Sources: Twins acquiring Michael A. Taylor in trade with Royals

The Minnesota Twins are acquiring outfielder Michael A. Taylor in a trade with the Kansas City Royals, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel on Monday.

An elite defensive center fielder and former Gold Glove Award winner, Taylor batted .254 with nine home runs and 43 RBIs with a .670 OPS in 2022.

Taylor, who turns 32 in March, is entering his 10th major league season. He played the first seven years of his career in Washington, where he won a World Series with the Nationals in 2019, before signing with Kansas City during the 2020 offseason.

The Twins are acquiring OF Michael A. Taylor from the Royals for LHP Evan Sisk and RHP Steven Cruz, per source.

— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) January 23, 2023

Batting champ Arraez headed to Marlins for López, more

The Marlins are set to acquire reigning AL batting champ and All-Star infielder Luis Arraez from the Twins for right-hander Pablo López and two other players, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand on Friday. Neither club has confirmed the deal, which is expected to send infield prospect Jose Salas and outfield prospect Byron Chourio to Minnesota, according to Feinsand.

Salas, 19, is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 5 prospect in Miami’s system.

Sources: Carlos Correa finalizing with Twins after Mets talks fizzle

Star shortstop Carlos Correa and the Minnesota Twins are finalizing a six-year, $200 million contract, pending a physical, after weeks of discussion to salvage a deal with the New York Mets broke down, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.

The stunning turn caps a whirlwind month for Correa, who agreed to a 13-year, $350 million contract with the San Francisco Giants on Dec. 13. After the Giants raised concerns about Correa’s surgically repaired right leg, he pivoted quickly to the Mets, who offered him a 12-year, $315 million contract. The Mets flagged his physical as well, and efforts to amend the deal fell apart, leading Correa back to Minnesota, where he signed after a topsy-turvy offseason last year, too.

Report: Mets frustrated with Correa talks, contemplating walking away | theScore.com

The Twins are back in it.

The New York Mets and star shortstop Carlos Correa aren’t on the same page in contract negotiations.

The Mets have become “very frustrated” with the process over the last few days and are considering walking away, a source told Andy Martino of SNY.

The two sides reached a 12-year, $315-million agreement on Dec. 21, but the pact was never finalized because of concerns flagged during the medical about an old ankle injury. Lawyers representing the team and player have reportedly been unable to agree on what language to add to the contract that would protect the club in the long term if the ailment becomes an issue.

Correa’s camp is now talking with other teams, according to Martino.

Twins add Gallo on 1-year, $11M deal

The Twins are set to add Joey Gallo’s power bat and strong defense to their roster, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand on Friday. The deal, which has not been confirmed by the club, is worth $11 million over one year, according to Feinsand.

Gallo will look to turn things around after hitting .160/.280/.357 with 19 homers and a 39.8% strikeout rate over 410 plate appearances for the Yankees and Dodgers in 2022.

A left-handed hitter, Gallo struggled immensely after the Rangers dealt him to the Bronx Bombers in a six-player swap at the 2021 Trade Deadline and was unable to get back on track in 2022. New York traded him to Los Angeles for pitcher Clayton Beeter in another Deadline deal this past summer.

Twins sign veteran catcher Christian Vázquez, per report

Free agent catcher Christian Vázquez has agreed to terms on a three-year deal worth $30 million with the Minnesota Twins, according to Betsy Helfand of the Pioneer Press. Vázquez will replace free agent Gary Sanchez as Minnesota’s starting backstop.

Vázquez, 32 years old, split last season between the Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros. He hit .274/.315/.399 (99 OPS+) with nine home runs in 119 games. For his career, he’s posted an 85 OPS+ in more than 730 contests.

Minnesota Twins unveil redesigned uniforms

The Minnesota Twins unveiled new uniforms on Friday featuring redesigned home, away and alternate looks in addition to a new secondary hat and a revamped font…

The new home jersey features the Twins script across the chest that no longer has a drop shadow or multiple colors, now written just in red. Additionally, the “win” in Twins is underlined, a tradition introduced when Minnesota won the World Series in 1987. The away uniforms also feature pinstripes, which were previously only on the alternate home uniforms from 2010-2018.

