All Things 2024-25 Minnesota Twins Off-Season Thread

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On This Date in 1987: With the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the sixth in Game 6 of the World Series, the Cardinals brought in lefty Ken Dayley to face Kent Hrbek, who deposited Dayley's first pitch over the center-field fence for the biggest grand slam in Twins history.
 

TRF Guy said:
On This Date in 1987: With the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the sixth in Game 6 of the World Series, the Cardinals brought in lefty Ken Dayley to face Kent Hrbek, who deposited Dayley's first pitch over the center-field fence for the biggest grand slam in Twins history.
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Don Baylor's 2 run shot off Tudor earlier was more critical, but both were huge.


I was lucky enough to be in the HHH Dome that afternoon.
 

TRF Guy said:
On This Date in 1987: With the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the sixth in Game 6 of the World Series, the Cardinals brought in lefty Ken Dayley to face Kent Hrbek, who deposited Dayley's first pitch over the center-field fence for the biggest grand slam in Twins history.
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I was a freshman wedged into a dorm room with 12-13 other people, a 3-foot water bong we called "Lulu" and a pony keg of Old Milwaukee Light that we smuggled in with a laundry basket for that game.

If our Floor RA had come down to our room to perform an alcohol/weed check that evening, he would still be buried out by the river cliffs in Mankato.
 

Slim Tubby said:
I was a freshman wedged into a dorm room with 12-13 other people, a 3-foot water bong we called "Lulu" and a pony keg of Old Milwaukee Light that we smuggled in with a laundry basket for that game.

If our Floor RA had come down to our room to perform an alcohol/weed check that evening, he would still be buried out by the river cliffs in Mankato.
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Did you inhale?
 





Slim Tubby said:
I was a freshman wedged into a dorm room with 12-13 other people, a 3-foot water bong we called "Lulu" and a pony keg of Old Milwaukee Light that we smuggled in with a laundry basket for that game.

If our Floor RA had come down to our room to perform an alcohol/weed check that evening, he would still be buried out by the river cliffs in Mankato.
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Ahh, the old laundry basket ruse--and here I thought us fellas over in Winona were the only ones clever enough to pull that off ;-)
 



here's an odd note.

Wednesday night, I clicked on Bally Sports North to see if they had done the re-branding. and sure enough, the channel is now FanDuel Sports Network North.

but that's not the point - when I turned on FDSNN, they were showing something called "Warehouse Games." never heard of this or seen it before. it was some variation on wiffle ball being played indoors. and as I stared at the screen, I realized that the batter was..................Trevor Plouffe.

I must say, for the minute or so I watched, the pitcher could really make the ball do tricks. couldn't really tell what type of a ball it was, but it had some movement. Plouffe was fighting just to get the bat on the ball.
 


Gopher_In_NYC said:
No one in the world could concoct an event of such comedic conviviality - not even me😉
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Only rivaled by the next year when Martin came back to MN as the Oakland manager and some in the crowd were throwing marshmallows at him and he tried in climb into the crowd to fight one of the offenders.
 

I watched five minutes of "warehouse ball" and I couldn't believe there was a market for that on TV (me, I guess) and I couldn't believe the movement on the ball. Crazy!
 



jamiche said:
I watched five minutes of "warehouse ball" and I couldn't believe there was a market for that on TV (me, I guess) and I couldn't believe the movement on the ball. Crazy!
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I feel like my friends and I invented that back in the late 80's. We used Calhoun Square as our stadium. Good to have the security guard as a buddy.
 



WoodburyTim said:
Only rivaled by the next year when Martin came back to MN as the Oakland manager and some in the crowd were throwing marshmallows at him and he tried in climb into the crowd to fight one of the offenders.
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Thanks for making me smile, I forgot the epilogue.
 


tikited said:
I feel like my friends and I invented that back in the late 80's. We used Calhoun Square as our stadium. Good to have the security guard as a buddy.
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Our bastion was Stonewall Jackson Stadium, which resided in Knute Nelson Park in bucolic Alexandria.

It was a perfect square of grass, surrounded by a foot tall “wall” our fence. My dad sold sporting goods, so we had our own bases and an endless supply of Whiffle Balls. We played almost daily in the summers and how we didn’t drive the poor neighbors next door insane, still flummoxes my cerebral cortex.

Easily, my favorite party of childhood. I wish I could go back once a year on my birthday, to be Sir Rodney again😃
 








FWIW - Gleeman has an article in The Athletic talking about the upcoming Rule 5 draft. Deadline is November 19 to add players to the 40-man roster and protect them from the Rule 5 draft.

Gleeman lists several prospects whom he believes the Twins should protect, including pitcher Marco Raya.

something to watch for. Twins have picked up some good players in the past through the Rule 5 Minor-League draft, including Johan Santana. we'll see how active they might be this year.

reminder there are separate Rule 5 drafts - one for Major league players and one for minor-league players. if you select a Rule 5 player in the Major League draft, you have to pay a fee of $100,000 and must keep that player on your major-league roster for the entire season. if you don't keep that player, you must offer to sell them back to their original club for $50,000.
 

Some much needed bright spots, from Gleeman’s article on his Top 20 Twin assets going in.to 2024: some snippets below and link to the full article.



Wallner

He’s batted .251/.366/.500 with 29 homers and 62 total extra-base hits over 580 plate appearances for a 139 OPS+. That’s good enough for third in Twins history through age 26, behind Harmon Killebrew (150) and Tony Oliva (146).

Ober

Johan Santana (141 ERA+), Ervin Santana(116) and Brad Radke (113) are the only Twins starters in the past 30 years with more career innings and a better ERA+ than Ober (112). He’s under team control for three more years via arbitration and will remain a tremendous bargain for 2025, especially if his dramatically improved changeup leads to a further breakthrough.

Buck

Because of his injury history, much is made of Buxton’s contract paying him $15 million per season from 2023-28. However, that’s not even one of the 100 highest salaries in MLB and he produced 3.6 bWAR in 2024, which carries a standard valuation of $28.8 million. This list is about providing excess value and Buxton has it again with four years and $60 million left on his deal.
 

I've been trying to follow the Tampa Bay story. Tropicana Field is unplayable due to hurricane damage. Manfred says they need to make a decision before the end of the year in order to get all the logistics lined up. at this point, sounds like it's going to be at a Spring Training site in Florida, and they'll have to make whatever improvements are needed in order to play a full season of games.
Rays averaged 16,515 a game at the Trop in 24.

Steinbrenner Field in Tampa (Spring Training home of the Yankees) is the largest Spring Training field in Florida, holding roughly 11,000 fans. of course, no roof, and it rains a lot in Florida, so that could make things interesting. in Florida, Summer is the rainy season.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
I've been trying to follow the Tampa Bay story. Tropicana Field is unplayable due to hurricane damage. Manfred says they need to make a decision before the end of the year in order to get all the logistics lined up. at this point, sounds like it's going to be at a Spring Training site in Florida, and they'll have to make whatever improvements are needed in order to play a full season of games.
Rays averaged 16,515 a game at the Trop in 24.

Steinbrenner Field in Tampa (Spring Training home of the Yankees) is the largest Spring Training field in Florida, holding roughly 11,000 fans. of course, no roof, and it rains a lot in Florida, so that could make things interesting. in Florida, Summer is the rainy season.
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If they can't fix The Trop, the only options are outdoor at a spring training facility, which would be miserable (hot, humid, rainy) or play their home games in Miami until The Trop is fixed. That's probably not doable since the schedules are already set unless 1 plays days and the other nights. Doesn't seem feasible. Drove past The Trop last week and what's left of roof just fluttering in the breeze.
 

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