Thrylos

I agree that they should be focussing on 2013 and 2014 right now, so here is the contradiction: If they are focusing on 2013/4 they need to get rid of as many veterans as possible, esp. the ones who will bring back some decent pitching prospects (because right now the organization does not have the starting pitching to contend in 2013 or 2014), whose contracts are ending the next couple of years and save some cash to sign free agent SPs either this or next off-season. By doing this (getting rid of veterans) you have to play rookies. Same as 1984-5 and 2000-1: Rookies developing in the majors. And I'd rather see rookies play than the stopgaps and misfits of the near and far past.

I have been a huge supporter of Cuellar as the pitching coach for years based on his track record with Santana, Martinez and Randy Johnson and the praise he got from those 3, among others. I heart a log of good things about Brunansky and he might be alright. I just think that the last thing the organization needs to do, is to look from within. They need to go outside the organization to hire a manager. Have no problems with Brunansky because he was with the organization when they won and then has been outside for a while. I think that Carew could have worked out about 25 years ago. The man is old. I also think that the new manager should have some fire and energy. I've always thought that Wally Backman would be a great manager for the Twins.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- Here is this week's installment: With Jayson Werth out at least 3 months, the Twins have a perfect opportunity to see what they can get from the contending Nationals for Denard Span. Alexi Casilla did turn the corner (Big time) with the glove. He has been by far the Twins' best fielder, using a couple of different measurements: Defensive Runs Saved above average with 8 (second best is Span with 5) and UZR with 5 (second best, Span, has 1.8). It is too early, but if he keeps it up (and hits a bit better so he can justify keep playing) he is a gold glove dark horse. And speaking of Alexi Casilla, the Manager of the Millennium, decided to bench him for Jamey Carroll (a lesser player this season bothwith the bat and on the field) and delayed the the appearance of the Twins' future middleinfield. Apparently Alexi Casilla is day to day with a sore throwing shoulder Jared Burton leads the Twins with a crazy 0.455 WHIP. Do not expect it to last because his BABIP is an equally crazy 0.045. Speaking of BABIP, of the Twins' starters not named Pavano, Jason Marquis has the lowest BABIP with .320, which indicated that luck has a role in the Twins' SP woes. Now it better turn around fast. Sean Burroughs was Designated for Assignment a week ago to make room for Drew Butera. Here is a picture of Sean's traveling buddy. Twins' middle infield (and OF recently) prospect AJ Petersen is writing about a minor leaguer's off day Former Twins' pitching prospect Dan Osterbrock is having surgery today to fix what was not fixed in his shoulder in his previous operation. Looks like either Jim Pohlad is a huge Brian Dozier fan or a statement is about to be made based on this Fun factoid: Eight out of the twelve pitchers on the Beloit Snappers' roster are throwing left-handed while all fourteen position players (including Nate Robers who is on the 7-day Disabled List) are throwing right-handed (including the 3 who are batting left-handed and the single switch-hitter JaDamion Williams.) Good to see the average age in the Twins' minor league teams (esp. in Rochester where that was not true recently) is right about League Average. Here are the numbers. Rochester: Hitters: 27.1, Pitchers: 26.5 (International League: Hitters: 27.4 Pitchers: 27.5) New Britain: Hitters: Pitchers: 25.3 (Eastern League: 24.5 Hitters: Pitchers: 25) Fort Myers: Hitters: 22.5 Pitchers: 23.2 (Florida State League: Hitters:22.7 Pitchers: 22.9) Beloit: Hitters: 21.7 Pitchers: 22.3 (Midwest League: Hitters: 21.5 Pitchers: 21.9) The Twins' product of the week, is the Ron Gardenhire Bobbleheadhttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=B0068TUJLC that was given to the Minnesota Twins' season ticket holders in 2009. The parting shot today is of Brian Dozier in honor of his MLB debut yesterday http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7241/7150140051_e955a64dc9_z.jpg As always you can find all the Random Tuesday Twins Thoughts and Tidbits Posts here, in reverse chronological order.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- Here is this week's installment: With Jayson Werth out at least 3 months, the Twins have a perfect opportunity to see what they can get from the contending Nationals for Denard Span. Alexi Casilla did turn the corner (Big time) with the glove. He has been by far the Twins' best fielder, using a couple of different measurements: Defensive Runs Saved above average with 8 (second best is Span with 5) and UZR with 5 (second best, Span, has 1.8). It is too early, but if he keeps it up (and hits a bit better so he can justify keep playing) he is a gold glove dark horse. And speaking of Alexi Casilla, the Manager of the Millennium, decided to bench him for Jamey Carroll (a lesser player this season bothwith the bat and on the field) and delayed the the appearance of the Twins' future middleinfield. Apparently Alexi Casilla is day to day with a sore throwing shoulder Jared Burton leads the Twins with a crazy 0.455 WHIP. Do not expect it to last because his BABIP is an equally crazy 0.045. Speaking of BABIP, of the Twins' starters not named Pavano, Jason Marquis has the lowest BABIP with .320, which indicated that luck has a role in the Twins' SP woes. Now it better turn around fast. Sean Burroughs was Designated for Assignment a week ago to make room for Drew Butera. Here is a picture of Sean's traveling buddy. Twins' middle infield (and OF recently) prospect AJ Petersen is writing about a minor leaguer's off day Former Twins' pitching prospect Dan Osterbrock is having surgery today to fix what was not fixed in his shoulder in his previous operation. Looks like either Jim Pohlad is a huge Brian Dozier fan or a statement is about to be made based on this Fun factoid: Eight out of the twelve pitchers on the Beloit Snappers' roster are throwing left-handed while all fourteen position players (including Nate Robers who is on the 7-day Disabled List) are throwing right-handed (including the 3 who are batting left-handed and the single switch-hitter JaDamion Williams.) Good to see the average age in the Twins' minor league teams (esp. in Rochester where that was not true recently) is right about League Average. Here are the numbers. Rochester: Hitters: 27.1, Pitchers: 26.5 (International League: Hitters: 27.4 Pitchers: 27.5) New Britain: Hitters: Pitchers: 25.3 (Eastern League: 24.5 Hitters: Pitchers: 25) Fort Myers: Hitters: 22.5 Pitchers: 23.2 (Florida State League: Hitters:22.7 Pitchers: 22.9) Beloit: Hitters: 21.7 Pitchers: 22.3 (Midwest League: Hitters: 21.5 Pitchers: 21.9) The Twins' product of the week, is the Ron Gardenhire Bobbleheadhttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=B0068TUJLC that was given to the Minnesota Twins' season ticket holders in 2009. The parting shot today is of Brian Dozier in honor of his MLB debut yesterday http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7241/7150140051_e955a64dc9_z.jpg As always you can find all the Random Tuesday Twins Thoughts and Tidbits Posts here, in reverse chronological order.

