Wookiee of the Year

Actually, that's part of the problem--under the contract, there are maximum pay limits. For example, no team is allowed to pay their first-year minor leaguers more than $1,100/month. So the Twins or any other team aren't allowed to gain a competitive advantage by paying more.

R.A. Dickey has it figured out. Ligaments--who needs 'em?

Oh, man. That's so depressing. Sano was one of the big reasons to be optimistic that the Twins could put together a better record than projected in 2014. Taking the long view, my big concern is just that he can still play third base on the other end of this surgery. I don't know how much this sort of procedure and recovery increases his chances of moving to first base--I don't know enough of the history with position players having it--but I'm more concerned about it not hampering his fielding long-term than I am with his timetable being delayed, as disappointing as that is.

Jim H, it's a good point worth thinking about, and a lot of it comes down to just how tight you think the profit margins for major league clubs are. As others have pointed out, the fact that minor leaguer salaries could be doubled for less than 20% what the Twins paid Nick Blackburn last year suggests clubs (at least the Twins) aren't operating at extremely tight margins and probably have room to simply eat the cost. If MLB profits are virtually nonexistent, or teams are unwilling to reduce their current profit margins, you might see minor league jobs reduced--but I don't see indications that that's where the first of the fat is to cut. The reason MiLB salaries are so low is not because MLB teams believe their money is worth little when invested there; it's because minor leaguers have been represented by a bargaining unit that doesn't care to protect their interests, and so has traded away their compensation in exchange for benefits for major leaguers. My guess, if teams were unwilling or unable to lower their profit margins? They'd guard their Free Agency dollars more tightly, eliminate that new MLB coach position they just added last year, or look for areas around the clubhouse management where they can save money--because my hunch is there's even less surplus value to be found there than in marginal minor leaguers, even if their salaries doubled. Also, regarding the shrinking farm systems of the 50's and 60's, my understanding is teams disappeared not because minor league expenses went up but because minor league revenues went down--TV outcompeted minor league teams so their major league owners had to start thinking of them more as investments and less as additional profit-generators.

Yeah, that's the rub--it's easy to come up with reasons why catch framing might not be all it's cracked up to be, but when you're staring at a year-to-year correlation of over .65, you're arguing against reality. The data makes a strong case this is a skill. The hard part is translating the impact of that skill into runs and wins. I also wonder: We've heard so much about how pitchers love working with Suzuki. I wonder how big a factor pitch selection is vs. pitch framing? We really can't evaluate the latter, but just because you can't (yet?) quantify it doesn't mean it can't have a very large impact.

My thinking right now is that I want shortstop Trae Turner to be the best player available at #5. We have a real dearth of middle infielders in the system right now, and he has the potential to be a real shot in the arm for the system. I'm also skeptical of taking the third- or fourth-best college arm, although maybe that's illogical. This far out, I'm definitely still thinking more about who I want to be the logical pick for us rather than who will be the logical pick for us. It feels too early for me to wrap my head around these players' actual abilities.

I'm with Shane Wahl on Ryan Pressly--I thought I heard the Twins had interest in stretching him out into a starter. My guess is he doesn't make the team, and I'd lean toward Deduno getting his bullpen spot. Suggestions that Deduno will start the year on the DL seem like wishful thinking to me.

Absolutely, makes perfect sense. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. I'm giddy enough thinking about all the time I'll save with the fast forward icon Brad Swanson pointed out, rather than always clicking the forum title, then the Last button.

Ha, even better. Thanks, guys. Although Brock, I'm only seeing the triple arrow if I go into the Forums section--not in the "The Forums" widget on the homepage.

Had a thought for a minor improvement: I'd change the Forums links on the homepage to jump to the last page of whatever thread rather than the first. Nine times out of ten, the reason I'm clicking that link is because I can tell a thread's received a newer post than the last time I viewed it.

