Thrylos

This was originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- With the first cuts of Spring Training coming as early as tomorrow, I am updating the Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the game vs the Yankees earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. From now on, I will be combining both Dashboards in a single post. I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7047/6827553902_a392be1775_b.jpg Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7204/6827553984_16a6a20eb0_b.jpg Here is the ranking of the position player combatants today (based on position) : Catchers: Rene Rivera 2.6 J.R. Towles 2.1 ----- Daniel Rohlfing 1.25 Chris Herrmann 0.43 Danny Lehmann 0.4 ---- Drew Butera -0.4 Danny Rams -0.57 Infielders: Mike Hollimon 3.76 Chris Parmelee 3.65 ---- Ray Chang 1 Tsuyoshi Nishioka 1.47 Aaron Bates 0.66 Brian Dinkelman 0.66 Sean Burroughs 0.02 ---- Brian Dozier -0.43 Pedro Florimon -0.54 Steve Pearce -0.73 Luke Hughes -0.92 Outfielders: Joe Benson 1.35 ---- Wilkin Ramirez 0.86 Matt Carson 0.76 Darin Mastroianni 0.2 Rene Tosoni 0.35 ---- Oswaldo Arcia -0.58 Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today: Liam Hendriks 53.5 Jared Burton 53.3 Matt Maloney 53.3 P.J. Walters 53 Casey Fien 52.7 Jeff Manship 52.3 Brendan Wise 52.3 Carlos Gutierrez 52 Kyle Waldrop 52 Esmerling Vasquez 51.5 --- Aaron Thompson 50 Daryl Thompson 50 Lester Oliveros 49.5 Luis Perdomo 49.5 Tyler Robertson 49.5 --- Alex Burnett 48.5 Scott Diamond 47.5 Phil Dumatrait 46.7 Terry Doyle 44 Jeff Gray 41 Deolis Guerra 37.5 Jason Bulger 25 Samuel Deduno DNP As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

This was originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- With the first cuts of Spring Training coming as early as tomorrow, I am updating the Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the game vs the Yankees earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. From now on, I will be combining both Dashboards in a single post. I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7047/6827553902_a392be1775_b.jpg Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7204/6827553984_16a6a20eb0_b.jpg Here is the ranking of the position player combatants today (based on position) : Catchers: Rene Rivera 2.6 J.R. Towles 2.1 ----- Daniel Rohlfing 1.25 Chris Herrmann 0.43 Danny Lehmann 0.4 ---- Drew Butera -0.4 Danny Rams -0.57 Infielders: Mike Hollimon 3.76 Chris Parmelee 3.65 ---- Ray Chang 1 Tsuyoshi Nishioka 1.47 Aaron Bates 0.66 Brian Dinkelman 0.66 Sean Burroughs 0.02 ---- Brian Dozier -0.43 Pedro Florimon -0.54 Steve Pearce -0.73 Luke Hughes -0.92 Outfielders: Joe Benson 1.35 ---- Wilkin Ramirez 0.86 Matt Carson 0.76 Darin Mastroianni 0.2 Rene Tosoni 0.35 ---- Oswaldo Arcia -0.58 Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today: Liam Hendriks 53.5 Jared Burton 53.3 Matt Maloney 53.3 P.J. Walters 53 Casey Fien 52.7 Jeff Manship 52.3 Brendan Wise 52.3 Carlos Gutierrez 52 Kyle Waldrop 52 Esmerling Vasquez 51.5 --- Aaron Thompson 50 Daryl Thompson 50 Lester Oliveros 49.5 Luis Perdomo 49.5 Tyler Robertson 49.5 --- Alex Burnett 48.5 Scott Diamond 47.5 Phil Dumatrait 46.7 Terry Doyle 44 Jeff Gray 41 Deolis Guerra 37.5 Jason Bulger 25 Samuel Deduno DNP As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- You can read the basic premise in detail behind this dashboard here. Also, the update date reflects the date of the last game included not the post. This is the most current iteration after yesterday's game vs the Pirates: Here is a ranking of the combatants based on average game score: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7042/6824654684_209043f836_z.jpg Liam Hendriks 53.5 Jared Burton 53.3 Matt Maloney 53.3 Aaron Thompson 53 P.J. Walters 53 Brendan Wise 53 Casey Fien 52.7 Jeff Manship 52.5 Carlos Gutierrez 52 Kyle Waldrop 52 Esmerling Vasquez 51.5 --- Daryl Thompson 50 Lester Oliveros 49.5 Luis Perdomo 49.5 Tyler Robertson 49.5 --- Alex Burnett 48.5 Scott Diamond 47.5 Phil Dumatrait 46.7 Terry Doyle 44 Jeff Gray 41 Deolis Guerra 37.5 Jason Bulger 25 Samuel Deduno DNP I will be updating this daily and posting updates here close to daily. As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here. Starting with today's game I will be combining the Bullpen and Bench Battle Dashboards into a single post daily.

