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I am recalibrating some of my thoughts for 2015. I think (now) that something like this should happen: I would like the following to happen: the Twins refrain from spending big this offseason unless it is on one of the top 5 pitching free agents. So, no spending to replace LF. Wait and save. That means that money should be SAVED now in order to be spent when NEEDED when the team is competitive for real. Just finally, finally, go with the youth movement. 2015 opening day roster barring trades a
http://i.imgur.com/aOQ2S3b.jpg Well that turned quickly. Four pitches into the ninth and what looked like it could be a win on a night where he pitched fantasticly turned into a no decision. But since this is about the starting pitching let's focus on that fantastic part. Nolasco gave up 3 hits, 1 walk, 2 hit by pitch and had six strike outs over 7 innings on 97 pitches. With the exception of the two HBP, his command was strong. Both HBP were on Billy Butler, a man who clogs the base pat
It’s an honor when an MLB player is recognized as the best offensive or defensive player at his position by his league but it’s an even greater honor when he’s recognized as both. Greater, but not all that rare, it seems. Since the Silver Slugger award originated in 1980, the two awards have been given simultaneously to players a total of 172 times or about 5 times per season out of the 17 possible occurrences. The first players to be awarded the combo platter* were Keith Hernandez, Willie Wi
The Twins head to KC after an off-day to take on the first place Royals (!!?!) with the following matchups scheduled Ricky Nolasco v Danny Duffy (8-11, 2.53 ERA) Phil Hughes v Yordano Ventura (10-9, 3.40 ERA) Tommy Milone v Jeremy Guthrie (10-10, 4.32 ERA) Do the Twins have a chance to take the series? They face Duffy, Ventura and Guthrie for the 2nd time in the last 2 weeks, a combination that resulted in 2 wins and a loss for the Royals when they visited Minnesota. Nolasco has been a
Trevor Plouffe has been the Twins third baseman since the middle of 2012. He is the Twins' longest-serving starter at his current position on the team. That is a bit hard to believe, but every position has turned over since the Twins handed Plouffe third base out of desperation. Plouffe responded to his assignment by having a once-in-a-lifetime power surge. Most other parts of his game as a third baseman were substandard. Now, late in the 2014 season, we see a different player. Plouffe h
http://i.imgur.com/pNFEC5L.jpg?1 Gibson's start was really highlighted by some shaky command. He got a lot of swinging strikes (12.6%), but he seemed to be working from behind in the count often. His 2 seam command in particular really seemed to get the better of him. While his slider did do a good job of getting swinging strikes, it was put into play often and with fair success (4 hits on 6 balls in play). He did end the game with 5 strike outs in under 5 innings, which puts him above a 9
Let's face it, every Twins fan is getting tired of watching the poor play of the past couple years. We know the future looks bright as we await the arrival of some of baseballs top prospects, but that does not help the situation on the field right now. The fact of it is, the Twins are lousy again this year and, like usual, it looks like the starting rotation is to blame. Everybody has their own theory on how the Twins can end the losing. A common theme I keep hearing is some version of "I thin
http://i.imgur.com/s5JhYDc.jpg This was a mixed bag start for May. For the first time since coming up, he didn't walk a man, but he also gave up 11 hits in 5.1 innings. He leaned much more heavily on his curveball than he did in previous outings (9 in his previous outing, 24 this time through), and it had very good results. He got a good swing strike rate on the curve, as well as 8 balls put into play and only 2 hits. On the other hand, the Tigers racked up 9 hits on 13 balls put into play
http://i.imgur.com/7zIEyR5.jpg Sorry for being late with this. Was out of town on some family matters. I know these are available at other sites now, but posting for posterity's sake. Pino left the game and after being optioned down after the game was placed on the minor league DL. Since he's on the minor league DL, he won't accrue service time, or earn the league minimum like he would if he were on the major league DL. This is going to be a very interesting situation, because as the 26t
Weekend Wrap Up: Kernels Clinch, Pub Crawl, MLB BlackoutsA lot of stuff has happened over the past few days. Kernels are Playoff bound First, the Cedar Rapids Kernels clinched a Midwest League playoff spot. Whether they did this Saturday or Sunday is a bit hazy, but what's certain is that the Kernels will be playing baseball beyond the scheduled end of the regular season on Labor Day. This makes the Kernels a perfect 2 for 2 qualifying for playoff work since affiliating with the Minnesota
Since returning from the disabled list, Joe Mauer has been quietly reassembling himself, like a hitting terminator emerging from the blazing hell fires of suckitude, back into the consistent--if robotic--man we all know and respect. http://www.jamescamerononline.com/terminator221301.png Mauer mid-rehab stint While the hitting was something we all thought could return, we're glad to see that Mauer's defense has also been less terrible than in the past. We like to imagine that the reason for this
I hope you'll allow me this non-baseball topic on my blog today. We had our last "first-day-of-school" picture today with both kids, as The Chatty Chatty Princess starts her senior year and The Boy has his first day in high school. It brought to mind TCCP's first day of kindergarten, a day I missed, but documented twelve years ago on my new "TwinsGeek.com" blog with this story: ------------------------------ He didn't feel the gush that everyone said he would feel the first time he he
