OOTP 16 -- This is Twins Territory

[Brananorama]

Hey, everyone! Like the rest of you, I’m incredibly excited to get cracking on another baseball season and chew through a few leagues in OOTP 16. Last release was my favorite yet and this year’s is bound to be even better than I could have imagined. I’ve found a great home in a couple outstanding online leagues (shoutout to the National Online Baseball Association, the CMLB, and the Heartland Baseball League), am almost finished building the first fictional league that I WILL stick with this year, and am starting a traditional MLB file in which to learn some of the new features, explore the 3D setting, and just enjoy myself all around.

However -- I’ve noticed a serious under-representation of my hometown club -- the Minnesota Twins -- on the OOTP Dynasties forum. I’ve opted to take care of that myself and go through a Twinkie Town dynasty all my own. I’ll be writing weekly recaps and offering subjective commentary throughout, in an effort both to log down the history of my first OOTP 16 league, keep track of the moves I’ve made (and why I’ve made those moves), and share my writing and opinions to the forum in case you guys have any interest in following my TBD fictional league.

(I’ve tried and failed to commit to two dynasty reports before this, but I am going to make every effort to get this one working. Starting with my favorite team in a situation I’m familiar with should help that cause.) A roster overview will be coming soon as we look ahead to the 2015 season and beyond. The future is bright for the Twin Cities with young talent waiting to make their mark in the wings.
This is Twins Territory.

[mpejkrm]

I'm a Minnesota native. I'll be looking forward to this.

[phillyboy19]

Cool, I would try to trade Mauer since he probably has some value left and get a nice prospect maybe another first basemen.

[Brananorama]

Starting Rotation Overview

The Twins’ starting rotation has been their biggest issue within the last few losing seasons, and while there were worse pitching corps to take the stage in seasons such as 2011 and 2013, the staff that showed up in 2014 was maybe the most disappointing -- because with how well the offense performed, scoring the fifth-most runs in the American League, a better pitching rotation could have propelled a rebuilding team to a record closer to 81 wins -- the elusive .500 mark that Minnesota fans have been eagerly awaiting the Twins to reach since they collapsed four years ago.
However, the rotation is in better shape than it’s ever been. Below I’ll explore the five men who will get the ball at the beginning of the 2015 season.

1. RHP Phil Hughes -- Hughes is coming off a season in which he set the all-time record for strikeout-to-walk ratio, posting 5.7 WAR and becoming the Twins’ first bona-fide ace pitcher in a very long time. As such, he was rewarded in the offseason with an extension that will keep him in town until at least 2019. Hughes’ game relies on his expert control and strong cut fastball.

2. RHP Ervin Santana -- After rejecting a contract offer from the Twins last offseason, Ervin leaves the Atlanta Braves after a solid season with a sub-4.00 ERA and a K/9 over 8.0. The 32-year-old is under contract through 2018 with a team option for the ‘19 season, and will look t0 be a capable backup to Phil, and a potential back-of-the-rotation starter/quality late-inning reliever once the minor league prospects have taken over the pitching core.

3. RHP Kyle Gibson -- The only pitching "prospect" in the rotation at this moment, Gibson has finished his first full season at the major-league level and looks to build upon his performance in 31 starts. The 27-year-old has good variance in his three pitches, but it’s all about mixing them up as none of them pack a particularly potent punch.

4. RHP Ricky Nolasco -- The most disappointing member of the 2014 rotation, Nolasco looks to bounce back this season after posting a 5.38 ERA in 27 starts -- in a year in which he’d become the Twins’ largest free agent signing ever. Nolasco swings six pitches and has quality control over them, but will need to blow away a few more hitters and hope to avoid injury in order to have a remotely respectable season.

5. LHP Tommy Milone -- Before I took over, Terry Ryan made quite a remarkable move last year. He picked up outfielder Sam Fuld off waivers from the Oakland Athletics, then flipped him back to the A’s at the trading deadline in exchange for the young left-hander the Twins were missing in their starting rotation. Milone was less than spectacular for the Twins in five starts, but his potential 2015 failure only means a chance for guys like Alex Meyer and Trevor May down below.

In addition, the Twins’ bullpen features some familiar faces and some new additions. As always, Glen Perkins will be closing out games after collecting 30+ saves in each of his first two seasons as Minnesota’s full-time closer. He will be set up in the late innings by righty Casey Fien and lefty Caleb Thielbar. Also from the left side, veteran Brian Duensing will alternate between general middle relief and a LOOGY role. The three newest faces are Michael Tonkin, who looks to play through a full season in a Twins uniform, J.R. Graham, a Rule 5 selection, and free agent long reliever/emergency starter Tim Stauffer, coming off a 6-2, 3.50, 9.4 K/9 season with the San Diego Padres.

[Brananorama]

Opening Day Lineup

S Danny Santana, SS
L Joe Mauer, 1B
R Brian Dozier, 2B
L Oswaldo Arcia, LF
R Torii Hunter, RF
S Kennys Vargas, DH
R Trevor Plouffe, 3B
R Kurt Suzuki, C
L Jordan Schafer, CF

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. MLB’s 7th-best offense in terms of run-scoring will be, for the most part, run right back out to begin the season, even if regression is all but certain for guys like Danny Santana and Kurt Suzuki. As such, a platoon has been put in place where the heir apparent at the backstop position, Josmil Pinto, will start against lefties until he’s proven he’s ready for the everyday MLB job. In addition, Joe Mauer and Brian Dozier will swap positions in the batting order, and longtime Twin and fan favorite Torii Hunter will return to Minnesota in the heart of the batting order.
This means that the Twins’ bench is comprised of the following four: whoever isn’t catching on the given day, utility infielder Eduardo Nunez, and other utility infielder named Eduardo, Eduardo Escobar. In addition, Shane Robinson joins the club as a free agent pickup out of St. Louis. Robinson will understudy all three outfield positions with speed and will serve a very Darin Mastroianni-esque role on the team.