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- You can read the basic premise in detail behind this dashboard here. Also, the update date reflects the date of the last game included not the post. This is the most current iteration after yesterday's game vs the Pirates: Here is a ranking of the combatants based on average game score: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7042/6824654684_209043f836_z.jpg Liam Hendriks 53.5 Jared Burton 53.3 Matt Maloney 53.3 Aaron Thompson 53 P.J. Walters 53 Brendan Wise 53 Casey Fien 52.7 Jeff Manship 52.5 Carlos Gutierrez 52 Kyle Waldrop 52 Esmerling Vasquez 51.5 --- Daryl Thompson 50 Lester Oliveros 49.5 Luis Perdomo 49.5 Tyler Robertson 49.5 --- Alex Burnett 48.5 Scott Diamond 47.5 Phil Dumatrait 46.7 Terry Doyle 44 Jeff Gray 41 Deolis Guerra 37.5 Jason Bulger 25 Samuel Deduno DNP I will be updating this daily and posting updates here close to daily. As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here. Starting with today's game I will be combining the Bullpen and Bench Battle Dashboards into a single post daily.

What you are describing is actually captured by a couple of different stats: Win Probability Added (or WPA for short) and the newer "Clutch" stat that fangraphs has created. Those are not readily available for ST games and it would take me a long time to calculate them . Btw, the king of "unproductive outs" and "meaningless HRs" for the Twins the last few years has been Mike Cuddyer...

The core of this team is pretty much the same as it was in 2010 with Doumit replacing Kubel (and Thome), Willingham replacing Cuddyer, Carroll replacing Hardy and Revere/Plouffe replacing Young. If Morneau stays healthy and performs (he did not in 2010) then this team might actually be better, with Casilla and Span a year closer to their primes than before their primes. The only change from the 2010 team as far as the rotation goes is that they have a full year of Pavano instead of a combination of Pavano/Perkins and that Marquis replaced Slowey. In the pen, the changes from 2010 is that Perkins replaced Rauch (Duensing and Capps were there), Swarzak replaced Mahay and still looking for the replacements to Guerrier, Crain and Mijares. If 2-3 pitchers step up, this can be a good pen And the 2010 team was a 94 win team. They just need to be and stay healthy