Minnesota Twins unveil new uniforms, new logos featuring a cleaner, simplified, modern version of their past logos.

My overly-detailed post featuring a tonne of photos and graphics as well as chat with the team and the designer of the logos right here: https://t.co/VJDJUMjXEc pic.twitter.com/hsI7Fk15aS

— Chris Creamer (@sportslogosnet) November 18, 2022

Carlos Correa opting out of Twins deal to become free agent

Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa will exercise his opt-out clause and become a free agent, he told El Nuevo Día newspaper Wednesday.

Correa, who hit .291 with 22 home runs, 64 RBIs and 70 runs scored in 136 games this season, said now was the time to choose free agency.

“With the year that I have had, my health and my being at the best moment of my career at 28, that is the right decision,” Correa told the Puerto Rican newspaper.

The shortstop spent the first seven years of his career with the Houston Astros, winning a World Series championship in 2017. He did not find the long-term contract he was looking for last winter and chose instead to sign a three-year, $105.3 million deal with the Twins that included multiple opt-outs.

Orlando Cabrera To Retire From Baseball

OH NO, EXPO!

Last season, Orlando Cabrera batted .238 with the Indians and Giants, posting a 61 OPS+. The season before that, he posted a 76 OPS+. The season before that, he posted an 85 OPS+. Orlando Cabrera has been declining, and just turned 37 years old. As a free agent, Cabrera didn’t drum up much interest, which I’m guessing is why he’s intending to hang ‘em up. Enrique Rojas:

  “Orlando Cabrera to retire from baseball, he said in Colombia radio station. Thanks for memories!”

Cabrera had a long career that’ll be difficult to forget. He debuted with the Expos in 1997, and remained there until the giant Nomar Garciaparra three-way trade in 2004. That year, with the Red Sox, Cabrera won a World Series. He wound up with the Angels, earning the unfortunate nickname “The Wizard of O.C.”, and then he wound up with the White Sox, and the A’s, and the Twins, and the Reds, and the Indians, and the Giants ... He remained a shortstop to the end, and collected 2,055 hits. He will always be remembered as a pest. An absolute pest.

Zumaya agrees to deal with Twins

Game on!

The Tigers could end up seeing a lot of Joel Zumaya this year after all. It’ll just be in a different uniform, albeit an awfully familiar one.

After throwing for teams in December and holding out for a roster spot and the right situation, Zumaya has agreed to terms with the Minnesota Twins, the reliever told MLB.com. The two sides spent Saturday putting together a deal that could pay him anywhere from $800,000 to $1.7 million if he reaches incentives.

A Twins official would neither confirm nor deny the deal to MLB.com, but said they’ve been in negotiations since December.

Zumaya weighed what he called “good offers” from three other clubs,  but the Twins included guaranteed money rather than a minor-league deal with a Spring Training invite. If he’s healthy, they’ll bring him to the same mound at Target Field where he last threw a Major League pitch. He fractured his elbow throwing for the Tigers against the Twins on June 28, 2010.

MLB Trade Rumors: Bartolo Colon Agrees to Sign With Unknown Team

Bartolo Colon has agreed to a deal with an unknown club reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter). The right-hander wouldn’t divulge the team because he has not yet passed his physical.

Pretty sure it’s either the All-Stars or the Champs.

BBPro:  Heartburn Hardball - Jack Morris in Motion

Morris, who was the face of the Detroit Tigers’ pitching staff for the entirety of the eighties before spending the early nineties hopping between the Twins, Blue Jays, and Indians, has every right to be thrilled at the news. And the rest of us, especially those who were too young to see him pitch, have every right to ask…why Jack Morris? Why now?

To answer that question, I decide to watch the most famous performance of his career, the game that proved once and for all that he was a true ace and a true winner.

