Thrylos

This was originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch -- This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the game vs the Blue Jays earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7050/6833910192_77e16d78f8_z.jpg Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7207/6833910274_8baa298b3a_z.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 0.67 Chris Herrmann 0.43 Danny Lehmann 0.37 ---- Drew Butera -0.4 Danny Rams -0.98 Infielders: Mike Hollimon 3.02 Chris Parmelee 2.58 ---- Tsuyoshi Nishioka 1.47 Luke Hughes 0.9 Ray Chang 0.7 Brian Dozier 0.63 Sean Burroughs 0.43 Brian Dinkelman 0.37 Aaron Bates 0.3 ---- Pedro Florimon -0.28 Steve Pearce -0.31 Outfielders: Joe Benson 1.09 ---- Wilkin Ramirez 0.86 Matt Carson 0.52 Rene Tosoni 0.3 Darin Mastroianni 0.09 ---- Oswaldo Arcia -0.23 Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today: Matt Maloney 54.3 Jared Burton 53.8 P.J. Walters 53 Kyle Waldrop 52.7 Casey Fien 52.7 Jeff Manship 52.3 Brendan Wise 52.3 Carlos Gutierrez 52 Liam Hendriks 52 Esmerling Vasquez 51.5 --- Daryl Thompson 50.7 Aaron Thompson 50 Tyler Robertson 49.7 Lester Oliveros 49.5 Luis Perdomo 49.5 Scott Diamond 49 --- Phil Dumatrait 48.3 Terry Doyle 44 Deolis Guerra 42 Alex Burnett 41.3 Jeff Gray 41 Jason Bulger 34.3 Samuel Deduno DNP As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

I would not mind if they sign him to a MiLB contract and keep him in Rochester in case one of the pitchers who come up North fails at the June/July time points. I am not sure that he will be ready to start the season, othewise he would have had the pitching in front of scouts audition a few months ago. Signing him to an MLB contact at this point would be nuts because he will not be ready for the season, he will be 33 and only had one good season (WHIP <1.36) after 2006.

22 was Valencia's College number

That's not the point. Mauer will make the team. Towles is battling to make the team (as Dozier is.) So you got to compare the players who are fighting for a spot. Like Towles, Butera and Rivera. And at this point, Rivera and Towles are ahead of Butera (and not of Mauer. Mauer is going North)

That's exactly my point too Seth. The Twins would rather have a utility player (like Hollimon) to warm the bench than Dozier...

BINGO And he only had one good and one average game this Spring. All the others were below average. As of Yesterday (Data here), there are six infielders who have performed better than him (and I am not counting Casilla or Carroll who are locks)

Couple more runs in with another double off the RF wall 4-0 Jays

There we go bases loaded double on a high change in the middle of the plate in a 0-2 count. Toronto 2-0

Cabrera Ramirez Carroll Peralta Escobar

Yeah FranKKKie #PMKI today

Hughes. And he is above average second baseman

There is a major logical flaw in their calculations... they are not normalized by HRs a particular player hit in a particular ballpark vs all the others. So if a whole bunch of non-HR hitting LHB were playing with a particular team, that home park will artificially seem low in their calculations, where if a whole bunch of HR hitting lefties were playing for another team, that home park would be artificially high in their calculations. Add Casilla, Span, Nishioka, Revere, Tolbert, Punto, Hudson as SH and LHB the last 2 seasons and Thome's, Kubel's and the bit of Morneau's PAs tend to be neutralized. Not that I am saying that Target Field is a LH hitter's paradise for HR. It is not. But I just want to see that hypothesis supported by correct design and data

Exactly. Both the Billy Beane As and the Terry Ryan Twins won the same World Championships: Zero. I dare to say that the Marlins and Diamondbacks have been more successful than either club based on winning it all. The Rays already done more than either the As or the Twins also

Part of me thinks that there is just a lot of hype about Dozier. I just hope that he can perform and justify it. Here is a comparison: Brian Dozier: age 24 season: A+/AA: .320/.399/.491 9 HR, 56 RBI Mystery Twins' infielder: age 23 season: AA/AAA: .309/.369/.524 18 HR, 61 RBI Any idea who the mystery infielder is? (and this is not like 20 years ago). Just to place Dozier's performance/age in line with others in the system, before we start anointing him as the SS of the future...

Plouffe will be there, so there are 2 spots. Maybe a Catcher and an IF, maybe not

To make the team he has to beat both Nishioka and Mike Hollimon and both of them, especially Hollimon have the upper hand now. Even if he beats them, I just don't see him making the team before September and sitting on the bench or PH/PR/spot starting, instead of playing every day in Rochester. If there are injuries mid-season (hope not), he might make the team that way.