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- I have been creating dashboards to look at the progression of the Spring Training battle for the 3 bullpen sports for the Twins (You can read about the rationale and details here.) I decided to create a dashboard for the 2-3 bench position battles. To quantify position players performance I am using another Bill James' measurement, the "Batting Game Score", as modified by Baseball Reference. I made 2 changes on the BR way of calculating Batting Game Score: I took away the bonus points for multi-HR games and for hitting for the cycle and I am adding a point for a catcher when he throws out a runner trying to steal a base. Here is the way it is calculated (again, one needs a box-score and a calculator) : Start with 0 points (unlike the pitching Game Score that starts with 50) Add 1 point for each Run, RBI, 2B, SB, BB, and HBP recorded. Add 2.5 for each hit, 3 for each 3B and 4 for each HR. Subtract 1 for each CS and GIDP, subtract 1 for each error, for catchers add 1 for each CS Subtract 0.2 for each SO and 0.5 for each AB. Again, as in the Bullpen Battle Dashboard, the Bench Battle Dashboard is color coded based on average, above average and below average performances, where: Average is Batting Game Score between 0 and 2 Above average is Batting Game Score higher than 2 Below average is Batting Game Score less than 0 Also the Dashboard, is broken down by catchers, infielders and outfielders One comment before I present the Bench Battle Dashboard: Before Spring Training, I thought that Luke Hughes was a lock. However, based on his continuous below average performances (actually the worse by any position player in the team), I think that his position might be in jeopardy, so I am tracking his performance as well: Here is what the Dashboard looks like after today's game against the Pirates: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/6824654618_c707d46d88_z.jpg And the rankings by position: Catchers: J.R. Towles 3 Rene Rivera 2.6 ----- Daniel Rohlfing 1.25 Chris Herrmann 0.433333333 Danny Lehmann 0.4 ---- Drew Butera -0.4 Danny Rams -0.566666667 Infielders: Chris Parmelee 3.65 Mike Hollimon 2.2 ---- Ray Chang 1.5 Tsuyoshi Nishioka 1.466666667 Aaron Bates 0.95 Sean Burroughs 0.02 ---- Brian Dinkelman -0.04 Brian Dozier -0.433333333 Pedro Florimon -0.55 Steve Pearce -0.733333333 Luke Hughes -1.525 Outfielders: ---- Wilkin Ramirez 0.95 Matt Carson 0.76 Darin Mastroianni 0.375 Rene Tosoni 0.35 ---- Oswaldo Arcia -0.58 Joe Benson -0.04 I will be updating this daily and posting updates here close to daily. As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- I have been creating dashboards to look at the progression of the Spring Training battle for the 3 bullpen sports for the Twins (You can read about the rationale and details here.) I decided to create a dashboard for the 2-3 bench position battles. To quantify position players performance I am using another Bill James' measurement, the "Batting Game Score", as modified by Baseball Reference. I made 2 changes on the BR way of calculating Batting Game Score: I took away the bonus points for multi-HR games and for hitting for the cycle and I am adding a point for a catcher when he throws out a runner trying to steal a base. Here is the way it is calculated (again, one needs a box-score and a calculator) : Start with 0 points (unlike the pitching Game Score that starts with 50) Add 1 point for each Run, RBI, 2B, SB, BB, and HBP recorded. Add 2.5 for each hit, 3 for each 3B and 4 for each HR. Subtract 1 for each CS and GIDP, subtract 1 for each error, for catchers add 1 for each CS Subtract 0.2 for each SO and 0.5 for each AB. Again, as in the Bullpen Battle Dashboard, the Bench Battle Dashboard is color coded based on average, above average and below average performances, where: Average is Batting Game Score between 0 and 2 Above average is Batting Game Score higher than 2 Below average is Batting Game Score less than 0 Also the Dashboard, is broken down by catchers, infielders and outfielders One comment before I present the Bench Battle Dashboard: Before Spring Training, I thought that Luke Hughes was a lock. However, based on his continuous below average performances (actually the worse by any position player in the team), I think that his position might be in jeopardy, so I am tracking his performance as well: Here is what the Dashboard looks like after today's game against the Pirates: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/6824654618_c707d46d88_z.jpg And the rankings by position: Catchers: J.R. Towles 3 Rene Rivera 2.6 ----- Daniel Rohlfing 1.25 Chris Herrmann 0.433333333 Danny Lehmann 0.4 ---- Drew Butera -0.4 Danny Rams -0.566666667 Infielders: Chris Parmelee 3.65 Mike Hollimon 2.2 ---- Ray Chang 1.5 Tsuyoshi Nishioka 1.466666667 Aaron Bates 0.95 Sean Burroughs 0.02 ---- Brian Dinkelman -0.04 Brian Dozier -0.433333333 Pedro Florimon -0.55 Steve Pearce -0.733333333 Luke Hughes -1.525 Outfielders: ---- Wilkin Ramirez 0.95 Matt Carson 0.76 Darin Mastroianni 0.375 Rene Tosoni 0.35 ---- Oswaldo Arcia -0.58 Joe Benson -0.04 I will be updating this daily and posting updates here close to daily. As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch -- You can read the basic premise in detail behind this dashboard here. This is the most current iterration after yesterday's game vs the Cardinals: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7041/6821589228_ed2351c4d8_o.jpg Here is a ranking of the combatants based on average game score: Terry Doyle 56 Matt Maloney 54.5 Jared Burton 53.5 Liam Hendriks 53.5 Aaron Thompson 53 Brendan Wise 53 Casey Fien 52.7 Jeff Manship 52.5 Carlos Gutierrez 52 Kyle Waldrop 52 P.J. Walters 52 Esmerling Vasquez 51.5 --- Daryl Thompson 50 Luis Perdomo 49.5 Tyler Robertson 49.5 --- Alex Burnett 48.5 Scott Diamond 47.5 Phil Dumatrait 46.7 Lester Oliveros 46 Jeff Gray 41 Deolis Guerra 37.5 Jason Bulger 25 Samuel Deduno DNP I will be updating this daily and posting updates here close to daily. As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch -- You can read the basic premise in detail behind this dashboard here. This is the most current iterration after yesterday's game vs the Cardinals: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7041/6821589228_ed2351c4d8_o.jpg Here is a ranking of the combatants based on average game score: Terry Doyle 56 Matt Maloney 54.5 Jared Burton 53.5 Liam Hendriks 53.5 Aaron Thompson 53 Brendan Wise 53 Casey Fien 52.7 Jeff Manship 52.5 Carlos Gutierrez 52 Kyle Waldrop 52 P.J. Walters 52 Esmerling Vasquez 51.5 --- Daryl Thompson 50 Luis Perdomo 49.5 Tyler Robertson 49.5 --- Alex Burnett 48.5 Scott Diamond 47.5 Phil Dumatrait 46.7 Lester Oliveros 46 Jeff Gray 41 Deolis Guerra 37.5 Jason Bulger 25 Samuel Deduno DNP I will be updating this daily and posting updates here close to daily. As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

