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I've recently been reading The New Bill James Historical Abstract, and at one point he offhandedly mentioned who would be on an all-time Oklahoma team. Naturally like most Minnesotans, this made me wonder who would be on an all-time Minnesota team. But unlike most Minnesotans, I actually sat down and tried to figure it out. First I went to baseball-reference.com's bio search for all players who were born in Minnesota. I'm sure this presents a few problems, like players who were born out of sta
This post is part of a series in which Mark Armour and I count down the 25 best GMs in history, crossposting from our blog. For an explanation, please see this post. [This one is from Mark] Of all the successful general managers in history, few are more of challenge to access than Brian Cashman. We could see an argument that he should rate much higher — after all, the Yankees have won six pennants and four championships in his 17 years as general manager, a record very few can match. On th
<img src="http://assets.podomatic.net/ts/19/ad/da/paulpleiss/1400x1400_10265491.jpg" alt="itunes pic" /><br />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 news that needs discussing. E. Rolf openly laments everything and anything that the Twins can, have, or will do to make 2015 a success, all the while remaining overly
This post is part of a series in which Mark Armour and I count down the 25 best GMs in history, crossposting from our blog. For an explanation, please see this post. Jim Campbell was decidedly old school. He believed in building teams through scouting and development. He displayed loyalty to his players and staff, who he expected to work hard and show appreciation for their opportunity. To those he respected he would be generous and loyal. On those principles his Detroit Tigers won the 1968
January 1st has a much different tenor in 2015 than it did in 2014 for Ricky Nolasco. A year ago, Ricky had recently signed the largest free agent contract in Twins history (though that's not saying much) with the expectation of being a veteran presence to help stabilize a rotation that was in shambles. After a disastrous 2014 campaign, suddenly the idea that he doesn't deserve a spot in the opening day rotation has been tossed around by more than a few fans. As time has passed, it's clear that
This post is part of a series in which Mark Armour and I count down the 25 best GMs in history, crossposting from our blog. For an explanation, please see this post. For the 32 seasons before John Hart was promoted to general manager in September 1991, the Cleveland Indians never finished closer than 11 games from first in a full season. And they certainly didn’t appear to be making progress; in 1991 the team lost 105 games, finished last in the league in runs and ninth in runs allowed, and d
#24 — John Quinn This post is part of a series in which Mark Armour and I count down the 25 best GMs in history, crossposting from our blog. For an explanation, please see this post. [This one is by Mark] Theo Epstein recently said that “everybody thinks they can be a GM or president of baseball operations. It comes with the territory.” But it was not that long ago that most baseball fans did not know who their team’s general manager was. The GM was considered to be part of ownership — and
In the doldrums of the off-season there can be some points where there isn't a lot happening in Twins Territory. It seems as if the front office it done making any major moves. Some of the players headed out on the Twins Caravan at the beginning of the week and Twins Fest is slowly approaching. Two off-seasons ago I ventured out into a series on the "Worst Twins of All-Time." This can be an entertaining look into some of the worst players to ever suit up in a Twins uniform. Here is a rundown
#25 — Andy MacPhail This post is part of a series in which Mark Armour and I count down the 25 best GMs in history, crossposting from our blog. For an explanation, please see this post. Andy MacPhail had big shoes to fill. Both his father Lee and his grandfather Larry are in the Hall of Fame as baseball executives. When the Minnesota Twins promoted the 33-year-old MacPhail to run the club, they surely took his pedigree into account. He lived up to his surname, and his surprisingly quick suc
This is the first entry in a blog associated with the publication of In Pursuit of Pennants: Baseball Operations from Deadball to Moneyball, coming out this spring and coautored by Mark Armour and me (Dan Levitt). We are crossposting this from our blog at the book's website. Thanks to the Twins Daily team for hosting. Over the next several weeks we will be counting down the top 25 general managers in baseball history—as we see them anyway—some will signed by Mark and some by me. Because of the
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- (this is an edit to clarify a few points that were confusing previously) Recently when I was looking for an objective way to numerically describe how good Engelb Vielma's glove for my Minnesota Twins' top 40 prospect list, which is fairly easily understood as a concept, I came up with a simple metric: The percentage of putouts that resulted in a double play. I did a bit of research to see whether it will pass the stink test, and looked at
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- I have been counting down the Twins top 40 prospects with descriptions and scouting reports of the players, their potential, their likely destinations for 2015, and in some cases the reasons why they were ranked where they were. You can find all installments here in reverse chronological order. Here are the detailed rankings: 36-40, 31-35 , 26-30 , 21-25 , 16-20 , 11-15 , 6-10 and 1-5. You can find the 2014 off-season summary list here
