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Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- A great article was written today by Jonathan Judge and published at The Hardball Times, called FIP in Context, introducing an new metric, called cFIP, or contest-adjusted FIP that attempts to "estimate the pitcher’s true pitching talent during a particular season". Always interested in new pitching metrics development, and not only because I have partaken myself in the endeavor. this is an interesting one, albeit much more complex than P
Introduction I have spoken with John Bonnes about writing this article a few times and in one respect, I wish I had written it earlier, when public opinion towards Joe Mauer was more favorable than it is presently. Some of the hot takes regarding Mauer’s (perceived) lack of toughness have been poorly reasoned and while Mauer has not provided good value relative to his salary in recent seasons, given the way the collective bargaining agreement shapes Major League Baseball’s labor market, few ve
Mark Armour and I have a guest post at John Thorn's MLB blog this morning. This is a short essay on the history of Baseball Operations, riffing off Moneyball, which serves sort of as an introduction to our new book. http://ourgame.mlblogs.com/2015/03/09/baseball-ops-welcome-to-the-evolution/
Almost exactly 11 months ago, Mitch Garver arrived in Cedar Rapids to get started on his first full season of professional baseball in the Minnesota Twins organization. This spring, he’s a big league catcher – for now, anyway. Garver, the Twins’ ninth round draft choice in 2013 out of New Mexico, spent all of last season with the Cedar Rapids Kernels, not only playing a leadership role behind the plate but at the plate, as well. He hit .298, led Cedar Rapids with 79 RBI and was voted the Midwe
http://assets.podomatic.net/ts/19/ad/da/paulpleiss/1400x1400-382x382+58+60_10409070.jpeg Miguel Sano! Byron Buxton! Eddie Rosario! Baseball! LIVE BASEBALL! WELCOME BACK BASEBALL FANS! Baseball is back in Twins Territory with the return of Spring Training baseball on television and the sound of the crack of the bat. We're back for our third full season of Twins baseball. This week we talk all about Spring Training, we review the roster, and of course, Beer, Baseball, and the News. http://talk
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch -----In the first part of this series, I discussed why the Twins should focus only on improving 3 things, and if they do so, they will be competitive. I also spoke in length about the first of those things, fixing the bullpen. Today, in the second part, I will be discussing the outfield. The outfield situation was, using one word, horrid in 2014. And this is nothing new. I looked at the outfield defense performance at length, while the ashes
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- At first read, the title of this series sounds very much like A Midsummer Night's Dream: Do I dare suggest that the team that went from 99 to 96 to 96 to 92 losses the past five seasons needs to do only three things to compete? The next number to that Arithmetic Progression up there is between 88 and 92 and that is not competing by any means. Let me explain my train of thought here before the nice kind people in white come and get me to war
The mantra has been the same over the last month, regardless of the source. “The best division in baseball? You have to think it’s the AL Central.” or “The most competitive division this season looks to be the AL Central!” No matter how it is framed, the reasons listed are always the same: “The perennial favorite Detroit Tigers still have David Price, Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera.” “The AL Champion Royals still have that speedy offense and one of the best bullpens in baseball.” “The
Spring training is meaningful. Jobs are won and lost as a result. They should be. Statistics from spring training exhibition games have no meaning. They should not be kept, reported or used in support of roster making decisions. I hope the Twins don't keep them or use them. Not only is the data in a sample too small to be meaningful but the level of competition varies. It is critical the Twins get the roster right though. They need to rely on the skill of the coaching staff and other staff
You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or by clicking here, and if you want to add the show to your non-iTunes podcast player, this is the RSS Feed. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L45Ao4eiZEw/VPB4BbIs-JI/AAAAAAAALGE/p2oCHg62n80/s1600/paul%2Bsaul.jpg Paul is a cranky pants this week, I think he hates Spring Training. We dive into that assumption and figure out what the heck the Twins are doing for the next couple weeks. We're joined this week by Jeremy Ny
All New Talk To Contact Podcast! Paul is a cranky pants this week, I think he hates Spring Training. We dive into that assumption and figure out what the heck the Twins are doing for the next couple weeks. We're joined this week by Jeremy Nygaard from TwinsDaily.com to talk more about prospects, pitching, and even a little fantasy baseball. Then, as always, beer, baseball, and the news. Thanks for listening!
