Peter Simon's Minnesota Twins fan blog

February 21, 2009 – By signing Joe Crede, the Minnesota Twins have signaled to everyone in baseball that they believe they can contend for a World Series Title this season.  The club finished 2008 with an 88-75 record and narrowly missed the postseason by virtue of a one-game-playoff loss to the Chicago White Sox.  The Twins were successful despite suffering some key injuries.  Now with a healthy roster and established starting rotation, the organization is indicating that it’s ready to contend by signing the big bat they’ve been missing for so long.

Crede has been limited to 144 games over the past two years due to back problems.  This off-season he had surgery and is hoping to return to the form he displayed in 2006.  That season he hit .283 with 30 homers and 94 RBIs.  Unsure of how his back will hold up, the Twins gave him a one-year contract with a base salary of $2.5 million.  The dollar amount could go as high as $7 million should Crede make 525 plate appearances.

Continue reading "Signing Crede Signals Twins Intent to Contend for a Championship Now"

With just a month to go before pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training, the Twins have been very quiet so far this off-season.  Despite attempts to add a veteran third baseman and bolster the bullpen, the only move they've made at the Major League level has been the signing of Nick Punto to a two-year contract.  While many Twins fans have been clamoring for the club to make a big trade or free agent acquisition, I've been pretty happy to see the team basically stand its ground.  There are several reasons I feel this way.

First of all, it's a pretty good team already.  The Twins went 88-74 in 2008 and only missed out on the postseason by losing a one-game playoff to the Chicago White Sox (1-0).  With a lot of young players maturing and a healthy Michael Cuddyer coming back, the team should be in the mix again for the AL Central Title.

Continue reading "Twins Have Done Little This Off-Season And That's Not A Bad Thing"

Outstanding pitching by John Danks and a solo home run by Jim Thome eliminated the Twins from playoff contention last night in a one-game tiebreaker with the Chicago White Sox.  Although the lose ended the season for Minnesota, a lot of positives can be taken from the 2008 campaign.

After losing Torii Hunter to free agency and being forced to trade away Johan Santana during the off-season, the Twins were left with a young team and lots of unanswered questions:  How will the rotation shape up?  Who will play center field?  How will Francisco Liriano come back from Tommy John surgery?  How will the players acquired via trade and free agency fit in?  Even more important than posting a winning record and contending for the Central Division Title to the very end, it was the organization’s ability to answer these questions that will ultimately prove to be this season’s greatest achievement.

Continue reading "Despite Narrowly Missing Playoffs, Twins Can Take Many Positives from a Successful Season"

It's Labor Day in America and for some reason, the Twins are off.  In the old days, the team would be playing a scheduled double header.  Alas, I digress.  I suppose even millionaire ballplayers deserve the day off.  After all, they are union members.

Labor Day, along with Memorial Day and the Forth of July, are the traditional milestones in a baseball season.  At this final marker, the Twins are locked in a heated division race with the Chicago White Sox, just half a game behind their bitter rivals.  With about 25 games to play over the last month of the season, it's any one's guess which team will prevail.  I'll try my best to handicap this race.

Offense:  On paper, you'd expect the Sox to have the advantage yet it's the Twins who have the slight edge in runs scored (698 to 693).  Chicago has a more powerful line up while the Twins hit for a higher average and have more speed.  Although the two teams score runs in different ways, they end up at roughly the same place in terms of runs scored so I see the two offenses as pretty much even.

Continue reading "And Down the Stretch They Come!"

There's been another remarkable development in what is turning out to be a memorable season.  After knocking on the door for a few weeks, the Twins have overtaken the Chicago White Sox for first place in the AL Central. 

During Spring Training, I imagined that the Twins would be in third or forth place by August with a record slightly below the .500 mark.  Instead they're the front-runners, having won 13 more games than they've lost.  I'd like to talk with some one who saw this coming at the beginning of the year.  Perhaps they could give me some stock tips.

Not only am I amazed by what has transpired, I'm amazed by how it's transpired.  One would think that in order for the Twins to reach this lofty position everything would've had to fall exactly into place.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  This club has encountered enough obstacles and bad luck to derail a far more talented team. 