Just turned it on on time to hear the Sano bomb! Thanks

The Twins would never ever do anything like that (and for a good reason for the particular pitcher) and Hamels will get a 5 year deal some place else

Joe C explained some of the lunacy in the lineup: Willingham has some sort of a virus (aka "flu" but not influenza, really) and Casilla has a sore shoulder from a dive in Seattle

About the "arbitration thing" and the super 2 or not super 2 for Dozier: He is not a Spring Chicken. This is his age 25 season. Super 2 or not, he will be entering his prime when arbitration-eligible. So if good, the Twins will probably lock him in at that point anyways. If not, oh well....

Here is what gets me with this... Arguably the best 2 of this list are Greinke and Hamels, correct? Here are some career numbers: Greinke: 1.260 WHIP, 8 K/9, 3.48 K/BB (last 2 seasons in the NL facing pitchers) Hamels: 1.137 WHIP, 8.5 K/9, 3.81 K/BB (all his career in the NL facing pitchers) and Greinke and Hamels (after today's admission) have been having "head" issues. here is a comparison: Baker: 1.264 WHIP, 7.2 K/9, 3.44 K/BB (all his career in the AL; which makes these numbers pretty close-equivalently to the other two's) So these 2 SPs, which are the best free agents available are not much better than what Baker used to be for the Twins. So basically, the Twins are going to substitute the hurt Baker with a non-hurt Baker. A non-hurt Baker alone did not cut it for the Twins. So they need more than one of those guys in 2013 and trade is the way to get them. I suspect that they need 3 new pitchers.

I do like Lexi and this is a make it or break it season for him. He has been by far the Twins' best fielder (using a couple of different measurements - defensive runs saved above average 8 - second best Span with 5; and UZR: 5 - second best Span with 1.8) and their best base runner with 5/5 SB (vs 3/5 for Span.) Just his fielding and baserunning makes him an immediate asset as a middle infielder. He did turn the corner (Big time) with the glove. He just need to pick it up with the bat but a. he has always been a slow starter (career OPS in April .510) and b. has had a short leash mainly because of fielding issues, which did not allow him to get consistent playing time. Hope that his leash is longer because he really turned it around with fielding.

That's good stuff, even though it was probably like a soft toss (see the non-spin on the ball?) to his dad... Good to see him toss...

