Jontler

It definitely takes some dedication. We sim 4 times a week during the season, and then daily in the offseason. Get through about 4 seasons in a real-life year. It's a solid pace, but it's not usually necessary to send an update with every sim.

I've only ever seriously played online. Several times I've tried offline leagues and they are unfathomably boring to me. I ask you - how are you supposed to ****-talk the AI?

Who would like to be the General Manager of their own major league franchise? Trick question, I know it’s all of you. You, in the corner, the one who was screaming about calling Buxton up last year and is screaming to send him down this year; don’t give me that innocent look! I know you all have opinions and for those looking to scratch that itch, I encourage you to take a look at Out of the Park Baseball. Who would like to be the General Manager of their own major league franchise? Trick question, I know it’s all of you. You, in the corner, the one who was screaming about calling Buxton up last year and is screaming to send him down this year; don’t give me that innocent look! I know you all have opinions and for those looking to scratch that itch, I encourage you to take a look at Out of the Park Baseball. Twins Daily will be soon giving away multiple copies of Out Of The Ballpark 18 as a “Thank You” to our community. To introduce you to this remarkable game, I reached out to our own Jontler, who has been a devoted player for over 10 years, to share his experiences. You can learn even more using this link. - John BonnesI have spent an absurd amount of the last ten years playing Out of the Park Baseball. I play in an online league with 29 other human owners and a dedicated human commissioner. Just how much does it dominate my world? I have five tabs pinned in Chrome so that they always come up with the browser; two of them are associated with OOTP. My wife knows the league’s simulation schedule. Three of the five guys in my wedding party are fellow GMs, one of whom I originally met through the league. Gmail, twitter, slack dedicated to online baseball league, slack for work, online baseball league reports. You know, just like everyone’s tabs. My point here is that OOTP has become a part of my life, much in the same way Twins baseball is part of my life - except OOTP is year round. OOTP carries me through every October winter when there aren’t any Twins games to watch. On those occasional years when the Twins aren’t competitive, at least I’ve got my Spectres to pull me through. Ok so this season is a bad example. Don’t you have a Twins bullpen to complain about? Let me tell you a little about the Rising Star League, the online league I’m in. Play began in 1990, with the first 18 seasons being fully simulated. The commissioner wanted to build a rich history before messy humans joined the party, and humans took over the two conference, four division 20-team league in 2008. The league has expanded twice since then: once in 2014, reacting to pressure from league owners to add another round of playoffs and wild cards, and once again in 2045 when the European, Japanese, and Cuban leagues were all disbanded and folded into the RSL. In between all of this, divisions have been eliminated and then re-added, the DH was incorporated (the league was originally fully no-DH), and playoff structure shifted heavily against the wild cards. (First round for wild card teams is 3-1-3 - I suggest you win your division, sports fans). This is all to say that there are very few limitations on what you can do in OOTP. Want to build your own private baseball ant-farm and watch everyone scurry around? Go for it. In 2041, Samantha Valentine became the first woman ever drafted in the RSL. The fleet-footed centerfielder made her RSL debut a year later; she became the first million dollar woman in 2044, and the first multi-million dollar woman in 2049. That’s some world-building flexibility. Samantha Valentine is earning every penny of that contract this season. Want to jump into an online league and compete against other humans at being the best GM? Want to play GM offline against the computer? Want to simulate a specific season in MLB history, or start from a specific year’s rosters and see what changes? Want to manage every pitch of every game, in addition to all of a GM’s responsibilities? It’s all available. You can decide how much or how little you want to deal with. For example, in the RSL we have scouting and coaching personnel turned off, and each team has three minor league levels to work with (A, AA, and AAA). However, you can easily turn all of those things on, and mimic the major leagues with a full complement of minor league levels - or even add more. Whether it be online or offline, managing every single pitch or simulating entire decades at a time, OOTP is an excellent baseball simulator. Anyone who thinks they’re up to the challenge of being a major league GM should check it out and see how they stand up to the test. And hey, if you find yourself looking to elevate the challenge, give me a shout. Maybe we’ll have an opening for you in the Rising Star League. If you would like to learn more about OOTP18, please check it out using this link. If you would like to try it, you can also download it for 10% off the regular price using the code TWINS18. View full article

