All Things 2024 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

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TRF Guy said:
Harmon Killebrew poses with nine-year-old Johnny Guiney at Yankee Stadium on this date in 1964. The two met back in May after Johnny suffered critical burns in an altar boy accident. Johnny asked the Killer to hit a homer for him, and Harmon delivered in the first inning.

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I know I've posted this many times but always have to mention I was able to meet Harmon a good 17-18 years ago at a private dinner when I live in North Carolina. I was the only Twins fan at the small event and he went out of his way to sit with me and chat Twins baseball for a good 20-30 minutes. He was as nice of a man as everyone said he was.

The picture I got with him pops up in my memories from time to time and it always makes me smile.
 



Ope3 said:
Nice that the Rockies did the Twins a solid by winning 4-2.

I just can't root for the Yankees to win. I am cheering for a Red Sox loss.
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I'm sure I'm in the minority on this one but ever since the Red Sox finally won a world series, and then went on to win a couple more, I find them just about as insufferable as the Yankees.
 

Gophers1992 said:
I'm sure I'm in the minority on this one but ever since the Red Sox finally won a world series, and then went on to win a couple more, I find them just about as insufferable as the Yankees.
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The Red Sox are pretty close to the Yankees as far as being insufferable in my book. Not quite, but right up there.
 




In case anyone is interested, the Red Sox-Yankees game is on regular FOX/Ch 9.

I was unaware, but just stumbled upon it channel surfing, surprised that they are showing a mid-week game.

Tied 1-1, T6.
 





Bender had told teammates he wanted the season to be over, according to sources.

Bender spent the final two games of the season, which the Mussels won, in the team's bullpen instead of his typical place in the dugout, sources said.
A catcher and first baseman selected with the 188th pick this year, Bender signed for $297,500, slightly below the $320,800 slot for that selection. He will keep the entirety of his bonus, sources said.

Bender played 19 games for Fort Myers, hitting .200/.273/.333 with two home runs and eight RBIs. In three seasons at Coastal Carolina, he hit .326/.408/.571 with 32 home runs and 153 RBIs in 144 games.
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I hope he enjoys the $300 grand. It might be the only money he ever earns in baseball. another organization would have to be pretty hard-up to sign a player who screwed over his own team.
 


Ope3 said:
The Red Sox are pretty close to the Yankees as far as being insufferable in my book. Not quite, but right up there.
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After the Red Sox won their first WS in forever, this is the comparison I worked up in my head:

The Yankees are old money, looking down their nose at you and not willing to deign consideration to the peons of the world.

The Red Sox are new money, falling into a windfall after years of floundering about. They celebrate their newfound status by buying a cigarette boat, wearing nothing but a Speedo and bothering everyone on the lake with their oblivious obnoxiousness.
 





Update on Twins’ playoff odds via The Athletic -

www.nytimes.com

Which MLB contenders have the hardest road to the playoffs? Let’s break down the schedules

We looked at each contender’s remaining schedule, with playoff odds and remaining strength of schedule in order to find out.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

Minnesota Twins​

Record: 78-68
Playoff odds: 87.1 percent
Strength of schedule:.490



OPPONENT
GAMES
LOCATION
WIN%
Cincinnati Reds3Home.483
Cleveland Guardians4Road.575
Boston Red Sox3Road.507
Miami Marlins3Home.370
Baltimore Orioles3Home.565


Key series: Sept. 20-22 at Red Sox

The division is an extreme longshot (2.7 percent likelihood) for the Twins, who instead need to focus on maintaining their grip on the final wild-card spot. Right now they’re being chased by the Tigers, Red Sox and Mariners, making this series against Boston a potentially vital matchup. If that series doesn’t go well, the following series against the Marlins offers some opportunity to make up ground against a lesser opponent before ending the season against the playoff-bound Orioles.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Makes no sense whatsoever. Fed up with the organization? He's been there like 2 months. Gambling? Can you bet on A ball?
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The most reasonable theory I've heard, apart from the obvious gambling allegations, is he may have realized he doesn't want to pursue a big league career, so he does this, gets released, collects around $300k and can go move on with his life. Who knows though. Just really weird all around.
 

coolhandgopher said:
After the Red Sox won their first WS in forever, this is the comparison I worked up in my head:

The Yankees are old money, looking down their nose at you and not willing to deign consideration to the peons of the world.

