Thrylos

(originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch) --- For a baseball team to content, one of three things need to happen: An organization has to develop impact starting pitchers. An organization has to trade for impact starting pitcher. An organizations has to sign impact starting pitcher free agents. I demonstrated earlier this month that the Twins' last two year abysmal record could have been predicted as earlier as 2008, based on the state of their starting pitching prospects. Only 11 pitchers who have been in the Twins' minors in 2008 are still in the organization and none has been an impact starter. The Twins have been adverse in doing numbers 2 and 3 above, so in order to compete, they have to develop starting pitching talent. The Denard Span and Ben Revere trades infused the Twins with 3 young starting pitchers: Vince Worley, 24, and Trevor May and Alex Meyer, both 22, which makes the future a bit more hopeful. How hopeful? I will try to quantify, so the rest of the discussion here will be metrics and numbers based. This will actually be somewhat of a logical continuation of this analysis, where in August last year, I tried to look positively into the 2012 Minnesota Twins pitching and draw conclusions based on potential. What I am doing here is looking at the whole organization Starting Pitching, under very similar metrics and see what the future might look like. This will include potential rankings of Twins' starters, but it is not a prospect list. They are based on their 2012 performance (and adjusted for age and playing level) and not their potential. Injured players, such as Wimmers and Salcedo will be higher on prospect lists that ranked here, because their numbers were awful. The metrics I like to use to do this have been some simple things of my own device: Pitching Effectiveness or PE and Expected Pitching Effectiveness or xPE. I fiddled around with PE in 2008 and with xPE in 2009. Here is the reason I devised PE and here is the reason I optimized it to xPE. My main arguments were a. I felt like xFIP and FIP and DICE weigh too much things like home runs (which anyone who watched the home runs by Miquel Cabrera and Delmon Young against the Twins yesterday cannot deny that they are a matter of inches and ballpark and luck and fielding performance from being a long fly ball). Also these formulae are hard to memorize and I wanted something simple I can calculate looking at a stat sheet and also something that you can calculate using splits (e.g. how has Brian Duensing or Glen Perkins been as a starter vs as a reliever); you can find xFIP around, but not in a spit form. So in 2008 I devised PE, which simple takes account three things: Strikeouts, walks and hits. So a pitcher who strikes out more people, walks fewer and gives lesser hits is more likely to succeed than someone who doesn't. And all hits are counted equal because the difference between a single and a triple might be the difference of having Delmon Young or Ben Revere play Left Field or the difference between a fly ball out and a home run might be the difference of having Torii Hunter or Rich Becker playing Center Field. And I use WHIP, K/9 and K/BB to calculate PE (a simple PE= (K/9*K/BB)/WHIP). xPE further normalizes for BABIP (to league average .290) to account for "luck" with hits. And unlike FIP and ERA, these two measures go the opposite directions (higher is better) and have a large variation (0.x to 100+) to allow for granularity in comparisons vs. compressing performance from 0 to 10 or so. Over here, I show that xFIP and FIP correlate pretty well to the much more complex SIERA, which is way too complex to be able to calculate just with a cell phone calculate (which is my goal as far as metrics go.) PE and xPE have been fine to show performance and expected performance. How about potential? This is the many million dollar question, because if someone is able to guess estimate future potential of a player in single A, he/she will be having a great advantage in identifying cheap, future impact players, in a more objective way than scouting reports. So yet a new measure in the PE family has been devised: the adjusted expected pitching effectiveness or axPE. I tried something similar the off-season after the 2008 season, but the resulting formula was too complicated (cannot fit on a T-shirt or be calculated using a cell phone calculator), so needed to be refined. I hope I am close to this, since axPE is simpler. It takes into consideration level of play. Each level of play gets a number. Here are these numbers: All Rookie Leagues: 1 A: 2 A+: 3 AA: 4 AAA: 5 MLB: 6 the average of the levels a player participated is taken into consideration for axPE. For example if a pitcher spent part of the season in high A and then moved to AA, the average level grade is 3.5. The other adjustment involves someone's age. Younger players in higher levels have higher potential; this is the premise here. axPE is defined as xPE* (level/age) *7 . The 7 is a coefficient that makes it a number in the neighborhood of PE and xPE. A note of importance: agPE is biased towards better performance in higher levels; this is by design, since there have been pitchers who blew away rookie leagues and then bottomed out when they went to AA. The PE family metrics translators for starters (and relievers, for the sake of completeness, but RP are out of score here) are roughly translated to: Rotation: xPE/axPE 35+ Ace 25-35 #1- #2 Starter 15-25 #2- #3 Starter 10-15 #3 - #4 Starter 7.5-10 #5 Starter Bullpen: xPE/axPE 35+ Closer 25-35 Closer-Setup 15-25 Setup- Long Relief 8-15 Long Relief-Mopup where axPE denotes intermediate/long term potential. So, do the Twins have any potentially impact starters in their organization, based on their 2012 performance? Without further ado, here are the numbers, that include pretty much every pitcher in the Twins organization, including the new ones, and those who pitched only in the major league level in 2012, under 30 years old. The age indicated is their age in 2012. I am including Nick Blackburn, for comparison's sake. Raw data is taken from B-R and an (*) denotes LHP: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8078/8416556037_f7ef6c3021_c.jpg Thus, it looks like the Twins have 3 potential impact starters in their organization; Kyle Gibson and Alex Meyer are not a surprise. Cole DeVries is. Cole DeVries' axPE is higher than his xPE level (which turns out to suggest a middle of the rotation starter), because he performed at the MLB level. Whether or not potential is applicable to a 28 year old who has reached the majors, is a good discussion. On the other extreme, some of the K/9 leaders in the organization, Josue Montanez, Taylor Rogers, Felix Jorge, Tyler Jones have repressed axPE, because they are still at the lower levels of the organization. I think that they need to prove themselves at higher level. Based on this, and if you cut the list at 25 years old or younger, the Twins have at least couple of pitchers who have impact starter (i.e. top of the rotation/ace) potential and several who have mid-rotation potential. A huge qualifier: This list is of pitchers who were used mostly as starters (i.e. made more starts than relief appearances in 2012.) This leaves at least one particular pitcher out who should be included, but he made 4 starts and 7 relief appearances: Jose Berrios. His numbers (albeit in 11 games and 30 some innings) are out of this world: 284.12 PE, 236.11 xPE, and 91.82 axPE. He should be part of the discussion and definitely has top of the rotation potential, but there is an asterisk for the reasons mentioned. Others who made few starts but mostly used in a relief role but definitely should be part of the equation are (in no order) : Matt Houser, Miguel Munoz, AJ Achter, Cole Johnson, Argentis Silva (the 16 year old high bonus singing) Elias Villasarra, Fernando Romero, Luke Bard, Jose Jimenez, Corey Kimes, Brett Lee and Mason Melotakis.

(originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch) --- For a baseball team to content, one of three things need to happen: An organization has to develop impact starting pitchers. An organization has to trade for impact starting pitcher. An organizations has to sign impact starting pitcher free agents. I demonstrated earlier this month that the Twins' last two year abysmal record could have been predicted as earlier as 2008, based on the state of their starting pitching prospects. Only 11 pitchers who have been in the Twins' minors in 2008 are still in the organization and none has been an impact starter. The Twins have been adverse in doing numbers 2 and 3 above, so in order to compete, they have to develop starting pitching talent. The Denard Span and Ben Revere trades infused the Twins with 3 young starting pitchers: Vince Worley, 24, and Trevor May and Alex Meyer, both 22, which makes the future a bit more hopeful. How hopeful? I will try to quantify, so the rest of the discussion here will be metrics and numbers based. This will actually be somewhat of a logical continuation of this analysis, where in August last year, I tried to look positively into the 2012 Minnesota Twins pitching and draw conclusions based on potential. What I am doing here is looking at the whole organization Starting Pitching, under very similar metrics and see what the future might look like. This will include potential rankings of Twins' starters, but it is not a prospect list. They are based on their 2012 performance (and adjusted for age and playing level) and not their potential. Injured players, such as Wimmers and Salcedo will be higher on prospect lists that ranked here, because their numbers were awful. The metrics I like to use to do this have been some simple things of my own device: Pitching Effectiveness or PE and Expected Pitching Effectiveness or xPE. I fiddled around with PE in 2008 and with xPE in 2009. Here is the reason I devised PE and here is the reason I optimized it to xPE. My main arguments were a. I felt like xFIP and FIP and DICE weigh too much things like home runs (which anyone who watched the home runs by Miquel Cabrera and Delmon Young against the Twins yesterday cannot deny that they are a matter of inches and ballpark and luck and fielding performance from being a long fly ball). Also these formulae are hard to memorize and I wanted something simple I can calculate looking at a stat sheet and also something that you can calculate using splits (e.g. how has Brian Duensing or Glen Perkins been as a starter vs as a reliever); you can find xFIP around, but not in a spit form. So in 2008 I devised PE, which simple takes account three things: Strikeouts, walks and hits. So a pitcher who strikes out more people, walks fewer and gives lesser hits is more likely to succeed than someone who doesn't. And all hits are counted equal because the difference between a single and a triple might be the difference of having Delmon Young or Ben Revere play Left Field or the difference between a fly ball out and a home run might be the difference of having Torii Hunter or Rich Becker playing Center Field. And I use WHIP, K/9 and K/BB to calculate PE (a simple PE= (K/9*K/BB)/WHIP). xPE further normalizes for BABIP (to league average .290) to account for "luck" with hits. And unlike FIP and ERA, these two measures go the opposite directions (higher is better) and have a large variation (0.x to 100+) to allow for granularity in comparisons vs. compressing performance from 0 to 10 or so. Over here, I show that xFIP and FIP correlate pretty well to the much more complex SIERA, which is way too complex to be able to calculate just with a cell phone calculate (which is my goal as far as metrics go.) PE and xPE have been fine to show performance and expected performance. How about potential? This is the many million dollar question, because if someone is able to guess estimate future potential of a player in single A, he/she will be having a great advantage in identifying cheap, future impact players, in a more objective way than scouting reports. So yet a new measure in the PE family has been devised: the adjusted expected pitching effectiveness or axPE. I tried something similar the off-season after the 2008 season, but the resulting formula was too complicated (cannot fit on a T-shirt or be calculated using a cell phone calculator), so needed to be refined. I hope I am close to this, since axPE is simpler. It takes into consideration level of play. Each level of play gets a number. Here are these numbers: All Rookie Leagues: 1 A: 2 A+: 3 AA: 4 AAA: 5 MLB: 6 the average of the levels a player participated is taken into consideration for axPE. For example if a pitcher spent part of the season in high A and then moved to AA, the average level grade is 3.5. The other adjustment involves someone's age. Younger players in higher levels have higher potential; this is the premise here. axPE is defined as xPE* (level/age) *7 . The 7 is a coefficient that makes it a number in the neighborhood of PE and xPE. A note of importance: agPE is biased towards better performance in higher levels; this is by design, since there have been pitchers who blew away rookie leagues and then bottomed out when they went to AA. The PE family metrics translators for starters (and relievers, for the sake of completeness, but RP are out of score here) are roughly translated to: Rotation: xPE/axPE 35+ Ace 25-35 #1- #2 Starter 15-25 #2- #3 Starter 10-15 #3 - #4 Starter 7.5-10 #5 Starter Bullpen: xPE/axPE 35+ Closer 25-35 Closer-Setup 15-25 Setup- Long Relief 8-15 Long Relief-Mopup where axPE denotes intermediate/long term potential. So, do the Twins have any potentially impact starters in their organization, based on their 2012 performance? Without further ado, here are the numbers, that include pretty much every pitcher in the Twins organization, including the new ones, and those who pitched only in the major league level in 2012, under 30 years old. The age indicated is their age in 2012. I am including Nick Blackburn, for comparison's sake. Raw data is taken from B-R and an (*) denotes LHP: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8078/8416556037_f7ef6c3021_c.jpg Thus, it looks like the Twins have 3 potential impact starters in their organization; Kyle Gibson and Alex Meyer are not a surprise. Cole DeVries is. Cole DeVries' axPE is higher than his xPE level (which turns out to suggest a middle of the rotation starter), because he performed at the MLB level. Whether or not potential is applicable to a 28 year old who has reached the majors, is a good discussion. On the other extreme, some of the K/9 leaders in the organization, Josue Montanez, Taylor Rogers, Felix Jorge, Tyler Jones have repressed axPE, because they are still at the lower levels of the organization. I think that they need to prove themselves at higher level. Based on this, and if you cut the list at 25 years old or younger, the Twins have at least couple of pitchers who have impact starter (i.e. top of the rotation/ace) potential and several who have mid-rotation potential. A huge qualifier: This list is of pitchers who were used mostly as starters (i.e. made more starts than relief appearances in 2012.) This leaves at least one particular pitcher out who should be included, but he made 4 starts and 7 relief appearances: Jose Berrios. His numbers (albeit in 11 games and 30 some innings) are out of this world: 284.12 PE, 236.11 xPE, and 91.82 axPE. He should be part of the discussion and definitely has top of the rotation potential, but there is an asterisk for the reasons mentioned. Others who made few starts but mostly used in a relief role but definitely should be part of the equation are (in no order) : Matt Houser, Miguel Munoz, AJ Achter, Cole Johnson, Argentis Silva (the 16 year old high bonus singing) Elias Villasarra, Fernando Romero, Luke Bard, Jose Jimenez, Corey Kimes, Brett Lee and Mason Melotakis.

(originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch) --- Today the Minnesota Twins selected two new members to their Hall of Fame, LHP "Everyday" Eddie Guardado, and long time staffer Tom Mee. All Twins' fans know Everyday Eddie, but who is Tom Mee? Tom Mee has been with the Twins' organization from their first season in Minnesota (1961) until their last title (1991). He was the first front office person hired when the Twins moved to Minnesota in 1960 and was asked to lead their transition from Washington. The following season he became their PR Director, a position he held until his retirement. After his retirement from the Twins he was the official scorer in the Metrodome until 2007 and spend 2 seasons (1992 and 1993) with the Twins' broadcasting team with Dick Bremmer and Jim Kaat. He is a graduate of Joe Mauer's Alma Matter, St. Paul's Cretin High School. Mee was a baseball player with the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers in the late 40s and played a couple seasons in the Independent Leagues. He was then certified by the Brown Institute of Radio as an announcer and his career as a Baseball radio announcer begun. It took him form Detroit Lakes to Montana to New Mexico when he finally settled back in the Cities doing Public Relationships for the St. Paul Saints (the former incarnation) in 1957. One of the little known facts about Mee is that he is the person who hired Jim Rantz to the Twins front office. In 1965, when the Twins won the pennant and went to the World Series, his one man PR department was overloaded and he needed a part time assistant so he hired Rantz who was managing the St. Cloud Northern League Club. Rantz stuck around from 1965 until last off-season. Tom Mee's son and grandson have also played baseball at the University of Minnesota. His grandson, Mike Mee, played a couple seasons in the Diamondbacks organization last decade. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8470/8414916042_d39ae4c3a7.jpg

(originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch) --- Today the Minnesota Twins selected two new members to their Hall of Fame, LHP "Everyday" Eddie Guardado, and long time staffer Tom Mee. All Twins' fans know Everyday Eddie, but who is Tom Mee? Tom Mee has been with the Twins' organization from their first season in Minnesota (1961) until their last title (1991). He was the first front office person hired when the Twins moved to Minnesota in 1960 and was asked to lead their transition from Washington. The following season he became their PR Director, a position he held until his retirement. After his retirement from the Twins he was the official scorer in the Metrodome until 2007 and spend 2 seasons (1992 and 1993) with the Twins' broadcasting team with Dick Bremmer and Jim Kaat. He is a graduate of Joe Mauer's Alma Matter, St. Paul's Cretin High School. Mee was a baseball player with the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers in the late 40s and played a couple seasons in the Independent Leagues. He was then certified by the Brown Institute of Radio as an announcer and his career as a Baseball radio announcer begun. It took him form Detroit Lakes to Montana to New Mexico when he finally settled back in the Cities doing Public Relationships for the St. Paul Saints (the former incarnation) in 1957. One of the little known facts about Mee is that he is the person who hired Jim Rantz to the Twins front office. In 1965, when the Twins won the pennant and went to the World Series, his one man PR department was overloaded and he needed a part time assistant so he hired Rantz who was managing the St. Cloud Northern League Club. Rantz stuck around from 1965 until last off-season. Tom Mee's son and grandson have also played baseball at the University of Minnesota. His grandson, Mike Mee, played a couple seasons in the Diamondbacks organization last decade. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8470/8414916042_d39ae4c3a7.jpg