Continue reading "In First, In August"

The 2008 Twins Season was bumping along much as I had anticipated until about two weeks ago.  Then this young team went on a tear and won 13 of 15 games.  I was shocked.  Despite an inexperienced rotation, a slew of new position players and Michael Cuddyer being injured for much of the year, the Twins have played fantastic baseball during the second half of June.  Now, half way through their schedule, you've got to say that this team is in the mix in the AL Central.  Wasn't this suppose to be a rebuilding year?  I think you've got to give a lot of credit to the Twins management for somehow putting together a competitive team.

Let's talk about the challenges the new GM has faced regarding player personnel.  Over the winter the Twins lost the best starting pitcher in the game (Johan Santana), an all-star center fielder (Torii Hunter) and a serviceable, veteran starting pitcher (Carlos Silva).  During Spring training, it became pretty clear that Francisco Liriano wasn't ready to return to the rotation just yet.  He's continuing to work his way back at AAA Rochester.  And once the season started, other problems emerged.  There were injuries to key guys like Cuddyer, Punto and Neshek, who's out for the year with an elbow injury.  Baker and Slowey have also missed starts but now appear to be back on track.  Then some guys the organization was counting on haven't measured up.  Boof Bonser has been demoted to the bullpen after getting hit hard as a starter.  Neither Adam Everett or Mike Lamb have hit well.  Juan Rincon, once one of the best set up men in the game, was released after being ineffective. 

Continue reading "Time To Give Twins Management Their Due"

Twenty-five games into the 2008 MLB Season, the Twins have an 11 and 14 record.  With a young starting rotation and several new position players, this is about what you might expect.  I don't expect any major changes to this team during the course of the season, so I think the club will continue to scuffle along in roughly the same way through the rest of year.

The biggest development thus far is not a positive one.  After arriving late for spring training and not being ready to start the season with the club, Francisco Liriano made three poor starts for the Twins.  He struggled badly with his control, gave up 13 earned runs in just over ten innings and lost all three decisions.  This prompted the organization to send him to the minors.  Hopefully, Liriano will be able to pull himself together and get back to the form he showed in 2006.

Continue reading "What You Might Expect"

The Minnesota Twins served notice to the rest of the American League that they believe they'll be competitive sooner, rather than later, by signing Joe Nathan to a four-year deal worth $47 million.  The deal runs through 2011 with the club holding a $12 million dollar option for 2012.

After watching the Twins bid farewell to Torii Hunter, Carlos Silva and Johan Santana in the off-season, I was convinced that the team was in full rebuilding mode.  However, by signing Nathan the organization has signaled that they believe there will be games to save in the near future.  Whether or not this is realistic remains to be seen.

There are some reasons for optimism.  The line-up is built around the nucleus of Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer.  I have hope that Delmon Young, Mike Lamb and Brendan Harris will hit as well.  Whether Lamb and Harris can adequately field there position is another matter.  Finally, if young Carlos Gomez can produce at the top of the line-up, the offense could really be in business.

Continue reading "Twins Sign Nathan to Four-Year Deal"

With a week to go before opening day, the Twins roster seems to be pretty much set.  There were a few minor surprises but for the most part, the usual suspects will be heading north this coming weekend.

It looks like Carlos Gomez has done enough to edge out Jason Pridie and Denard Span for the center field job.  I always felt it would take a slip up on his part or extraordinary play by either Pridie or Span for Gomez to lose out.  Neither of those things happened.  Now his speed and athleticism could be a real asset in the outfield and at the top of the batting order. 

One player who kind of came out of nowhere is Matt Tolbert.  He looks set to be a utility guy, who will probably pinch run and come on as a defensive substitute late in games.  I was expecting Brian Buscher to take this roster spot but Tolbert has apparently beaten him out with a good performance in camp.

Continue reading "Breaking Camp"

The Twins have been in camp for a couple of weeks now and things seem to be going pretty much as one might expect.  There's been some mild surprises and some minor disappointments but overall, things seem to be progressing nicely.  Really, I think this is what you want; a nice, uneventful camp.

 Mild surprises:  A few young players have turned heads with their performances so far.  Right-hander Nick Blackburn has pitched well.  Brian Buscher has come to camp ready to play and is showing some ability to play other infield positions besides third.  This could make him an option as a utility infielder.  Also, Carlos Gomez has demonstrated the athleticism and speed that were anticipated when he came over from the Mets in the Santana trade.

Continue reading "Camp Developments"