[Brananorama]

Final Notes
Jim Pohlad’s only real request for this team is for us not to suck completely, although I feel a more realistic goal would be urging us to get to 81 wins to better set us up for Wild Card contention in 2016 -- or at least, that’s my immediate plan with this team. In addition, Mr. Pohlad wants us to keep building the team up to the point that we reach the playoffs within the next five years. This goal should be easy with all the minor league talent we have stockpiled, but they’re going to need to show their strength in the major leagues sooner rather than later. Pohlad’s season expectation is to stay respectable on the field.


On the list of the Top 100 MLB prospects, our very own center fielder of the future Byron Buxton tops all, with righty Jose Berrios not far behind at 7th place. The preseason predictions don’t see us doing favorably, as they actually have us regressing back to a whopping 100 losses. If this happens, I deserve to have my four-year deal terminated immediately. The projected American League division winners are the Yankees/Red Sox, Indians, and Athletics, with the Wild Cards predicted to be the Tigers and Angels. On the NL side of things, Washington, St. Louis, and Los Angeles lead the way with the Cubs winning home field in the Wild Card Game against the Giants.


With all the preseason preparations made, the Twins fly into Detroit for a three-game set in Comerica Park to open another exciting year of Major League Baseball.

[mpokrandt]

I started my 2015 Twins season, last night. Started the season by sweeping Detroit and am now 5-3. I had a brutal series of events in one of the games of the Chicago series:

Twins up 5-2 after 6 innings
Sox hit a grand slam with 2 outs in the 7th to go up 6-5
Twins record the last out of the 7th and then the game is called due to rain!

[mpokrandt]

Reality has struck. Twins are now 7-8 and the team ERA is in the mid-5's. Starting pitching has been absolutely brutal. Shocking, right?

[Brananorama]

Originally Posted by mpokrandt

Reality has struck. Twins are now 7-8 and the team ERA is in the mid-5's. Starting pitching has been absolutely brutal. Shocking, right?

I've simmed a few weeks in advance just to account for days that I might not get a chance to play a series (although I would like to catch up with the posts eventually so that anybody reading can have some say in what direction they think I should be going), but it gets better! My pitching was abysmal across the rotation for the first two weeks or so before really settling down.

[Brananorama]

4/6/15
Minnesota Twins (0-0) at Detroit Tigers (0-0)
Phil Hughes (0-0) vs. David Price (0-0)


After beating out an infield single on the first play of the game, Danny Santana was removed due to a tight hamstring. Joe Mauer brought home the first run of the year with a two-out single plating Jordan Schafer in the top of the third, but the score was tied in the bottom half on a Rajai Davis double. The Tigers took their first lead in the fourth on a Nick Castellanos single, plating Yoenis Cespedes after a bloop single allowed the new Tiger to go first-to-third. After an infield single, Rajai Davis collected his third RBI of the day with a two-run single up the middle. J.D. Martinez followed with an opposite-field run-scoring single to make it a 5-1 ballgame. Following this, a double steal attempt wound up scoring a sixth run as Josmil Pinto’s throw down to second base sailed into center field. Davis plated his fourth run off Hughes in the sixth (as Hughes had only given up one earned to that point and had a low pitch count, I still had him in the game) to make it 8-1. After the Tigers stole their third near-uncontested base of Pinto, and J.D. corked a two-run shot over the fence in right-center, Hughes was removed in favor of mop-up man Tim Stauffer. David Price closed out a complete game victory with three hits, a walk, and eight strikeouts.


Minnesota 1, Detroit 9
WP: David Price (1-0, 0.00) / LP: Phil Hughes (0-1)


League Notes: The Cincinnati Reds deal Mike Leake and $3MM in exchange for Jordy Mercer and prospect Orlando Castro off the Pittsburgh Pirates.
~~~

4/8/15
Minnesota Twins (0-1) at Detroit Tigers (1-0)
Ervin Santana (0-0) vs. Anibal Sanchez (0-0)


Ervin Santana’s first batter faced as a member of the Twins was less than pleasantly memorable, as he served up a 2-1 meatball to Ian Kinsler that found its way over the fence in left, aided by the winds leading to the outfield so far this series. He served up another into right field off the bat of Alex Avila to make it 2-0 in the second inning. On a run-and-hit in the third, Danny Santana dropped a double into left that scored Jordan Schafer from first base and cut the Tigers’ lead in two. Oswaldo Arcia tied the game with a two-out crack to right. After the Tigers loaded the bases to begin their half of the third, they took the lead on a V-Mart ground ball, but the Twins converted it into two outs; a fair trade-off. Santana remained shaky over the next two frames, even loading the bases in the fifth before striking out Yoenis Cespedes to keep the score within one. A sacrifice fly from J.D. Martinez scored Jose Iglesias in the seventh making it 4-2 Detroit. Cespedes homered off J.R. Graham in the bottom of the eighth to give the Tigers a three-run lead. Torii Hunter got his first hit since returning to the Twins off Joe Nathan in the ninth, but that was all Minnesota would get, as they dropped the second game at Comerica.


Minnesota 2, Detroit 5
WP: Anibal Sanchez (1-0, 2.57) / LP: Ervin Santana (0-1, 6.00)
~~~