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- This is the second of the three 2013 Spring Training Guides to Fort Myers that will appear here. The first one was a guide on the logistics of how to get there and where to stay etc., including some ways to get there as inexpensively as possible, if that is a consideration. The Logistics Guide can be found here. The next guide will be about food and this one is about the reason people go to Fort Myers: Spring Training baseball. The Twins' Spring Training Complex: Here is a satellite image of the Lee County Sports Complex (all images are screenshots from Bing Maps) : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6870615187_617fab61b1_b.jpg The complex is accessible via the Miracle on 34th St, either from Ben C Pratt Pkwy or from Plantation Rd. The best was to go is via the Parkway, esp. if it is busy. Miracle on 34th St divides the Twins' part of the complex from the four county softball field. Hammond Stadium, the site of the Twins Spring Training home games and the home of the Fort Myers Miracle (the Twins' high A, Florida State League affiliate) is on the Northeast corner of the Complex. Those parallel lines is the parking lot that can fit about 2000 cars. The stadium seats about 8000 people, so parking can be tight. In addition to Hammond Stadium, there are four full size practice fields and two infield practice fields. You can find Twins' major and minor league players working out in those fields throughout the day, so it might make sense to explore the whole complex or even catch (a free, other than parking) minor league game or two. Some Hotels offer free shuttle service to the Complex, so make sure you explore this option if available During Twins' home games you have to pay for parking, however when the Twins are away, you can come into the complex and park for free and watch the Twins' minor leagues (you can do that on game days in the morning as well.) The minor leaguers are using the 3 full fields further away from the Ballpark and the inflied half field right next to the clubhouse (the tin building). The practice field next to the ballpark is exclusively used by the MLB team. There are 2 different camps take place there (the MLB and MiLB camp) but there is not a "dividing line" that folks who are cut from the big camp have to cross to get "down to the minor league" camp. As you can see, all the fields are next to each other. Often, non-travelling major leaguers (I saw Casilla and Carroll do that last season) play in Minor League games. So do rehabing major leaguers. The best way to watch the minor leaguers is to drive and park close to the clubhouse (there are not too many cars on non-game days, about as many as they are in the picture) and go between the 3 large fields. Usually AAA plays on the North West most field and AA next to it. With a little bit of imagination, one can sit between both fields and watch 2 games. There are bleachers in the area (metal). Bathrooms and a water fountain are in the south of the clubhouse building. Bringing water is a must here because there are no concessions. A lot of lower level or non-playing minor leaguers are around and on the stands watching the AAA and AA games. Actually pitchers are relegated to radar charting duty in tables in the common area behind the home plates and the fence, and standing around there is a good place to look at the radar readings. You can also find Twin Cities Sports Celebrities on the stands: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7060/6881930842_2aaba33f03_o.jpg The "dugouts" and "bullpens" are just fenced in areas so you can get a great look of the Twins' minor leaguers. All minor league games are free. The new Twins' lease will provide for a dorm to be build in the area, but I am not certain on its wearabouts, but likely South of the fields and just west of the county softball fields. Hammond Stadium: Hammond Stadium (and the Lee County Complex) was officially opened in the Spring of 1991. (The year of the Twins' last World Championship.) It is the home of Fort Myers Miracle, a franchise that has Jimmy Buffett and Bill Murray as part-owners. It has been recently renovated and is one of the largest Ball Parks in FSL, sitting up to 8500 people. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7197/6870615335_f8962df2e6_z.jpg As with most minor league stadiums, most sitting is on the infield between the two dugouts. Hammonds Stadium has a nose bleed 2xx level as well and a small grassy field on short right field for fans to sit picnic style. Spring training tickets cost from $45 to $10 or so, depending on the opponent and the seating. As far as tickets go, there are ticket outlets just outside the Park. You can preorder tickets over the web, or you can frequently obtain them from locals in the parking lot who are not interesting in attending the game. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/6873268706_ed1c6493c8_b.jpg One thing that you MUST note: bottled water in unopened containers is permitted in the stadium, as are bags up to 16x16x8 (think reusable grocery bags), so please take advantage of that. That said, the stadium has one of the best selections of beers, including more than 20 mainstream, import and microbrew beers and ales. The best variety of beer, including beer sold only for Twins' and Miracle's games there, is at the bar at the far left (third base) end of the outside concourse, right before the bullpen They only sell Pepsi products as far as soft drinks go. I will have a food guide within a week, but I have to mention that there is an interesting variety of food, including pizza, sweet potato fries, fish tacos, deep fried nachos on a stick, and two artery clogging specialties: the Carolina Dog, a hot dog topped with pulled pork, baked beans and coleslaw and the Richard Simmons burger a behemoth featuring a 1/4 lb burger, a 1/4 lb chicken, a 1/4 lb brat, held together by 3 slices of cheese and six strips of bacon and contains more calories that the average developing world person eats in a week. There is an annual concession guide, for the stadium that yet has to be published. Here is the seating guide from the Miracle web site. Also, this is a great article about Hammonds Stadium with a lot of detail about the ball park. Also, here is a must see panoramic view of the seating are a from last year's Spring Training. The Twins' dugout is on the third base side and the bullpen on the end of the bleachers in short left. The new lease provides for major renovations to the Ballpark including a catwalk area at the Outfield. Not sure when this will start and whether it will be around for the 2013 Spring Training. Other things: Last but not least, the Twins do not play home games every day. So what to do in an off day? I would chose from one of the following two things: Either drive to the Complex trying to catch minor leaguers (my favorite choice) and non-traveling major leaguers in action in one (or more) of the fields, or drive to watch the Twins in an away game. Here is a map of Florida that shows all the Grapefruit League home team locations: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7044/6870615789_e450be9574_b.jpg The Rays play their home games about half an hour away and the Pirates and Orioles about an hour away or so. The Red Sox play in Fort Myers. Those are the most convenient ball parks to visit. Next: The Food Guide.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- This is the second of the three 2013 Spring Training Guides to Fort Myers that will appear here. The first one was a guide on the logistics of how to get there and where to stay etc., including some ways to get there as inexpensively as possible, if that is a consideration. The Logistics Guide can be found here. The next guide will be about food and this one is about the reason people go to Fort Myers: Spring Training baseball. The Twins' Spring Training Complex: Here is a satellite image of the Lee County Sports Complex (all images are screenshots from Bing Maps) : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6870615187_617fab61b1_b.jpg The complex is accessible via the Miracle on 34th St, either from Ben C Pratt Pkwy or from Plantation Rd. The best was to go is via the Parkway, esp. if it is busy. Miracle on 34th St divides the Twins' part of the complex from the four county softball field. Hammond Stadium, the site of the Twins Spring Training home games and the home of the Fort Myers Miracle (the Twins' high A, Florida State League affiliate) is on the Northeast corner of the Complex. Those parallel lines is the parking lot that can fit about 2000 cars. The stadium seats about 8000 people, so parking can be tight. In addition to Hammond Stadium, there are four full size practice fields and two infield practice fields. You can find Twins' major and minor league players working out in those fields throughout the day, so it might make sense to explore the whole complex or even catch (a free, other than parking) minor league game or two. Some Hotels offer free shuttle service to the Complex, so make sure you explore this option if available During Twins' home games you have to pay for parking, however when the Twins are away, you can come into the complex and park for free and watch the Twins' minor leagues (you can do that on game days in the morning as well.) The minor leaguers are using the 3 full fields further away from the Ballpark and the inflied half field right next to the clubhouse (the tin building). The practice field next to the ballpark is exclusively used by the MLB team. There are 2 different camps take place there (the MLB and MiLB camp) but there is not a "dividing line" that folks who are cut from the big camp have to cross to get "down to the minor league" camp. As you can see, all the fields are next to each other. Often, non-travelling major leaguers (I saw Casilla and Carroll do that last season) play in Minor League games. So do rehabing major leaguers. The best way to watch the minor leaguers is to drive and park close to the clubhouse (there are not too many cars on non-game days, about as many as they are in the picture) and go between the 3 large fields. Usually AAA plays on the North West most field and AA next to it. With a little bit of imagination, one can sit between both fields and watch 2 games. There are bleachers in the area (metal). Bathrooms and a water fountain are in the south of the clubhouse building. Bringing water is a must here because there are no concessions. A lot of lower level or non-playing minor leaguers are around and on the stands watching the AAA and AA games. Actually pitchers are relegated to radar charting duty in tables in the common area behind the home plates and the fence, and standing around there is a good place to look at the radar readings. You can also find Twin Cities Sports Celebrities on the stands: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7060/6881930842_2aaba33f03_o.jpg The "dugouts" and "bullpens" are just fenced in areas so you can get a great look of the Twins' minor leaguers. All minor league games are free. The new Twins' lease will provide for a dorm to be build in the area, but I am not certain on its wearabouts, but likely South of the fields and just west of the county softball fields. Hammond Stadium: Hammond Stadium (and the Lee County Complex) was officially opened in the Spring of 1991. (The year of the Twins' last World Championship.) It is the home of Fort Myers Miracle, a franchise that has Jimmy Buffett and Bill Murray as part-owners. It has been recently renovated and is one of the largest Ball Parks in FSL, sitting up to 8500 people. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7197/6870615335_f8962df2e6_z.jpg As with most minor league stadiums, most sitting is on the infield between the two dugouts. Hammonds Stadium has a nose bleed 2xx level as well and a small grassy field on short right field for fans to sit picnic style. Spring training tickets cost from $45 to $10 or so, depending on the opponent and the seating. As far as tickets go, there are ticket outlets just outside the Park. You can preorder tickets over the web, or you can frequently obtain them from locals in the parking lot who are not interesting in attending the game. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/6873268706_ed1c6493c8_b.jpg One thing that you MUST note: bottled water in unopened containers is permitted in the stadium, as are bags up to 16x16x8 (think reusable grocery bags), so please take advantage of that. That said, the stadium has one of the best selections of beers, including more than 20 mainstream, import and microbrew beers and ales. The best variety of beer, including beer sold only for Twins' and Miracle's games there, is at the bar at the far left (third base) end of the outside concourse, right before the bullpen They only sell Pepsi products as far as soft drinks go. I will have a food guide within a week, but I have to mention that there is an interesting variety of food, including pizza, sweet potato fries, fish tacos, deep fried nachos on a stick, and two artery clogging specialties: the Carolina Dog, a hot dog topped with pulled pork, baked beans and coleslaw and the Richard Simmons burger a behemoth featuring a 1/4 lb burger, a 1/4 lb chicken, a 1/4 lb brat, held together by 3 slices of cheese and six strips of bacon and contains more calories that the average developing world person eats in a week. There is an annual concession guide, for the stadium that yet has to be published. Here is the seating guide from the Miracle web site. Also, this is a great article about Hammonds Stadium with a lot of detail about the ball park. Also, here is a must see panoramic view of the seating are a from last year's Spring Training. The Twins' dugout is on the third base side and the bullpen on the end of the bleachers in short left. The new lease provides for major renovations to the Ballpark including a catwalk area at the Outfield. Not sure when this will start and whether it will be around for the 2013 Spring Training. Other things: Last but not least, the Twins do not play home games every day. So what to do in an off day? I would chose from one of the following two things: Either drive to the Complex trying to catch minor leaguers (my favorite choice) and non-traveling major leaguers in action in one (or more) of the fields, or drive to watch the Twins in an away game. Here is a map of Florida that shows all the Grapefruit League home team locations: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7044/6870615789_e450be9574_b.jpg The Rays play their home games about half an hour away and the Pirates and Orioles about an hour away or so. The Red Sox play in Fort Myers. Those are the most convenient ball parks to visit. Next: The Food Guide.