The Red Sox are new money, falling into a windfall after years of floundering about. They celebrate their newfound status by buying a cigarette boat, wearing nothing but a Speedo and bothering everyone on the lake with their oblivious obnoxiousness.
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Adding to the insufferable level and smugness of Red Sox and Boston fans in general is how much success all their pro franchises have had in the 21st Century.

Sickening.
 

on Bender - from what I've read, most scouting reports pegged him as a bat-first player who was likely not going to stick at Catcher and would probably wind up as a 1B/DH type. His best attribute is his raw power.

at one point, he was rated as a fringe top-100 player, but wound up getting drafted at 188 after slipping to the 6th round. so teams that looked at him saw something that led to his being downgraded.

when the Twins took him, they were credited for getting a player with potential value at that point of the draft.

so there were already some concerns, and now add a major character concern.

I suppose some team might take a flyer on him, but it would be for very little money and a lot of conditions. how would you like to be his teammate, knowing what he did to the organization that drafted him?
 

Gophers1992 said:
The most reasonable theory I've heard, apart from the obvious gambling allegations, is he may have realized he doesn't want to pursue a big league career, so he does this, gets released, collects around $300k and can go move on with his life. Who knows though. Just really weird all around.
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My theory is the Twins have a Nuke LaLoosh type pitching prospect and Bender wanted to teach him a Crash Davis-esque life lesson.

 

Gophers1992 said:
The most reasonable theory I've heard, apart from the obvious gambling allegations, is he may have realized he doesn't want to pursue a big league career, so he does this, gets released, collects around $300k and can go move on with his life. Who knows though. Just really weird all around.
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I don't know the answer to this or if you know but say he just plays out the year and then says he is retiring. Does he have to give the signing bonus money back then? I'm guessing no?

From what I've read this guy was known as an odd character even before all of this came out.
 


GophersInIowa said:
I don't know the answer to this or if you know but say he just plays out the year and then says he is retiring. Does he have to give the signing bonus money back then? I'm guessing no?

From what I've read this guy was known as an odd character even before all of this came out.
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This was not from a verified reputable source, but I read somewhere in the depths of the internet that if he quits/retires, he isn't entitled to all of his signing bonus, whereas getting released allowed him to get paid.

Again don't quote me on that and I'm happy to be proven wrong. Not claiming to have any inside knowledge.
 

Twins announce Post-season ticket purchase opportunity.

Got this in an e-mail this morning.

Exclusive Postseason Strips purchase offer starts 9/16 at 10:00 am CT!
Fans throughout Twins Territory in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota can take advantage of this exclusive Postseason ticket strip offer.

A Postseason ticket strip includes a ticket to all possible 2024 Twins Postseason home games played at Target Field. There are potentially 14 Postseason home games: 3 Wild Card Series Games, 3 Division Series Games, 4 League Championship Series Games, 4 World Series Games.

This exclusive purchase opportunity is only available to fans residing within Twins Territory (MN, IA, WI, ND, SD). Ends 9/16 at 10:00 pm CT. Restrictions apply. All tickets based on availability.
 

The Twins acquired minor leaguer David Ortiz from the Mariners on this date in 1996, as the player to be named later in the David Hollins trade.

The Twins released Ortiz following the 2002 season. He finished top-five in AL MVP balloting each of his first five seasons in Boston.IMG_8516.jpeg
 

TRF Guy said:
The Twins acquired minor leaguer David Ortiz from the Mariners on this date in 1996, as the player to be named later in the David Hollins trade.

The Twins released Ortiz following the 2002 season. He finished top-five in AL MVP balloting each of his first five seasons in Boston.
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Better "vitamins" in Beantown.
 

TRF Guy said:
The Twins acquired minor leaguer David Ortiz from the Mariners on this date in 1996, as the player to be named later in the David Hollins trade.

The Twins released Ortiz following the 2002 season. He finished top-five in AL MVP balloting each of his first five seasons in Boston.View attachment 33500
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He was going into the 3rd year of arbitration and might make as much as $5 million. The Pohlads needed to "right size" the 2024 2003 payroll. Sunrise, sunset.
 



Not sure walking the guy in front of DeLa Cruz was smart. The pitching will get all the blame, but the offense has 1 run on 2 hits and has been all to absent for the last 3 weeks.
 

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