Forever34

I'm honestly torn on this one. On the one hand I like that it is only a one year deal for a guy that could be borderline great and that it means the FO is serious about putting a good team together this season. On the other it is a lot of money for a rental on a guy that hasn't been the same since the injury for a team that is a year or two away from being legitimate contenders and who will be taking valuable playing time away from guys who we need to be developed by that time.

My list: 1. Puckett's HR 2. Gene Larkin drives in Dan Gladden Big gap 3. Game 163 walk-off (gets bonus points because I saw it in person) 4. Hrbek's salami. 5. ALCS party 6. Hrbek/Gant (the controversy is the only reason anyone remembers it) 7/8. Killebrew HR/Allison's catch (these were before my time) Honorable mention: That game where we turned two triple plays. Winning in the wild card round a year after contraction. Thome's walk-off HR against the Chisox Kubel's monster straightaway cf upper deck home run in game 163. (Again, I was there ) Kubel's upper deck grand slam to complete cycle/huge comeback. That Morneau HR that broke the scoreboard in Milwaukee. Something Mauer related. (Sad that the second greatest Twin of my lifetime doesn't have a signature moment.

Call me a homer but I think we should have more on this list. Rosario should be on this list but with the PED suspension I could understand if he was blackballed. Wonder where/if Hicks or Arcia would be on here if the weren't rushed to the big leagues and disappoint. I saw Jackie Bradley was still on here even though he was comparable to Hicks: tore up spring training and earned himself a spot on the opening day roster but then stunk up the joint. Also, not sure what Sano did to drop from 3 to 4. Taveras was hurt most of the year but did well in AAA. Bogaerts put up similar overall stats in the same league but is a year older and you could argue that he could have graduated from this list.

I've been thinking a lot about the years 2002-2010 when the Twins were one of the best teams in baseball and trying to figure out what made them so much better than the current team. In the beginning they were a scrappy bunch of overachievers who defied the odds. In the middle they had two MVPs in their primes, the best pitcher in baseball, the occasional amazing season from Liriano, the always solid Radke, a good bullpen, Torii Hunter, and plenty of role players who did the dirty work well. In hindsight, I'm baffled that we could never do anything in the playoffs. Towards the end the pitching was mostly the same "pitch to contact" staff we curse today, Morneau was always hurt, but Thome was there to bring the power in his absence. We had a lot of squandered talent too. (Take a look at the recent All-Star teams and count the ex-Twins). But one thing I keep coming back to is the schedule. During that time most games were played against the weak AL Central, and the Twins dominated the AL Central during that time. They also dominated the National League in part because they always played two series against the then weak Brewers and most of the NL in general was weaker then too. (The Sports Guy often joking call it AAAA). I'm too lazy to look up the actual numbers but if memory serves we were .500 or better against the AL West and terribad against the AL East (Damn Yankees!). So here's the deal: if we weren't playing the weighted schedule during that time and instead played the even schedule of the old days or the every team in the league schedule of today would the days we long for have even existed? I could see a couple pennants with a few years of contending as far as August in there, but the decade long stretch of expecting the playoffs seems unlikely.

Wasn't Pavano a waiver claim? Couldn't tell you his WAR for the life of me, but he had a couple solid seasons.

I'm not totally convinced Diamond's struggles this year didn't have something to do with his surgery or him not being fully recovered yet. In 2012 he had great control and a good curveball plus other pitches that could help induce ground balls. He is by no means an ace, but should be a guy who could/should become a serviceable back-end type.

Great write up! I'm in the same boat as you Seth. Late to the party but furiously trying to catch up on Netflix and have all of this season eating up space on my DVR. Unfortunately I recently found out that Netflix doesn't have the second half of season 5 yet so I'm not sure what to do.

We all know this season is a lost cause. All we have to keep our spirits up is the promise of the future with our loaded farm system. Obviously I want to see guys like Arcia and others that we expect to be part of the turnaround to do well, but is it okay to hope that we keep losing games in order to get better draft picks? This isn't like the NFL where a good draft can immediately help a team and obviously the baseball draft is a completely different animal, but still...

I'm not a big sabermetrics guy but there should be a stat that measures productivity in RBI type situations. Obviously there is BA with RiSP, but is there something more comprehensive?

Just wondering if the cash could be international signing pool money. Even if it was something like $5,000 that would be more valuable than some guy that probably never see Rochester.

In hindsight we actually did okay with the deals we made or didn't make. I still don't like the Ramos/Capps deal, but if he can't stay on the field he isn't helping anyone. The comp picks and players drafted from them probably have more potential value than anything we could have gotten in trade for Kubel or Cuddy. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth on this site (I remember an article called 10 things I hate about the Liriano trade that eventually became about 50 things long) but it turns out we actually won that one. The guys we got in return might not be anything more than AAAA type guys but it was still better than what the White Sox got: a rental on a mediocre pitcher that contributed to them missing the playoffs. As much as we wanted to believe he was back to his ace caliber self, Francisco was still a maddeningly inconsistent pitcher whose bad seasons outnumbered the good. Even his starts where he was striking guys out left and right weren't quality ones. Sure he has returned to borderline elite this year, but we still overestimated his fair market value by a ton this time last year.

I hope the FO dangles Perkins but only at a king's ransom. Given his age, ability, and great contract there is no reason he shouldn't be part of the rebuilding process and still there when it is done. Wonder if packaging players together would net better prospects. For instance sending Morneau, Doumit, plus a reliever or someone to the Yankees in exchange for one of their better prospects.

I'm not an expert on advanced metrics, but I'm trying to start a new stat called Total Batting Productivity. It is calculated similar to slugging in that it assigns 1 point for a single, 2 for a double etc., but also subtracts 1 point for a strikeout, 2 for a GiDP, and 3 for those rare GiTP. All of that is divided by total number of at bats. A similar more advanced stat would be Total Offensive Productivity which not only includes 1 point for walks and HBP but also 1 for stolen bases. It also subtracts 1 for a caught stealing and is divided by total plate appearances.

Amaurys Minier is obviously a name to remember, but how the heck do pronounce it?

When the Twins selected Ryan Pressly in the Rule 5 draft they dis so because they thought he had starter potential. So far he has earned his roster spot and more than proven he is not just taking up space with his 1.74 ERA 24/12 K/BB and 1.16 WHIP in 31 IP. So while we debate and await the arrival of Gibson, Albers, etc. to inject some life into the starting rotation, does anyone know why this wildcard hasn't been played yet?