Dark Kinetic-Grip

Sadly, I cannot get the radio station anywhere in the house, even with an active FM antenna--and I'm inside the 694 highway ring. I tried streaming a preseason game from the website--but it was blocked during game time, with a suggestion to go to MLB website and buy their access. Really? Will that be the situation during the regular season?

If you are of the opinion that you have more Baseball Intelligence™ than Terry Ryan concerning Anthony Slama and that he clearly deserves to be in MLB; Predict the future 2013 MLB complete season statistics for Anthony Slama with a team other than the Minnesota Twins: IP: ERA: WHIP: BB: SO:

I was curious to hear what others might think of the idea. First, I think there are excessive roster transactions during the season--a larger roster would mitigate this (and perhaps some limitations or modifications to DL and injury rules). Perhaps an expanded roster would warp what some people feel is a perfect and unchangeable game-perhaps it is, and shouldn't be monkeyed with--but it seems these days there is more strategy being executed at the GM level than on the field. I'd like to see a manager have more choice and strategies available to them. But that is just an opinion, a matter of personal aesthetics on my part. Maybe it is a product of growing up and watching the SF Giants and Oakland A's--Manager Dick Williams did some crafty (or foolish, depending on your perspective) things to try and win games. Check out this box score Twins vs. A's in 1972. Oakland's 2nd basemen never batted in this game, though the Twins prevailed. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1972/B09111MIN1972.htm Sometimes, I find the moves and antics of spring training and September expanded rosters most entertaining.

The 30 Man Roster Might it be time for MLB to rethink roster size? How would this change MLB, for better or worse? Your comments please.

Buxton looked absolutely depressed about the news. He couldn't move from his chair.

I think perhaps I'm arguing for a strategic and moral direction, more than the a legal or realistic one. The players union wouldn't like it at all--though I understand their point--I recall well how my beloved Oakland A's players were treated in the early 70's by Charles O. Finley, and watched the great players leave one by one, for good reason. From an outside perspective, the current contract practices of MLB seem insane and unsustainable, at least in creating a league where 30 or so teams can *actually compete*. Sigh. Maybe a bit of owner collusion at this point would be a good thing, again. I seriously have just as much fun these days at a Saints game. That's something for MLB to think about, if nothing else.

There is a noble way out of this conundrum for both Joe Mauer and the Twins, but it would require Joe Mauer to man-up as both a man and a true Minnesotan. Go back and rewrite the contract with a $10M/yr guarantee, and a tiered system of incentives leading up to the full $23M/yr. Joe Mauer would return to home-town hero status immediately and forever, he's just got to ask himself, is an extra $100M in the bank going to be enough to make up for where he's actually headed in baseball history?

Frankly, I think Brian Duensing has the most future major league wins and innings in him out of the whole current pitching staff. He appears to have a zen-like control over his emotions on the mound, and his pitches appear to move very deceptively at times. If he can find some repeatable strategies to get right-handers out, I think you have your future #2 starter for years.

Re: year-to-year comparisons. It may be that year-to-year is not granular enough to show the trends/change. Using stats from something like units of 20 innings, in a time series, perhaps displayed in a Shewhart Control Chart might be revealing.

/* It shouldn't be THIS volatile */ This is an observation well worth noting. I've wondered at times whether modern strength and weight-training regimens have given the advantage to the batters over the pitchers, disturbing the statistical equilibrium. The ulnar collateral ligament seems to be a physiological bottleneck for pitchers, there does not seem to be an equivalent bottleneck (yet) for batters. So, for pitchers, lets say since 1970, is there a measurable graph showing increases in the velocity and break in pitches? Can you find an equivalent graph increase in batters bat speed or reaction time, or measurable strength? There may not be the instrumentation over a great enough length of time to provide these answer to these questions. If pitchers have reached a competitive bottleneck, is it time to reverse the Gibson Rule? (raise the mound from 10" to 15" and reset the top of the strike zone to the armpits)

Is Miguel good enough now that we can start saying, he's so good it's Insano?

Dennis Brackin's article in today's StarTribune noted a number of interesting views about the widespread philosophy of pitch to contact. Commenters make frequent use of this phrase when describing the Twins approach, but this alone does not explain the results of the Twins pitching staff this season. The result in this case can best be described as "pitching to extraordinary contact". It is noticeable, even to the likes of me, that opposing teams are really teeing off at times. Pitcher by pitcher, is there really a root cause, a common thread of coaching or philosophy that is having this influence? Or is it just that we have a group of less than stellar pitchers, whose pitches break 20% less than their peers. What is the real reason the Twins are "pitching to extraordinary contact"?

I would not mind at all if they picked up Luke Hughes again. Burroughs should have gone in the first place.

Oh, and release Capps too. He will not pitch MLB beyond 2013. Put Slama on the 40-man and bring him up.

The build it for next year plan. [#1] Give Joe Maurer, Danny Valencia, and Clete Thomas their unconditional release. (when someone, somewhere picks up and renegotiates Joe's contract to market value, use the $23M next year to sign 2 free agent starters to 3-4yr $10M deals. Call up Brian Dozier, Drew Butera, and Joe Benson. [#2] Trade Span for the best young serviceable starter or reliever available. (release Jeff Gray, call up Ben Revere). [#3] Move Brian Duensing back to the rotation and develop a pitch to deal with RH batters.