I am writing this in pure hatred of the f'n save stat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! A look into my passion for the Twins, the passion for the hatred of the save stat, and my love for Hooters deep fried pickles, wings, and beer.

Perkins was up during the game to pitch earlier. Now instead of putting him in, in a very important spot, you leave him on the bench not even pitching in the game in extra innings. I am not even blaming Gardy, I am blaming the stupid f'n "save" stat that I have blogged about before. Some manager, some time, will figure out that it is best for the team to use your best players when the time calls for it. Not when you have a f'n "save situation". Hey lets put my best reliever out there when we are up 3 runs and nobody out because it is a "save situation". Nooooooo why would anybody do that. Oh, I know because we made a stupid stat that everybody follows now. OMG< yes I used a text term that I think is stupid, but at this point I am frustrated and it is my blog and I can write whatever I want.

If you had any type of team, whether it be hockey, baseball, football, basketball, would you let one of your best players sit on the bench when healthy? The answer is no, and teams do this in MLB, and it blows my mind. Or they use them in useless situations like up 3 runs in one inning to get a STUPID STAT THAT SHOULDN'T BE THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!.

All I can say right now is I am going to go off every time on this blog every time that Gardy doesn't use the best player in his relief corps. Or burn him when they are up 3 runs w/ one inning to play, just so I have some release of my pissed offness.

2 more @ Tigers
3 @ Indians
4 @ Red Sox
3 vs Orioles
3 Vs White Sox
3 @ Braves
3 vs Red Sox

Combined Record 65-64 .504

Looking at what has happened so far this year being 11-11, I find the next 21 games very important on a lot of ways in my opinion. We have a .500 record now, we play decent teams with a combined record of what we do. I think a lot can happen good or bad.

I really want the Twins to play meaningful games in the months of August. I am encouraged in a few ways watching the first 22 games and being .500. I have a tough time thinking we can compete against anybody from the AL East for a Wild Card, and I have a tough time thinking we can beat the Tigers record. One thing is you never know though. Here are a couple of things that are going to make or break the chances of playing meaningful games this year, or build our value for the next few years.

1. Justin Morneau, yes he is my favorite Twin, my hope for him sometimes subsides reality I guess. I was really hoping he would have a good year this year for 2 reasons, we either get great value for him for the deadline, or he helps carry the team to contention this year. He has missed some HR pitches in the first games of the season, a lot of them. He finally hit a hanging breaking ball for a HR on Sunday. I hope he finds it and has a good May, as 17th in the AL for 1B in slugging percentage isn't what you want from that spot.

2. Chris Parmelee-- Goes hand in hand w/ #1. 16th in the AL in batting AVG, 20th in SLG for RF in the AL. He isn't producing yet, I don't know how long you give him. I was excited to see him start the year with the Twins, he has been impressive in the field, at the plate he is less than desired. He was supposed to be the guy that replaces Morneau. What happens if he can't live up to either spot, we put a lot of time into this guy not to pan out. Times a ticking I think, the next 3 weeks could be interesting for Parmelee.

3. Trevor Plouffe 12th among 3B in SLG, 16th in RBI in the AL. This certainly isn't going to cut it. Is Escobar really going to be the 3B over Plouffe. How do you not play Escobar right now. Escobar is batting .438 in 32 AB, including more RBI than Plouffe. I was looking forward to Plouffe being an everyday 3B for the Twins, I thought if he was healthy he could produce, this hasn't happened, defense has been suspect, plate appearances have not been very good.

4. Lineup:

Brian Dozier 7/10 among 2B in Batting Avg. .243
Joe Mauer 3/10 among Catchers in Avg batting .289
Josh Willingham 4/16 among LF in RBI 2/16 SLG
Justin Morneau 13/17 among 1B in SLG 9/17 in RBI
Trevor Plouffe 8/13 among 3B in SLG 16/16 in RBI
Chris Parmelee 12/13 among RF in SLG 12/13 in RBI
Ryan Doumit batting .197 in 66 AB
Aaron Hicks 14/14 among CF in Batting Avg. .113
Pedro Florimon batting .250 in 40 AB

This lineup is really losing its luster, especially with Mauer struggling. Our best batter isn't even in the starting lineup. The only player living up to his reputation may be Willingham. Gardy is having a tough time finding the right mix to get this thing going. This trend has started to get ugly, and I am not seeing anything getting better soon, except for the hope of Morneau, and Hicks is looking a lot better. Arcia and Escobar are going to probably get some good playing time.

5. Starting rotation-- Question mark coming in, Question mark going forward. Pelfrey yet to have a quality start. Worley hasn't looked good at all. Hendriks already sent down. Hernandez has looked good, small sample size. Diamond, right where he left off. Gibson 3.5ish in AAA. Correia is the only bright spot in the rotation, as this has been well documented. This rotation has 7 people 5 spots, this will be interesting with Hernandez pitching well, Gibson coming up.

1. Correia
2. Diamond
3. Worley
4. Pelfrey
5. Hernandez
6. Gibson
7. Hendriks.

Who are the ones left out if Hernandez keeps pitching well, Gibson coming up.

I am looking at the next 21 games and I am not looking optimistic. I have a bad feeling we are going to be 18-25 after 43 games. I think the only way I will be wrong is if Morneau gets confidence back after Sundays HR, the middle of the lineup is just average, the back of the rotation starts getting quality starts. I think the next 2 games at Detroit set the tone for the next 19, and when the Twins play in Detroit as of late, I am not feeling confident.

Think about last year watching the Twins pitching staff. What comes to mind right away? 1. Injuries 2. What are we going to get from Liriano tonight? 3. Who? 4. OMG!!! Capps is coming in!! 5. Our 3rd catcher is showing us how to pitch?

Every start was a circus it seemed. The only positives all year on the Twins pitching staff was Jared Burton, Glenn Perkins, Scott Diamond. Liam Hendriks had the chance of all chances, he started 16 games and got 1 win, 5 quality starts. At the beginning of last year, I honestly thought we had a chance to be competitive. Liriano was going to be the X factor, what happened was Gibson out, Baker out, Pavano out, Liriano traded. This lead to people we have never heard of going out there and starting games. If you don't get quality starts it doesn't help putting anyone on ease. Joe Mauer had a good year, he had to learn these guys coming in to pitch. He had to teach these guys things. He had it tough, I give him credit for those things, and having a great comeback season.

