Brandon Warne

Jack Moore joins the show to talk Brewers baseball, the safety — or lack thereof — of football and we close with a bit of Timberwolves chatter. As well as why Jack chose Minneapolis as his homebase for a career. Follow Jack on Twitter (@jh_moore) and is a contributor at VICE Sports, Vocativ, Hardball Times, The Guardian and Baseball Prospectus Milwaukee. A Cold Omaha Podcast Network Production Subscribe to Midwest Swing on iTunes or Stitcher! http://coldomaha.com/2016/podcasts/midwest-swing-jack-moore-of-vice-sports/

Eno Sarris joins the program to talk Mets, fantasy baseball, BBWAA, Fangraphs+, Beer, Sandwiches and so much more. http://traffic.libsyn.com/midwestswing2/MWS_0009_-_Eno_Sarris.mp3 SUBSCRIBE/REVIEW: https://t.co/1xoMeI67yF A Cold Omaha Podcast Network Production

Eno Sarris joins the program to talk Mets, fantasy baseball, BBWAA, Fangraphs+, Beer, Sandwiches and so much more. http://traffic.libsyn.com/midwestswing2/MWS_0009_-_Eno_Sarris.mp3 SUBSCRIBE/REVIEW: https://t.co/1xoMeI67yF A Cold Omaha Podcast Network Production

Having anything other than minimal expectations for a big league career for ABWII is dicey.

Baseball Prospecuts’ Michael Baumann joins the program to discuss MLB labor issues, the Phillies rebuilding efforts and of course, college baseball. Michael’s an MLB writer at FanRag Sports and Baseball Prospectus as well as a college baseball scribe at D1Baseball.com. Follow Michael on Twitter (@MJ_Baumann) A Cold Omaha Podcast Network Production Subscribe to Midwest Swing on iTunes or Stitcher! http://coldomaha.com/2016/podcasts/midwest-swing-michael-baumann/

Baseball Prospecuts’ Michael Baumann joins the program to discuss MLB labor issues, the Phillies rebuilding efforts and of course, college baseball. Michael’s an MLB writer at FanRag Sports and Baseball Prospectus as well as a college baseball scribe at D1Baseball.com. Follow Michael on Twitter (@MJ_Baumann) A Cold Omaha Podcast Network Production Subscribe to Midwest Swing on iTunes or Stitcher! http://coldomaha.com/2016/podcasts/midwest-swing-michael-baumann/

Ha! Gonna miss out on that one. I usually try to make every WWE event when they're in town though.

A big point of contention for Twins fans over the past calendar year has been the bullpen. And while expectations were low heading into 2015, the team exceeded them. The bullpen, however, did not. Absent context, the bullpen’s numbers don’t look that bad, right? The team cobbled together a 3.95 ERA, a nice 6.9 K/9 and was one of just a handful of American League bullpens to issue fewer than three walks per nine frames. Nothing about that necessarily stands out to the untrained eye, but nothing looks terribly egregious, either. But context is important — very important. Just three bullpens in the AL fanned fewer than 8.0 batters per nine last year. The other two were the Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers, with the Twins in last place. That’s a familiar spot, as the Twins’ staff on the whole has been last in the AL in K/9 the last five years running. To address those woes, Boston added Craig Kimbrel (14.5 career K/9) in the offseason; Detroit added a trio of guys in Justin Wilson (9.7 K/9 in ‘15), Mark Lowe (1.96 ERA) and the venerable Francisco Rodriguez (2.21 ERA, 9.8 K/9). The Twins added…..Fernando Abad on a minor league deal. How much did the Twins miss the league average marks by? Let’s have a look: Statistic – Twins – AL Avg. ERA – 3.95 – 3.77 FIP – 4.20 – 3.94 K/9 – 6.9 – 8.4 BB/9 – 2.9 – 3.3 GB rate – 43 percent – 44.9 percent Basically speaking, the team’s only saving grace in the bullpen was its disdain for the free pass. Besides that, not only was it a decidedly uninteresting unit that gave a number of innings to low-ceiling vets like Aaron Thompson and Blaine Boyer, rather than seeing the limits of younger guys like Michael Tonkin. It wouldn’t be fair to ignore some of the positives the bullpen put together in 2015, either. Boyer’s results (2.49 ERA) didn’t match his peripherals (4.5 K/9, 4.00 FIP), and that turned out to be a good thing. Thompson had a run early in the season where he was unhittable. Glen Perkins was so great in the first half he made the All Star team. Kevin Jepsen was fantastic (1.61 ERA) after coming over in a deal to stabilize the back end, and helped keep the unit together during Perkins’ tumultuous second half. And finally, Trevor May was a revelation after a move to the bullpen, posting a 2.87 ERA and 10.6 K/9 while limiting opposing batters to a .250/.305/.392 line. Please continue reading after the jump at the newly launched ColdOmaha.com!

