Riverbrian

There are ten players making 20 million or higher in 2011. In comparison to the production of some players who make a mere ten million a year or the league minimum... I contend that nobody is worth that amount of cash! The market is what the market is and the market was what the market was and the market will be what the market will be. In 2010... You sign Mauer to that contract.

I wish him well. If he turns it around with the Friars. Good for him. The Twins need to see what they have with Diamond and Walters. Marquis would have just been in the way.

BABIP for hitters is pretty simple. Take your hits and subtract the Homers and divide it by at bats minus homers, strikeouts and Sacrifices. Batting Average on balls in play. No one was quoting expected BABIP until you put the X in front. Heres the deal... I love the advanced metrics. I read them... I understand them and they make sense in the proper dose but if you hang your hat on them... Your hat will end up on the ground and get stepped on from time to time. For all you guys who base your opinions seemingly at the sole discretion of advanced metrics... You are sterilizing the game to a certain point. Watch the game. Baseball is so much more. Watch Plouffe... Plouffe swings at tough pitches. If Joey Votto swung at the pitches Plouffe dives at. Votto would have a low BABIP and the Reds would have traded for Lyle Overbay. Using Metrics... Until you can properly explain the large swings from month to month or year to year. You can't rely on stats alone. No one can explain it with metrics. Try and explain Joe Mauer 2009 with his lifetime of work with stats... It can't be done. Adam Dunn 2011... Albert Pujols 2012. These swings are margin of error and the swings are elephant sized large. This isn't jackknife replication and election exit polling size margin of error. Use baseball metrics to predict the president and Ross Perot would have gotten taken seriously. How does Mike Napoli go from an expected out April, May and June 2011 to unstoppable July, August, September the same year. The stats will tell you it happened but not the why and nothing in his previous seasons suggested that those 3 months were possible. Even the Moneyball A's have figured this out and have lightened up on their use of metrics. They still use them but in the proper dose. Plouffe swings at bad pitches more often then most... He's talented... He either learns better discipline or he gets thrown on the large scrap heap of baseball players who now own a bar.

Personally I like two complain about after they suck. It's hard to keep the energy for complaining before they suck.

Baseball is a game of luck at times but a large percentage of your luck is made by the hitter. Guess what... If you swing at the low and away pitch and try to pull it. You can make contact but your BABIP is gonna suck. If you have no discipline and let the pitcher lead you around by the nose. Your BABIP is gonna suck. BABIP is not a luck stat yet people like to use it like it is. I read things like he has a high BABIP so regression is expected and that's just over simplification and not true. You have a high BABIP if you are hitting your pitch because you can drive the ball better. In the end... The screaming line drives that are caught and the bloops that fall in even out. Plouffe is getting pushed around by the guy throwing the ball. He needs to improve his pitch selection and wait for the ball he can drive. When or if that happens you will have a real nice Outfielder who can do the utility player thing.

There is something about him that teams like. We didn't get the chance to see what that it is but there has to be something.

Actually his swing looks pretty good in my opinion. His head is on the ball. No extra movement. It's a pretty effortless natural swing. I did notice one problem. He struggled staying back at times. His weight transfer was way to early at times during BP and at times during the game video. This led to reaching and pulling off the ball and that leads to pop ups and weak grounders. He has to get that licked or he will get eaten alive by the off speed pitch. When the swing was on. The swing was beautfiful and it will generate power. The thing I really liked was his frame. How tall is he? Those arms are long. He will have great plate coverage and should develop into a guy who can hit well to all fields although he appeared to have a tendency to pull on the video. The combo of his arms and bat speed can produce something special.

Yes they do... Lol... I Just want to point out that if you google and attach a picture of a Robin... You can also google and attach a picture of a robin egg. Also... If you don't mind... For context... I'm naming this bird in your photo... "Carew".

Alright Caption Contest time. I'll go with "ladies and gentlemen... May I present the most open batting stance... The world has ever seen." Or "I was alway taught to keep my weight back but Vavra insists that I stand on my toes with my body leaning forward with one hand on the bat for better plate coverage." Or "damn... these Carew Blue Jerseys look great with my Mustache".

Yes... But Modernized. Modernized is the key word... That photo doesn't leave a modern impression so it's misleading. Well... I'm really gonna wish washy this thing up... Modernized in a retro sort of way. Lol... Take the Color scheme and Let Nike take a swing at it. Just tell the Nike folks... You want this color scheme in a modern retro fashion. Carew Blue and Red. Just imagine Bruno wearing those colors again. This time as hitting coach. Oh yeah... No you like it. Lol... That color is no longer Robins Egg Blue. It's Carew Blue. Bark and myself have issued the decree and that should be good enough for the name usage.