This was originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch and reposted here --- You can read the basic premise in detail behind this dashboard here. The summary is that I have created a visual dashboard that uses Bill James' Game Score to measure the performance of each pitcher who is vying for a spot on the Twins' 25-man roster (you can see their profiles here) and track their performance through spring training. Performances are classified as "above average" (green color), "average (yellow), "below average" (red) with the Game Score numbers indicated for each performance. I also average all performances to day, list that average and color the pitcher's name accordingly. At the end, there is a ranking of all pitchers in the list based on their average game score this spring training. Game Scores of 49-51 are "average", everything higher than 51 "above average", and everything below 49 "below average". Here is what the dashboard looks, including yesterday's game vs Tampa Bay: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7200/6965432235_8170ebd9c4_o.jpg Here is a ranking of the combatants based on average game score: Terry Doyle 56 Matt Maloney 54.5 Jared Burton 53.5 Liam Hendriks 53.5 Tyler Robertson 53 Aaron Thompson 53 Brendan Wise 53 Casey Fien 52.5 Jeff Manship 52.5 Carlos Gutierrez 52 Kyle Waldrop 52 P.J. Walters 52 Esmerling Vasquez 51.5 --- Daryl Thompson 50 Luis Perdomo 49.5 --- Alex Burnett 48.5 Scott Diamond 47.5 Lester Oliveros 46 Phil Dumatrait 45 Jeff Gray 41 Jason Bulger 25 Deolis Guerra 21 Samuel Deduno DNP I will be updating this daily and posting updates here close to daily. As always, you can find all Spring Training coverage in this site here

This was originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch and reposted here --- You can read the basic premise in detail behind this dashboard here. The summary is that I have created a visual dashboard that uses Bill James' Game Score to measure the performance of each pitcher who is vying for a spot on the Twins' 25-man roster (you can see their profiles here) and track their performance through spring training. Performances are classified as "above average" (green color), "average (yellow), "below average" (red) with the Game Score numbers indicated for each performance. I also average all performances to day, list that average and color the pitcher's name accordingly. At the end, there is a ranking of all pitchers in the list based on their average game score this spring training. Game Scores of 49-51 are "average", everything higher than 51 "above average", and everything below 49 "below average". Here is what the dashboard looks, including yesterday's game vs Tampa Bay: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7200/6965432235_8170ebd9c4_o.jpg Here is a ranking of the combatants based on average game score: Terry Doyle 56 Matt Maloney 54.5 Jared Burton 53.5 Liam Hendriks 53.5 Tyler Robertson 53 Aaron Thompson 53 Brendan Wise 53 Casey Fien 52.5 Jeff Manship 52.5 Carlos Gutierrez 52 Kyle Waldrop 52 P.J. Walters 52 Esmerling Vasquez 51.5 --- Daryl Thompson 50 Luis Perdomo 49.5 --- Alex Burnett 48.5 Scott Diamond 47.5 Lester Oliveros 46 Phil Dumatrait 45 Jeff Gray 41 Jason Bulger 25 Deolis Guerra 21 Samuel Deduno DNP I will be updating this daily and posting updates here close to daily. As always, you can find all Spring Training coverage in this site here

If Liriano goes something like 12-6 with an ERA at low 3s or below around trading deadline and the Twins are 5 games ahead, there is no way they do not keep him to finish the season. They might trade him afterwards, but the backlash would be incredible if they do at that point.

Here is the basic premise: The Twins have a whole bunch of relievers in their Spring Training Camp who are batting for 3 spots on the 25-man roster. I listed and analysed these players previously. Spring training is long and it is hard to track each appearance of each player, trying to have an objective view of how this battle might be ending (or at least trending,) especially, when the usual statistics fail with such a small sample size. Yesterday I created a dashboard to look at each pitcher's performance on a daily basis and use visual color clues to get the big picture at once. That was step one. But for some reason I was not really happy with it. My major objection to that first iteration was that individual daily performances were subjective. "Average", "above average" and "below average" were determined by glances at boxscores and what I saw or heardin games. Not too good. Plus, there are various degrees of greatness or non-greatness, and those need to be separated. Thus the need for quantification and for an objective way to measure each pitcher's daily performance and I think that I found it: It is a measurement created by Bill James more than a decade ago called "Game Score". Truth of the matter is that James created that to measure starting pitcher performance, but I think that it is applicable here and will fit my purpose (albeit things will be a bit compressed on the top, but the middle and the bottom will differentiate nicely.) What is Game Score? Here is how it is determined: You start with 50 points for each pitcher. Add 1 point for each out. Add 1 point for each strikeout. Subtract 2 points for each hit. Subtract 4 points for each earned run. Subtract 2 points for each unearned run. Subtract 1 point for each walk. There is a point bonus for pitching more than 4 innings as well, adding 2 points for each IP after the 4th, but this is not too applicable here. All you need to calculate Game Score is a box score and a calculator. Done deal. However, there are no box scores for B games, and the caveat is I cannot include them (which might not be that bad in the big schema of things.) I am ready to present the final version of the 2012 Spring Training Bullpen Battle Dashboard. I will update the dashboard and post it on a weekly basis. The next update will be early next week before the first cuts are made. Like the previous version, performances are classified as "above average" (green color), "average (yellow), "below average" (red). But now there are numbers there to tell how much bellow or above average each performance is. I also average all performances to day, list that average in the first column and color the pitcher's name accordingly as well. Following, there is a ranking of all pitchers in the list based on their average game score this spring training. Game Scored of 49-51 are "average", everything higher than 51 "above average", and everything below 49 "below average". Here is what the dashboard looks, including yesterday's game at Baltimore: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7050/6963061633_ae85820474_o.jpg And here is the ranking: Terry Doyle 56 Carlos Gutierrez 55 Liam Hendriks 55 Matt Maloney 54.5 Jared Burton 53.5 Tyler Robertson 53 Aaron Thompson 53 Brendan Wise 53 Casey Fien 52.5 Kyle Waldrop 52 P.J. Walters 52 Esmerling Vasquez 51.5 --- Luis Perdomo 49.5 Jeff Manship 49 --- Alex Burnett 48.5 Daryl Thompson 48 Lester Oliveros 46 Phil Dumatrait 45 Scott Diamond 42 Jeff Gray 41 Jason Bulger 25 Deolis Guerra 21 Samuel Deduno DNP Of course this is a small sample size at this point and will change during the next weeks, but I think that I have found a way to dashboard Twins' pitchers' performance this Spring. I am keeping track of the performances of the pitchers who I consider locks to make the team, but I will wait to publish for another week or so, because these players are not part of this discussion. There are some pretty obvious outliers here, especially at the low end of performance, so it will be interesting to see how things will play out this weekend and early next week before the first cuts. ----- Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch