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Less than a month for Pitchers and Catchers to report to Fort Myers so it is about time for you to make your arrangements to go to Fort Myers (I made mine late last year) and it is about time for the second annual Fort Myers Guides. Last season there were two Spring Training Guides: the Spring Training Guide to Fort Myers and the Fort Myers Culinary Guide . This season there will be three guides and will be different than last year's. After I went to Spring Training in 2012 and about in the middle of the summer last year, the dice were rolled in such a way that I now go to the Central and South Central Florida area on a multiple times a month basis and I do have a list of additional tips on how and where best to get to Fort Myers. This will be the first guide: The Spring Training Logistics Guide, where the area is described and the best and least expensive ways of getting to the Twins' Spring Training home. Knowing what I know now last season, I could have saved at least a couple hundred dollars in airfare, at least that much in a hotel and about that much in a car rental, money better spent watching the Twins and buying Twins' (and Miracle) gear. As a bonus, I will list the official Twins' hotel, which is the place where a lot of Twins' people stay and a great place to rub elbows with Twins' players and staff. The second guide will be about what to do once you are there. And this is all about baseball. What is going on at the Training Complex, tips and tricks about watching the games at Hammond Stadium (based on my fresh experience from last year) and other ballparks you might want to visit. This with be the Spring Training Baseball Guide. The third guide will be a Food Guide to Fort Myers, but changed from last season's. Last season's it was cuisine-specific and I think that it is still a valuable resource. This season will be more restaurant-specific. As a bonus, I will list established hangouts of Twins' players. These guides are mainly from the Twins' perspective but useful for Red Sox' (and soon Nationals') fans How to get to Fort Myers: Unless you want to have a non-rental car with you (a good choice if you are a player or will be there for a month or so, or you live close to Fort Myers) flying is probably the best choice. There is a local airport (Southeast Florida International, code: RSW) served by a variety of airlines, but there are a total of about 75 flights a day into and out from there. Alternative airports are the larger Tampa International (TPA) and Miami International (MIA), about 2 and 2.5 hrs drive respectively as is the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) is slightly over an hour drive from Fort Myers and slightly larger airport than the Southwest Florida International at Fort Myers. Fort Lauderdale (FLL) is also an option, and a potentially fairly attractive one if your home airport has airlines like Frontier, Spirit and Allegient and you are willing to fly them, because they have inexpensive and relatively frequent flights there. Flying into Fort Myers is probably the most expensive option in the list but you do not have to drive far. Also, the TSA checkpoints in the return trip are a mess. Budget an extra hour to go through. My favorite option (and what I am doing this year?) Orlando. Orlando International (MCO) is about 3 hrs away from Fort Myers, but it offers the benefit of having the lowest airfare and lowest car rental prices in Florida, in combination to more that 60 mainstream carrier flights daily. Plus, as a bonus, if you have a family, you can spend a few days there with the kids, which will help them palate more 8+ hrs of baseball-related stuff that you would do once at Fort Myers. As far as airfare prices go and where to find the best ones, go to the ITA Matrix software portal, chose the "show a calendar of lowest fares" and play with it. This is the tool that travel agents are using. Once you find a flight, go online to the airline or an online travel agency and reserve it. My fares in and out of MCO have been in the $150-200 range from the North East, but YMMV depending on departing city. As far as rental cars go (and you do need one since the public transportation in Fort Myers is non-existent,) the best value in Florida is Dollar. And here is a trick: Go to the Dollar web site and register to be an express member for free. This way you will have the car waiting in a predetermined spot and you by-pass the counter. Next, make your reservation, by selecting view all car types and picking the least expensive option. Once you make your reservation, check it often and early and "modify" it to see if there are any lower prices posted. Dollar is notorious of dropping their car prices, especially close to the reservation dates. I usually rent cars at about $12-16 a day. But you have to check and change those prices a lot. Refuse the automatic toll machine ($8ish/day) and the GPS ($13ish a day) and deal with the insurance as you normally do (i.e. if you refuse because you are covered by your own car, refuse it.) If you want to drive down there, the fastest was to get there is via I-75 that goes through the town. From most points of the Midwest or Northwest, the best way is to catch I-75 around the Metro Atlanta area. From South and South West, I-10 hits I-75 in North Florida about an hour east of Jacksonville. From the East Coast, the best bet would be I-95 all the way to Daytona Beach, then I-4 through Orlando and catching I-75 at Tampa. If you live at the Twin Cities area, Minneapolis is about 1700 miles away from Fort Myers, which means about 3 days of 8 hours driving each, each way. Enjoy This is a map of South & Central Florida, to let you see where Fort Myers is situated in Florida (all maps and satellite images used in this post are screen shots from Bing maps) : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7210/6870615689_9c49c11ca4_z.jpg The Metro Area and the City: Fort Myers (and, btw, it is not Ft. Myers) is the smallest of 3 cities in the Fort Myers-Cape Coral Metropolitan area. It has about 62,000 people, whereas the Metro has about 650,000 people most of them living in Cape Coral, a city planned and started in the late 50s as a huge retirement community. Interestingly enough the planners wanted to make every property close to water, so they created and extensive system of Canals. Cape Coral has more miles of navigable waterways than any city in the world, including Venice (Italy, not FL) and Amsterdam. About 400 miles of canals. Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel Island and Pine Island are popular beach front communities with a lot of beach-related tourism. Here is a photo of the Cape Coral- Fort Myers metro: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7041/6870615619_08f2faa40c_z.jpg An important note, especially to people from northern climates: Average temperatures in March are 80 for high and 60 for low, so make sure that you pack sunscreen, hats, glasses, shorts, t-shirts and a swimsuit, if you are so inclined. And if you get sunburns, you will get a sunburn there, so please plan accordingly The city of Fort Myers itself is very easily navigated. Here is a map of the City with the Twins' Spring Training Headquarters noted with an orange Marker: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/6870615475_684c7baa2a_z.jpg You can click here for a larger picture in a new window. Where to Stay: The Fort Myers Airport is about 6 miles due west from Hammonds Stadium and the Spring Training Complex. Daniels Parkway (that becomes Cypress Lake Dr in the City) will take you from the Airport to the town and the Twins' complex. If you are on a budget and looking for a hotel, the ones on Daniels Parkway and that area west of I-75 offer good bargains and are fairly close to the Twins' Spring Training Complex. Another area for reasonable accommodations is the S. Cleveland Avenue North of Page Field. Mostly everything can be found within a large triangle defined by S. Cleveland Ave to the West, Colonial Blvd to the North and the Ben C. Pratt Pkwy going Northeast to Southwest. The Twins' Spring training complex is on the South part of Ben C. Pratt Pkwy, just South of Daniels Pkwy. Traffic, other than when the games are over, is not an issue at Fort Myers. If you want to rub elbows with Twins' players and staff, the Twins' official/unofficial hotel in the Fort Myers' area is the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Myers (not the one by the airport, but the one "in town"). Alternatively you can stay at Naples (offers more things to do at night) or Port Charlotte (offers less expensive rooms and it is the Rays' Spring Training Home). Both are about half an hour easy drive away. The best bargains for Hotels (unless you are a frequent guest and can use points for free rooms) are either Hotwire or Hotels.com, but the establishments are sometimes name-less so it can be a gamble. On the other hand, if you stay pretty close to the ballpark and away from the downtown area, there are not any seedy places. This year I will be staying at Port Charlotte and will be watching some Twins' games there as visitors as well. The Twins' Spring Training Complex: Here is a satellite image of the Lee County Sports Complex: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6870615187_617fab61b1_b.jpg More about the complex, how and when to get there and all the things about the Twins' Spring Training home in the next guide.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Less than a month for Pitchers and Catchers to report to Fort Myers so it is about time for you to make your arrangements to go to Fort Myers (I made mine late last year) and it is about time for the second annual Fort Myers Guides. Last season there were two Spring Training Guides: the Spring Training Guide to Fort Myers and the Fort Myers Culinary Guide . This season there will be three guides and will be different than last year's. After I went to Spring Training in 2012 and about in the middle of the summer last year, the dice were rolled in such a way that I now go to the Central and South Central Florida area on a multiple times a month basis and I do have a list of additional tips on how and where best to get to Fort Myers. This will be the first guide: The Spring Training Logistics Guide, where the area is described and the best and least expensive ways of getting to the Twins' Spring Training home. Knowing what I know now last season, I could have saved at least a couple hundred dollars in airfare, at least that much in a hotel and about that much in a car rental, money better spent watching the Twins and buying Twins' (and Miracle) gear. As a bonus, I will list the official Twins' hotel, which is the place where a lot of Twins' people stay and a great place to rub elbows with Twins' players and staff. The second guide will be about what to do once you are there. And this is all about baseball. What is going on at the Training Complex, tips and tricks about watching the games at Hammond Stadium (based on my fresh experience from last year) and other ballparks you might want to visit. This with be the Spring Training Baseball Guide. The third guide will be a Food Guide to Fort Myers, but changed from last season's. Last season's it was cuisine-specific and I think that it is still a valuable resource. This season will be more restaurant-specific. As a bonus, I will list established hangouts of Twins' players. These guides are mainly from the Twins' perspective but useful for Red Sox' (and soon Nationals') fans How to get to Fort Myers: Unless you want to have a non-rental car with you (a good choice if you are a player or will be there for a month or so, or you live close to Fort Myers) flying is probably the best choice. There is a local airport (Southeast Florida International, code: RSW) served by a variety of airlines, but there are a total of about 75 flights a day into and out from there. Alternative airports are the larger Tampa International (TPA) and Miami International (MIA), about 2 and 2.5 hrs drive respectively as is the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) is slightly over an hour drive from Fort Myers and slightly larger airport than the Southwest Florida International at Fort Myers. Fort Lauderdale (FLL) is also an option, and a potentially fairly attractive one if your home airport has airlines like Frontier, Spirit and Allegient and you are willing to fly them, because they have inexpensive and relatively frequent flights there. Flying into Fort Myers is probably the most expensive option in the list but you do not have to drive far. Also, the TSA checkpoints in the return trip are a mess. Budget an extra hour to go through. My favorite option (and what I am doing this year?) Orlando. Orlando International (MCO) is about 3 hrs away from Fort Myers, but it offers the benefit of having the lowest airfare and lowest car rental prices in Florida, in combination to more that 60 mainstream carrier flights daily. Plus, as a bonus, if you have a family, you can spend a few days there with the kids, which will help them palate more 8+ hrs of baseball-related stuff that you would do once at Fort Myers. As far as airfare prices go and where to find the best ones, go to the ITA Matrix software portal, chose the "show a calendar of lowest fares" and play with it. This is the tool that travel agents are using. Once you find a flight, go online to the airline or an online travel agency and reserve it. My fares in and out of MCO have been in the $150-200 range from the North East, but YMMV depending on departing city. As far as rental cars go (and you do need one since the public transportation in Fort Myers is non-existent,) the best value in Florida is Dollar. And here is a trick: Go to the Dollar web site and register to be an express member for free. This way you will have the car waiting in a predetermined spot and you by-pass the counter. Next, make your reservation, by selecting view all car types and picking the least expensive option. Once you make your reservation, check it often and early and "modify" it to see if there are any lower prices posted. Dollar is notorious of dropping their car prices, especially close to the reservation dates. I usually rent cars at about $12-16 a day. But you have to check and change those prices a lot. Refuse the automatic toll machine ($8ish/day) and the GPS ($13ish a day) and deal with the insurance as you normally do (i.e. if you refuse because you are covered by your own car, refuse it.) If you want to drive down there, the fastest was to get there is via I-75 that goes through the town. From most points of the Midwest or Northwest, the best way is to catch I-75 around the Metro Atlanta area. From South and South West, I-10 hits I-75 in North Florida about an hour east of Jacksonville. From the East Coast, the best bet would be I-95 all the way to Daytona Beach, then I-4 through Orlando and catching I-75 at Tampa. If you live at the Twin Cities area, Minneapolis is about 1700 miles away from Fort Myers, which means about 3 days of 8 hours driving each, each way. Enjoy This is a map of South & Central Florida, to let you see where Fort Myers is situated in Florida (all maps and satellite images used in this post are screen shots from Bing maps) : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7210/6870615689_9c49c11ca4_z.jpg The Metro Area and the City: Fort Myers (and, btw, it is not Ft. Myers) is the smallest of 3 cities in the Fort Myers-Cape Coral Metropolitan area. It has about 62,000 people, whereas the Metro has about 650,000 people most of them living in Cape Coral, a city planned and started in the late 50s as a huge retirement community. Interestingly enough the planners wanted to make every property close to water, so they created and extensive system of Canals. Cape Coral has more miles of navigable waterways than any city in the world, including Venice (Italy, not FL) and Amsterdam. About 400 miles of canals. Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel Island and Pine Island are popular beach front communities with a lot of beach-related tourism. Here is a photo of the Cape Coral- Fort Myers metro: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7041/6870615619_08f2faa40c_z.jpg An important note, especially to people from northern climates: Average temperatures in March are 80 for high and 60 for low, so make sure that you pack sunscreen, hats, glasses, shorts, t-shirts and a swimsuit, if you are so inclined. And if you get sunburns, you will get a sunburn there, so please plan accordingly The city of Fort Myers itself is very easily navigated. Here is a map of the City with the Twins' Spring Training Headquarters noted with an orange Marker: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/6870615475_684c7baa2a_z.jpg You can click here for a larger picture in a new window. Where to Stay: The Fort Myers Airport is about 6 miles due west from Hammonds Stadium and the Spring Training Complex. Daniels Parkway (that becomes Cypress Lake Dr in the City) will take you from the Airport to the town and the Twins' complex. If you are on a budget and looking for a hotel, the ones on Daniels Parkway and that area west of I-75 offer good bargains and are fairly close to the Twins' Spring Training Complex. Another area for reasonable accommodations is the S. Cleveland Avenue North of Page Field. Mostly everything can be found within a large triangle defined by S. Cleveland Ave to the West, Colonial Blvd to the North and the Ben C. Pratt Pkwy going Northeast to Southwest. The Twins' Spring training complex is on the South part of Ben C. Pratt Pkwy, just South of Daniels Pkwy. Traffic, other than when the games are over, is not an issue at Fort Myers. If you want to rub elbows with Twins' players and staff, the Twins' official/unofficial hotel in the Fort Myers' area is the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Myers (not the one by the airport, but the one "in town"). Alternatively you can stay at Naples (offers more things to do at night) or Port Charlotte (offers less expensive rooms and it is the Rays' Spring Training Home). Both are about half an hour easy drive away. The best bargains for Hotels (unless you are a frequent guest and can use points for free rooms) are either Hotwire or Hotels.com, but the establishments are sometimes name-less so it can be a gamble. On the other hand, if you stay pretty close to the ballpark and away from the downtown area, there are not any seedy places. This year I will be staying at Port Charlotte and will be watching some Twins' games there as visitors as well. The Twins' Spring Training Complex: Here is a satellite image of the Lee County Sports Complex: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6870615187_617fab61b1_b.jpg More about the complex, how and when to get there and all the things about the Twins' Spring Training home in the next guide.

