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I'm bummed I didn't make it down there with you guys. Sounds awesome.

I've been wondering who to blame about Arcia's slump. I'm glad to hear it's Brad.

Wow. Talk about high risk, high reward. I honestly have no idea what I would do. But I'd sure think about grabbing him. This team could still spend some money.

Well, if I was a team competing against the Twins - especially if I was one that they were facing in the next 7-10 days - I don't know why I would agree to not claim him. The Twins face the Blue Jays next. That front office is notorious for not giving a damn about unwritten rules. And while the claiming team would have to take his contract, that doesn't mean that a team wouldn't be willing to do so once they've had a little more time to think about it. And then the Twins are screwed. Not "screwed" as in "they lost a lot of money" because the other team is paying Morales but "screwed" as in "they lost their guy AND they DFA Kubel AND the GM looks stupid to ownership for spending a bunch of money/energy on a guy and then giving him up in a procedural move to an opponent."

This is awesome. It's really nice to be on this side of things, and I can hardly wait to see what the papers there say after today's gem. I liked this quite a bit.....

Aaron and I talked a little about this on Gleeman and the Geek and I'd like to enlist the forum's help. It's driving me crazy watching Hicks in MLB, similar to how it drove me crazy to watch Carlos Gomez in MLB. He needs time in AAA. He might need a lot of time in AAA. And the only reason he's here is because the Twins simply don't have any type of replacement with Fuld on the DL. So find me a replacement, and by "replacement" I mean a replacement level player whom the Twins could acquire from another team. I don't even mean a major league center fielder, or at least not a starter. I certainly don't mean a prospect. I'm talking about a backup center fielder or a starting AAA center fielder that isn't going to kill us. I'm talking about the definition of filler.. The kind of guy that we can flip to a team for a solid reliever, or a prospective middle-of-the-rotation pitcher. Winner gets my first born. Or a Minnesota-based Papa John's pizza. (My choice.) Hell, I'll award the top 3 - and I don't even have three kids, so one of you lucky posters is getting the dog. (Or, again, a pizza.) And also credit in a story if I write about this, which is looking increasingly compulsory. I keep bragging about the great baseball minds out here, so don't prove me wrong. Open up another tab and get the Twins out of this mess.

Cody, I think this was an excellent review of this book. Thank you so much for contributing it.