4/9/15
Minnesota Twins (0-2) at Detroit Tigers (2-0)
Kyle Gibson (0-0) vs. Justin Verlander (0-0)


I entered the series finale with the Tigers needing to see something good out of starter Kyle Gibson; while our bullpen appearances from Stauffer and Graham had been serviceable so far in this three-game set, I wanted a deep performance from our #3 man to close out our stint in Michigan. The Twins got on the board first, as Kennys Vargas knocked in Torii Hunter following the latter’s double in the second. The bases loaded toward the end of the inning, and Danny Santana delivered big with a triple into the deep Comerica alley to give the Twins a 4-0 lead -- more runs than they’d scored in the first two games combined. Joe Mauer singled in Daniel-San to make it 5-0 before Brian Dozier grounded out. In the top of the fourth inning, a Verlander fastball got away from him and plunked Dozier on top of the foot. The trainers diagnosed it as a simple bruise, and they tell me he’ll hobble a little in the morning for about a week, but it shouldn’t affect his game performance much. However, as a precaution, we did remove him in favor of Eduardo Nunez, who hadn’t gotten any at-bats in the series, and swapped him with Santana defensively. Nunez got the Twins’ first steal on the very next pitch. He advanced to third and scored on a Torii Hunter fly to left. In the bottom half, Jordan Schafer fell to the ground in center after making a nice catch against the wall to open the frame. The training staff wasn’t quite sure what was wrong upon first glance, and Schafer was removed from the game, heading back into the dugout for some preliminary testing. Utility outfielder Shane Robinson took over to get some of his first action. The Twins began another tear in the top of the seventh, loading the bases on three straight hits off long man Tom Gorzelanny -- who wound up balking in a run with two outs before K’ing Kennys Vargas. Kyle Gibson wound up giving me exactly what I wanted from him, making his way through eight shutout innings, and while he gave up nine hits he walked none and was never in too much trouble. I wound up giving Caleb Thielbar the ninth as the Tigers had a couple lefties scheduled to swing. Thielbar quickly worked through the inning, his only hit allowed an infield single that was immediately erased via double play, and the Twins worked out a shutout win in the final game of the set.


Minnesota 7, Detroit 0
WP: Kyle Gibson (1-0, 0.00) / LP: Justin Verlander (0-1, 13.50)
Series Notes: I was a little disappointed with how well the Tigers ran on us during the series. Detroit stole six bases off a combination of Pinto and Suzuki, while the only caught runner came from Kurt’s arm, in removing Anthony Gose from the basepaths. While we didn’t see Fien or Perkins this series, the rest of the bullpen seemed in good shape, and I’m confident in chalking down Hughes’ and Santana’s outings to slight slumps out of the gate.


Injury Notes: After the game, the Twins got the rough news about Jordan Schafer -- he’s been diagnosed with a concussion and will miss almost the entire season (five months, specifically, and the whole deal if we wind up sending him on a rehab assignment.) He hits the 60-day DL, and I call up the infamous Aaron Hicks, who’s unimpressed in two shots at the show in 2013 and 2014. With Buxton on his way up perhaps by September call-ups, this is likely Hicks’ last shot at a starting job.

[mpokrandt]

My Twins are 15-13 now, in spite of having Milone, Nolasco, Arcia and Plouff on the disabled list. Pitching has improved and we are scoring lots of runs.

[Brananorama]

4/10/15
Minnesota Twins (1-2) at Chicago White Sox (2-1)
Ricky Nolasco (0-0) vs. Hector Noesi (0-0)


---The White Sox addressed just about all of their 2014 concerns with offseason signings, including another member of the rotation, a new closer, and a left fielder. I can’t say I’m too pleased with our biggest (emotional) rival gearing up to take over the Central once Detroit’s veteran age catches up with them, but you can’t deny how systematic their winter was. Ricky Nolasco got the ball this afternoon. I’ll be making sure to pay special attention to him throughout April; if he succeeds, we might be looking to find a potential trade partner to ship him out, as we’ve got his slot in the rotation covered with minor-league depth. If he fails, well, we’ll probably be trying even harder to ship him out. Nolasco was largely saved by his defense in the first, as after giving up a run, he loaded the bases, then relied on incredible diving plays from both Brian Dozier and Oswaldo Arcia, who’s been looking up-to-standard in his first few games in left field. The White Sox got another in the second on an RBI single from Adam Eaton, then a third on a run-scoring groundout from reigning Rookie of the Year Jose Abreu. Aaron Hicks decided to make the most of his third and final April chance with the Twins by corking the team’s first 2015 homer into right-center field to make it a 3-1 game. Later in the inning, Torii Hunter tied the game with a two-run double. J.B. Shuck gave the White Sox the lead again in the bottom half of the third, marking the eighth hit already in the game off Ricky -- however, Nolasco induced a double play and a grounder that was handled nicely by Dozier to escape the inning otherwise unscathed. Hicks came up again in the fourth with Trevor Plouffe and Kurt Suzuki on the corners, and knocked in Trevor despite hitting into a routine double play, tying the ballgame. Adam LaRoche helped Chicago retake the lead with a two-run bomb in the bottom of the fifth. The Twins climbed to within one on a solo shot off the bat of Kennys Vargas that made it a 6-5 game. Kurt Suzuki tied it in the same inning with a solo dinger to a similar spot in the stands.