....

The Twins will win 1-0 in the bottom of the 10th, winning the second World Series title in franchise history and solidifying Jack Morris’s place in baseball history.

And when it’s over, I will be more convinced than ever that Jack Morris is not a Hall of Fame pitcher.

Goldman: Bernie Williams vs. Kirby Puckett

Let’s ask Erardi!...okay, maybe not.

I was watching the Hall of Fame announcement show on the MLB Network on Monday–congratulations to a very deserving Barry Larkin–and something Peter Gammons said as an aside in a discussion of Bernie Williams’ suitability for the Hall of Fame stuck with me: “He wasn’t as good as Kirby Puckett,” the Great Gammo almost muttered, as they cut to a commercial break.

I haven’t been able to put that comment out of my mind, because I’m not certain why Gammons is so sure. Both were excellent hitters with very different skills who nonetheless arrived at similar results. Puckett was short and stout, Williams long and lithe. Puckett reaped a huge benefit from his Metrodome home park, hitting .344/.388/.521 at home, .291/.331/.430 on the road. Williams was about the same hitter everywhere. Both were Gold Glove center fielders who won several of the defensive awards with their bats. Both won a single batting title. Puckett led the AL in hits four times; Williams walked too much to compete in that department.

Career-wise, Williams looks a little worse overall, but that’s because his peak isn’t quite so high and his career is a little longer. Due to glaucoma, Puckett’s career came to an abrupt end, depriving him of a decline phase, whereas Williams got to play until he was no longer useful. If you consider both through their age-35 seasons, it’s a virtual tie: Williams had hit .301/.388/.488 in 1804 games, while Puckett hit .318/.360/.477 in 1783 games.

The Greatest Animated Sports .GIFs of 2011

32. Cliff Lee declines to run out his own grounder

I’m a firm opponent of the designated hitter rule, because just as I love to watch a punter try to scoop up a bad snap and try to throw it, or see a 7’1” center with no range try to chuck up a last-second three, I love watching pitchers hit.

Never will I come closer to seeing what it would be like if someone with my skill set tried to perform on a professional level. I mean, how nuts is this: in the National League, five to 10 percent of all at-bats are taken by men who, by everyone’s admission, are profoundly bad at it! It’s Dada performance art, and the ubiquity of such comical nonsense—over the course of a game, a season, and the history of baseball—is unrivaled by anything in any other sport.

This GIF features a delightful bonus: the catcher starts jogging to the dugout well before the play ends. It’s beautiful.

Jason Marquis, Twins agree on deal

Marquis de Target Field?

Mackey: Don’t laugh, but healthy Mauer, Morneau vault offense near top ?

Leapin’ Lavillenie’s! Good luck with that.

- The team run total projection was derived by using David Smyth’s base runs estimator formula—a formula that is generally accurate within 10-15 runs.

...- The biggest reason for the jump in runs, besides health, would be due to a massive injection of on-base percentage—specifically with Carroll and Willingham. Mauer and Morneau are on-base machines as well, when healthy.

- If any of these players performs better or worse than the numbers listed, the overall run total of the team will obviously be affected. In other words, if Morneau struggles like he did last season, all bets are off—and 771 runs could turn into 720 or fewer, and so on.

- Plate appearances for each player were rough estimates, and they may be optimistic in the cases of Span, Mauer and Morneau.

- It’s highly likely the Twins will use more than the 13 batters listed. In that case, the additional players will cut into the playing time of those listed above (Drew Butera and Joe Benson, for instance). Those additional players may or may not affect the overall end run total.

Scoring 771 runs would have ranked the Twins fourth in baseball last season behind the Red Sox (875), Yankees (867), Rangers (855) and Tigers (787).

But what are the chances Mauer and Morneau are healthy and productive for six months?

Kubel, D-backs reach two-year deal

Heyman says 2 years, $15 million. That is one expensive pinch hitter!