[CENTER][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial][attachment=7231:4660.attach][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial][I]Sponsored by [URL="http://www.surdyks.com/Default.aspx?ISC_PageName=DirectionsDelivery"]Surdyk's[/URL][/I][/FONT][/COLOR] [/CENTER] [HR][/HR]Over his career, Phil Hughes has seemingly been one solid secondary pitch away from taking over the world. Since his prospect days, his curveball was considered this dangerous weapon. For Hughes, unfortunately, the pitch [URL="http://twinsdaily.com/content.php/2716-Phil-Hughes-Long-Curving-History?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter"]never manifested into that killer pitch as projected[/URL]. Eventually, the pitch was unceremoniously dropped from his arsenal in 2012. [HR][/HR][I]Every week, Surdyk's analyzes a Twins pitchers' delivery and reminds you that Surdyk's will deliver beer, liquor and even a sandwich to your doorstep.[/I] [HR][/HR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial][attachment=7232:4713.attach][/FONT][/COLOR]In his final year with the Yankees, Hughes certainly favored the pitch to start an at-bat off. While he threw the pitch just 11% of the time overall, he spun it up to the plate a nearly quarter of the time on the first pitch to a hitter. Opponents, trained to seek-and-destroy fastballs on the opening pitch, often allowed the big bend to sail past. But as you can see in the heat pitch graphic, Hughes it was exceptionally good at finding the low and outside corner. Batters found themselves down in the count no balls and one strike. As the at-bat would progress, Hughes had the tendency to then lean on his impressive fastball. Much like former Twin Scott Baker, Hughes would target the top of the zone with a 92+ heater and would register a high amount of swing[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]-and-misses with an equally insane amount of foul balls. [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]With two strikes, and fear that the looping curve would be tipped out of his hand, Hughes stuck to the fastball and slider -- demonstrating a near fifty-fifty split in usage between the two. The results left something to be desired as his .253 opponent batting average against in two-strike situations, the second highest in the game last year, suggested that the current plan was not working. On top of that, his 44% foul ball rate with two-strikes meant he handed out a lot of souvenirs to the ticket holders in the gated community areas of the stadium but also that his pitch count increased quickly. This translated to premature clubhouse showers.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]So with all that in mind, but without all the numbers to back it up and just ball guy-type intuitive stuff, Hughes focused on redeveloping the curve to be a legitimate weapon in those types of circumstances. [/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]“Coming into spring it was a conscience effort to make sure I finishing that pitch and keep my hand out in front so you don’t pick up any spin or have it pop out of my hand,” Hughes explained. [/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]Camouflaging your secondary pitches is one of the biggest keys in pitching and, to Hughes’ concern of keeping the curve from “popping” out of his hand, is a big one from that particular pitch. The looping curve, as he described it, is one that has the tendency to come out of the pitcher’s hand a bit higher than a fastball. [/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]“A lot of times with curveballs, more than any other pitch, it will go above the fastball plane,” major league pitching instructor Tom House told the [/FONT][/COLOR][URL="http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/nationals-pitcher-gio-gonzalezs-tricky-curve/2012/10/05/808c301a-08c6-11e2-a10c-fa5a255a9258_story.html"][COLOR=#1155CC][FONT=Arial][I][U]Washington Post [/U][/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#1155CC][FONT=Arial][U]in 2012[/U][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]. “And if it goes above the fastball plane, then the hitter knows it’s not a fastball.”[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]Which means they sit and let it pass. Or they swing out of their cleats at it. Either way, it becomes a less effective pitch. [/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]Through three starts in 2014, it is hard to tell if the tinkering has worked. He has thrown more curveballs throughout each plate appearance but the amount of times hitters have swung at it has decreased. Plus, no one is chasing after the pitch out of the zone, which means it is not getting buried for strike three. While his strikeout rate has climbed so far this season and may not be directly due to his curveball (12 of his 17 K’s have come on fastballs) it is possible that just occasionally flashing the curve keeps hitters off of his fastball. [/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]“It’s altering sequences,” Hughes said this spring, “I’ve gotten into some predictable sequences for the most part, so once I get my changeup and cutter going I can kind of alter those a little bit, you know, flipping a few first-pitch curveballs, always keeping it different, that will be good.” [/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]In terms of his curve -- his large, looping pitch thrown around 74.1 mph on average -- hitters will see it mainly early in the count (16 of the 44 were thrown on first-pitch) or occasionally with two-strikes (another 18 were thrown in two-strike situations). In both instances, hitters refrained from swinging. Of the 44 thrown, just 14 (31.8%) have been offered at. That’s quite a low total for a curveball overall.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]Does predictable sequencing explain why Hughes’ curveball has been roundly ignored by opponents? Or is the big loop helping hitters differentiate his curve from other pitches? Some attribute the modern hitters’ ability to lay off these slower breaking pitches to improved analytics and scouting reports. [/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]In Boston, a [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial][I]Providence Journal[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial] article noted that [/FONT][/COLOR][URL="http://www.providencejournal.com/sports/red-sox/content/20140413-trends-in-pitching-cutters-splitters-elbow-injuries.ece"][COLOR=#1155CC][FONT=Arial][U]the Red Sox staff was tightening up their pitch types[/U][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial], moving to cutters and splitters instead of sliders and curves, because the late break of the former would confuse hitters better than the looping curve or long tilt of the slider.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]“There’s more knowledge in a game now of bat paths and technologies and studies and charts and hot zones, so you can get a picture of somebody’s bat path and where they like to hit the ball,” Red Sox catcher David Ross told the [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial][I]Providence Journal’s[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial] Brian Macpherson. “Guys try to stay off that as much as they can off the fastball with a cut or a sink or sharp breaking stuff. The big breaking ball is pretty much obsolete.”[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]While Ross may consider the big breaking ball obsolete, Hughes still breaks his out, just not at the same rate as he did a few years ago while coming up with the Yankees when it was considered a plus-pitch for him. It was last year when Hughes started to feel that hitters were not reacting to the pitch the same and shelved it in favor of the late-break cutter. This season, while he’s thrown his curve more frequently than last year, it is still the cutter that is thrown in greater abundance. Unlike his curve, the cutter is (1) swung at, (2) swung at out of the zone and (3) missed at a higher rate. [/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]So maybe the curveball is the savior of a pitch for Phil Hughes that it was made out to be in spring training. He still is doing many things right at this juncture, such as leading the staff in strikeouts and avoiding home runs. If, however, he can find some help in reducing his unsightly batting average on balls in play or the amount of foul balls that has blown up his pitch count so frequently, he might be able to stay on the mound beyond the typical five innings of work. [/FONT][/COLOR] [/FONT][/COLOR] View full article

I heard that Buxton scored from second base tonight on a wild pitch. Can anyone confirm that?

I think this is pretty cool..... A filmmaker in Canada found a newsreel (the kind they used to show before silent movies) of the 1919 World Series, which is the infamous Black Sox series. http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/features/2014/05/05/post-19/ It's more than kind of cool to see the video of enormous crowds watching these games in old stadiums and the players scampering around the bases. But the thing that I wondered was... They show a crown in NYC gathering to "watch" the Chicago-Cincinatti World Series. They're gathered in a park, but they're watching a mechanical device, similar to a scoreboard app on a smartphone. It seemingly tracks runners going around a base and (I think) where the ball went. I've never heard of one of these before. Anyone know what it is?

How much more does Mauer need to do to crack this list?

I've wanted to see this for a while. I'll need to look for it on Netflix.

