Don't Feed the Greed Guy

A boyhood hero blocks the plate.

Nothing corners like a Ford!

Some numbers transcend team colors. This is one:

Yes, but the Red Sox rotation already had John Lester and John Lackey. They bought Ryan Dempster, Jake Peavy, and Koji Uehara for $30 Million in 2013, but also relied on young arms that came up through their system in time for 2013, guys like Felix Doubont and Brandon Workman. The Twins will spend $20 million in 2014 on Phil Hughes and Ricky Nolasco. Will it be enough? Probably not. But then again, our 2013 rotation didn't have a Lester or a Lackey.

Awesomely... weird.

Doug Corbett finally made it to the big leagues as a 27-year-old reliever. He would finish the 1980 season third among Rookie of the Year candidates, while posting a 1.98 ERA over 136.1 innings, earning 23 saves. In his sophomore season, Corbett went to the All-Star game, and led the league in appearances and games finished. In 1982 he was part of the trade that brought Tom Brunansky to the Twins from the California Angels.

I understand your frustration, but decent depth doesn't come out of a microwave. The Morneau for Johnson deal--and the patience to make it happen--is one example of the Twins' commitment to build quality and depth. Berardino's article helped me see that the Twins saw their man, and worked a deal with the Pirates to make it happen, over time. There are many other examples over the past two years: Signing free agents Nolasco and Hughes this offseason Trading Span and Revere for Alex Meyer, Vance Worley, and Trevor May. Drafting Kohl Stewart, JO Berrios, Ryan Eades, Stephen Gonslaves, etc... Spending $500k on Lewis Thorpe as an international free agent. All the same, I feel your pain, man. This rebuilding takes time.

Best cover ever.

Good point. To be clear, my premise was that signing Santana would not create a logjam on the Twins starting rotation. Nick seems to be arguing that there was no room for a 35 year old tired pitcher because the Twins don't need any more starters. Santana would have had to pitch his way through the minor leagues and onto the major league roster, earning a place among the top five starters in the Twins organization. I would have liked to see him get that shot with us, not Baltimore. Maybe Santana didn't think he could overcome that competition, and saw a better path back to the majors in Baltimore. I don't know. Again, you offer a good point here. I just think that a two-time Cy Young winner might be worth that risk/reward. It's pure speculation. I liked the Rich Harden signing last year, for many of the same reasons. Oh well, I wish him well, and would love to see him pitch the O's past the Yankees and the Bosox down the stretch run in the AL East.

A trip back in the organizational time machine... Early Wynn pitched for the Washington Senators from 1939-1948. He arose from the cotton fields of Alabama, claiming a Scotch-Irish and American Indian lineage. Legend has it that he showed up for his try out with the Senators in coveralls and bare feet. He married Mabel Allmen during his rookie year, and she gave birth to their son, Joe Early Wynn. Tragedy struck the Wynn family on a December night in 1942 when Mabel drove their babysitter home, and was killed in a car accident, leaving a heartbroken father to raise his only son. A veteran, Wynn served the Tank Corps in the Philippines during World War II. He missed the 1945 season in order to serve his country. While serving in the military, he met Lorraine Follin. They would go on to marry, raise little Joe, and their daughter, Shirley. Wynn’s record with the Senators was a rather unspectacular 72-87, but some things get better with age. Traded to the Cleveland Indians in 1949, he would pick up a curve and a slider, helping him post a 228-157 record from ages 29-43. Wynn reeled off six consecutive All-Star appearances during his latter 30’s and early 40’s. He captured the Cy Young award at the ripe old age of 39, when he won 22 games and posted a 3.17 ERA. Only Cy Young (20 wins at age 40) and Grover Alexander (21 wins at age 41) topped 20 wins at a later age. He retired after the 1963 season, after collecting his 300thvictory. #26 went on to coach for the Minnesota Twins and the Indians, and as a broadcaster for the Chicago White Sox and the Toronto BlueJays. He died on April 4, 1999, at the age of 79. See also: http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/6d0d8788;http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wynnea01

The Twins have the salary space to out incentivize almost everyone in the league. Signing Santana to a minor league contract would have been low risk, high reward, whatever way you slice it. Remove the theory that the Twins may have too much starting pitching at the major league level. Santana was going to have to prove himself in the minors first, well below the MLB logjam. Oops. The Twins may not need more starters, but Rochester is not Minnesota. In short, the Twins organization missed an opportunity, plain and simple. How much fun would it have been to watch Santana reach and exceed all of the bonuses in an incentive-laden contract with the Minnesota Twins? Nope. Not going to happen. We just took strike three, looking.

