Twins Weekly for Jan. 26-Feb. 1: Asking Questions

[Tom Froemming]

It was a week filled with questions. When is Yu Darvish going to finally sign? How do the prospects stack up? Should the Twins extend Brian Dozier? Is a pitch clock a good idea? What times should games start? And, for the love of Pete, when in the world IS YU DARVISH GOING TO SIGN?!?!?!?!

Image courtesy of Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

It was a week filled with questions. When is Yu Darvish going to finally sign? How do the prospects stack up? Should the Twins extend Brian Dozier? Is a pitch clock a good idea? What times should games start? And, for the love of Pete, when in the world IS YU DARVISH GOING TO SIGN?!?!?!?!

Let’s take a quick look back at all the articles from the front page in the order they were published. This edition of Twins Weekly covers Friday, Jan. 26 to Thursday, Feb. 1.

The Twins Almanac for Jan 28–Feb 3 | Matt Johnson

Gleeman & The Geek, Ep 353: Waiting on Yu | John Bonnes

Here's How The Experts Are Viewing Twins Prospects | Nick Nelson

Get To Know Twins RHP Prospect Bailey Ober | Seth Stohs

Seth's Twins On Deck Podcast (Episode 4) | Seth Stohs

Dozier Debate: Contract Extension? Pace of Play? | Cody Christie

Do The Twins Need To Add a Right-Handed Bat? | Seth Stohs

Can Extending Relief Appearances Address Baseball’s Pace of Play Concerns? | Tom Froemming

Open Windows | Nick Nelson

Top 10 Twins Players Under 25 (1-5) | Cody Christie

Top 15 Minnesota Twins Players | Seth Stohs

Why The Twins May Opt For Short-Term SP Commitment | Nick Nelson

A Central Of Historic Proportions | Ted Schwerzler

Twins Daily Blogs

Perseverance Plays Role For Baseball and Puerto Rico

By Ted Schwerzler

After narrowly missing the bulk of Hurricane Irma's effects, Puerto Rico will look back on Wednesday September 20, 2017 as a day it won't soon forget. Hurricane Maria makes landfall and demolishes the small island. A place that has become a growing epicenter for baseball talent, and set to host a Major League Baseball series in 2018, was simply devastated. This isn't a tale of the destruction however, but instead a look at the resolve of each part involved.

Free Agent Starters and Rotation Candidates: By The Numbers (Part I)

By Greg Logan

While we wait to hear whether Darvish picks the Twins or sends the front office scrambling for Plan B, let's take a look at how the top four free agent starters – Darvish, Jake Arrieta, Lance Lynn and Alex Cobb – stack up against the existing Twins rotation candidates by the numbers. Today we'll start with rate stats, and I'll follow up with a "Part II" that takes a deeper look at the major WAR and projection models.

Whine Line Investigation: Explanation for a Boring Off-season

By Vanimal46

ANND Welcome! To Minnesota Twins Whine Line: Detective Edition! I'm your LEAD Investigator, Vanimal, along with my trusty sidekick, the intern. Since we last checked in, both of us set down the PS4 controllers, put MLB The Show back in the case, and studied for our Private Investigator license! In the real world, we noticed that it's January 30th, and 8 out of the top 10 free agents have still yet to sign! It's a strange, boring off-season... There's been several STRONG takes about why this is happening... And we're no different! We decided to put on our Deerstalker, and dive deep into the REAL reason why recent off-seasons are boring...

Student Mailbag: Homerun Rates v. Strikeout Rates

By Matthew Lenz

Most of you probably don't know that I am a high school math teacher and junior varsity baseball coach. Recently, a student of mine asked for me to write about the record breaking home run and strikeout rates from the 2017 season. I'm going to dive into those numbers for you today, but then also look at how these numbers are reflected in the projected 2018 opening day lineup for our beloved Twins.

Also, Thrylos has begun sharing his top 60 prospect list.

2018 Twins Off-Season top 60 Prospect List: Introduction

2018 Twins Off-Season top 60 Prospect List: 56-60

2018 Twins Off-Season top 60 Prospect List: 51-55

Poll of the Week

Earlier this week, I asked when games should be scheduled to start during the week. The Twins currently schedule all their night games for 7:10 PM, but some teams are starting to mix in some earlier times. Based on the results of my poll, maybe the Twins should consider doing the same. Just 27 percent of people voted to keep things as they are. What do you think?

https://twitter.com/BaseballByTom/status/958795703509241857?ref_src=twcamp%5Eshare%7Ctwsrc%5Em5%7Ctwgr%5Eemail%7Ctwcon%5E7046%7Ctwterm%5E1

Video of the Week

The Patriots or the Eagles are going to win a world championship in Minneapolis. I figured it was a good time to break this out, but it’s also just really great to hear Vin Scully’s voice.

eBay Item of the Week

Speaking of the 1991 World Series, check out this sweet knock off Kirby “Stop the Chop” shirt. At $50, it’s too rich for my blood, but still a pretty fun T-shirt.

Calling All Bloggers!!!

Reminder: Anyone can start a blog at Twins Daily. If you're interested in being a regular writer for the site, the blog section is how you get your foot in the door. The only reason you're reading my words right now is because I started my own blog at Twins Daily.

Calling All Readers!!!

I don’t want to leave you out, either. If there's anything you'd love to read about next week, please let us know in the comments.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

Be here Sunday for loads of Twins content. The Super Bowl signifies that it’s time to click into baseball mode, but we’re not waiting until after the game’s over. From earlier in the morning all they way up until right before kickoff, the site is going to be pumping out articles, many of them from the fresh voices you’ve seen emerge in the blog area. Please join us for what should make for a fun day of Twins talk.

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[IndianaTwin]

Thanks for the Vin Scully clip. I always go back to this one, so I'm not sure I've heard the Scully version.

 

Jack Buck, Vin Scully. To-mate-oh, To-mot-oh. It doesn't get any better than either of those.

 

 

 

[IndianaTwin]

And searching for that, I'm not sure I've ever heard Scully do Puckett in Game 6 either.

 

"...and Charlie Leibrandt has turned the lights out in the Metrodome again." Classic.

 

[markos]

Thanks for continuing to compile this post each Friday. I always amazed with all the good content I've missed during the week.