All Things 2024 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

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When does the journey that is the Minnesota Twins 2024 season officially begin? Opening Day? When pitchers and catchers report? I'll vote for the first time we see baseball, even if it's designed to be an exhibition game.

That's especially true when it's a well-conceived exhibition game, and Friday night's 13-2 win over the University of Minnesota's Golden Gophers was. It's designed to draw Minnesotans back to the ballpark, featuring their hometown nine versus their hometown college team with half-price tickets. Add in a few pre-game festivities celebrating legendary U of M baseball coach John Anderson, who has announced his retirement after this season, and there was plenty to please the crowd.

twinsdaily.com

Minnesota Twins Start Spring Training Games with Win Over the Golden Gophers

That's especially true when it's a well-conceived exhibition game, and Friday night's 13-2 win over the University of Minnesota's Golden Gophers was. It's designed to draw Minnesotans back to the ballpark, featuring their hometown nine versus their hometown college team with half-price tickets. A...
twinsdaily.com twinsdaily.com
 



Per Shooter:

— The Twins should have little difficulty winning their division again, mostly because the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals are among baseball’s worst teams. The Detroit Tigers will challenge, but only slightly.

www.twincities.com

Charley Walters: Timberwolves buyers may need another extension

It still looks like the $1.5 billion sale of the Timberwolves and Lynx will happen. But up until at least last week, there was an awkward silence on behalf of the buyers. The initial deadline for t…
www.twincities.com www.twincities.com

Win Twins!!
 



Both Reusse and LaVelle addressed fan discontent in the Strib.

a few excerpts from Reusse's column:

The Twins let it be known shortly after that brief euphoria the payroll was going down. That's due to the money-losing that has taken place since the large number of millions that went out the window during the 60-game pandemic season of 2020.

The Pohlads were among the few MLB owners to pay their non-playing employees during the COVID-19 shutdown, which doesn't get them points on X (Twitter) or with Star Tribune commenters.

If I'm running a club with a $120 million or a $150 million payroll, either way, I'm not going three years and $75 million for Gray. I'm going to take a shot with Louie Varland, David Festa, etc.

and here's LaVelle's take on the situation:

But here's the reality: The Twins warned us all a payroll reduction was coming. Pohlad's latest comments were more of the same. To this latest wave of fan angst, I'll say: Get over it.

The Twins weren't the only team doing this. Roughly half of the teams in baseball have not added to their 2023 payroll.

But there were seven teams, including the Cubs and White Sox of the central divisions, who spent more on payroll than the Twins in 2023 and didn't reach the postseason. It still comes down to making the right baseball decisions. If the Twins decline to spend $25 million on a free agent but invest a fraction of that to maintain a top farm system, it's a worthy trade-off. Stop obsessing over payroll.
 

Pat Reusse: I can't stand PJ Fleck because he's a bullshit artist.
Also Pat Reusse: Everything Twins braintrust declares to the media is 100% undeniable fact. Give them the benefit of the doubt.
 




Breakin' The Plane said:
Pat Reusse: I can't stand PJ Fleck because he's a bullshit artist.
Also Pat Reusse: Everything Twins braintrust declares to the media is 100% undeniable fact. Give them the benefit of the doubt.
Click to expand...
What exactly is there to question about what Joe Pohlad has declared regarding the payroll?

The paying the staff in 2020 is verifiable. 2021 attendance was limited. We know Diamond Sports is going through bankruptcy causing a significant loss in revenue short term with a huge uncertainty long term. The past 2 years the Twins payroll has ranked in MLB compared to where they ranked in revenue. These are all simply known facts.

Also Reusse is never shy about ripping the Twins for any number of reasons, most notably how they map out their pitching game plans, strikeout rates at the plate and resting players. The specific example on Gray, I totally agree with the Twins decision to pass, regardless of the current payroll trim. They got a compensatory draft pick as a bonus.

I'm not sure why Pohlad has been transparent about the payroll situation which only leaves them open to fan backlash, but he's not alone in terms of other MLB ownership groups. See the Red Sox for another example.
 

Will be interesting to see where Snell lands. I’m thinking the Yankees.

www.espn.com

Cubs open a roster spot for Bellinger, finalize deal

The Cubs finalized free-agent outfielder Cody Bellinger's $80 million, three-year contract on Tuesday, not long after they traded left-hander Bailey Horn to the White Sox, clearing a spot on their 40-man roster for the veteran.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
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BleedGopher said:
Per Shooter:

— The Twins should have little difficulty winning their division again, mostly because the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals are among baseball’s worst teams. The Detroit Tigers will challenge, but only slightly.

www.twincities.com

Charley Walters: Timberwolves buyers may need another extension

It still looks like the $1.5 billion sale of the Timberwolves and Lynx will happen. But up until at least last week, there was an awkward silence on behalf of the buyers. The initial deadline for t…
www.twincities.com www.twincities.com

Win Twins!!
Click to expand...
Yes, they are the prohibitive betting favorites as I’ve noted before.

The Royals spent $100M on free agents this off season, with the biggest chunk going to Seth Lugo @3 for $36M, this excludes Witt’s extension. Their betting line for season in Ws, per Bet MGM is 73.5, big leap as they only had 59 Ws last year. I think they could do and I think they couldn’t as well.
 

