cmathewson

BTW, what's the code for the n with the tilda thingy on top?

I wouldn't call those moves "win now". They are "be respectable until the kids develop" moves.

And who would that be? Wilson is barely a AA outfielder. The next guy in line is Kepler, who is not a center fielder, but he's playing there until Buxton comes back. The Red Wings have been using utility guys in center. The Rock Cats have been using a corner man (Ortiz).

I don't expect him to strike as many people out as he did in the NL. He's a junk ball pitcher. Pitchers can't hit junk.

We can look at the spray charts and movement (or lack thereof) and see that he's not finishing his pitches. He's kind of pushing the ball toward the plate. The question is, can he finish his pitches, or is a hidden injury preventing him from doing so.

I don't know if pitching to the scoreboard is encouraged. But working on pitches is, and he might have been throwing it more than he normally would to refine the feel for it. Given all the publicity about it, hitters might have been sitting on it. Still, the fact that he didn't fare well suggests that the pitch needs more refinement, and, as Brock said, that should be done in AAA.

Plouffe is currently second in baseball in OPS among third basemen. I doubt that's all luck. His new oppo approach lends itself to better results, including his league leading 15 doubles. But let's not delve into scouting. Let's stick with your claim about luck. Luck is a funny thing. It could be that he was extremely unlucky the last two years. Unless you logged his at bats to see how many hard-hit balls found gloves, you wouldn't know. Thing is, Fangraphs does that for us. We measure luck for hitters by comparing LD%, FB%, GB% and BABIP. Last year, Plouffe had a high LD% of 24.7%; his GB% was 38.6; his FB% was 36.7. Yet his BABIP was average at .301. This suggests that he was unlucky, if anything. In 2012, his LD% was lower at 18.5%, his GB% was normal at 37.9%; his FB% was higher at 43.6% (reflecting his power surge), but his BABIP was a lowly .244. In 2012, his best year, he was extremely unlucky. This year, his luck seems to have normalized (27/37/34/.373), which was only a matter of time, if you believe in regression analysis. He is due for a regression from that lofty peak to about a BABIP of .333 or so, given his high LD%. But small samples make bad projections. Even after he regresses as predicted, off the top of my head, he's still a 4 WAR player projecting that regressed production out for the year.

Well, great. Maybe he can "re"discover his swing in AAA while Nunez becomes the utility guy.

I think Guerrier is an upgrade over Tonkin for the short term. The later has some things to iron out in his delivery to be more consistent. You can't afford to have the kind of melt down he had the other night if you care about winning, which they should care about. Tonkin has options. Guerrier has an opt out. I think they'll make that move. I also think Burton's job is in trouble. Maybe Tonkin will go down and get himself straightened out in time to take that in a month or so. From what I have seen, that is optimistic.

Florimon is out of options, but would clear waivers in all likelihood. Opening his roster spot could make room for an additional position player. Possibly Parmelee, who deserves it the most.

I don't want to know where or how hard Pelfrey pulled his groin. That's a private matter and I will respect his privacy.

I find layman's commentary on baseball players hilarious, in a good way. I think sports criticism is every bit as difficult as medicine. Somehow it's acceptable for ameteurs to comment on the value of players but not their health. Why? Because the medical field is seen as the domain of trained experts. Thing is, a trained expert can have exactly the same medical opinion of a player as a layman. They can do identical research and draw from the same sources. Unless the doctor actually reviewed the diagnostic imgrery and spent time with the player, his opinions are no more valid than a layman's. It is not domain expertise that matters, because anyone with a browser can do the research. It's understanding the particular case. Because every case is slightly different, it is folly to judge how it was handled on an individual case. Doctors will say the same thing, which is why their studies deal in large samples of diagnoses across hundreds of clinics and hospitals, and diverse patient sets. What kinds of medical histories follow this form? Well, if a team has a published view on a medical practice, such as "surgery is a last resort," we can see how that worked out over a long period of time. In the Twins case, it hasn't worked out well at all. That conclusion is as valid for a layman as it is for a doctor. The other thing we can comment on is how players are treated by the medical staff. If the staff routinely dismisses the claims of players, we can call that practice into question. For instance, I found it interesting that it took Dave Peumer 10 minutes to get to Aaron Hicks while Hicks was writhing in agony. He didn't run out there. He strolled. That says something.

That was a very tough play. Very few CFs even get leather on that ball. I give him credit for going all out after it. Don't add insult to injury.

The plan was to give Hicks a chance and then Buxton. Everyone else was depth, and better depth going into spring training than we had last year. The Bartlett situation screwed that all up. First they inexplicably kept him instead of Presley. Neither had good springs, but Bartlett was horrendous. Also, there's the little fact that Bartlett had never played center field in his professional career, and Presley had played like 2000 professional games at the position. When pressed, Gardy said, "I don't need a backup center fielder.' Last night was the best example of why you do. Center fielders crash into walls. Then they lost Mastro, which was totally avoidable because he had options and Bartlett was quitting. All they had to do was DFA Bartlett until his retirement papers came in (and pay the $500K). Instead they DFAd Mastro to save a little dough. One untold story about that is that Bartlett told the Twins he wanted to retire 10 days before his retirement became official. Why did it take so long? Well the league office is slow, but also Antony asked him to sleep on it for a few days before making it official. If Antony had filed the retirement papers when Bartlett announced his retirement to the team, they would have been filed in plenty of time to claim Fuld and option Mastro. Instead we're left with Wilson, who is barely a AA player. They are extremely lucky they were awarded Fuld in a waiver claim. According to sources, they only made the claim in the 11th hour. Berardino said they (Antony) were nonplussed when he brought up Fuld's name. They weren't going to claim him. For some reason they changed their minds. And good thing they did because they'd by up schlitz creek without a paddle if they hadn't. I suppose they'd still have Mastro. And no one else above A ball. Antony has shown repeatedly that he is not ready for this job. He's made really basic mistakes throughout his brief tenure as acting GM. I shudder to think of him at the helm longer term. I can't wait for Ryan to get back and restore order to the FO.

Hicks removed with conclusion-like symptoms. And so it begins.

Bonus baseball!! Let's play 3.

That's some country hard ball there.

I think Hicks is hurt.

We need to move him off second base. He sucks.

I don't blame him for losing track of the outs. It's been a long inning and he did just have his bell rung.

After the homer, Tonkin started dropping his shoulder and yanking everything outside. I'm just shocked they let him walk the bases loaded.

Well, at least there were no inherited runners on for the dinger.

Way to strand the runners Tonkin.

Another passed ball by Drew, The Greatest Defensive Catcher Ever. Had one last night. Had 11 the year he started 80 games.

Mike Berardino ‏@MikeBerardino 6m Gardy on Pelfrey: "Everybody roots for him. He’s a great guy, great in the clubhouse. But this is the big leagues. It's all about results."