Thrylos

not many chances, unless someone is there and talks about it... All the beat reporters are in the big camp. You might hear some quotes from coaches and stuff, but not first hand information

But if Doyle does not look too good, why would the Twins want to keep him and give away a better player, like they did to keep Diamond?

Seth, I think that they want to give Revere as many reps as possible at LF so they would not play him at CF. Based on the few games that Benson played at CF, I think that he is probably projecting to be a corner OF range and route-wise. Will be interesting to see whether he or Mastroianni (if both in AAA) will start at center for Rochester.

The other way around. I don't think that there is a chance in hey that the Twins work out a trade with the White Sox for Doyle. So best case scenario would be to make the team as the long man/spot starter out of ST. Funny enough, Dazzle was yacking the other day when Doyle pitching about the possibility of the Twins working a trade with the White Sox, sending Swarzak there and keeping Doyle... That would be a disaster.

Sure they are. Here is what they had for the Twins over/under before each season the last 4 seasons, with actual Twins' record in parenthesis and diff afterwards: 2011: 85 (63) -20 2010: 82 (94) +12 2009: 83.5 (87) +3.5 2008: 73.5 (88) +14.5 Other than 2009 they were way way off

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.

Mike Hollimon with a blast. So far very impressive Spring. Might be in the conversation for a bench spot.

Morneau Hosmer Fielder Konerko Kotchman

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.

a couple of things there: - First: I am not privy to those contracts and what is specified - Second: I am a Twins' fan and I don't care much about Rochester NY or that community (other than I want them to be safe prosperous and happy, like any other community in the world I am not living in.) And I will give you an example that might get my point across. Imaginary situation: College sports. Let's say basketball. Let's say that the Cyclones were killing it (pretty much) and the Hawkeyes did not make the NIT tourney. How would you feel if the Hawkeyes were peddling Cyclone, or Duke, or Ohio State gear in their web site?

and if you add the NL to the equation, it will be more like 3 out of the top 8-10. By far AL Central is the strongest division as far as catchers are concerned

About that "B" game and the sky is falling attitute (not in your post Seth, but elsewhere) regarding Baker's performance: - He pitched with only 3 days rest (which is totally nutty in my book) - The game started at 10 AM - They took an-hour-and-a-half bus ride to get there I still do not get why the Twins pitched Baker today (after coming back from injuries in 2011.) That was unnecessary to say the least... Asinine would be a better word to characterize it...

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 Twins will make their first Spring Training cuts next week sometime. Based on their minor league spring training schedule, the first minor league games this Spring is next Wed. the 14th. I suspect that the first cuts will be made as early as Monday, or as late as Tuesday to accommodate those games (there are no official announcements yet from the Twins.) I have been creating dashboards to track the performance of pitchers who are battling for the 3 bullpen spots and for the position players who are batting for the 2-3 bench spots, and I think that it is pretty clear who the first cuts will be. Here is my take: I think that the position player cuts (all relegated to the minor league camp) will be: Oswaldo Arcia Danny Rams And the pitchers: Deolis Guerra Tyler Robertson Daryl Thompson with: Joe Benson Brian Dinkelman Jason Bulger Samuel Deduno on the bubble. The last 2 might walk. What do you think?

You are looking it from the Rochester Native perspective. Clearly you are a Red Wings fan and probably not a Twins' fan. The Twins owe nothing to Rochester: They pay the salaries of the players and coaches and they put the product on the field that puts rear ends on seats that make money for the Red Wings' management. Also, the Twins pay a sum of money for the affiliation on top of that. So, basically, it is "rent" for use of the facilities. The Red Wings' management are the landlords and caretakers of the ball park and deal only with the upkeep of the park (part of it subsidized by the Twins) concessions and the silly in-between play antics. Selling another MLB team's gear from their website is totally unexcusable in my mind. They are still under contract with the Twins, last time I checked...

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.

Valencia with a 3-run shot gets the Twins up 4-2

Doyle gets the next 2 batters out. Top 3rd 1-0 Pirates

Doyle loaded the bases with no outs. Sac Fly to Span brings in a run. Pirates up 1-0 bottom of 2nd

Revere, Rivera, little difference to Gameday.

Little side note about Baker's pitching this morning: He was pitching with only 3 days rest. At Spring Training after a season with arm issues. I think that this is really asinine...