Here is the basic premise: The Twins have a whole bunch of relievers in their Spring Training Camp who are batting for 3 spots on the 25-man roster. I listed and analysed these players previously. Spring training is long and it is hard to track each appearance of each player, trying to have an objective view of how this battle might be ending (or at least trending,) especially, when the usual statistics fail with such a small sample size. Yesterday I created a dashboard to look at each pitcher's performance on a daily basis and use visual color clues to get the big picture at once. That was step one. But for some reason I was not really happy with it. My major objection to that first iteration was that individual daily performances were subjective. "Average", "above average" and "below average" were determined by glances at boxscores and what I saw or heardin games. Not too good. Plus, there are various degrees of greatness or non-greatness, and those need to be separated. Thus the need for quantification and for an objective way to measure each pitcher's daily performance and I think that I found it: It is a measurement created by Bill James more than a decade ago called "Game Score". Truth of the matter is that James created that to measure starting pitcher performance, but I think that it is applicable here and will fit my purpose (albeit things will be a bit compressed on the top, but the middle and the bottom will differentiate nicely.) What is Game Score? Here is how it is determined: You start with 50 points for each pitcher. Add 1 point for each out. Add 1 point for each strikeout. Subtract 2 points for each hit. Subtract 4 points for each earned run. Subtract 2 points for each unearned run. Subtract 1 point for each walk. There is a point bonus for pitching more than 4 innings as well, adding 2 points for each IP after the 4th, but this is not too applicable here. All you need to calculate Game Score is a box score and a calculator. Done deal. However, there are no box scores for B games, and the caveat is I cannot include them (which might not be that bad in the big schema of things.) I am ready to present the final version of the 2012 Spring Training Bullpen Battle Dashboard. I will update the dashboard and post it on a weekly basis. The next update will be early next week before the first cuts are made. Like the previous version, performances are classified as "above average" (green color), "average (yellow), "below average" (red). But now there are numbers there to tell how much bellow or above average each performance is. I also average all performances to day, list that average in the first column and color the pitcher's name accordingly as well. Following, there is a ranking of all pitchers in the list based on their average game score this spring training. Game Scored of 49-51 are "average", everything higher than 51 "above average", and everything below 49 "below average". Here is what the dashboard looks, including yesterday's game at Baltimore: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7050/6963061633_ae85820474_o.jpg And here is the ranking: Terry Doyle 56 Carlos Gutierrez 55 Liam Hendriks 55 Matt Maloney 54.5 Jared Burton 53.5 Tyler Robertson 53 Aaron Thompson 53 Brendan Wise 53 Casey Fien 52.5 Kyle Waldrop 52 P.J. Walters 52 Esmerling Vasquez 51.5 --- Luis Perdomo 49.5 Jeff Manship 49 --- Alex Burnett 48.5 Daryl Thompson 48 Lester Oliveros 46 Phil Dumatrait 45 Scott Diamond 42 Jeff Gray 41 Jason Bulger 25 Deolis Guerra 21 Samuel Deduno DNP Of course this is a small sample size at this point and will change during the next weeks, but I think that I have found a way to dashboard Twins' pitchers' performance this Spring. I am keeping track of the performances of the pitchers who I consider locks to make the team, but I will wait to publish for another week or so, because these players are not part of this discussion. There are some pretty obvious outliers here, especially at the low end of performance, so it will be interesting to see how things will play out this weekend and early next week before the first cuts. ----- Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch

Here is the thing (and, as you very well know, I am less of a Terry Ryan fan than you are ) : I agree. Everyone in this organization should be held accountable, but to hold someone accountable you have to see results. If this season is another losing season, then Ryan cannot be held accountable (and Gardy and others). But you cannot hold someone accountable for projected or imaginary results. Let's see the results and then we can start pointing fingers (if you are into pointing out fingers.)