I will credit the Twins for getting him from the Nationals. Same with May. The Twins are actually having a pretty exiting system now because of these trades, the better than expected return of Gibson from TJ surgery and the 2012 draft. (Gibson was 2009 but did not play until 2010, so that's when his pro debut was made; and the original list is for players who played in the Twins' system in 2008 and their 2009 destinations posted in April 2009, few months before Gibson was drafted - and btw, do you see Gibson in this ST 2012 photo? )

Hendriks was around and should probably be listed. The original list is a list of Twins' MiLB in 2008 and where there were assigned in 2009. Hendriks sat out in 2008. Darnell and Gibson came in 2010. The premise here was 3-fold: It is hard to compete (or even stronger - you are practically guaranteed to not compete) if: - your farm system has not produced any impact (read: top of the rotation pitchers) within 5 years (2008-2013) - you do not sign top of the rotation free agents - you do not trade for top of the rotation free agents (Pavano was never a top of the rotation free agent) Not sure what the rate is in other organizations, but if you look at the organizations that have been competing, they either have a lot of top of the rotation talent coming from the minors (Rays, As, Os) or they sign it (Yankees, Rangers, Phillies) or both (Red Sox, Cardinals) If you do not do one of the 3 you will not compete. And the last time the Twins did #2 and #3, McPhail was the GM (Morris and Smiley), so they do have to develop talent. If they don't they have no chance in competing. May, Meyer and Worley are bringing the Twins to a good place (and with Gibson, Hendriks and Wimmers and the lower level kids on the hold.) And to make my point, I checked and in 2008: The Rays had David Price, Jeff Niemann, Matt Moore, Jeremy Hellickson (and Wade Davis) in their organization and the A's had Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill, Dallas Braden (and Mickey Storey)