Well sure. That's possible. And there's a non-zero chance Abad is better than Bastardo at a way cheaper price. Opponents -- not just LHH -- had a .499 OPS against Abad in 2014. That includes RHH (.475) and LHH (.527). Shrewd signing, IMO

A pair of Phillies eyes I trust said for as good as Bastardo's numbers are, he fails to provide any sort of confidence in late innings. For the cost involved, I'd probably just go with Taylor Rogers, who held LHH to a .402 OPS last year in the minors. Tommy Milone (.603 OPS v. LHH in 2015) could make a fine bullpen lefty, too. I have to believe he'll be usurped by Jose Berrios at some point this season.

Sure, but obvious bullpen upgrades require multi-year deals. And the guys that the Twins might have had interest in -- Sipp, Bastardo -- don't strike me as guaranteed, obvious upgrades over the guys they'd have taken the spots of....namely Alex Meyer, Ryan Pressly and the like.

Whether it was five isolated games or not, his numbers with the Royals weren't good. In a "what have you done for me" lately situation, it's easy to see why he didn't get as many years as he would have liked. Futhermore, he may have turned down more years. We really don't know. He signed pretty early.

Though I will say this: They missed on Shawn Kelley. He'd have been a good, reasonable addition.

May-Jepsen-Perkins is the best back-end they've had in quite a while. May will be a better reliever than anyone who was available in FA

Then it's an age thing. Or in the case of Cueto, because he picked the wrong time to have a really, really bad stretch.

That's the problem. I'll put it this way, like it was in Caddyshack: Tony D'Annunzio (in this case, Terry Ryan, or you): Well I ain't paying no 50 cents for no coke. Danny Noonan (virtually every ace to hit the market ever): Oh then you ain't getting no coke. Know what I'm talking about?

Beyond that, could any two players be LESS comparable? A power-hitting corner guy from Korea and a contact-heavy middle infielder from Japan?

Joined by Paul Sporer in the latest episode: Paul Sporer joins the program to discuss Texas, MLB The Show, and of course, pitching and fantasy baseball. Oh, and there's a little dachshund talk as well. Listen: http://traffic.libsyn.com/midwestswing2/MWS_-_Paul_Sporer.mp3 Subscribe/Review: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/facemidwestswing2s-podcast/id1073026341?mt=2

Joined by Paul Sporer in the latest episode: Sporer joins the program to discuss Texas, MLB The Show, and of course, pitching and fantasy baseball. Oh, and there's a little dachshund talk as well. Listen: http://traffic.libsyn.com/midwestswing2/MWS_-_Paul_Sporer.mp3 Subscribe/Review: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/facemidwestswing2s-podcast/id1073026341?mt=2

"Look at our last Asian signing...." Try being more wrong and offensive.

Did I claim it did?

http://traffic.libsyn.com/midwestswing2/MWS_0007_-_Bryan_Grosnick_of_Baseball_Prospectus.mp3 Brandon is joined by Bryan Grosnick of Baseball Prospectus and BP Boston to talk projections, the Mets and an American League that is completely bananas. A Cold Omaha Podcast Network Production Follow Brandon on Twitter (@Brandon_Warne) https://twitter.com/Brandon_Warne Visit the Website: http://www.brandonwarne.com/ Subscribe to Podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/midwestswing2s-podcast/id1073026341?mt=2 Get the Show on Stitcher! http://stitcher.com/s?fid=81063&refid=stpr NOTE: Please, please feel free to leave feedback here or otherwise. That's the only way I'll get better at this!

http://traffic.libsyn.com/midwestswing2/MWS_0007_-_Bryan_Grosnick_of_Baseball_Prospectus.mp3 Brandon is joined by Bryan Grosnick of Baseball Prospectus and BP Boston to talk projections, the Mets and an American League that is completely bananas. A Cold Omaha Podcast Network Production Follow Brandon on Twitter (@Brandon_Warne) https://twitter.com/Brandon_Warne Visit the Website: http://www.brandonwarne.com/ Subscribe to Podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/midwestswing2s-podcast/id1073026341?mt=2 Get the Show on Stitcher! http://stitcher.com/s?fid=81063&refid=stpr

Luke Inman joins Brandon to recap the Super Bowl, retirements and to grade the Vikings 2015 season. A little football recap before baseball season hits. A Cold Omaha Podcast Network Production http://traffic.libsyn.com/midwestswing2/MWS_0006_-_Luke_Inman_of_eDraft_and_Cold_Omaha.mp3

Luke Inman joins Brandon to recap the Super Bowl, retirements and to grade the Vikings 2015 season. A little football recap before baseball season hits. A Cold Omaha Podcast Network Production http://traffic.libsyn.com/midwestswing2/MWS_0006_-_Luke_Inman_of_eDraft_and_Cold_Omaha.mp3