5 Thoughts: Big Returns, Rooker Time, and a cap tip to a Hall of Famer

The Twins got back 3 key contributors (Josh Donaldson, Michael Pineda and Byron Buxton) and things changed in a hurry

1. The Twins got a few spoonfuls of good news this week.

The last time we spoke the Minnesota Twins had just finished the intensive exercise of sitting out the surprisingly active MLB trade deadline. I wrote for Twins Daily this week that Minnesota will now attempt to accomplish a feat that we haven’t seen since the 2009 Yankees, by winning a World Series without adding a key piece at the trade deadline. Every club since then, from the 2010 Giants to the 2019 Nationals, has added an important piece midstream. Can the Twins buck that trend in 2020?

[I have to include a thank you to those of you who got the joke when I said in last week’s newsletter that now that the Twins had failed to win the Trade Deadline, “Minnesota sets its sights on a slightly lesser, secondary goal, a World Series.”]

Anyway, the Twins got their good news in the form of a trio of returners, with all due respect to reliever Cody Stashak. Michael Pineda is up and running in the rotation. Josh Donaldson hit two line …