After starting the AAA season with 108 plate appearances of .179/.269/.316 ball, the Twins have demoted Joe Benson to Double-A New Britain. The move makes room on the roster to call up Pedro Florimon to replace Brian Dozier, who himself is headed to the bigs. ETA: Clete Thomas, after clearing waivers, is the outfielder that'll be taking Benson's roster spot in Rochester. Benson is 24 years old and has already spent two seasons at New Britain, where he has been effective previously (.374 and .388 wOBA in 2010 and 2011, respectively). Benson experienced a similar demotion when he first arrived in Double-A, being sent down to High-A after a slow start to the season only to be called back up 21 games later. This, of course, is more alarming, as Benson is a few years older and should be looking to break into the big leagues soon.

After a rough night last night and a similarly rough start today, Joe Benson hit his first home run of the season in game 1 of Rochester's doubleheader with Syracuse. Benson batted fifth for the Red Wings last night. The game opened with three straight singles before Ryan Perry, the Syracuse starter, walked in the first run of the game. After a coaching visit to the mound, Perry got Benson to ground into a run-scoring double play, limiting the damage on the inning. Benson hit worm burners again in both the third and fifth, the former a fielders choice and the latter a ground out. He struck out to lead off the eighth and broke the hearts of Red Wings fans again in the ninth, striking out on three straight pitches with one out and the bases loaded. Today didn't start any better. Benson dropped down to sixth in the order and led off the second inning with a strikeout. He popped out in the fourth and grounded out in the sixth. Down by three in the extra-innings eighth (h/t Seth), with Aaron Bates on first and two out, Benson fell behind 0-2 to Syracuse lefty Atahualpa Severino. He took a high and away ball one and then connected for a line drive home run to draw the game to within one. The Red Wings couldn't pull it out, Benson did manage to break his mini slump. Game two of the doubleheader is underway now. Benson is batting sixth and is currently 0 for 1 with a fly out. The Red Wings are leading 1-0.

