LATEST STORIES FROM OVER THE BAGGY
Vacation
Over the Baggy posts will be on a brief hiatus for the next week and change as I indulge in cool cervazas by the beach in Mexico.
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6 days ago
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6 days ago
Discuss
Danny Valencia: 99 problems but a hitch ain't one?
According to Joe Christensen,
Danny Valencia has been working hard all offseason at improving his overall
game. In addition to trying to repair his shoddy defense, he has used video to help
him make a few changes to his offensive approach:
“Valencia, 27, also studied video of his at-bats and decided
to make a subtle change with his hands. Last year, he would trap his hands
toward...
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9 days ago
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9 days ago
Should Ben Revere play center?
Before the spikes have even hit the turf at Hammonds Stadium, manager Ron Gardenhire has gone on the record as saying Denard Span is his 2012 center fielder.
"[Span's] going to lead off and be my center fielder. That’s my expectations. If somebody were to tell me that he’s not able to do that, then we’d have to ad lib. But if Denard comes in healthy, then he...
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13 days ago
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13 days ago
Mauer needs a solid foundation
Joe Mauer has spent a substantial amount of time over the past few weeks on various media outlets attempting to erase memories of his contributions (or lack thereof) to the 99-loss season.
He’s working hard. He’s putting on weight. He’s eating Wheaties. He’s saying his prayers. He's drinking nothing but unicorn milk. He’s doing the Rocky IV training in Russia. He...
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16 days ago
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16 days ago
What's left to spend?
This past
week the Twins made several notable moves that affected their payroll – signing
free agent reliever Joel Zumaya and coming to terms with several arbitration-eligible
players including Glen Perkins and Francisco Liriano.
The Twins
signed Zumaya to an incentive-laden deal that can be as little of a
commitment as $400,000 if he fails to break camp with the team all the...
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19 days ago
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19 days ago
Can a focused Burroughs be useful to the Twins?
On Monday,
the Star Tribune’s Patrick Reusse
recounted the tale of Sean Burroughs,
a recent Twins minor league signing this winter, whose life was derailed by drinking
and drugs in his twenties.
In his first
four seasons of professional ball in the Padres organization, Burroughs hit a
remarkable .324/418/.453 in 1,653 plate appearances. Baseball America anointed him
the seventh...
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20 days ago
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20 days ago
Twins add Joel Zumaya to the bullpen mix
The Twins
have frequently been accused of not catering to power arms and also not taking
risks on their offseason signings. On Sunday, they may have made inroads in
both areas by agreeing to a deal, pending a physical, with former Tigers
flame-thrower Joel Zumaya.
According to Joe
Christensen, the Twins and Zumaya have agreed to terms of a deal worth
$800,000, with the potential...
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27 days ago
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27 days ago
Coffey is for (setting up) closers
According to Phil Mackey at 1500ESPN.com, the Twins have been in contact with a potential bullpen arm:
“On Thursday, a baseball source confirmed the Twins have been in talks recently with the agent for right-hander Todd Coffey, who owns a 3.68 ERA with 167 strikeouts and 53 unintentional walks in 205 2/3 innings over the past three seasons with the Nationals and Brewers....
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January 13, 2012
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January 13, 2012
A team building exercise
In
introducing himself to his new fan base out west, Michael Cuddyer fielded
questions from readers in the Denver Post. One question
regarding the outfielder’s excitement towards switching ballparks – from Target
Field to Coors Field – incited the former Twin to sing a familiar tune
(emphasis mine):
“I'm a
gap-to-gap hitter and I hit with power to the right-center field...
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January 06, 2012
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January 06, 2012
Liriano makes a start in Dominican League
It is hard to pinpoint what exactly it was about Liriano’s 2011 season that went so haywire. Was it that he was under-conditioned, pitching through an injury, struggling with his mechanics, lost his confidence, lost his mind, lost his dog, all of the above, none of the above? Regardless of why, there are two critical factors that go hand-in-hand which Liriano needs to improve...
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January 04, 2012
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January 04, 2012
Farewell 2011
Yet another
year has passed us by and I am headed into my fifth full season of operating
this blog.
Strange how
things happen over five years. It is amazing to me how this went from being a
place where I posted my personal thoughts and findings -- doing so shrouded in anonymity
because I was partially ashamed to admit that I was “blogging” (the word just
sounds awful, right...
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January 02, 2012
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January 02, 2012
Twins close to signing Jason Marquis
Fox Sport’s Ken
Rosenthal reported last night that the Twins were nearing an agreement with
pitcher Jason Marquis to fill out the remaining open slot in the rotation.
Here’s what I
wrote about him in the TwinsCentric Offseason GM Handbook:
“Jason Marquis’s one redeeming quality
at this point is his ability to induce ground balls as his 54.5% worm-burning
rate was in...
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December 22, 2011
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December 22, 2011
Why Josh Willingham was built for Target Field
After engaging in a waiting game with corner outfield incumbent Michael Cuddyer, the Twins appear poised to move on to the next option in Josh Willingham.
As both Phil Mackey and Aaron Gleeman pointed out yesterday, the decision to move from Cuddyer to Willingham isn’t just based on their performance but also the additional picks that come with allowing Cuddyer to...