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- With Catchers and Pitchers reporting in less that one month for Spring Training 2013, I decided to get ready for my Spring Training Coverage (teaser: expect 3 new guides this month) so I was looking at the past coverage here. I stumbled upon this little piece from the end of the 2009 Spring Training. It looks really innocent. After all it is a list of all 97 pitchers in the Twins' minors in 2008 from DSL to AAA, who were still with the organization in 2009 along with the 2009 MiLB FAs and where they would potentially end up in 2009. Fairly innocent. Until you fast forward to 2013, where you see that only 11 of those 97 players are still in the Twins' organization in any level and nobody made any impact in the Twins' rotation. The best players in the list were swingmen and bullpen arms. Here is the list of the 11 who are still with the Twins (the original list of 97 is here ): Alex Burnett Cole Devries Brian Duensing Deolis Guerra B.J. Hermsen Bruce Pugh Tyler Robertson Adrian Salcedo Anthony Slama Tom Stuifbergen Anthony Swarzak So if your minor league system does not feed the major league team with impact starters for 4 years and you do not sign impact starters via free agency or acquire them via trades, how do you expect to compete? The writing for the mess that was 2011 and 2012 was on the wall for he Twins in 2009. They either just could not see it (by believing that their prospects were better than what they were) or they ignore it. Either way, it is equally bad. ' http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7255/7876436966_2b679cff54_z.jpg

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- With Catchers and Pitchers reporting in less that one month for Spring Training 2013, I decided to get ready for my Spring Training Coverage (teaser: expect 3 new guides this month) so I was looking at the past coverage here. I stumbled upon this little piece from the end of the 2009 Spring Training. It looks really innocent. After all it is a list of all 97 pitchers in the Twins' minors in 2008 from DSL to AAA, who were still with the organization in 2009 along with the 2009 MiLB FAs and where they would potentially end up in 2009. Fairly innocent. Until you fast forward to 2013, where you see that only 11 of those 97 players are still in the Twins' organization in any level and nobody made any impact in the Twins' rotation. The best players in the list were swingmen and bullpen arms. Here is the list of the 11 who are still with the Twins (the original list of 97 is here ): Alex Burnett Cole Devries Brian Duensing Deolis Guerra B.J. Hermsen Bruce Pugh Tyler Robertson Adrian Salcedo Anthony Slama Tom Stuifbergen Anthony Swarzak So if your minor league system does not feed the major league team with impact starters for 4 years and you do not sign impact starters via free agency or acquire them via trades, how do you expect to compete? The writing for the mess that was 2011 and 2012 was on the wall for he Twins in 2009. They either just could not see it (by believing that their prospects were better than what they were) or they ignore it. Either way, it is equally bad. ' http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7255/7876436966_2b679cff54_z.jpg

Love your Burris placement btw Main reason is that he has a plus (soon to be plus plus curve) and there are not many pitchers around who can claim that. One can live with an average-plus FB and a change of pace change as long as he can control that FB and throw the nasty curve any time in the count for strikes.

Really? Huskey??? He was not even the worst player in that lineup that season. That would be Matt LeCroy. with an OPS+ of 46 that season vs. Huskey's 64. Huskey has a career 96 OPS+ in the majors. I can thing of many worse players to wear the Twins' uniform. He had a bad half season. So what? Are you going to include Steve Carlton in the series as well, because he really underperformed when with the Twins? Gee. If you want to do a father and son special, pick the Buteras. Neither of them can even dream to be half the players Huskey was.

Seth, we are talking about different things you are giving me the scouting stuff (upside, velocity, comparables) "soft" evidence in my book. and I am saying that the guy did it and has done it better than the other 2. Look at the numbers. "hard evidence" in my book He is topping out higher than Dickey right now, correct?

So, in other words, is Anthony Slama a worse bet to be more effective in the majors that (let's say) Ryan Pressly or Caleb Thielbar based on what the 3 has shown in the minors? (I don't think so, btw)

ok, guys (Seth and Shane) : Is Slama a prospect? He fits both of your criteria as time (not) spent in the majors. And he has actually pretty darn spiffy results better than a lot of the high ranked relievers in the high minors...