I decided to make today a more traditional ‘pen day by throwing Thielbar in for the 7th in the tie game. He allowed a hit only to Abreu and struck out two in a scoreless half. I would have used Fien for the 8th, but a set of lefties were due up, so I slotted in Brian Duensing for the first time this year. The South Siders got LaRoche to second with one out, but couldn’t score. Duensing threw another scoreless inning in the eighth, and the Twins got a look at fresh new closer David Robertson to begin their half of the ninth. Danny Santana singled and stole with two outs but was left aboard. Casey Fien got his first appearance in the bottom of the inning and allowed a single and a DEEP fly off the bat of Melky Cabrera, but Arcia made another great play out in left to make an important out. Fien retired LaRoche and Tyler Flowers to send the series opener into extras. Arcia continued his great game with a 10th-inning triple, but was stranded. Fien returned for another inning, but quickly allowed two men in scoring position with nobody out. With both the infield and outfield drawn in, Michael Tonkin entered the game and struck out Alexei Ramirez, induced a groundout from Emilio Bonafacio, then set down Adam Eaton on a pitch in the dirt to keep the game alive. It’s clutch late-inning pitching performances like these, especially those with strikeouts, that I’ll be demanding from my guys this year. The White Sox began yet another inning with a pair of hits, as consecutive singles opened their 11th inning and forced in Tim Stauffer, who served up a walk-off three-run shot to Adam LaRoche. A disappointing end to this one, but there were plenty of non-Nolasco positives to take away from this one.
Minnesota 6, Chicago 9 -- F/11
WP: Matt Albers (1-0, 0.00) / LP: Michael Tonkin (0-1, 18.00)
League Notes: A couple of key pitching injuries swept both leagues today -- Scott Kazmir of the Oakland A’s is out of commission for four to five months due to a injury to a finger on his pitching hand, and most notably, Clayton Kershaw will miss four months due to a partially torn labrum -- a huge blow for a Dodgers team set up to compete for the pennant again in 2015.
~~~

4/11/15
Minnesota Twins (1-3) at Chicago White Sox (3-1)
Tommy Milone (0-0) vs. John Danks (0-0)


I entered today’s game with the same sort of expectations as I held Nolasco to yesterday. Tommy Milone needs to impress this month, or else one of Meyer or May will be up to claim his spot. A sacrifice fly gave the White Sox the lead in the first inning, and Milone followed it by hitting Avisail Garcia with a pitch, knocking him out of the game. The Sox got two more on a two-run, two-out single from Emilio Bonifacio in the second inning. Back-to-back hits in the third got another on the board for Chicago to make it 4-0. Josmil Pinto made his second throwing error from behind the plate, trying to catch J.B. Shuck stealing, in a situation unfortunately reminiscent of the play from Opening Day in Detroit. Pinto’s status as this team’s future catcher is entirely dependent on how well his defense develops; scouting reports and minor league track records have already shown us he knows how to hit. In the fifth, Jose Abreu got his first homer of the year off Milone, making it 5-0. Melky Cabrera helped the ChiSox go back-to-back, clubbing one over the fence in left-center and knocking Tommy out of the game in a disappointing effort. He was relieved by Tim Stauffer, who pitched two shutout frames, and was followed in the box score by J.R. Graham, who pitched two scoreless innings of his own. The Twins put up little resistance throughout, the exception being an eighth-inning, two-run, line-drive homer off the bat of Torii Hunter. Javy Guerra closed this one out with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Minnesota 2, Chicago 6
WP: John Danks (1-0, 0.00) / LP: Tommy Milone (0-1, 13.50)
~~~

4/12/15
Minnesota Twins (1-4) at Chicago White Sox (4-1)
Phil Hughes (0-1, 6.35) vs. Chris Sale (0-0, 2.08)
Chris Sale began his outing uncharacteristically, by loading the bases for the heart of Minnesota’s order. Oswaldo Arcia took advantage of the situation, lacing an opposite-field grounder through the infield to give the Twins an early lead. A wild pitch made it 2-0, and an infield hit for Eduardo Nunez, starting in place of Dozier, made it a three-run game early. Add on a two-out single from Josmil Pinto and the Twins had a 4-0 lead by the end of the inning, despite Sale striking out three men. Chicago took back a pair in the bottom of the second, but an RBI sacrifice fly attempt was turned into a nifty double play thanks to more promising defense by Arcia out of left field. I’ll admit I was a little worried about a sketchy fielder to begin with having to switch positions on short notice, but so far I’ve been largely impressed. Trevor Plouffe drove home his first of the season in the sixth with a double into the gap, but a wild pitch from Phil Hughes gave the White Sox the run back in the bottom half. Plouffe brought home another in the top of the eighth to make it a 6-3 game. Casey Fien and Michael Tonkin combined for a scoreless 7th and 8th, in anticipation of Glen Perkins, who I was going to get in the game no matter what the score was.


In the top of the ninth, the save situation disappeared when Kennys Vargas drove a ball down the line with men at first and second. He scored a run, but Joe Mauer attempted to beat the relay begun by J.B. Shuck, and failed, making an out at the plate that resulted in an awkward slide and a removal from the game. My trainer tells me he’ll have a sore ankle and his performance is going to take a bit of a hit for the next week or so. Perkins walked a man in the ninth but escaped unscathed, and once again the Twins eked out a win in their series finale.
Minnesota 7, Chicago 3
WP: Phil Hughes (1-1, 5.40) / LP: Chris Sale (0-1, 4.63)


Series Notes: Another disappointing effort as we can only seem to win by scoring seven runs in the third game of the series. A change of pace is definitely due, and I’m glad we’re heading back to Minny for six games at our own, comfortable park, to help us get back into the swing of things. We don’t play anybody outside of the division for another week and a half, so these first few games with our nearest rivals are going to be some of the most important in our entire season.


