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Minnesota Twins Looking At Former Royals Starter… |
The Minnesota Twins are searching for pitching help and they were rumored to be among the finalists for Chris Capuano, who ultimately signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now, they might find a former Kansas City Royal starter to their liking, according to Fox Sports Jon Paul Morosi.
Morosi writes, “The Minnesota Twins were among the finalists for newly-signed Dodgers lefty Chris Capuano, and now general manager Terry Ryan must turn to other options as he attempts to upgrade his rotation. One name on the Twins’ list: Jeff Francis. The Twins have had initial talks with a representative for Francis, a source said, and the sides are likely to have further discussions at the winter meetings in Dallas next week. The Canadian left-hander went 6-16 with a 4.82 ERA for the Royals this season, his first as an American League pitcher.” While Francis’ numbers do not look good, especially the 16 wins, it’s also clear that he was playing for a poor team. Then again, the Twins were right alongside the Royals near season’s end. The Twins are certainly aware of what Francis will bring to the mound, considering he faced them three times last season. His ultimate line against the Twins? He went 0-2 in 21 innings with a 4.64 ERA. If you like reading our blog, remember to bookmark it. Posted in twins-news | Comments Off
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MLB buzz |
The Minnesota Twins were among the finalists for newly-signed Dodgers lefty Chris Capuano, and now general manager Terry Ryan must turn to other options as he attempts to upgrade his rotation. One name on the Twins’ list: Jeff Francis. The Twins have had initial talks with a representative for Francis, a source said, and the sides are likely to have further discussions at the winter meetings in Dallas next week. The Canadian left-hander went 6-16 with a 4.82 ERA for the Royals this season, his first as an American League pitcher. The Twins also are interested in free-agent right-hander Edwin Jackson but are wary of his price tag, according to a major-league source. Jackson, represented by Scott Boras, is coming off a season in which he went 12-9 with a 3.79 ERA in 199-2/3 innings for the White Sox and Cardinals. The starting rotation is one of many areas where the Twins must improve if they want to contend in 2012. At present, their rotation figures to include a combination of Carl Pavano, Scott Baker, Francisco Liriano, Brian Duensing, Nick Blackburn, and Kevin Slowey; Baker and Blackburn were sidelined by injuries at the end of the 2011 season. – Jon Paul Morosi If you like reading our blog, remember to bookmark it. Posted in twins-news | Comments Off
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Minnesota Twins interview Ryan Lefebvre for… |
By RUSTIN DODDThe Kansas City StarBy RUSTIN DODD The Kansas City Star Updated: 2011-10-29T04:29:30Z The Royals could soon face the possibility of losing one of the franchise’s most visible faces. Longtime Royals broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre has interviewed to be the lead radio play-by-play voice of the Minnesota Twins, the franchise with which he began his career. Lefebvre’s connection to the job opening in Minnesota was first reported by the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Thursday. The report characterized Lefebvre as the front-runner for the position, while also stating that he “could receive an offer from the Twins soon, according to people familiar with the search.” The Twins contacted Lefebvre about the position, and he has yet to indicate whether an offer from the Twins would mean an automatic career move. He told The Star on Friday evening that he would refrain from speaking publicly while the Twins’ search is ongoing. As the lead broadcaster for Royals telecasts, Lefebvre is contracted out through Fox Sports Kansas City but is also an employee of the Royals. Lefebvre’s latest contract expires at the end of the calendar year. Royals officials say they are aware of Lefebvre’s status as a finalist. And a potential departure by Lefebvre could be a blow to an organization that has had few major changes in the broadcast booths during its history. Lefebvre recently completed his 13th season as a Royals broadcaster and his fourth as a full-time member of the Royals television broadcasts. Radio voice Denny Matthews has been with the team since its inception, while Bob Davis spent 11 years in the Royals’ television booth before switching places with Lefebvre four year ago. The position in Minnesota would be a return to full-time radio broadcasting for Lefebvre. The job became vacant when longtime Twins radio voice John Gordon retired after the 2011 season. In the past, Lefebvre has thanked Gordon for helping him develop as a broadcaster during his early years in the business. Lefebvre was a three-time All-Big Ten selection for the University of Minnesota baseball program in the early ’90s before graduating in 1994. One year later, Lefebvre began his professional broadcasting career with the Twins. He remains close with some members of the Minnesota organization, but his tenure in Kansas City has now surpassed his time spent in Minnesota.