So far this year the Twins are 7-7, 5/14 in quality starts for the rotation so far. 35% of the starts have been "quality". This is without Scott Diamond who last year had 60% of his starts "quality". The rest of our rotation moving to a new league/new team.

Mike Pelfrey in 2011 had 45% of his starts as "quality". Kevin Correia in 2012 had 57% of his starts "quality". Vance Worley in 2012 had 56% of his starts quality starts. I am guessing Kyle Gibson will be our 5th starter soon this year, which you go down the line and puts you in a much better position to win games. Quality start, good offense, quality relief pitching gives you a good chance to win games. The San Fransisco Giants won the world series last year, 57% of the starts by the starting rotation were quality starts. Compare that to the Minnesota Twins (38%). Giants won 58% of there games, Twins won 40% of there games. I just want to put things in perspective around baseball records and quality starts. Then, look at how much our rotation has a chance to keep the Twins above .500.

All Division winners

Nationals 59%, won 60%
Reds 60%, won 60%
Giants 57%, won 58%
Yankees 50%, won 58% (3rd in MLB in runs scored)
Tigers 55%, won 54%
A's 55%, won 58%

All Division last place teams

Boston 44%, won 42%
Minnesota 38%, won 40%
Seattle 55%, (Vargas/Felix), won 46% (27th in the MLB runs scored)
Miami 56%, won 42% (29th in the MLB runs scored)
Houston 45%, won 34%
Colorado doesn't count
San Diego 46%, won 47%

There are a few exceptions which make sense, Seattle couldn't score runs, had Vargas and King Felix who always put up quality starts, you have Miami, who had good starting pitching, had team issues and couldn't score runs. Reality is it is pretty close to compare QS to overall record. As I watch the Twins this season so far, I have a lot more confidence when our pitchers go out there that they can last more than 3,4, 5 innings. I want to give some extra hope to the season, as we are 14 games in, and the Twins are still relative. If you go with the premise that QS = Win %, this is what our top 4 starters would give us this year.

Between Pelfrey in 2011, Worley, Diamond, Correia in 2012 60/111 starts were quality. 54% Detroit won the central last year winning 54% of there games. Just saying, sometimes it is hard to find hope with the Minnesota Twins projections, but watching some of the starts by our rotation is giving me some hope.

3 games in a row. My comfort after work is to come home and watch baseball w/ my daughter. When I got married I made the deal that when the Twins were on, I get control over the remote and I get to watch TwinsBaseball. Let me tell you the last week, Duluth has had the worst April weather since I have been alive I think. Windy, snowy, cold, not one good thing that brings spring into summer. No golf, going to Mondays Twins game at Target Field at 35 degrees, and horrible business due to bad driving conditions. I would love it to come home and relax and watch the Twins. Hell Joe Mauer is really fun to watch right now, Hicks was starting to look more comfortable, and the Twins won 2 games in a row, or I could say that Anaheim had no care of being in Minnesota and playing those games. The Twins have won 4 of the last 16 games vs the Sox I believe, and I was hoping to watch the series. Sox/Twins was a good rivalry back in the day.

When the Twins were winning the Central, Guillen was managing the WhiteSox, I used to love when they came to the dome. They hated the dome, and we dominated them. When I was a kid I got WGN, and I had the choice of watching Cubs games, Sox games, or on MSN, Twins games. I couldn't stand listening to the Sox games, the announcers I wanted to punch in the face, I loved Steve Stone and Haray Carey. I have hated the White Sox ever since I was a kid. I hate the Yankees, which lead me down the path of being a Red Sox fan. I want a rivalry!!! I want the Sox to be the rivalry it was 5-8 years ago. Obviously it takes winning seasons to get good rivalries, right now we haven't been good, so the rivalry has gone away. I have written about this before, the Twins need to stir things up, not sure who to do that w/, if it was me it would be the Yankees or the White Sox. A.J. Pierzynski helped create the rivalry, we need more characters like that in baseball. We have pieces to the puzzle coming up, at some point they need to have a little swag. Again, I have said this before, Joe Maddon made the Rays what they are today. They didn't take anything from the Yankees in preseason games and started showing people they aren't afraid. I would love to rial some things up with the Sox this weekend.

I can't help myself but write about my favorite show ever. "Survivor" I love that show more than any other show I have watched. I get made fun of because people think the show is about "surviving". It is totally not what it is, even though the conditions help make the show. There is soooooo much strategy that goes on in that show, I wish all my friends would give it a shot so I can talk strategy with them. I encourage every person, if you haven't watched the show, you love strategy, and you start understanding all that goes into the game, you would have to love it. This is my one attempt to just have at least 1 person more to watch this show, as I have probably seen most seasons, and the show never lets me down.

How many times this year are we going to see this.
Minnesota Twins

4-2, 1st in AL Central Division

Reality is that the White Sox have the same record, but this picture looks nice.

How did the Twins get to 4-2? Let's look

Aaron Hicks batting leadoff batting .077
.
Our best hitter Joe Mauer batting in the 2 hole .231

Josh Willingham batting .231

Justin Morneau 3 RBI in 6 games, 2 of those were on a routine fly ball to center that wasn't fielded correctly.

Ryan Doumit batting .200 2 RBI

Trevor Plouffe batting .235

Brian Dozier batting .176

Wait a second, the Twins are 4-2??? Yep, lets take a closer look

Vance Worley 2 starts 0-1 5.73 ERA

Kevin Correia 1 start 0-0 2.57 ERA 2 K's

Mike Pelfrey 1 start 1-0 0.00 ERA 1 K

Liam Hendriks 1 start 0-0 7.71 ERA 1 K

Pedro Hernandez (who?) 1 start 0-0 5.40 ERA 3 K's

WAIT A SECOND, the TWINS ARE 4-2??? Who did we play??

1. Detroit Tigers, won the AL Central in 2012, expected to win the Central in 2013 (2-1)

2. @ Baltimore Orioles, AL Wild Card team in 2012, hottest hitter in the League Chris Davis (2-1)

Not only those things are going on, but Florimon and Mauer are tied for 2nd in the league w/ Errors at 2 each.

I am just looking for answers to see if this what Terry Ryan was putting together, sly, sly guy, we were confused by all the off season moves.