The line is gray and the point at which moderators choose to take a stand varies. That is the nature of the beast. If I stumble into that area occasionally, I don't take it personally. It doesn't make one a bad member of Twins Daily. It just means I found myself at a point where the moderators felt they needed to step in. (In truth, they might have felt the need to step in for reasons far beyond my post. They might have thought it was similar to a post where they failed to step in. The might have felt that there was a rush of questionable posts and they needed to tighten the bolts a bit. It might have just been that a moderator was having a bad night. Or it might have been that I was. Whatever. It happens.) Regardless, if we believe they generally do an outstanding job (and I do) then I try to handle the conflict like an adult and get on with the rest of my posts. Which, by the way, might include posting something in this thread to suggest a differing opinion. That's fine, but I try not to let it fester. This is easily the best place to talk Twins baseball on the web. It would not be if not for an enormous amount of extra work (and self-examination) by the moderators. One hand slap is a small price to pay for that, IMHO.

The argument for keeping Parmelee & Diamond over Arcia & Thielbar is straightforward enough - the organization doesn't want to lose guys who looked like real assets just a year ago. That's defendable. It's thin ice for those two, and I suspect it won't last even as long as April. Here's the thing about Bartlett: if he wasn't done, he'd be a great 13th man. When Florimon needs a pinch hitter, Bartlett can come in without requiring another bench bat, and he's also right-handed. Again, I wonder if it will even take four weeks for the Twins to reconsider. And Kubel? We'll see. He's a pretty good reason to not lose Parmelee, actually. If he flames out, Parmelee could take over his left-handed bat (maybe alternating with Pinto) or Arcia could bring his right-handed bat to DH. Bottom line: some guys they hoped would bounce back haven't. All of these guys could have been cool comeback players, and I can understand wanting to give them a few more weeks, especially when all it does is send some guys down for a few weeks.

FWIW, Vegas set the number at 70.5, which is 4.5 games more than they have won any of the last three years. So it seems there are plenty more believers than pessimists.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php/2719-Mike-Pelfrey-On-Working-Fast

Two reactions: First, I had a long talk with Trevor May about paying attention to the process instead of the results. It seems to me that "play" and "having" help with that. It's easier to get lost in the moment and to let the tough bounces and hops go when you're in the moment. And it's easier to be in the moment when you'er having fun. I was also struck by the paragraph about stressing about the things outside of playing and outside of your control. This is not unique to baseball. I know a LOT of people who hate their job but like what they do. They like the task they'e paid to do - say, write - but all the other stuff around it makes them hate their job. They don't trust their boss, or their coworkers, or they think the company isn't doing a good job, or that they won't get a promotion, or they worry that someone is whispering behind their backs, or that they'll be doing this the rest of their lives. It seems to me you'e talking about being present. Kids are a wonderful reminder of what that's like. They're almost always in the present. They have to be. They are so unable to control their destiny, they have no choice but to accept the future for what comes and react to what is in front of them instead.

[attachment=6878:4058.attach][I]Tuesday, 4/15 vs Blue Jays at 7:10 [/I]Tuesday night, the Twins not only play the Blue Jays but celebrate the life and impact of Jackie Robinson. It’s suitable that a Minnesota team plays a Canadian team on this celebration, since both areas played key roles in baseball’s integration and supported to the rise of three African-American superstars, only two of which were baseball players. When [B]Branch Rickey[/B], the Brooklyn Dodgers owner, signed [B]Jackie Robinson[/B], the Dodgers has two AAA clubs to which Robinson could report for the 1946 season: the Montreal Royals or the St. Paul Saints. He chose the Royals, believing that the American Association wasn't ready for an African-American player. But two years later, that barrier was broken too, by the Saints and [B]Roy Campanella[/B]. Covering Campanella that year was [B]Carl Rowan[/B], an African-American journalist who had recently received a degree from the University of Minnesota. Rowan covered the team for the Minneapolis Spokesman, an African-American newspaper, including Campanella’s promotion to the majors in June, writing “the Saintly City’s baseball fans weren't the least bit happy about it. Although the fans admitted they disliked the move, many paused to say that they wished Campy a lot of luck in the big show.” View full article

Thanks gang!

He worries about tall pitchers being able to find their consistency and stay healthy. He backs it up with some historical numers: As for Stewart, he says he has incredible raw stuff but expects it will take a long time, perhaps as long as five years, for him to iron it out and move his way through the system. He calls his delivery "crude".

When five of the top 7 players are shortstops, it's fair to say Law values defensive chops. And when none of the top eight are pitchers, it's fair to say TINSTAAPP applies, too.

Welcome. Glad you took the plunge!

St. Peter is very good at this. He came up through corporate communications to become Twins President in about 10 years. He knows what he's doing. And FWIW, I think Ryan would be good, too, and probably open to such a thing. Remember, he has agreed to VERY LONG one-on-one interviews with TwinsCentric for our Offseason Handbook the last two years. For that matter, so did Bill Smith. They don't shy away from getting a chance to explain their side of the story.