Paul Molitor

The Minnesota Twins have had a roller coaster of a season thus far. The Twins will resume play Friday after the All-Star break with a record of 45-43, 2.5 games behind the American League Central Division leading Cleveland Indians. They are one game back in a crowded American League Wild Card race. Yet, the Twins have over achieved given circumstances. To start with, they’re on pace to use a record number of pitchers again this year. Last season, they used 29 pitchers including one appearance from backup infielder Eduardo Escobar. So far, they’ve had used 27 pitchers including having six relief appearances from backup catcher...

The Minnesota Twins had an awful season last year -- they finished with a record of 59-103 -- the worst in Twins franchise history and the worst record in the majors last year. This performance by the club prompted a front office overhaul with Derek Falvey hired from the Cleveland Indians as the Chief Baseball Officer and Phad Levine hired from the Texas Rangers as General Manager. Yet, most of the players that were here this past season still remain. Catcher Kurt Suzuki was not re-signed, but was replaced by Jason Castro, a free agent signing to be the Twins starting catcher.  Matt Belisle and former Twin Craig Breslow were signed...

Rewind time 17 months. End of March. 2015. It'd been a rough four year stretch at 1 Twins Way entering the 2015 campaign. Since finishing 94-68 and making the playoffs in 2010, the Twins had lost 90+ games in each of the next four years, becoming all too familiar with the cellar in the AL Central Division — they finished in last three out of those four seasons. Enter Hall of Famer (and former Twin/Gopher great) Paul Molitor, who took over as the...

Last week saw the shocking announcement that Minnesota Twins General Manager Terry Ryan had been fired from his duties with the organization. While at the helm as GM from 1995-2007 and then from 2012-2016, he saw the Twins to four American League Central Division Championships, finished second and third place twice each, finished fourth four times and finished in last place five times. This season, the Twins appear to be headed to another last place finish which cemented Ryan’s fate. When I look at Ryan’s tenure as GM, I see plenty of good, as well as plenty of bad. Let’s take a look at some...

On Friday, the Minnesota Twins upgraded their bullpen by acquiring right-handed reliever Kevin Jepsen from the Tampa Bay Rays for two pitching prospects before the non-waiver trade deadline. Jepsen is expected to be the Twins top setup man behind closer Glen Perkins. Jepsen, 31, has an ERA of 2.81 with 20 walks and 34 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings with 6 saves this season for the Rays. In his career, both with the Rays and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Jepsen has a 3.80 career ERA with 305 strikeouts and 130 walks in 322 1/3 innings. He figures to help strengthen a relief core that is ranked 24th in...

Last week, the Minnesota Twins won 5 out of 7 games, including a four-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox this past weekend. The Twins are above .500 for the first time this season -- now with a record of 14-12 with a win yesterday. They currently sit in third place in the American League Central Division, 3.5 games behind the Detroit Tigers. While the Twins were in the midst of their most successful week so far this season, there was plenty of shuffling around of pitchers both on and off the 15-day Disabled List. When all was said and done, 1/3 of the Twins 12-man pitching staff had been changed. I thought...

One of the big storylines of the season so far for the Minnesota Twins has been the offense. Ranked near the bottom in the American League in almost every category, the offense has sputtered like a motor running out of gas for the duration of this short season. There have been signs of the offense waking up, but then when you think that it was going to last, the offense then seemingly takes a step back. Manager Paul Molitor has tried various lineups in hopes of getting the offense jump started. However, none seems to do the trick. Molitor has even admitted this past weekend to writing a lineup with Joe Mauer leading...

2010 was a sweet summer for the Minnesota Twins and their fans. Target Field opened and the return of outdoor baseball seemed to have everyone in town excited. The Twins went 94-68 — including a 53-28 record at their new grassy, un-domed home — during the regular season. They won the American League Central and Ron Gardenhire was honored with a Manager of the Year award that was long overdue. Of course, we were swept in three games in the opening round of the playoffs by the New York Yankees (for the second consecutive year), but there was sense that good things lie in the future beneath the blue skies at Target...