RK	Player	Team	Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG▼	OBP	SLG	OPS
1	Escobar, E	MIN	2B	5	7	0	3	1	0	0	3	0	2	0	1	.429	.429	.571	1.000

2

Florimon, P

MIN

SS

5

10

2

4

1

0

0

2

3

1

0

0

.400

.538

.500

1.038

2

Ramirez, W

MIN

LF

3

5

1

2

1

0

0

1

0

1

0

0

.400

.400

.600

1.000

This is kind of an eye opening blog post due to the fact, I didn't intend this to be a negative nancy blog, cuz the Twins fans have too much of that right now. I really wanted to take a blind look at stats compared to record.

I have watched all of the games the Twins have played, the games have been exciting, we have gotten some key hits, the opponents have made some keys errors. Those things happen, we are not used to seeing the Twins on the right sides of those things for the last 2 years. I don't, and didn't have high hopes for the Twins this year, but I was excited to see them play. It becomes exciting to see them win games. The Twins left a lot of runs on the table with the middle of the lineup in the last 6 games, a lot of things could have resulted differently, the fact of the matter is after 7 days of baseball, it was fun to see some different results regardless of how we got there.

I hope we can continue our luck, and the great thing about all of this, Mauer, Willingham, Morneau are going to get better,and are going to start hitting the ball. We are going to get healthier in the pitching department with DeVries and Deduno coming off injury. Lets see if we can stay healthy and win games the way they are supposed to be won. Go Twins!!!







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It was another fun Minnesota Twins game to watch!! You had everything from both teams, and it just so happens the big blunder was made on the opposing team. I am not going to make this long by any means as we all watched the game, but I did want to point out some observations that I am a bit worrisome about, and some observations that I am excited about.

1. Josh Roenicke was fricken awesome!! He was in control every batter for 3 innings. He looked like he was a machine, same delivery, same set up to the hitters, got ahead in counts. He was very good out there, and I really enjoyed watching him keep the Twins in the game. Very nice job Josh Roenicke!!

2. Justin Morneau is still taking very good at bats, and of course he did miss a meatball curve ball that he was sitting there waiting for. He went 3-5, and if he would have connected on that meatball, the game would have been in a different place. He is way more confident and is just seeing the ball very well.

3. Why did Carroll hit for Florimon? I believe that is what happened, Florimon had no right to be taken out of the game for Carroll, correct me if I am wrong on this, but I thought that is what I saw.

4. Dozier went right back to his bad place trying to pull fastballs that he can't connect with, he swung at bad pitches, I hope that is was just a tough day out there, we need Dozier this year.

5. Joe Mauer, I really believe the umpire got to him. I think he swung at 2 first pitches in the game, I know of one for sure that was at his eyes. He looked bad out there except when a meatball 3-2 pitch went for a base hit. Looked like in a few at bats he was swinging for the fences, in those swings he was behind in the count, very odd AB's for Mauer in the game.

6. Aaron Hicks I believe is batting .042 for the season now. Oh, and 1 caught stealing. I know you can't be too hard on him after 5 games, but where is his eye at. He is getting behind in counts and the pitchers are just eating him up. I think he has a couple games left in that spot, who do you put there if it doesn't work. I know my choices, Joe Mauer or Trevor Plouffe, yep I said it. Hell Detroit is throwing Hunter in the 2 spot in the lineup. You roll with Plouffe, Mauer, Willingham, Morneau, Doumit, Parmalee, Hicks, Dozier, Florimon. I know the ordinary 1 man is a basehit OB guy, we don't have an OB guy in the lineup, go against what it sometimes. I would give it a shot, it would look interesting that first inning every time.

7. C'mon Twins win 2 series in a row, that would be exciting!!

Last year, based on the 2011 season, I was looking at the preview to 2012.

http://twinsdaily.com/blogs/rogrulz3...-bets-mlb.html

I couldn't help but look at how tough the schedule was, but we got to open against the Orioles, which I thought we could compete against. 0-3 NOOOOOOO, now we play the next 18 games against teams that are better than us, and it went into a tailspin after the first 21 games. This year after one series is refreshing. Very small sample size looking at the first series, but look at the difference of last year to this year. Twins lose first series going 0-3 vs a team I thought we were better than, this year we go 2-1 in a season we are picked to finish last in the AL Central, the Tigers picked to take 1st.

The Twins opening series was fun in a lot of ways, look how many negative thoughts are gone right off the bat. I am way more optimistic, (just because I am a Twins fan) than if the Twins would have even went 1-2. It was the way they won the games, quality starts, bottom of the order production, Mauer batting in the 2 hole. I was at the bowling alley watching the walkoff, I was with my bowling team (all Twins fans) the only one we could remember was the passed ball walk off which I believe Span scored, that is sad.

So as I write this watching Dozier knock in the go ahead run 5-4, I am much more optimistic about this year than last year, and I really hope the Twins can prove the nay sayers wrong, which I am one of them, based on other experts, cuz I tend to be too much of a homer, and I have to put down reality.

Random Thoughts

Justin Morneau has had very good at bats so far, he looks more confident, he is taking pitches, very uplifting to see.

Aaron Hicks has not taken enough pitches, from what happened in Spring Training to now, he needs to be more patient.

Mauer in the 2 hole I have said for 3 years has finally happened and I hope it stays that way.

Dozier hitting the ball the opposite way, he is an above avg hitter if he can start shooting the ball where it is pitched.

3 newcomers vs guys like Cabrera, Martinez, Fielder and the rest of Detroit lineup 2.45 ERA, pretty impressive.

Can somebody help Hendriks pitch with a lead!!!!!!

