Willihammer

Ironically, Bill James is now back, getting paychecks from the Red Sox organization.

Quick story. 2010 opening season at Target Field. Me and some friends have tickets to a game and we meet at Kieran's to pre-game. Kieran's is literally 2 blocks south of TF. Naturally, the place was packed, overflowing onto the sidewalk with Twins fans. For whatever reason, we decide to hang out for a few innings after the game started (it may have been happy hour). Whats on T.V? Soccer. I had had a few and hassled the bartenders a little bit. I think I told them that no one expected them to be "that Irish." No good. Needless to say we left immediately and haven't been back.

Cabrera first Tiger to hit 40 doubles, 40 HRs since Hank Greenberg in 1940.

Has anyone tried the flamethrower burger at dairy queen yet?

500th double tonight, tying him with John Olerud and Goose Goslin for 55th all time. The all time leader with 792, in case you're wondering, is Tris Speaker http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/speaktr01.shtml

Willihammer, I agree with everything you say. But my point was centered around the data I've cited from my previous comment. This data is from an article on this site a few weeks back. I find it fascinating that a ML pitcher doesn't know if the ball he's throwing will go right or left or stay up or go down. And ML catchers can't tell either. Watch Doumit in the video. It's like he got crossed up on the pitch. I mentioned my grip discovery as a way of explaining this stay up or go down phenomenon. Maybe I didn't explain it well enough. The grip doesn't eliminate the spin, but rather reduces the rpms and lessens the movement caused by the Magnus effect, much like a split finger FB. Thus appearing to the batter to sink as you described. I've never heard of this grip anyplace, and I've never even spoken of it before, and I doubt that this grip would be intentionally used by a pitcher as they normally want to increase the spin. Also, I know what you mean about Blyleven. But he IS a fountainhead of pitching finer points. If only you can decipher what he's trying to say. Parker, from the link showing his grip I agree with you, but his thumb does look to be on the seam. I know from experience that the slight added friction from the seam, rather than the smooth leather, sliding off the thumb REDUCES the rpms. (at least for me) My thought was perhaps he is careless with his grip and this varies the rpms and thusly the sink. In any event, the guy in the video clip is gettin' PLENTY of rpms, and it does look like he pronates a tad. I had a teammate in high school who threw a forkball which effectively was a knuckleball - no spin. You really need less than a quarter of a turn to get a truly unpredictable action which could breakl in any direction. Its also very tough to throw a ball 91-92 without heavy spin, so Deduno is definitely getting spin and judging by the brooks baseball page his action is repeatable, on both the 4 seamer and the cutter. In fact, if Doumit is getting confused back there, I suspect its because he just hasn't totally felt out where Deduno likes to throw the cutter and where he likes to throw the 4 seamer. All Doumit knows is that he is putting down a 1. I doubt Deduno himself doesn't know what the pitch is going to do, even if it doesn't hit the target.

I believe his 4 seamer sinks (it doesn't actually sink, it just rises less than normal) because he slings the ball, creating a rotational axis that is more vertical than horizontal. This would also account for the tailing action. Exactly the opposite from that windup doll Blyleven's "get on top of the ball" and "downward plain" mantras.

Oh that's right. I'd be surprised if they signed him anyway, someone else would promise him a rotation spot before the Twins. Myers seems like more their type.

The White Sox might have a rotation fix next year. Sale, Danks and Quintana are locks. $4m already sunk in buying out peavy, I think he comes back to Chi on a more reasonable deal. That leaves one spot for Liriano and Floyd. The Sox aren't cheap, so they probably make qualifying offers to both but Myers wants to start again. That puts Liriano especially in a fix, I think he declines the qualifying offer and hits the market. Could be brought back on the cheap if he's promised a rotation spot, though it would cost the Twins their 2nd pick. edit: doing the math, that would potentially make Floyd, or Myers available too.

If he is going to keep stranding runners, they had better get someone behind the dish who can actually catch those pitches.

I feel like the word is out on Ross at this point. He should get a decent pay day from someone.

Hahaha that's hilarious

What do the playoffs even have to do with MVP? Nothing. One is a team accomplishment, the other is an individual award.

Well that the is oversimplification of the year. By your logic, Trout will have played exactly 1 good game, because he was called up for the 21st game of the year, and sat out one game since. What you are trying to mystify as waffling under pressure could just as easily be described as a dip in BABIP. He's still getting on base at a .368 clip, stealing bases, and playing premium defense for the month.

Brian Dozier, come on down! Jamie Carroll, come on down! Pedro Florimon, come on down! Eduardo Escobar, come on down! You are the first 4 contestants of the 22nd season of Stop Gap at Short Stop!

As the great TK once said, "remember guys, the first inning counts!" Same goes the season.

Fangraphs basically destroyed the RBI/MVP argument for Cabrera earlier this week. For starters, if you're going to just measure side by side Trouts rbi totals and Cabrera's then you also have to measure Cabrera's 28 GIDPs to Trouts (7). They are both products of hitting when runners are on base. Sort of goes with being a leadoff hitter compared to a 3 hole hitter. Then there is the part about what each hitters does after getting on base. Conveniently, they get on base at virtually the same clip, but Trout makes way more of the opportunities. Money quote:

I would love to see a new school, Dave Martinez type replacement but I doubt the FO would seriously consider such a candidate. In that event, keep Gardy. You could do worse than him, and the FO probably would.

Willihammer hits the game tie-er Willihammer hits the go-ahead HR A good night for his WPA index

Twins have successfully stolen 25 straight bags against he Tribe

In fairness, the Pohlads did pony up for a 2nd jumbotron to further distract from the product on the field.

Looks like a fine park

sorry, I should proof read before posting

Blog post here: http://www.twinsdaily.com/entry.php?1919-Ben-Revere-Contact-King-and-the-Red-Light-of-OBP

Ben Revere doesn't swing and miss often. So he doesn't reach many 3 ball counts, and what follows below can be taken with heavy salt. Still, if there is meaning in his small sample of 3-ball data, then Ben Revere's high contact percentage allows for absolutist decisionmaking at the plate in order to maximize on-base percentage. Observe, Ben Revere is already a patient hitter: http://i.imgur.com/tJLMP.png But Revere puts balls in play at such an efficient clip, relative to the no. of swings he takes, that he doesn't see enough 3-ball counts to draw any walks. If you carry out the 62% strike % (which includes swinging strikes, but to be conservative with estimates I will use that figure), then Revere would see 84 3-0 counts per 1000 PAs (conveniently, Revere sits at 1000 PAs currently). By comparison, Span sees fourty-three 3-0 counts/1000 PAs. Again, assuming the red light stays on for 3-0 counts, that works out to 52 walks per 1000 PAs just by Revere having a red light on all 2-0 and 3-0 counts. Accounting for a full .050 points of OBP. Give him the red light on all 3-1 counts, and his OBP jumps another .022. But, how would Revere's batting average fair, when the pitcher throws a strike on 2-0 and 3-1? http://i.imgur.com/FrbfC.png Like most hitters, Revere struggles in 2 strike counts (except full count). But Revere's ability to put balls in play is so elite, that he rarely gets into such counts. In 1000 PAs, he has see just 151 counts, of 02, and 210 counts of 1-2. By comparison, Span sees 180 counts of 0-2 and 271 counts of 1-2. He just doesn't miss the ball in 0-strike and 1-strike counts, to his detriment sometimes. Thus, Revere needs to be given hard red lights in order to increase his OBP and turn him into a long term serviceable leadoff hitter.