As the beginning of the 2015 season quickly approaches, the Twins marketing team has been hard at work. How do you try and sell a team that has lost 90 games for four consecutive seasons? Twins single game tickets went on sale last weekend and one thing that seems to get fans in the door is offering some unique giveaways. This year the club will offer such items as a Vintage Twins Bobblehead, a Brian Dozier Bobblehead, a Torii Hunter Adult Jersey, and a Fur Bomber cap. One noticeable name no
ESPN rankings for SABR metrics Twins were in the skeptic category, second from the worst. Some teams have quants from nasa and Phd's, we have "an mba from local st thomas" Kc and cleveland get good grades http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/12331388/the-great-analytics-rankings#mlb-sfg
The first two entries in this series focused on players who are moving up in the system and the question is one of advancing to AA baseball, which is really (Jorge Polanco 2014 aside) the real first glimpse of closeness to the majors that a minor leaguer can see. For the final installment, I am turning to another major step in the system--full season A ball--and am profiling catcher Brian Navarreto as a "push candidate" for promotion to Cedar Rapids. The Player Brian Navarreto is 20 years ol
I originally wrote the following analysis of Terry Ryan as GM of the Minnesota Twins for The National Pastime, 2012: Short but Wondrous Summers: Baseball in the North Star State. I was the editor of the publication—one I heartily recommend by the way for those interested in the history of baseball in Minnesota--and pulled the essay just prior to publication when the publisher informed me that we had gone over our allotted page count. It is great to have this outlet to finally run the article. Du
You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or by clicking here, and if you want to add the show to your non-iTunes podcast player, this is the RSS Feed. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FaxsmGyPooU/VOdK863yS1I/AAAAAAAALAg/mvhg1kcVieQ/s1600/hiccup.jpg Jay and Eric take you on a long over due road trip around the last three weeks of Twins news, which includes a bunch of smart baseball folks thinking the Twins will lose 90 games again, a pretty miserable collection
You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or by clicking here, and if you want to add the show to your non-iTunes podcast player, this is the RSS Feed. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P3bLoAsn7Pk/VOdJ5nQAKPI/AAAAAAAALAU/fkLkX0A4RAk/s1600/whatsupdawg.jpg This week we try out to sing the National Anthem at a Twins game, talk about how lame baseball nicknames are in 2015, and Paul tries to figure out what the Twins are doing with Eduardo Nunez. We go down on the p
You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or by clicking here, and if you want to add the show to your non-iTunes podcast player, this is the RSS Feed. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FKCEP5KqGn8/VOdJOQ1xutI/AAAAAAAALAM/7nXzzV5S5iE/s1600/twinsfestdawg.jpg This week the guys talk about TwinsFest, the TwinsDaily.com Winter Meltdown, what it means that Trevor Plouffe is the highest paid third basemen in franchise history, and about one Twins minor league pit
You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or by clicking here, and if you want to add the show to your non-iTunes podcast player, this is the RSS Feed. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y1Q2Ya2ZDIg/VOc_upiWH6I/AAAAAAAAK_8/Edy4jke4Wtc/s1600/shirtpodcast.jpg This week on the show our friend from North Dakota, Cody, is taking the week off to focus on the youth of the greater Fargo area. What a noble man he is. The rest of us forge ahead without him to discuss the ne
You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or by clicking here, and if you want to add the show to your non-iTunes podcast player, this is the RSS Feed. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--afO4EjF3Rs/VOc-2JcmH2I/AAAAAAAAK_0/B1uXeQHGvRs/s1600/nye%2Bpodcast.jpg After a week off celebrating 2014 and welcoming in 2015, the podcast crew was back together (minus a Rolf) to begin a new year of Talk to Contact radio gold. This week we make some New Year's resolutions on be
The second of three articles featuring players who I believe should be "pushed" to the next level in the system will focus on Travis Harrison. Harrison had some high expectations after being drafted and has moved through the system in the same way that Adam Walker has. There are still a number of question marks about Harrison's potential, both in the field and at the plate. I do think that the Chattanooga Lookouts' roster has room for both Walker and Harrison, and thus I think that there are mor
<img src="http://assets.podomatic.net/ts/19/ad/da/paulpleiss/1400x1400_10366187.jpg" alt="itunes pic" /><br />Jay and Eric take you on a long over due road trip around the last three weeks of Twins news, which includes a bunch of smart baseball folks thinking the Twins will lose 90 games again, a pretty miserable collection of teams in the American League Central, and what Spring Training is really all about. Reviewing the roster this week we dive deeper on Glen Perkins, Eddie Ros
I originally wrote the following analysis of Terry Ryan as GM of the Minnesota Twins for The National Pastime, 2012: Short but Wondrous Summers: Baseball in the North Star State. I was the editor of the publication—one I heartily recommend by the way for those interested in the history of baseball in Minnesota--and pulled the essay just prior to publication when the publisher informed me that we had gone over our allotted page count. It is great to have this outlet to finally run the article. Du
Start #3 for the 21-year-old went well again. He tossed three scoreless innings with no walks. He gave up one hit and had three strikeouts. In 8 IP through 3 starts, he's given up 0 runs, 1 hit, 3 walks, and 13 strikeouts.
I am not a follower of Donald Trump. I have participated in several no kings rallies and am disgusted with what he and his followers have done to our country and the world. I would like to know what most Brazilians feel about the United States now and about the folks our citizens have elected to represent us.
The Twins Daily Caretaker Fund
hello Seth......you'll wanna correct the date in headline of today's minor league report. :-) Brad· 0 replies
I am not a follower of Donald Trump. I have participated in several no kings rallies and am disgusted with what he and his followers have done to our country and the world. I would like to know what most Brazilians feel about the United States now and about the folks our citizens have elected to represent us.· 1 reply