Nostalgia.... It was the Color of the Twins as I grew up watching Bombo Rivera and Danny Goodwin. That color was the Twins and the Twins owned it. I like it today because the Twins can own it again. Robin's Egg Blue and Red. I also am bored with every team being Dark Blue, Red or Black. I just thought of it while watching the only Green Team in Baseball. The A's own that color. Just a thought and I thought some would agree while other's toss cookies. Just don't do the Blue Pants... That's what made the old ones tough to stomach. White or Grey Pants would be fine. Disclaimer... I'm not a fashion designer... Not even close.

Plouffe has the talent to make pitchers pay for mistakes. However, in MLB, the pitchers don't make enough mistakes to live on. Plouffe unfortunately spends the majority of his at-bats chasing the pitch the pitcher wants him to chase. Plouffe is clearly a kid with potential that just has not developed to match that potential. 25 years old and he's still a stiff infielder with poor footwork and he struggles with plate discipline. He could come around but the light bulb has to come on. He's kinda Liriano like at that plate. You can see the frustration in his posture at times like Liriano but when something accidentally goes right you can see that potential like Liriano. Plate Discipline has killed many with potential and squashed many promising MLB Dreams.

Anyone Miss the Robin's Egg Blue Jerseys? I do... I think we should go back to them. Modernized...of course... using the Carew days color scheme. Probably don't need the same color pants.

lol... Me to... The Twins organization are not returning my calls. Can you believe that? If I did get the job... I'm gonna need a secretary who can correct my spelling and punctuation.

It's a tough job... Pitching is the way back and we don't really have any. Here are 10 things!!! #1... Payroll Don't overspend on average Veteren players... Take the money and save it for a time when the spending of money will provide a chance and take that money that you have saved on players and re-invest that cash into the scouting department. Identify the best Scouting Director and Scouts across the league and pay them a lot more money to entice them to join the Twins. Totally rebuild the scouting department at all levels with the sharpest eyes and best track records. Cover the globe and be competitive with the contracts of young signable prospects. It should be shopping time for the scouting and player development departments. Spend your moeny here and ignore the fans who are complaining about the drop in player payroll because they are going to complain. #2... Coaching Make sure that your coaching staff from Majors to rookie ball are the best teachers period. I'm a Gardy fan, He's one of us but I have questions if Gardy is the best guy to handle young players at the upper level. Maybe we have the best teachers right now in baseball. Evaluate it and change it if needed. Be competitive from a salary standpoint. Make it obvious that the best will be compensated to again entice their coming over. #3 Timeline Set a reasonable timeline for reasonable return to title contention and shoot for it. Let's say an aggressive plan for 2014. Don't let building for 2013 get in the way of building for the year you have identified. Every contract you sign should be signed with the year 2014 or 2015(whatever year) in mind. If you sign a player for 2013... They are signed because they can help in 2014 or 2015. Or you if sign them to one year contract. You sign them for their potential value and if they can be traded for talent that will help you in 2014 or 2015. #4... Pitching is the way back and it's our biggest problem by far of many problems. Overload on College Pitching in the draft. The majority of pitchers are not going to work so you have to draft and acquire more arms to provide a better chance of some of them actually filtering through to MLB production. The upper farm need to be re-stocked quickly. So College pitching is necessary because in theory they should be able to get to the upper levels quicker. If you end up over drafting and end up with too many arms. You can trade the excess for position holes that occur. Pitching can always be traded because someone is always looking for Pitching. Make no mistake that this part is going to be hard but it's something that must be done or we will be struggling for awhile. I'd let every expiring pitching contract expire during this off season. Start fresh and re-build with your timeline in mind. #5... Do not compromise your defense for a slight OPS upgrade. I'm not talking about errors, I'm talking about defenders that make the plays they should make and a bunch of plays that they shouldn't make. Range and speed increase. Yes I know you have to score runs and offense is important but the bottom line is this... Giving your opponent extra outs will kill you and it inflates your pitching metrics and makes it real hard to get a true gauge on the pitching that you desperately need to evaluate to get ready for 2014 or 2015. Some pitchers have a 4 plus ERA because they deserve it and some have a 4 plus ERA because the Left Fielder laid up on a ball that could have been caught with two outs and the next guy rips a 3 run dinger and the next time out the 3B couldn't handle a well placed bunt and which made the lead off walk even worse. No errors committed and a nasty ERA that could have been prevented. #6... Offense Build according to the timeline you have set forth. Do not hold back MLB ready talent in the meantime because the position is currently held by a one year rental Vet. Let the kids make their mistakes for awhile. #7... Leadership You need hungry players. Players so hungry that they make the ones who are going through motions feel stupid because they are getting outworked day in and day out. That's leadership... It isn't speeches in the locker room or putting an extra 45 pound plate on the weight bar. It's the guy who wants it and cares if the ball drops on the grass and lhe rubs off on the next guy. They have to be a special type of bulldog because they need to have this bulldog attitude while losing games. If you have half assed players that get swallowed up by the reality of game #67 on the Schedule and 15 games out of the division lead. Look to move them. #8... Let Capp Close until you move him... Don't screw with any value that he has. #9... Pick up the phone when it rings... Pick up the Phone and call when it doesn't. No one is untouchable. You need pitching. Know your value and don't worry about what your giving up. Instead you should worry about what your getting in return. This will help keep you from selling low ala Delmon Young and JJ Hardy. #10... READ TWINS DAILY FOR GREAT IDEAS!!!

