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12 March, 2012. Ft. Myers, Florida. I trust this Letter finds you Well and in Good Health and Spirit. Tell Mother I miss her Hot Dish Casserole every Day. I fear this Baseball Season will be what We feared it would be when this Spring Training Campaign began. It is now mid-March, as you can see, and we are still faced with the same Questions of last Year's horrid and shameful Defeat. The Artillery was splendid yesterday, on 11 March 2012, but surely that one sublime Gift of Providence
[Originally posted at Twins Fan From Afar] The Twins had some encouraging Spring Training results over the weekend. I realize that Spring Training games don't count for anything -- they are, in fact, for "training." That's why you see guys taking a lot of pitches, just trying to get their timing down, or you might see a pitcher throw a curveball five times in a row. These guys are trying to get ready for the season, not trying to set Grapefruit League records. But still, tangible results are a
Last year, as some of you know, I wrote an online novel called The HooseCows. It's about an independent league baseball team where broken ballplayers try to find peace dealing with ballpark ghosts and bad people. It's available at http://www.cfcows.com. Currently, I'm preparing it for publication. The problem is I missed writing fiction, and I wanted to write something else. I missed having a story to tell, so there was only one thing to do . . . The new story will have under 5% baseball, an
This was originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- With the first cuts of Spring Training coming as early as tomorrow, I am updating the Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the game vs the Yankees earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. From now on, I will be combining both Dashboards in a sin
Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- You can read the basic premise in detail behind this dashboard here. Also, the update date reflects the date of the last game included not the post. This is the most current iteration after yesterday's game vs the Pirates: Here is a ranking of the combatants based on average game score: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7042/6824654684_209043f836_z.jpg Liam Hendriks 53.5 Jared Burton 53.3 Matt Maloney 53.3 Aaron Thompson 53 P.J. Walters 53
Last year I was the biggest Valencia hater!! I wasn't sure why they wouldn't put 3 players to the left of 2nd base when Valencia batted. All he did was try to hit the ball to the upper deck in left field, I was very, very annoyed by his at bats all season. If Danny Valencia can use the whole field in his at bats I will definitely come around to him as a batter. This is very good news that he is working hard on doing that, last year I was rooting for Hughes to take his spot, or at least give
Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- I have been creating dashboards to look at the progression of the Spring Training battle for the 3 bullpen sports for the Twins (You can read about the rationale and details here.) I decided to create a dashboard for the 2-3 bench position battles. To quantify position players performance I am using another Bill James' measurement, the "Batting Game Score", as modified by Baseball Reference. I made 2 changes on the BR way of calculating Batt
As I read posts about the decisions the Twins have made and predictions about their roster, I wonder if they are in danger of entering a cycle of mediocrity. They have been there before, signing older players on the down side of their careers with the thought they would be the necessary difference in the coming season. Ultimately they were not and the Twins entered the following season with the same holes and questions. Of course there are many motivators for signing the veterans. Sometimes th
[h=3]Originally posted at ontheroadwithshawn.[/h] [TABLE=class: tr-caption-container, width: 1, align: center] http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JckYNi1-iOA/T1ljcNzOVjI/AAAAAAAAAOc/7b3AT4nw1gU/s1600/Herrmann.jpg [TD=class: tr-caption]Source: Herrmann's Google Plus page[/TD] [/TABLE] 14. Chris Herrmann, Catcher/OF, 24 years old 2011 Stats: .269/.385/.399 with 8 HRs and 10 steals in 13 attempts between Fort Myers and New Britain. Last Year's Rank: N/A Acquired: Drafted by the Twins in the 6th round
[h=3][/h] [TABLE=class: tr-caption-container, width: 1, align: center] http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JckYNi1-iOA/T1ljcNzOVjI/AAAAAAAAAOc/7b3AT4nw1gU/s1600/Herrmann.jpg [TD=class: tr-caption]Source: Herrmann's Google Plus page[/TD] [/TABLE] 14. Chris Herrmann, Catcher/OF, 24 years old 2011 Stats: .269/.385/.399 with 8 HRs and 10 steals in 13 attempts between Fort Myers and New Britain. Last Year's Rank: N/A Acquired: Drafted by the Twins in the 6th round out of the University of Miami in 2009.
Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch -- You can read the basic premise in detail behind this dashboard here. This is the most current iterration after yesterday's game vs the Cardinals: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7041/6821589228_ed2351c4d8_o.jpg Here is a ranking of the combatants based on average game score: Terry Doyle 56 Matt Maloney 54.5 Jared Burton 53.5 Liam Hendriks 53.5 Aaron Thompson 53 Brendan Wise 53 Casey Fien 52.7 Jeff Manship 52.5 Carlos Gutierrez 52 Kyle W
I am looking ahead a little bit, but if you look at the Twins schedule early in the year, look out! The begin the season in Baltimore, that is fine, but then look what the schedule holds for us in order: Home, Angels (3) Home, Rangers (3) Away, Yankees (4) Away, Rays (3) Home, Red Sox (3) Home, Royals (3) Away, Angels (3) Away, Mariners (3) Home, Angels (3) Home, Blue Jays (4) That is very ugly, if you look realistically at that beginning I am seeing a start for the Twins record afte
Yeah, it's only the second week of March. But early in spring training, positive signs have been hard to come by for this offense. Today at Hammond Stadium, the Twins snapped a string of 27 consecutive scoreless innings, but did so without a run-scoring hit. Their two runs both came on bases-loaded walks. The latter took place with two outs in the ninth inning, drawing the Twins within a run of the Cardinals before Rene Tosoni grounded out to second on the first pitch of the next at-bat to end
Though I’ve never been a huge “autograph-hound”, I have enjoyed hanging around the “Down on the Farm” section at TwinsFest. I do that mostly to get a chance to converse with the players, but I also usually get a ball or 8x10 signed as well. As I started to find 8x10 photos of players online and at TwinsFest, I figured it would be worth a shot to send them down to Spring Training and see what happened. I thought I’d start a list and share it; maybe it will help some of you who are intereste
If you follow the tremendous work of 1500 ESPN's Phil Mackey, you know that every Sunday, he posts an updated 25 man roster projection. Phil is in Ft. Myers and talking to players, coaches and front office personnel, so he may have some insider information. But, I think that we can all do our own roster projections because until we get to April and the team has to announce their 25 man roster, anything can happen. I hope to post my projection updates each Friday and hope that you will leave your
It was a fun week for Twins fans as the first spring training games of the season were broadcast on television. This gave people their first view of the players who will comprise the roster of the 2012 version of the Twins. One of the fun things about spring training games is that a variety of fringe members for the 25-man roster are fighting for their chance to make it to the big leagues. Some players will succeed and others will fail but that is part of life as a professional baseball player.
[Originally posted at Twins Fan From Afar] The Twins' offense hasn't really showed up this far in Spring Training, but yesterday, Francisco Liriano had a great 3-inning start against Tampa Bay, striking out five and, most importantly, walking none. Additionally, the three innings took only 34 pitches to get through. Sure, many in Tampa Bay's lineup weren't major league hitters, but it's still encouraging and hopefully is a sign of things to come. The big Twins news yesterday, of course, w
This was originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch and reposted here --- You can read the basic premise in detail behind this dashboard here. The summary is that I have created a visual dashboard that uses Bill James' Game Score to measure the performance of each pitcher who is vying for a spot on the Twins' 25-man roster (you can see their profiles here) and track their performance through spring training. Performances are classified as "above average" (green color), "average (yellow),
Question: Why is this graph smiling? Answer: Because its owner just locked in $10.3 million guaranteed. http://apps.startribune.com/blogs/user_images/theeight_1331276533_Perkins.png On Thursday morning, the Twins announced that they have extended Glen Perkins through 2015with an option for 2016. Heading into 2011, based on his substandard results such as his strike out rate, this would have been unheard of, a Twitter punch line among baseball fans. Glen Perkins to a multi-year deal? Ge
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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