This has been an exciting part of the year every year I can remember. I have always loved playing baseball, watching baseball. I remember every year growing up in Babbitt, when the NCAA tournament was going, opening weekend of baseball, and the Masters told me that I could go out and play some catch, and hit some golf balls. I would say it has been about 20 years of this that I could probably remember. This year is a unique year because now I have a child. I am going to bring Lucy to her first Huskies game, and her first Twins game hopefully. Does it matter to her if the Twins are good, or the Huskies are relevant, NO! But do the sights and sounds of baseball make us all excited, it sure does. I am excited to introduce my daughter to summer itself, she hasn't seen summer, and to me summer starts now, the anticipation of the Twins opener, the anticipation of the sounds of CBS and the Masters, the sounds of CBS "One Shining Moment".
The Twins have Vance Worley as the opening day starter this year vs Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers. Not a very favorable matchup for our Twins. I am very excited to watch Monday, because everyone has a shot, hell last year did we give the Orioles a chance. For the first time I can remember the AL Central has really passed the Twins in talent, KC is legitimately better this year for the first time, Cleveland has a new manager and they are getting healthy and talented, and the White Sox surprised me last year, they are better. Key thing here is you never know. As Twins fans we had the hardest beginning 21 games of anyone last year and we failed miserably and we were out of it after 4 weeks of the season. Please Twins, (Morneau, Mauer, Willingham, SP's) don't let that happen again.
My daughter is going to hear the voices of Dick Bremer and Bert Blyleven this year, I want those to be exciting words this year. We are going to sit on the couch in the evening and maybe watch the first few innings before she has to go to bed, I am excited about this summer, baseball, fishing and being a parent. In the 90's we were underdogs, the group of youngsters brought us to the 2000's and we won some central championships. As a fan I hope we can keep Morneau, he can be the pathway like Radke was for the Minnesota Twins for the youngsters that are coming up that make us exciting. I hope we can be competitive into August this year. In baseball terms this is what I am looking forward to:

1. 1st pitch, beginning of a season of a sport I love
2. Aaron Hicks, Brian Dozier- I am excited to see how these two guys play out for us. I have been excited to see Hicks for awhile.
3. Justin Morneau, I want to see if he can get back to 1st half of 2011
4. I am the only person I know that wanted Kevin Correia, I didn't want him for that much money, but I thought he had some good talent in Pittsburgh.
5. Mauer batting in the 2 hole, or starts hitting for more power.
6. The Yankees starting off and ending in last place in the East.

I guess every year I have made predictions at the beginning of every baseball year. I want to make those now.

AL Central

Tigers
Royals
White Sox
Indians
Twins 71-92, (I wish I could find it better)

World Series matchup

Reds vs Toronto

I really like the Reds rotation, I think the Blue Jays are ready to have there run, a lot of talent of offense, and above avg rotation, I just have a worry arround Dickey, can he do this again in the AL.

I am picking the Reds to be the 2013 Championship team.

Predictions for the Twins

Correia 15 wins for the MN Twins
Samuel Deduno finishing the season in the rotation, #3 guy in 2014
Morneau a Blue Jay in August
Dozier batting .280, stays at 2B, long term answer at 2B
Plouffe, my guy for 2 years, hits 24 HR, 90 RBI
Mauer competing for another batting title bats .341

Willingham plays only 90 games this season, the Ben Revere trade limits our OF depth this year, becomes a big problem.

Good Luck Minnesota and be a successful 1st year for my daughter.

I haven't had much time to go through the forums and blogs as much as I like to with the new baby on board, I do get a chance on my smartphone during my lunch every day to read TwinsDaily, and I read the Star Tribune. I have to say right now there isn't much good going on in "loserville". As quoted from most of the KFAN guys, which I can't blame right now, nothing is going right. Wild can't get things together, the Gophers are showing who they really are, the Timberwolves aren't fun to watch, and we get to look forward to spring training for a team that has been one of the worst in baseball 2 years running. Well I guess it may be time to get a little positive, and just have some fun with the preview to what could be in 2013 for our MN Twins:

1. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Well the Twins did change some things up in the coaching staff, Vavra is out and Brunansky is in. I can't say a thing bad about this move, something has to give in a potent lineup and switching things around there can only be a good thing. Gardy is in his last contract year, he may have to switch things up a bit too. I think the biggest switch up, which in a last year of a contract I can't see a better time to do it is making a major switch putting Mauer in the 2 hole. I think every blog post I make has something to do with this. Even if that doesn't happen, I think you are going to see some new things from Gardy this year.

2. Willingham coming off a career yr in HR, Mauer healthy, Morneau very healthy. This lineup should be able to produce more runs this season, we gave up some solid defense and front of the lineup guys for pitching, I think that was the right move, I also think we are going to really need a lot of help to fulfill what is missed at the top, but I am excited to see what the middle of the lineup can do, especially if Plouffe can get to where he was in July, and if Parmalee can gain success at the Major League level.

3. We may have pitching that can get us some innings to keep us in ballgames later. I know we didn't get the marquee guys, but hey, middle of the road guys that can get innings are much, much better than the guys we were throwing out there, that includes Liriano. Look what we had to throw out there the back half of the year. DeVries, Deduno, Duensing, Hendriks, look at the difference to this year. Diamond, Pelfrey, Correia, Worley, Gibson. That is a lot more consistent innings, even though they aren't the big names, we can be in more games, there is no question if we can score more runs with a healthy lineup, and keep us in games we can win a lot more games.

4. 2 way flexibility with payroll. I want to point out that we have a path to the future there is now doubt about it. Look at the marquee players we have on the team for this year and next year. There is a direction that we have to move to, and let me throw this out there. Morneau is an interesting player going into this year, if he plays well and the Twins are doing well, we have the money to add talent, whether that be pitching or offense, and no matter what they should be a future player. If he is doing well, and the team is doing bad, we have a big trade chip and even more future money to put in the following year. It obviously looks like the path to 2014/2015, Morneau is going to be a very interesting piece to that puzzle. Lets hope either way he plays very well, he is my favorite Twins player, I wish he could be a Twin for the rest of his career.

5. It is a new year and anything could happen in a baseball year. And YES I CAN BE A HOMER, AND YES I CAN AT LEAST DREAM THAT A MIRACLE CAN HAPPEN. That is what makes us fans, and I am hoping for a glimmer of hope going on in 2013 for the Minnesota Twins.

We have harped on the payroll long enough, we have harped on not getting enough pitching help long enough, lets see if we can stay positive until the first week or two of the season anyway.

The year has come and gone, and like every year it went by very fast. For me anyway it went by really fast because I got to bring in a new person to the world. I wanted to share the best and the worst of the year mostly in a sports perspective.