Agree with Seth... Hitting Pavano in the back today while try to throw a runner out stealing second, might be the straw that broke the camel's back (no pun intended) On the other hand, I don't think that AJ Burnett is a lock, either.

This was originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch and is reposted here --- Previously, I listed all the players who are battling for one of the 3 bullpen spots this Spring Training. Because they are so many, I decided to create a spreadsheet and keep track of their performance this Spring day by day, using color coding and symbols to get a quick visual. In other words, creating a dashboard of their performance. Green (+) is better than average appearance that day, yellow (0) is average appearance that day, red (-) is below average appearance that day, uncolored (DNP) is did not play that day. As players get cut, their dashboard lines will be in italics. I am also using the same convension to color the players' names, to see overall performance the spring. I also think that looking at how often someone pitches is important, and as spring training progresses, looking at trends. Here is the version including all games (including B games) up to 3/6/12, without any comments. My comments about the bullpen battle can be found here (that was before yesterday's game) : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7042/6815815030_7676435d51_o.jpg

This was originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch and is reposted here --- Previously, I listed all the players who are battling for one of the 3 bullpen spots this Spring Training. Because they are so many, I decided to create a spreadsheet and keep track of their performance this Spring day by day, using color coding and symbols to get a quick visual. In other words, creating a dashboard of their performance. Green (+) is better than average appearance that day, yellow (0) is average appearance that day, red (-) is below average appearance that day, uncolored (DNP) is did not play that day. As players get cut, their dashboard lines will be in italics. I am also using the same convension to color the players' names, to see overall performance the spring. I also think that looking at how often someone pitches is important, and as spring training progresses, looking at trends. Here is the version including all games (including B games) up to 3/6/12, without any comments. My comments about the bullpen battle can be found here (that was before yesterday's game) : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7042/6815815030_7676435d51_o.jpg

I am trying to do a bit of math, looking at Mauer's slash line, career tendencies and 2011 line: Career average isoD (OBP-BA) is .080, 2011 isoD was .073 Career average isoP (SLG-BA) is .148, 2011 isoP was .081 with a .310 BA, using career averages OBP would be .390 and SLG .458; and 2011 (worse case) numbers OBP would be .383 and SLG .391 so that .310/.370./.460 assumes a career isoP and a well below career isoD, which may result if he becomes more of a free swinger, but I highly doubt that. I really think that .310/.385/.450 might probably be more realistic; however, I really think that that .310 will be closer to .325 this season

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- Not a game report by any means; just some random, stream of conscious type notes I took while I was watching the Twins' game on TV this afternoon: Jamey Carroll's strike zone is smaller than Ben Revere's. He really gets down in the box Doumit looks like Kubel. A lot Great double steal by Revere and Carroll in a botched pick-off move. Carroll seams a very astute base runner Baker's fastball at 86 mph to start the game, then up at 87-88 by the end of the 1st inning. Nice and easy first for Baker. Niemann really fooled Brian Dinkelman with a called strike 3 on a 57 mph curve to start the second inning. Did not realize he had that pitch to go with his 93 mph fastball Baker's fastball at 83-84 to start the second inning then up to 86-87. His change up sat at 78-79 and was very effective. Up to 88 with the FB Casilla was avoiding Nunez' heat (93-94) but waited on a change and pushed it nicely through the middle; then appropriately stole second on the next pitch. Then Revere sacrifice bunts to get him to 3rd with one out. Smart ball Interesting situation to see Carroll hit with one out and man on third. He was slapping every pitch. This guy can make contact. Takes ball four at shoelaces to walk. Then steals second on a ball in the dirt. Maloney started the bottom of the third. Hitting 86-89 with fastball and lots of movement with the slider. Strikes out the first pitcher he saw (that is 4 in a row for him), second one grounds out and the third one bleeds a single through the SS (Carroll's range was exposed). Another hit to left, Revere bobbles the ball and runners in the corners with Pena up. Twins are shifting the infield with 2 outs for Pena. Interesting Leftie-Leftie match up for Maloney. Got him to fly out. Pretty good performance by Maloney overall. He is a dark horse to make the team Steve Pearce seems to have problems making contact with breaking balls. Not sure if it is just early, or it is an issue Benson looks really over-matched at the plate Maloney in for a second inning. Gets the first batter to ground out to short on a cutter. Nice deceptive delivery and long arms and legs. Second and third batter flies out to center. Nice spotting of the fastball. He looks in a very good shape. Very impressed overall. Reminds me a bit of Matt Guerrier, in a lefty kind of way. Both Doumit and Carroll are taking many more pitches and working the count deeper than the men who they replaced (Kubel and Nishioka). This will be good for the Twins. Capps in for the bottom of 5th. FB starts at 91 with decent movement and get the first batter to fly out. The second batter gets a broken bat bloop. Capps' FB looks heavy. Up at 94 later in the inning. Overall a good performance Glen Perkins' fastball at 91-94 with good downward motion. Picked two K on a hard slider and a ground out to him on a 94 mph FB. Close to season form. He looks so there and ready to pick up from last season. Very impressive. Casilla is locked in Duensing's FB 90-92. Looks nice and loose but some command issues (it is early). Great defensive play by Benson to cut a double into single. Towles shows pretty good patience on the plate. Going 3-0 (and took ball 4 but was called a strike.) Then shows some speed by beating the throw on a tailor made double play ball. Then he was asked to steal second and was barely caught. So he's got an eye and wheels. Two things that Drew Butera lacks. Jeff Gray makes his first appearance this spring. Problems locating his fastball outside, then goes inside with a FB that goes into a double. That is not a good prescription for success... Major command issues. This reminds me of Marquis' second inning the other day minus the wild pitches Very windy out there, but if Mastroianni wants to make the team he better not drop those fly balls. That one hit the heel of his glove Oswaldo Arcia is build like a bull, but does not like the breaking ball Doumatrait in to close the 9th. Can locate his FB somewhat consistently, unless he is nitpicking at the corners, but breaking ball is either all over the place or the middle of the plate. I think that right now he is behing Maloney at the depth chart Perkins, Maloney, Capps, Revere, Carroll, Doumit and Towles impressed me today in various degrees. Good to see Perkins close to mid-season form and Maloney and Towles were happy surprises