Hard to think of Colabello as a prospect at the ripe age of 29.5 starting the season... He is just a minor leaguer at this point, like the other 30 somethings there. Not that he is not good. He might actually end up as the Twins' 1B this season or next if things fall his way. But a prospect he is not

Guerra did pass through waivers with nobody claiming him and he was outrighted to AAA. He is not on the 40-man roster any more.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- 'Tis the time of the year when BBWAA writers who have ballots for the Hall of Fame voting, as well as everyone else, indicate who they want to be in the Hall of Fame. There are a lot of those lists and most of them come without much explanation and most of the picks are somewhat subjective (of the type: "Jack Morris should be in because he was the best post-season pitcher like ever"). Also, you have the steroid witch hunters sharpening their arrows and tightening their bows trying to make it all "alright". Furthermore, you have the people who think that because someone is a "nice guy", he should be in (Dale Murphy supporters now and Jim Rice supporters earlier fall into this category.) What are my ground rules for crating a Hall of Fame Ballot (and even though the word "objective" is on the title, this is the list of the subjective criteria I am using - and one has to use subjective criteria, since there is no objective direction from the Hall on when someone should or should not be in): You cannot "punish" one type of PED users (steroid users) and not another. So either all deserved players are in or all out. Since MLB listed amphetamines or "greenies" in the PED banned list, lots of the enshrined players should be out, according to the ones who are on the Steroid witch hunt, starting with Hank Aaron, who in a televised interview with Bob Kostas, admitted to have taken greenies. All in or all out. Period. Otherwise it is a hypocrisy akin to that of a pro-lifer supporting the death penalty. So, in my ballot, they are all in. No time for witch hunts I believe that the Hall of Fame should not be the Hall of Very Good (or with the recent addition of the likes of Jim Rice, the Hall of All Stars). Only the best players of an era should be there. A handful. The very best I would like to find an objective criterium to use to rank players. And since this is a lifetime achievement, career WAR is as close as it gets. WAR takes care of the era and included hitting, fielding and base running for position players, and it is adjusted for position so it is pretty holistic (and helps obliterate arguments that someone who is a Catcher or a Short Stop could be lighter hitting than an OF/1B and still in the Hall. That is all reflected in the number). Some people indicate that pitcher WAR is useless; my take is that (since it is a cummulative achievement award) for this exercise works pretty well (and the data below show it) unless it is for a reliever. Without further ado, here is a list of all players in the 2013 ballot, in decreasing WAR (Baseball-Reference style), including recently selected players in blue backgrounds. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8084/8322198894_e281e170d6_o.jpg The players in green (Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Jeff Bagwell and Curt Schilling) will have my vote. The players in yellow are in a bubble (based on the previously inducted Roberto Alomar and Barry Larkin) and will get some votes. There are 11 playes in yellow and green and only 10 spots. Lee Smith will always get votes, but his WAR is just too low compared with that of Goose Gossage (whom I consider borderline) Players like Dale Murphy, Jack Morris, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa do not belong in the Hall. You heard it correctly: Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa do not belong in the Hall of Fame. And not because they used steroids potentially. They do not belong because their numbers are not good enough. Objectively. Not witch huntingly. Roger Maris of 61 in 61, whose record was broken, has a career WAR in the 30s, btw. So here you have it. And there will be the McGwire and Sosa debate (for the wrong reasons) and the Morris and Murphy debate, but objectively, none of these guys should be in.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- 'Tis the time of the year when BBWAA writers who have ballots for the Hall of Fame voting, as well as everyone else, indicate who they want to be in the Hall of Fame. There are a lot of those lists and most of them come without much explanation and most of the picks are somewhat subjective (of the type: "Jack Morris should be in because he was the best post-season pitcher like ever"). Also, you have the steroid witch hunters sharpening their arrows and tightening their bows trying to make it all "alright". Furthermore, you have the people who think that because someone is a "nice guy", he should be in (Dale Murphy supporters now and Jim Rice supporters earlier fall into this category.) What are my ground rules for crating a Hall of Fame Ballot (and even though the word "objective" is on the title, this is the list of the subjective criteria I am using - and one has to use subjective criteria, since there is no objective direction from the Hall on when someone should or should not be in): You cannot "punish" one type of PED users (steroid users) and not another. So either all deserved players are in or all out. Since MLB listed amphetamines or "greenies" in the PED banned list, lots of the enshrined players should be out, according to the ones who are on the Steroid witch hunt, starting with Hank Aaron, who in a televised interview with Bob Kostas, admitted to have taken greenies. All in or all out. Period. Otherwise it is a hypocrisy akin to that of a pro-lifer supporting the death penalty. So, in my ballot, they are all in. No time for witch hunts I believe that the Hall of Fame should not be the Hall of Very Good (or with the recent addition of the likes of Jim Rice, the Hall of All Stars). Only the best players of an era should be there. A handful. The very best I would like to find an objective criterium to use to rank players. And since this is a lifetime achievement, career WAR is as close as it gets. WAR takes care of the era and included hitting, fielding and base running for position players, and it is adjusted for position so it is pretty holistic (and helps obliterate arguments that someone who is a Catcher or a Short Stop could be lighter hitting than an OF/1B and still in the Hall. That is all reflected in the number). Some people indicate that pitcher WAR is useless; my take is that (since it is a cummulative achievement award) for this exercise works pretty well (and the data below show it) unless it is for a reliever. Without further ado, here is a list of all players in the 2013 ballot, in decreasing WAR (Baseball-Reference style), including recently selected players in blue backgrounds. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8084/8322198894_e281e170d6_o.jpg The players in green (Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Jeff Bagwell and Curt Schilling) will have my vote. The players in yellow are in a bubble (based on the previously inducted Roberto Alomar and Barry Larkin) and will get some votes. There are 11 playes in yellow and green and only 10 spots. Lee Smith will always get votes, but his WAR is just too low compared with that of Goose Gossage (whom I consider borderline) Players like Dale Murphy, Jack Morris, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa do not belong in the Hall. You heard it correctly: Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa do not belong in the Hall of Fame. And not because they used steroids potentially. They do not belong because their numbers are not good enough. Objectively. Not witch huntingly. Roger Maris of 61 in 61, whose record was broken, has a career WAR in the 30s, btw. So here you have it. And there will be the McGwire and Sosa debate (for the wrong reasons) and the Morris and Murphy debate, but objectively, none of these guys should be in.

The Vikings successes have done nothing to the fans' perceptions of the Twins. Even in the season that they were cheated out of a Superbowl by the Taints and the officiating crew who wanted to atone for Katrina, while Gardy's club was doing its regular postseason routine. Always too much slack for the Twins' and their leaders for the same fanbase who wanted to bury the Vikings and their leaders, this Millennium.

Jairo Perez was released from the organization under a veil of secrecy last summer, with no explanations given (apparently it was for "unprofessional contract detrimental to the team and such".) Ended up finishing the season with the Wingnuts and AirDogs... Romero along with Carroll and Sobolewski are the internal choices (and maybe some of the other middle infielders like Escobar and Florimon); but TR went out and looked for more (offering a contract to Hannahan, according to his words), which means that he is not happy with the internal choices. Really there is not much there... And I really think that Plouffe is getting his act together and needs encouragement (and not a fire underneath him...) and he is not part of the problem the last couple seasons.