I just got SI the magazine today in the mail and they had the moments of the year in sports. A lot of the year in sports had something to do with the Olympics. I don't understand why I have never really gotten into the Olympics, but I see why it is such a phenomenon. The Olympics can relate to the entire world. People can also relate to having a favorite story, or you can root for your favorite country. The sports are easy to understand, they are fast moving, they hold your attention level. I honestly probably watched 20 minutes of the Olympics this year. The one Olympic sports I enjoy watching is Hockey, but hey I am from Minnesota and hockey is something that is really enjoyable, and I was born in 1980, and every since I have been accustomed to hearing about the miracle on ice. Hell, I went to Babbitt-Embarrass High School and Buzz Schneider was from there, so I heard about it my entire life. Anyway, the Olympics didn't make my list. Here are the things that did.

1. AP coming back from injury and having a chance to break Dickersons record is a pretty amazing feat, let alone anybody trying to beat that record in a pass happy league. He is very exciting to watch every single time he touches the ball. The only person I can compare that too is Barry Sanders.

2. Minnesota Twins opening day, yeah that is pretty lame, but it will be on my list every year I am sure. I get excited to watch baseball. I, as well as the rest of us got frustrated after the first series.

3. Adam Greenburg gets an at bat after being away from the major leagues since 2005 after getting hit in his first AB ever. I still find this story touching, thinking about how exciting it would be to finally get your chance. You get your chance and you don't even get an official at bat, let alone wreck your MLB career. I was happy for him to get at least a chance, I found that as a very good story.

4. Minnesota Wild signing Parise and Suter. I remember checking twitter constantly on July 3rd and 4th, and finally not only did one sign, but both signed, too bad they haven't played a lick of hockey in MN yet.

5. MLB playoffs, I love the addition of the other wild card team, I may not love the 1 game playoff, but it is what it is. The last 2 years have been very exciting watching the teams go down, or win enough games against important opponents to get in. I couldnt help but root for the A's and Orioles.


I want to get my last opinions in about the Twins offseason so far. After writing about what I would want Terry Ryan's priorities to be, I can now look at what happened, as nothing that I wanted has happened. Doesn't mean they were good or bad, but here is what I think.

We didn't get a high profile guy this off season, but nobody really thought we would. In my opinion we have stregthened the ability to get our starting pitching more innings. #1 priority this off season would be keeping our starters in the game longer. We now have Diamond, Pelfrey, Gibson, Worley, Harden, Correia, Hendriks, May, Blackburn. OK, so Harden, Hendriks, May, and Blackburn aren't the ideal choices, but we have opportunity that could lend itself our way on the cheap. Looking at the last 2 seasons, we don't have to worry about the Liriano rollercoaster, Baker on the DL, Pavano on the DL, and painstakingly watching the combo of Duensing, DeVries, Walters, Blackburn go out there and not give ourselves a chance to win.

The Twins didn't spend any money this year and we only lost a CFer. We have a 5 tool guy coming up and should be fun to watch. Did we really think we could go from worst to first in a year? Do you think at this point we can be competitive? The answers are no and yes. Why do I consistantly have optimism for the Minnesota Twins? I think it is because I have faith in Terry Ryan. Look we have pieces to a puzzle that could set us up to compete in the near future. Here is the deal for 2013. The Twins opening payroll is going to be about $85 million. Everybody wanted the Twins to spend money this year, but on what? Did we really need to spend money on way overpriced free agents? No, We have a big chunk of money going to my favorite Twins Justin Morneau this year, who will probably get traded in July, which we will get younger and have more money for 2014. Would it make more sense to spend that money then, of course it would. I don't want to box myself up and say I didn't want to contend in 2013, but I wanted to unload Mauer to the Red Sox and then spend. We didn't do that, so now I could be looking at the big picture to 2014, and 2015 and it could look really promising if the right things fall into place. There is not one thing that I am disappointed with this off season except not unloading Mauer. This season is coming up quickly, and I hope we play meaningful games at least til mid July. I don't have much optimism of us making the playoffs, but I do think the Twins are heading in the right direction. I don't think Terry Ryan is done this off season, I think we can still improve. All I can say is THIS IS MY TOAST TO THE NEW YEAR, I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT 2013 AND GO TWINS!!!!!

I was eating lunch yesterday, my good friend sends me a text saying, " There is a Yankee fan at my poker table blabbing that the Yanks are trying hard to trade for Mauer. Any word on the Twins side?" (me) "small word on sox, but not yanks, I would love for the yanks to take that $23 million off the books, and get a few players" (buddy) I would think dumping that contract would be priority. If you get useful players as well, its all gravy. (me) I looked at all available for a sox trade, and us having $53 million to spend, we could really go after AJ, Scutaro, Sanchez, and McCarthy!! Plus prospects from Boston, I would be so fricken happy! (buddy) Do you trust Twins management to use the freed up resources constructively like that? I see them just pocketing the money and making some token moves to try and BS the fans" The conversation went on, and we came to the conclusion he is a good player not deserving of big money, compared him to a Mark Grace/ John Olerud.

I have thought about the Terry Ryan era, which obviously just started last year, I am sure he had some input on signing Mauer, whether he was for it or against it, I was thinking about the top priorities Ryan has. Wouldn't it make sense to have that really be a top priority if teams have interest? Taking 23 million off the books the next years, having your pitching rotation depleted, wouldn't it make the most sense to really overhaul your needs if you can free up $53 million. If you have the opportunity I take it right now. Yes, you take a PR chance, but reality is it isn't that much of a chance after coming off to horrible seasons and the Target Field show is the "new" thing anymore. Target field is amazing and people are going to go to the park if they are competitive, if the Twins are playing for 2015, Mauer isn't going to be the full time catcher, he could be the Mark Grace or John Olerud of the Twins. I don't want to pay $23 million for Olerud. I really believe dumping Mauer should be a top priority, he is healthy, and had the best OBS in the league.

If you look at my profile picture I am wearing a Joe Mauer jersey, I have a few of them, I like Joe Mauer!! At the time when we signed him I was happy for the Twins that he didn't go to the Yankees, as I despise the Yankees, but as happy as I was, I wasn't thrilled. Knowing this were to happen, I was a huge fan of signing Morneau, as he has been one of my favorite Twins players ever, and yes that signing has hurt due to injuries as well, still I really like Morneau. I will say this right now, as if you have read any of my other blogs or posts, If Joe Mauer is a full time catcher and bats in the 2 hole he is a phenomenal player, and very close to worth a lot of money. If he is not a full time catcher, or plays 3B or 1B in the latter half of the contract it will go down as one of the worst contracts the Twins will sign in order to be competitive.

