I agree that he looks ready but it’s very rare that a player is just given a spot in the lineup. He definitely deserves a shot but there are no guarantees he will succeed and/or become great instantly. It usually takes some time and there are hills & valleys of success as teams/pitchers start to see how a hitter adapts to how he’s being pitched. Am I worried about Alex Kirilloff at the plate? No…because he’s a hitting machine but he also has yet to play a game at the AAA level.

We’ll see & maybe hear what the Twins think of Eddie Rosario at some point today.

Here are the MLB rules on Outright Waivers & Tenders/Non-Tenders

What do you think, #TwinsTakers?

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Who Will the Minnesota Twins Add to their 40-Man Roster?

Posted on October 11, 2020 by Robb

The Minnesota Twins have to make decisions on a bunch of players to see if they want to add them to their 40-Man Roster.

The top players they’ll have to decide have usually reached at least the AA level because a team has to be willing to carry that player on their Major League roster for the entire season in order to keep them in their organization. If players have yet to reach AA, they probably aren’t going to be much help on the major league roster and, although there are some teams that might not worry about that, those are less likely to be selected off another team’s roster.

Do we have to adjust some players, speculating where they would’ve started & ended this season were it not for the COVID-19 pandemic?

First off, the Minnesota Twins currently have 9 spots available on their 40-Man Roster because there are 9 players who are set to become free agents (10 if you don’t think they’ll bring back RHP Sergio Romo, who has a $250K buyout of his $5M option for next season.)

So…we’ll just go with the top prospects for now and we’ll go by the order of their Top 30 Prospects:
Two of the Twins top prospects are were listed in their player pool and they’re pretty easy decisions since one of them is their top pitching prospect, RHP Jordan Balazovic.

The other is LHP Charlie Barnes, who had reached AAA at the end of the 2019 season but he got hit pretty hard in 4 starts. He was promoted to AA in late May after a slow start. His fastball is basically high-80s/low-90s but his changeup is a good pitch. He struck a batter per inning but he has a relatively high WHIP at 1.360 in AA so with that velocity, I’d probably say the leave him available but since he’s a lefty, I’m going to go 50/50 on if they add him or not. Barnes is not currently on their Top 30 Prospects list. Unprotected

#9 Prospect SS Wander Javier – Low A
—He was left unprotected in the 2019 Rule 5 Draft so it’s hard to believe they now feel they should protect him now after this season of no games but…he is a shortstop so…you never know. Unprotected

#13 OF Akil Baddoo – High A
—Akil has only played 29 games at the High-A level and his career minor league average is .249 but he’s been fun to follow as a speedy outfielder. Unprotected

#22 3B/INF Jose Miranda – AA (just 1 game, though)
—Kind of the same as Akil Baddoo above. He hasn’t really hit enough for me to believe the Twins would protect him. Unprotected

#25 Yunior Severino – Low A
—Acquired after the Braves were penalized in 2017 & had to forfeit international prospects but the 21-year-old has barely played at the low A level. Unprotected

#27 C Ben Rortvedt – AA
—Good, defensive catcher who has made it to AA and shown some plate discipline. He’s 23 but he’s a catcher who’s one of their top prospects. Protected

#30 OF Gabriel Maciel – High A
—Acquired with RHP Jhoan Duran & OF Ernie De La Trinidad in the Eduardo Escobar trade, Gabriel is a speedy outfielder & a switch-hitting contact hitter with good plate discipline who can steal some bases. You could argue that he would’ve made it to AA in a normal 2020 season. Protected

Tomorrow, we’ll look at some other players who’ve already been unprotected and not selected in the Rule 5 Draft that the Twins might think about protecting since we have only 3 so far. It might be very doubtful they protect any players who were not plucked last season especially when you consider how this season went for them but it’s fun to look at more prospects.

Thanks for reading out ‘Takes! We’d love to hear your ‘Takes. After all, that’s why it’s…

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The Minnesota Twins lose 3-1 to the Houston Astros to End the Season

Posted on September 30, 2020 by Robb
Minnesota Twins rookie OF Alex Kirilloff became the 1st player to ever start a postseason game for his #MLBDebut & he singled on a 106mph line-drive in his 2nd at-bat!

