2023 Twins Turkey of Year

November is flying by. The World Series is over, the GM meetings are behind us, the Hot Stove league is starting to heat up, the newly hired managers are all excited about how good their new teams are, the 2023 MLB award season is in full swing, free agents players and their agents are starting to count their money, the weather is cooling off and Thanksgiving is upon us one more time. The NFBC site is already accepting players for the 2024 Fantasy season and drafts for the 2024 season are already underway (If you think you know baseball and have some extra money then this is the place for you). Black Friday sales have been on-going for some time and yes, the entire baseball world will once again be getting together for the Baseball Winter Meetings (Dec 3-6, 2023) and this year they are back in Nashville.

The Minnesota Twins broke their long losing streak in post-season play and even won a post-season series in 2023 but unfortunately the Houston Astros were waiting for them once again and sent the Twins home early to heal what ails them and to sharpen their golf skills. Hey, they were 3-3 in the post-season but they still have a ways to go and they obviously had some Turkey’s on their roster this season that we can roast. A team that has seven batters that struck out 100 or more times and another that fell just one KO short of 100 along with a $33 million dollar player that hits into a team record 30 double-plays must have some fowl players for us to chose from.

Twins acquire new strikeout king

Joey Gallo

The Twins are in agreement with outfielder Joey Gallo on a one-year deal that will pay him $11MM. The two-time All-Star is represented by the Boras Corporation. Apparently when one of Boras’s players is having a tough time getting signed, they turn to the Minnesota Twins for some reason. Either Boras has something on the Twins FO dynamic duo that they don’t want the public to know or they are just easy to convince that the player will be good and might sign a long term deal with them.

Twins fans were disgusted with Miguel Sano and his strikeouts and they couldn’t wait for him to be run out of town. The Twins FO obliged and didn’t tender Sano. But if Twins fans didn’t like Sano, they are really in for a treat in their new outfielder Joey Gallo. Sanó has the second-highest career strikeout rate in MLB history at 36.4 percent. The only player to whiff more often is Gallo, who sits atop the all-time career list at 37.3 percent, including 39.8 percent last season for the Yankees and Dodgers.

This is what baseball has come down to? Oh My!

Credit to Stew Thornley

This is the Twins shift in the game against the Texas Rangers Joey Gallo yesterday. A catcher (Mitch Garver) and pitcher (Devin Smeltzer) and first baseman (Miguel Sano) in their normal positions but no one else is on the dirt. Five outfielders and yet Gallo hits a double off the right field wall, he also had a bunt single. My friend Wayne Hattaway would tell you “this isn’t real baseball”. Everytime you go to a baseball game you have a chance to see something you have never seen before.

 

According to ELIAS – Brian Dozier

Dozier is Mr. Second Half

Brian Dozier

Brian Dozier hit a three-run homer in the second inning off Carson Fulmer in game two of the twinbill in the South Side of Chicago. The Twins managed a split in the doubleheader, winning game two 10-2. Dozier hit 28 home runs after the All-Star break last season and has already hit 13 post-break home runs in 2017. Dozier’s 13 post-break homers this season are the fourth-most in the majors, trailing Giancarlo Stanton (19), Nelson Cruz (14), and Joey Gallo (14). His 41 overall home runs after the midsummer classic over the last two seasons are by far the most in the majors; Nelson Cruz (34), Justin Upton (33), Khris Davis (32), and Gary Sanchez (30) are the only other players with at least 30.

According to ELIAS – Brian Dozier

Bull Dozier steamrolls in Detroit

Brian Dozier

Brian Dozier led off Sunday’s game at Comerica Park with a homer off Matt Boyd, and the Twins went on to win, 6-4, to take the rubber game of the series. It was Dozier’s 25th home run leading off the first inning over the last five seasons, second-most in the majors behind Charlie Blackmon (27). Dozier now has 10 home runs since the All-Star break; only two other American League players have as many: Joey Gallo (11) and Nelson Cruz (11). Over the past two seasons, Dozier has 38 post-All-Star break homers; no other player has more than 31.