Good: I think that one of the most pleasant (for me) and totally under the radar surprises so far is Dan Turpen (of Kevin Slowey trade infamy) who is having a career season at New Britain: 16 IP 15 H 0 BB 18 K, and is part of their ring around the rosie closer situation. Bad: Mark Dolenc. Threepeating New Britain at age 27 he is hitting below the Butera line: .147/.171/.147 Unfortunately I do not see much of a future for him, given the OF depth of the organization. I suspect that as soon as the first promotions happen, he will be cut. Other: Deolis Guerra's BAA is . 152 and Anthony Slama's .163, but their BABIPs are .238 and .320 respectively; however Guerra allowed only 2 BB in 19.1 IP and Slama 10 in 14.1 IP, so if I'd have to pick one for future success it would be very difficult.

Top total was 46 in 1995. They used 45 last season. Have no idea about the first month

They can deal high level prospects as long as they are outfielders Revere, Benson, Hicks, A. Morales, Arcia are blocking each other. Add maybe Sano and Rosario to the mix and you got a mess that you need to get out of.

This day, May 7th, 28 years ago, Kirby Puckett made his debut with the Twins. He had 4 hits in 5 PAs. Note: During Spring Training Dozier wore uniform number 77. Today he was assigned number 20, recently worn by Twins' greats Matt Tolbert and Lew Ford.

Recent developments with the Nats, including diagnosing Werth with a broken hand, increase the probability of a Span trade there. Article here. Also mentioned in the same piece is that the Nats have lost their closer and back up closer this season. And are in contention for the NL East. Wonder what Span and Capps might bring back. The problem is that all of their MLB-ready SP talent (othen than maybe Dan Rosenbaum who is in AA) is in the majors already.

In a game, when you are up a run with 2 outs and bases loaded in the 7th, is a higher leverage situation than when you are up 2-3 runs with nobody on base starting the 9th inning...

Interestingly enough, Capps and Burton are used in the highest leverage situations Here is a link to the leverage table of the Twins' P page (sorted by highest Leverage) of baseball reference. Everything above 1 is High Leverage. The thing is that the Twins have not had many leverage situations. Their team average leverage is .839. Burton, Duensing and Capps all were used in Higher that average leverage situations. Perkins was not. Unfortunately Gardy and his staff think that 8th and 9th inning are the highest leverage situations. They are not.

Not quite... As a lead-off hitter he should be getting on base on a decent clip, steal bases and score runs, right? so far: Span: .361 OBP, .743 OPS. 3/5 in SB attempts. Scored 9 R runs in 119 PAs Willingham, Mauer, Morneau have better OPS. Willingham and Mauer have better OBP as well... So there are at least 3 hitters who are better than him right now (or 2 with Morneau in the DL) Casilla is 5/5 in SB attempts and scored 7 runs in 80 PAs and Doumit 8 runs in 80 PAs. Even Valencia scored 9 runs in 91 PAs and Morneau 9 in 83. So others are stealing bases and scoring runs on a better rate than him. Just too much Span love recently...

As a matter of fact, he is exiting his prime. Was never a prospect and at 300 PAs in the majors he has been hitting at the Mendoza line. Can hit mistake pitches out of the park in AA and AAA but MLB pitchers have fooled him and made him strike out in about 40% of his PAs (heck, that's his MiLB K rate too ). The Twins just got a similar player but 26 years old (Matt Rizzotti) in AAA.

Here is my counterpoint: He was the "leader" after Hunter left. What exactly did the Twins win or accomplish (other than a division championship, and that thanks to Delmon Young, btw) with him as the leader? Not. that. much. And go back and read his statements after the game 163 loss in Chicago to talk about "stepping up" and being ok with losses... And that was a game that he personally could have won with a take out slide at the plate, instead he did not want to have contact with AJP... So Cudduyer and his alleged leadership was part of the problem and not the solution...

When he his leadership (and mouth) was still in MN, they did not lose 99, did they?

I was just having a look at the performance of the Twins' affiliates and their collective numbers. Something interesting popped up. In this organization, from Beloit to the Twins, each teams' record is a reflection of the team's pitching and not of its hitting. And more specifically WHIP. Hitting helps (and that is what mainly separates the Snappers from the Red Wings) but pitching is the main driver (and WHIP correlates more with Ws than any other simple pitching measure) ... Thought I'd share [TABLE=width: 276] TEAM RECORD WHIP OPS Rock Cats 18 W 12 L 1.168 0.662 Snappers 17 W 13 L 1.294 0.736 Red Wings 12 W 16 L 1.303 0.651 Miracle 11 W 19 L 1.376 0.641 Twins 7 W 20 L 1.429 0.658 [/TABLE]

Was just announced by the Twins. Benson has not been hitting this season and Florimon is replacing Dozier.

stupid to do it and admit it, but he got what he deserved (from the same linked article: ) to the OP: this is not reckless endangerement... Hamels hit Harper on the butt and Hamels got hit on the calf. Not like headhunting...