Back in the wind up now... Poor kid is really searching for something

Liriano started the inning from the stretch. It's got me thinking. Liriano used to use a windup... Right?. He didn't always pitch from the stretch exclusively... Right? I'm trying to remember and I usually remember stuff like this.

1. Trading of draft picks for sure. 2. Minimum and maximum salary cap. 3. Relegation ala soccer. (I know... be careful with that one and near impossible with the current farm systems)

Not an insider... Would you mind posting the list. Don't need the prose associated just Who they are and rank. if you don't mind. I'd appreciate it.

Doumit hits .200 with no XB power whatsoever? My Bad... I thought Doumit hits better than that. I got my stat sheets from Twinsnorth. I forgot it was in the metric system.

Hire the Spanish version of Crash Davis. Liriano is a left handed Nuke Laloosh without the attitude. Liriano is still trying to get by on his stuff alone and his stuff is good but not where it used to be when he could get away with stuff alone. He either gets his mechanics down and repeats the delivery so he can locate or his career ends. Whatever team can reach him gets the prize. Whatever team doesn't reach him gets the crooked numbers.

Any really good team. Thats the key line in your post. We need youth so we can determine which of them will be our vets when we start to compete for a title again. I admire your desire to stay competitive. It's rebuilding time. Or will soon be... I'm sorry I shouldn't officially give up on this season in May.

I agree with Shane on this... We need a lot of things but Pitching is the way back and pitching is risky so You need extra pitchers just to cover for those who don't pan out. So let the collecting and auditioning begin. If we sign a Jason Marquis type next year just to eat innings it will signal loud and clear that the front office is leading us to mediocre-ness. Young arms please and as many as you can collect. We just might find an out of owhere Young Vogelsong along the way. How bout an out of nowhere Fister like guy. Maybe we have a couple of like examples with Diamond and Walters.

You are of course referring to a superstar like Cano, Ryne Sandberg, Chase Utley. It is also possible to have a non superstar power guy play the position. Uggla, Kelly Johnson, Ty Wigginton, Jose Lopez. The stereotype sticks because teams want defense up the middle and defense is aided greatly by speed. When you crowd your speed in the middle... the big slow bombers go on the edges. It all depends on the context of your team. Figgins can play third with a Lopez. Revere can play left without having Stanton like power and the team can still be successful. Teams can flourish or fail just like stereotypical lineup. We have Power potential from Willingham, Morneau, Doumit and... Well Mauer would be #4 on that list... So with the Twins... You can comfortably put him on a corner and call him Mike Schmidt... That is our context. If Mauer fits the sterotype is pointless and How Mauer compares to Longoria and Rolen does nothing to either justify his contract or help the team where help is needed. I understand that part of his contract is tied to the catcher position. However, his contract also demands that he stay healthy and stay in the lineup. Catchers simply need more rest. His contract also demands that he play where needed. If youbare looking for the stereotypical 3B. We don't have him. Not I'm AAA either. The construction of this team almost demands it. 3 of our 4 powers guys collide positional with each other. Mauer plays C and 1B which is also played by Doumit and Morneau and they are all top preferences for the DH position. If Mauer is a Minnesota guy. He'd see the need and say "yes skip...I'll play third if the team needs it". You throw him out there for the end of the year. If it works he can play some third next year and catch on occasion. Now we just need Gardy to ask.