Twins infielder Jose Miranda…
Slashed .268/.325/.426 with 119 hits, 15 home runs and 66 RBI in 2022.
He hit .284/.322/.441 with 114 hits and 28 doubles in 2024, and during that same summer — really, the season’s only highlight — tied a 73-year-old major league record with 12 consecutive hits.
Yes, there were injuries and slow periods that resulted in minor league demotions, but this is also a young player, who, at 27, has played in only four seasons at the major league level.
Given his track record over a relatively short period of time, I would say the numbers speak for themselves and that he deserves a shot with the Twins in 2026.
But that will not be the case after Miranda and several others were outrighted off the 40-man roster earlier this month. The others were pitchers Genesis Cabrera, Anthony Misiewicz, Michael Tonkin and Thomas Hatch, according to MLB Trade Rumors.
Talk about throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
And the decision to let Miranda go appears to run counter to team practice, according to chief of baseball operations Derek Falvey.
“If you’re in a market like ours and you’re going to bring up players, you’re going to bring up guys that aren’t quite there yet,” Falvey told the Star Tribune on Oct. 1. “They need to be given runway, need to be given development and need to grow at this level.”
OK. So where was the runway for Miranda?
Extra innings…
–The hardest job in baseball? It belongs to former Twin LaTroy Hawkins, who has reportedly been named the team’s bullpen coach.
Hawkins pitched for 21 seasons, nine of them for the Twins after the team drafted him in 1991. He began his career as a starter and then switched to the bullpen where he recorded 127 career saves.
What makes this the hardest job in baseball? The Twins effectively don’t have a bullpen after they traded away their best relievers during the trade deadline, including closer Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax and the artist formerly known as Louie Varland, who set a new record with 15 appearances during the 2025 postseason.
The current 40-man roster shows the following relievers: Travis Adams, Kody Funderburk, Pierson Ohl, Cole Sands and Justin Topa. Good luck, Hawk.
–It’s hard to react to this news without a little sadness. Tommy Watkins, who spent nearly 30 years in the Twins organization and was most recently the team’s third-base coach under former manager Rocco Baldelli, has reportedly accepted a job with the Atlanta Braves.
Prior to hiring Derek Shelton to be the new manager of the Twins, Vance Wilson’s name had been floated as a possible manager for the club. He’s the third-base coach for the Kansas City Royals, which prompted me to ask: Why him and not Watkins? Good luck, Tommy.
Source: Newspapers.com