This is a weekly feature at The Tenth Inning Stretch and originally published there ---- Here is this week's installment (also heavily influenced by Spring Training) : Tomorrow is the first minor league spring training day. There are a series of games at the AAA, AA and A level all against the Boston Red Sox' affiliates; also expect the first cuts of Spring Training to be announced today. We all heard of long bus rides for the players to away parks in Spring Training, but if you want to have a taste of what those bus rides look like, here are links to a couple of pictures taken by Brian Dozier after the game against Tampa Bay a week ago, depicting a couple of his teammates in the Twins' bus on the return trip to Fort Myers: Danny Valencia, Ben Revere. This photo is from Danny Rams from yesterday's Twins' trip to Port Charlotte to play the Rays. Not your garden-variety school busses... Twins' infield prospect A.J. Pettersen describes his first day in the Twins Minor League Spring Training Camp. So does Twins' pitching prospect Tim Shibuya here. Vegas have set the over/under of the Twins' this season winning 73 games. This is good omen to the Twins' fans, because Vegas has been bombing with those predictions. They picked 85 for 2011 (Won 63), 82 for 2010 (won 94), 83.5 for 2009 (won 87 - that was close) and 73.5 for 2008 (Won 88). So look forward to an 88 win season A former Twins' player was suspended 50 days for violating the league's drug program, because he tested positive for a street drug not a PED. If you want to know how the Twins' players spend their down time at Fort Myers, you need to check this, this, this and this out. It seems to me that Glen Perkins is converting some of his teammates. Kyle Gibson's rehab is going well. He is playing golf albeit badly. Tomorrow (March 14th) is the Birthday of Twins' great Kirby Puckett, former Twins' catcher Butch Wynegar and former Twins' second baseman Brent Gates. The Twins' player Tweet of the week award goes to Glen Perkins, for tweeting this picture of one of his fellow pitchers. Troy Renck (Denver News Rockies' beat reporter) recently posted: "The Rockies’ continue to struggle with runners in scoring position". Wonder whether Mike Cuddyer has much to do with that. The word of the week is Bo Shue. As Ray Chang's middle name. And I think that I will start a Twins' product of the week. Because there are so many out there and some of them are, well... interesting. This weeks' winner is : MLB Minnesota Twins Mr. Potato Headhttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=B000PE54Z2 The parting shot today is of Jason Marquis pitching against the Red Birds last Friday. Looking like an Eagle ready to jump onto its prey: eyes focused, wings spread half way, cleats in a perfectly horizontal position with the spikes facing the Florida sun. The ultimate balance of the ultimate predator. http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/images/2012/03/09/ykIhh9PR.jpg

This is a weekly feature at The Tenth Inning Stretch and originally published there ---- Here is this week's installment (also heavily influenced by Spring Training) : Tomorrow is the first minor league spring training day. There are a series of games at the AAA, AA and A level all against the Boston Red Sox' affiliates; also expect the first cuts of Spring Training to be announced today. We all heard of long bus rides for the players to away parks in Spring Training, but if you want to have a taste of what those bus rides look like, here are links to a couple of pictures taken by Brian Dozier after the game against Tampa Bay a week ago, depicting a couple of his teammates in the Twins' bus on the return trip to Fort Myers: Danny Valencia, Ben Revere. This photo is from Danny Rams from yesterday's Twins' trip to Port Charlotte to play the Rays. Not your garden-variety school busses... Twins' infield prospect A.J. Pettersen describes his first day in the Twins Minor League Spring Training Camp. So does Twins' pitching prospect Tim Shibuya here. Vegas have set the over/under of the Twins' this season winning 73 games. This is good omen to the Twins' fans, because Vegas has been bombing with those predictions. They picked 85 for 2011 (Won 63), 82 for 2010 (won 94), 83.5 for 2009 (won 87 - that was close) and 73.5 for 2008 (Won 88). So look forward to an 88 win season A former Twins' player was suspended 50 days for violating the league's drug program, because he tested positive for a street drug not a PED. If you want to know how the Twins' players spend their down time at Fort Myers, you need to check this, this, this and this out. It seems to me that Glen Perkins is converting some of his teammates. Kyle Gibson's rehab is going well. He is playing golf albeit badly. Tomorrow (March 14th) is the Birthday of Twins' great Kirby Puckett, former Twins' catcher Butch Wynegar and former Twins' second baseman Brent Gates. The Twins' player Tweet of the week award goes to Glen Perkins, for tweeting this picture of one of his fellow pitchers. Troy Renck (Denver News Rockies' beat reporter) recently posted: "The Rockies’ continue to struggle with runners in scoring position". Wonder whether Mike Cuddyer has much to do with that. The word of the week is Bo Shue. As Ray Chang's middle name. And I think that I will start a Twins' product of the week. Because there are so many out there and some of them are, well... interesting. This weeks' winner is : MLB Minnesota Twins Mr. Potato Headhttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=B000PE54Z2 The parting shot today is of Jason Marquis pitching against the Red Birds last Friday. Looking like an Eagle ready to jump onto its prey: eyes focused, wings spread half way, cleats in a perfectly horizontal position with the spikes facing the Florida sun. The ultimate balance of the ultimate predator. http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/images/2012/03/09/ykIhh9PR.jpg