It took a while for Morneau to convert from the metric system. 27 is 33 in Canada:

The slider, by my memory, is supposed to break down and out of the strike zone. Spotting the fastball in the zone is effective because it sets up the batter to flail away when the slider breaks out of the zone. If the batter is merely sitting on the fastball, pitching the slider for strikes is just another step in the chess game. Hoffman switched his strategy, and now throws the slider for strikes. David Cone would pitch sliders out of the zone to right-handed batters, and he would break into the zone on left-handed batters. Roger Angell tells the story of Cone's slider in the chapter "Get a Grip" from A Pitcher's Story: Innings with David Cone. http://www.amazon.com/Pitchers-Story-Innings-David-Cone/dp/0446678465

Great story, John. A well-written account of a 21-year-old hurler learning to become a 24-year-old pitcher. It's all there: the pitching coach in Detroit; the slider; the cat-and-mouse game of pitching backwards; the agent who knows his client, and the organizations available to him; and now a 25-year-old young man who's happy with his decision to pitch for the Twins. Elegant delivery, in under 500 words. Nice pitching.

And a worse look...

Have a great spring, AJ. In our home, Babe Ruth baseball sign up registration forms arrived last week, for two boys who got a chance to see you "play" last summer. Thanks for making time for them, Olivia, Alexis, and Ray.

Including these pajamas... Oh, that guy's turn is tomorrow. Oops.

Twins lose 6-3 as Grant Balfour picks up the win. Oswaldo Arcia and Brandon Waring double up on home runs and errors. Other reports indicate that Waring's big fly buzzed the Rays' Tiki Bar in the right center stands. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2014_03_02_minmlb_tbamlb_1&mode=box&c_id=min

Grin I'm hoping that a bulked up, healed up Plouffe can seize this opportunity. A little extra power and a healthy left wrist might help him turn on those inside pitches. I wish him well.

Sir Rodney slides into third, under the tag of Charlie Hustle. The moment: It was the 1978 All-Star game, Carew's last Mid-Summer Classic in a Twins uniform. Carew led off the game with a triple to the gap in leftfield off of Vida Blue. He went on to score on a double by George Brett.

In spite of a few clouds, hope springs eternal.

Pride of Rothsay, MN, and the best pitcher out of Northwestern MN since Charlie Bender. Dave Goltz pitched for the Twins from 1972-79. Los Angeles signed him as a free agent in 1980, where he pitched for three years, including the 1981 World Series, when the Dodgers defeated the NY Yankees. A twenty-game winner in 1977, Goltz pitched 303 innings that season, and averaged 253.2 innings pitched over a five year span. From Goltz's SABR biography: "(Gene) Mauch has been quoted as saying that Dave Goltz was the best starting pitcher he ever managed. That is high praise because Mauch had managed a couple of good pitchers in Philadelphia, Chris Short and Jim Bunning, and some equally talented ones in California, such as Nolan Ryan and Frank Tanana." http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/9b82bd05

Countdown to Opening Day, and the end of hardball at home plate.

The problem with this logic is that it's based on long term strategy. It's the difference between strategy and tactics. Winning the war requires strategy, but winning a battle requires the proper tactics. Strategy is big picture, like wanting to be competitive in 2015. This is Terry Ryan's job. Ron Gardenhire's job is to fill out a lineup every day, based upon tactics: pitching matchups, who's healthy, who needs a day off, who's hot, etc... I hope the Twins make day-to-day tactical decisions in order to win ballgames, rather than whether or not Willingham can be dealt by the trading deadline. Will Willingham's relative trade value make that much difference in the big strategic picture? I think not. I'd rather see the Terry Ryan's of the world support their manager's capacity to read his guys on the field, in the dugout, in the training room, and in the clubhouse. Then, let the manager put together the best tactical lineup, day in and day out. Bottom line: I don't think Willingham's trade value will determine who Gardy plays in the field, who rides the bench, and who gets penciled in at DH. At least I hope not. That decision should be based upon tactical advantage.