All Things 2024 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

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Breakin' The Plane said:
Correa is looming, roster move coming. It'll probably be Miranda, but Farmer and Santana should be on notice.
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Santana is coming around and is a plus on defense. Farmer appears cooked and if you're not playing him at SS over Castro even when Correa's hurt, he's useless. You already have Castro/Martin/Miranda for 2B and 3B. They should DFA Farmer when Correa comes back. Miranda can play 3B and some 1B until Royce returns.
 

howeda7 said:
Santana is coming around and is a plus on defense. Farmer appears cooked and if you're not playing him at SS over Castro even when Correa's hurt, he's useless. You already have Castro/Martin/Miranda for 2B and 3B. They should DFA Farmer when Correa comes back. Miranda can play 3B and some 1B until Royce returns.
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I like Farmer but have to agree. I'm not sure they will do it this early in the season though.
 


GophersInIowa said:
I like Farmer but have to agree. I'm not sure they will do it this early in the season though.
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Probably not. They'd have to admit they flushed $6 million on a payroll strapped team. I was OK keeping him, exactly because of Correa's injury history. But they're not even using him for that role, so admit your error and cut bait.
 

David Ortiz hit his first home run as a member of the Red Sox on this date in 2003.

One of the Twins' grievances with Ortiz was his supposed inability (or unwillingness) to hit to the opposite field, so of course his first home run with Boston was to the opposite field in Anaheim, where the Twins lost the ALCS six months earlier.

Feels like he was trolling us.
 

I think Farmer gets a little more leeway, but he has to start doing something in the next couple of weeks.

Last year Farmer was a serviceable player. appeared in 120 gms - 6th on the roster.
.725 OPS with an OPS+ of 99. struck out about 25% of the time - not bad in today's game.
and he's 33 yrs old. it would be weird for a guy to fall completely off the cliff at his age.

So I think he'll get some more time.

BTW - saw a note that the Twins have had double-figures in hits for 5 consecutive games. longest such streak since May of 2022. Yeah, it's been against two struggling teams. but the approach is promising.
 

TRF Guy said:
David Ortiz hit his first home run as a member of the Red Sox on this date in 2003.

One of the Twins' grievances with Ortiz was his supposed inability (or unwillingness) to hit to the opposite field, so of course his first home run with Boston was to the opposite field in Anaheim, where the Twins lost the ALCS six months earlier.

Feels like he was trolling us.
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If the Red Sox don't trade Shea Hillenbrand to Arizona in late May that year, who knows what would have happened to Ortiz. He was only platooning up to that point, had just 2 HR in the first two months of the season and his agent was asking about him getting traded to a place he could play every day.
 



Breakin' The Plane said:
It's early. But Farmer looks lost. And Martin can play every position that Farmer can (plus more). But the money's already spent, so...
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Not saying that I disagree with you, just guessing at how it might play out, based on how they’ve handled similar situations prior.

Gleeman dealt with this specific issue in the aforementioned Mailbox column (see below, Rob C.) -

Based on the poor start, how long before the Twins start jettisoning some of the struggling veterans who don’t fit in their long-term plans? — Rob C.

June 1 is a reasonable assessment point for this question, too.

Generally speaking, the Twins have been much quicker to make changes with slumping young players, who can simply be sent back to the minors for a reset. We’ve already watched them do it with Matt Wallner and Louie Varland. But a slumping veteran on a one-year deal can be trickier to handle, because making a change usually leads to a permanent parting of ways.

This front office has often been hesitant to do that, in part because they want to preserve maximum depth and in part because how teams treat a respected player at the end of their career can shape their league-wide reputation. It’s also just not smart for a front office to get in the habit of making permanent roster decisions based on the first month of a season, as tempting as that may be.

That said, when it’s a terrible start by a 38-year-old such as Carlos Santana, or even a 33-year-old like Kyle Farmer, it’s natural to question if it’s more than just a rough month. Santana hasn’t been an above-average hitter for a first baseman since 2019. Farmer’s value is largely tied to fielding flexibility, and the Twins no longer view him as a better backup shortstop option than Willi Castro.

Christian Vázquez is also off to a bad start, which is especially worrisome for a 33-year-old catcher coming off a dreadful 2023 season, but his situation is more complicated because he’s under contract for $10 million in 2025 as well. Even if the Twins were to eventually move on from Santana and Farmer, or fellow one-year piece Manuel Margot, they’d likely treat Vázquez differently.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
Not saying that I disagree with you, just guessing at how it might play out, based on how they’ve handled similar situations prior.

Gleeman dealt with this specific issue in the aforementioned Mailbox column (see below, Rob C.) -

Based on the poor start, how long before the Twins start jettisoning some of the struggling veterans who don’t fit in their long-term plans? — Rob C.

June 1 is a reasonable assessment point for this question, too.