Eddie Rosario could be that guy in 2014 or 2015, but in 2008 Luke Hughes hit .309 with 18 HRs between AA and AAA and last season Mike Hollimon hit .231 with 18 HRs between AA and AAA. If one of those gets 600 PAs at second base one of these days, they might as well do it.

I think that Mike Hollimon is a dark horse to make the team and provide a backup in all 3 IF sports other than 1B and a power SH bat from the bench. So far he has been pretty impressive this ST and will give Nishioka a fight for a bench spot. He has a decent power but battling injuries pretty much all his career till about a couple years ago. I would not keep him out of the equation yet.

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the game vs the Rays earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7195/6831220188_13c319ff72_z.jpg Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7064/6977348537_3e955e5c8e_z.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 0.37 ---- Drew Butera -0.4 Danny Rams -0.98 Infielders: Mike Hollimon 3.76 Chris Parmelee 2.58 ---- Tsuyoshi Nishioka 1.47 Luke Hughes 0.9 Ray Chang 0.7 Brian Dinkelman 0.66 Brian Dozier 0.63 Aaron Bates 0.43 Sean Burroughs 0.43 ---- Pedro Florimon -0.54 Steve Pearce -0.73 Outfielders: Joe Benson 1.35 ---- Wilkin Ramirez 0.86 Matt Carson 0.76 Darin Mastroianni 0.42 Rene Tosoni 0.3 ---- Oswaldo Arcia -0.15 Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today: 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 Liam Hendriks 52 Kyle Waldrop 52 Esmerling Vasquez 51.5 --- Daryl Thompson 50.7 Aaron Thompson 50 Lester Oliveros 49.5 Luis Perdomo 49.5 Tyler Robertson 49.7 --- Alex Burnett 48.5 Phil Dumatrait 48.3 Scott Diamond 47.5 Terry Doyle 44 Jeff Gray 41 Deolis Guerra 37.5 Jason Bulger 34.3 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 ---- This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the game vs the Rays earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7195/6831220188_13c319ff72_z.jpg Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7064/6977348537_3e955e5c8e_z.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 0.37 ---- Drew Butera -0.4 Danny Rams -0.98 Infielders: Mike Hollimon 3.76 Chris Parmelee 2.58 ---- Tsuyoshi Nishioka 1.47 Luke Hughes 0.9 Ray Chang 0.7 Brian Dinkelman 0.66 Brian Dozier 0.63 Aaron Bates 0.43 Sean Burroughs 0.43 ---- Pedro Florimon -0.54 Steve Pearce -0.73 Outfielders: Joe Benson 1.35 ---- Wilkin Ramirez 0.86 Matt Carson 0.76 Darin Mastroianni 0.42 Rene Tosoni 0.3 ---- Oswaldo Arcia -0.15 Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today: 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 Liam Hendriks 52 Kyle Waldrop 52 Esmerling Vasquez 51.5 --- Daryl Thompson 50.7 Aaron Thompson 50 Lester Oliveros 49.5 Luis Perdomo 49.5 Tyler Robertson 49.7 --- Alex Burnett 48.5 Phil Dumatrait 48.3 Scott Diamond 47.5 Terry Doyle 44 Jeff Gray 41 Deolis Guerra 37.5 Jason Bulger 34.3 Samuel Deduno DNP As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Casilla Kipnis Giavotella Beckham Inge

his full list is here. Royals are 5th, Indians, Tigers and White Sox below the Twins. Still think it's a little low

I think that the "where the pitchers will come from" will have to wait until next offseason to be answered. That's a 2013 question, not a 2012