1. I strongly agree with dropping "God Bless America." Scottz hit the nail on the head--a tired "more is more" theory is exactly how to describe it. Anyone can tell you the 7th inning is for stretching, which means people are walking around, chatting, and ordering food, in direct contrast to the united attentiveness during the National Anthem. It cheapens any patriotic feelings and undercuts them with its placement. 2. A few people have voted to kill the sing along--I think it would be greatly improved by picking one song and sticking with it. From what I can tell, Twins Territory has an affinity for "Your Love." Make that the standard every game and it's much improved. 3. I'm on board with permanently dropping "Everybody clap your hands" from the Twins' repertoire.

I've seen variations on that ad before, too. 250 million infected in the U.S.? In a nation of 300 million people? How the heck does that work?

It also offers some reassurance that players like and respect the Twins organization. We hear Kubel passed up a major league contract to sign with the Twins; even for the others, I'm sure they could've found minor league deals elsewhere. You're doing something right when former players choose you as the club with which to sign their minor league deals, and it's an advantage I hope we can continue to hold in future years. (...Or maybe even this year, with a Johan signing?) That spot's got Kubel's name written all over it.

If anyone's interested, the Twins Daily Winter Meltdown (and specifically Scott Erickson's comments about Davey Johnson and Peter Angelos) were mentioned yesterday on Baseball Prospectus's "Effectively Wild" podcast: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=22700

Hi, Don't Feed the Greed Guy! I was the guy a table over from you at the Meltdown opening baseball cards who came up with the Scott Erickson card you and your son got signed for me. Nice review! I agree that the biggest problem was the accessibility of the schedules: finding it online, printing it, and/or obtaining one once at TwinsFest. My attempts to find and use a schedule sound very similar to yours.

I'm just happy his goals include drawing tons of walks--it shows he sees the value in strike zone control and patience.

My wife wants to know why, when she goes to Target Field and sees all the ads for Dairy Queen, she can't satisfy her DQ craving in the park.

I don't know if I'd go that far. It's a pretty short piece that mostly outlines Antony's career without going that in-depth--it doesn't explore it all why he moved from the top of the Media Relations department to near the bottom of the Baseball Operations department, which was surely a move Antony decided to make and a decision that could speak a lot to his make up and mindset. I would agree the article suggests Antony has always been more focused on doing his current job well than on climbing the next rung of the ladder, and it was others who saw something in him that they thought made him well-suited for a promotion.

Great interview. I will say (and maybe I missed it), but all his talk of his new, checklist-style game plan left me wondering how much of that is something he's come up with and how much is from the coaching staff. I was surprised by how much his offseason regimen sounded like it was up to him--I would've expected something developed with the minor league coaching staff, and then regular check-ins every few weeks to see how things are going. Weird how much it sounded like May was on his own during the off-season.

A couple more I have to include because this thread needs them-- (My personal favorite) Francisco Liriano broke his non-throwing arm when he slammed it against a door while trying to startle his kids on Christmas. http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/11/francisco-liriano-broke-his-arm-while-trying-to-startle-his-kids-on-christmas-morning/ And, in true Sammy Sosa fashion, Matt Latos went on the 15-day DL with a side strain from trying to suppress a sneeze. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100715&content_id=12271424&c_id=mlb&fext=.jsp

I get ads for that "men only" gaming website, too. They show up at work, and the number of sites I visit there is quite limited--basically Twins sites I'm checking on my lunch break. I blame it on the demographic profile I'm generating as a visitor to AaronGleeman.com...

It's not news, but this thread needs to include mention of Anthony Swarzak's fractured ribs from "horseplay" with teammates at TwinsFest. http://www.twincities.com/ci_22533168/minnesota-twins-anthony-swarzaks-horseplay-fractures-two-ribs

Isn't this slightly deceptive, too, because it doesn't factor in how many rest days relief pitchers are afforded? I have no idea how often Twins relief pitchers were called upon to pitch two or three days in a row--maybe it was league average or so, too--but I would think that has to factor into the equation for a "tired bullpen."

Good write-up. I'm actually pretty surprised this isn't the #1 story. So far, I basically agree with the stories and their ordering, but I have no idea what would beat this for #1 that hasn't already made an appearance. You have me in suspense!