Over The Baggy

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Vacation: via Over The Baggy February 06, 2012 at 07:31 AM; 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.
Danny Valencia: 99 problems but a hitch ain't one?: via Over The Baggy February 03, 2012 at 12:19 AM; 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 his body, forc
Should Ben Revere play center?: via Over The Baggy January 30, 2012 at 12:49 AM; 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’s my center fielder, ther
Mauer needs a solid foundation: via Over The Baggy January 27, 2012 at 12:13 AM; 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’s P90X-ing while Tae Bo-ing. Etc.
What's left to spend?: via Over The Baggy January 24, 2012 at 12:01 AM; 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 way up to $1.75
Can a focused Burroughs be useful to the Twins?: via Over The Baggy January 23, 2012 at 01:25 AM; 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 best pr
Twins add Joel Zumaya to the bullpen mix: via Over The Baggy January 15, 2012 at 11:31 PM; 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 of adding an
Coffey is for (setting up) closers: via Over The Baggy January 13, 2012 at 12:19 AM; 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.” On paper,
A team building exercise: via Over The Baggy January 06, 2012 at 01:00 AM; 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 gap. At the Metrodome, I
Liriano makes a start in Dominican League: via Over The Baggy January 04, 2012 at 09:37 PM; 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 on from his
Farewell 2011: via Over The Baggy January 02, 2012 at 12:49 AM; 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?) -- to an audien
Twins close to signing Jason Marquis: via Over The Baggy December 22, 2011 at 01:13 AM; 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 the top 12 among pitcher
Why Josh Willingham was built for Target Field: via Over The Baggy December 13, 2011 at 11:43 PM; 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 walk. From an organization-b
The Great DiamondCentric T-Shirt Giveaway: via Over The Baggy December 13, 2011 at 11:43 AM; 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 the hashtag
The Twins are playing the waiting game with Cuddyer. Is it worth it?: via Over The Baggy December 09, 2011 at 11:49 AM; 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 his option
Twins bring back Matt Capps to close in 2012: via Over The Baggy December 06, 2011 at 12:19 AM; 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 to slam the down shut
Rumors swirl as winter meetings begin: via Over The Baggy December 05, 2011 at 12:48 AM; 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 the National Le
Twins should put their closer search on hold: via Over The Baggy December 02, 2011 at 12:19 AM; 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 team’s roster cons
Duensing was made for the bullpen: via Over The Baggy November 30, 2011 at 10:01 PM; 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 out the data f
An introduction to Ryan Doumit's offense: via Over The Baggy November 21, 2011 at 12:55 AM; 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 an offense-fir