As the rebuild progresses and our prospects approach readiness, there are a few moves that must be made throughout the organization. Front Office: FIRE GM Terry Ryan: Terry Ryan is an intelligent GM, but a change at the position is needed for a couple of reasons. We need someone who can better recognize talent and we need someone who doesn't have a friendship with Manager Ron Gardenhire. Perhaps others need to be shown the door as well. Coaching Staff: FIRE Tom Brunansky, Rick Anderson, and
Things are starting to wind down in the minor league season and this means plenty of very important games for Twins' affiliates. The Kernels entered Sunday with a chance to clinch and the Red Wings are right in the middle of the wild card hunt. This means every at-bat and every pitch are very important. The same can't be said for the MLB version of the Twins. They are out of the playoff chase but they can still upset a few teams along the way. After pounding the Detroit Tigers in the first two
How many of you saw Trevor May slamming his glove down last night, and his other childish displays of anger? Cmon dude, thats little league stuff! No you werent awarded Pitcher of the World tonight, but I hate to say this given your childish reaction, but you pitched a pretty good game against a terrific team. Face it, rookies dont come up and dominate, ask Gibson who struggled mightily last year and was sent back. down. I hope to never see that disgusting display from you again and I
Pitching wins World Series'. That is a simple fact about the game of baseball; pitching is key. Take a quick look at our Minnesota Twins over the last three years. Hmm, terrible pitching and a terrible team. Coincidence? Well...no. If a team wants to make it to the post-season, they need pitching. If a team wants to make a run at a title, they need an ace. The problem isn't finding your ace as much as it is keeping them an ace. Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher in baseball and has been for
The other day, I was watching Moneyball, one of my favorite films. My favorite scene is when Billy Beane is in the room with a bunch of scouts saying the team should sign a bunch of questionable players. His response, as I'm sure most of you know, to all the criticisms he receives is "He gets on base." This got me thinking, how important is it to get on base? Using Fangraphs, I collected a bunch of data from last season, focusing on the team as a whole rather than individual stats. My goal was
The Minnesota Twins pounded the Detroit Tigers on Friday night TWENTY to six, courtesy of twenty hits including nine for extra bases and four home runs. Eduardo Escobar was a double short of the cycle (which makes no sense…) and 5-6, Kennys Vargas had two doubles, and Oswaldo Arcia smashed his fourth home run (did it hit the Target Center?!) in his last six games. Danny Santana and Trevor Plouffe (back-to-back after Arcia’s vs. Detroit infielder Andrew Romine) also went bombing. Good stuff.
http://i.imgur.com/jGI3TS3.jpg Sorry for the delay and poor quality of the image. I'm out of town and away from my computer so I tabulated it old school tonight. Not going to be a lot of insight from me, hoping to hear some more from you guys. Quick thoughts. First time covering Milone, and noticing he primarily stuck with the 4 seam and change tonight. Detroit was very aggressive. 22 balls in play, 16 foul balls and 7 swinging strikes makes 45 balls that were offered at. Throw in 37 balls,
E-Twins headline Appy League All-Stars Top player, pitcher, manager hail from first-place Elizabethton We win the triple crown with Max Murphy being Player of the Year (though he hasn't played there in a month), Felix Jorge being Pitcher of the Year, and Ray Smith winning Manager of the Year. Plus, Nick Gordon makes all-star team as infielder. http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140822&content_id=90863706&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&sid=milb
On a previous lunch hour, between bites of an All-P sandwich* I was wondering if there was a useable correlation between the number of All-Stars teams have and an expected number of wins. I thought if a team had a lot of all-stars and lower-than expected the wins, it might suggest a lackluster managing job. Higher than average wins per all-star, good managing. It turns out there actually is a very strong step up in average winning percentage for each incremental All-Star a team has. Roughly th
This is the second in a series of posts looking at different parts of the Twins roster as the season winds down. Clearly, there have been some rough moments at the end of the last few seasons. The moto of those years might have been "Wake Me Up When September Ends" but the hope is that this year will be a little different. Overall, there seems to be a little hope on the horizon. That hope might mean you won't want to sleep through this September. Earlier in the week, I looked at how this year'
The Minnesota Twins resumed their winning ways and came up with a 4-1 victory against one of the hottest pitchers in baseball. The Twins ended a 20-inning scoreless drought when Kennys Vargas homered to give the Twins a 1-0 lead in the forth off of Corey Kluber. The Twins picked up a couple more runs against Kluber and thanks to a magnificent performance from Phil Hughes the Twins cruised to victory. Red Wings Report Rochester 1, Syracuse 1, Suspended - Rain Box The game in Syracuse was
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.
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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
