6:50 AM EDT, Thu March 28, 2024
Mar 6, 2024
Bailey Ober Upgraded His Arsenal (Again)

Bailey Ober Upgraded His Arsenal (Again)

Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/ Last year’s changeup tweaks are another example of Big Bailey raising his ceiling All Bailey Ober has done when he’s pitched as a professional is get people out. A former 12th-round draft choice, Ober pitched in 47 minor-league games. In those, he worked 237 innings with a cumulative 2.47 ERA, an average strikeout rate just shy of 11 per nine innings pitched, and an outstanding 8.23-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. With the Twins in the major leagues the last three seasons, he’s worked 57 times, covered 292.2 innings with a...
Mar 5, 2024
Greatest Minnesota Twins: The Twinkie Town Definitive List (Round 19)

Greatest Minnesota Twins: The Twinkie Town Definitive List (Round 19)

Photo by Mitchell Layton/ A chip off the old Blauch Rounds 1-18 Results: Harmon Killebrew Kirby Puckett Rod Carew Tony Oliva Joe Mauer Bert Blyleven Kent Hrbek Jim Kaat Johan Santana Torii Hunter Justin Morneau Frank Viola Joe Nathan Brad Radke Gary Gaetti Bob Allison Jim Perry Chuck Knoblauch In terms of overall talent, Chuck Knoblauch is likely a top-ten player in Minnesota Twins history. From 1991 (a championship debut!) to 1997, he hit for average (.304), pop (.807 OPS), and was elite on the bases (276 stolen bases). Knobby was without a doubt the greatest Twins...
Mar 4, 2024
An Important Spring Training PSA

An Important Spring Training PSA

Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/ Bookmark this one and read it again next year. Baseball, in general, tends to be a sport about process over results. Due to the sheer length of the season and quantity of games, things will almost always balance out in the long run. If you take good at-bats and hit the ball hard, you’ll end up with a lot of hits. You’ll go through stretches where those hard-hit balls are landing in more gloves, but keep doing the right things and the right results will eventually follow. Which leads me to the thesis of this blog post:...
Mar 2, 2024
Rival Roundup, Vol. 52: Creepin’ Closer

Rival Roundup, Vol. 52: Creepin’ Closer

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports There’s still plenty of free-agency activity to come, but the first week of spring is settling in. The Detroit Tigers will deploy Tarik Skubal to start their season, as we enter the era of official Opening Day starter statements from teams who don’t employ Pablo Lopez. Tarik Skubal is the Opening Day starter, A.J. Hinch announces. #Tigers— Evan Petzold (@EvanPetzold) March 1, 2024 Among the deluge of other off-season organizational changes, the Chicago White Sox are employing a dietician for the first time, at the direction of...
Mar 1, 2024
Two trades that defined 2004

Two trades that defined 2004

Photo by BRUCE BISPING/Star Tribune via Terry Ryan dives deep into his bag of tricks With back-to-back AL Central banners hoisted, it would have been easy for Minnesota Twins GM Terry Ryan to rest on laurels in 2004. In two calendar years, he brought the team back from the brink of contraction and turned it from laughingstock to legitimate contender. But with a generational talent ready to hit The Show and a few broader boxes to be checked, Ryan pulled off two of the greatest—at very least most substantial—trades in franchise history in hopes of a three-peat. ...
Feb 29, 2024
The 2012 documentary you may have missed: Knuckleball!

The 2012 documentary you may have missed: Knuckleball!

Maybe you can throw harder than they did... but it won’t work for you. | Photo by Michael Stewart/WireImage 99% spoiler-free. (Hint: throwing a knuckler successfully is a really, really difficult thing to do.) On August 17, 2008, Mariners afterthought pitcher R.A. Dickey entered the game with Seattle down 6-0 in the fourth inning. He wasn’t good, allowing three hits and three walks in 1.1 IP, and tying the major-league-record of four wild pitches in an inning. (A record held by the legend Walter Johnson and by Dickey’s childhood favorite, Phil Niekro). Dickey was...
Feb 28, 2024
Twins Reacts Survey: Grading Minnesota’s Offseason

Twins Reacts Survey: Grading Minnesota’s Offseason

Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/ Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Minnesota Twins fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys. With the acquisition of Manuel (don’t call him Manny) Margot, Derek Falvey has indicated that the roster is all but set in stone. Last week, I broke down any potential Spring Training battles, but welcome health and the Margot trade ends any debate, barring Spring injuries (please god no). With all...