League Notes: The Twins rank 25th in this week’s Power Rankings. Atlanta, Seattle, and the Cubs round out the top three spots.

[BeeboBaggins]

It's great to see somebody in the Out of the Park community playing as the Twins! I'm running a Twins franchise in OOTP 16 myself. After going 67-95 the first season. I currently stand at 42-32 with an average 7th place (AL) offense and, believe it or not, the 4th best defense in runs allowed (AL).

Our hitting staff is lead by the fast contact hitter Danny Santana who is hitting .343 after only hitting .282 last season.

Our pitching staff is lead by the developing starter Kyle Gibson, who's ERA is at 3.39 with a 9-4 record. Our bullpen is anchored by Michael Tonkin (2.63) and Rule 5 draft pick Ernesto Frieri (1.96)

Hope you have the same success in your second season that I have had so far.

[Brananorama]

Originally Posted by BeeboBaggins

It's great to see somebody in the Out of the Park community playing as the Twins! I'm running a Twins franchise in OOTP 16 myself. After going 67-95 the first season. I currently stand at 42-32 with an average 7th place (AL) offense and, believe it or not, the 4th best defense in runs allowed (AL).

Our hitting staff is lead by the fast contact hitter Danny Santana who is hitting .343 after only hitting .282 last season.

Our pitching staff is lead by the developing starter Kyle Gibson, who's ERA is at 3.39 with a 9-4 record. Our bullpen is anchored by Michael Tonkin (2.63) and Rule 5 draft pick Ernesto Frieri (1.96)

Hope you have the same success in your second season that I have had so far.

Gibson is definitely a guy I will be watching all year to make sure he develops. If he pitches well, great, he can help anchor the rotation for a few years. If not, might be looking to ship him away during the winter sometime.

Danny Santana is another one of those guys I hope to depend upon this season -- although I do already know whether or not he regresses or continues living the high-BABIP life (I'm presently playing in June in the file). You'll just have to keep reading to see, I guess!

[Brananorama]

4/13/15
Kansas City Royals (2-4) at Minnesota Twins (2-4)
Edinson Volquez (0-1, 9.00) vs. Ervin Santana (0-1, 6.00)


Omar Infante got the scoring started in the second, as with men on the corners, he grounded into a double play that allowed Eric Hosmer to score. A two-out single from Alex Gordon in the next inning scored another to make it 2-0. A brief rain delay struck between the bottom of the third and the top of the fourth, but less than half an hour’s pause meant I was sending Ervin Santana back out there. Santana pitched well on the other end of the storm, even inducing a strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out with Kurt Suzuki. Another ground ball scored a third run for the Royals in the sixth. Edinson Volquez held the Twins darn near hostage for the majority of the game, and allowed just three hits in his six-plus innings of work. The Twins tried to get to work on his replacement, Luke Hochevar, and got the tying run to the plate with the top of the order. Danny Santana brought the Twins into the run column with a near double-play grounder to make it 3-1. Joe Mauer singled to keep the inning alive, but Brian Dozier fanned versus Kelvin Herrera to end the threat. (Dozier has been batting third so far for me, but has so far put up a .100/.250/.100 line and his having an abysmal start to his year.) Brian Duensing pitched two scoreless in relief of Ervin, and the Twins got Greg Holland for the ninth. Holland walked pinch-hitter Eduardo Escobar and brought the tying run to the plate in pinch-hitter Josmil Pinto. This was one of those moments where I felt like a genius manager, as Pinto unloaded one into the bullpen in left-center and sent the fanbase into a frenzy.


