Few expected the Twins to be in contention this season, yet after today’s 6-5 win over the Blue Jays, Minnesota (30-19) now owns the best record in the American League. The Twins have been boosted by a 20-7 record in May, the first time the club has won 20 games in a single month since June 1991. Here’s some more from the Gopher State, courtesy of 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson (all Twitter links)…
- There has been “no movement” between Torii Hunter and the Twins on a contract extension, though Wolfson guesses a deal will come at some point during the season. Hunter signed a one-year, $10.5MM deal with Minnesota last winter and has openly discussed both how he wants to eventually work in the Twins’ front office and how he’s undecided about playing in 2016. If performance is a factor, Hunter has been playing well, hitting .280/.332/.458 through his first 184 plate appearances. I would wonder if an extension would even be necessary this early, since as Wolfson notes, it’s “not like he’s going anywhere.”
- The Twins were one of the 20 teams who attended Cuban infielder/outfielder Yosvani Garcia’s showcase earlier this week.
- Garcia isn’t subject to the international bonus pools, yet the Twins also have great interest in the 2015-16 international free agent market, as team VP of player personnel Mike Radcliff tells Wolfson that the new class of July 2 international players is “one of the best we’ve ever seen.” The Twins are prepared to spend up to $4MM on a single player, and Wolfson notes in a follow-up tweet that the player in question is Dominican shortstop Wander Javier. Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel reported in March that the Twins and Javier are “widely believed” to already have an agreement in place once the signing period opens on July 2. The Twins’ international bonus pool is just over $3.948MM, so if they wanted multiple players, they would have to trade for some extra space (unless they were willing to overspend in this int’l class and be limited to $300K signings in the next two classes).
- Radcliff also said that Minnesota may sign fewer amateur draft picks than usual, as their “system is pretty full” of players already. As Wolfson notes, most teams generally sign around 25 of their 40 picks; for comparison’s sake, the Twins signed 30 of their 40 picks in the 2014 amateur draft.
The Twins will come back down to earth soon…let’s not over hype their start……Royals or Tigers win will that division….
Heres the scary thing about the Twins.
Nothing stands out. Mike Pelfrey and Kyle Gibson probably arent going to sustain their current production, but other then that, no one is having an out-landish, unsustainable season. The highest batting average among their starting lineup is Torii Hunter at .280, followed by Mauer’s .275,
The bullpen really only has 2 standout pitchers, and nothing suggests they can sustain that success.
Heck, other then Mike Pelfrey and Kyle Gibson, their rotation has been awful.
Nolasco and Trevor May have significantly outpitched their ERAs, so their is only room for improvement there.
Wouldn’t shock me right now with all the mediocrity in the AL if the Twins could pull a wildcard spot out of thin air.
I think the key there is about Pelfrey and Gibson. It’s been great for MIN to get the production out of them that they have, and crazier things have happened, but if those guys come back down to earth, that pitching staff could be scary, and not in a good way. I suppose there’s the chance that Hughes turns it back around or Nolasco/Trevor step up by that point, but that’s just speculative spit-balling. The offense that they’re getting, especially from the guys you named, is sustainable and could very well make them better than anyone expected, I personally thought they were on track to be among the worst teams in the league. I would still be rather surprised if they ultimately landed a playoff spot, even in a seemingly weak AL. Like I said, crazier things have happened though.
I wouldn’t call the ALC “mediocrity”. No division in MLB comes close to having amount of good teams they do. They’ve stopped playing one another two weeks or so ago, and by-n-large are doing very well against teams from the rest of MLB. They have to be playing at least .650-.700 ball against them.
Agree for the most part. Nolasco was actually pitching decently in May with an ERA of 3.77 so it wasn’t all bad outside of Pelfrey and Gibson. Both of whom could outperform their peripherals a little bit because of their GB tendencies (assuming Pelfrey continues his GB rate which isn’t certain). The one area of concern is their BP, which is shaky, but with the addition of talent as the season progresses this team might be contending longer than most think.
As far as the BP goes, somebody from the rotation is going to the pen when Santana is eligible. My guess is May. Unless Nolasco is hurt seriously after leaving yesterday. At that point Staufer is gone. It’s a little scary since this is a different group of guys. But they have done a pretty good job overall.
Royals should win the ALC (toughest division in MLB). But no reason the Twins can’t go to the playoffs this year. Molitor is managing aggressively, and the Twins are overcoming a lot of mistakes the young players make.
I watched the Royals a lot in 2013 and could see how good they were getting. Feel about the Twins the same way this year – it was clear in spring training. With no pub at all, this team has a lot of young players oozing with talent.
Null this.
.Hey, the Twins are playing good baseball.
Twins fans should rejoice and probably are.
Heck, I can’t even really name anyone in the their rotation.
Plus, they are doing it without Ervin Santana.
So hey, thumbs up to them as far as I am concerned
You know Phil Hughes is the rotation right? That same Phil Hughes that used to pitch for your AL East counterpart New York Yankees. That same Phil Hughes that set the single-season K/BB ratio of 11.63 as a Twin in 2014. You know, that guy…
Funny because before the season many thought the Royals will “come back down to earth”.
Bingo!
It is both funny and sad that so many follow baseball, yet don’t understand what wins.
Luck?
I say this as a diehard Twins fan, but we’ve got some weapons grade smoke and some really shiny mirrors on the field right now.