Generally speaking, the Twins have been much quicker to make changes with slumping young players, who can simply be sent back to the minors for a reset. We’ve already watched them do it with Matt Wallner and Louie Varland. But a slumping veteran on a one-year deal can be trickier to handle, because making a change usually leads to a permanent parting of ways.

This front office has often been hesitant to do that, in part because they want to preserve maximum depth and in part because how teams treat a respected player at the end of their career can shape their league-wide reputation. It’s also just not smart for a front office to get in the habit of making permanent roster decisions based on the first month of a season, as tempting as that may be.

That said, when it’s a terrible start by a 38-year-old such as Carlos Santana, or even a 33-year-old like Kyle Farmer, it’s natural to question if it’s more than just a rough month. Santana hasn’t been an above-average hitter for a first baseman since 2019. Farmer’s value is largely tied to fielding flexibility, and the Twins no longer view him as a better backup shortstop option than Willi Castro.

Christian Vázquez is also off to a bad start, which is especially worrisome for a 33-year-old catcher coming off a dreadful 2023 season, but his situation is more complicated because he’s under contract for $10 million in 2025 as well. Even if the Twins were to eventually move on from Santana and Farmer, or fellow one-year piece Manuel Margot, they’d likely treat Vázquez differently.
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Vazquez I'm not as worried about. His numbers aren't great but he is hitting the ball harder than last year at this point. Higher xBA, xSLG and hard hit percentage. He's been a bit unlucky.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Vazquez I'm not as worried about. His numbers aren't great but he is hitting the ball harder than last year at this point. Higher xBA, xSLG and hard hit percentage. He's been a bit unlucky.
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I think he’s here this year regardless, as they cannot live with eating two years of his contract.
 
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I really fail to see what they liked in Margot. He's not fast enough to play CF and he can't hit. I'd rather have Taylor any day. I guess he was still demanding two years at that point but bringing him back should have been a no brainer. Either Margot or Farmer should be first off the island. Not Martin or Miranda.
 



At least the “greedy tightwad” Pohlads brought Minnesota two championships. Two more than the owners of the Vikings, North Stars, Wild, and Timberwolves combined.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Vazquez I'm not as worried about. His numbers aren't great but he is hitting the ball harder than last year at this point. Higher xBA, xSLG and hard hit percentage. He's been a bit unlucky.
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Farmer may have a phantom injury which magically forces him to the IL.

Based on this from Gleeman (below), it sounds like Martin has secured his spot for now -

Predicting roster moves more than a few days in advance is usually silly, because a lot can change, but Martin has shown enough that the Twins should want to see more. He’s held his own at the plate and already moved ahead of Margot as Baldelli’s preferred non-Byron Buxton center fielder, along with playing left field and second base. He can play. And they should let him.
 

GopherVotary said:
At least the “greedy tightwad” Pohlads brought Minnesota two championships. Two more than the owners of the Vikings, North Stars, Wild, and Timberwolves combined.
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Eloise cared about winning. And no matter how rich you are "happy wife, happy life" still applies.
 

Farmer is in the lineup again. Perhaps Rocco is using the TK strategy and playing the worst players until the GM notices and does something.
 


Breakin' The Plane said:
And those two teams both benefitted a teeny-tiny bit with the rule in place that AL teams got home-field advantage in odd numbered years.
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1987, Yes.

1991 the Twins had a better regular season record than both Toronto & Atlanta.

www.baseball-reference.com

1991 Major League Baseball Standings & Expanded Standings | Baseball-Reference.com

Check out the Major League Baseball Detailed Standings including East and West Division Stats on Baseball-Reference.com
www.baseball-reference.com www.baseball-reference.com
 
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Today marks the 30th Anniversary of Scott Erickson's No Hitter. The Twins beat the Brewers 6-0 on 4/27/1994.

 



Was at the game tonight and man was it fun to see the Twins bats come alive. Guess I picked the right game. Will be in MN for some games the first week in May, can't wait.
 

Aaron Hicks had to pitch for the Angels tonight since Miguel Sano was unavailable. Perhaps Ehire Adrianza tomorrow.
 


Harmon Killebrew hit his 400th career home run in the top of the first inning of an afternoon game in Chicago on this date in 1969.

Rod Carew hit a two-run homer in the seventh to give the Twins a 4-3 win.

All told, Killebrew hit 573 home runs, fifth-most in MLB history at the time of his retirement. He hit 84 as a member of the Washington Senators, 14 as a Kansas City Royal in 1975, and 475 in a Twins uniform.
 

TRF Guy said:
Harmon Killebrew hit his 400th career home run in the top of the first inning of an afternoon game in Chicago on this date in 1969.

Rod Carew hit a two-run homer in the seventh to give the Twins a 4-3 win.

All told, Killebrew hit 573 home runs, fifth-most in MLB history at the time of his retirement. He hit 84 as a member of the Washington Senators, 14 as a Kansas City Royal in 1975, and 475 in a Twins uniform.
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Harmonious
What a gent
 



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