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December 14, 2011
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December 14, 2011
The Great DiamondCentric T-Shirt Giveaway
DiamondCentric has teamed up with tkTwinCities, a website dedicated to giving
20-somethings all the local happenings, to giveaway free DC t-shirts to their
readers. First, read my
piece on how we started DiamondCentric and our unintentional guerrilla marketing
tactics on the tkTwinCities.com website. After that, log on to Twitter and tweet why
you want or need a free shirt with...
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December 13, 2011
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December 13, 2011
The Twins are playing the waiting game with Cuddyer. Is it worth it?
Since the Twins locked up Jamey Carroll, Ryan Doumit and Matt Capps, their interest in the free agent market is at a standstill. That logjam is none other than Michael Cuddyer.
The Twins reportedly have an offer on the table for the veteran, one that is worth three years and $24 million, and are waiting for a decision.
The waiting game on Cuddyer is contingent on him exploring...
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December 09, 2011
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December 09, 2011
Twins bring back Matt Capps to close in 2012
When it was
announced that the Minnesota Twins
had a deal in place to bring back closer Matt Capps, the move has been met
with streams of vitriol for the obvious reasons.
The first and
foremost reason was that Capps’s 2011 season was a big bag of flaming poo.
Elevated back into the closer’s role after Joe Nathan returned prematurely from
Tommy John surgery, Capps struggled...
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December 06, 2011
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December 06, 2011
Rumors swirl as winter meetings begin
The GM
Winter Meetings starts today in Dallas and the event holds plenty of
promise for adding new faces to the roster - including potentially finding a
starting pitcher to complete the rotation.
The Twins
were aggressive with the left-handed Chris Capuano but ultimately lost out to
the Los
Angeles Dodgers when the veteran decided to sign for a two-year, $10 million
to stay in...
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December 05, 2011
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December 05, 2011
Twins should put their closer search on hold
In efforts to
rekindle the passion that has subsided after a disappointing summer, the Twins
hosted yet another one of their fan forums. This time, it was general manager
Terry Ryan’s turn to attempt to talk the disgruntled down from their ledge.
Howard Sinker
listened in on the conference call, one that allowed season ticketholders to
interact with the man in charge of the...
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December 02, 2011
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December 02, 2011
Duensing was made for the bullpen
While the
Twins try to piecemeal together their once glorious bullpen that has now been
blown to smithereens, there is one player already on the roster who should help make the
late innings much less of an adventure.
As the Star Tribune’s
Joe Christensen reported that the team is bumping Brian Duensing from the rotation and relocating him back to the
bullpen.
If you separate...
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November 30, 2011
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November 30, 2011
An introduction to Ryan Doumit's offense
The Twins
front office worked quickly on the free agent market this winter, first signing
Jamey
Carroll to a two-year deal and now on the verge of inking Ryan
Doumit to a one-year contract (pending a physical on Monday).
With the Twins looking to use the 30-year-old
Doumit in a variety of ways (catching, first base, right field and DH), it is
clear that they envision him to be...
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November 21, 2011
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November 21, 2011
What is the plan for the rotation?
Baseball’s GMs have invaded Milwaukee and the game’s roster-creators are undoubtedly using the time to discuss impactful deals presumably in-between stops at the Miller Brewery tour and the Harley Davidson factory.
On Wednesday Twins’ general manager Terry Ryan checked in from Wisconsin with Tom Pelissero and Phil Mackey for 1500ESPN’s Talkin’ Twins feature and illuminated...
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November 18, 2011
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November 18, 2011
OtB Twins Notes: Doumit & Willingham, Punxsutawney Phil, Street and Mark B
According to Joe Christensen
at the Star Tribune, the Twins have contacted the agent of Ryan Doumit and Josh Willingham expressing interest in the free agent catcher and
outfielder.
With a backup
catching need and a potential outfield vacancy needing attention if (ahem,
when) Michael Cuddyer leaves, Doumit and Willingham are two sensible options to
fill those positions.Doumit, who...
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November 17, 2011
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November 17, 2011
What does Jamey Carroll provide for the Twins?
Without much
time to get re-acclimated to his new-slash-old position, general manager Terry
Ryan addressed a critical need for the team. Yes, it isn’t as a sexy move
similar to the one that brought JJ Hardy to the Twins two years ago at this time but the
pending signing of Jamey Carroll is a step in the right direction.
Carroll, a
soon-to-be 38-year-old utility infielder, is...
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November 13, 2011
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November 13, 2011
Bill Smith's trade history hindered Twins
It was a tumultous first year for Bill Smith. He had to face the reality of the face-of-the-franchise Torii Hunter leaving via free agency as well as annual Cy Young candidate Johan Santana making it known that he wanted to play in a larger market – preferably New York. In the first few months at the helm, Smith made two trades that would forever tarnish his reputation in Minnesota...
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November 08, 2011
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November 08, 2011
Twins excuse GM Bill Smith
In a somewhat unexpected turn of events, the Twins have excused general manager Bill Smith of
his duties in the front office.
This comes
shortly after the team
declined the Baltimore Orioles the opportunity to interview Vice President of
Player Personnel Mike Radcliff and the reports that they
are trying to re-hire Wayne Krivsky, who was the Cincinnati Reds’ GM from
2006 to...
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November 07, 2011
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November 07, 2011
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