18 in a row as the #MNTwins season ends in a 3-1 loss to the Houston Astros today.

That is a new record for most consecutive losses in the postseason.

A certain Twin, rookie OF Alex Kirilloff, also set a record today as the 1st rookie to ever start a postseason game for his #MLBDebut and he got the Minnesota Twins 1st hit of the game (& his #1stMLBHit) on a 106mph line-drive to right field.

We expect to see a lot of Mr. Kirilloff in the very near future!

If you want to talk about the game and the season, we can talk about it but if you’re going to bring up the streak and it being because of some curse, it’s going to be a short conversation.

It sucks to be a Twins fan right now but it’s not the end of the world for a fan. I feel for the team and all of the players, coaches, staff and employees that put a lot of hard work in a very strange difficult season to see it end like this but the Front Office has built something good here and the future is still bright.

This team will look different next year but it doesn’t have to look that different. They have decisions to make on a lot of players on if they want to bring them back or make some trades to make this team even better and hopefully for a full regular season.

RHP Jake Odorizzi, DH Nelson Cruz, UTIL Marwin Gonzalez, LHP Rich Hill, RHP Sergio Romo, RHP Tyler Clippard, RHP Trevor May? UTIL Ehire Adrianza & C Alex Avila are all free agents now. Who will be brought back?

-Cruz? I’d bring him back & he wants to come back.

-Odo? Might now be worth the price and the frustration of injuries.

-Marwin? I wouldn’t have a problem bringing him back because he plays everywhere which is a nice option to have.

-Adrianza? Is he Marwin at a much cheaper price? He can play everywhere, too. He hasn’t played much in the outfield but how much is that going to matter with this outfield?

—Relievers? Romo? Clippard? May? It’s hard to say because they do have options with prospects but all of them were pretty good to very good this season.

-Avila? They might not need a backup catcher since they’ll have Mitch Garver & now Ryan Jeffers but Alex was good for the pitching staff and takes good at-bats while being a left-handed hitter so that could be a reason to bring him back. Having depth at catcher is very important.

Is that the end for LF Eddie Rosario?
Ejected for arguing balls & strikes in the 6th in a Postseason game. I disagree with the ejection and think Umpires need to be a little less sensitive and why didn’t Astros CF George Springer get ejected as he did more than Eddie did?
Eddie has value on this team and/or for a trade for prospects or pitching, whether that’s MLB pitching or pitching prospects.

We said last season was a beginning of a new era of Twins baseball and we still believe that. Did they take another step this season? It depends on how you look at it. If you just look at the results of how the season ended, it’s probably a no but if you look at how the season went, they had better pitching and that pitching was actually good enough to win either postseeason game but the offense didn’t show up for whatever reason.

Our final ‘Take for this season…well, at least, this post is…how should we analyze what happened this season? It was a season like no other and like any other sport this year, it was & is more difficult to win than any other season because it was unlike any other season for multiple reasons.

There weren’t any fans in the stands. They couldn’t train or play the same way that they are used to. There wasn’t a minor-league season. They couldn’t do anything like they normally did at or away from the baseball park. They had to quarantine and obey protocols or games would be postponed. They weren’t allowed to use video during games to look at their at-bats or the opposing pitchers and hitters. How hard was that to do?

What about the prospects? Look at how they had to try to develop. They didn’t play any real games against real opponents. It was always games against their teammates but they did get to work closely with a mostly major league staff (?)

So…let us know your ‘Takes and please don’t second-guess the moves made today or yesterday or all season. Go ahead & ask questions about them but don’t assume if something different was done that the results would’ve been different because you don’t know and never will know. Just be open to a discussion and both sides of it.

The video, recap & stats from today’s game are HERE if you want to see them.

We’d love to hear your TwinsTakes. Hit us up on Twitter, Instagram and/or Facebook!!!

Thanks for reading our ‘Takes! We’d love to see your ‘Takes. That’s why it’s…

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