William Joseph Benson Position: Outfielder Bats: Right Throws: Right Age: 24 Height: 6' 1" Weight: 205 lb. Joe Benson was a two-sport high school athlete. Attending Joliet Catholic Academy in Illinois, football recruitment began as early as his sophomore year. A long summer of baseball following his junior year saw him choosing to pursue baseball instead of football, and he ended up signing a letter of intent to play baseball for Purdue. (1)However, when the Twins selected him in the second round of the 2006 Rule IV draft on June 6, Benson wasted no time. He signed with the Twins on June 10th, receiving a $575,000 signing bonus.(2) Benson debuted with Minnesota's Rookie League affiliate, the Elizabethton Twins, on June 20, 2006 against the Billings Mustangs. The game saw him collect his first professional hit, a single, as well as his first walk, run-batted-in, stolen base, and strikeout. His first multi-hit game and extra-base hit would come the following day, with his first home run coming on July 10. Benson stayed with Elizabethton for most of the 2006 season, enjoying good success in that first professional season with a .260/.335/.444 triple-slash line. At the end of the year, he was promoted to the Beloit Snappers, receiving a paltry 19 plate appearances in Low-A ball before the season ended.(3) As a high school draftee, Benson followed the same slow development track that so many high school draftees follow. He remained with Beloit for all of 2007 and 2008, though missed the second half of 2008 with a stress fracture in his back. Regardless, Minnesota promoted him to High-A Fort Myers to begin the 2009 season. Joe suffered a hand fracture after punching a wall in early May, causing him to miss almost two months. (2) (4) He finished out the year in High-A, and began 2010 in Double-A. Benson hit a meager .169 in April of 2010, a slow start to his Double-A career. Although he picked it up in May, Minnesota sent him back down to High-A for 21 games and then promoted him back up to New Britain.(5) He would finish the year there, putting up an impressive triple-slash of .251/.336/.527. Despite this, the Twins had him repeat 2011 in Double-A. 2011 was a mixed bag for Benson. He reduced his K-rate to 23.1% from 27.2% the year before and bumped his walk rate by 2.7%, making more contact and increasing his average. However, his slugging percentage fell 32 points to .495 and he was forced to have meniscus surgery in July, missing a month. (2) Whether it was his increased patience and contact, his decreased strikeout rate, or his age and the Twins' general woes, Minnesota saw fit to give Joe Benson the call to The Show on September 6, 2011 against the Chicago White Sox. He drew a full count walk in his first plate appearance and collected his first hit against Max Scherzer in Detroit on the 10th. (1) (3) While Benson's September call-up was hardly impressive, the 74 plate appearances should not be seen as indicative of anything. He is currently listed as a the third overall Twins' prospect by Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus. (6) The Rochester Red Wings, Minnesota's Triple-A affiliate, are currently enjoying his services. He's well regarded as a plus-defensive outfielder with good range, a great arm, and good power. His strikeout rate remains high, but a supporting walk rate with the power makes it a tolerable flaw. As of this writing, Benson has 62 accumulated plate appearances in 15 games for the Red Wings. His triple-slash line sits at .180/.323/.240, with all of the usual Small Sample Size Theater warnings applied. (7) http://www.twinkietown.com/2012/3/14/2869903/brandon-warne-chats-with-joe-bensonhttp://www.baseballprospectus.com/card/card.php?id=50078http://www.fangraphs.com/statsd.aspx?playerid=2845&position=OF&season=2006http://www.aarongleeman.com/2010_02_14_baseballblog_archive.html#2084465046810802091http://aarongleeman.com/2011/02/21/top-40-twins-prospects-of-2011-10-9-8-7-6/http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=15393http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=2845&position=OF

I might be less apt to go with him if he was in the Show now, but since he's back down in AAA and he's one of the bigger names... Plus I met him at TwinsFest and told him I was rooting for his eventual call-up, so I this is a convenient excuse to follow his time in the minors closely.

I'l take Joe Benson.

Sometimes these are the same thing. Also, your ability to harness hyperbole is impressive.

This is a false dichotomy. A manager's job is to set the lineups as well as manage his players. Managing a player's attitudes and opinions is very much a part of the manager's job. Oftentimes what's best for the team is having the players happy.

Speaking of reality, it's worth noting that Span was more valuable than Hunter in 2008 and 2009, the two years after Hunter left. The two have been worth almost exactly the same since Hunter left (12.5 WAR for Hunter to Span's 12.2), and last year provided almost identical value, despite Span having half the plate appearances. Josh Willingham doesn't have the dramatic platoon splits that Cuddyer has, and gets on base more. We can expect very similar production from Willingham and choosing him over Cuddyer was, on paper, the better move. There's no more uncertainty there than there would be had the Twins signed Cuddyer instead. Jason Kubel and Ryan Doumit have basically an identical career line, and if Doumit is replacing Kubel as the regular DH - as is expected - then, again, we can expect similar results. The financials make Doumit the right choice. There's certainly room for pessimism going into 2012, but one needs to not let it color their perceptions so much as to not recognize team strengths and positives for what they are.

If they're thinking objectively about it, they'll stick Nishioka in an everyday role in AAA. As previously noted by many, putting him on the bench in the bigs is detrimental, and he never really got his feet under him last season. Barring injuries (ha) he doesn't serve a useful purpose on the big league squad to start the season. He's got depth potential, though, and if he can get into a groove then he could be useful in the future. It's not as if Alexi Casilla has blown away all future competition. his .310/.337 career OBP/SLG is likely to get him cut before arbitration pays him better next year, and the Twins need to get other options in place. It's not impossible to imagine a world in which Nishi replaces Casilla at 2B in 2013.