We headed to extra innings with Pinto behind the plate, Escobar at third, and Casey Fien on the mound. Fien gave up a base knock and a double to put two men in scoring position with nobody out, and with a set of lefties due up, I was faced with a choice: leave in Fien, go to one of two remaining lefties (Caleb Thielbar), or bring in Perk to shut them down? I opted to go for a more bearing-down move and had Glen Perkins enter the game. Perkins got a popup from Gordon and induced a groundball from Kendrys Morales, but Escobar -- whose natural position is by no means third base, allowed it to get away from him and into foul territory, scratching one across for Kansas City. (I’d think the wet field conditions might have attributed a bit to that misplay, as well.) Eric Hosmer added a double -- his third of the game -- and Rafael Furcal had a single that made it 6-3. Add in a ground-rule double for Lorenzo Cain and the Royals had a four-run advantage. Royal reliever Louis Coleman worked a 1-2-3 bottom half and Kansas City got the win.
Kansas City 7, Minnesota 3 -- F/10
WP: Louis Coleman (1-0, 0.00) / LP: Casey Fien (0-1, 9.00)
League Notes: The Chicago White Sox have picked up 39-year-old free agent utility infielder Marco Scutaro on a one-year deal worth $812k. Just two years removed from an All-Star season with the San Francisco Giants, Scutaro played in just five games last year and will serve as a depth man for Chicago.
It’s tough news for Tampa Bay, as their strong young starter Alex Cobb will miss over a year with a harsh elbow ligament reconstruction surgery. The road to recovery is largely uphill for 27-year-old Cobb, who posted ERAs under 3.00 in his last two seasons as a starter with the Rays.
~~~

4/15/15
Kansas City Royals (3-4) at Minnesota Twins (2-5)
Danny Duffy (0-0, 3.60) vs. Kyle Gibson (1-0, 0.00)


The Twins find themselves in a situation where they need to get on a roll quickly if they want .500 to seem like a somewhat reachable goal throughout the year. I’d rather hover around the .500 mark throughout than get too far behind and feel like we’re playing catch-up against our remaining number of games. The Royals opened the scoring today with a two-run single in a bases-loaded spot for Rafael Furcal. After Kyle Gibson re-loaded the bases with a walk, Salvador Perez smacked a deep fly to left that wound up nothing more than a sac fly to make it 3-0 Royals. The score then held and the game progressed quickly through the fifth inning, with Gibson allowing no more runs and Danny Duffy not having allowed a Twins runner on base safe for by the base on balls. Kyle began to struggle in the sixth, walking his third man (no strikeouts yet) and nearly allowing a runner to score -- save for an outfield assist from the arm of Torii Hunter, and Gibson finished the inning without another run allowed.


The Twins finally broke up Duffy’s no-hitter when Joe Mauer laced a double to straightaway center field, but he was left at third. Brian Duensing threw two perfect innings in relief of Gibson. J.R. Graham added a scoreless top of the ninth, and Greg Holland vied for a more successful save situation against Minnesota. Kennys Vargas wound up coming to the plate as the tying run, but was set down on strikes to give the Royals the victory.
Kansas City 3, Minnesota 0
WP: Danny Duffy (1-0, 1.50) / LP: Kyle Gibson (1-1, 0.64) / SV: Greg Holland (2, 7.71)


~~~
4/16/15
Kansas City Royals (4-4) at Minnesota Twins (2-6)
Jason Vargas (0-1, 10.38) vs. Ricky Nolasco (0-0, 9.00)
It didn’t take long for Ricky Nolasco to give up his first run in this outing, as three batters in Jarrod Dyson had already scored to make it a 1-0 game. Salvador Perez followed with a second run, scoring on a double play. Brian Dozier got just his third hit of the year in the second inning. I’ve left him batting third waiting for him to get hot again, but oh, man, that .120/.267/.120 line is not remotely attractive. Oswaldo Arcia, who’s thus far been the team’s best hitter, doubled to raise his average to .313, then scored on a Kennys Vargas fly ball -- but a sacrifice fly on the Royals’ side of things put the score to 3-1. Eric Hosmer scored two with a single later in the inning. After back-to-back walks opened Ricky’s fourth, I’d had enough and brought in long man Tim Stauffer for already the fourth time in nine games. Stauffer quickly got a couple grounders and ended the inning. The Twins never got anything going off Jason Vargas, who was lifted in the sixth due to hamstring soreness. After that, it didn’t take much longer for Kansas City to finish out the sweep, as with two men on in the bottom of the ninth, Greg Holland clocked in a one-out save to put the Twins away.
Kansas City 5, Minnesota 1
WP: Jason Vargas (1-1, 5.40) / LP: Ricky Nolasco (0-1, 11.25) / SV: Greg Holland (3, 7.20)
Series Notes: Disappointing all around. While the positives to take away from this can be that we’ve seen a lot now from Thielbar, Duensing, Graham, and Stauffer, and they’ve all been great so far (even if a few more strikeouts wouldn’t be rejected), the fact remains that the offense -- particularly the power -- needs a major lift, and players like Dozier and Danny Santana really need to hit a stride to get this team running. Already five games under .500, I need a big showing in the next series or else I might start to get worried.
League Notes: The Cardinals have extended their new right fielder, as 25-year-old Jason Heyward has signed himself a 5-year, $95MM deal that will keep him in St. Louis through the 2020 season. Heyward is currently awaiting an injury diagnosis following a bruised jaw a day ago.
The Detroit Tigers have scooped up international free agent Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. The 16-year-old Dominican right fielder takes after his father and projects for incredible hitting talent.
The Miami Marlins have signed catcher Lorenzo Quintana out of free agency on a one-year, $1.02MM deal after the 26-year-old took a year off while playing in Cuba.
Texas Rangers starter Ross Detweiler has uncovered bone spurs in his elbow and will miss five months.
Transaction Notes: I’ve decided to make an offer to IFA starting pitcher Yadier Alvarez, a 19-year-old Cuban righty whose claim to fame is overpowering hitters. The kid tells me I’m up against the Angels in terms of bidding for his services, but I offer $1.66MM out of my $24 million free agency money pool and expect to hear back soon.

[mpokrandt]

I'm 29-35 in the 2015 season, in spite of having several significant injuries:

Milone, May, Nolasco, Santana and Escobar out for 4+ months each!

Torii Hunter has been worth every penny of his $10.5M contract. He was AL Player of the Month in May, hitting .321 with 10 HR and 29 RBI's in the month. He's first in the AL in All Star Voting for RF.

[mpokrandt]

What off season moves did you make between 2015 and 2016 seasons?

[Brananorama]

Originally Posted by mpokrandt

What off season moves did you make between 2015 and 2016 seasons?

Actually, this dynasty is in 2015. (Not sure if I confused you by branding it as an OOTP 16 dynasty.)

