It's hard to quibble with the moves the Twins have made recently since they are in first place (19-16) in the AL Central. (Interesting side note heading into today's doubleheader: Minnesota has played just 35 games this year because of off days and rainouts, easily the fewest in the majors. The Angels and Diamondbacks have already played 43 apiece).
So treat this as more of a coincidental moment in time than a wholesale critique of some of the Twins' roster moves over the past couple seasons.
But: three former Twins players hit huge home runs for their new teams on Wednesday — and all of them relate to the catching position.
*Kurt Suzuki, the catcher the Twins let go in favor of signing Jason Castro, hit a three-run bomb for the Braves in an 8-4 victory over Toronto. Still, Suzuki is hitting just .230 and the Twins have upgraded notably on defense at the catcher position in 2017.
*Aaron Hicks, the outfielder the Twins traded before the 2016 season for catcher John Ryan Murphy, blasted a three-run homer for the Yankees in a win over the Royals. Hicks, if you haven't been paying attention, is having a fantastic year for New York. That was his seventh home run already and he has an eye-popping 1.080 OPS. Murphy is languishing in Class AAA (still), hitting .232 for Rochester and not apparently fitting into the Twins' plans any more. So that trade doesn't look so good right now.
*Chris Herrmann, a former Twins catcher/utility player, hit a walk-off home run for the Diamondbacks against the Mets. Herrmann, whom the Twins traded for power hitting prospect Daniel Palka, has become a solid reserve for Arizona.
I look forward to huge contributions Thursday from Juan Centeno, Brian Harper and Dave Engle.
