Blake

Why not bat Mauer 3rd? His BA last year was woeful with no men on, but with RISP he was outstanding.

It seems to me the Twins are not avoiding analytics so much as they are trying to balance numbers with the actual person on the field. At the end of the day, human beings still have to play the game. It's a great thing to have a guy on the team who is All World, with great numbers, but, if that same guy, coughPuigcough, is clubhouse cancer, it can bring down the whole team. Numbers will tell you what the person is capable of, but they will not tell you who the person is.

Yeah, but the Twins needed someone to put fans in the seats. Joe "MVP batting title" Mauer put fans in the seats. A team of forgettable cheap FA's does not. Also, what happens when you actually get to the point of needing to sign FA's and you've a reputation of signing people who are nothing more than MLB filler? Heck, the Twins may have already paid the price for having that reputation. Ordinary MN Twins fans are not as knowledgeable as the fans on Twins Daily. Admit it, we're all baseball junkies to a certain extent. We all understand the need to dump players and start the rebuild. Management, however, still needs the casual fan to attend games.* *My $.25. Even with inflation, we all know what it's worth.

So, Ryan is basically saying it's time to really get going with the youth movement. Setting the table for next year. Find out where the farm system has fallen short this year and fill in from the free-agent market in the off-season. If things go well this year, the trade deadline could be really interesting. Sounds good to me.

I prefer to see the Twins regress a few games with younger players rather than try to eke out a couple more wins by signing veterans who are on the downside of their career. I think the moves this year set the table for next year. We've already had enough of the marginal veteran signings. Time for the youth movement to really get going.

Unless the Sox have learned to field the ball (someone may have even written a rather prescient game thread mentioning this very fact) it's going to be a long season for the Sox. Anyway, weren't the Sox supposed to run away with the division last year? * *Of course, it's also possible Twins fielding will match the ineptitude of the Sox. Which will make for interesting divisional play.

It will be interesting to see if people who have been unable to see games due to blackout restrictions are are now able to watch games.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK NOTICE TO PERSONS WHO PURCHASED MLB EXTRA INNINGS FROM COMCAST OR DIRECTV OR PURCHASED MLB.TV You Have an Opportunity to Subscribe to Discounted Individual Team Packages through MLB.TV and Other New Online Products A federal court authorized this notice. This is not a solicitation from a lawyer. A proposed settlement (the "Settlement") has been reached in a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of consumers who purchased MLB.TV or purchased MLB Extra Innings from Comcast or DIRECTV between May 9, 2008, and January 18, 2016. The proposed settlement is between the individuals who brought that lawsuit and the defendants. The defendants are the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball ("MLB"), Major League Baseball Properties Inc., as successor by merger to Major League Baseball Enterprises Inc., MLB Advanced Media L.P., MLB Advanced Media, Inc., Athletics Investment Group, LLC, the Baseball Club of Seattle, L.L.L.P., Chicago Cubs Baseball Club, LLC, Chicago White Sox, Ltd., Colorado Rockies Baseball Club, Ltd., The Phillies, Pittsburgh Baseball, Inc., San Francisco Baseball Associates, LLC, New York Yankees Partnership, Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network, LLC, Comcast Corporation, Comcast SportsNet California, LLC, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, LLC, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, L.P., DIRECTV, LLC, DIRECTV Sports Networks, LLC, DIRECTV Sports Net Pittsburgh, LLC (d/b/a Root Sports Pittsburgh), DIRECTV Sports Net Rocky Mountain, LLC (d/b/a Root Sports Rocky Mountain), and DIRECTV Sports Net Northwest, LLC (d/b/a Root Sports Northwest). The lawsuit alleges that MLB's rules establishing local broadcast territories violated federal antitrust laws. The defendants deny any wrongdoing or liability. If you purchased MLB Extra Innings from Comcast or DIRECTV or purchased MLB.TV between May 9, 2008 and January 18, 2016, your legal rights are affected whether you act or do not act. Please read this notice carefully. The lawsuit alleges that the territorial allocation of broadcast rights within MLB assigned to each of its member clubs and thereafter sold to regional sports networks violated federal antitrust laws, provides out-of-market consumers with fewer choices, and inflates prices charged to view broadcasts of live professional baseball games. Defendants dispute Plaintiffs' factual and legal claims and deny any wrongdoing and liability, as well as any adverse effect on consumer choices and that prices charged have been inflated. The parties have concluded that it is in their best interests to settle the litigation to avoid the expense, inconvenience, and uncertainty of litigation. In May 2015, the Court granted in part and denied in part Plaintiffs' motion for class certification. The Court held that the individuals who filed this suit could represent a class for the purposes of seeking injunctive relief, but not damages. Under the Settlement and subject to MLB's continued delineation of its clubs' local broadcast territorial rights and associated blackout practices, MLB has agreed to reduce prices through the 2020 season and provide several new products. Comcast and DIRECTV have also agreed to reduce prices for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Price Relief MLB will lower the price of MLB.TV to $109.99 for 2016 (from the 2015 price of $129.99). MLB will be prohibited from increasing the price by more than 3% (or the federal Cost of Living Adjustment ("COLA"), if higher) per year through 2020. For the 2016 and 2017 MLB seasons, Comcast and DIRECTV will provide the full season MLB Extra Innings product at a 12.5% discount from the 2015 price. Increased Availability Single-Team Packages: MLB will offer packages of single teams' out-of-market games through MLB.TV (for example, a stream of just the Kansas City Royals' games for out-of-market subscribers). This product will cost $84.99 for a full season in 2016, with MLB allowed to raise the price by no more than 3% (or COLA, if higher) for each of the next four years. MLB has also agreed to make this option available to Comcast and DIRECTV so that they may offer seasonal packages of single team games for each and every MLB Club available through MLB Extra Innings, although Comcast and DIRECTV are not obligated to offer such packages. Follow Your Team: MLB will allow all MLB.TV purchasers who subscribe to Comcast, DIRECTV, or certain other cable, satellite or other providers to purchase a "Follow Your Team" option that will allow them to receive telecasts of their favorite out-of-market team's broadcaster without any blackouts-even when it is playing an in-market team, so long as the purchaser receives the in-market team's programming through his or her television service. This product will cost no more than $10 more than a standard MLB.TV package, which will raise the overall price of the MLB.TV package to $119.99 for a full season in 2016 for consumers selecting this enhancement. In-Market Streaming: MLB will seek to reach agreements with Comcast, Root Sports, and Fox regional sports networks to offer live in-market streaming of their telecasts. If in-market streaming is not available for all of the teams whose games are broadcast by those networks by 2017, MLB will be prohibited from increasing prices for any of the above MLB.TV products through 2020. Unserved Fans: MLB will offer live streaming of any in-market team's telecasts produced by Comcast, Root Sports, or Fox regional sports networks to any customer who is unable to obtain multi-channel video provider distributor service or virtual multi-channel video provider distributor service at his or her residence. The Court in charge of this case still needs to decide whether or not to approve the Settlement. If the Court approves the Settlement, and after any appeals are resolved, the benefits will be provided automatically to class members. ________________________________________________________ More information here: www.MLBBroadcastingSettlement.com ________________________________________________________ Received in an email. It appears that more games will be made available to subscribers and the cost will go down.