The D-backs have agreed to terms with free-agent outfielder Jason Kubel on a two-year contract with an option, a baseball source confirmed Monday.

The move is somewhat surprising in that the D-backs had not been linked in any rumors to Kubel, nor had they been rumored to be in the market for an outfielder.

Kubel, 29, hit .273 with 12 home runs and 58 RBIs for the Twins in 2011. He was originally drafted by Minnesota in the 12th round of the 2000 First-Year Player Draft…

Over his career, Kubel has split his time between the outfield corners. With the D-backs, it would appear that he would become the starting left fielder with Gerardo Parra being shifted to a fourth outfield position, or used in a trade to acquire another position of need.

Twinkie Town: Twins Officially Sign Josh Willingham: Contract Breakdown and Analysis

I’m guessing Willingham is a strike-throwing pitcher with no velocity?

Twitter is blowing up with the news that the Twins have made the Josh Willingham signing official. He’ll get three years, earning $7 million in both 2012 and 2013, with the possibility of adding another million on top of all that in 2014 should he reach 525 plate appearances in ‘13. It’s a good deal, and here’s why.

Over the next three years, each win above replacement should cost somewhere just north of $5 million dollars, depending on the baseball and more wide-ranging fiscal markets. With the understanding that we want to be conservative we’ll estimate that from 2012 to 2014, when Willingham’s contract expires, cost for each win above replacement will average at $5.25 million….

If Josh Willingham maintains his averages, he will have been worth almost twice what the Twins will pay him. And if he exceeds those numbers, the value of this contract obviously becomes even greater.

To be honest, I’d be surprised if he maintained his 2.5 WAR-per-season average at this point in his career. We’re paying a guy for his age-33, 34 and 35 seasons, so it’s unrealistic to expect him to perform like he has through his prime. But that doesn’t make this a bad deal. It’s still a very good one.

Where Does Target Field Concert Cash Go?

$300 to see Kenny Cheney and Tim McGraw? That’s the shitkickingest thing I’ve seen since Elton Britt ran for President in 1960!

If taxpayers pick up the tab for a new sports stadium which later hosts a concert, where does that money go and does the public get a kickback for their investment? That’s a question currently occupying many minds after the first concert at Target Field sold out in only four hours.

FOX 9 News reporter Tom Lyden began looking for the answer after a viewer e-mailed, asking if the team pockets all the profits from the concerts held at the ballpark—but when it comes to the money trail, there are few simple answers with public stadiums.

Baseball may be the game of the summer, but Target Field is now proving that there’s big money to be made beyond baseball. Soon, about 39,000 country music fans will pack the house to see Kenny Cheney and Tim McGraw. Some fans even shelled out $300 per ticket.

So who gets that money? Twins spokesman Keven Smith says he wishes they did, but the concert promoter and performers take in all the money generated at the gate. The Twins keep the concessions cash—but they don’t know how much that will amount to.

“We don’t know how concessions go,” Smith admitted. “We run a baseball team, not a concert venue. Not yet.”

Joe Mauer engaged

Joe Mauer, perhaps Minnesota’s most eligible bachelor, on Saturday became engaged to fellow Cretin-Derham Hall graduate Maddie Bisanz.

Mauer, 28, the Minnesota Twins catcher, proposed to Bisanz, a St. Paul nurse, in Sanibel, Fla.

“A place that is special to both of us,” Mauer said Sunday from Florida. “We couldn’t be happier, and we’re both really excited.”

No wedding date has been set. The couple has been friends for about seven years and has been dating for about 1-1/2 years.

Insert “well played Mauer” joke here.

Rule V Results

1.Astros take Rhiner Cruz from Mets.
2.Twins take Terry Doyle from White Sox.
3.Mariners take Lucas Luetge from Brewers.
4.Orioles take Ryan Flaherty from Cubs.
5.Royals take Cesar Cabral from Red Sox; traded to Yankees for cash.
6.Cubs take Lendy Castillo from Phillies.
8.Pirates take Gustavo Nunez from Tigers.
  21.Braves take Robert Fish from Angels.
22.Cardinals take Erik Komatsu from Nationals.
23.Red Sox take Marwin Gonzalez from Cubs.
  25.Diamondbacks take Brett Lorin from Pirates.
  29.Yankees take Brad Meyers from Nationals.