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- Not a game report by any means; just some random, stream of conscious type notes I took while I was watching the Twins' game on TV this afternoon: Jamey Carroll's strike zone is smaller than Ben Revere's. He really gets down in the box Doumit looks like Kubel. A lot Great double steal by Revere and Carroll in a botched pick-off move. Carroll seams a very astute base runner Baker's fastball at 86 mph to start the game, then up at 87-88 by the end of the 1st inning. Nice and easy first for Baker. Niemann really fooled Brian Dinkelman with a called strike 3 on a 57 mph curve to start the second inning. Did not realize he had that pitch to go with his 93 mph fastball Baker's fastball at 83-84 to start the second inning then up to 86-87. His change up sat at 78-79 and was very effective. Up to 88 with the FB Casilla was avoiding Nunez' heat (93-94) but waited on a change and pushed it nicely through the middle; then appropriately stole second on the next pitch. Then Revere sacrifice bunts to get him to 3rd with one out. Smart ball Interesting situation to see Carroll hit with one out and man on third. He was slapping every pitch. This guy can make contact. Takes ball four at shoelaces to walk. Then steals second on a ball in the dirt. Maloney started the bottom of the third. Hitting 86-89 with fastball and lots of movement with the slider. Strikes out the first pitcher he saw (that is 4 in a row for him), second one grounds out and the third one bleeds a single through the SS (Carroll's range was exposed). Another hit to left, Revere bobbles the ball and runners in the corners with Pena up. Twins are shifting the infield with 2 outs for Pena. Interesting Leftie-Leftie match up for Maloney. Got him to fly out. Pretty good performance by Maloney overall. He is a dark horse to make the team Steve Pearce seems to have problems making contact with breaking balls. Not sure if it is just early, or it is an issue Benson looks really over-matched at the plate Maloney in for a second inning. Gets the first batter to ground out to short on a cutter. Nice deceptive delivery and long arms and legs. Second and third batter flies out to center. Nice spotting of the fastball. He looks in a very good shape. Very impressed overall. Reminds me a bit of Matt Guerrier, in a lefty kind of way. Both Doumit and Carroll are taking many more pitches and working the count deeper than the men who they replaced (Kubel and Nishioka). This will be good for the Twins. Capps in for the bottom of 5th. FB starts at 91 with decent movement and get the first batter to fly out. The second batter gets a broken bat bloop. Capps' FB looks heavy. Up at 94 later in the inning. Overall a good performance Glen Perkins' fastball at 91-94 with good downward motion. Picked two K on a hard slider and a ground out to him on a 94 mph FB. Close to season form. He looks so there and ready to pick up from last season. Very impressive. Casilla is locked in Duensing's FB 90-92. Looks nice and loose but some command issues (it is early). Great defensive play by Benson to cut a double into single. Towles shows pretty good patience on the plate. Going 3-0 (and took ball 4 but was called a strike.) Then shows some speed by beating the throw on a tailor made double play ball. Then he was asked to steal second and was barely caught. So he's got an eye and wheels. Two things that Drew Butera lacks. Jeff Gray makes his first appearance this spring. Problems locating his fastball outside, then goes inside with a FB that goes into a double. That is not a good prescription for success... Major command issues. This reminds me of Marquis' second inning the other day minus the wild pitches Very windy out there, but if Mastroianni wants to make the team he better not drop those fly balls. That one hit the heel of his glove Oswaldo Arcia is build like a bull, but does not like the breaking ball Doumatrait in to close the 9th. Can locate his FB somewhat consistently, unless he is nitpicking at the corners, but breaking ball is either all over the place or the middle of the plate. I think that right now he is behing Maloney at the depth chart Perkins, Maloney, Capps, Revere, Carroll, Doumit and Towles impressed me today in various degrees. Good to see Perkins close to mid-season form and Maloney and Towles were happy surprises

I would have them have Slowey starting last season with Blackburn in the bullpen and would have never traded Slowey. But that is a just a small move. Getting to the root cause of the Twins problems, last off-season, I would have brought a GM outside of the organization who would have finally shown the door to the manager of the millennium and his buddies and ask Jim Rantz to retire.