I'm with Howie...just sign Clevinger and Taylor, although it seems they might give Castro some run in CF.
 



Slim Tubby said:
I'm with Howie...just sign Clevinger and Taylor, although it seems they might give Castro some run in CF.
Click to expand...
I don’t see them adding another starter when they have Varland as a spot starter.

They’re not going to put Clevinger in front of the guy they just traded for either.

Where in the rotation does he fit from Twins’ perspective?
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
I don’t see them adding another starter when they have Varland as a spot starter.

They’re not going to put Clevinger in front of the guy they just traded for either.

Where in the rotation does he fit from Twins’ perspective?
Click to expand...
Yeah, they wouldn't dare disrespect a 33-year-old gas can who's so highly regarded that the Mariners happily kicked in millions of dollars for the Twins taking him off their hands.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
I don’t see them adding another starter when they have Varland as a spot starter.

They’re not going to put Clevinger in front of the guy they just traded for either.

Where in the rotation does he fit from Twins’ perspective?
Click to expand...
You're probably 100% correct but I'm in the "you can never have too much starting pitching" crowd.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Yeah, they wouldn't dare disrespect a 33-year-old gas can who's so highly regarded that the Mariners happily kicked in millions of dollars for the Twins taking him off their hands.
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Feel better?

much easier to make cheap, disparaging comments than answer a simple question. 🤷‍♂️

You may not agree with their approach, yet it has yielded three division championships in five years, which in the world of sports = great results 😉
 
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Slim Tubby said:
You're probably 100% correct but I'm in the "you can never have too much starting pitching" crowd.
Click to expand...
That’s a fair point and I agree with you, I’m looking at what’s feasible now based on their budget and Joe’s comments.
 

Has Bauer been blacklisted? Twins should be giving him a chance
 




JimmyJamesMD said:
Has Bauer been blacklisted? Twins should be giving him a chance
Click to expand...
The Twins have had nothing but PR all off-season. Signing him would just make it worse. Plus he's 33 and hasn't pitched in the majors in 3 years. Pass. If you want to take a minor PR risk, Mike Clevinger will cost far less in both $$ and PR.
 


Bailey Ober's First Start
The Twins fell to the Sox 6-1 on their first road trip of the season. The game went sideways early as Bailey Ober reached his pitch limit after getting one out in the second inning. He left the bases loaded with one run in but ended up being charged with four runs when reliever John Stankiewicz gave up a home run to Rafael Devers.

Ober jumped up to 171 1/3 IP last year between the minors, majors, and postseason. His previous high was 108 1/3 IP and that was back in 2021. He credited his trainer and her program for the big leap.

"I feel like I followed my program a lot better," said Ober. "I worked with Jen Marcelo - she used to work with the Twins - but I work with her full time. She works with a lot of other guys too, around the league. I fully dove into her programming. And I felt like that helped me out big time from a health standpoint."

twinsdaily.com

Report from the Fort: Ober's Debut, Hernandez Rumors, & a Lineup Twist

Bailey Ober's First Start The Twins fell to the Sox 6-1 on their first road trip of the season. The game went sideways early as Bailey Ober reached his pitch limit after getting one out in the second inning. He left the bases loaded with one run in but ended up being charged with four runs when r...
twinsdaily.com twinsdaily.com
 

howeda7 said:
The Twins have had nothing but PR all off-season. Signing him would just make it worse. Plus he's 33 and hasn't pitched in the majors in 3 years. Pass. If you want to take a minor PR risk, Mike Clevinger will cost far less in both $$ and PR.
Click to expand...
They got some more bad PR this morning, as there are reports that the MLBPA is considering filing a formal complaint, since Joe Pohlad may have violated the CBA:

www.cbssports.com

MLBPA considering formal complaint over Twins executive's comments about free agency, per report

Executive chair Joe Pohlad said they were not going to 'spend $30 million on a player right now'
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
They got some more bad PR this morning, as there are reports that the MLBPA is considering filing a formal complaint, since Joe Pohlad may have violated the CBA:

www.cbssports.com

MLBPA considering formal complaint over Twins executive's comments about free agency, per report

Executive chair Joe Pohlad said they were not going to 'spend $30 million on a player right now'
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com
Click to expand...
He didn't mention any players by name in the comment. Therefore, I don't think it's a violation. All the examples had a Player X (meaning a specific player).

If he said "We're not going to spend $30 million on Blake Snell", that would be a violation.
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
He didn't mention any players by name in the comment. Therefore, I don't think it's a violation. All the examples had a Player X (meaning a specific player).

If he said "We're not going to spend $30 million on Blake Snell", that would be a violation.
Click to expand...
Yeah it seems like a stretch to be a violation.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
They got some more bad PR this morning, as there are reports that the MLBPA is considering filing a formal complaint, since Joe Pohlad may have violated the CBA:

www.cbssports.com

MLBPA considering formal complaint over Twins executive's comments about free agency, per report

Executive chair Joe Pohlad said they were not going to 'spend $30 million on a player right now'
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com
Click to expand...
Well Joe, one way to prove you're innocent is to go sign one of those players...
 


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