<img src="http://assets.podomatic.net/ts/19/ad/da/paulpleiss/1400x1400-1796x1796+0+26_10245481.jpg" alt="itunes pic" /><br />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 behalf of the Twins, to include Joe Mauer, Aaron Hicks and prayers for something (ANYTHING!) resembling a starting pitcher not named Phil Hughes. In thi
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- oday is the eight and last installment in the top 40 Twins' Off-season prospects countdown (other than the overall summary that is coming up next). You can find all installments here in reverse chronological order. Previous rankings: 36-40, 31-35 , 26-30 , 21-25 , 16-20 , 11-15 and 6-10. You can find the 2014 off-season summary list here In these listings in parenthesis, I am including their ranking in the last prospect list, which was the
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- Today is the seventh installment in the top 40 Twins' Off-season prospects countdown, and the descriptions of the player and rationalization of their rankings continue to a bit more detailed. You can find all installments here in reverse chronological order. Previous rankings: 36-40, 31-35 , 26-30 , 21-25 , 16-20 and 11-15. You can find the 2014 off-season summary list here In these listings in parenthesis, I am including their ranking in
Near the end of last season, the Twins featured a trio of players on the Twins magazine cover and dubbed them "The First Wave." Danny Santana, Kennys Vargas, and Oswaldo Arcia all made big impacts on the big league level. Even though Arcia played in almost 100 games in 2013, he's actually the youngest of the three who were all in their age 23 season last year. Each of these three players will have a role in the Twins getting back to playing winning baseball. This makes it interesting to consid
This year is going to be tough. The writers of the BBWAA have to narrow a stacked ballot down to the ten most worthy names. There are going to be some worthy candidates that aren't elected and some might even fall off the ballot. That's what happens when writers are limited to how many votes they can have on the ballot. I am a member of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance and a different approach was taken this year to avoid the roster crunch. Members were asked to make a simple "yes" or "no" vot
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Today is the sixth installment in the top 40 Twins' Off-season prospects countdown, and the descriptions of the player and rationalization of their rankings continue to a bit more detailed. You can find all installments here in reverse chronological order. Previous rankings: 36-40, 31-35 , 26-30 , 21-25 and 16-20. You can find the 2014 off-season summary list here In these listings in parenthesis, I am including their ranking in the last pr
In the spirit of the New Year, we have 15 New Years Resolutions to offer for 15 key parts of Twins Territory. The resolutions are available in our New Gallery Album "Resolutions"...which hopefully will turn up as part of this post Any additions you want to make, or suggestions for how to make these resolutions more attainable are always welcome.
In recent years, the Twins have managed to stock the farm with flame throwers who project as late inning relievers. Several are projecting as shut down closers. These days, MLB pitching staffs have developed from two positions, starter and reliever, into several positions: starter, long relief, LH specialist, 7th inning guy, set-up guy, and closer. The hierarchy moves two directions: long relievers want to be starters, 7th inning and set-up guys want to be closers (I don’t know what to say abo
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Today is the fifth installment in the top 40 Twins' Off-season prospects countdown, getting into the top 20 so the descriptions of the player and their rankings are a bit more detailes. You can find all installments here in reverse chronological order. Previous rankings: 36-40, 31-35 , 26-30 and 21-25. You can find the 2014 off-season summary list here In these listings in parenthesis, I am including their ranking in the last prospect list,
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch. ---- Today is the fourth installment in the top 40 Twins' Off-season prospects countdown. You can find all installments here in reverse chronological order. Previous rankings: 36-40, 31-35 and 26-30. You can find the 2014 off-season summary list here In these listings in parenthesis, I am including their ranking in the last prospect list, which was the 2014 mid-season list, with "--" if not ranked. You can find that list here. 25. Alexis Tap
What do the Twins do about Plouffe and Dozier? Extend? Go year to year? Hope to sell high at 30? There has been some great discussion started by Seth on Dozier and Plouffe. There also have been studies that show aging curves in the post steroid era are changing. Fewer players are maintaining their peak seasons into their thirties. There are many studies to read. Here is one by Jeff Zimmerman for Fangraphs. I wondered how players currently around 33 years old have aged. With the help of pla
The 23-year-old from Cuba has just completed his first big-league inning. After a single, he got a double play. Walked Juan Soto but then got a fly out. Hit 98.4 mph with his second pitch.
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.
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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