Terry Ryan has a big hill to climb, the more I looked at the Span trade I thought it made sense, again I think those kind of moves will make sense in 2015 if we sign young pitchers now, McCarthy/Sanchez/Villanueva, I think it will be another waste of money signing Saunders, Liriano, Dempster. At that point we may as well let the Duduno, DeVries, Hendriks, Gibson crew go back out there and unload Morneau, Willingham, and try to unload Mauer. The Twins have a lot of decisions to make, the decisions I don't want is just for us to stay relevant today, if we are playing to win 82 games, that doesn't do much, and doesn't leave a lot of room for Ryan to rebuild this team.

To Summarize, if I was Terry Ryan I would agree with my buddy, #1 priority since the quarter of the 2012 season, take and woo clubs to ignite interest in offers for Joe Mauer, and if it is Boston, woo Mauer into hitting off the green monster and having spring training in the same place as the Twins. #2 priority rebuild this team to competitiveness with the money you have to spend this year with a very good lineup.

I had a Thanksgiving Baby, Lucille Wynn Irwin!! I am a super excited father right now, just went back to my first day of work, and finally the Minnesota Twins make a move. We have all seen that after Upton signed with the Braves the Twins had to find a way to trade Span for option 2. We all know now that Span was definitely gone this year, I am glad we were able to get a lot of upside in a deal for Span. My biggest issue with this was that we are trading away a team friendly contract for someone who isn't going to help the Twins now. I thought he would be a great option of if we were going to trade him, we would be able to help the team today since his contract was very team friendly. Turns out that isn't the case!! I hope there is a lot more to the story unfolding for the Twins 2013, I am not hitting the panic button yet, as I am hoping there is a master plan for Terry Ryan. I can only hope that we can find a rotation with $30 million, I have a feeling we are going to be looking at getting Dempster, Saunders, Blanton, and Liriano, in which I don't like any of those options. I am going to be very frustrated when guys like Sanchez, McCarthy, Villanueva, Marcum, Haren are gone. I really hope Ryan surprises everyone and makes some kind of move. (Like moving Mauer to the Red Sox) Like I responded in the Red Sox for Mauer Forum, $53 million to spend, add a couple of top prospects, use the $53 million on Sanchez, McCarthy-- Scutaro, AJ That would be the bomb, will never happen, I am just dreaming.

First off I want to thank John, Nick, Seth, and Parker, and Aaron for making the Twins Handbook, putting good time and effort into it, and making it affordable for a good read about our favorite baseball team. I wanted to comment on a few things in the book, and give my opinion on some others.

Second off, if you haven't read the Handbook, read it. If you are a sabremetrics person or want ideas or thoughts on thinking outside the box read the "The Book" playing the percentages in baseball.

Everyone has opinions on what the Twins should do right or wrong, I like reading peoples opinions, and I like debate no matter what it is. The Twins Handbook had a real good interview which I am glad there were so many questions, and it seemed Terry Ryan answered them about the best he could without "tipping his hat" as they say. Terry Ryan seems cool and collective and I get the feeling he was one of the best GM's in baseball for a lot of years. I am no expert but it seems he has a more holistic approach to the "system" than Bill Smith did. It is one of those things that I have a good feeling about him knowing the situation and not overreacting to the now, and he knows what his limitations are without throwing the Pohlad's under the bus. He knows we need pitching, and not only starting but having a solid plan in place for relief pitching as well. He isn't in a bad spot this year because, there looks to be the one glaring problem, "pitching". If that is not the problem and he gets some good arms then I think you have to go to the manager.

One thing I really liked and disliked in the handbook was the player and $'s, you put them in the spot and come up with the end $ figure. I loved the concept, I wish we could have plugged the FA's in there and there "market" worth. For instance you have Diamond, Blackburn, Deduno, DeVries, Walters at the $'s, but it would have been nice to plug in a bunch of the free agents and expected worth. The exercise would have been great adding and subtracting where we need to be to be under lets say the 90 million mark. You guys kind of did that at the end in the blueprint. The same could have been said about all positions. I have been trying to do that myself when I could and it would be fun having a "fantasy football" white board with all the names and dollars and come up with the best teams. Yes I know I can do that in excel, being lazy it would be nice to have that set up already though.

So we know the Twins need pitching, maybe some middle infield help. One name that I saw you guys mention more than I want to hear is Fransisco Liriano. Why? Haven't we given this guy enough of a chance. I would not even want to take a flyer on bringing this guy back. He is really fun to watch when he is on, when he is off it is a disaster. I just don't think we could take him back. I don't know who we are going to get, I have kept looking and maybe switching my opinions a little, but I really like McCarthy,( yes he is injury prone, last year was a fluke thing though) I like Villanueva, James Shields, Feldman. I hear a lot of talk about signing Dan Haren for a longer term contract, I think if we incentive laden a contract for Baker and he stays, I think we sign him over Haren. Also, if we are going to try and get "that guy on the cheap" we take a fly on Daisuke. I like trying to go young in making a signing of one of these guys, I am getting sick of plugging in the washed up guys on the super cheap eg. Ponson, Ortiz, Marquis, Hernandez, lets try to establish a signing we can make a team out of .

Opinions and thoughts of the infield of the Twins has been a carousel for years as well. In theory the JJ Hardy deal was a good deal if Hardy didn't get hurt, it was going to be the Nishi, Hardy infield that never turned out. Back to the drawing board. Who do we have in the middle right now? Dozier, Florimon, Carroll, Escobar, Plouffe? I just want to say I have been a Plouffe fan for awhile and I think he is going to get the raw end of this again. First off I hope that Plouffe can play 3B. I personally like Carroll at 2B, now to find the SS, and/or someone that can challenge an infield position. What I think may happen is Plouffe ends up going to 2B, and we find a 3B, and please, please, please don't let that be Youkilis as I read a few times in the Handbook. Youkilis is slow, way declining, we don't need him. I actually hope Florimon pans out, so we can put more money into the rotation. I am hoping it ends up being Plouffe 3B, Florimon SS, Carroll 2B, Morneau 1B. Which leads to the next paragraph.