[Brananorama]

4/17/15
Cleveland Indians (6-2) at Minnesota Twins (2-7)
Zach McAllister (1-0, 1.50) vs. Tommy Milone (0-1, 13.50)


The Indians have come running out of the gate to take over first place in the Central for the time being. This will be an important series for us, as while our record is awful, the division is still pretty closely knit, and a hot streak could swing things around at any moment this early in the year. (If we want any hope of relevance for longer than a month or two, early-season luck is the way to get it.) Trevor Plouffe hit a deep triple off the right-field overhang and scored on a groundout from Kurt Suzuki to give the Twins the first lead of the night. Suzuki had another opportunity in the next inning with the bags full and two down, and delivered an opposite-field bloop hit to make it 2-0 Twins.


The Indians got a run across in the fifth, Jesus Aguilar doubling home Jason Kipnis from first base and halving our lead. Milone induced a 6-4-3 to strand Aguilar at third and keep the Twins on top. Cleveland did wind up tying the game on a two-out single off the bat of Nick Swisher in Tommy Milone’s final inning. Aguilar added another extra-base hit with an RBI triple in the eighth off Caleb Thielbar to give the Indians a 3-2 lead. The Twins got pinch-runner Eduardo Nunez to second base after a dropped pop fly allowed Plouffe aboard with one out and the bottom of the order due up. Suzuki laced a double into left-center, tying the game. Hicks grounded out, but Danny Santana put the Twins on top with a base hit to center that made it 4-3 Minnesota. Glen Perkins came on in his first save opportunity and looked fine until two outs reached the scoreboard -- at which point he walked Yan Gomes, then allowed a game-tying triple to Michael Brantley. An infield single followed for Brandon Moss and just like that, we were losing again. Cody Allen entered to close out the ninth and set us down in order, complete with a pair of strikeouts, finishing off our fourth straight loss.
Cleveland 5, Minnesota 4
WP: Kyle Crockett (2-0, 2.70 -- BS: 1) / LP: Glen Perkins (0-1, 6.00 -- BS: 1) / SV: Cody Allen (6, 0.00)
League Notes: Tampa Bay first baseman James Loney will miss the remainder of the 2015 season with a ruptured medial collateral ligament. Jason Heyward’s diagnosis wound up as a fractured wrist, and he will be out of the action for at least six weeks.
~~~

4/18/15
Cleveland Indians (7-2) at Minnesota Twins (2-8)
Corey Kluber (1-1, 1.93) vs. Phil Hughes (1-1, 5.40)


The Twins have found themselves facing off against 2014 award winners recently this month, as both the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young of last year’s American League have been in the opposing box score at one point or another. In addition, we entered today really needing to give our bullpen a break, as they’ve been a bit overworked over the first two weeks of this campaign. Unfortunately, a fluke balk gave the Indians their first run in the contest with two down in the first. Corey Kluber proved a little rattled in his half of the first, walking two in a row, then hurling a wild pitch past catcher Yan Gomes, and setting up a game-tying groundout off the bat of Oswaldo Arcia. Jose Ramirez gave the Tribe the lead back with a two-out single in the second. The game was tied immediately, however, with Trevor Plouffe’s first homer of the year over the porch in right -- just the sixth of the year for Minnesota. It was followed by the seventh, as Kurt Suzuki pulled one deep and made it 3-2 Twins. (I’ve actually been surprised with Kurt so far; I was expecting Josmil Pinto to finally win the job almost instantly, but Suzuki’s still hitting over .300 and leads the team in homers. I mean, we’re paying the man and I expected him to be earning that money as a prospect’s backup, but if he’s gonna put up solid offensive numbers again, I cannot complain -- nor can I give Josmil the job yet.)


Lonnie Chisenhall doubled and scored to tie it up in the third, but the Twins retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth on a very deep sacrifice fly thanks to Torii Hunter. At this point, Hughes was cruising, having walked none as per usual and struck out six -- but reached trouble in the top of the sixth, giving up a two-run homer to Jason Kipnis and giving Cleveland the lead right back. The Twins made a run for another score on the other side of the stretch, with Brian Dozier doubling Joe Mauer to third base. Arcia came through with a single over the second-base bag, tying the game at five. Hunter grounded in Dozier to give Minnesota the lead once again with just two innings to play.


Brian Duensing threw the eighth entering his second inning of work, and retired the first man he faced on a nifty play from short -- but Danny Santana began walking funny immediately after the play’s conclusion -- and shortly after that was resting on the ground waiting for the trainers. He was removed, and I’ll have more on his situation after the game. With lefties due up in the ninth and a one-run lead, Glen Perkins got his second save shot of the year -- and blew it again, giving up a two-out, two-run homer to Yan Gomes that made it 7-6 Cleveland.


Cody Allen entered for the ninth, and with one out, Dozier doubled Mauer to third for the second time in the game, putting the tying and winning runs in scoring position in front of a hot Arcia. On a 2-1 count, Arcia ripped one back up the middle that landed easily in center, plated both runs, and gave the Twins a much-needed exhale. It was a hard-fought win with a few more bumps than there probably should have been, but at least we added a third number to the win column.
Cleveland 7, Minnesota 8
WP: Glen Perkins (1-1, 9.00 -- BS: 2) / LP: Cody Allen (0-1, 2.45 -- BS: 1)
Injury Notes: Unfortunately for Danny Santana, a rough beginning to 2015 gets even rougher, as he’s strained his oblique and is going to hit the disabled list for about three weeks. He’ll join Jordan Schafer as the second Twin to go down this April, and this transaction necessitates an addition to the 40-man roster, as the only position player in this group not on the active list is catcher Chris Herrmann, who is himself injured in Rochester. Rather than opt to get a look at a prospect, I’ll be bringing up Triple-A shortstop Argenis Diaz, who has little to no hitting potential but can more than hold his own at both shortstop and third. This will mean Eduardo Escobar gets a spot in the starting lineup for a while, and Diaz will serve as defensive bench depth.