Sigh. Before all star break, Pelfrey was a difference maker and was the staff ace. After all star, something went wrong, no idea what. After Santana came back from suspension, he wasn't making it through the first couple of innings until Allen spotted that Santana was falling off to one side of the mound. Once that got straightened out, Santana was good to very good. So, yes, you need to explain a little better, because the over-all numbers do not reflect what happened during the season. (great, I'm defending the front office not signing at least a second echelon reliever)

I'll give Neil Allen a chance to turn Abad around. Allen was able to get Santana straightened out last year. I'm pretty sure Allen made a difference with Mike Pelfrey, too.

My favorite Laudner moment: He was doing some sidelines work and was asked about what pitch he'd call next, just after the batter had fouled a low inside breaking ball of his knee. I don't remember which announcer it was, but the announcer was asking Tim whether he'd call low and away, high and away, etc. Laudner's response? "No, you go down in there again."

I'm in the shape of my life, also!!* *Whatever shape I'm in at whatever point in my life, I'm in the shape of my life.

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/70087564/v249094283 Because no Tiger thread is complete without this video.

My thoughts here: http://twinsdaily.com/topic/18517-game-thread-twins-vs-brewers-607-1110-am-pacific-time-110pm-ct-grizzled-veteran-edition/

Okay with me. Not baseball season is just about over. Whoo hoo!!

via MLB.com Twins: Pitchers and catchers: Feb. 22 Full squad: Feb. 27 That is all.* *pardon if this has already been posted.

That home run by Dozier probably ranks as the biggest hit I've seen during the regular season.

Mount Crushmore 2.0?

How many games did Dozier play in his best season versus last year? The eyeball test tells me that Dozier tends to wear down about All Star break. It makes me wonder if Mr. Dozier would benefit from a few more days off.

The Twins are .500 at the break. The front office trades some players that have been doing well for some good pieces but the team regresses after the break. The Twins end the season with an 80 82 record. The Twins win it all in 2017 because of the astute trades at the deadline the previous year.

I am not a Joe Mauer fan, by any stretch of the imagination. And I, for one, seriously thought the Twins could do without the services of Joe Mauer. However, if you look at Mauer's BA with runners on, last year, things look a lot different. With RISP, Joe's average was a rather robust .352. With RISP and 2 outs, Joe batted .311. However, with the bases loaded, Joe's average was .533. Without runners on, Joe batted a pathetic .232.

No. After further review: No.

If the Twins are able to negotiate a deal with Park, then I think Plouffe is gone and Sano takes over third. It will be interesting to see what a Plouffe trade will bring in return.

I have to believe this means the Twins are expecting either Arcia or Kepler to play right with Robinson as the late inning defensive replacement. Unless a Cuddyer reunion is on the offing. (I am so glad I'm not where people can throw things at me for making such a suggestion...pipe down over there, it's a joke...right?)

No. On second thought...heck no.