Trading Span, Willingham, or Morneau? I have gone back and forth with this soo many times because as a fan you like these players. As a fan a lot of times you don't get to see the offers on the table for players like these. I love Morneau!! As a fan I don't want to see him go, but it would be so hard not to take a serious offer due to the fact we have Parmalee that is going to play this year. The questions have to be are we going to contend this year or next? If not we obviously have to really consider getting the most we can for Morneau and start Parmalee at 1B. I really like having a solid RH batter that can win a silver slugger award!! We haven't seen a guy that can do that for awhile in MN, which again leaves to wonder what is going to happen to Span. The guy doesn't want to leave, he is a fan favorite, and a lead off guy who is very dependable there. I still think at this point we have to move him. The team friendly contract really helps the ability to trade him to the Rays or Atlanta. If somehow we can get a pitcher on the mound in a trade for Span, this helps plug in the starting rotation quite a bit, I am almost saying it is a must to make a deal happen with him.

A part of the Handbook had you grading the Twins current players that made up 2012. Later in the handbook you gave us kind of the depth chart going all the way down the single A. What I would have liked to see, since I don't think all of us know that much about the minors is seeing if there was a way to grade the depth in the minors. Looking in a GM way of thinking, and when you see these deals made for A, AA, or AAA type of guys it would be nice to understand what Terry Ryan may be thinking in terms of the long run. Obviously if we have a starter that is a D ranking at SS in AA, we need to improve that position, we don't get to understand those moves very well without some kind of ranking system. Understanding the time it takes to put in the time to do that is a burden, but in a GM lens I think it is something that would add a lot of substance to the Handbook.

Last thing I wanted to say about the Twins off season and the Handbook that I got to finish was I really liked the layout of the opinions you guys would do in the blueprint. I got to see what you are thinking about as you write the articles and opinions on certain players and what your thoughts of putting the next team on the field. What I didn't get to see was Gleemans blueprint. I listen and read Gleeman, I would have liked to see what his thoughts were.

I didn't want to get into the other Book that I read, which was "The Book" Playing the Percentages in baseball. As this got long enough, but I have some interesting comments and thoughts that surround that next time.

Overall, first handbook I purchased and will be purchasing the next one, and hopefully have some ideas or suggestions around that. Comments are always appreciated.

Minnesota Deer Hunting opener obviously comes once a year. I have hunted pretty much since I was able to, around 12 years old, and it is almost a holiday in northern Minnesota. I have gone up to the Cotton/Toivola area now for the last 5 years, and I am amazed at the amount of orange you see out there for the 2 days. First off, I think a lot of people are like me, as it is a reason to get out of town, or get away with your friends. I hunt with 3 of my great friends and I look forward to getting to the cabin as soon as I can. We get there and we crack a beer and right away we get to playing cards. The game of choice has always been hold 'em, we play 4 way, and the previous few Thursday nights before opener we have been up til daylight. This year was a little more calm, we started the first few hours with Poker, then moved to Smear. Smear, I would only have to have been invented on the Range, but now it is the game of choice in Duluth with all of my friends. It is really fun getting up there, and we all talk about the same things, our home life, how good or bad it can be, Minnesota Sports, including how much we like the lineup of Power Trip, PA, Common, Barreiro. (My faves are Common, Power Trip, Barreiro, PA, in that order, even though I enjoy listening to them all.) It is the time where we get away from the wives and can talk about the things we want to talk about. As I was sitting in my stand on Saturday morning at 6:30 I have to share a few of the things that go through your mind on when you are alone in a stand, and you don't see anybody for 13 hours, and you don't talk to anyone for 13 hours. I wanted to throw out some of the things that I thought about most in the stand for the 2 days, 13 hours one day, 5 hours the next, keep in mind I saw 2 deer the entire time.

1. I am having a baby in 3 weeks, you can't help but to think about how my life would change with the baby coming, and how excited I am to be a father. I don't know what the sex is, so I got to think about what it is going to be like having a boy or a girl. I think that would easily be number 1.

2. Sex, yes I am a male, sex is going to go through your head even out in the cold, I am not going to go into detail around this part, but I think I would be lying if it wasn't part of my thought process.

3. Minnesota Twins---- Now I am having a baby, I mentioned that earlier, since my wife doesn't want to find out what we are having I have had to try and buy neutral clothes, well baby onsies in my mind are all neutral, and all the clothes I have purchased are Twins clothes. I thought about our lineup, and thought about our pitching rotation so stinking much in the stand it was a joke. I get 1 small bar of service in the stand and I was trying to see if there was any news about who the Twins may be going after, and the name I saw most was Earvin Santana. There are going to be a lot of names out there, I realize that, nothing is really going to happen any time soon I don't believe, but I am really trying to see where this team is going to go. I truly believe we have a 2 year window with the guys we have here, that includes Morneau, Mauer, Willingham, Doumit, Span. We have some tools that can make a contender. Can we get a pitching staff in free agency that can win a championship? I really don't think so unless you go after Greinke, and that is a really big chance. Or do we unload the key players? Well one thing for sure, is we are going to have too much money tied up into Mauer to make a run in Mauers career with the Twins, unless we take a chance now. It would be hard to think we can unload the likes of Morneau and Span to help with the rotation, you are just robbing Pual to pay Peter, unless you think Parmalee is as good offensively and defensively as Morneau, I dont' think so. I would love to keep Span, he wants to stay here, but if we can somehow get pitching for him, we can move Revere to center and Parmalee to right. Are we really going to get starting pitching for Span? I think the answer is no? At that point I really think we need to draft well this year, which means we will have 2 consecutive draft classes that should be promising, and go for it this year in free agency. I don't know the cost of Greinke, but if it is the only chance we have other than staying in medicrocy than dont' we have to go for it? I don't even know if I like it, but it seems our only option due to Mauers contract, unless we can unload Mauer to the Red Sox. I understand if we can't get Greinke, my next choices to look at would be McCarthy, Villanueva, Dice K.