This was originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Here is this week's installment (also heavily influenced by Spring Training) : Today is Spring Training Reporting day for the Twins' minor leaguers. You can find the full MiLB Spring Training Schedule here. And if you wonder what the Twins' minor leaguers feel about the off-season and Spring Training, you should read this article by Twins LHP prospect Tony Davis, this by fellow LHP prospect Ryan O'Rourke, this by RHP prospect Dakota Watts, and this from AJ Petersen, Twins' middle infield prospect, who are all reporting at the Lee County Sports Complex today Joel Zumaya will have Tommy John surgery with Dr Andrews. The Twins will pay for the surgery. He will try for a comeback next season, but will be a free agent, and I hope that the Twins get first dibs to sign him back. Still not clear whether they will keep him in the 60 day DL all season (and pay and extra $450K,) or release him. He has not been officially released. Weird concurrence number one on Sunday when the Twins had split squad games against Boston and Tampa Bay: Both Rene Rivera and Drew Butera got out at the same time to finish the inning in their respective games. Weird concurrence number 2: the Tampa Bay and the Boston pitchers struck out the Twins 'side at the same time in both of their respective games. Weird concurrence number three: When Chris Parmelee hit his home run in the Rays' game, Luke Hughes missed one by two feet (knocked down by the wind) at the Boston game. You cannot make that stuff up. A former Twins' player has been unsuccessful in reaching Justin Morneau. Also, a Twins' hopeful, 1B Aaron Bates, started to blog at the Twins Daily site. Two former Twins are very vocal against Target Field. This is what one of them looks in his new uniform. Meanwhile, we learned that Joe Mauer has become an action figure; whereas Ryan Doumit showed a strong OF arm We also learned that Drew Butera has another career lined up if Baseball is not in his future. Twins' player tweet of the week goes to Ben Revere (again) with this one. This one from an ESPN analyst, should be posted on the walls of the Twins' clubhouse. Word of the Week is maladroit, as in "Jason Bulger's performance against the Red Sox (4 walks, a grand slam and a hit) was maladroit". Jason Marquis's second inning against the Red Sox last night was one of those, too. --- Please go to the original post, if you would like to see the parting shot of the week, a video featuring Joe Mauer and Ron Garenhire. Not sure how to embed video here.

This was originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Here is this week's installment (also heavily influenced by Spring Training) : Today is Spring Training Reporting day for the Twins' minor leaguers. You can find the full MiLB Spring Training Schedule here. And if you wonder what the Twins' minor leaguers feel about the off-season and Spring Training, you should read this article by Twins LHP prospect Tony Davis, this by fellow LHP prospect Ryan O'Rourke, this by RHP prospect Dakota Watts, and this from AJ Petersen, Twins' middle infield prospect, who are all reporting at the Lee County Sports Complex today Joel Zumaya will have Tommy John surgery with Dr Andrews. The Twins will pay for the surgery. He will try for a comeback next season, but will be a free agent, and I hope that the Twins get first dibs to sign him back. Still not clear whether they will keep him in the 60 day DL all season (and pay and extra $450K,) or release him. He has not been officially released. Weird concurrence number one on Sunday when the Twins had split squad games against Boston and Tampa Bay: Both Rene Rivera and Drew Butera got out at the same time to finish the inning in their respective games. Weird concurrence number 2: the Tampa Bay and the Boston pitchers struck out the Twins 'side at the same time in both of their respective games. Weird concurrence number three: When Chris Parmelee hit his home run in the Rays' game, Luke Hughes missed one by two feet (knocked down by the wind) at the Boston game. You cannot make that stuff up. A former Twins' player has been unsuccessful in reaching Justin Morneau. Also, a Twins' hopeful, 1B Aaron Bates, started to blog at the Twins Daily site. Two former Twins are very vocal against Target Field. This is what one of them looks in his new uniform. Meanwhile, we learned that Joe Mauer has become an action figure; whereas Ryan Doumit showed a strong OF arm We also learned that Drew Butera has another career lined up if Baseball is not in his future. Twins' player tweet of the week goes to Ben Revere (again) with this one. This one from an ESPN analyst, should be posted on the walls of the Twins' clubhouse. Word of the Week is maladroit, as in "Jason Bulger's performance against the Red Sox (4 walks, a grand slam and a hit) was maladroit". Jason Marquis's second inning against the Red Sox last night was one of those, too. --- Please go to the original post, if you would like to see the parting shot of the week, a video featuring Joe Mauer and Ron Garenhire. Not sure how to embed video here.