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Clearly Joe Mauer is not worth his contract as a non-catcher. I am sure when he signed that humongous contract,the Twins signed him as a catcher. I have clamored for years for Joe to play another position, i was wrong. He is worth way less as a position player. Now the question, is the contract valid when he refused to play the position he was signed for? If not, I am way willing to see Joe finish his playing days elsewhere.
If Sam Deduno was given half the chance, that Kyle Gibson has, he would be substantially better. Gibson once again lays an egg....two more of these and something will have to be done with him. Yes at times Gibson has been brilliant....but he can not continue to lay eggs like he did last night...the rest of the season depends on how Gibson pitches, is he hurt?
Even though the Twins had a rough game losing 6 to 2 to the Rays I still found a few things to highlight in my Around the Bases. Single: My Single moment goes to Danny Santana for his returning game. Santana has been sidelined for a while due to a bone bruise on his left knee. The All Star game allowed him a few more days to get rested and tonight was his first game back on the team. Santana went 1 for 4 with a single and a strikeout. Not impressive, but at least he's back and healthy again.
Again, all this is available at our personal website...only with pictures!! YAY PICTURES! I'm surprised to note that I have not blogged about an all-star game in three years. Not in Kansas City, nor in New York. Maybe I was actually off living my life. But with the game in the Twin Cities, I was eager to both celebrate the festivities in person, and watch the game (with all the excellent athletes and irritating announcers that come along with it). Here's what I learned. Atmosphere > Imagine D
Byron Buxton continues to hit a hot bat. Like I said in my lastest blog, Buxton went 3 for 4 on Wednesday night's game against Daytona. Buxton carried his performance from Wednesday night into Thursday night against Daytona again. Thursday night Byron Buxton went 2 for 5 with a home run and a single. His home run came in the top of the ninth inning as a solo shot. The team would later win that game 7 to 5 with a save coming from Tyler Jones. It's nice to see Byron Buxton doing well after all of
Now that the All Star break is behind us it's time to start thinking about the Trade Deadline. July 31st is the last day where trades can happen for any baseball team. 14 days left until the Trade Deadline and there is much discussion on key players. Players like David Price, Ben Zobrist, Josh Willingham, Kurt Suzuki, and many more. The only big trade that has happened this season is between the Chicago Cubs and Oakland Athletics. The Athletics traded some key prospects for Jeff Samardzija and J
The big All-Star bash in Minneapolis is behind us now and by most accounts, it was somewhere between very successful and close to perfect. I saw the Futures Game/Celebrity Softball Game in person on Sunday and watched the Home Run Derby and ASG on the tube. My conclusion is that, while I wouldn't say it was all perfectly staged and performed, the Twin Cities and those from MLB and the Twins who were involved all did themselves proud. It was the kind of event that could make us feel pr
Hello Twins fans. Here's a run down of what dad and I talked about on tonight's show. My dad and I talked a little about our experiences at FanFest. We also talked about the All Star game itself. We also discussed upcoming roster moves for the Twins. To top it off, Dad and I made some predictions as far as the playoff picture is concerned. And one more thing, I commented on the Yankees fan who's suing ESPN for 10 million dollars. To listen to the show, click on the following link. http://www.b
While the All Star break was happening for the MLB, Byron Buxton was showing why he should be in the All Star Game soon. Buxton went 3 for 4 on Wednesday night's game against Dayton. This is Buxton's sixth game since coming back from his injuries. Byron Buxton has been bothered with a wrist injury throughout the majority of the season. He came back in early May to play four games but then aggravated his wrist again to be put on the DL. Buxton is ranked number one for prospects in the Minnesot
Over at Beyond The Boxscore, Chris St John revealed a system for predicting major league success of minor leaguers based on prospect age and level. The system is called JAVIER (named after Cubs SS prospect Javier Baez), and you can read about it here. The system predicts whether a prospect will bust, have an average career, or be a productive player (defined as having at least 1000 MLB PAs and producing at least 0.0275 VORP per PA - read about VORP here), based on a dataset of 41,238 player-seas
http://binaryapi.ap.org/0e23d8074b53490390f888e264c31212/940x.jpg Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder, Yasiel Puig, was chosen to participate in the Home Run Derby and was a starter for the National League during the 2014 All Star Game. Let’s just say Puig will cherish the memories of meeting new players but will want to forget his actual performance throughout these last couple of days in Minneapolis. Strike One: Monday night was the Home Run Derby which featured five players from each league.
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://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/codygangh.jpg “Peace to my All Star homies in West Fargo.” – Cody Christie, probably This week we talk all about the first half, the Twins best players and worst players before the All Star break, and what we think might happen in the second half. Jay C
http://assets.podomatic.net/ts/19/ad/da/paulpleiss/1400x1400-480x480+0+24_9766987.jpg This week we talk all about the first half, the Twins best players and worst players before the All Star break, and what we think might happen in the second half. Jay Corn rags on Joe Mauer, Cody Christie praises Brian Dozier, and Eric Pleiss raves about his boyfriend Phil Hughes. Join us for the Twins talk, stay for the beers and baseball chatter. Source
Baseball Prospectus has pitch framing data organized by battery. Framing data by battery The data looks at pitches where the umpire needs to make the call and compares actual strikes with predicted strikes. While looking at splits creates small sample sizes, I wondered if it would be clear that Josmil Pinto's framing skills are significantly worse than Kurt Suzuki. The natural place to start is Glenn Perkins. Chances Predicted Actual +/- Josmil Pint
Michael Rand today quotes extensively from an article by Washington Post writer Thomas Boswell. The gist of Boswell's article is to criticize the high wall in right center that makes home runs to that part of the ballpark much too difficult. Target Field is a lovely downtown home for the Twins, classy and comfortable if not breathtaking. But until that right field wall becomes remotely fair to hitters, especially in the 120-foot-long power-alley expanse from the 385-to-403 signs, this is a badl
Single: The single moment tonight came from Idina Menzel at the opening ceremony for the All Star Game. Not one, but two amazing performances. First, Menzel sang "Forever Young" for the thirty amazing teachers that were nominated by their respective teams. Then she sang a beautiful "Star-Spangled Banner" with a breath taking flyby. The Minnesota Twins and MLB chose a great artist to sing the National Anthem and Menzel definitely proved it. Double: Mike Trout took home the MVP tonight and that ea
I did not watch the derby and haven't for a couple of years. To me, it is too long and boring - a glorified batting practice. After what, 20 years or so?, I think it's time to change it up a bit. I hadn't really thought much about it, because I really didn't have an alternative. But last week I ran across a posting by Gabe Kaplan on Fox Sports, where he presents a different scenario that sounds at least interesting. In addition, it expands participation. Dear new MLB commissione
Welcome to the unofficial midpoint of the 2014 Twins season. After teasing fans for different portions of the first half, the Twins find themselves in a familiar position at the break, last place in the AL Central. The Twins enter the break six games under .500 and 10.5 games behind the Detroit Tigers for the top spot in the division. Even though the team's record might not show it, there have been some positive things happening for the Twins this year. Kurt Suzuki and Phil Hughes are looking li
Houston reached base 3 times on Thursday. He's hitting .308/.398/.440 (.838) since joining the Surge and stole his 14th AA base. His 38 total SB is tied with Yasser Mercedes for organizational lead.
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Winning the Cedar Rapids Kernel prize from TD is far better than winning the FIFA World Peace Prize. Thanks.· 0 replies