4. What if I saw a Sasquatch in the Woods? This is where the ridiculousness of sitting in a stand comes into play. I was sitting there hearing noises and I randomly thought about what would I really do if I saw a Sasquatch. I need to say I watch the "Finding Bigfoot" show, and I can't not watch it because of how ridiculous it is. But there is a 2% chance I am giving it, that it could be real. At least imagin with me sitting there and you see an animal that is standing on 2 feet walking towards you that looks like Bigfoot. What are your options. 1. Shoot it. 2. Watch it and do nothing. 3. Try and get your cell phone out to record it. Lets explore option 1, Ok nobody has ever had in captivity or found a BigFoot, this would be the biggest story ever to actually have a Bigfoot. Would it be illegal to shoot the Bigfoot? Would it be considered a human, and you get a murder charge? There are lots of problems with actually doing that. Let's look at option 2, Watch in awe at this thing and have not one person every believe you, and maybe hope you can see tracks of the animal, this I don't think could ever be an option. 3, if you spook it you don't get a chance to watch it, and what if it started coming up your stand as you are trying to video tape this thing. Do you try and talk to it, or do you have to just shoot it? Pretty crazy things go through your head, the funniest part of this whole scenario is when I get home and I look on Yahoo!'s page there was a really interesting Sasquatch video. http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/...mbles+bigfoot/ if you haven't seen it.

5. Why the hell am I sitting here staring at the same places for hours on end hoping to see an animal I have seen for 32 years quite consistently? I am only here to shoot a trophy, and the odds of that are pretty slim. I had a doe sit in front of me for 15 minutes I could have shot, but that isn't why I am out there. I am out there because of the adrenaline rush you get when you are out in the woods with a weapon, for the opportunity to see a big animal that you have paid a registration to the DNR to shoot, and brag to your friends that this is what I shot. There are two unknowns that are really exhilarating, 1, when the bobber goes down and you have sucker minnow on it, there are lots of options of what that fish could be, and it could be a 30" walleye, 40" Northern, or a 50" Musky. 2, when you hear the sounds of what could be a deer walking towards your stand, and it could be a small fawn all the way up to the 30pt buck, and I guess that is worth sitting in the stand that long every year.

6. The Book-- The "Book" of Baseball-- This went hand in hand with the Minnesota Twins lineup, which I am going to talk about in my next blog post, along with the Twins Handbook.

I thought it would be a fun post, as it was a long weekend sitting reflecting on things sitting in a cold deer stand seeing only 2 deer. If you went hunting this weekend or any weekend and have some fun thoughts thorw them out there.

I am a very frustrated Twins fan right now. I am looking at what could be a complete overhaul, or a spending spree for 2013. I am not sure what to root for. As of this second you have to look at what the Twins could throw on the mound next opening day roster.

Gibson?
Baker?
Diamond
Walters?
De Vries?
Deduno?
Hendriks?
Duensing? (Please no)
Blackburn? (Please no)

So lets look at diving into free agency this off season, and see who I can peg off the list. I am going to just shoot out the top 10 names and my opinions of what I think, and knowing the Twins for years what they might think, and lets put together a SP rotation.

Greinke-- $21 million a year, I don't think I would do it, I am pretty sure the Twins will not do it. I would consider a 4 year $80million, but he is going to get way more than that.

Peavy-- I like Peavy, He would get about $18 million a year. I am pretty sure this is too steep for the Twins as well, although I would also try for a 4 year deal around $75million, he is going to get more than that.

Kuroda-- He is too old, his value is too much for the Twins for a 2 year player, he will get about $15M a year.

Dempster-- Not a fan, going to be paid too much $15M a year

Lohse-- Former Twin, always consistent, I like him, he has found a comfort zone in the NL, I think he will get overpaid, I don't think the Twins are interested in $14M a year

Sanchez-- Talk about a down year for a highlight player, whoever signs him is going to take a gamble, I don't think the Twins are gambling $13M a year

Jackson-- same name that came up last 2 years for the Twins, value is at $11 M, if they haven't gotten him yet, I don't think he is coming.

Colon, Saunders-- I wouldn't take either of these guys, already in down parts of careers.

Feldman, Lewis-- both World Series guys, both have a 2.2 WAR, both would be getting paid around $9M a year. Neither of these guys were really impressive this year for the Rangers, Feldman is still relatively young, if I were to take stab it would be for him, even though he is throwing up a +5 ERA so far this year.

So those are the top 10 Free Agents on the board, do you see any one of those guys in a Twins uniform? I really don't. I am going to throw out 3 names that are past the top 10 that I would take a chance on. First:

Villanueva- 19th best SP in free agency, he has pitched for the Blue Jays, and anybody who pitches in that division gets about a .5ERA nock off, pitching anywhere else IMO. 3.42 ERA in 14 starts, 118 IP, his value is $6.4 Million a year. About a K, an inning. This guy is 29, and I would take a chance on somebody like this.

Dice K- I know what you would think, we don't need another injury bug, but the deal is, if we are going to gamble on somebody, which we do every year, I say lets give him a chance. He is 32, coming off injury, he didn't put up good numbers right away, I think he is coming back strong, reports are good, I would even overpay, to take a chance at him. We need a top of the rotation guy, he could be it at a discounted price.

Pavano- I really think Pavano wants to stay, I would not pay an extra penny of his expected worth, which is tough to say because of injury. I don't think it is a big chance on him, I mean look at the 3 years previous he has had 200 IP, if we can get him at a (I like the organization, I want to stay) price, I don't think that is a problem as long as he is recognized as a number 2-3 guy.

So after all of that searching, and by the way here is the list in order, to take a look at and have your own opinion. http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.asp...,2140,305,1904

At this point all I can say is this is what I would do!?!

I would take the biggest chances on Villanueva and Dice K, lets say we got those guys. I would say Baker wouldn't be ready to go opening day, I would give hope that Gibson may be, we will be optimistic, so then you would have the void of one of these guys, (Pavano, Hendriks, Deduno) I am just putting one of them in there. It could look like this.

Dice K
Villanueva
Gibson
Pavano
Diamond

How much would that cost the Twins next year to have that starting rotation, then having Baker coming back off of injury, and pay him the $9.25M next year, which I don't think will happen, but I think the Twins will try to resign him for less, and do so. Is $25.5 to little to say that could happen, is $25.5 too much to completely revamp the starting lineup? The Twins spent $24 on SP in 2012. What can you expect, if you find an Ace, that is $20 for one pitcher, if you look at this we added 3. You take Span off the books, which you may be able to swap one of those guys for a pitcher if that is what he gets traded for. I am not sure, but I think this is what I would do. To be competitive next season you are going to have to spend money, if you don't completely gut everything including the managers, and start over if you can.