What is the story about?
The Twins started out the week with Derek Shelton’s introductory press conference, where the Twins gave some indication that the fire sale over the trade deadline would not be continuing into the offseason. That being said, until Pablo López (or Joe Ryan) steps on the mound for Opening Day, everything is likely fluid for the Twins.
The Past Week on Twinkie Town:
- Check out The Feed, where you can add your discussions about the Twins!
- James Fillmore recaps the first Twinkie Town Movie Night! Stay tuned this Friday for the next movie night with Lone Gone!
- Zach Koenig reviews the month in baseball for our neighbors to the north.
Elsewhere in Twins Territory:
- The Twins announced six players who were outrighted off the 40-man roster, including Jose Miranda. With Christian Vazquez also becoming a free agent, there are seven open spots on the 40-man roster, which could be filled by notable prospects Kendry Rojas, Gabriel Gonzalez, and Connor Prielipp to protect them from the Rule 5 draft.
- John Shipley at the Pioneer Press shares his one big takeaway from Derek Shelton’s press conference.
- Thanks to Jianfu for the recommendation in last week’s comments thread: Pat Borzi at MinnPost looks at how the Twins can win back fans in the 2026 season.
- In light of Miranda’s release, CJ Baumgartner at Zone Coverage takes a look back at his decline from a potential big-league cornerstone to castaway.
- Byron Buxton won his first Silver Slugger award, finishing as the third-best outfielder in terms of wRC+ in the American League behind Aaron Judge and George Springer.
In the World of Baseball:
- In fairly unfortunate news, Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were indicted in an illegal betting scheme. Clase and Ortiz allegedly rigged certain pitches for prop bets that bettors would bet on, related to either the velocity of the pitch or whether it was a ball or a strike. Jeff Passan at ESPN has more on the charges facing the two Guardians.
- Thirteen players received a qualifying offer from their respective teams this past week. There were no Twins players who were eligible for an offer; the Twins last went through this process with Sonny Gray.
- Among the many hirings last week, a very interesting move was the Rockies’ hiring of Paul Podesta, of Moneyball fame, from the Cleveland Browns to run their baseball operations. Michael Baumann at Fangraphs provides his thoughts on the hire.
- It’s BBWAA Awards week! Andrew Simon at MLB.com provides a storyline to follow for each award.
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