Closer Matt Capps to be back with Twins in 2012

This would never happen if baseball had a salaried Capps.

The Twins are finalizing a deal to re-sign closer Matt Capps, who struggled last year when handed the closer’s role during the season. Two sources with knowledge of negotiations confirmed the deal.
Capps was 4-7 with a 4.25 ERA and 15 saves for the Twins last season. He replaced Nathan as closer in April but lost the job later in the season. It was discovered later on that Capps was pitching with a sore forearm that affected his slider but didn’t want to use it as an excuse.
UPDATE:Capps to have physical Tuesday. He’ll earn $4.5 million in 2012. Option in 2013 is for $6 million, or a $250,000 buyout.  Performance bonues are in the deal too.

Rockies get Kevin Slowey from Twins

Well he tells you right in his name he’s going to suck. What did you expect Minnesota?

The Minnesota Twins have traded winless pitcher Kevin Slowey to the Colorado Rockies for a player to be named.

The deal was announced Tuesday during baseball’s winter meetings.

Slowey went 0-8 with a 6.67 ERA this year and was out from May to August because of an abdominal strain. He made eight starts and six relief appearances and the Twins went 0-14 in those games.

Slowey became the first major league pitcher to make at least eight starts and lose them all since Lou Sleater of the St. Louis Browns in 1951, STATS LLC said.

The 27-year-old Slowey is 39-29 with a 4.66 ERA in five seasons with the Twins. He’s been one of the best control pitchers in the majors over that span.

Former Twins pitcher Jim Kaat on his ‘squabble’ with Calvin Griffith

“Golden Era” Hall of Fame candidate Jim Kaat, the former Minnesota Twins pitcher, makes for an entertaining hour-long interview Monday evening on “Studio 42 with Bob Costas” on the Major League Baseball Network.

Kaat, who won 283 career games and 16 Gold Gloves, chats about his relationship with penurious late Twins’ owner Calvin Griffith.

“I had a contract squabble with Calvin every year,” Kaat said. “Calvin one day said, ‘Can you go downtown and earn 18,000 dollars a year working at any place in Minneapolis?’ I would say, ‘Can you go out on Cedar Avenue and find a left-handed pitcher who can win 18 games for you?’ “

Thanks to Parky.

Ken Davidoff: The best general managers, 2011

I’m assuming Dayton Moore just missed the cut.

3. Brian Cashman, Yankees (5 in ‘10, 6 in ‘09, NR in ‘08, 8 in ‘07) . It was a banner year for the Yankees’ baseball operations department, even if it didn’t end with a new banner to fly over Yankee Stadium.

(Sorry.)

After seeing their top target Lee bolt to Philadelphia, Cashman put his faith in the likes of Ivan Nova (whom he had refused to trade to Seattle for Lee in July of ‘10) and low-rent free agents Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia. No one could’ve anticipated how well those would work out, most of all Colon, but look: It’s not like the Yankees pulled his name from the sky. Cashman listened to a recommendation from Yankees bench coach Tony Pena, who was managing Colon in Dominican winter ball.

Cashman also hit on veteran additions Eric Chavez and Andruw Jones, and in all, luck dictates that the Yankees won’t do as well in the bargain bin this upcoming winter. But CC Sabathia is back, the lineup is largely intact and the Yankees have a farm system that appears poised to contribute even more in 2012 than it did this past season.

It also should be pointed out that the Yankees GM job, because it is the Yankees GM job, offers unique challenges both internally (the late George Steinbrenner’s “World Series title or bust!” philosophy lurks) and externally (the media and fan pressure is greater than ever). Cashman, who just re-upped with a three-year deal, handles those demands quite well.