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Tosoni’s Blast Gives Twins 7-4 Win Over Royals |
Read More: twins baseball, minnesota twins baseball, royals baseball, kansas city royals baseball, royals at twins, royals vs twins, twins royals score, twins royals recap, Bruce Chen (P – KAN), Carl Pavano (P – MIN), Joe Nathan (P – MIN), Denard Span (CF – MIN), Matt Tolbert (2B – MIN), Lorenzo Cain (CF – KAN), Trevor Plouffe (SS – MIN), Danny Valencia (3B – MIN), Vin Mazzaro (P – KAN), Rene Tosoni (RF – MIN), Chris Parmelee (1B – MIN), Ben Revere (CF – MIN), Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals, Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins, Sep 27, 2011 7:10 PM CDT The Minnesota Twins gave their fans at Target Field on Tuesday night at least one good memory from the last month of this season, as they powered their way past the Kansas City Royals by a score of 7-4. After the Royals got an RBI single from Lorenzo Cain in the top of the second to take a 1-0 lead, Chris Parmelee answered by leading off the bottom half of the inning with his fourth home run of the year to tie the game at one. In the bottom of the fifth, Denard Span’s triple with two outs plated Matt Tolbert to make the score 2-1 in favor of Minnesota. Ben Revere followed that up with another triple to bring home Span and make the score 3-1, but Revere was thrown out at the plate attempting to stretch it into an inside-the-park home run. The Royals scratched out another run to make the score 4-2 in the top of the sixth inning, but in the bottom of the sixth, the Twins really made their mark on this one. Danny Valencia, Parmelee, and Trevor Plouffe started the inning with three consecutive singles off of Royals’ starter Sean O’Sullivan to load the bases with nobody out. O’Sullivan was then lifted for reliever Vin Mazzaro to face former French Resistance Fighter Rene Tosoni (™ Twinkie Town). Tosoni took Mazzaro’s first pitch and turned it around for a grand slam to right field, making the score 7-2 in favor of the Twins. Kansas City managed a couple of runs in the top of the ninth off of Joe Nathan, but got no closer than 7-4 as the Twins took home the victory. The Twins will attempt to avoid becoming the second team in Minnesota history to lose 100 games when they play their 2011 season finale against the Royals on Wednesday night at Target Field. The first pitch for that one is again scheduled for 7:10 PM Central time, and the starting pitchers will be left-hander Bruce Chen (12-8, 3.98 ERA) for Kansas City and righty Carl Pavano (8-13, 4.48 ERA) for the Twins. That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow. Posted in twins-news | Comments Off
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Tosoni’s slam helps Twins avoid 100th loss |
Minnesota’s Rene Tosoni, left, is greeted by teammates after his grand slam during the sixth inning against Kansas City on Tuesday in Minneapolis. Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota Twins entered the final series of the season with one goal – to avoid losing 100 games. They’re one game away from making that happen. In a season that has been so disappointing, they’ll take any small victory they can get. Rene Tosoni hit a grand slam and Chris Parmelee also went deep to lift the Twins to a 7-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night. Anthony Swarzak (4-7) gave up two runs on 10 hits with six strikeouts in 6Zc innings for the Twins (62-99), who are hoping to avoid becoming just the second team in franchise history to lose 100 games in a season. “We want to win tomorrow and stay away from that stuff,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. Sean O’Sullivan (2-6) gave up six runs on nine hits with one strikeout in five innings for the Royals. Johnny Giavotella had two doubles and a triple and Salvador Perez added two hits and an RBI for Kansas City. O’Sullivan gave up three straight singles to start the sixth before leaving. Tosoni hit Vin Mazzaro’s first pitch well into the right field seats for a 7-2 lead. Tosoni said he couldn’t remember the last time he hit a grand slam. He didn’t hit one in the minors and couldn’t remember hitting one as a prep star in Canada, either. “It felt pretty good off the bat,” Tosoni said with a chuckle. The Royals scored twice in the ninth off Twins closer Joe Nathan before Eric Hosmer struck out to end the game. Parmelee had two hits to raise his average to .351, continuing his impressive showing since being called up from Double-A New Britain. His 427-foot homer to right-center field tied the game 1-1 in the second inning. Trevor Plouffe had three hits while Ben Revere and Denard Span had RBI-triples for the Twins. Revere tried to turn his into an inside-the-park home run in the fifth, but he was thrown out by Alcides Escobar at home after running through coach Steve Liddle’s stop sign. It ended up not mattering after Tosoni a fastball from Mazzaro soaring out of the ballpark for just the second grand slam by a Twins player this season. “I was trying to make contact on the guy and get a double play,” Mazzaro said. “It was just middle down and I was trying to go in on him and it just leaked back over the plate.” The Twins have only lost 100 games one other time in their proud history, back in 1982 when they went 60-102. “I haven’t talked about it much with other guys, but you don’t want to get to that mark,” Tosoni said. “We want to finish winning, so that’s our plan.” The struggles this season seemingly came out of the nowhere. The Twins won the previous two AL Central titles and came into this season brimming with confidence. But injuries to practically every starter on the roster, including stars Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Jim Thome and Jason Kubel, were too much to overcome. They sunk to the bottom of the American League and started the day a full 10 games behind the improving Royals for last place in the division. Kansas City Minnesota ab r h bi ab r h bi Dyson cf 4 0 0 1 Span cf 4 1 1 1 Giavtll 2b 5 1 3 0 Revere lf 4 0 1 1 Butler dh 5 1 2 1 Valenci 3b 4 1 2 0 Hosmer 1b 5 0 1 0 Parmel 1b 4 2 2 1 S.Perez c 4 1 2 1 Plouffe ss 4 1 3 0 Mostks 3b 4 0 2 0 Tosoni dh 4 1 1 4 L.Cain rf 4 0 1 1 Benson rf 4 0 0 0 Maier lf 4 0 1 0 Tolbert 2b 3 1 1 0 AEscor ss 3 1 2 0 RRiver c 3 0 0 0 Totals 38 4 14 4 Totals 34 7 11 7 Kansas City 010 001 002— 4 Minnesota 010 024 00x— 7 E—O’Sullivan (1), R.Rivera (3), Plouffe (12), Benson (2). DP—Kansas City 1, Minnesota 1. LOB—Kansas City 9, Minnesota 3. 2B—Giavotella 2 (9), Butler (43), Moustakas (18), A.Escobar (21). 3B—Giavotella (4), Span (5), Revere (5). HR—Parmelee (4), Tosoni (5). SF—Dyson. IP H R ER BB SO Kansas City O’Sullivan L,2-6 5 9 6 6 0 1 Mazzaro 3 2 1 1 0 0 Minnesota Swarzak W,4-7 6Zc 10 2 2 0 6 Capps Xc 0 0 0 0 1 Perkins 1 1 0 0 0 0 Nathan 1 3 2 2 0 2 O’Sullivan pitched to 3 batters in the 6th. HBP—by Swarzak (A.Escobar). WP—O’Sullivan 2. T—2:28. A—34,228 (39,500). Tags: What do you guys think about this. Posted in twins-news | Comments Off
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