Transaction Notes: I was pleased to see that starting pitcher Yadier Alvarez has accepted our offer to play in our international complex. He’s been added to the roster for this year’s Dominican Summer League and will look to begin a long journey building up his pitches to major-league quality. (He has 9/10 potential for his fastball and slider, with not much in the way of movement or control. I’m interested to see how he develops.)
League Notes: Another injury to a major National League pitcher has been revealed, as Nats’ Stephen Strasburg will miss the remainder of the season, a year in which Washington is expected to make a serious run at the pennant. As the Nationals had previously been considering trading one of their six incredible starters for more offensive depth, this may have made their decision a little easier, and they might run through the rest of the year with the remaining five men.
A surprising trade was also heralded today, as the Detroit Tigers are parting ways with Victor Martinez, who they’d signed to a four-year extension this winter. V-Mart goes to Baltimore in exchange for Travis Snider and catching prospect Chance Sisco, who will begin play for his new team at Single-A Lakeland.


4/19/15
Cleveland Indians (7-3) at Minnesota Twins (3-8)
Trevor Bauer (0-0, 7.71) vs. Ervin Santana (0-1, 4.85)


We have our shot today at winning our first series of the season, and I don’t want to pass it up. It’d be a big morale boost for both the team and myself. With Daniel-San out for the time being, my lineup looks a little funky, as I’m just batting Eduardo Escobar leadoff, due to similar speed and switch-hitting as his predecessor, pre-injury. Brian Dozier has been slotted down to 8th due to his slump and Kurt Suzuki is batting fifth behind Torii Hunter until he decides to cool off. Oswaldo Arcia has taken over the third slot. The lineup hasn’t really churned out much so far so I’m not really sure what direction I want to take it. At the moment it looks a little sloppy, which I don’t like. We’ll see how this batting order does until Danny comes back and then we’ll assess from there, but for the most part I don’t want to do any shuffling unless we get some sort of striking negative trend.


The one constant in our lineup so far has been Arcia, who unloaded on a fastball to dead center, scoring himself and Joe Mauer on a two-run shot in the bottom of the first. Jason Kipnis evened the ledger with a two-run shot of his own the next inning. Torii made an incredible catch at the right field wall but collided into the padding pretty harshly in the fourth. He was taken out of the game, replaced by Shane Robinson, and we’ll see what HIS deal is after this one ends. It wasn’t until the sixth that the Tribe were one-up on us, as an RBI groundout from Nick Swisher made it 3-2 Cleveland. Ervin Santana was having an overall good game, with no walks and three K’s, although a few too many hits than I would have liked (eight by the end of the sixth.) Caleb Thielbar stranded a pair of Indians on the corners in the eighth to keep it a one-run game. The Twins tied the game in the bottom of the eighth, when Aaron Hicks doubled home Dozier and advanced Trevor Plouffe to third. The bases were loaded with two out for Arcia, who delivered once again with a two-run hit to center.


With the Twins up 5-3 in the ninth, but Glen Perkins both tired and in a bit of a funk, I left Thielbar in to work a second inning in relief. Something I’m looking to do with this pen is squeeze a few more outs out of them than I might normally ask; if only because I’m not 100% confident in this rotation and need to know that my pen guys can handle higher workloads without blowing out their arms. Thielbar delivered a perfect ninth, and the Twins won the series over first-place Cleveland.
Cleveland 3, Minnesota 5
WP: Caleb Thielbar (1-0, 1.42) / LP: Trevor Bauer (0-1, 6.57)
Injury Notes: Here we are again with more injury notes. Torii Hunter has been diagnosed with wrist tendinitis and will miss the next two weeks. I’ve decided to give both Shane Robinson and Aaron Hicks some starting time as a result, with the former slotting into right field during Torii’s fortnight of absence. As it stands, I still need a bench bat to cover Robinson, who serves as our regular cross-outfield backup. I’ll be calling up another man to the 40-man, this time AAA outfielder Eric Farris, whose only major-league action has been fourteen games with Milwaukee between 2011-2012. Farris is a swift defender who can cover all three outfield positions, just like Robinson had been doing off the bench. At the moment my call-ups have been reserved to those minor-league names who don’t have much of a future with the contending version of this ballclub in a year or two, as I’d like to get as much development as possible out of the big names before bringing them up.
League Notes: The Twins place 26th in this week’s Power Rankings, dropping a slot from last week. Andruw Jones signs back with an MLB club, as he’s elected to pen a one-year, $1.95MM deal with Arizona after two 20+ homer seasons in Japan. Out of Washington, the starting pitcher trade wound up going through after all, and one might wonder if the Nationals had decided they were parting ways with one of their starters even before Strasburg went down. Washington ships out 29-year-old Gio Gonzalez to the Angels in exchange for 2B Grant Green and relief prospect Chris Ellis.

[Brananorama]

UPDATE:

I've decided to go with a new format, as having played through the dynasty for over half of the 2015 season, I'm realizing I can do a much cleaner, more easily-readable, and much more interesting dynasty if I condense things into a weekly update with better formatting.

As such, I'm going to be starting a new thread and remodeling all of the dynasty posts so far. I'm not using a different file or starting my game over -- I'm simply cleaning everything up and putting it a new thread for convenience's sake. I hope to get back into Twins Territory soon!